JEWELS FROM THE HEADS OF WILD BOARS. 151 



that I would be greatly obliged to liim if lie could 

 show me such rare wonders, being careful not to add, 

 that possibly I should like to purchase one or more ; 

 for I had a strong susj^icion that the rajah had offered 

 to give him all over a certain sum that I might pay 

 for them, if he could induce me to purchase them. 

 In these Eastern lands, when you send a servant to 

 buy any thing, you have the unpleasant certainty 

 in your mind, that a large part of " the price " will 

 certainly lodge in his pocket ; however, if you go to 

 purchase yourself, such exorbitant prices will be de- 

 manded, that you will either come away without the 

 article you need, or have the unpleasant reflection 

 afterward that you have been cheated worse than if 

 you had sent your servant and allowed him to levy 

 his black-mail. 



As I had anticipated, the rajah was not loath to 

 show me his treasures. They were merely half a dozen 

 glass rings, evidently made by cutting off a j^iece of a 

 glass rod nine or ten inches long, and half an inch in 

 diameter. This piece, having been heated, was bent 

 into a ring and the two ends united by fusion. In- 

 stead of expressing surprise and delight, as all who 

 were looking on seemed to expect, I coolly began ex- 

 plaining to the rajah what they were and how they 

 were made. A look of surprise and incredulity ap- 

 peared on the faces of all, and the rajah at once, in a 

 most solemn manner, averred that so far fi*om their 

 being the work of man, they had been taken out of 

 the heads of snakes and wild boars! Despite the 

 dignified bearing the occasion was supposed to de- 

 mand, I could not refrain from a smile as I remarked 



