. A naturalist's wanderings in the Eastern archipelago; a narrative of travel and exploration from 1878 to 1883. nd at night house framework in most of the villages was elaborately-carved in intricate patterns executed with the most patientcare. In Padjar-bulan, a very old village which I passedthrough, the decorative carving far exceeded in profusion and 180 A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS excellence that in any of the others, especially in its Balai,where I was greatly interested in finding what I may call averitable coat of arms, carved out of an immense block of woodand erected in the c
. A naturalist's wanderings in the Eastern archipelago; a narrative of travel and exploration from 1878 to 1883. nd at night house framework in most of the villages was elaborately-carved in intricate patterns executed with the most patientcare. In Padjar-bulan, a very old village which I passedthrough, the decorative carving far exceeded in profusion and 180 A NATURALISTS WANDERINGS excellence that in any of the others, especially in its Balai,where I was greatly interested in finding what I may call averitable coat of arms, carved out of an immense block of woodand erected in the central position, where one would expectan object with the significance of a coat of arms to be what I could learn it had such a significance in theestimation of the chief of the village ; for he told me thatonly such villages as could claim origin from some distantvillage could erect such a carving in their Balai. I am not,however, master enough of the terms of blazonry current inthe College of Arms to describe it in fitting language. Theshield had double supporters; on each side a tiger rampant. COAT OF ARMS I> THE VILLAGE OF TADJAK-BCLAN. bearing on its back a snake defiant, upheld the shield, in whosecentre the most prominent quartering was a floral ornament,which might be a sunflower shading two deer, one on each side—the dexter greater than the sinister. Above the floral ornamentwas a central and to me unintelligible halfmoon-like blazon-ing, but on either side of it was an ulai lidai (Chorus ofbystanders : Undoubtedly an ulai lidai ), but of what it wasthe similitude among created things, beyond suggesting faintlythe lineaments of a scorpion, I was not pursuivant enough torecognise; on the sinister of the two, however, was a man tandacking (dancing). Below the tips of the conjoined tailsof the supporting tigers were two ornate triangles, the upper IX SUMATRA. 181 balanced on the apex of the lower, which might with truthbe described as the supporter of the
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