405 
FIVE DAYS IN NANING. 
had been increased instead of satisfied. We crossed a con¬ 
siderable portion of this newly cleared tract without seeing 
any trace of a habitation, but when we had descended to a 
lower and larger cultivated tract, the barking of dogs indica¬ 
ted that we were close to the huts A few paces more brought 
the first into view. It was a rude shed raised on posts about 
five feet from the ground, open all round and thatched with 
paddy straw. In front a quantity of paddy was stored, and 
a little nook behind formed the sleeping place of the occupant, 
who was absent. A little further on we saw a larger hut 
closed in like a common Malay hut, but not so neatly con¬ 
structed. In the verandah above several Besisi were 
sitting and two stood outside leaning against the posts. As 
we approached, my conductor, who had previously announced 
himself by calling out as soon as we entered the kampong, 
saluted them, but they made no salutation or other sign of 
welcome in return. I addressed them, but with no better 
results. They wore the ordinary Malayan baju and sluar 
but their dress hung loosely and clumsily upon them, as if 
they were not yet habituated to its use, as was indeed the 
case. They were clownish and awkward and entirely devoid 
of the peculiar and strongly marked manner of the Malay. 
The expression of their faces was open and simple. In this 
respect, however, the difference was not greater than that 
between an uneducated rustic, who has always lived in a part 
of the country remote from towns or villages and their influ¬ 
ence, and the denizen of a town. The influences of Hinduism 
and Mahamedanisrn, the subordination of rank, living in 
society, and mixing with foreigners, have impressed on the 
Malay his characteristic manner. In Europe every village, 
town and city stamps a characteristic manner, more or less 
palpable, on those whose lives are passed entirely in it; and 
this manner, resulting from the influence of the dense society 
in which the individual is constantly enveloped, must always 
depart to a certain extent from that candour and simplicity 
of manner which are proper to nature, and which may 
even be found in some societies of the eastern islands where 
mutual good will and confidence remove all restraints. It 
is not till the social fogs bred of avarice, ambition and jealousy, 
which obscure early stages of civilization, are dissipated 
by true religion, that it becomes possible for communities to be 
pervaded by the highest art and yet remain close to nature. 
The matamata enquired for some ot their neighbours and 
they offered to go to their house with us. This house was a 
very small hut on the ground, in which a woman was busy 
