60 



A NATUItALlHT'S WANHERINGS 



large copper jars for the prepaiation of rice, beat out of sheet 

 copper by native sniilhs, and shallow iron basins (of Singapore 

 make) for the daily extraction of the oil of the cofoa-iiut 

 palm, without which and its tv^'iu brother the bamboo, native 

 prosperity and happiness would cease. There were besides 

 ]>iles of various species of dry-salted river fislies, chiefly Gabug 

 {OiihiQcephalus striatna), 8uro and Eegb (Barhus duronams 

 and J?. em(m/mutm)j and Guranae -{OphromeHm olfwx)^ the 

 most prized of them allj in which a large iind [irofitable trade 

 is carried on with distant parts of the Archipehigo, Many of 

 these iishe-3 are cai-efully preserved iu the larger wet ric43 fields, 

 where during the miuy season, haviiig aljumlance of food, they 

 multiply with great rapidity. During the hot season, when 

 the saivahs have become, except in the centre, dry fields, the 

 fishes are captured in iumienso numbers. Fried in fresh oil 

 they form an excellent dish, and are the staple flesh-food of 

 the natives. 



A vilt^ odour which iKfrmciites the whtde air within a wide 

 area of the market-place, is apt to be attributed to these jiiles 

 of tish ; but it really proceeds from another comiR>uud sold in 

 round black balls, called tram. My acquaintance with it was 

 among my earliest experiences of house-keeping at Genteng. 

 Having got up rather late one Sunday morning — an opportu- 

 nity taken by one of my boys to go unknown to me to the 

 market, which I had not then visited— I was discomfited by 

 the terrific and unwonted odour of decomposition:^ — My 

 birds have begun to stink, confound it ! '* I exclaimed to 

 myself. Hastily fetching down tlie box in which they w^ere 

 stored, 1 minutely examined and snifled over every skin, 

 giving myself in the process inflammation of the n<jstrils and 

 eyes for a week after, from the amount of arsenical soap I 

 inhaled ; but all of them seemed in perfect condition. In the 

 neighbouring jungle, though I diligently searched half the 

 morning, I could find no dead carrase, and nothing in the 



kitchen-midden,*' where somehow I seemed nearer the source ; 

 but at last jji the kitchen itself I ran it to ground in a compact 

 pjircel done up in a banana leaf. 



" What on the face of creation is this? " I said to the- cook, 

 toiudiing it gingerly. 



** Oil ! master, that is trivssi." 



