Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/118

 102 LIFE IN JAVA.

passed off in dancing and card-playing, the Sultan taking no part in the former amusement, but en- tering heartily into the game of vist, for which he has quite a passion.

As the lamps were all of a very primitive de- scription, they required trimming afresh every two or three hours. On account of the presence of royalty, this simple operation was performed with forms, the novelty of wdiich afforded us much amuse- ment. Two men, naked to the waist, approached the gay scene, one bearing a short ladder, the other a small lamp. Pausing a few yards from the Pringitan, they made obeisance to the ]-oyal seat, which at the moment was vacant, its usual occupant being deeply engaged in his rubber. After bowing three times nearly to the ground, they raised their two hands to their face in the manner I have previ- ously described.

Ascending the steps, the same ceremony was cone through a second time. The man bearing

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