VII.] 



NATIVE HOUSES. 



135 



rudely painted in dull red. The houses were raised on piles, 

 according to the invariable custom, but, owing to the space below 

 the flooring being enclosed by bamboo fencing or mats, they had a 

 more solid appearance than the usual style of dwellings to which 

 the Eastern traveller is accustomed. Almost all were roofed with 

 beautiful neatness by tiles made from split bamboo ; little slips 

 raised from the under surface sufficing to hang them on. 



At a shady corner a little market was going on. There were 



A SUMBAWAN HOUSE. 



barely half a dozen vendors, and one of them, to our great astonish- 

 ment, we found to be an old Swaliili woman, a type that, though 

 familiar enough to us at Zanzibar, seemed incongruous in Malaysia. 

 Many of the people were importations, and though the inevitable 

 Chinaman was absent, there were Banjermassin men, Buginese 

 from Celebes, and even Klings. The marketables were chiefly 

 dried fish, bananas, and tobacco. The greater part of the latter 

 comes from Lombok, and is excellent in quality and well cut. 

 That grown on the island would no doubt be equally good if 

 properly cured, but the natives apparently did not know how to 

 prepare it. A few common Chinese and even English plates and 



