3 o2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



would tie a cord around his ankles, which enabled him to get a grip 

 of the straight, branchless trunks. A single blow of the heavy knife 

 which he carried in his belt would send the nut to the ground with a 

 thud that was ample evidence of the danger of being hit by one. The 

 large monkey also gathers the nuts with a skill that is marvelous. He 

 is sent up the tree, with a rope attached to his collar. Selecting the 

 ripe nut, he gets it between his hands and rolls it back and forth until 

 the stem is twisted off, whereupon he throws it to the ground. Stories 

 are not wanting of vicious beasts taking this opportunity of killing 

 their keepers with well-aimed nuts. The cocoanut monkey is the 

 enemy of the baby. If he finds one unguarded, he immediately sets 

 about twisting its head as he would a cocoanut. 



The dress and habits of the Dutch are well adapted to the climate. 

 Early rising, usually about daylight, is the rule. After a bath and 

 light breakfast, the serious work of the day is taken up and generally 

 finished by midday, when the heat becomes oppressive. After riztafel 

 all the tropical world goes to sleep. About 5 o'clock life begins to stir 

 again, the more comfortable hour before sunset and the twilight being 

 utilized for the promenade, for calls and for recreation. 



During the early part of the day the costume is almost anything 

 one cares to make it, if one is not engaged in official or other business. 

 The gentlemen are usually seen at home or about the hotels in sarong 

 trousers and loose white jackets, sometimes without slippers and usually 

 without hose. This costume is not uncommon on the streets also dur- 

 ing the early morning hours. White duck or drilling is usually worn 

 for business. For the afternoon promenade and for evening functions, 

 dark clothes are customary, and most uncomfortable. 



The ladies have much the best of etiquette in this land. Their 

 dress is at all times simple and comfortable. A short sarong skirt, 

 reaching only to the ankles, a loose white jacket of some thin stuff, 

 bare feet encased in slippers or sandals, compose the morning or home 

 costume. Their evening dress much resembles that of their sisters in 

 the temperate zones. 



It is not until one has been ashore on the low plains that he fully 

 realizes the character of the heavy tropical heat. The air is saturated 

 practically all the time. With a nearly vertical noon-day sun at all 

 times of the year, and with little wind, there is an oppressiveness dur- 

 ing the day in these islands that is unknown in temperate climates. 

 One marvels at the windows and doors, without glass and with large 

 slats, and wonders if it is never cool. He soon finds the wisdom of it 

 and courts all breezes, by night as well as by day. Here it is eternal 

 summer, where clothes are not a necessity, but a nuisance, and where 

 one envies the little brown babies the entire lack of raiment which they 

 enjoy for the first few years of their existence. 



