FIVE DAYS IN NANING. 
29 
well trodden path leads to an open well on the margin of the 
paddy flat. Some pieces of wood placed on the lower side 
serve as the bathing place of the whole family male and 
female, and it is one of the peculiarities of Naning that 
these bathing places are entirely open and uncovered. In 
bathing the sarong is not taken off. 
The owner of all these possessions, and of the paddy fields 
in front, welcomed us at his gate, and struck me by his 
abrupt and homely manner, so different from that of the 
Malays in the town. A good deal of this I found afterwards 
to be peculiar. His character is plain, direct and in a re¬ 
markable degree energetic. He is, compared with many, 
rude and little tinctured with the pedantry of Islamism, 
but endowed with strong practical sense, getting at once as 
deeply into the heart of a subject as his mental range enables 
him to go, without beating about the bush. At first his 
manner was embarrassed and apparently dry, and his efforts 
to break through the restraint under which he laboured were 
abrupt and highly grotesque. When we ascended into the 
verandah he blurted out his welcome again, jerked his head 
about, bent his body forward, and shifted his position every 
second. He was most delighted, he said, highly honoured, 
but oppressed with shame. His house was such a miserable 
hut, and he was such a poor, ignorant, vile person, mere 
dung in fact! te SAya orang meskin, tuan,—orang bodo,—tai,” 
and so he continued vilifying himself, and accompanying 
each new expression of humility by a sudden and antic 
alteration of his attitude and position. An ample repast of 
boiled rice, fish, &c,, was soon spread on the mats, and I now 
learned from Mahomed that our host had left his house in 
Malacca the preceding evening, and walked 18 miles during 
the night to have breakfast ready for us at an early hour. 
The Malay coolies who had been employed in carrying my 
baggage sat down with my host and Mahomed. A separate 
array of dishes was provided for me at a little distance 
upon another mat, and I was invited to occupy the only chair 
that the house afforded. As the chair was ricketty, and 
table there was none, I preferred following the custom of 
my neighbours. 
Having learned that the Rambau mountains were within 
half a day’s distance, and that there was a path to a famous 
kramat on the summit of the highest, I resolved to make the 
ascent instead of proceeding directly to Ayer Panas as I 
had intended. We started at \ past 7? Abdulrahman being 
induced with great difficulty to take a seat in my palankeen 
