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ing to be fed at the sound of a wooden gong which is hung near for the purpose. On striking it, a number of fish immediately came out of the masses of weed with which the pond abounds, and followed us along the margin expecting food. At the same time some deer came out of an adjacent wood, which, from being seldom shot at and regularly fed, are almost tame. The jungle and woods which surrounded the park appearing to abound in birds, I went to shoot a few, and was rewarded by getting several specimens of the fine new kingfisher (Halcyon fulgidus), and the curious and handsome ground-thrush (Zoothera andromeda). The former belies its name by not frequenting water or feeding on fish. It lives constantly in low damp thickets, picking up ground insects, centipedes, and small mollusca. Altogether I was much pleased with my visit to this place, and it gave me a higher opinion than I had before entertained of the taste of these people, although the style of the buildings and of the sculpture is very much inferior to those of the magnificent ruins in Java. I must now say a few words about the character, manners, and customs of these interesting people.

The aborigines of Lombock are termed Sassaks. They are a Malay race, hardly differing in appearance from the people of Malacca or Borneo. They are Mohammedans, and form the bulk of the population. The ruling classes, on the other hand, are natives of the adjacent island of Bali, and are of the Brahminical religion. The government is an absolute monarchy, but it seems to be conducted with more wisdom and moderation than is usual in Malay countries. The father of the present Rajah conquered the island, and the people seem now quite reconciled to their new rulers, who do not interfere with their religion, and probably do not tax them any heavier than did the native chiefs they have supplanted. The laws now in force in Lombock are very severe. Theft is punished by death. Mr. Carter informed me that a man once stole a metal coffee-pot from his house. He was caught, the pot restored, and the man brought to Mr. Carter to punish as he thought fit. All the natives recommended Mr. Carter to have him "krissed" on the spot; "for i. you don't," said they," he will rob you again." Mr. Carter, however, let him off, with a warning that if he ever came inside his premises again he

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would certainly be shot. A few months afterward the same man stole a horse from Mr. Carter. The horse was recovered, but the thief was not caught. It is an established rule that any one found in a house after dark, unless with the owner's knowledge, may be stabbed, his body thrown out into the street or upon the beach, and no questions will be asked.

The men are exceedingly jealous, and very strict with their wives. A married woman may not accept a cigár or a sirih leaf from a stranger under pain of death. I was informed that some years ago one of the English traders had a Balinese woman of good family living with him, the connection being considered quite honorable by the natives. During some festival this girl offended against the law by accepting a flower or some such trifle from another man. This was reported to the Rajah (to some of whose wives the girl was related), and he immediately sent to the Englishman's house ordering him to give the woman up, as she must be "krissed." In vain he begged and prayed, and offered to pay any fine the Rajah might impose, and finally refused to give her up unless he was forced to do so. This the Rajah did not wish to resort to, as he no doubt thought he was acting as much for the Englishman's honor as for his own; so he appeared to let the matter drop. But some time afterward he sent one of his followers to the house, who beckoned the girl to the door, and then saying, "The Rajah sends you this," stabbed her to the heart. More serious infidelity is punished still more cruelly, the woman and her paramour being tied back to back and thrown into the sea, where some large crocodiles are always on the watch to devour the bodies. One such execution took place while I was at Ampanam, but I took a long walk into the country to be out of the way till it was all over, thus missing the opportunity of having a horrible narrative to enliven my somewhat tedious story.

One morning, as we were sitting at breakfast, Mr. Carter's servant informed us that there was an "amok" in the village -in other words, that a man was "running a muck." Orders were immediately given to shut and fasten the gates of our inclosure; but hearing nothing for some time, we went out, and found there had been a false alarm, owing to a slave having run away, declaring he would "amok," because his master wanted to sell him. A short time before a man had been kill

ed at a gaming-table because, having lost half a dollar more than he possessed, he was going to "amok." Another had killed or wounded seventeen people before he could be destroy. ed. In their wars a whole regiment of these people will sometimes agree to "amok," and then rush on with such energetic desperation as to be very formidable to men not so excited as themselves. Among the ancients these would have been looked upon as heroes or demi-gods who sacrified themselves for their country. Here it is simply said, they made "amok.”

