404 VISIT TO THE RAJAH. 



ceous, the former evidently requires some pro- 

 tection. 



One morning (having previously received a 

 general invitation) I visited the rajah at his 

 habitation : the situation was an extensive plot 

 of ground, containing numerous houses in the 

 usual Malay style of building, being the resi- 

 dences of the rajah, his wives, and attendants ; 

 the whole enclosed by lofty waving bamboos, 

 forming a close and impenetrable fence ; and the 

 interior planted with a number of fruit trees and 

 flowering shrubs. The entrance was by a gate- 

 way, over which was a small room, in which his 

 highness receives visitors, or wiles away a leisure 

 hour in smoking, talking, or sleeping. I ascended 

 to it by a bamboo ladder, and found myself in a 

 cool but dirty room, containing a small bed, over 

 which a mat was laid ; the curtains about it 

 seemed to have remained in ignorance, since 

 they came from the loom, of the application of 

 water. Some carved boxes, (one of which served 

 me for a seat,) a native shield, and a few other 

 trumpery articles, constituted the furniture of the 

 apartment. And here I was received in a cor- 

 dial manner by the rajah. 



His highness was attired in a common Madras 

 cloth sarong and sandalong, which, like the cur- 

 tains, seemed never to have undergone ablution ; 



