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. 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 storehouses. 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
for the poor or sick and passed over their short measure, and
sometimes was obliged to grant a favour to those who had
complaints against him; and then he must keep up his own dignity
by having his granaries better filled than his neighbours, and so
the rice that he took to the "Waidono" that was over his district
was generally good deal less than it should have been.
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