140 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



tip of their abdomens. AVhen it settles on the ground, it is 

 difficult to see, as it vibrates in constant motion its tail and 

 wings, so that a mere haze, as it were, exists where it rests. 



Emerging from this forest, I found myself in Tiohmomon, 

 a typical Lampong village, in a district which had been in- 

 habited for many generations. The houses were all substan- 

 tially built of planks, with, in many cases, carved decorations 

 on the cross beams, and painted designs on the intermediate 

 panels. 



The Balai is the most — we might almost say the only — 

 peculiar and characteristic institution of the Lampongers. It 

 is always the largest and most prominent edifice in the village, 

 situated apart from all others, and in the most central position. 

 It stands eight or ten feet from the ground, on massive pillars 

 formed of great tree-stems, and is built generally of planks 

 of wood, or of bamboo wicker-work. It is evident that 

 much labour has been bestowed on it, for, as a rule, it indi- 

 cates the highest available workmanship, as it is the result of 

 the combined labour of the whole community. It is lofty, 

 and roofed either with thatch of grass or rattan-palm leaves, 

 or covered with wood or bamboo "slates," according to the 

 fashion of roofing in vogue in the village. It is fairly well 

 lighted, but the light, as a rule, is admitted only by the 

 latticed gables, and by long slits and small windows a few 

 feet above the. level of the floor, more suitable, of course, 

 to the squatting native than to a European sitting on a chair. 

 Two doors, reached by strong bamboo ladders, or well-made 

 wooden stairs, and situated one at each end of the buildinff, 

 either in the gables or in the sides, afford ingress and egress. 

 At one end within a small inclosure is a cooking place — a 

 deep layer of earth on which the fire rests. 



The Balai is in reality the town-hall of the Lamponger. It 

 is the common property of every man, woman, and child in 

 the village. In Mahomedan lands a man's house is sacred ; 

 for a man rarely enters the dwelling of his neighbour, and never 

 without the head of the house ; but the Balai is the assembly- 

 room — the meeting place for all. Its doors staiid ever open. 

 All business is transacted under its roof ; all hitjaras (consul- 

 tations and discussions) are held there. At whatever hour 

 one enters, its most characteristic occupants, lazy, sleeping 



