150 



BJU. 



[chap. X 



CHAPTER X. 



BA.U AND LOMBOCK, 

 (jruKB, JULY, 1856.) 



TUE islands of Bali and Lombock, situated at the east 

 end of Java, are particidarly interesting. They are tlie 

 only islands of the whole Archipelago in which the Hindoo 

 reli<(ion still maintaLiia itself— and they form tlie extreiue 

 points of the two great zoological divisions of the Eastern 

 hemisphere; for although so similar in external appear- 

 ance and in all physical features, they difTcr greatly in their 

 natural pmduetions. It was after having spent two years 

 in Borneo, Malacca and Singapore, that 1 made a some- 

 what involuntary visit to these islands on my way to 

 Macassar. Had I been able to obtain a passage direct to 

 tliat place from Singapore, I should probably never have 

 gone near them, aod should have niiasetl some of the 

 most impoi-tant discoveries of my whole expeditiou to 

 tiie Eai>t, 



It was on the 13th of June, 185G, after a twenty days* 

 passage from Singapore in the " K em bang Djepoon" (Rose 

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

 manned by a Javanese ci"ew, and commanded by an 

 English captain, that we cast anchor in the dangerous 

 roadstead of BUeUng on the north side of the island of 

 Bali, Going on shore with the cajitain and the Chincije 

 supercargo, I was at once introduced to a novel and inter- 

 esting scene. We went first to the house of the Chint^se 

 Bandar, or chief merchant, where we found a number uf 

 natives, well dressed, and all conspicuously armed with 

 krissei*, 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 Imrdly be distin- 

 guished from tlie natives of the island — an indication of 

 the close affinity of the Malayan and Mongolian races. 



