AN UNCOMFORTABLE NIGHT. 41
suddenly check their animals, lead them ofp the main road, and, with hat in hand, stand uncovered by their horses until avc had driven past. I can ])erfectly understand now why the Dutch com- plain of the manner of the natives in our Eastern l)ossessions, who, it must be confessed, are some- times very impertinent to strangers, never having been taught by us such submission as the Javanese render to their masters.
We arrived too late to present our letter of intro- duction that night to Colonel J , commandant
of the fort. A\'e therefore in(pu*i-e(l if there was any place where we could rest for the m'ght, and were directed to a dirty-looking hovel, the oidy !<"l;:ing ill the j.lace, at which, to add to its other discomforts, we could ]rocure no food fit to eat. Ib)i-ing, however, for l)etter tilings on the morrow, we m;|,, the l,cst of circumstances which could not be lielju'd ; and after passing a most uncom- fortable i.iglif, despatche.l Drahman in the morn-
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