Preparations for Leaving. -iSS 



gorgeous color in clusters and festoons overhead, about which 

 flocks of blue and orange lories were fluttering and screaming. 



A good many people died at Dobbo this season ; I believe 

 about twenty. They were buried in a little grove of Casu- 

 arinas behind my house. Among the ti'aders was a Moham- 

 medan priest, who superintended the funerals, which were 

 very simple. The body was wrapped up in new white cot- 

 ten cloth, and was carried on a bier to the grave. All the 

 spectators sat down on the ground, and the priest chanted 

 some verses from the Koran. The graves were fenced round 

 with a slight bamboo railing, and a little carved wooden 

 head-post was put to mark the spot. There was also in the 

 village a small mosque, where every Friday the faithful Avent 

 to pray. This is probably more remote from Mecca than any 

 other mosque in the world, and marks the furthest eastern ex- 

 tension of the Mohammedan religion. The Chinese here, as 

 elsewhere, showed their superior wealth and civilization by 

 tombstones of solid granite brought from Singajjore, with 

 deeply cut inscriptions, the characters of which are painted 

 in red, blue, and gold. No people have more respect for the 

 graves of their relations and friends than this strange, ubi- 

 quitous, money-getting people. 



Soon after w^e had returned to Dobbo, my Macassar boy, 

 Baderoon, took his wages and left me, because I scolded him 

 for laziness. He then occupied himself in gambling, and at 

 first had some luck, and bought ornaments, and had plenty of 

 money. Then his luck turned ; Tie lost every thing, borrow- 

 ed money and lost that, and was obliged to become the slave 

 of his creditor till he had worked out the debt. He was a 

 quick and active lad when he pleased, but was apt to be idie, 

 and had such an incorrigible propensity for gambling, that it 

 will very likely lead to his becoming a slave for life. 



The end of June was now approaching, the east monsoon 

 had set in steadily, and in another week or two Dobbo would 

 be deserted. Preparations for departui'e were everywhere 

 visible, and every sunny day (rather rare now) the streets 

 were as crowded and as busy as beehives. Heaps of tripang 

 were finally dried and packed up in sacks ; mother-of-iaearl 

 shells, tied up with rattans into convenient bundles, was all 

 day long being carried to the beach to be loaded; water- 



