to or). 
261 
keys which, after having' been thus cooked, were dished up upon a 
kind of mat as a meal to some seven or eight persons, who speedily 
devoured the whole in a few minutes, leaving only the skeleton. In 
eating they use no dish; an iron frying-pan serves for cooking, plan¬ 
tain leaves serve as plates, and some cocoanut shells form their usual 
drinking cups. Some Jakuns refuse to eat the flesh of Elephants, 
under the pretext that it would occasion sickness: but many others 
are not so scrupulous. When an elephant is killed either by them¬ 
selves or by the Malays, they call together their friends and relatives 
to partake of the large entertainment which is prepared; they then 
build houses in which to lodge their guests, until the animal which 
furnishes the feast is entirely finished: then every one decamps, and 
returns to his usual way of living. When the durian season is come, 
a good number of Jakun families leave their houses, men, women and 
children repairing to the places I mentioned before, 'where are found 
durian trees. They then again clean the ground in order to find 
more easily the fruit, which falls when ripe, and, dwelling in the 
small house of leaves, prepare themselves to enjoy the treat w hich 
nature presents to them. For six weeks or two months they eat no¬ 
thing but durians. When the season is over, the place is abandoned 
until the next year.* 
I observed that one of their most prised dishes is a honey-comb, 
and let it be said with due respect to the opinion of our European 
cooks, the time when the honey is in the comb is not amongst these 
epicures of nature considered the proper moment to take the hive ; 
but they wait until the small bees are well formed in the cells, and 
a few days before they are ready to fly away the honey-comb is taken 
with great care, and, wrapped up in a plantain leaf, is put upon the 
fire for a few minutes, and then wax, and animals are devoured to¬ 
gether,and considered as an uncommon treat. 
The Jakuns chew betel leaf together with theareca-nut and gam- 
bier; but for the want of the betel-leaf, they use the leaf of a tree 
called kassi. Tobacco, when it can be had, is much used, even by 
women and children, in chewing and smoking, f 
* See Vol. L p. 259. f lb. p. *255. 
