Heretofore, I Have Always Traveled "Without
Encumbrance." Is It Treasonable To Feel At This Moment That These Fair
Girls Are One?
I. L. B.
LETTER XII
The Tomb of "A Great Prophet" - "Durance Vile" - Fragile Travelers - Our
Craft - A Night in the Jungle - Nocturnal Revelations - January in the
Perak Jungle - Glories of the Jungle - Activity and Stillness - An Uneasy
Night - A Slim Repast - Betel-Chewing - A Severe Disappointment - Police
Station at Rassa
BRITISH RESIDENCY, SERAMBANG, SUNGEI UJONG, January 26.
By the date of my letter you will see that our difficulties have been
surmounted. I continue my narrative in a temperature which, in my
room - shaded though it is - has reached 87 degrees. After hearing many
pros and cons, and longing much for the freedom of a solitary traveler,
I went out and visited the tomb of a famous Hadji, "a great prophet,"
the policeman said, who was slain in ascending the Linggi. It is a
raised mound, like our churchyard graves, with a post at each end, and
a jar of oil upon it, and is surrounded by a lattice of reeds on which
curtains are hanging, the whole being covered with a thatched roof
supported on posts.
The village looks prosperous, and the Chinaman as much at home as in
China, - striving, thriving, and oblivious of everything but his own
interests, the sole agent in the development of the resources of the
country, well satisfied with our, or any rule, under which his gains
are quick and safe.
There are village officers, or headmen, Pangulus, in all villages, and
every hamlet of more than forty houses has its mosque and religious
officials, though Mohammedanism does not recognize the need of a
priesthood. If one see a man, with the upper part of his body
unclothed, paddling a log canoe, face forward, one is apt to call him a
savage, specially if he be dark-skinned; but the Malays would be much
offended if they were called savages, and, indeed, they are not so.
They have an elaborate civilization, etiquette, and laws of their own;
are the most rigid of monotheists, are decently clothed, build secluded
and tolerably comfortable houses, and lead domestic lives after their
fashion, especially where they are too poor to be polygamists, though I
am of opinion that the peculiar form of domesticity which we still
cultivate to some extent in England, and which is largely connected
with the fireside, cannot exist in a tropical country. After the
obtrusive nudity and promiscuous bathing of the Japanese, there is
something specially pleasing in the little secluded bathing sheds by
the Malay rivers, used by one person at a time, who throws a sarong on
the thatch to show that the shed is occupied.
Babu made some excellent soup, which, together with curry made with
fresh cocoa-nut, was a satisfactory meal, and though only in a simple,
white, Indian costume, he waited as grandly as at Malacca. Mr.
Hayward's knowledge of the peculiarities of the Malay character, at
last obtained our release from what was truly "durance vile." He sent
for a boatman apart from his fellows, and induced him to make a bargain
for taking us up the river at night; but the man soon returned in a
state of great excitement, complaining that the villagers had set on
him, and were resolved that we should not go up, upon which the police
went down and interfered.
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