st remarked, that in Borneo it
was considered fashionable to eat with the left hand.

The supper, which soon followed the tea, consisted of about a dozen
dishes of curry, all different from one another, and a whole poultry
yard of grilled and boiled chickens, many different sorts of salt
fish, with great basins of rice at intervals, jars of pickles, piles
of sliced pine-apple, sweetmeats, and cakes. Four male attendants
stood by with goblets of cool sherbet, from which, ever and anon, they
replenished our glasses; besides whom, a number of young Malay girls
waited at a distance from the table, and ran about nimbly with the
plates and dishes.

After a great deal of ceremonious rigmarole, in which the Admiral was
asked for his autograph, and it was wonderful how well the shrewd
little Malay interpreter expressed to the Admiral, who cheerfully
agreed to the proposal, and desired me to send for his writing-case.
As I rose, the Admiral whispered to me, "I wish you would contrive, at
the same time, to see what the boat's crew are about. Try, also, if
you can get them something to eat; the fellows must be hungry enough
by this time--but mind they don't get too much toddy."

I found the crew seated on the mud floor of a large room close to the
beach, and open on all sides, like a tent without walls. The Johnnies
were in such high glee, that I feared they had already trespassed too
deeply on the toddy pot; but I was glad to find that their
satisfaction arose from a safer source, namely, a glorious hot supper,
which Jack was tucking in to the great delight and astonishment of the
natives, who had been ordered by the sultan to supply them with as
much curry and rice as they chose to eat.

Very early in the morning, long before there was the least peep of
dawn, the Admiral roused us all out of bed, ordered the boat to be
manned, and declared his intention of dropping down the river while it
was yet cool, so as to reach the ship before the fierce heat of the
sun had set in. I suspect, also, that he wished to escape the salutes
for which he had seen some preparations over night. But scarcely had
we gained the distance of two or three hundred yards from the shore
when the heavy guns of the batteries began to fire a royal salute. The
night was uncommonly dark and still, and the successive flashes and
reports of the cannons were followed by a long series of echoes from
the edges of the damp forests lining the banks of the three diff