LOMBOK.— SUMBAWA, 203 



Mataram, the capital of the kingdom, lies on a plain about four miles from the 

 east coast. The neighbouring port of Ampanan is a flourishing place composed of 

 four Kampongs, which are inhabited by as many distinct nations : Malays, 

 Balinese, Bugis of Celebes, and Sasaks. Mataram, where the Balinese alone 

 enjoy the privilege of riding on horseback, is a well-kept place with broad streets 

 lined by shady banyans. A little to the south lies the Sasak village of Karang- 

 Assem, which was the capital of Lombok before the Balinese conquest ; but since 

 the year 1849 it has been subject to the foreign lajah. 



The rolling plains stretching east of Mataram towards the Sasan hills are 

 described by Wallace as perhaps the most highly cultivated in the whole of 

 Indonesia. For a space of some hundred square miles all the streams are dis- 

 tributed with admirable art in a network of irrigating canals, which encircle the 

 flanks of the hills, and rise from terrace to terrace like the seats of an amphi- 

 theatre. " Each terraced plot consists in some places of many acres, in others of 

 a few square yards. VTe saw them in every state of cultivation : some in stubble, 

 some being ploughed, some with rice-crops in various stages of growth. Here 

 were luxuriant patches of tobacco ; there cucumbers, sweet potatoes, yams, beans, 

 or Indian corn varied with the scene." * 



The chief crops are rice and coffee, which are shipped at Ampanan. The 

 Sasaks also export a small but fiery breed of horses and a peculiar species of duck, 

 which walk nearly erect like penguins, and which are locally known as "Balinese 

 soldiers." 



In Lombok the penal code is very severe, theft and adultery being capital 

 offences. In certain cases torture is even inflicted before death, and gamblers and 

 opium smokers are punished with the bastinado. The rajah, who is represented in 

 the Balinese province of Karang-Assem by a viceroy, maintains a force of about 

 20,000 men, well drilled and supplied with the best fire-arms. 



SuMBAWA. 



Sumbawa, the correct form of which is Sambava, is larger than Bali and 

 Lombok taken together. It really consists of several distinct lands, which a 

 slight subsidence would decompose into a small archipelago, and which a corres- 

 ponding upheaval would connect with the neighbouring islets, such as Moyo in 

 the north, Side and Tengani in the south-east. Towards the centre Sumbawa 

 contracts to a narrow isthmus scarcely twelve miles across, and here a broad inlet 

 penetrates from the Sunda Sea far inland, ramifying here and there into lateral 

 creeks completely sheltered from all winds. Farther east the coast is again in- 

 dented by similar fjords, such as Tjempi Bay on the south and Bima on the north 

 side. 



The surface is for the most part mountainous, developing distinct masses of 

 eruptive origin, and comprising altogether as many as twenty- two active or extinct 



* The Malay Archipelago, fifth edition, p. 164. 



