212 JIN ABU FINDS 



for me to hunt the interior country, which he in- 

 fluenced not at all, and of which he knew nothing, 

 provided I presented him one tusk of every ele- 

 phant I shot. Sovereignty over the interior, 

 where none venture, not even the Dutch, is a little 

 pleasantry with which the Controller tickles the 

 amour propre of the Sultan and that of the com- 

 manding general of his standing army. But the 

 Dutch pay well for their little joke; they give the 

 Sultan $16,000 (silver) a month, which enables 

 his Royal Highness periodically to enrich Singa- 

 pore shopkeepers ; and to hang more brass chains 

 on his waistcoats than he ever dreamed could be 

 found in all the world— before the Dutch came to 

 Siak. 



A bundle of red tape enveloped my preparations 

 for the trip. The Dutch do not hunt; no other 

 white man had visited that section ; and the natives 

 have neither liking nor skill for the game. So 

 there was a great how-to-do before I got away. 

 First, the pow-wow with the Sultan; then, at his 

 instigation, consultations with many old natives, 

 who had never strayed from the waterway thor- 

 oughfares; and finally a formal dinner given by 

 the Controller, that his staff en masse might give 

 me the benefit of their advice, which, considering 

 that the most daring among them had never gone 

 fifty miles from the fort towards the interior, was 



