294 A NATURALIST'S WANDEBINGS 



liis own, and it was curious to observe the surprised air of the 

 people as they roused themselves to watch our installation. 



Though built of stone in the European style, our new 

 abode with its damp sand-floor, is not to be compared for 

 comfort with a bamboo pile-hut. It has one splendid acces- 

 sory in a large batli-house erected in a secluded spot over 

 a stream widened out and enclosed where it issues from the 

 base of the Silahutu mountain, and above where the villagers 

 are permitted to use it. 



. Sundmj, Maij 28i7l Strolled out together in the early morn- 

 ing by the shady paths of the neighbouring forest, and back to 



y 



the village along the bay whose charming view never ceases 

 to afford us unmixed delight, and on whose beach the east 

 wind, now begun to blow roughly, has been throwing a wealth 

 of sponges, hydroids, and shells among which there is always 

 something new^ to us, and where we spend many hours of our 

 walks in watching the painted fields of shore crabs (Gelasi- 

 mi(s) with their richly coloured pincer limbs and carapace 

 the restless chattering Flycatchers (^Myiagra gcileata) and 

 the sedate Kingfishers on the 3Iangroves w^atching for little 

 Crustacea, and those curious fishes {PeriopJifJtahnus) that hop 



along the shore out of the water in such an odd w ay. 



The village is laid out in rectangular plots fenced in by 

 StrohilantJies hedges, in Avhich are set the gated entrances to 

 garden-fronted houses. The streets, lined with oA'erarching 

 trees, are margined along their water conduits by borders 

 of pink crocus-like plants. One of its chief edifices is the 

 Greclja^ whose grandeur quite overwhelmed us; for it is far 

 more elaborately decorated than many a rural parish church 

 at home. The area of the bnildinjr is set with caue-bottomed 

 chairs instead of fixed pews ; but on one side, raised a few feet 

 above the floor, a large, canopied, elaborately carved and 

 richly gilded suite of seats, emblazoned in front with a coat of 

 arms (!), is reserved for the rajah and his family. The pulpit 

 is also much carved and gilded, and the church altogether is 



tastefully fitted and abundantly lighted with petroleum lamps. 

 The services are conducted in High Malay by a European 

 missionary, and in his absence by the Guru or native school- 

 master, who with moderate regularity instructs the children 

 five days a week. Amboinese rajahs keej^ no state, and wear 



