said that we
_passed_ the night, mark you; I refuse to toy with the truth to the
extent of saying that we slept. Why they call it a rest-house I cannot
imagine. Never that I can recall, save only in a zoo, have I found
myself on such intimate terms with so many forms of animal life as in
that _passangrahan_. Cockroaches nearly as large as mice (before you
raise your eyebrows at this statement talk with anyone who has traveled
in Malaysia), spiders, centipedes, ants and beetles made my bedroom an
entomologist's paradise. Some large winged animal, presumably a
fruit-bat or a flying-fox, entered by the window and circled the room
like an airplane; and, judging from the sounds which proceeded from
beneath the bed, I gathered that the room also harbored a snake or a
large rat, though which I was not certain as I saw no reason for
investigating. A family of lizards disported themselves on the ceiling
and when I menaced them with a stick they departed so hastily that one
of them abandoned his tail, which dropped on the wash-stand. A
squadron of mosquitoes--a sort of _escadrille de chasse_, as it
were--kept me awake until daybreak, when they were relieved by a
skirmishing party of _cimex lectulariae_, which are well known in
America under a shorter and less polite name. Fishes only were absent,
but I am convinced that their neglect of me was due to ignorance of my
presence. Had they known of it I feel certain that the climbing fish,
which is one of the curiosities of these waters, would have flopped on
to my pillow.

Upon our arrival at Kloeng Kloeng I found the Controleur, who had been
notified by the Resident at Singaradja of our coming, had made
arrangements for an elaborate series of native dances to be given that
afternoon on the lawn of the residency. It is a simple matter to
arrange a dance in Bali, for every village, no matter how small,
supports a ballet, and usually a troupe of actors as well, just as an
American community supports a baseball team. The money for the gorgeous
costumes worn by the dancers is raised by local subscription and the
ballet frequently visits the neighboring towns to give exhibitions or
to engage in competitions, contingents of the dancers' townspeople
usually going along to root for them.

The Balinese dances require many years of arduous and constant
training. A girl is scarcely out of the sling by which Balinese
children are carried on the mother's back before, under the tutelage of
her