n, and tears trickled down
his cheeks when matters were amicably settled between us: indeed for some
time he could hardly be convinced of it, and repeatedly asked, "Are we
friends?" 2nd. The chiefs met as desired, and after a short conversation
agreed to all that we proposed. Papers were thereupon drawn up and signed
and sworn to under the British colours. After this a shell was thrown
into the air at the request of the chiefs, who were desirous of
witnessing the sight.

MODE OF TAKING AN OATH.

Their method of swearing was as follows: The young shoots of the
anau-tree were made into a kind of rope, with the leaves hanging, and
this was attached to four stakes stuck in the ground, forming an area of
five or six feet square, within which a mat was spread, where those about
to take the oath seated themselves. A small branch of the prickly bamboo
was planted in the area also, and benzoin was kept burning during the
ceremony. The chiefs then laid their hands on the koran, held to them by
a priest, and one of them repeated to the rest the substance of the oath,
who, at the pauses he made, gave a nod of assent; after which they
severally said, "may the earth become barren, the air and water
poisonous, and may dreadful calamities fall on us and our posterity, if
we do not fulfil what we now agree to and promise."

ACCOUNT OF SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRY.

We met here with little or no fruit excepting plantains and pineapples,
and these of an indifferent sort. The general produce of the country was
maize, padi, potatoes, sweet-potatoes, tobacco, and sugar-cane. The
principal part of their clothing was procured from the eastern side of
the island. They appear to have no regular season for sowing the grain,
and we saw plantations where in one part they had taken in the crop, in
another part it was nearly ripe, in a third not above five inches high,
and in a fourth they had but just prepared the ground for sowing. Upon
the whole, there appeared more cultivation than near the coast.

MANNERS OF PEOPLE.

It is a practice with many individuals among these people (as with
mountaineers in some parts of Europe) to leave their country in order to
seek employment where they can find it, and at the end of three or four
years revisit their native soil, bringing with them the produce of their
labours. If they happen to be successful they become itinerant merchants,
and travel to almost all parts of the island, particularly where fairs
are he