idable proportions, for the whole _campong_
is eventually in tow, with the exception of the men and boys occupied
in lading cargo. Through the dappled sunlight and shadows of the
sweeping palms which flank the glassy bay, we are personally conducted
to the principal _Messighit_, a bare, whitewashed building, without any
decoration beyond the blue and white tiles outlining the horse-shoe
arch of the _Mihrab_ looking towards Mecca. The exterior with three
roofs of mossy thatch supported on bamboo poles, offers a shelter from
the sun on a flight of crumbling steps, overshadowed by the spreading
eaves. A big cocoanut frond serves as an improvised broom in a dusky
hand, and the central step is carefully swept before the stranger, with
respectful salaams and gesticulations, is invited to sit down. A
turbaned _Imaum_, the custodian of the decaying sanctuary, comes forth
from his dilapidated hut among the palms behind the shrine, at the
unwonted excitement breaking the silence and solitude of the ancient
mosque, but he evidently belongs to the dreamland of the past, and
retires quickly from the disturbing present to meditations or slumbers
in his obscure dwelling, closing the bamboo door against all intruders.
This day's incident of the cruise in the Malay Archipelago seems
absolutely cut off from ordinary experience--a solitary Englishwoman,
resting in the shadow of the rustic mosque, and surrounded by a
half-barbaric tribe of unfamiliar aspect, the dark woolly hair, flat
noses, wide mouths, and dazzling teeth suggesting a liberal admixture
of negro or Papuan blood. Native intelligence simplifies a halting
conversation, carried on by means of the indispensable Malayan
phrase-book. Wistful eyes rest on the stranger whose lot is cast under
happier auspices, and unmistakeable characteristics manifest the
Soela-Bessir islanders as a gentle and teachable race. Alas! the Dutch
Government plants neither schools nor missions in distant Senana, too
far from the beaten track to commend itself to the religious or
educational care of a nation apparently indifferent to the claims of
small communities, in the vast Archipelago subject to Holland. Only the
quarterly call of the Dutch steamer stirs the stagnation of ages on the
Soela-Bessir isles, but although the young, sharing in that wondrous
heritage of mirth and gladness peculiar to the joyous early life of the
tropics, recognise no limitations in their lot, the mothers sadly
repeat the co