ch. v.] Native Trading Parties. 109 



days. When we reached the Datu's village, he gave us 

 a fine goat, which our "boys" promptly slew for 

 dinner, and, being young, it had a delicate mutton-like 

 flavour, and we thought it a great treat after our hard 

 fare. 



A present of a revolver and some cartridges delighted 

 our host; and the next morning, having obtained another 

 boat, and loaded the one we had, we pulled to Pangeran 

 Rau's place, where we hired a pralm, and two days after- 

 wards reached Labuan safely. 



During our journey to and from the mountain, we 

 met occasional parties of natives from the far interior 

 on their trading excursions, the women, as a matter 

 of course, carrying the heaviest loads, while the men 

 carried nothing, save a little food in a bag behind them, 

 and their arms. Some had buffaloes with them. The 

 women, as a class, are strong and healthy, with small 

 hands and feet, and well-proportioned features — indeed, 

 in many cases, the young girls are very pleasing in face 

 and figure, and have lovely black hair, and the brightest 

 of expressive black eyes. Early marriages, childbearing, 

 hard labour, and exposure in the fields, however, soon 

 make shrivelled leather - skinned old hags of them. 

 Their drapery is nothing worth mentioning, and in such 

 a climate but little is required. Their manners are 

 gentle and dignified — often when we met them quite 

 suddenly they showed no surprise, even though they 

 had never seen a white man before. They make affec- 

 tionate wives, and tender mothers — indeed, I never saw 

 a child beaten or chided roughly during my stay in the 

 island. 



In the capital and elsewhere on the coast, young 

 Malay women are almost invariably kept secluded from 

 the gaze of strangers ; but here among these hills inland, 



