IN JA l^A. 



69 



A stream which ran near my home was crossed by otio of 

 tlutse ntittve-raafle ImiiiTiDu bridges, wluch spiieioiisly housed 

 and tlmtckud over, have snvh a neat and attmctive look al»oiit 

 them. Erery Sunday morning the district market was held 

 under it, whioji from an early hour presented quite a gay and 

 busy scene. I never missed, if I could, an oppurtmuty of 

 visiting these rmsar^, as 1 found them delightful resorts for 

 studying the native in his gayer moods ; fur market-day was 

 aJways their hoUtlay, and the market-place the rendezvous for 

 the youths and maidens of the distri<'t, as wi^l as the news- 

 exchange of the old men. The vendors, to be early at the 

 market-phice, generally spent Saturday evening and night 

 under the shade of the bridge, or collected in the neighbouring 

 village, whence the tinkle' of thegamehing, their ciiaracteristic 

 mnsieal instrument, would be Iieard thninghout the livelong 

 nigijt in conijumy, if not conet>rd, witli the higher notes oE their 

 curiously drawling voices, repeating tjeritiis or semi-historieal 

 tales, and adaptations from the Koran, varied by jj<i?i/ttn« or 

 love songs. 



The collection of wares exposed for barter was always a 

 curions one i mrontjs from their own looms—whose incessant 

 dick-claek is one of the most pknisant ami characteristie of the 

 industrial sounds in their villages— calicoes and silk kerchiefs 

 from oVIanchester and Liverpool ; Clark's Paisley thread of 



extra quality*'; native-made horn cimihs, gay ornaments of 

 spangles and beads, and the elaborate inlaid silver breast-pins 

 for wliieh the flistriet is famous, worn by every female to fsisten 

 her loose upper r(d»es ; and baml.Mjo hats in great variety. The 

 Bantam ^>se are specially noted for the manufacture of these last, 

 and some of them are really ex(|uisite specimens of plaiting, 

 Jn the tinest quality, made of carefully prepared narrow strips 

 of the wood, a quiet but lucrative trade is done with European 

 markets by unobtrusive go-betweens who citllect thcTn through 

 the dtstriet. In Bantam they cost a mere triih% but in Paris, 

 I am informed, they are retailed at a profit of nearly one thou- 

 sand per cent., as true Panama hats, from which it is diilicnlt 

 to distinguish them. One of these hats, that I treated to the 

 roughest jungle work of three years, was scarcely imptiircd 

 wlifU we parted company. 



Other than these the chief articles were household utensiis, 



