Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/43

Rh which is hollowed out perpendicularly the whole way down the centre, to the depth of three or four inches, commencing about four inches from the top, and leaving about the same space below. When suspended from a wooden stand, and struck, as it is at each guardo, every hour during the night, with a thick piece of wood, it gives out a hollow sound, not only warning the villagers or townspeople of the fleeting hours of time, but also assuring the Capalla—should anxious fears arouse him from his slumber—that his men are on the qui vive. They are also sounded on occasion of a fire, and as those at the different posts are struck one after the other, the news of the disaster is soon communicated to the whole town. Some of the Tok-toks which I saw had been so recently cut from the tree that the sprigs, soon to be hammered and dried out, were still fresh and green on the sides of the condemned trunk.

The day after our arrival, we, in accordance