or floating house, and a perfect flotilla of boats accompanied us. At
length, after many days spent in floating down the beautiful Pahang
river, with the cool ripple of the water in our ears, and the
ever-changing views to delight our eyes, we came in sight of Pekan, and,
that night, we tied up about half a mile below the capital, at the
landing-place which belonged to my travelling companion.

Thereafter followed negotiations, and interviews--made terrible by
unearthly sweetmeats--much talk, and long waiting. Endless delays on
the one side, stubborn patience that refused to be tired out on the
other; and, as dawn was breaking on a certain Easter Sunday, I found
myself, with a promise of a Treaty in my pocket, making my way out of
the mouth of the river _en route_ for Singapore. A fortnight later I was
back at Pekan, to the no small disgust of my friend the Sultan and his
people, but now I had quarters assigned to me in the royal village, and
accordingly I saw but little of the _Raja_ with whom I had formerly
travelled, and the people who had accompanied him from the interior.

One day, about noon, I was aroused from sleep,--for, at Pekan, when
first I lived there, all business was transacted at night, and no one of
standing, who respected himself, thought of going to bed before eight
o'clock in the morning, or of getting up till four in the afternoon. For
Malays to wake one means that there is trouble, or that something
untoward has occurred; for, in the Native States, slumber is
respected,--as it ought to be, seeing how hard at times it is to come
by,--and the European practice of being called in the morning, is a
barbarous habit with which Malays have no sympathy. On this occasion
there was a good reason for waking me, as news had just come in that To'
Muda Long had killed Bayan the Paroquet, and as this had occurred in the
compound of the _Raja_, with whom I had formerly travelled, and as he
and the Sultan were on bad terms, there was room for fear that serious
political complications would ensue. I, therefore, had occasion to
inquire into the details of this murder, and this is what I learned.

To' Muda Long, Bayan the Paroquet, and the rest of the up-country
natives, who had accompanied us down river to Pekan, remained in the
_Raja's_ enclosure to act as his body-guard and boat crew, and they had
not been long at Pekan before the girls of the town began to send
challenges to them, for Malay women dearly love a ch