House-Hunting. 227 



tiiTth will not permit me to expatiate too admiringly on such 

 topics, determined as I am to give as far as I can a true pic- 

 ture of the people and places I visit. The princesses were, 

 it is true, sufficiently good-looking, yet neither their persons 

 nor their garments had that appearance of freshness and 

 cleanliness without which no other charms can be contem- 

 plated with pleasure. Every thing had a dingy and faded 

 appearance, very disagreeable and unroyal to a European eye. 

 The only thing that excited some degree of admiration was the 

 quiet and dignified manner of the Rajah, and the great respect 

 ahvays paid to him. None can stand er^ct in his presence ; 

 and when he sits on a chair, all present (Eiiroj)eans of course 

 excepted) squat upon the ground. The highest seat is liter- 

 ally, with these peoj)le, the place of honor and the sign of 

 rank. So unbending are the rules in this respect, that when 

 an English carriage which the Rajah of Lombock had sent 

 for arrived, it was found impossible to use it because the 

 driver's seat was the highest, and it had to be kept as a 

 show in its coach-house. On being told the object of my visit, 

 the Rajah at once said that he would order a house to be 

 emptied for me, which would be much better than building 

 one, as that would take a good deal of time. Bad coffee and 

 sweetmeats were given us as before. 



Two days afterward I called on the Rajah to ask him to 

 send a guide with me to show me the house I was to occupy. 

 He immediately ordered a man to be sent for, gave him in- 

 structions, and in a few minutes we were on our way. My 

 conductor could speak no Malay, so we walked on in silence 

 for an hour, when we turned into a pretty good house, and 

 I was asked to sit down. The head-man of the district lived 

 here, and in about half an hour we started again, and another 

 hour's walk brought us to the village where I was to be 

 lodged. We went to the residence of the village chief, who 

 conversed with my conductor for some time. Getting tired, 

 I asked to be shown the house that was prepared for me, 

 but the only reply I could get was, " Wait a little," and the 

 parties went on talking as before. So I told them I could 

 not wait, as I wanted to see the house, and then to go shoot- 

 ing in the forest. This seemed to puzzle them, and at length, 

 in ansAver to questions very poorly explained by one or two 



