BASHEE WEDDING. 287 



formavit," as Rumphius would observe, and their fingers 

 the knives and forks. After cramming their bodies with 

 this, to us, indigestible collation, they adjourned to the 

 dancing-room, a large shed-like building, where, to the 

 sound of a fiddle, the only one in the island, they 

 achieved a variety of extraordinary dances, not generally 

 known among the " Corps de ballet," or others learned 

 in the Terpsichorean mysteries. I had the honour of 

 leading off the first set with the bride, and our perform- 

 ance appeared to give universal satisfaction ; and soon 

 the noise, chattering, and merriment would have done 

 honour to a Christmas party in the rural parts of our own 

 dear " Merrie England." 



When a person is dangerously sick, and not likely to 

 recover, his friends all leave him, and the house is care- 

 fully closed ; the same custom prevails when a woman is 

 in the pains of labour. Should the person die, a large 

 pig is killed, and placed by the side of the deceased, and 

 eating and drinking take place among the friends and 

 neighbours, who assemble together for the express pur- 

 pose ; the whole proceeding reminding one exactly of an 

 Irish wake, with the exception, perhaps, that the 

 " Keeners " are not quite so accomplished and noisy.* 



At the village of St. Carlo, in Batan, the evening ex- 

 hibition of the magic-lanthorn gave great satisfaction to 



* Marsden, in his ' History of Sumatra ', alludes to a similar 

 practice among the natives of that island. Referring to their funeral 

 rites, he observes : " On this occasion, they kill, and feast on a Bxiff'alo, 

 and leave the head to decay on the spot, as a token of the honour they 

 have done to the deceased, in eating to his memory ;" and again, " the 

 women who attend the funeral make a hideous noise not unlike the 

 Irish howl." 



