/.V JAVA. 



Gl 



" Trassi? What is tmssi^ in the name of goodness I 

 "Good for eating, master in stew," 

 " Have J been eating it? " 



" Certainly, master; it is most excellent {enalr &el'aH).'* 

 "You born fool! Do yon whh to jwison me and to ilte 

 yourself? " 



Miiy J have a goitre {daih gondoh\ master, but it is excel* 

 lent ! '* he aaseveratefi, taking hold of the foreskin of \m throat, 

 by the same token that a countryman at home would swear, 

 '* Ab «i*re*s Death I " 



Notwithstanding these vehement assurances, I made it dis- 

 appear in the depths of the jungle, to the horror of the Ixiy, 

 who looked wistfully after it, and would have tetched it baek, 

 had I not threatenfd him with the direst penalties if I dis- 

 covered any such putridity in niy honse again, I had then to 

 learn that in every dish, native or European, that I bad eaten 

 since my arrival in the East, this Extract of Decomposition 

 was mixed as a spice, and it would have been difficult to 

 convince myself that I wonld come by-and-bye knowingly to 

 eat it daily without the slightest abhorrence. Dampier, who 

 mentions it in his * Voyage,' seems to have formed his acquaint- 

 ance with it in a more philosophic spirit, for he describes it in 

 these terms : — " As a composition of a strong savour, yet a 

 very delightsom dish to the natives. To make it they throw 

 a mixture of shritnps and small fish into a sort of weak pickle 

 made with Siilt and water, and put into a tight earthen vessel. 

 The pickle being thus weak, it keeps not the fisli firm and 

 hard, neither is it probably so designed, for the fish are never 

 gutted. Therefore in a short time they turn all to a mash in 

 the vessel ; and when they have Iain thus a good while so that 

 the fish is reduced to pnlp, they then draw oft' the Hrinor into 

 fresh jars and preserve it for use. The masht fish that remains 

 behind is called Trassi. 'Tis rank scented ; yet the taste is 

 not altogether unpleasant, but rather savoury after one is a 

 little nsed to it." 



One of the most terrible scourges of the island, and for which 

 no remedy seems possible, is the spread everywhere of a species 

 of tall, slender cane— useless for fodder and good only for thatch, 

 —which the natives call alang-alang. Every spot unoccupie*! 

 by forest, falls a prey to it \ and when once it gets the upper 



