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Gray interpreted this to the Malay, who smiled, uncovered the hilt of his kris, drew it, took it by the blade, and knelt down before the officers, placing the point upright on the left shoulder close to his neck, then reaching out with his right hand, he motioned to Captain Smithers to strike the weapon down into his breast.
Rose Innes, wife of an English official in the Far East, who, among other entertaining things, tells of a head-hunter chief who taught her to speak Malay, and she, wishing to reciprocate, offered to teach him English; but the great man begged to be excused, saying, "Malay is spoken everywhere you go, east, west, north or south, but in all the world there are only twelve people who speak English," and he proceeded to name them.
He killed the dam, and took away the young one, which he afterwards sold to some European ship's captain." "The Malay has succeeded!" exclaimed the Indian, listening to a singular kind of hoot, which sounded through the profound silence of the night and of the woods.
To our questions as to what the Malay said, Ned replied, "He tells me, sir, that he has heard of several white men being at a village on the banks of a large river some way up from the coast. As far as I can make out, they have been there a long time, and the natives won't let them get away.
The method of execution here is the same as in other Malay countries, the criminal being taken down to the banks of the river, where a long "kris" is thrust down through the shoulder into the heart, and is then twisted about till the man is dead.
With a shriek of joy it sprang like an acrobat from a spring-board and plunged into the hermit's bosom to the alarm of the Malay, who thought this was a furious attack. We need not say that Van der Kemp received his faithful little servant kindly, and it was quite touching to observe the monkey's intense affection for him.
We tried to stop here; but forage was ninepence a bundle, and the true Malay would rather die than pay more than he can help. They were very civil, asked us in, and gave us unripe apricots, and the girl came down with seven flounces, to talk with us. We got to Caledon at eleven, and drove to the place the Doctor recommended formerly a country house of the Dutch Governor.
The bride, of course, having being dressed in her best, and loaded with gold ornaments, borrowed from many miles around, which had served to deck every bride in the district ever since any one could remember, was left seated on the gĕta, or raised sleeping platform, in the dimly lighted inner apartments, there to await the ordeal known to Malay cruelty as sanding.
The western chain consists of the Sunda Islands, the eastern of the Philippines and New Guinea. Sumatra is the first island of the immense pontoon bridge which extends south-eastwards from the Malay Peninsula. The next is Java, and then follows a row of medium-sized islands to the east. The animal and vegetable life of these islands is very abundant.
The man-of-war had towed them to the nearest port, not to the headquarters of the colony, and when Mr. Wardrop saw the dismal little harbour, with its ragged line of Chinese junks, its one crazy tug, and the boat-building shed that, under the charge of a philosophical Malay, represented a dockyard, he sighed and shook his head. "I did well," he said.
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