The 4th of July has dawned, the anchor is weighed and away steams the fleet, following the line of the coast of Madura for about eight miles.

Madura is a peculiar country! Our thoughts are bent in a different direction just now, so we must content ourselves with a cursory glance as we pass by.

In many respects it reminds one of the Java of olden days, when the high road from Daendels was the only means of communication, and all the dessas and villages, not touching it, lay lost as it were in the broad valleys between the volcanoes; when Bantam and Cheribon, as Solo and Djocja now do, possessed their own princes, and the regents of Bandong, Samarang, and Surabaya, not to mention others, lived in princely splendour.

The wide post-road runs between Kamal on the south-west coast through Bangkallan and Pemakassan to Soemenap, thus connecting the three princely scats of the former Madurese rulers, now only regents.

In spite of the new form of government the simple inhabitants of the bamboo cottages still look up with the greatest reverence to the descendants of their former kings, and these latter, like their ancestors, continue to be preceded on the high way by numerous attendants, richly arrayed and carrying magnificent krisses and lances, and richly-inlaid "sirih" and "bedak" boxes.

When the panembahan goes to pay a visit to the Resident the people place themselves, in two rows in front of the palace, to do homage to the visitor.

The regent is preceded and followed by lancers on horseback: he himself is seated in a gorgeous state carriage, drawn by six white horses and the crowd bends low as he passes; the scarlet livery of the outriders forms a striking contrast to the green palm trees, and the tall white pillars of the residence of the present representative of the Netherlands. Now there arises a new island on the horizon!..... Bali!.

What crowds of recollections it brings back; what famous names it recalls to our memory: van der Wijck, de Brauw, Michiels, van Swieten! What fierce struggles in three consecutive expeditions; what insuperable obstacles were encountered in conquering that strong line of Djagaraga; what a bloody drama was enacted there on that dark black night of the 25th May, 1849, when our men were overwhelmed and the commander-in-chief, Michiels, met his death!

And it is once again the same foe that we are to meet at Lombock and this thought carries us back to the object of our voyage. Come, let us together examine this land and its people and find out what is known of them and what our former connections with them were!

III.

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE.

"The appearance of the island is striking; the entire surface is covered with a rich fertile soil and an elaborate system of irrigation is carried out from one end of the island to the other. The best cotton of the whole Archipelago is grown in the valleys between the hills. The road to Mataram lies between cultivated rice-fields, which extend for miles in various directions. Bananas growing about a foot high and lofty bamboos, together with the shady, elegant cocoa-tree flourish profusely. The approaches to the capital are lined on each side with tall waringin-trees, the luxuriant branches of which meet and intertwine, presenting a majestic and impressive picture, such as one would hardly expect to see in Lombock.

But the sight of such an enormous population along fields and roads, which neither believes in God nor in any future world, is enough to move a heart of stone."

This is what we read amongst other things in a painstaking geographical description in the "Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indie" of 1839. The "striking" aspect of the island is in no way altered since then according to more recent descriptions and many more hearts of stone would be deeply touched could they but see the vastly increased numbers of unbelievers!

It was at the time that article was written barely a quarter of a century since the great eruption, (5-17 April 1815) of the Tambora in Sumbawa, by which 12.000 people were destroyed beneath the burning ashes and according to the official statistics about 200.000 Sassaks must have died from starvation and exposure; the whole island was laid waste, being covered with from one to two feet of lava and for years no rice crops were raised. The inhabitants of Lombock never refer to this catastrophe except with fear and trembling and in whispered tones. The above-mentioned review gives the then number of inhabitants as 8000 Balinese and 170.000 Sassaks and eight years later (1847) the eminent Swiss naturalist, Zollinger, to whom we are indebted for most of our information concerning Lombock, gives the following startling figures: 20.000 Balinese, 380.000 Sassaks, besides, 5000 Bugis.

