He Tried To Seem Sober And To
Sit Up, But Could Not, Then Staggered To A Chair, Trying Hard To
Walk
steadily, and nodding his head with a would-be witty but really
obfuscated look; then, finding that he could
Not sit up, he reached a
cushion and lay down very neatly, resting his head on his elbow and
trying to look quite reasonable, but not succeeding, and then he fell
asleep.
After tiffin a Rajah came and asked me to go with him to his house, and
we walked down with his train of followers and my Malay attendant. It
was a very nice house, with harmonious coloring and much deep shadow.
It soon filled with people. There were two women, but not having an
interpreter, I could not tell whether they were the chief's wives or
sisters. He showed me a number of valuable krises, spears and parangs,
and the ladies brought sherbet and sweetmeats, and they were altogether
very jolly, and made me pronounce the Malay names of things, and the
women laughed heartily when I pronounced them badly. They showed me
some fine diamonds, very beautifully set in that rich, red "gold of
Ophir" which makes our yellow western gold look like a brazen
imitation, as they evidently thought, for they took off my opal ring,
and holding the gold against their own ornaments, made gestures of
disapproval. I think that opals were new to them, and they were
evidently delighted with their changing colors.
Mussulman law is very stringent as to some of the rights of wives.
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