Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
madly forward, 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 in-
dulged in violent and exciting exercises, may form a very good idea. It is a delirious intoxic-
ation, a temporary madness that absorbs every thought and every energy. And can we won-
der at the kris-bearing, untaught, brooding Malay preferring such a death, looked upon as al-
most honourable, to the cold-blooded details of suicide, if he wishes to escape from over-
whelming troubles, or the merciless clutches 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
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 pay-
ment. 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 else-
where as penguin-ducks.
My Portuguese bird-stuffer Fernandez now insisted on breaking his agreement and return-
ing 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.
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