406 MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISLANm [chap, zxyiii. 



next- tlie door were my canteen, lamp, and little store of 

 luxuries for the voyage ; while guns, revolvt'-r, and huuting 

 knife bung conveniently from the roof. During these four 

 niisfrahle daya I was quite jolly in this little snuggery — 

 more so than I should have been if confined the same time 

 to the gilded and uncomfortable saloon of a first-class 

 steainer. Then, how compai-atively sweet was everything 

 on boaril— no paint, no tar, no new rope, (vilest of smells 

 to the qualm isb !) no grease, or oil, or varuLsh ; but instead 

 of tliese, bamboo and rattan, and coir rope and palm 

 thatch; pure vegetable fibtes, which smell pleasantly if 

 tliey suK'il at all, and recall quiet scenes in the green 

 and shady forest. 



Our ship had two masts, if masts they can be called, 

 which were great moveable triangles. If in an ordinary 

 ship you repliice the shrouds and backstay by strong 

 timbers, and take away the mast altogether, you have the 

 arrangement adopted on board a prau. Above my cabin, 

 and resting on cross-beams attached to the masts, was a 

 wilderness of yards and spars, mostly formed of bamboo, 

 Tlie mainyard, an immense affair nearly a hundred feet 

 long, was formed of many pieces of wood and bamboo 

 bound together with ratt^ms in an ingenious manner. The 

 sail carried by this was of an oblong shape, and was hung 

 out of the centre, so that when the short end was hauled 

 down on deck the long end mounted high in the air, 

 milking up for the lowness of the mast itself The fore- 

 sail was of the same shape, but smaller. Both these were 

 of matting, and, with two jibs and a fore and aft sail astern 

 of cotton canvas, completed our rig. 



The crew consisted of about thirty men, natives of 

 Miicassar and the adjacent coasts and islands. They were 

 ujostly young, and were short, broad-faced, good-humoured 

 looking fellows. Their dress consisted generally of a pair 

 of trousers only, when at work, and a handkerchief twisted 

 round the head, to which in the evening they wonld add a 

 thin cotton jacket. Four of the elder men were "jurumudia,*' 

 or steei-smen, who had to squat (two at a time) in the little 

 steerage before described, changing every six hours. Then 

 there was an old man, the " juragan," or captain, but who 

 lAas really what we should call the tirat mate ; he occupied 



