Ohtuseness of the Natives. — Climatic Peculiarities. 57 



'' hliie^^'' and in order to make more intelligible what was 

 required, a variety of objects of a blue colour were pointed out, 

 they almost invariably named the object itself, and not the 

 colour. Or again, one wanted to know what they called 

 " leaf in their language, and indicated the leaf of a tree 

 standing near; the native, however, replies by giving the 

 name of the tree itself., instead of the word expressing leaf. 

 It seems to us not unimportant to call attention to this cir- 

 cumstance, in order more completely to lay before the reader 

 the great and manifold obstacles which present themselves 

 in drawing up vocabularies of the languages of half-savage 

 races, and thus more readily secure indulgence for the dis- 

 crepancies which are frequently to be met with in such 

 works.* 



Bing-Hong invited us to pay him a visit on board his vessel, 

 which had already been lying for several months at anchor 

 in Nangkauri harbour, taking in a cargo of ripe cocoa-nuts, 

 of which a Picul, or 133 J pounds, is worth in the Pulo-Penang 

 market b\ American dollars (£1 35. sterling). This hospit- 

 able Chinese informed us it was at the period of our visit the 

 least unhealthy season in Nangkauri harbour : that as soon as 

 the S.W. monsoon sets in, all foreign ships hurry away, 

 through dread of the illnesses that follow in its track. How- 

 ever, feverish attacks are of daily occurrence throughout the 



* This vocabulary, which probably wall not be found altogether valueless for the 

 purposes of comparative philology, as also for the assistance of future travellers, will 

 appear at the end of this volume as an Appendix. 



