198 . The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. x. 



Thanking him for his invitation to us to visit him at 

 the Istana, which he had again repeated, we bade him 

 him adieu, and returned towards Meimbong, well pleased 

 with our day's adventures. The Sultan and his suite 

 rode towards the Istana, but his son, before alluded to, 

 accompanied us with a posse of his young followers. 

 "When we reached the arable plain near the market-place, 

 we came upon another group of hunters, and nothing 

 would please the young rascal but that I and Mr. Cowie 

 should try some of his father's horses. They are beau- 

 tiful creatures of the Sulu breed, but with a little of the 

 Arab blood added. They are never shod, and in picking 

 their way among rocks or fallen trunks of trees they are 

 as sure-footed as a goat. We had some capital racing. 

 The Sulu saddles are of wood, very small, with high 

 wooden pommels, resembling those of a cavalry saddle. 

 The stirrups are represented by a woven hemp riband four 

 feet long and about an inch wide, with a loop at each end, 

 through which the big toe of the rider is inserted. This 

 riband passes through an opening over the top of the 

 saddle, and is not fixed, but slides backwards and for- 

 wards according to the pressure brought to bear on it by 

 the rider. Of course, I could not ride on one of these 

 little saddles with sliding stirrups, so I had them taken 

 off and returned to my boyish practice of bare-backed 

 riding. These ponies had been out hunting all day and 

 yet showed no traces of fatigue, indeed they flew over 

 the dry clods at full speed and evidently were quite 

 used to racing appearing to enjoy it as much as we did 

 ourselves. 



After this sport was concluded we returned on board 

 to dinner, after having stopped for a few minutes at the 

 ford near the market to get a bath in the stream, which is 

 here as clear and sparkling as a Derbyshire brook. This 



