The one presents in an impromptu distich an image
or an allusion ; the other replies in the same rhyme
and metre, giving a similar or contrary idea. " What
use is the lamp without a wick," says the one. "Why
make play with the eyes if nothing is meant ? " retorts
the other. And so on, piling up witty or fanciful
notions, of which, it is true, the meaning and the charm
often escape us. These quatrains are called pctintoums.
Victor Hugo has quoted a few in the notes to Les
OrientaUs ; and it would be easy to collect whole
series at Sumatra and Borneo.
