Manners and Customs. 173. 



CHAPTER XI. 



LOMBOCK — MAIOTERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE. 



Having made a very fine and interesting collection of the 

 birds of Labuan Tring, I took leave of my kind host Inchi 

 Daub, and returned to Ampanam to await an opj^ortunity to 

 reach Macassar. As no vessel had arrived bound for that 

 port, I determined to make an excursion into the interior of the 

 island, accompanied by Mr. Ross, an Englishman born in the 

 Keeling Islands, and now employed by the Dutch Government 

 to settle the affairs of a missionary who had unfortunately be- 

 come bankrupt here. Mr. Carter kindly lent me a horse, and 

 Mr. Ross took his native groom. 



Our route for some distance lay along a perfectly level 

 country, bearing ample crops of rice. The road was straight, 

 and genei'ally bordered with lofty trees, forming a fine avenue. 

 It was at first sandy, afterward grassy, with occasional streams 

 and mud-holes. At a distance of about four miles we reached 

 Mataram, the capital of the island, and the residence of the 

 Rajah. It is a large village, with wide streets, bordered by 

 a magnificent avenue of trees, and low houses concealed be- 

 hind mud walls. Within this royal city no native of the low-^ 

 er orders is allowed to ride, and our attendant, a Javanese, was 

 obliged to dismount and lead his horse while we rode slowly 

 through. The abodes of the Rajah and of the high-priest are 

 distinguished by pillars of red brick constructed with much 

 taste, but the palace itself seemed to differ but little from the 

 ordinary houses of the country. Beyond Mataram and close 

 to it is Karangassam, the ancient residence of the native or 

 Sassak Rajahs before the conquest of the island by the Ba- 

 linese. 



Soon after passing Mataram the country began gradually 

 to rise in gentle undulations, swelling occasionally into low 

 hills toward the two mountainous tracts in the northern and 

 southern parts of the island. It was now that I first obtained 

 an adequate idea of one of the most wonderful systems of 



