“Yes, it’s sweet
... to grouse about the crops,
And sweet to hear the tales the natives tell,
To watch the king and chieftains playing leisurely at tops,
While the country’s bowling gaily down to hell.”—Hugh Clifford (adapted from Rudyard Kipling). ↑171
More probably India or Persia (?). ↑
172
Taken from Clifford and Swett., Mal. Dict., s.v. Châtor. ↑
173
Notes and Queries No. 1, sec. 23, issued with J.R.A.S., S.B. No. 14. Quoted in Denys,
Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya, s.v. Cards. ↑
174
Selangor Journal, vol. v. No. 13, pp. 210–12. I may add that luck in gaming is largely thought
by the Malays to depend upon fortunate dreams. Vide p. 563, infra. ↑
175
I cannot find either ping, ning, or biling in the dictionaries, and the only chance perhaps of
finding out the meaning will be to collate the rhymes used for this game in other States. I have
heard it several times here, and it has always been the same. ↑
176
Probably the species of sea-turtle known by that name. ↑
177
The ordinary Indian name for “clarified butter,” which is used largely in Eastern cookery. ↑
178
It is almost impossible to translate nursery rhymes satisfactorily, and the versions here given
must be regarded as tentative and necessarily imperfect. ↑
179
Vide supra, p. 484, note. ↑