Having stopped so early, we had plenty of leisure-time on our hands; and being seated on a pretty pebbly bank, I commenced a game of ducks and drakes in the water, in which I was soon joined by the whole party--it afforded them great amusement. I may here remark that you may allow this kind of freedom with your native followers, without their ever taking advantage of it another time. If they see you inclined to chat, or to amuse yourself with them, they are delighted; if you desire to be quiet, they never disturb you by any intrusion or undue familiarity. My cook Ahtan, who was very much annoyed last night by having to set before me so poor a dinner as stale bread and salt fish, determined, as he had a long afternoon before him, to devote it to cooking, particularly as I always divided it into two portions, one for him, and one for myself. The curry he produced was admirable, and having secured a cucumber last night, he was enabled to add what the Malays call a sambal, of which there are many kinds; the one he made was of the sliced cucumber, and green and red chillies cut into fine threads; others are of dried salt fish finely powdered, or fish roes, or hard-boiled eggs, or the tender shoots of the bamboo, but with all, or nearly all, red or green chillies are added. The most delicious I have ever seen put on table was made of prawns about an inch long, partly boiled, then seasoned with freshly prepared curry mixture, and at last slightly moved over the fire in a frying-pan, taking care not to burn it; if chillies are added judiciously, so as not to render it too fiery, it causes a keen appetite to all but a confirmed invalid. Malay cookery is sometimes very tasty; I remember spending a fortnight in the Sultan’s palace, and we were fed daily from his kitchen; sometimes the stewed fowls were admirable, and there was a particular kind of rice-cake sent in very hot, which was delicious. But the triumph of Malay cookery is to send in the sambals in perfection, particularly the one called blachang; the best is composed of the very finest prawns, caught, I imagine, soon after the little ones have burst from their eggs, and pounded up with red chillies, and a little ginger. Coarser kinds are made from the larger prawn, or even from the smallest fish caught on the river’s banks. Sometimes the material is first exposed to the sun in order to be completely dried, or it would not keep or mix very well, though it is often soaked till nearly decomposed, and that is perhaps the favourite way when it emits a rather powerful scent, but it is very tasty. Prawns and fish are cooked in a great variety of ways, but roasting them over a fire as abobs, is an excellent fashion, if you first sprinkle them with curry mixture.