THE PUBLIC BOATS. 405 



gown; the Arab merchant, in his flowing robes, or 

 the Javanese gentleman, or gentleman's servant, in 

 smart jacket and trowsers, sash, and sarong or 

 petticoat, a curious penthouse-like hat or shade, 

 and a strange-handled kriss stuck in his girdle. It 

 was a novel and exciting scene, but, used as we had 

 been lately to quiet and seclusion, rather bewilder- 

 ing, and we were glad about eight o'clock to retreat 

 to the hotel, and thence to take boat and get on 

 board the ship. In going down the canal we were 

 stopped at the boom to say who we were, and to 

 pay two fanams, or about 2fc/. This was said 

 to be a regulation adopted for the security of pas- 

 sengers, as in former times men going on board ship 

 at night had been taken by native boatmen into the 

 strait, and never heard of again. Now each of 

 these boats is numbered and licensed, and the head 

 man of each known. Both the boat and head man 

 of it (owner or hirer, as the case may be) are called 

 " tambangan," but which took the name from the 

 other I cannot tell. The two fanams are exacted 

 from each boat going outwards after 6 p.m. The 

 three following days I employed in rambling about 

 the town and neighbourhood. The country around 

 is flat and marshy, and intersected by large ditches 

 or drains. It is cultivated with rice, Indian corn, 

 and sugar-cane. The roads are good — raised gene- 

 rally about four or five feet above the level of the 

 fields, and lined with rows of trees, that sometimes 

 arch completely overhead. There were several 



