along the coast. They found plenty of
customers among our men, and the ship was soon turned into a perfect
menagerie. We without difficulty made the people in the canoes
understand that we wanted to replenish our water-casks, and we
understood them to say that they would gladly help us. Two boats were
therefore lowered and filled with casks; Stubbs took charge of one of
them, and I went in the other, accompanied by little Jack Nobs,
intending to exchange a few articles which I took with me suitable to
the taste of the natives for some of the productions of their country.
As we pulled up the river we saw the low shores on either side lined
with houses built on high piles, by which they were raised a
considerable distance above the ground, some, I should think, fully
twenty feet. The only means of entering them was by a ladder, which we
found it was the custom of the inhabitants to lift up at night to
prevent the intrusion of strangers, but more especially, I should think,
of wild beasts. The chief object, however, of their being built in this
way is to raise them above the miasma of the marshy ground, which often
rises only two or three feet. They were all on one floor, but had
numerous partitions or rooms. The roofs, which were covered with palm
leaves, projected some distance beyond the walls, so as to form a wide
balcony all round. The ground beneath was also in many instances railed
in, and thus served for the habitation of ducks, poultry, and cattle.

At the landing-place some way up a number of natives were collected, who
received us in a very friendly way. We saw no Dutchmen nor other
Europeans. As we could not make ourselves understood by the natives, we
were unable to ascertain what had occurred at the other end of the
island. The men in the canoes had for clothing only a cloth round their
waists, but the people who now received us were habited in a much more
complete fashion. They wore the _sarong_, a piece of coloured cloth
about eight feet long and four wide, part of which was thrown over the
shoulder like a Highlander's plaid, the rest bound round the waist
serving as a kilt. They all had on drawers secured by a sash, and
several wore a short frock coat with buttons in front, called a _baju_.
All had daggers, and several, who were evidently people of some
consequence, had two in copper or silver sheaths. The latter had their
teeth blackened, which was evidently looked on as a mark of gentility.