434 



A NATUnALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Fatuuaba. Indeed, life of all kinds had been exceedinoflv 

 conripicious by its absence ; save a scarlet Triclioglossus or a 

 cockatoo flying across our path, and a few crows at Erlura, I 



had 



seen no 



birds, and the vegetation since crossing 



the 



Ligidoik river had been very poor indeed. A few casuarinas, 



acacias, gnm-trees, and some rougli-leaved Comjyositie bein 



(r 



the only vegetable forms. The 

 slopes on the other side looked 

 somewhat more tree-dotted, how- 

 ever, but the bare red ground 

 displayed itself over a large part 

 of its area. A few hundred yards 

 from the homestead gate we 

 passed a jzranary-looking hut in 

 the top of a 



hi^ih tree with 



a 



number of bundles dan^linp^ from 

 its floor. On inquiring what they 

 were, I was surprised to be told 

 that they v/ere dead bodies 

 folded at the thighs, and wrapped 

 in mats— relatives of the Date 

 waitin!:; to be buried! 



Entering through a high-barred 

 gateway, we found the homestead 

 to consist of eight or ten well- 

 built houses of a somewhat dif- 

 ferent style of architecture from 

 that prevalent near the coast. 

 Surrounded by a high stone wall 

 surmounted by a cactus hedge, 

 and built on a rocky buttress jut- 

 ting out over a precipitous gorge, 

 it was unapproachable except on 

 the one side by which we entered. When we had settled in the 

 empty guarda to which we were at once conducted by tlie Date 

 himself, tiie first civility and token of friendship that passed 

 between the chief and my Hindu guide, as representing me, 

 was the exchange of siri, pinang, and chalk. Each prepared 

 his quantum, and stuffed it into his mouth, but before addin 

 to it the chalk, of which each had taken the proper quantity 



TKEE-HVTS M-ITII DEAD BODIES SUS- 

 PENDED BELOW. 





