He was a man of some standing locally, was thrice-wedded, kept each of his "better-halves" in a separate house, and was at the time blessed with three children, all the offspring of one proud mother. Our conversation was carried on in Malay; but on one occasion, when we were at fault as to his meaning, he was asked to explain himself in Hindustani. He smiled rather wickedly, and immediately surpassed a Kling in volubility. Thereafter we stuck to the easier language, and guessed what we did not understand. These natives undoubtedly include some wonderful linguists among their number. Once or twice the _chinchews_[64] of the junks brought for treatment Chinese suffering from malaria; the crews, they said, always contracted fever when visiting the Nicobars, and even if they do not suffer from it on the spot, it invariably occurs before reaching Penang. These particular vessels had been only a month at Great Nicobar, and a fortnight at this place, obtaining copra and rattan, but already several members of the crews were incapacitated from hard work. Those junks trading at the Nicobars--where they remain during the greater portion of the north-east monsoon--that come immediately from Singapore, but originally from China, make the voyage and return between the last-named two places in the other (south-west) monsoon, which is the bad weather season in these waters, but the contrary in the China Sea. The houses in the village were very similar in appearance to those we had just left, but were roofed with attaps of pandanus leaf. The process of thatching cannot be an enjoyable occupation, for either edge of the pandanus leaf is armed with a row of thorns, while the lower side of the mid-rib is provided with a third row set in the reverse direction; thus in brushing against a clump of young pandanus one is not only pricked when approaching, but scratched while getting away.[65] Behind the village we found a fairly recent grave, around which the possessions of the deceased had been deposited--a wooden chest with the lid wrenched off, clothing, spoons, forks, tools, axes, _dáos_, and other things, forming a miscellaneous collection that was rapidly rotting away. There they would stay until destroyed by the exposure, for no one would venture to help himself, however valuable or useful the articles might be. In front of one house was a solitary example of _kanaia_, set up on land, however, instead of in the water: possibly the south-west monsoon blows too strongly on this coast for their general erection. The name of this village is Ol-kolo-kwák. To reach land on the southern side of the bay we had to cross a broad reef of coral and coral sand, thickly overgrown with grass and corallines, and dotted with various species of _holothurians_. The forest on shore came right down to the water; and once inside it, we found ourselves in very truth in the home of the megapode.