TALISSE ISLAND 67 



times, wliat a simple remedy will do for them, and how 

 quickly their skin will heal when wounded. I remember 

 on one occasion a man came to me whose legs were nearly 

 covered with large vicious-looking ulcers. He was ex- 

 tremely dirty, and the wounds had been seriously u-ritated 

 by flies and mosquitoes. I first of aU sent him to the 

 ' panchuran ' to wash himself, and then I covered the sores 

 with strips of rag soaked in a weak solution of carbolic acid. 

 On the following morning the ulcers were nicely granulating, 

 and two days later he went to work again, and troubled me 

 no more. As this man was exceptionally dirty when he 

 came to me, I ought, in justice to the Minahassers, to notify 

 the fact that he was Sangii-ese. I never saw or heard of 

 such a case amongst the Minahassers, partly because they 

 are accustomed to a more plentiful supply of wholesome 

 and nourishing food, and partly because they are more 

 cleanly and particular in their habits. 



The natives often suffer terribly from large boils, but 

 they come and disappear again in a day or two. 



The house in which I hved after leaviug the opzichter's 

 was raised above the level of the ground about four feet 

 feix Laches on pUes. The piles and framework were of some 

 kiad of hard wood, probably the Eusideroxylon Zwarieri, 

 the famous ' beUan ' iron-wood of commerce ; the walls and 

 doors were made of a plait-work of young split bamboos, 

 suspended on frames of thicker bamboos or other wood. 

 This was sufficient to make the rooms quite dark in 

 the daytime, but it would have been but little protection 

 against draughts, if there had been any in the island to be 

 avoided. It was quite possible to pry into the house through 

 the interstices of this bamboo plait-work; and at night, 

 when the rooms were illuminated with oil-lamps, it looked 

 from outside not unHke a large hamper. The floor was 

 made of strips of Arenga wood, tied together by an iU- 



F 2 



