DOB BO. 
131 
lie forms a ball to eliew. A leaf is selected 
from a store, a piece of betel-nut is laid on it, 
and a sprinkling of chalk is added ; the whole 
is rolled together, and when masticated a bril- 
liant scarlet juice emanates, which is squirted all 
over with evident pleasure. The box is really 
beautifully carved, and contains a smoothly slid- 
ing drawer, with compartments for the different 
articles. They seemed always to be chewing ; 
for every time I looked over the ship’s rail they 
were engaged in preparing the prized morsel, 
and with a delight which reed led the satisfied 
air of an old gentleman using his snuff-mull. 
We went on shore early in the day, and found 
Dobbo a fair-sized village, wonderfully civilised- 
looking for this out-of-thc- world corner. Chinese, 
Arabs, and Malays bustled in the chief street, 
where to almost half its breadth, in front of the 
shops, under great awnings of mattings, quan- 
tities of tripang or beche de mer were being 
sewed into bags to ship with us ; and piles of 
oyster-shells, in which the beautiful Am pearls 
are found, were being arranged and counted 
for despatch to Europe. There they fetch a high 
price, and appear in our homes in the thousand 
forms of mother-of-pearl decorations which beau- 
tify our nick-nacks and adorn our persons. 
