Page:Journal Of The Indian Archipelago And Eastern Asia Series.i, Vol.2 (IA in.ernet.dli.2015.107695).pdf/323

 different kinds of vegetables. Those who have a little money add to these things, arrack, fowls, ducks, and pork; they also eat siri and smoke tobacco just as the Chinese in Town do. There are also a good number of opium smokers; when they have once acquired the habit they cannot break it off and they consume their money upon the drug.

They wear short jackets and short trowsers [sic] made mostly of coarse Nankeen, and unbleached stuff; they have a bag tied round their loins in which they keep their money and other little things; they go bare footed and wear bamboo hats on their heads to protect them from the sun; some wear feltcaps, which, though very thick, they say are not uncomfortably warm; this is their common dress, but on extraordinary occasions they wear shoes, white jackets and silk trowsers, and when they come to Town they have umbrellas to screen them from the sun, and in every particular resemble the Chinese in Town.

The houses in which they live have wooden pillars; the walls are formed of attap leaves, they do not cover the roof with tiles, but with attaps. This is the prevailing description of houses. They resemble in a great measure the houses of the Malays, but there is this difference, that the houses of the Malays are mostly raised above the ground, whereas those of the Chinese are low on the surface; the walls of the houses are formed, some of the bark of trees, some of kadjang, and others of dried grass; some cover their roofs also with dried grass; those who are in pretty good circumstances use thin planks for their walls, but there are very few such. Except the temples, none of the Chinese houses are covered with tiles.

Their wages vary. Those who are skilled in planting siri receive a monthly pay of 4 dollars, the next get 3 and 2 dollars. The amount of wages is determined by the quality of work whether it is good or inferior. The amount of wages of labourers in the jungle differs. Generally speaking, each labourer gets about 3 dollars per month, the wages of those who cut the Gambier leaves and of those who boil the gambier are somewhat more, but neither is their rate of wages fixed, they are paid more or less in proportion as the price of