226 



CELEBES, 



[chap. XV. 



ploughing W&3 daily going on in tho mud and water, 

 tbruu<ih whicli tlio wooden pltnigli easily makes its way, 

 the ploughman hdhlinf,' the ploitgli-hanille with one hand 

 while a long Imnihoo in the uther serves to gnide the 

 Iniffaloes. These animals require an immense deal of 

 driving to get them on at all; a continual shower of 

 exclumationa is kept up at them, and " Oh ! ah I gee ! 

 ugh j" are to be heard in variuus keys and in an iminter- 

 rupted succession all day long. At night we wore favoured 

 with a dilleront kind of concert. The dry ground around 

 niy house had become a marsh tenanted by frogs, who 

 kept up a most incredible noise from dusk to dawn. They 

 were somewhat musical too, having a deep vibrating note 

 which at times closely resendilos the tuning of two or 

 three ba^^s-viols in an orchestra. In ilalacca and Borneo 

 1 had heard no such soun<ls as these, which indicates that 

 the frogs, like most of the animals of Celebes, are of 

 species peculiar to it. 



My kind friend and lamllonl, ^Ir, ITesman, was a good 

 specimen of the ifacassar-born Dutclnnan. He wm about 

 thirty-five years of age, had a large family, and lived in a 

 spacious liouse near the town, situated in the midst ot" a 

 grove of fruit trees, and surronnderl by a perfect labyrinth 

 of offices, stables, and native cottager occupied by his 

 numerous servants, slaves, or ih'|>en(lant.<^. He usually 

 rose before the sun, and after a cup of coffee looked after 

 his ser\-ants, horses, and dogs, till seven, when a suit- 

 stantial breakfast of rice and meat %vas ready in a cool 

 verandah. Putting on a clean white linen suit, he then 

 drove to town in Ida buggy, where he had an office, with 

 two or three Chinese clerks who looked after his affaii-s. 

 His business was that of a coffee and opium merchant. 

 He had a colTee estate at l^^ntyne, and a small prau which 

 traded to the P^istern islands near New Guinea, for mother- 

 of-pearl and tortoiseshelL About one he would return home, 

 have coffee and cake or fried plantain, first changing his 

 dress for a coloured cotton shirt and trousers and bare 

 feet, and then take a siesta with a book. About four, after 

 a cup of t«a, he would walk round his premises, and 

 generally stroll down to Mamajam, to pay nie a visit and 

 look after his farm. 



