MOHAMMEDAN JEALOUSY. 



159 



and, impro\^ng the privileges of tlieir sect, had more 

 tlian one wife. Soon after arriving at each rajah's 

 house, I was invai'iably asked whether or not I 

 was marriedj and for a long time I could not ima^ 

 gine why I was so closely quizzed, until the pro- 

 verbial jealousy of these people occurred to me. 

 Each wished to know how strict a watch he was to 

 keep over his fascinating harem ; and as I was 

 obliged to answer all such queries in the negative, I 

 never even saw one of their vrives. At meals only 

 the rajah and myself sat at the table ; and as I had 

 two servantSj and each of these princes nearly a scoi'e, 

 we were always well served, considering our fare. 

 Two articles never failed to appear — -chickens and 

 rice — and to these fish was usually added; and 

 for luncheon and dessert always the richest bananas. 

 One kind, the pisam/ Amhon^ or " Amboina banana," 

 is very' common in that region, but the one I soon 

 learned to prefer, and the one that my servants were 

 always ordered to procure if possible, wherever we 

 chanced to halt, was the pimm/ mm^ or golden ba- 

 nana," a small variety, with a peculiarly licli, honey- 

 like fiavor, and a bright golden sldn when it is fiiUy 

 lipe. This rajah, I noticed, was particular to seat me 

 at the table so that I could only look out at the front 

 door. The first query he proposed at dinner was, 

 how we are accustomed to eat in our land, adding 

 that, after all, no style suited him so well as dispen- 

 sing with knives and ibrks altogether, and adopting 

 the simpler and more natural mode of using one's 

 fingers — a style so common^ that each rajah usually 

 keeps a supply of finger-bowls, and frequently these 



