530 TRAVELS IX THE EAST INDIAX ARCniPELAGO. 



formed me tliat we had amved at Palembane, and 

 that a sister of one of the officials had lately been 

 married, and her brother was celebrating the happy 

 occasion by giving a grand " feast," or, as we should 

 say, a ball. 



The bright light, the enlivening music, and the 

 constant hum of haj^py voices, instantly banished all 

 possibility of my entertaining the thought of remaining 

 for the night in my dark, naiTOW cabin ; and at once, 

 with no other light whatever than that reflected on 

 the water from the bright ballroom, I prepared my- 

 self to meet the Resident in full dress. He was 

 greatly sui-prised to see me at such a late hour, but 

 received me in a most cordial manner, and at once 

 commenced introducing me to the host and hostess, 

 the bride and bridegroom, and all the assembled 

 guests. The chills and burning fever, fi'om which I 

 had been suffering, vanished, and in a moment I 

 found myself transferred from a real jiurgatory into 

 a j)erfect paradise. 



Palembang occupies both banks of the Musi for 

 four or five miles, but there are only three or four 

 rows of houses on each bank. Many of these houses 

 were built on bamboo rafts, and, when the tide is 

 high, the city seems to be built on a plain, but at low 

 water it appears to be built in a valley. The tide 

 here usually rises and falls nine or ten feet, but in 

 spring fourteen feet. This is the greatest rise and 

 fall that I have seen in the archipelago. It is said 

 that in the river Rakan, which empties into the Strait 

 of Malacca, at spring tides the water comes in with a 

 bore and rises thirty feet. The principal part of Pa- 



