IN JAVA. 61 



" Trassi? What is tra&si, in the name of goodness ! " 



" Good for eating, master ; — in stew." 



" Have I been eating it ? " 



" Certainly, master ; it is most excellent (enak sehali)." 



" You born fool ! Do you wish to poison me and to die 

 yourself? " 



" May I have a goitre (dailc gondoh), master, but it is excel- 

 lent ! " he asseverated, taking hold of the foreskin of his throat, 

 by the same token that a countryman at home would sweoi-, 

 " As sure's Death ! " 



Notwithstanding these vehement assurances, I made it dis- 

 appear in the depths of the jungle, to the horror of the boy, 

 who looked wistfully after it, and would have fetched it back, 

 had I not threatened him with the direst penalties if I dis- 

 covered any such putridity in my house again. I had then to 

 learn that in every dish, native or European, that I had eaten 

 since my arrival in the East, this Extract of Decomposition 

 was mixed as a spice, and it would have been difficult to 

 convince myself that I would come by-and-bye knowingly to 

 eat it daily without the slightest abhorrence. Dampier, who 

 mentions it in his ' Voyage,' seems to have formed his acquaint- 

 ance with it in a more philosophic spirit, for he describes it in 

 thesa terms : — " As a composition of a strong savour, yet a 

 verv delightsom dish to the natives. To make it they throw 

 a mixture of shrimps and small fish into a sort of weak pickle 

 made with salt and water, and put into a tight earthen vessel. 

 The pickle being thus weak, it keeps not the fish firm and 

 hard, neither is it probably so designed, for the fish are never 

 gutied. Therefore in a short time they turn all to a mash in 

 the vessel ; and when they have lain thus a good while so that 

 the fish is reduced to pulp, they then draw off the liquor into 

 fresh jars and preserve it for use. The masht fish that remains 

 behind is called Trassi. 'Tis rank scented ; yet the taste is 

 not altogether unpleasant, but rather savoury after one is a 

 little used to it." 



One of the most terrible scourges of the island, and for which 

 no remedy seems possible, is the spread everywhere of a species 

 of tall, slender cane — useless for fodder and good only for thatch, 

 —which the natives call alang-alang. Every spot unoccupied 

 by forest, falls a prey to it ; and when once it gets the upper 

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