CHAP. XXVIII.] IN A NATIVE PRAU. 163 



mostly young, and were short, broad-faced, good-hnmoured 

 looking fellows. Their dress consisted generally of a pair 

 of trousers only, when at work, and a handkerchief twisted 

 round the head, to which m. the evening they woidd add a 

 thin cotton jacket. Eour of the elder men were "jurumudis," 

 or steersmen, who had to squat (two at a time) in the little 

 steerage before described, changing every six hours. Then 

 there was an old man, the "juragan," or captain, but who 

 was really what we should call the first mate ; he occupied 

 the other half of the little house on deck. There were 

 about ten respectable men, Chinese or Bugis, whom our 

 owner used to call "his own people." He treated them 

 very well, shared his meals with them, and spoke to them 

 always with perfect politeness ; yet they were most of 

 them a kind of slave debtors, bound over by the police 

 magistrate to work for him at mere nominal wages for a 

 term of years till their debts were liquidated. This is a 

 Dutch institution in this part of the world, and seems to 

 work well. It is a great boon to traders, who can do 

 nothing in these thinly-populated regions without trusting 

 goods to agents and petty dealers, who frequently squander 

 them away in gambling and debauchery. The lower 

 classes are almost all in a chronic state of debt. The 

 merchant trusts them again and again, till the amount is 

 something serious, when he brings them to court and has 

 their services allotted to him for its liquidation. The 



M 2 



