264 TRAVELS IX TUE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



of it at one corner of oui' liouse is now filled with 

 fruit of all sizes ; some small and green, and some 

 fully grown and showing it is already ripe by its 

 bright-j^ink color. In this condition the Malays 

 gather and dry it, and always carry a good supply 

 wherever they go. Its Malay name is hrnboh^ but 

 the one more generally used is the Javanese name 

 cliabe. Besides chickens, we have paddy, that is, rice 

 in the husk. A large elliptical hole is made in a log 

 for a mortar, a small quantity of paddy is then poured 

 in and pounded with a stick five or six feet long, and 

 as large round as a man's arm. This is raised verti- 

 cally, and, when the hole is nearly even full, a native 

 will usually pound oif all the husks without scatter- 

 ing more than a few grains on the gi'ound ; but, if a 

 foreigner attemj)ts it, he will be surprised to see how 

 the rice will fly off in all directions at ev^ery blow. 

 When the husks are pounded off they are separated 

 from the kernels by being tossed up fr"om a shallow 

 basket and carried away by the wind, as our farmers 

 used to winnow gi^ain. This is the only mode of pre- 

 paring rice practised by the Malays, and the process 

 is the same in every part of the archipelago. From 

 one corner of oui' piazza hangs a large bunch of green 

 bananas to rij^en in the sunshine. I find it very 

 agreeable to pluck off a nice ripe one myself when I 

 come in weary and thii-sty from a long hunt. From 

 the other corner hangs a cluster of cocoa-nuts filled 

 with clear, cool, refreshing Avater. 



Not far from us is a hut inhabited by two na- 

 tives, who are engaged in cultivating tol)acco. Theii* 

 ladangs^ or gardens, are merely places of an acre or 



