262 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



and a small frying-pan ; and tlie little teapot that ac- 

 compajiied me on my Amboina excursions was not 

 left behind. 



October \<6th. — This morning we came out to our 

 forest home. Our house is about eight feet wide, 

 twelve feet long, and perched upon large posts four 

 feet from the ground. It is divided by a transverse 

 partition into a front room or parlor, and a back 

 room or kitchen. In one corner of the latter is a 

 square framework filled with ashes, in which are in- 

 serted three long stones, whose tops slightly incline 

 toward each other. These are to support the ket- 

 tles, for no Malay has ever conceived of a machine 

 for cooking so complicated as a crane. As to a chim- 

 ney, there is none whatever, but the smoke is allowed 

 to escape under the eaves or through a hole in the 

 side of the house that also serves for a window. The 

 frame of the house is made from small trees. For a 

 flooring, broad sheets of bark are used. The walls 

 are made of gaba-gdba^ the dry midribs of large palm- 

 leaves, and the roof is of atap. The front door is in 

 one of the gable ends, and is reached by a rickety 

 ladder of two rounds. This part is transformed into 

 a rude piazza by a shed-roof, beneath which we have 

 made a seat and a kind of table for the hunter to use 

 in skinning birds. 



My daily routine here is the same as before — 

 hunting every morning and evening, with a native 

 to carry my ammunition and to pick up the birds — 

 a very difficult task whenever we are in the thick 

 jungle or among the tall grass. Near our house is 

 the stony bed of a torrent, which is now perfectly 



