Kalong had now sufficiently enjoyed the fright he
intended to give his countrymen, and making his appearance in the
rigging, he waved a white cloth to assure them that we came as friends.
As soon as he was recognised, loud shouts proclaimed the satisfaction of
those on shore, and a number of canoes were seen putting off towards us.

I must now stop to describe the wild and extraordinary scene before us,
with which I was afterwards doomed to become so familiar. I have spoken
of a village, but I should rather have said the castle; for the
habitation of the numerous tribe assembled on the shore consisted
chiefly of one large building, several hundred feet long, and standing
on the summit of stout piles, not less than forty feet in height. At
this great distance from the ground a bamboo platform had been
constructed to serve as the floor of the house, which itself was not
more than six feet high. The side-walls were also of bamboo, and the
roof was made from the leaves of the nibong and other palms. It rose to
the height of the surrounding trees, standing as it did on a high mound
of earth thrown up artificially some little way from the banks of the
river. It was intended to serve as a fortification; and also, I
suspect, that airy style of building must much conduce to preserve the
health of the people. Several rope ladders led from the ground to this
singular residence. We received the chief, and a number of the
principal people and their followers, on board. They had little
clothing besides the waistcloth, made of bark from a tree; and large
rings in their ears, and were very far from being prepossessing in their
appearance. Captain Cloete, keeping on his guard against treachery,
should such be attempted, allowed them to inspect everything on board
the brig. They seemed pleased with all they saw, and behaved very well,
but in no way showed surprise. We found, to our no little satisfaction,
that some of them understood the Malay language, and that Hassan was
able to converse with them. Soon after we made the discovery, Fairburn
and I were standing with Hassan, surrounded by several, of whom we were
making inquiries. Among other questions, Fairburn asked if they were
not surprised at seeing so large a vessel off their village.

"They say no," replied Hassan; "for not many moons ago there was another
vessel off here nearly as big, only she had not so many chiefs with fine
dresses, or so many people in her. But