324 



TRAVELS m THE EAST INDIAN AECIIIPELAGO. 



and cross eacli other at light angles. The houses are 

 well TsTiilt, antl placed on piles twelve or eighteen 

 inches in diameter and six feet high — a remnant of 

 the old custom of placing their huts on high posts 

 to avoid attacks of enemies, which was practised by 

 these people previous to the arrival of Europeans. 

 It is certainly a good custom, not only because all 

 ■ such unwelcome iatruders as the large snakes, which 

 ai'e very numerous here, are thus avoided, hut also 

 to keep the house dry and cool, hy allowing a free 

 circulation of air beneath. Each house has a small 

 plot of gi'ound, and this is sepai-ated fi-om that 

 of its neighbor by hedges, which also border the 

 streets, and give the whole village a charmiDg air 

 compared to the irregular, unsightly appearance of 

 those I had been visiting. Most of the streets are 

 also lined with .shade-trees, and in the gardens, be- 

 hind the hedges, are rows of orange-trees, some of 

 their branches bearing flowers, some green fruit, and 

 some drooping under the abundance of their golden- 

 yellow loads. 



Tlie controlmr here kindly received me into his 

 house. He was just going to Limbi, an island five 

 or six miles north of Kema, to tiy to take some liv- 

 ing habirum for the govemor-generars garden at 

 Buitenzorg, back of Batavia^ That was exactly such 

 an excursion as suited my fancy, and I was very 

 wiEing to accept his invitation to join him before I 

 began a journey I had been planning over to Menado, 

 and thence up into the interior. While we were pre- 

 paring for our excursion, another gentleman, Mr. K,, 

 decided to join us. 



