Procession returned as it had
come; and the Rajah went to his palace and the chiefs to their
villages, and the people to their houses, to tell their wives and
children all that had happened, and to wonder yet again what
would come of it.
And three days afterwards the Rajah summoned the priests and the
princes and the chief men of Mataram, to hear what the great
spirit had told him on the top of the mountain. And when they
were all assembled, and the betel and sirih had been handed
round, he told them what had happened. On the top of the mountain
he had fallen into a trance, and the great spirit had appeared to
him with a face like burnished gold, and had said - "0h Rajah! much
plague and sickness and fevers are coming upon all the earth,
upon men and upon horses and upon cattle; but as you and your
people have obeyed me and have come up to my great mountain, I
will teach you how you and all the people of Lombock may escape
this plague." And all waited anxiously, to hear how they were to
be saved from so fearful a calamity. And after a short silence
the Rajah spoke again and told them, that the great spirit had
commanded that twelve sacred krisses should be made, and that to
make them every village and every district must send a bundle of
needles - a needle for every head in the village. And when any
grievous disease appeared in any village, one of the sacred
krisses should be sent there; and if every house in that village
had sent the right number of needles, the disease would
immediately cease; but if the number of needles sent had not been
exact, the kris would have no virtue.
So the princes and chiefs sent to all their villages and
communicated the wonderful news; and all made haste to collect
the needles with the greatest accuracy, for they feared that if
but one were wanting, the whole village would suffer. So one by
one the head men of the villages brought in their bundles of
needles; those who were near Mataram came first, and those who
were far off came last; and the Rajah received them with his own
hands and put them away carefully in an inner chamber, in a
camphor-wood chest whose hinges and clasps were of silver; and on
every bundle was marked the name of the village and the district
from whence it came, so that it might be known that all had heard
and obeyed the commands of the great spirit.
And when it was quite certain that every village had sent in its
bundle, the Rajah divided the needles into twelve equal parts,
and ordered the best steelworker in Mataram to bring his forge
and his bellows and his hammers to the palace, and to make the
twelve krisses under the Rajah's eye, and in the sight of all men
who chose to see it. And when they were finished, they were
wrapped up in new silk and put away carefully until they might be
wanted.
Now the journey to the mountain was in the time of the east wind
when no rain falls in Lombock. And soon after the krisses were
made it was the time of the rice harvest, and the chiefs of
districts and of villages brought their tax to the Rajah
according to the number heads in their villages. And to those
that wanted but little of the full amount, the Rajah said
nothing; but when those came who brought only half or a fourth
part of what was strictly due, he said to them mildly, "The
needles which you sent from your village were many more than came
from such-a-one's village, yet your tribute is less than his; go
back and see who it is that has not paid the tax." And the next
year the produce of the tax increased greatly, for they feared
that the Rajah might justly kill those who a second time kept
back the right tribute. And so the Rajah became very rich, and
increased the number of his soldiers, and gave golden jewels to
his wives, and bought fine black horses from the white-skinned
Hollanders, and made great feasts when his children were born or
were married; and none of the Rajahs or Sultans among the Malays
were so great or powerful as the Rajah of Lombock.
And the twelve sacred krisses had great virtue. And, when any
sickness appeared in a village one of them was sent for; and
sometimes the sickness went away, and then the sacred kris was
taken back again with great Honour, and the head men of the
village came to tell the Rajah of its miraculous power, and to
thank him. And sometimes the sickness would not go away; and then
everybody was convinced that there had been a mistake in the
number of needles sent from that village, and therefore the
sacred kris had no effect, and had to be taken back again by the
head men with heavy hearts, but still, with all honour - for was
not the fault their own?
CHAPTER XIII.
TIMOR.
(COUPANG, 1857-1869. DELLI, 1861.)
THE island of Timor is about three hundred miles long and sixty wide,
and seems to form the termination of the great range of volcanic
islands which begins with Sumatra more than two thousand miles to the
west. It differs however very remarkably from all the other islands of
the chain in not possessing any active volcanoes, with the one
exception of Timor Peak near the centre of the island, which was
formerly active, but was blown up during an eruption in 1638 and has
since been quiescent.
