38 BATCHIAN. [chap. xxiv. 



accompanied me to visit the Sultan. We were kept wait- 

 ing a few minutes in an outer gate-house, and then ushered 

 to the door of a rude, half-fortified whitewashed house. A 

 small table and three chairs were placed in a large outer 

 corridor, and an old dirty-faced man with grey hair and a 

 grimy beard, dressed in a speckled blue cotton jacket and 

 loose red trousers, came forward, shook hands, and asked 

 me to be seated. After a quarter of an hour's conversation 

 on my pursuits, in which his Majesty, seemed to take great 

 interest, tea and cakes — of rather better quality than usual 

 on such occasions — were brought in. 1 thanked him for 

 the house, and offered to show him my collections, which 

 he promised to come and look at. He then asked me to 

 teach him to take views — to make maps — to get him a 

 small gun from England, and a milch-goat from Bengal ; 

 all of which requests I evaded as skilfully as I was able, 

 and we parted very good friends. He seemed a sensible 

 old man, and lamented the small population of the island, 

 which he assured me was rich in many valuable minerals, 

 including gold ; but there were not people enough to look 

 after them and work them. I described to him the great 

 rush of population on the discovery of the Australian 

 gold mines, and the huge nuggets found there, with which 

 he was much interested, and exclaimed, " Oh ! if we had 

 but people like that, my country would be quite as rich ! " 

 The morning after I had got into my new house, I sent 



