Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
were I to walk among them. If I came suddenly upon a well where women were drawing
water or children bathing, a sudden flight was the certain result; which things occurring day
after day, were very unpleasant to a person who does not like to be disliked, and who had
never been accustomed to be treated as an ogre.
About the middle of November, finding my health no better, and insects, birds, and shells
all very scarce, I determined to return to Mamájam, and pack up my collections before the
heavy rains commenced. The wind had already begun to blow from the west, and many
signs indicated that the rainy season might set in earlier than usual; and then everything be-
comes very damp, and it is almost impossible to dry collections properly. My kind friend
Mr. Mesman again lent me his pack-horses, and with the assistance of a few men to carry
my birds and insects, which I did not like to trust on horses' backs, we got everything home
safe. Few can imagine the luxury it was to stretch myself on a sofa, and to take my supper
comfortably at table seated in my easy bamboo chair, after having for five weeks taken all
my meals uncomfortably on the floor. Such things are trifles in health, but when the body is
weakened by disease the habits of a lifetime cannot be so easily set aside.
My house, like all bamboo structures in this country, was a leaning one, the strong west-
erly winds of the wet season having set all its posts out of the perpendicular to such a de-
gree, as to make me think it might some day possibly go over altogether. It is a remarkable
thing that the natives of Celebes have not discovered the use of diagonal struts in strength-
ening buildings. I doubt if there is a native house in the country two years old and at all ex-
posed to the wind, which stands upright; and no wonder, as they merely consist of posts and
joists all placed upright or horizontal, and fastened rudely together with rattans. They may
be seen in every stage of the process of tumbling down, from the first slight inclination, to
such a dangerous slope that it becomes a notice to quit to the occupiers.
The mechanical geniuses of the country have only discovered two ways of remedying the
evil. One is, after it has commenced, to tie the house to a post in the ground on the wind-
ward side by a rattan or bamboo cable. The other is a preventive, but how they ever found it
out and did not discover the true way is a mystery. This plan is, to build the house in the
usual way, but instead of having all the principal supports of straight posts, to have two or
three of them chosen as crooked as possible. I had often noticed these crooked posts in
houses, but imputed it to the scarcity of good straight timber, till one day I met some men
carrying home a post shaped something like a dog's hind leg, and inquired of my native boy
what they were going to do with such a piece of wood. 'To make a post for a house,' said
he. 'But why don't they get a straight one, there are plenty here?' said I. 'Oh,' replied he,
'they prefer some like that in a house, because then it won't fall,' evidently imputing the ef-
