DOMESTIC LIFE. 
217 
young Indian corn, so sweet and tender even 
raw, is served in various forms, each more deli- 
cious than the other. Fruits, too, never fail, so 
that, gastronomieally, Amboina is not badly off. 
Domestic life, too, is made very pleasant by 
the employment of numerous servants, some six 
or eight being thought necessary in an ordinary 
household, and where there are children, there 
are nurses besides. The expenses of house- 
keeping really neutralise '’any benefit from the 
large salaries which officials enjoy, but it is 
doubtless necessary to live comfortably in the 
exhausting climate. 
Washing forms a heavy item of household ex- 
penditure. 1 blame Europeans themselves for 
offering no resistance to the system of each 
month’s washing being retained in the huts of 
the washmeu until they call for that of the 
next. An enormous quantity of articles is re- 
quired; the accumulation for one month is in- 
credible — for people are very luxurious in the 
matter of fresh garments — and they suffer 
great deterioration not only from the destructive 
manner of washing, but from mildew contracted 
through being carelessly left damp. But there 
is a more provoking evil. One morning I saw 
Mrs Machik’s baboo crushing the articles counted 
