412 MACASSAR TO THE JRU ISLANDS [chap, mvih 



might out at the further side, and do no more harm 

 thau jL^ive tire steerstnun a (ireiicliing. To my surprise 

 aod dismay, iiowever, I tiiid that it is comph^'tely open to 

 the hold, so that hiill-a-dozen seas rollint; in on a stormy 

 night would nearly, or quite, swamp us. Tijiuk of a vessel 

 going to sea for a montli witli two holes, each a yard 

 aquai-e, into the hold, at three feet above Uie water-liiif, — 

 holes, too, which catniot possihly be dosed I But our 

 captain says all praus are so; and though he acknowledges 

 the daiigcr, " he does not know how to alter i^the people 

 are used to it ; he <loe3 not understand praus so well as 

 they do, and if such a ^eat alteration were made, he 

 alioidd be sure to have flifHculty in getting a crew !" This 

 proves at all events that; praus must he good sea-lwate, 

 for the captain has been continually making voyages in 

 them for the last ten years, and says he has never known 

 water enough enter to do any harm, 



IM. 25th. — ^Christmas-day dawned upon us with gusts 

 of wind, driving rain, thunder and lightning, added to 

 which a short confused sea made our queer vessel pitch 

 and roll very uncomfortably. About nine o'clock, however, 

 it cleared up, and we then saw ahead of us the tine island 

 of Bourn, perhaps forty or fifty miles distant, its moun- 

 tains wreathed witb clouds, while ite lower lands were 

 still invisible. The afternoon was fitie, and the wind got 

 round again to the wesfc; but although this is really the 

 west monsoon, there is no regularity or steadiness alwut 

 it, calms and breezes from every point of the compass 

 continually occurring. The captain, though nominfdly a 

 Protestant, seemed to have no idea of Christmas-day as a 

 festival. Our dinner was of rice aiid cuny as usual, and 

 an extra glass of wine was all I could do to celebmte it. 



Bcs. 25//^.. — Fine view of the mountains of Bourn, 

 which we have now approached considerably. Our crew 

 seem rather a cluuii^y lot They do not walk the deck 

 with the easy swing of English sailors, but hesitate and 

 stagger like landsmen. In the night the lower boom of 

 our mainsui'l broke, and they were all the morning re- 

 pairin<j^ it. It consisted of two baruboos lashed together 

 thick end to thin, and was about seventy feet long. The 

 rigging and urnuigement of thciie praus contiusts strangely 



