160 Bali and Lombock. 



CHAPTER X. 



BALI AND LOMBOCK. 

 June, July, 1856. 



The islands of Bali and Lombock, situated at the east end 

 of Java, are particularly interesting. They are the only isl- 

 ands of the whole Archipelago in which the Hindoo religion 

 still maintains itself, and they form the extreme points of the 

 two great zoological divisions of the eastern hemisphere ; for 

 although so similar in external appearance and in all physical 

 features, they differ greatly in their natural productions. It 

 was after having spent two years in Borneo, Malacca, and 

 Singapore that I made a somewhat involuntary visit to these 

 islands on my way to Macassar. Had I been able to obtain a 

 passage direct to that place from Singapore, I should proba- 

 bly never have gone near them, and should have missed some 

 of the most important discoveries of my whole exj)edition to 

 the East. 



It was on the 13th of June, 1856, after a twenty days' pas- 

 sage from Singapore in the " Kembang Djepoon " (Rose of 

 Japan), a schooner belonging to a Chinese merchant, manned 

 by a Javanese crew, and commanded by an English captain, 

 that we cast anchor in the dangerous roadstead of Bileling, on 

 the north side of the island of Bali. Going on shore with the 

 captain and the Chinese supercargo, I was at once introduced 

 to a novel and interesting scene. We went first to the house 

 of the Chinese bandar, or chief merchant, where we found a 

 number of natives, well dressed, and all conspicuously armed 

 with krisses, displaying their large handles of ivory or gold, 

 or beautifully grained and polished wood. 



The Chinamen had given up their national costume and 

 adopted the Malay dress, and could then hardly be distinguish- 

 ed from the natives of the island — an indication of the close 

 affinity of the Malayan and Mongolian races. Under the thick 



