me to pay on my return exactly what I liked. “ And then,”
said he, “ whether you give me one dollar or a hundred, I
shall be satisfied, and shall ask no more.”
The remainder of my stay was fully occupied in laying
in stores, engaging servants, and making every other preparation
for an absence of seven months from even the
outskirts ‘ of civilization.' On the morning of December
13th, when we went on board at daybreak, it was raining
hard. We set sail and it carnè on to blow. Our boat was
lost astern, our sails damaged, and the evening found us
back again in Macassar harbour, j We remained there four
days longer, owing to its raining all the time, thus rendering
it impossible tó dry and repair the huge mat sails.
All these dreary days I remained on board, and during the
rare intervals when it didn’t rain, made myself acquainted
with our outlandish craft, some of the peculiarities of
which I will now endeavour to describe.
It was a vessel of about seventy tons burthen, | and
shaped something like a Chinese junk. The dëck sloped »
considerably downward tó the bows, which are thus the
lowest part of the ship. There were two large rudders,
but instead of being placed astern they were hung on the
quarters from strong cross beams, which projected out two.
or three feet on each side, and to which extent the deck
overhung the sides of the vessel amidships. The rudders
were not hinged but hung with slings of rattan, the friction
of which keeps them in any position in which they are
placed, and thus perhaps facilitates steering. The tillers
were not on deck, but entered the vessel through two
t
square openings into a lower or half deck about three feet
high, in which sit the two steersmen. In the after part of
the vessel was a low poop, about three and a half feet high,
which forms the captain’s cabin, its furniture consisting of
boxes, mats, and pillows. In front of the poop and mainmast
was a little thatched house on deck, about four feet
high to the ridge; and one compartment of this, forming a
cabin six and a half feet long by five and a half wide, I
had all to myself, and it was the snuggest and most comfortable
little place I ever enjoyed at sea. It was entered
by a low sliding door of thatch on one side, and had a very
small window on the other. The floor was of split bamboo,
pleasantly elastic, raised six inches above the deck, so as
to be quite dry. It was covered with fine cane mats, for
the manufacture of which Macassar is celebrated; against
the further wall were arranged my gun-case, insect-boxes,
clothes, and books ; my mattress occupied the middle, and
next the door were my canteen, lamp, and little store of
luxuries for the voyage; while guns, revolver, and hunting
knife hung conveniently, from the roof. During these four
miserable days I was quite jolly in this little snuggery—
more so than I should haye been if confined the same time
to the gilded and uncomfortable saloon of a first-class
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