Page 199 - Malay sketches

A MALAY ROMANCE

tion, and, while their claims are clear, the concubine
has none. To neglect a wife for a concubine is a
dire offence to Malay women, and the slight is enor-
mously exaggerated when the wife is of high birth,
and the favourite a woman of the
only people.
The house where Raja Iskander then lived was
within a hundred feet of the bank of the stream, an
unattractive spot fifty miles from the mouth of the
river, but yet not far enough to escape the tidal
influence and the unlovely accompaniments of turbid
water, muddy banks, and flat surroundings. Raja
Iskander passed a good deal of his time in boats,
the lazy life suited him and his habits, and, instead
of having to provide a house for each of the ladies
in his harem, he supplied a boat. That was much
more and was an
economical, economy object, for,
like many people with extravagant tastes, his
extravagance was purely selfish.
The boats lay in the river in front of the house,
and as Raja Iskander's presence was the excuse for
a rendezvous of all the gamblers, cock-fighters, and
opium-smokers of the neighbourhood, a good many
boats besides his own were always in attendance.
Amongst the visitors attracted to this spot at this
time was a man called Raja Sleman, a stranger from
a neighbouring State.
183