 to the clearings. Jim-Eng, strolling before his house,
greeted her with a friendly nod before climbing up indoors to seek his beloved
opium pipe. The elder children clustered round her, daring from long
acquaintance, pulling the skirts of her white robe with their dark fingers, and
showing their brilliant teeth in expectation of a shower of glass beads. She
greeted them with a quiet smile, but always had a few friendly words for a
Siamese girl, a slave owned by Bulangi, whose numerous wives were said to be of
a violent temper. Well-founded rumour said also that the domestic squabbles of
that industrious cultivator ended generally in a combined assault of all his
wives upon the Siamese slave. The girl herself never complained - perhaps from
dictates of prudence, but more likely through the strange, resigned apathy of
half-savage womankind. From early morning she was to be seen on the paths
amongst the houses - by the riverside or on the jetties, the tray of pastry, it
was her mission to sell, skilfully balanced on her head. During the great heat
of the day she usually sought refuge in Almayer's campong, often finding shelter
in a shady corner of the verandah, where she squatted with her tray before her,
when invited by Nina. For Mem Putih she bad always a smile, but the presence of
Mrs. Almayer, the very sound of her shrill voice, was the signal for a hurried
departure.
    To this girl Nina often spoke; the other inhabitants of Sambir seldom or
never heard the sound of her voice. They got used to the silent figure moving in
their midst calm and white-robed, a being from another world and
incomprehensible to them. Yet Nina's life for all her outward composure, for all
the seeming detachment from the things and people surrounding her, was far from
quiet, in consequence of Mrs. Almayer being much too active for the happiness
and even safety of the household. She had resumed some intercourse with Lakamba,
not personally, it is true (for the dignity of that potentate kept him inside
his stockade), but through the agency of that potentate's prime minister,
harbour master, financial adviser, and general factotum. That gentleman - of
Sulu origin - was certainly endowed with statesmanlike qualities, although he
was totally devoid of personal charms. In truth he was perfectly repulsive,
possessing only one eye and a pock-marked face, with nose and lips horribly
disfigured by the smallpox. This unengaging individual often strolled into
Almayer's garden in unofficial costume, composed of a piece of pink calico round
his
