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Miller, great quantities of small black dogs, with erect pointed ears, which they fatten and eat. Toddy or palm-wine they drink copiously at their feasts. The houses are built with frames of wood, with the sides of boards, and roof covered with iju. They usually consist of a single large room, which is entered by a trap-door in the middle.
The place contains the ballei and about twenty houses, built in general of plank very neatly put together, and carved; and some of them were also roofed with planks or shingles about two feet long and one broad. The others with the leaves of the puar or cardamum, which are again very thinly covered with iju. This is said to last long, but harbours vermin, as we experienced.
It was formed of bamboos tied together with iju ropes and suspended to the trees, whose branches stretched nearly over the stream. The Serampei women are the worst-favoured creatures we ever saw, and uncouth in their manners. Arrived at Tanjong Kasiri, another fortified village, more populous than Ranna Alli. 13th. The sick and heavy baggage were ordered to Tanjong Agung, another Serampei village.
The kulitkayu, before described, is sometimes employed for this purpose: the galumpei this is a thatch of narrow split bamboos, six feet in length, placed in regular layers, each reaching within two feet of the extremity of that beneath it, by which a treble covering is formed: iju this is a vegetable production so nearly resembling horse-hair as scarcely to be distinguished from it.
They ride boldly without a saddle or stirrups, frequently throwing their hands upwards whilst pushing their horse to full speed. The bit of the bridle is of iron, and has several joints; the head-stall and reins of rattan: in some parts the reins, or halter rather, is of iju, and the bit of wood.
These are of iju, which resembles horsehair, many fathoms in length, and disposed in such a manner as to entangle their feet; for which purpose they are gently driven towards the snares. In some parts of the country they make use of clasp-nets.
They delighted much in an instrument made from some part of the iju palm-tree, which resembled and produced a sound like the jews-harp. The potato, which was introduced there many years ago, is now a common article of food, and cultivated with some attention. Excellent tobacco is grown there, also cotton and indigo, the small leafed kind.
The following sorts of dry-ground padi have come under my notice but as the names vary in different districts it is possible that some of these may be repetitions, where there is no striking difference of character: Padi Ebbas, large grain, very common; Andalong, short round grain, grows in whorls or bunches round the stalk, common; Galu, light-coloured, scarce; Sini, small grain, deep coloured, scarce; Iju, light ish colour, scarce; Kuning, deep yellow, crooked and pointed, fine rice; Kukur-ballum, small, much crooked and resembling a dove's claw, from whence the name; light-coloured, highly esteemed for its delicate flavour; Pisang, outer coat light brown, inner red, longer, smaller, and less crooked than the preceding; Bringin, long, flattish, ribbed, pointed, dead yellow; Bujut, shaped like the preceding, but with a tinge of red in the colour; Chariap, short, roundish, reddish yellow; Janggut or bearded, small, narrow, pale brown; Jambi, small, somewhat crooked and pointed, light brown; Laye, gibbous, light-coloured; Musang, long, small, crooked and pointed, deep purple; Pandan, small, light-coloured; Pau, long, crooked and pointed, light yellow; Puyuh, small, delicate, crooked and pointed, bright ochre; Rakkun, roundish grain, resembles the andalong, but larger and deeper colour; Sihong, much resembles the laye in shape and colour; Sutar, short, roundish, bright, reddish brown; Pulut gading or ivory, long, nearly straight, light yellow; Pulut kechil, small, crooked, reddish yellow; Pulut bram, long and rather large grain, purple, when fresh more nearly red; Pulut bram lematong, in shape like the preceding, but of a dead pale colour.
It is bound on as a thatch in the manner we do straw, and not unfrequently over the galumpei; in which case the roof is so durable as never to require renewal, the iju being of all vegetable substances the least prone to decay, and for this reason it is a common practice to wrap a quantity of it round the ends of timbers or posts which are to be fixed in the ground.
To this vessel a rope of iju is attached, by which they draw it when loaded out of the horizontal mine to the nearest place where they can meet with a supply of water, which alone is employed to separate the gold from the pulverized quartz.
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