Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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—'O 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 com-
manded 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 vil-
lages 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 steel-worker in Mataram to bring
his forge and his bellows and his hammers to the palace, and to make the twelve krisses un-
der the Rajah's eye, and in the sight of all men who chose to see it. And when they were fin-
ished, 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 in their tax to the Rajah according to the number
of 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