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Macassar is the most celebrated place in the East for running a muck." There are said to be one or two a month on the average, and five, ten, or twenty persons are sometimes. killed or wounded at one of them. It is the national, and therefore the honorable mode of committing suicide among the natives of Celebes, and is the fashionable way of escaping from their difficulties. A Roman fell upon his sword, a Japanese rips up his stomach, and an Englishman blows out his brains with a pistol. The Bugis mode has many advantages to one suicidically inclined. A man thinks himself wronged by society-he is in debt, and can not pay-he is taken for a slave, or has gambled away his wife or child into slaveryhe sees no way of recovering what he has lost, and becomes desperate. He will not put up with such cruel wrongs, but will be revenged on mankind and die like a hero. He grasps his kris-handle, and the next moment draws out the weapon and stabs a man to the heart. He runs on, with bloody kris in his hand, stabbing at every one he meets. "Amok! amok!” then resounds through the streets. Spears, krisses, knives, and guns are brought out against him. He rushes madly for ward, kills all he can-men, women, and children—and dies, overwhelmed by numbers, amid all the excitement of a battle. And what that excitement is those who have been in one best know, but all who have ever given way to violent passions, or even indulged in violent and exciting exercises, may form a very good idea. It is a delirious intoxication, a temporary. maduess that absorbs every thought and every energy. And can we wonder at the kris-bearing, untaught, brooding Malay preferring such a death, looked upon as almost honorable, to the cold-blooded details of suicide, if he wishes to escape from overwhelming troubles, or the merciless clutches of the hang

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man and the disgrace of a public execution, when he has taken the law into his own hands, and too hastily revenged himself upon his enemy? In either case he chooses rather to "amok."

The great staples of the trade of Lombock as well as of Bali are rice and coffee; the former grown on the plains, the latter on the hills. The rice is exported very largely to other islands of the Archipelago, to Singapore, and even to China, and there are generally one or more vessels loading in the port. It is brought into Ampanam on pack-horses, and almost every day a string of these would come into Mr. Carter's yard. The only money the natives will take for their rice is Chinese copper cash, twelve hundred of which go to a dollar. Every morning two large sacks of this money had to be counted out into convenient sums for payment. From Bali quantities of dried beef and ox-tongues are exported, and from Lombock a good many ducks and ponies. The ducks are a peculiar breed, which have very long flat bodies, and walk erect almost like penguins. They are generally of a pale reddish ash color, and are kept in large flocks. They are very cheap, and are largely consumed by the crews of the rice-ships, by whom they are called Bali soldiers, but are more generally known elsewhere as penguin-ducks.

My Portuguese bird-stuffer Fernandez now insisted on breaking his agreement and returning to Singapore; partly from home-sickness, but more, I believe, from the idea that his life was not worth many months' purchase among such bloodthirsty and uncivilized peoples. It was a considerable loss to me, as I had paid him full three times the usual wages for three months in advance, half of which was occupied in the voyage, and the rest in a place where I could have done without him, owing to there being so few insects that I could devote my own time to shooting and skinning. A few days after Fernandez had left, a small schooner came in bound for Macassar, to which place I took a passage. As a fitting conclusion to my sketch of these interesting islands, I will narrate an anecdote which I heard of the present Rajah; and which, whether altogether true or not, well illustrates native character, and will serve as a means of introducing some details of the manners and customs of the country to which I have not yet alluded.

CHAPTER XII.

LOMBOCK-HOW THE RAJAH TOOK THE CENSUS.

THE Rajah of Lombock was a very wise man, and he showed his wisdom greatly in the way he took the census. For my readers must know that the chief revenues of the Rajah were derived from a head-tax of rice, a small measure being paid annually by every man, woman, and child in the island. There was no doubt that every one paid this tax, for it was a very light one, and the land was fertile, and the people well off; but it had to pass through many hands before it reached the Government store-houses. When the harvest was over the villagers brought their rice to the kapala kampong, or head of the village; and no doubt he sometimes had compassion on the poor or sick and passed over their short measure, and sometimes was obliged to grant a favor to those who had complaints against him; and then he must keep up his own dignity by having his granaries better filled than his neighbors, and so the rice that he took to the "waidono" that was over his district was generally a good deal less than it should have been. And all the "waidonos " had of course to take care of themselves, for they were all in debt, and it was so easy to take a little of the Government rice, and there would still be plenty for the Rajah. And the "gustis," or princes, who received the rice from the waidonos, helped themselves likewise, and so when the harvest was all over and the rice tribute was all brought in, the quantity was found to be less each year than the one before. Sickness in one district, and fevers in another, and failure of the crops in a third, were of course alleged as the cause of this falling off; but when the Rajah went to hunt at the foot of the great mountain, or went to visit a "gusti" on the other side of the island, he always saw the villages full of people, all looking well-fed and happy. And he noticed that the krisses of his chiefs and officers were getting handsomer and handsomer, and the handles that were

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