Page 51 - Malay sketches

MENG-GELUNCHOR

And I am
way. yet persuaded that, if your joints
are not stiff with age and you are not afraid of
cold water, or ridicule, or personal damage (and you
will admit none of those things) you would mng-

gelunchor with the best of them, nor be the first to
"
cry hold, enough."
It is usual for the men, when sliding down the
rock, to sit upon a piece of the thick fibre of the
plantain called upih. It is perhaps advisable, but
the women do not seem to want it. It is surprising
that there are so few casualties and of such small
importance some slight abrasions, a little bumping
of heads, at most the loss of a tooth, will be the
extent of the total damage, and with a little care
there need be none at all.
By I P.M. every one will probably be tired, dry
garments are donned, and a very hungry company
does ample justice to the meal. An hour will be
spent in smoking and gossip, and, as the shadows
begin to lengthen, a long procession slowly wends
its way back, down the slippery descent, across the
and to the
sunny fields, through the forest, trysting-
place where all met in the morning and whence they
now return to their own homes.
The intelligent reader will realise that this is a
game abounding in possibilities, but the players
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