A NATURALISTS WANDEBINQS 



tip of their abdomens. When it settles on the ground, it i« 

 dilficult to see, as it vibrates in constiint motion its tail and 

 wings, m that a mere iiaze, as it were, exists where it rests. 



Emerging from this forest, I found myself in Tiohmomon, 

 a typieal Lam pong village, in a district whieh had been in- 

 habiti'd for niiiny generations. The houses were all stibstau- 

 tially built uf planks, with, in many cases, t'jirved decorations 

 on the cross bt^ams, and painte<l designs on the intermefliato 

 pamds. 



The Balai is the most^ — ^we might almost say the only — 

 peculiar and characteristic iustitntion of the Lampongers. It 

 lA «hvays the hirgt-st and most prominent alitiee in the village, 

 situated aj>art from all other.-5,atid in the most central (wmitiim. 

 It stands eight or ten feet from the graun*l, on uiLissive piliars 

 formed of groat tree-stems, and is l>nilt genenilly of planks 

 of \v<Mjc], or of bamboo wicker-work. It is evident that 

 niiieh lalwur has been bestowed on it, for, as a rule, it indi- 

 tmtes the highest available workinanshij), as it is the result of 

 the combined labour of the whole community. It is lofty, 

 and rooied either with thatch of grass i»r rattiin-palm leaves, 

 or covere<l with wood or bamljoo "slates," according to the 

 fashion of roofing in vogue in the village. It is fairly well 

 lighted, but the Light, as a rule, is admitted only by the 

 latticed gables, and by long slits and small windows a few- 

 feet above t!ie level of the floor, more suitable, of course, 

 to the squatting native than to a European sitting on a chair. 

 Two doors, reached by strong bamboo ladders, or well-made 

 .vooden staii-s, and situated one at each end of the building, 

 either in the gables or in the sides, afl:ord ingress* and egress. 

 At one end within a small inclosure is a cooking place — ^ 

 deep layer of earth on which the tire rests. 



The Balai is in reality the town-hall of the Lamponger. It 

 is the common property of every man, woman, and child in 

 the village. In Mahomedan lands a man*s luwmt is sacred; 

 for a man rarely enters the dwelling of his neighbour, and never 

 Avithont the head of the house ; but the Balai is the assembly- 

 room — the meeting place fur all. Its doors stand ever open. 

 All business is transacted unfler its roof; all (consul- 

 tations and discussions) are held there. At whatever hour 

 one enters, its most characteristic occupant^i, lazy, sleeping 



