It Is A Delirious
Intoxication, A Temporary Madness 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
Honourable to the cold-blooded details of suicide, if he wishes
to escape from overwhelming troubles, or the merciless of the
hangman 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 everyday 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 colour, 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 Baly-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 homesickness,
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.
L0MBOCK: 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.
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