The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

XI.] LOMBOCK : CUSTOMSOF THE PEOPLE. 135madness that absorbs every thought and every energy. And canwe wonder at the kris-bearing, untaught, brooding ^lalay preferringsuch a death, looked upon as almost honourable, to thecold-blooded details of suicide, if he wishes to escape from overwhelmingtroubles, or the merciless clutches of the hangmanand the disgrace of a public execution, wlien he has taken thelaw into his own hands, and too hastily revenged himself uponhis enemy ? In either case he chooses rather to "amok." V^The great staples of the trade of Lombock as well as of Bali arerice and coffee ; the former grown on the plains, the latter onthe hills. The rice is exported very largely to other islands ofthe Archipelago, to Singapore, and even to China, and there aregenerally one or more vessels loading in the port. It is broughtinto Ampanam on pack-horses, and almost every day a string ofthese would come into Mr. Carters yard. The only money thenatives will take for their rice is Chinese cojDper cash, twelvehundred of which go to a dollar. Every morning two large sacksof this money had to be counted out into convenient sums for payment.From Bali quantities of dried beef and ox-tails are exported,and from Lombock a good many ducks and jDonies. Theducks are a peculiar breed, which have very long flat bodies, andwalk erect almost like penguins. They are generally of a palereddish ash colour, and are kept in large flocks. They ai'e verycheap and are largely consumed by the crews of tlie rice ships,by whom they are called Baly-soldiers, but are more generallyknown elsewhere as penguin-ducks.My Portuguese bird-stuti'er Fernandez now insisted on breakinghis agreement and retui-ning to Singapore ;partly fromhome-sickness, but more I believe from the idea that his life wasnot worth many months purchase among such bloodtliirsty anduncivilized peoples. It was a considerable loss to me, as I hadpaid him full three times the usual wages for thi'ee months inadvance, half of which was occupied in the voyage and the restin a place wliere I could have done without him, owing to therebeing so few insects that I could devote my own time to shootingand skinning. A few days after Fernandez had left, a smallschooner came in bound for Macassar, to which place I took apassage. As a fitting conclusion to my sketch of these interestingislands, I will narrate an anecdote which I heard of thepresent Bajah ; and which, whether altogether true or not, wellillustrates native chai-acter, and will serve as a means of introducingsome details of the manners and customs of the countryto which I have not yet alluded.