resorted to and "chaff" is only known in its mildest form. The lowest
Malay will never pass in front of you if it can be avoided, nor hand
anything to another across you. Unless in case of necessity, a Malay
will not arouse his friend from slumber, and then only in the gentlest
manner possible. It is bad manners to point at all, but, if it is
absolutely necessary to do so, the forefinger is never employed, but the
person or object is indicated, in a sort of shamefaced way, with the
thumb. It is impolite to bare a weapon in public, and Europeans often
show their ignorance of native etiquette by asking a Malay visitor to
let them examine the blade of the _kris_ he is wearing. It is not
considered polite to enquire after the welfare of the female members of
a Brunai gentleman's household. For a Malay to uncover his head in your
presence would be an impertinence, but a guttural noise in his throat
after lunching with you is a polite way of expressing pleased
satisfaction with the excellence of the repast. This latter piece of
etiquette has probably been adopted from the Chinese. The low social
position assigned to women by Brunai Malays, as by nearly all Mahomedan
races, is of course a partial set-off to the general courtesy that
characterises them. The average intelligence of what may be called the
working class Malay is almost as far superior to that, say, of the
British country bumpkin as are his manners. Mr. H. O. FORBES says in his
"Naturalist in the Eastern Archipelago" that he was struck with the
natives' acute observation in natural history and the accuracy with
which they could give the names, habits and uses of animals and plants
in the jungle, and the traveller cannot but admire the general handiness
and adaptability to changed circumstances and customs and quickness of
understanding of the Malay coolies whom he engages to accompany him.

Cannot one imagine the stolid surprise and complete obfuscation of the
English peasant if an intelligent Malay traveller were to be suddenly
set down in his district, making enquiries as to the, to him, novel
forms of plants and animals and asking for minute information as to the
manners and customs of the new people amongst whom he found himself,
and, generally, seeking for information as the reasons for this and for
that?

Their religion sits somewhat lightly on the Brunai Malays; the Mahomedan
Mosque in the capital was always in a very dirty and neglected state,
though pra