222 



CELEBES. 



[chap. X?. 



longj l^ut it waa too late now to tliitak of going further, as 

 in aljout a month the wet season \\-oiild begin; so 1 resolved 

 to sUiy here and get what was to be had. Ud fortunately » 

 after a few days I became ill ladth a low fever which pro- 

 duced excessive lassitude and disincHimtion to all exertion. 

 In vain I endeavoured to shako it oft; all I could do was 

 to stroll quietly each day for an hour abont the gardens 

 near, and to the well, where sorae good iuaecta were occa- 

 sionally to be found; and tlie wst of the day to wait 

 quietly at home, and receive what beetles and shells my 

 little coi-ps of collectors brought me daily. I imputed my 

 illness chiefly to the water, which wm procured from 

 shallow wells, aromid which there was almost always a 

 atagnatit puddle in wMch the buffaloes wallowed. Close 

 to my house was an inclosed mudhole where three buf- 

 faloes were shut up every night, and the effluvia from 

 which freely entered through the open bamboo floor. My 

 Malay boy Ali was affected with the same illness, and as 

 he was my chief bird-skinner I got on but slowly with 

 my collections. 



The occupations and mode of life of the villagers differed 

 but little from those of all other Malay races. The time 

 of the women was almost wholly occupied in pounding 

 and cleaning rice for daily use, in bringing home firewood 

 and water, and in cleaning, dyeing, sphining, and weaving 

 the native cotton into sarongs. The weaving is done in 

 the simplest kind of frame stretclied on the floor, and is a 

 very slow and tedious process. To form the checked 

 pattern in common use, each patch of coloured threads has 

 to be piUIed up separately by iiand and the shuttle passed 

 between them ; so that about an inch a day is the usual 

 progress in stuff a yard and a half wHde. The men culti- 

 vate a little sirih (the pungent pepper leaf used for chewing 

 with betel-nut) and a few vegetables ; and once a year 

 rudely plough a small patch of ground with their buffadoes 

 and plant tice, which then requires little attention till 

 har\'est time. K"ow and then they have to see to the 

 repairs of their houses, and make mats, baskets, or other 

 domestic utensOs, but a huge part of their time is passed 

 in idleness. 



Not a single person in the village could speak more 



