/.V JAVA. 61 



" Trassi? What is trassi, in the name of goodness ! " 

 " Good for eatinf^, master : — in stew. 



*^ Have I been eatinrj it ? '' 



(euaJc 



II 



You born fool! Do you wish to poison mo and to dio 

 yourself?" 



*' May I have a goitre {daih gondoh), master, but it is excel- 

 lent ! " he asseverated, taking hold of the foreskin of Ins throat, 

 by the same token that a countryman at liome would swear, 

 ''As sures Death / " 



Notwithstanding these vehement assurances, I made it dis- 

 appear in the depths of the jungle, to the horror of the boy, 

 who looked wistfully after it, and would have fetched it back, 

 had I not threatened him with the direst penalties if I dis- 

 covered any such putridity in my house again,- I had then to 

 learn that in every dish, native or European, that I had eaten 

 since my arrival in the East, this Extract of Decomposition 

 was mixed as a spice, and it would have been difficult to 

 convince myself that I would come by-and-bye knowingly to 

 eat it daily without the slightest abhorrence. Dampicr, \\\\o 

 mentions it in his ' Voyage,' seems to have formed his acquaint- 

 ance with it in a more phiiosopliic spirit, for he describes it in 

 thes3 terms : — " As a composition of a strong savour, yet a 

 very delightsom dish to the natives. To make it they throw 

 a mixture of shrimps and small fish into a sort of weak pickle 

 •made with salt and water, and put into a tight earthen vessel. 

 The pickle being thus ^eak, it keeps not the fish firm and 

 hard, neither is it probably so designed, for the fish arc never 

 gutied. Therefore in a short time they turn all to a mash in 

 the vessel ; and when they have lain thus a good while so tliat 

 the fish is reduced to pulp, they then draw off the lirpior into 

 fresh jars and preserve it for use. Themasht fish tliat remaiiis 

 behind is called Trassi. 'Tis rank scented ; yet the taste is 

 not altogether unpleasant, but ratlier savoury after one is a 



little used to it. 



One of the most terrible scourges of the island, and for which 

 no remedy seems possible, is the spread everywhere of a species 

 of tall, slender cane— useless for fodder and good only for thatch, 



J» 



which the natives call alang-alang. 



d 



by forest, falls a prey to it ; and when once it gets the upper 



Q 



