Then, As They Could Not
Pronounce It Satisfactorily, They Insisted That I Was Deceiving
Them, And That It Was A Name Of My Own Invention.
One funny old
man, who bore a ludicrous resemblance, to a friend of mine at
home, was almost indignant.
"Ung-lung! "said he, "who ever heard
of such a name? - ang lang - anger-lung - that can't be the name of
your country; you are playing with us." Then he tried to give a
convincing illustration. "My country is Wanumbai - anybody can say
Wanumbai. I'm an ` orang-Wanumbai; but, N-glung! who ever heard
of such a name? Do tell us the real name of your country, and
then when you are gone we shall know how to talk about you." To
this luminous argument and remonstrance I could oppose nothing
but assertion, and the whole party remained firmly convinced that
I was for some reason or other deceiving them. They then attacked
me on another point - what all the animals and birds and insects
and shells were preserved so carefully for. They had often asked
me this before, and I had tried to explain to them that they
would be stuffed, and made to look as if alive, and people in my
country would go to look at them. But this was not satisfying; in
my country there must be many better things to look at, and they
could not believe I would take so much trouble with their birds
and beasts just for people to look at.
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