Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/205

Rh of to-morrow's journey, we soon forgot the disagreeables of the past day.

Before we retired, a handsome young Javanese called and asked to see me, announcing himself as the son of the chief we had that afternoon seen. He was accompanied by a small suite of attendants, all wearing krisses, who sat cross-legged on the floor, and, whenever their youthful master accosted one of them, saluted him in the prayer-like manner already described.

He was a very pleasant gentleman, and showed a great penchant for British sovereigns, about twenty of which he wore as jacket buttons. As I was rather at a loss to understand the purport of his visit, I bowed to him, begged him to take a seat, and waited for him to begin the conversation, which he did by making apologies for his father's coldness, who, that day, he said, was rather bingoong (meaning out of humour, or in a dilemma), in consequence of having been awakened from his