Could it have been seen from an elevation, it would have
had a fine effect; from below I could only catch sight of
masses of gorgeous colour in clusters and festoons overhead,
about which flocks of blue and orange lories were
fluttering and screaming.
A good many people died at Dobbo this season ; I
believe about twenty. They were buried in a little grove
of Casuarinas behind my house. Among the traders was
a Mahometan priest, who superintended the funerals,
which were very simple. The body was wrapped up in
new white cotton cloth, and was carried on a bier to the
grave. All the spectators sat down on the ground, and
the priest chanted some verses from the Koran. The graves
were fenced round with a slight bamboo railing, and a
little carved wooden head-post was put to mark the spot.
There was also in the village a small mosque, where every
Friday the faithful went to pray. This is probably more
remote from Mecca than any other mosque in the world,
and marks the farthest eastern extension of the Mahometan
religion. The Chinese here, as elsewhere, showed
their superior wealth and civilization by tombstones of
solid granite brought from Singapore, with deeply-cut
inscriptions, the characters of which are painted in red,
blue, and gold. No people have more respect for the
graves of their relations and friends than this strange,
ubiquitous, money-getting people.
Soon after we had returned to Dobbo, my Macassar boy,
Baderoon, took his wages and left me, because I scolded
him for laziness. He then occupied himself in gambling,
and at first had some luck, and bought ornaments, and had
plenty of money. Then his luck turned; he lost everything,
borrowed money and lost that, and was obliged to
become the slave of his creditor till he had worked out the
debt. He was a quick and active lad when he pleased,
but was apt to be idle, and had such an incorrigible propensity
for gambling, that it will very likely lead to his
becoming a slave for life.
The end of June was now approaching, the east monsoon
had set in steadily, and in another week or two Dobbo
would be deserted. Preparations for departure were everywhere
visible, and every sunny day (rather rare now) the
streets were as crowded and as busy as beehives. Heaps
of tripang were finally dried and packed up in sacks;
mother-of-pearl shell, tied up with rattans into convenient
bundles, was all day long being carried to the beach to be
loaded; water-casks were filled, and cloths and mat-sails
mended and strengthened for the run home before the
strong east wind. Almost every day groups of natives
arrived from the most distant parts of the islands, with
cargoes of bananas and sugar-cane to exchange for tobacco,
sago, bread, and other luxuries, before the general departure.
The Chinamen killed their fat pig and made