But towards the middle of this century the increase of the population was still assuming larger proportions! The traveller, J. P. Freyss,

who describes his travels in Mangarai and Lombock in 1856 makes the following statement: 200.000 men, capable of carrying arms, that is from 15 to 40 years of age; this number includes 30.000 Balinese, 20.000 Bugis and 150.000 Sassaks; from these figures it is computed

that the entire population amounts to one million souls! And that on an area of 103 square geographical miles-just about the size of North Brabant!

It was all important, as we shall see, that the Rajah of Lombock

should be accurately acquainted with the number of his subjects-and Wallace in his interesting work, "The Malay Archipelago," narrates the trick resorted to by the shrewd prince to obtain the desired information. Although the diplomacy resorted to on that occasion contains no practical teaching for present-day rulers, still the narrative gives an insight into the habits and religion of the people:

"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

known 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 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 had sometimes compassion on 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 so so the rice he took to the 'waidono' that was over his district was generally a good deal less than it should have been. And all the Waidonos' had of course to take care of themselves, for they were all in debt, and it was so easy to take a little of the Government rice, and there would still be plenty for the Rajah. And the Gustis' (princes) who received the rice from the Waidonos helped themselves likewise, and so when the harvest was all over and the rice tribute was brought in, the quantity was found to be less each year than the one before. Sickness in one district, and fevers in another, and failure of crops in a third, were of course alleged as the cause for this falling off; but when the Rajah went to hunt at the foot of the great mountain, or went to visit a Gusti on Gusti on the other side of the island, he always saw the villages full of people, all looking well-fed and happy. And he noticed that the krisses of his chiefs and officers were getting handsomer and handsomer; and the handles that were of yellow wood were changed for ivory, and those of ivory were changed for gold, and diamonds and emeralds sparkled on many of them; and he knew very well which way the tribute-rice went. But as he could not

Sassak woman.

prove it, he kept silence, and resolved in his own heart some day to have a census taken, so that he might know the number of his people, and not be cheated out of more rice than was just and reasonable.

"But the difficulty was how to get this census. He could not go himself into every village and every house, and count all the people; and if he ordered it to be done by the regular officers they would quickly understand what it was for, and the census would be sure to agree exactly with the quantity of rice he got last year. It was evident therefore that to answer his purpose, no one must know that there was any census taken at all.

"This was a very hard problem; and the Rajah thought and thought, as hard as a Malay Rajah can be expected to think, but could not solve it; and so he was very unhappy, and did nothing but smoke and chew betel with his favorite wife, and eat scarcely anything; and even when he went to the cock-fight did not seem to care whether his best birds won or lost. For several days he remained in this sad state, and all the court were afraid some evil eye had bewitched the Rajah; and an unfortunate Irish captain who had come in for a cargo of rice and who squinted dreadfully, was very nearly being krissed, but being first brought to the royal presence was graciously ordered to go on board and remain there while his ship stayed in the port.

'One morning however, after about a week's continuance of this unaccountable melancholy, a welcome change took place, for the Rajah sent to call together all the chiefs and priests and princes who were then in Mataram, his capital city; and when they were all assembled in anxious expectation, he thus addressed them;

"For many days my heart has been very sick and I knew not why, but now the trouble is cleared away, for I have had a dream. Last night the spirit of the Gunong Agong'-the great fire mountainappeared to me, and told me that I must go up to the top of the mountain. All of you may come with me to near the top, but then I must go up alone, and the great spirit will again appear to me and will tell me what is of great importance to me and to you and to all the people of the island. Now go all of you and make this known through the island, and let every village furnish men to make clear a road for us to go through the forest and up the great mountain.

"So the news was spread over the whole island that the Rajah must go to meet the great spirit on the top of the mountain; and every village sent forth its men, and they cleared away the jungle and made bridges over the mountain streams and smoothed the rough places for the Rajah's passage. And when they came to the steep and craggy rocks of the mountain, they sought out the best paths, sometimes along the bed of a torrent, sometimes along narrow ledges of the black rocks; in one place cutting down a tall tree so as to bridge across a chasm, in another constructing ladders to mount the smooth face of a precipice. The chiefs who superintended the work fixed upon the length of each day's journey beforehand according to the nature of the road, and