Manuel's Fears. 171 



tiou to the natural history of the island. A Borneau Malay 

 who had been for many years resident here said to Manuel, 

 " One thing is strange in this country — the scarcity of ghosts." 

 " HoAV so ?" asked Manuel. " Why, you know," said the Ma- 

 lay, " that in our countries to the westward, if a man dies or 

 is killed, we dare not pass near the place at night, for all sorts 

 of noises are heard, which show that ghosts are about. But 

 here there are numbers of men killed, and their bodies lie un- 

 buried in the fields and by the roadside, and yet you can walk 

 by them at night and never hear or see any thing at all, Avhich 

 is not the case in our country, as you know very well." " Cer- 

 tainly I do," said Manuel ; and so it was settled that ghosts 

 were very scarce, if not altogether unknown in Lombock. I 

 would observe, however, that as the evidence is purely negative, 

 we should be wanting in scientific caution if we accepted this 

 fact as sufficiently well established. 



One evening I heard Manuel, Ali, and a Malay man whis- 

 pering earnestly together outside the door, and could distin- 

 guish various allusions to " krisses," throat-cutting, heads, etc., 

 etc. At length Manuel came in, looking very solemn and f light- 

 ened, and said to me in English, " Sir — must take care ; no safe 

 here ; want cut throat." On further inquiry, I found that the 

 Malay had been telling them that the Rajah had just sent 

 down an order to the village that they were to get a certain 

 number of heads for an offering in the temples to secure a 

 good crop of rice. Two or three other Malays and Bugis, as 

 well as the Amboyna man in whose house we lived, confirmed 

 this account, and declared that it was a regular thing every 

 year, and that it was necessary to keep a good watch and 

 never go out alone. I laughed at the whole thing, and tried to 

 persuade them that it was a mere tale, but to no effect. They 

 were all firmly persuaded that their lives were in danger. 

 Manuel would not go out shooting alone, and I was obliged 

 to accompany him every morning, but I soon gave him the 

 slip in the jungle. Ali was afraid to go and look for firewood 

 without a companion, and would not even fetch water from the 

 well a few yards behind the house unless armed with an enor- 

 mous spear. I was quite sure all the time that no such order 

 had been sent or received, and that we were in perfect safe- 

 ty. This was well shown shortly afterward, when an Ameri- 



