50 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. 



modelled, being fastened together with stout wooden 

 pegs. After our men had cooked their rice and fish, we 

 again started up the river for Meringit, a Kadyan settle- 

 ment at the head of the Meropok branch ; but owing to 

 the strong current coming down, we did not reach the 

 place until after dark, and, as before remarked, in a 

 drenching thunder-storm. It was so dark that our men 

 could not find the proper landing-place, and having 

 ourselves just left a fairly lighted boat, we could not see 

 a yard ahead in the blinding rain, and so we were soon 

 drenched as we floundered along up to our knees in the 

 soft mud of the river bank. At last two boys came down 

 from the houses in answer to the shouts of our boatmen, 

 and under their guidance we reached dry quarters after a 

 few stumbles over logs and through the long grass. Our 

 first care was to throw off our wet things and get on dry 

 ones, after a rub with a dry towel, and we then ate our 

 dinner, surrounded by most of the swarthy-skinned vil- 

 lagers, who flocked in to look at us. Afterwards it 

 cleared up a bit, and hearing music in a neighbouring 

 house, we adjourned thereto, and found a few of the 

 young men and women enjoying themselves. Their in- 

 struments consisted of a native-made violin on a Euro- 

 pean model, a curious kind of native banjo made of a 

 single joint of a large bamboo, a triangle, or its music 

 rather, being represented by two or three steel hatchet 

 heads, which were laid across laths on the floor, and 

 beaten in time with a bit of iron. The music so pro- 

 duced was of a rather melancholy description, and one 

 or two of the girls and boys danced a little, a mat being 

 spread for the purpose ; but their dancing is merely 

 shuffling about in a more or less slow and stately manner, 

 a singular effect being produced by the graceful way in 

 which the arms are waved about in all directions. This 



