of frame stretched on the floor; and is a very slow and tedious process.
To form the checked pattern in common use, each patch of coloured
threads has to be pulled up separately by hand and the shuttle passed
between them; so that about an inch a day is the usual progress in stuff
a yard and a half wide. The men cultivate a little sirih (the pungent
pepper leaf used for chewing with betel-nut) and a few vegetables; and
once a year rudely plough a small patch of ground with their buffaloes
and plant rice, which then requires little attention until harvest time.
Now and then they have to see to the repairs of their houses, and make
mats, baskets, or other domestic utensils, but a large part of their
time is passed in idleness.
Not a single person in the village could speak more than a few words
of Malay, and hardly any of the people appeared to have seen a European
before. One most disagreeable result of this was that I excited terror
alike in man and beast. Wherever I went, dogs barked, children screamed,
women ran away, and men stared as though I were some strange and
terrible cannibal or monster. Even the pack-horses on the roads and
paths would start aside when I appeared and rush into the jungle; and
as to those horrid, ugly brutes, the buffaloes, they could never be
approached by me; not for fear of my own but of others' safety. They
would first stick out their necks and stare at me, and then on a
nearer view break loose from their halters or tethers, and rush away
helter-skelter as if a demon were after them, without any regard for
what might be in their way. Whenever I met buffaloes carrying packs
along a pathway, or being driven home to the village, I had to turn
aside into the jungle and hide myself until they had passed, to avoid
a catastrophe which would increase the dislike with which I was already
regarded. Everyday about noon the buffaloes were brought into the villa,
and were tethered in the shade around the houses; and then I had to
creep about like a thief by back ways, for no one could tell what
mischief they might do to children and houses were I to walk among
them. If I came suddenly upon a well where women were drawing water or
children bathing, a sudden flight was the certain result; which things
occurring day after day, were very unpleasant to a person who does not
like to be disliked, and who had never been accustomed to be treated as
an ogre.
About the middle of November, finding my health no better, and insects,
birds, and shells all very scarce, I determined to return to Mamajam,
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