Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/304

 the local Malays were not greatly interested in my doings, I got together a pack of men, mostly natives of Kelantan, to work my boat on the river, and to carry my baggage when I tramped.

I think Ûmat divined that I was lonely, and he may even have dimly realized that I was an object of pity, for he used to creep into my hut in the evening, and seating himself upon the floor, would tell me tales of his own country and people until the night was far advanced. His dialect was strange Lo me at that time, and the manner in which he cluded some of his vowels and most of his consonants was at first a trifle bewildering. It took a little time lo master the phonetic law which caused anam (ix) to shrink into ne', and kerbau (buffalo) into kúba', and his vocabulary was rich in local words; but I let him talk, and in the end learned not only to understand, but actually to talk this new and bar- barous brand of Malay to which he was the first tu introduce me.

Thus mat and I became friends, and life was a thought less dreary because he was at hand. He taught me a number of things which I did not know before, and his folklore and his dialect furnished an interesting study that served to enliven hours of solitude that at times were almost overwhelm- ing.

Then came a period when trouble darkened the land, and the disturbances which I had foretold, but in the imminence of which I had failed to persuade any one to believe, broke out in earnest. The war-