BRITISH BORNEO. 59 
the old Sultan at an audience remove the areca-nut he had 
been masticating and hand it to a small boy, who placed it in 
his mouth and kept it there until the aged monarch again 
required it. 
The clothing of the Brunai Malays is simple and suitable to 
the climate. The one garment common to men, women and 
children is the sarong, which in its general signification means 
a sheath or covering, e.g., the sheath of a sword isa sarong, 
and the envelope enclosing a letter is likewise its sarong. 
The sarong or sheath of the Brunai human being is a piece of 
cotton cloth, of Tartan pattern, sewn down the side and resem- 
bling an ordinary skirt, or petticoat, except that it is not pleated 
or attached to a band at the waist and is, therefore, the same 
width all the way down. It is worn asa petticoat, being 
fastened at the waist sometimes by a belt or girdle, but more 
often the upper part is merely twisted into its own folds. 
Both men and women frequently wear nothing but this gar- 
ment, the men being naked from the waist up, but the women 
generally concealing the breasts by fastening the sarong 
high up under the arms; but for full dress the women 
wear in addition a short sleeved jacket of dark blue cotton 
cloth, reaching to the waist, the tight sleeves being ornamented 
with a row of half-a-dozen jingling buttons, of gold if possible, 
and around hat of plaited pandan (screw-pine) leaves, or of 7- 
pa \eaf completes the Brunai woman’s costume. Nostockings, 
slippers, or shoes are worn. Ladies of rank and wealth substi- 
tute silk and gold brocade for the cotton material used by their 
poorer sisters and, in lieu of a hat, cover their head and the 
greater part of the face witha se/endang, or long scarf of 
gold brocade. They occasionally also wear slippers. The 
gold brocade is a specialty of Brunai manufacture and is very 
handsome, the gold thread being woven in tasteful patterns on 
a ground of yellow, green, red or dark blue silk. The ma- 
terials are obtained from China. The cotton sarongs are 
also woven in Brunai of European cotton twist, but inferior 
and cheap imitations are now imported from Switzerland and 
Manchester. In addition to the sarong, the Brunai man, when 
fully dressed, wears a pair of loose cotton trowsers, tied round 
