GEOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF RAMBREE. 
117 
formed for a trial of strength : one party pul- 
ling against the other. The successlhl party 
i s allowed to draw the car away to their own 
village, where it is finally consumed. 
Several other wrestling matches were made 
until it became too dark to prolong the game. 
I now returned to the village, and entering my 
host’s house found a supper waiting my arri- 
val. It was laughable to observe the curio- 
sity of the villagers to see an Ingllee at the fee- 
ding hour. Men, women, and children moun- 
ted the michaun, to the very great hazard of 
its coming down. There was in the appear- 
ance of my visitors nothing of that fear and 
abject submission so characteristic of the na- 
tives of India. The women, as well as the 
men, stood gazing upon me, and all joined in 
the laugh excited by the European mode of 
handing the food to my mouth ; to them so 
incomprehensible and ridiculous. The chil- 
dren were not afraid to approach, and I was 
not so uncivil as to refuse them a share of the 
viands they apparently coveted. It was re- 
ceived with pleasure, and olfered in return 
to their parents. A mother had a very pretty 
infant at her breast, and I was surprised to 
see her give it a piece of bi’ead that had been 
previously chewed. I found on inquiry that 
a child is fed with a mouthful of boiled rice, 
reduced to a state of mucilage, on the second 
day of its birth. This it is said conduces to 
its vigour, and hastens the period for its final 
separation from the breast. 
The next stage is Kaeng which is remark- 
able as exhibiting the remains of a few mud 
volcanoes, the only indication of their ac- 
tivity however being the existence of a 
spring of muddy water at the summit of 
each volcano. “ The mud was of a grey 
colour and impregnated with much calcareous 
matter.” Other volcanoes or their remains 
were visible on the hills to the left as ou^’ 
journalist approached Kaeng. From the un- 
dulating appearance of these, covered with a 
fine green sward, and studded with afewJhow 
trees (as is invariable where ever these vol- 
canoes are found) the effect is said to be 
both agreeable and striking. At the foot of 
a volcano Lieut. Foley found several 
“boulders” of a rock resembling cUnJc- 
stone, which he imagines to have been eject- 
ed from them while in a state of igneous 
fusion. From Kaeng the route continues 
to Sadong. This is one of the most fertile 
districts of the Island. Extensive plains of 
rice cultivation and petroleum wells yielding 
“a fair supply of oil are found here, and 
such is the fruitfulness of the soil that the 
principal exportations of the former are 
from this place. One well is said to give 
as much as three quart bottles of oil daily 
and “allowing that the others afford as 
much, the entire quantity would be 70 
maunds, between the 1st of November, and 
the 1st of June. These wells, and indeed 
all those existing in this Island, and that of 
Cheduba are farmed by Government, and 
sold to the highest bidder. The system is 
regarded as a bad one, and in lieu of it 
Lieut. Foley proposes as follows. 
“ The whole of the wells known to exist in 
the islands of Rambree and Cheduba are far- 
med by Government, and sold annually to the 
highest bidder ; I conceive it would be (in the 
end) far more advantageous to Government 
was the sale to take place every three years, 
instead of annually : was more labour bestow- 
ed \ipon these wells, the produce would be 
greater ; but the present system deters a pur- 
chaser from devoting his labour to the pro- 
duction of an article that may become the pro- 
perty of a more successful candidate, before 
he shall have received any return for the capi- 
tal he had already invested in them. The wells 
were sold this year for 120 rupees. 
The oil is sold in Ladong at the rate of one- 
half tillia per rupee. The weight of a tilUa 
varies from nine to sixteen seers. The La- 
dong tillia of oil is said to be as much as can 
be contained in 18 bottles or 13§ seers. The 
oil is much used, especially for burning ; it 
burns long, and gives a fine clear flame ; it 
has, however, a very disagreeable smell, and 
is so highly inflammable, that it must be used 
with caution. 
The oil produced on the Island of Cheduba 
is not so abundant or so pure as that of Ram- 
bree. One of the Petroleum wells in Ladong 
is said to exist on the site of a dormant mud 
volcano — a circumstance not at all impro- 
bable, when it is considered, that the gasess 
and inflammable substances forming the con- 
stituent parts of either, are, as far as has 
been hitherto discovered, essentially alike. 
The soil thrown up from these wells is highly 
bituminous, and in some instances abounds 
with very beautiful crystals of iron pyrites.” 
Whilst at Ladong our author witnessed 
the funeral rites performed over the body 
of a Phoongee or Buddhist priest, and takcg 
the opportunity of making minute enquiry 
as to the nature of their religious duties. 
“The assumption of the monastic garb is 
voluntary ; the person who expresses a wish 
to become a Phoongree is admitted into the 
convent (without regard to country, or the 
religion he may formerly have professed), 
provided he stipulates his readiness to con- 
