take seats with us was not small. Our bill of fare
was sufficient to satisfy the most fastidious epicure :
for substantial diet the neighboring- forests had fur- o o
nished us with an abundance of venison and the meat
of the wild boar, and the adjoining bays had yielded
several kinds of nice fish. All was prepared in an
unexceptional manner, and the rich display of pineapples,
mangostins, dukus, and several kinds of bananas
was finer than many a European prince could set
before his guests. The process of demolishing had
fully begun, when the dark beauties, who had been
dancing before the house, came in, and ranged themselves
round the table. My first impression was, that
they had come in to see how Europeans eat, and I only
refrained from hinting to that effect to the Resident
on my right, because he had already smiled to see
my surprise at our novel reception, and besides, I was
anxious not to appear to be wholly ignorant of then-
odd customs. Soon they began to sing, and this, I
thought to myself, is probably what is meant by a
sumptuous banquet in the East, and, if so, it well deserves
the name. As the song continued, one after
another took out a handkerchief of spotless white,
and folding it into a triangular form, began to fan the
gentleman in front of her. This is indeed Eastern
luxury, I said to myself, and while I was wondering
what would come next, the damsel behind the Resident
reached forward and gave him a loud kiss on his cheek.
“ That was intended as an appetizer I presume?”
Natuwrlift, “ Of course,” he replied, and I leaned
back in my chair to give way to a hearty laugh, which
I had been trying for a long time to restrain, when
suddenly I was astonished by a similar salutation on
the lips ! It was done so quickly that I had no time
to recover from my bewildering surprise, and coolly
explain that such was not the custom in my land.
Instead of my laughing at the Resident’s expense,
the whole party laughed at mine; but my confusion
was dispelled by the assurance of all that even the
governor-general himself had to submit to such treatment
when he came to inspect these islands. Besides,
I was made aware that the fault was largely my own,
and that, when I leaned backward to laugh, the fair
one behind me had misinterpreted the movement as
a challenge (which she certainly seemed not loath to
accept). A t every village we had to run a similar
gantlet, and I must confess that several times it occurred
to me that the youngest member of the party
certainly received his share of such tender attention,
and that many of these beauties, nona itvm, were determined
to improve their present opportunity for
fear that they might never again have the privilege
of kissing a gentleman with a white face.
The Resident’s duties, while on a tour of inspection,
consist chiefly in visiting and examining the schools,
of which there is one in every village on this island,
except at one place where two kampongs, which are
near each other, have one in common. On Saparua
also thirteen out of the sixteen villages are each
provided with a school, and on Haruku eleven villages
are supplied with six schools, so distributed
over the island as to be accessible to all. The facilities,
therefore, afforded by the Dutch Government to
these natives to acquire a good common education are
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