TOAP. ixiv.] Mr COTTARS m rm suburbs, 327 



inquired for a house outside of the villaf;e on the roud to 

 the coal luiues, and was iuforniBd by tho Secretary that 

 there was a sniall one belonging to the Sultan, and that 

 he would go with me early next morning to see it 



We had to pass one large river, by a rude but substan- 

 tial bridge, and to wa^le through another fine pebbly stream 

 of clear water, just beyond which the little hut was situated. 

 It was very small, not raised on posts, but \ritli the earth 

 for a floor, and was built almost entirely of the leaf-stems 

 of the sago- palm, called here " gaba-gaba." Across tho river 

 behind rose a forest-clad bank, and a good road close in 

 front of the liouse led thi'ough cultivated grounds to the 

 forest abuut half a mile on, and thence to tho coal mines 

 four miles further. These advantages at once decided me, 

 and I told the Secretary I would be very glad to occupy 

 the house. I therefore sent my two men immediately to 

 buy "ataps" (pal in- leaf thatch) to repair the roof, and the 

 next day, with the assistance of eight of the Sultan's men, 

 got all my stores and ftxrniture carried up and pretty com- 

 fortably armnged. A rough bamboo bedstead was soon 

 constructed, and a table made of boards which I had 

 brought with me, fixed imder the window. Two bamboo 

 chairs, an easy cane chair, and hanging shelves suspended 

 with insulating od cups, so as to bo safe fi*om ants, com- 

 pleted my furnishing arrangements. 



In the afternoon succeeding my arrival, the Secretary 

 accompanied me to visit the Sultan. We were kept wait- 

 ing a few minutes in an outer gate-house ^ and then ushered 

 to the door of a nule, half-fortified whitewashed house. A 

 small table and three chairs were placed in a large outer 

 corridor, and an old dirty-faced man with grey hair and a 

 grimy beard, dressed in a speckled blue cotton jacket and 

 loose red trousers, came forward, shook hands, and asktid 

 me to be seated. After a quarter of an hour's conversation 

 on my pursuits, in wlaich his Majesty seemed to take gi'efit 

 interest, tea and cakes — of mtlier better quidity tlian usuid 

 on such occasions — were brought ia 1 thanked him for 

 the house, and oflered to show him my collections, which 

 he promised to come and look at. He then asked me to 

 Uracil liim to take views — ^to make maps — to get him a 

 small gun from England, and a milch-goat from Bengal ; 



