172 IN THE SWAMPS 



aly of dirty houses and clean persons, yet the invi- 

 tation offered an exceptional opportunity for 

 nearby study of the native, and I rejoiced to 

 have it. 



Din was good-looking, short and stocky, well put 

 together, with thick nose and lips, and straight 

 black hair. He had been to Singapore a number 

 of times, counted white men among his friends, 

 spoke English fairly well, and was altogether an 

 enlightened Malay. His menage was a very sim- 

 ple yet a very interesting one, and though there 

 were only four rooms I heard scarcely a sound, 

 and never saw anyone but Din and two children— 

 a son of seven or eight and a daughter of fifteen or 

 sixteen. I question if there is a more attractive 

 human thing on earth than a handsome Malay boy. 

 And they remain so through their boyhood, or 

 until their young manhood, at which time for a 

 few lively years of pleasure-seeking they consti- 

 tute the local jeunesse doree. The Malay species 

 of this engaging genus of adolescence is about the 

 swiftest of which I know. The little girls are not 

 so handsome as the boys; but Aboo's young miss 

 was almost pretty with her lighter complexion, 

 small hands and feet, and an ill-concealed ever- 

 present wish, constantly suppressed, to laugh and 

 be gay. Her eyes were those of her brother, only 

 not so luminous, but the arch of her eyebrow was 



