1 hanking him for his invitation to us to visit him at
the Istana, which he had again repeated, we bade him
him adieu, and returned towards Meimbong, well pleased
with our day’s adventures. The Sultan and his suite
rode towards the Istana, hut his son, before alluded to,
accompanied us with a posse of his young followers.
When we reached the arable plain near the market-place,
we came upon another group of hunters, and nothing
would please the young rascal hut that I and Mr. Cowie
should try some of his father’s horses. They are beautiful
creatures of the Sulu breed, hut with a little of the
Arab blood added. They are never shod, and in picking
their way among rocks or fallen trunks of trees they are
as sure-footed as a goat. We had some capital racing.
The Sulu saddles are of wood, very small, with high
wooden pommels, resembling those of a cavalry saddle.
The stirrups are represented by a woven hemp riband four
feet long and about an inch wide, with a loop at each end,
through which the big toe of the rider is inserted. This
riband passes through an opening over the top of the
saddle, and is not fixed, hut slides backwards and forwards
according to the pressure brought to bear on it by
the rider. Of course, I could not ride on one of these
little saddles with sliding stirrups, so I had them taken
off and returned to my boyish practice of hare-backed
riding. These ponies had been out hunting all day and
yet showed no traces of fatigue, indeed they flew over
the dry clods at full speed and evidently were quite
used to racing—appearing to enjoy it as much as we did
ourselves.
After this sport was concluded we returned on board
to dinner, after having stopped for a few minutes at the
ford near the market to get a bath in the stream, which is
here as clear and sparkling as a Derbyshire brook. This
day’s public amusement taking place as it did so soon
after my arrival was a most fortunate thing for me, since
I thus obtained an introduction to the Sultan and most
of his people, and wherever I wandered in the island
afterwards I was always well received, which was lucky,
since the Sulus are not noted for their civility to strangers.
Even the small cotters who cultivate their little farms
and fruit groves up on the hills had heard of me, and
were very hospitable when, as happened soon afterwards,
I found my way up amongst them. The Sulu hills are
especially beautiful.
Nearly every day, morning and evening, we used to
go down to the little Meimbong river near the Orang
Kayu’s house to bathe; and in the evening especially
the tops of the highest hills were lovely, glowing with
warmth in the golden light; now clear, now hazy, the
last tremulous kisses of the lingering sun. I used to
walk a mile or two up the left bank of the winding river
nearly every evening before I had my bath, and I nearly
always took my gun, as the birds here were tolerably
plentiful, and in some cases very beautiful or interesting.
There are at least a dozen kinds of pigeons and
doves ; and three of the species I shot, I had never seen
before. Paroquets are common, and fly shrieking overhead
morning and evening. I shot four kinds in all, two
large green ones, a white one, and a small green one
having a blue head, and a pair of long-shafted, racquetshaped
feathers in its tail.
One of the most conspicuous of the birds here is the
gold and black oriole before mentioned, and a blackbird
having a grey back and immense flesh-coloured orbits is
not uncommon on trees beside the river. Two species
of kingfisher were seen; one the common blue kind,
with a white ring around its neck, and a discordant,