262 LOMBOCK. [chap. xi. 



admiration, and many questions were asked about personal 

 peculiarities which it is not the custom to allude to in 

 European society. At length, about one in the morning, 

 the whole party rose to depart, and, after conversing some 

 time at the gate, all went away. We now begged the 

 interpreter, who with a few boys and men remained about 

 us, to show us a place to sleep in, at which he seemed very 

 much surprised, saying he thought we were very well 

 accommodated where we were. It was quite chilly, and 

 we were very thinly clad and had brought no blankets, but 

 all we could get after another hour's talk was a native mat 

 and pillow, and a few old curtains to hang round three 

 sides of the open shed and protect us a little from the cold 

 breeze. We passed the rest of the night very uncomfort- 

 ably, and determined to return in the morning and not 

 submit any longer to such shabby treatment. 



We rose at daybreak, but it was near an hour before 

 the interpreter made his appearance. We then asked to 

 have some coffee and to see the Pumbuckle, as we wanted 

 a horse for Ali, who was lame, and wished to bid him 

 adieu. The man looked puzzled at such unheard-of 

 demands and vanished into the inner court, locking the 

 door behind him and leaving us again to our meditations. 

 An hour passed and no one came, so I ordered the horses 

 to be saddled and the pack-horse to be loaded, and pre- 

 pared to start. Just then the interpreter came up on horse- 



