434 



A NATUBALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Fatnuaba. Indeed, life of all kinds had been exceedingly 

 conspicious by its absence ; save a scarlet Trichoglossus or a 

 cockatoo flying across our path, and a few crows at Erlura, I 

 had seen no birds, and the vegetation since crossing the 

 Ligidoik river had been very poor indeed. A few casuarinas, 

 acacias, gum-trees, and some rough-leaved Gomjpositse being 



the only vegetable forms. The 

 slopes on the other side looked 

 somewhat more tree-dotted, how- 

 ever, but the bare red ground 

 displayed itself over a large part 

 of its area. A few hundred yards 

 from the homestead gate we 

 passed a s2ranary-looking hut in 

 the top of a high tree with a 

 number of bundles dangling from 

 its floor. On inquiring what tliey 

 were, I was surprised to be told 

 that they v.ere dead bodies — 

 folded at the thighs, and wrapped 

 in mats— relatives of the Dato 

 waiting to be buried ! 



Entering through ahigh-barred 

 gateway, we found the homestead 

 to consist of eight or ten well- 

 built houses of a somewhat dif- 

 ferent style of architecture from 

 that prevalent near the coast. 

 Surrounded by a high stone wall 

 surmounted by a cactus hedge, 

 and built on a rocky buttress jut- 

 ting out over a precipitous gorge, 

 it was unapproachable except on 

 the one side by which we entered. When we had settled in the 

 empty guarda to which we were at once conducted by the Dato 

 himself, tiie first civility and token of friendship that passed 

 between the chief and my Hindu guide, as representing me, 

 was the exchange of siri, pinang, and chalk. Each prepared 

 his quantum, and stuffed it into his mouth, but before adding 

 to it the chalk, of which each had taken the proper quantity 



TKEE-HUTS WITH DEAD BODIES SUS- 

 PENDED BELOW. 



