“See how fruitful are the satela yams,
Where the hills of Bantan rise by the sea;
I know not whether good luck or calamity will follow it,
But my heart turns towards you.”Here one of the girl’s representatives says, “Look well at this buffalo-calf of mine that has been
allowed to forage for itself. Maybe its coat is torn, its limbs broken, or its sight lost.” The
youth’s representative, if all is satisfactory, then replies—
“The sun being so high,
The buffalo-calf will die if tethered;
This long while have I been prosecuting my search,
But not till to-day did I meet with what I wanted.”↑
69
Diamond, i.e. the girl about whom the wooing party has come to treat. ↑
70
The kati is the “Indian” pound (1⅓ pound avoir.), and the tahil is its sixteenth part. The phrase
sakati lima is explained by Klinkert as an elliptical expression = sa-kĕti lima laksa, i.e. 150,000
cash (pitis). Vide Kl. sub voce. ↑
71
i.e. when the sago is being extracted from the stem. ↑
72
The native substitute for a rowlock. ↑
73
Lit. indigo. ↑
74
This line is obscure, the word “bingku” (which I have translated rim, on the supposition that it
may be merely a longer form of biku), not appearing in any dictionary. The next line also is not
quite clear, but it would appear to mean “let us make sacrifice,” rice stained with saffron being