A JOURNEY ON FOOT TO THE PATANI FRONTIER. 49 
less drowsy than the non-smoker, but morning finds him a very poor 
creature. Sayyid Maumvp was no exception to this rule. Noone 
was stirring at the chief’s house when we reached Kuala Ken- 
drong, and when at length he appeared he was shaky and unstrung. 
We visited the house which had harboured Maharaja Lena and 
which he had so suddenly vacated a few days before. It was a 
much better dwelling than my hut at Kampong Padang, and if I 
had contemplated remaining longer in the country I should have 
shifted my quarters. As it was, I put ten men init, to be in the 
way of getting information if any were to be obtained in the 
neighbourhood. 
On my return to Kampong Padang I found that the indefatig- 
able Haji had adorned the hut with clean mats and hangings 
borrowed from the villagers in anticipation of Tuan Prang’s visit. 
A messenger had reported the arrival of the chief at Grih, the 
next village, but the latter, with a deliberation of movement which 
befitted his rank, did not put in an appearance for some hours. 
Nothing is more undignified in the eyes of a Malay, or indeed of 
any Mohamedan, than hurry. Haste is discountenanced in an 
increasing ratio as you ascend the social scale, till a royal wedding 
has become a proverbial illustration of Malay procrastination. 
“ Put off again and again, as if a Raja were being married” is a 
homely smile well-known to the Perak peasant. A feverish im- 
petuosity and anything approaching to fussiness often procure for 
Englishmen in the East the hearty contempt and pity of Orientals. 
Haji Asvusakar did not allow the process of waiting for cur 
visitor to become tedious. His stories were numerous and ex- 
cellently told, but alas! Oriental humour is not always suited to 
the sober pages of an English journal. One, however, I will 
transcribe here because I recognised in it an old Indian fable and 
it was interesting to find it domesticated among Malays. 
“A certain crane (burong pala) who had long found his living 
in a pool which was well supplied with fish, began to feel the 
approach of old age. He was no longer as active as he had been 
and the fish were too quick for him. In vain he stalked round 
‘the pond; the fish sought refuge in the middle before he could 
snap one up and he was in imminent danger of perishing of hun- 
