CHAPTER XXIY.
BATCHIAN.
(OCTOBER 1858 TO APRIL 1859.)
' LANDED opposite the house kept for the use of the
Resident of Ternate, and was met by a respectable
middle-aged Malay, who told me he was Secretary to
the Sultan, and would receive the official letter with which
•I had been provided. On giving it him, he at once informed
me I might have the use of the official residence
which was empty. I soon got my things on shore, but on
looking about me found that the house would never do to
stay long in. There was no water except at a considerable
distance, and one of my men would be almost entirely
occupied getting water and firewood, and I should myself
have to walk all through the village every day to the
forest, and live almost in public, a thing I much dislike.
The rooms were all boarded, and had ceilings, which are a
great nuisance, as there are no means of hanging anything
up except by driving nails, and not half the conveniences
of a native bamboo and thatch cottage. I accordingly
chap. xxiv.] MY COTTAGE IN THE SUBURBS. 3 7
inquired for a house outside of the village on the road to
the coal mines, and was informed by the Secretary that
there was a small one belonging to the Sultan, and that
he would go with me early next morning to see it.
■We had to pass one large river, by a rude but substantial
bridge, and to wade through another fine pebbly stream
of clear water, just beyond which the little hut was situated.
It was very small, not raised on posts, but with the earth
for a floor, and was built almost entirely of the leaf-stems
of the sago-palm, called here “ gaba-gaba.” Across the river
behind rose a forest-clad bank, and a good road close in
front of the house led through cultivated grounds to the
forest about half a mile on, and thence to the coal mines
four miles further. These advantages at once decided me,
knd I told the Secretary I would be very glad to occupy
the house. I therefore sent my two men immediately to
buy “ ataps ” (palm-leaf thatch) to repair the roof, and the
next day, with the assistance of eight of the Sultan’s men,
got all my stores and furniture carried up and pretty comfortably
arranged. A rough bamboo bedstead was soon
constructed/and a table made of boards which I had
brought with me, fixed under the window. Two bamboo
chairs, an easy cane chair, and hanging shelves suspended
with insulating oil cups, so as to be safe from ants, completed
my furnishing arrangements.
In the afternoon succeeding my arrival, the Secretary