On Giving It Him, He At
Once Informed Me I Might Have The Use Of The Official Residence
Which Was Empty.
I soon got my things on shore, but on looking
about me found that the house would never do
To stay long in.
There was no water except at a considerable distance, and one of
my men would be almost entirely occupied getting water and
firewood, and I should myself have to walk all through the
village every day to the forest, and live almost in public, a
thing I much dislike. The rooms were all boarded, and had
ceilings, which are a great nuisance, as there are no means of
hanging anything up except by driving nails, and not half the
conveniences of a native bamboo and thatch cottage. I accordingly
inquired for a house outside of the village on the road to the
coal mines, and was informed by the Secretary that there was a
small one belonging to the Sultan, and that he would go with me
early next morning to see it.
We had to pass one large river, by a rude but substantial bridge,
and to wade through another fine pebbly stream of clear water,
just beyond which the little but was situated. It was very small,
not raised on posts, but with the earth for a floor, and was
built almost entirely of the leaf-stems of the sago-palm, called
here "gaba-gaba." Across the river behind rose a forest-clad
bank, and a good road close in front of the horse led through
cultivated grounds to the forest about half a mile on, and thence
to the coal mines tour miles further. These advantages at once
decided me, and I told the Secretary I would be very glad to
occupy the house. I therefore sent my two men immediately to buy
"ataps" (palm-leaf thatch) to repair the roof, and the next day,
with the assistance of eight of the Sultan's men, got all my
stores and furniture carried up and pretty comfortably arranged.
A rough bamboo bedstead was soon constructed, and a table made of
boards which I had brought with me, fixed under the window. Two
bamboo chairs, an easy cane chair, and hanging shelves suspended
with insulating oil cups, so as to be safe from ants, completed
my furnishing arrangements.
In the afternoon succeeding my arrival, the Secretary accompanied
me to visit the Sultan. We were kept waiting a few minutes in an
outer gate-house, and then ushered to the door of a rude, half-
fortified whitewashed house. A small table and three chairs were
placed in a large outer corridor, and an old dirty-faced man with
grey hair and a grimy beard, dressed in a speckled blue cotton
jacket and loose red trousers, came forward, shook hands, and
asked me to be coated. After a quarter of an hour's conversation
on my pursuits, in which his Majesty seemed to take great
interest, tea and cakes-of rather better quality than usual on
such occasions-were brought in.
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