118 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



gaged a Malay guide to conduct me to a village near 

 tlie shore, a mile westward toward Semao. Our 

 road was a bridle-path, a few large stones having 

 been removed, but the ragged coral rock everywhere 

 projects so completely through the thin soil, that it 

 was a constant wonder to me how the natives could 

 travel barefoot with such apparent ease. We soon 

 came to half a dozen circular huts, enclosed by a low 

 stone wall. They were the most wretched abodes 

 for human beings that I saw in all my joui'neys over 

 the archipelago. The walls, instead of being made 

 of boards or flattened bamboos, as in the other 

 islands, are composed of small sticks about three feet 

 high, driven into the ground. These supported a 

 conical roof, thatched with palm-leaves. Ugly- 

 looking pigs, with long bristles on their backs, were 

 rooting about these detestable hovels. Soon after, 

 we passed a burial-place. A low wall enclosed a 

 small irregular plat, that was filled with earth. This 

 contained one or more graves, each of which had for 

 its foot and head stones small square pyi^amidal 

 blocks of wood, with the apex fixed in the ground. 

 The next village we entered contained only a dozen 

 huts. A pack of wolf-like dogs saluted us with a 

 fierce yelping and barking, and my attendant, after 

 much shouting and bustle, roused the inmates of one 

 of these miserable dwellings. The men were gone 

 to fish, but the women and children came out to gaze 

 at us, and when their dull apprehensions finally 

 allowed them to realize that we had come to pur- 

 chase shells, and had a good supply of small copper 

 coins, they briskly hunted about, and soon brought 



