Universal Custom of SmoJcing. — Joss- Sticks. 341 



they presented him with some provisions and some bottles 

 of claret, which filled the worthy gentleman with delight, 

 and seemed completely to reconcile him to the " Estranjeros." 

 Some of the members of our Expedition also visited the two 

 villages of Jalla-jalla and Binangonan, lying close to the 

 shore of the lake, places of great interest in a geographical 

 sense, while the remainder of the party retm-ned to Manila 

 in the same way they had come. Unfortunately throughout 

 the entire distance the rain fell worse than ever. It never 

 ceased pouring in deluges, so that for hours together we 

 could not get upon deck, but had to remain below in the 

 small bleak, comfortless cabin. Here there was nothing for it 

 but to wile away the time as best we might. We talked 

 " de omnibus rebus ^ et quibusdani aliisj''' we laughed, we sang, 

 and we — smoked, a habit, be it remarked incidentally, so 

 constant and universal here, that the Pebete with its glowing 

 top is constantly cii'culating from hand to hand. This is a 

 sort of tinder in the shape of small thin rods, a cubit long, 

 which is prepared in China from a mixture of fine dried saw- 

 dust, fir, and clay, and forms a by no means insignificant 

 article of commerce, the greater part coming from Macao.* 

 A chest of eight cubic feet, filled with Pebete or ''joss-sticks," 

 as the English call this tinder, the use of which pervades the 

 entire Malay Archipelago as far as Madras, costs from IO5. 

 to I65. M. sterling. 



* These joss-sticks, by the Chinese called "shi-shin-hiang," burn, when lighted, 

 so slowly and regularly, that the Chinese often use them to mark the divisions of time. 



