d with plenty of space, starred by many
lights burning strong and white, with a suggestion of paraffin and lamp-
glasses, stood the house and the godowns of Abdulla bin Selim, the great
trader of Sambir. To Almayer the sight was very distasteful, and he
shook his fist towards the buildings that in their evident prosperity
looked to him cold and insolent, and contemptuous of his own fallen
fortunes.

He mounted the steps of his house slowly.

In the middle of the verandah there was a round table. On it a paraffin
lamp without a globe shed a hard glare on the three inner sides. The
fourth side was open, and faced the river. Between the rough supports of
the high-pitched roof hung torn rattan screens. There was no ceiling,
and the harsh brilliance of the lamp was toned above into a soft half-
light that lost itself in the obscurity amongst the rafters. The front
wall was cut in two by the doorway of a central passage closed by a red
curtain. The women's room opened into that passage, which led to the
back courtyard and to the cooking shed. In one of the side walls there
was a doorway. Half obliterated words--"Office: Lingard and Co."--were
still legible on the dusty door, which looked as if it had not been
opened for a very long time. Close to the other side wall stood a bent-
wood rocking-chair, and by the table and about the verandah four wooden
armchairs straggled forlornly, as if ashamed of their shabby
surroundings. A heap of common mats lay in one corner, with an old
hammock slung diagonally above. In the other corner, his head wrapped in
a piece of red calico, huddled into a shapeless heap, slept a Malay, one
of Almayer's domestic slaves--"my own people," he used to call them. A
numerous and representative assembly of moths were holding high revels
round the lamp to the spirited music of swarming mosquitoes. Under the
palm-leaf thatch lizards raced on the beams calling softly. A monkey,
chained to one of the verandah supports--retired for the night under the
eaves--peered and grinned at Almayer, as it swung to one of the bamboo
roof sticks and caused a shower of dust and bits of dried leaves to
settle on the shabby table. The floor was uneven, with many withered
plants and dried earth scattered about. A general air of squalid neglect
pervaded the place. Great red stains on the floor and walls testified to
frequent and indiscriminate betel-nut chewing. The light breeze from the
river swayed gently