Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/204

186 he returned with them, accompanied by a boy who carried two small rafts, made from parts of a plantain tree. To each of these the man fastened one of the poor victims by its right leg, allowing it just sufficient space to touch the water with its breast. When he had got them ready, we were desired to step into a cockle-shell of a canoe, about ten feet long and two broad, formed out of the trunk of a tamarind, or teak tree, with all the wood scooped out, leaving a thickness of two or three inches to form the boat. It was soon shoved off, and when we had got some distance from the shore, the boat-man asked Drahman where we came from, and whither we were bound? Being satisfied with our replies, he cried out in a sing-song voice some Javanese words, which my servant interpreted:

"Oh, Bajul (alligator), come out of the water! A gentleman and his lady have come from Batavia to offer you a couple of ducks! Come, come quickly, delay not, but bring good luck to this