248 Voyage of the Novara. 



ally chewing tobacco, this filthy habit produces disgustingly 

 loathsome stains. 



On the same hill which boasts the tomb of Sheikh Joseph, 

 there are also, in ground that is common property, nine other 

 graves of eminent Malays, enclosed with carefully-selected 

 stones, and likewise covered over with large broad strips of 

 bleached linen cloth, protected by stones from any injury by 

 weather or violence. At the head and foot of each individual 

 interred, is a single stone of larger size. Formerly the black 

 inhabitants of the neighbourhood made use of this store of 

 linen cloth to make shirts for themselves, without further 

 thought upon the propriety of the matter. Latterly, however, 

 a shrewd Malay priest spread a report that one of these 

 ebony linen stealers had lost all the fingers off one hand, 

 since which the graves of those departed worthies remain 

 inviolate and unprofaned. 



At the foot of the hill are some small half-fallen-in build- 

 ings, near a large hall, painted white, red, and yellow, con- 

 sisting of a small apartment and a kitchen, the whole in a 

 most dirty, neglected, and desolate condition. At this point 

 the Moslems must have accomplished certain prayers, before 

 they can climb the hill and proceed to visit the tomb. Over 

 the door of this singular house of prayer some words are 

 likewise engraved in the Arabic character, which, how^ever, 

 are now entirely illegible. 



On quitting the Malay Krammat, we next undertook a toler- 

 ablv difficult walk to the Downs or sand-dunes, which at this 



