Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Male Brenthidæ (
Leptorhynchus angustatus
) fighting
Just as we were going away, a handsome tree, allied to Erythrina, was in blossom, show-
ing its masses of large crimson flowers scattered here and there about the forest. Could it
have been seen from an elevation, it would have had a fine effect; from below I could only
catch sight of masses of gorgeous colour in clusters and festoons overhead, about which
flocks of blue and orange lories were fluttering and screaming.
A good many people died at Dobbo this season; I believe about twenty. They were buried
in a little grove of Casuarinas behind my house. Among the traders was a Mahometan priest,
who superintended the funerals, which were very simple. The body was wrapped up in new
white cotton cloth, and was carried on a bier to the grave. All the spectators sat down on the
ground, and the priest chanted some verses from the Koran. The graves were fenced round
with a slight bamboo railing, and a little carved wooden head-post was put to mark the spot.
There was also in the village a small mosque, where every Friday the faithful went to pray.
This is probably more remote from Mecca than any other mosque in the world, and marks
the farthest eastern extension of the Mahometan religion. The Chinese here, as elsewhere,
showed their superior wealth and civilization by tombstones of solid granite brought from
Singapore, with deeply-cut inscriptions, the characters of which are painted in red, blue, and
gold. No people have more respect for the graves of their relations and friends than this
strange, ubiquitous, money-getting people.
