Babu, Who Is Always En Grand Tenue, Has Taken Command Of Everything And
Saves Our Host All Trouble.
He carves at the sideboard, scolds the
servants in a stage whisper, and pushes them indignantly aside when
they
Attempt to offer anything to "his young ladies," reduces Captain
Murray's butler to a nonentity, and as far as he can turns the
Residency into Government House, waiting on us assiduously in our
rooms, and taking care of our clothes. The dinner bell is a bugle.
In houses in these regions there is always a brick-floored bath-room,
usually of large size, under your bedroom, to which you descend by a
ladder. This is often covered by a trap-door, which is sometimes
concealed by a couch, and in order to descend the sofa cushion is
lifted. Here it is an open trap in the middle of the room. A bath is a
necessity - not a luxury - so near the equator, and it is usual to take
one three, four, or even five times a day, with much refreshment. One
part of Babu's self-imposed duty is to look under our pillows for
snakes and centipedes, and the latter have been found in all our rooms.
I must now make you acquainted with our host, Captain Murray. He was
appointed when the Datu Klana asked for a Resident four years ago. He
devotes himself to Sungei Ujong as if it were his own property, though
he has never been able to acquire the language. He is a man about
thirty-eight, a naval officer, and an enterprising African traveler;
under the middle height, bronzed, sun-browned, disconnected in his
conversation from the habit of living without anyone in or out of the
house to speak to; professing a misanthropy which he is very far from
feeling, for he is quite unsuspicious, and disposed to think the best
of every one; hasty when vexed, but thoroughly kind-hearted; very
blunt, very undignified, never happy (he says) out of the wilds;
thoroughly well disposed to the Chinese and Malays, but very impatient
of their courtesies, thoroughly well meaning, thoroughly a gentleman,
but about the last person that I should have expected to see in a
position which is said to require much tact if not finesse. His
success leads me to think, as I have often thought before, that if we
attempt to deal with Orientals by their own methods, we are apt to find
them more than a match for us, and that thorough honesty is the best
policy.
He lives alone, unguarded; trusts himself by night and day without any
escort among the people; keeps up no ceremony at all, and is
approachable at all hours. Like most travelers, he has some practical
knowledge of medicine, and he gives advice and medicines most
generously, allowing himself to be interrupted by patients at all
hours. There is no doctor nearer than Malacca. He has been so
successful that people come from the neighboring States for his advice.
There is very little serious disease, but children are subject to a
loathsome malady called puru.
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