TAKim A CENSUS. 



177 



CHAPTER XII. 



LOKBOCK: HOW THE RAJ.VH TOOK THE CElfHUS. 



niHE Eajah of Lombock was a very wise man, and he 

 J- showed his \nsdora greatly in the way he took thn 

 census. Por my readers must know that the chief revenues 

 of the Rajah were derived from a head-tax of rice, a small 

 measure being paid annually by every mau, woman, and 

 child in the island. There was no doubt that every one 

 paid this tax, for it was a very light one, and the land 

 was fertile and the people well oft ; but it had to pass 

 thi-ough many hands before it reached the GoveniTnent 

 storehouses, Wben the han^est was over the villagers 

 brought their rice to the Kapala kampong, or head of t]je 

 village ; and no doubt he sometimes had compassion on 

 the poor or sick and passed over their short measure, and 

 sometimes was obliged to grant a favour to those who 

 had complaints agamsfc him ; and then be must keep up 

 his own dignity by ha\ing his granaries better filled than 

 his neighbours, and so the rice that he took to the 

 " Waidono " that was over his district was generalJy a 

 good deal less than it should have been. And all the 

 ''Waidonos" had of course to take care of themselves, 

 for they were all in debt and it was so easy to take a 

 little of the Government rice, and there would still be 

 plenty for the Kajah. And the " Gustis " or princes 

 who received the rice from the Waidonos helped them- 

 selves likewise, and so when the harvest was all over and 

 the rice tribute was all brought in, the quantity was found 

 to be less each year than the one before. Sickness in one 

 district, and fevers in another, and failure of the crops in 

 a third, were of course alleged as the cause of this falling 

 off; but when the Rajah went to hunt at the foot of the 

 groat mountain, or went to visit a "Gusti" on the other 

 side of the island, he always saw the villages full of people, 

 all looking well-fed and happy* And he noticed that the 

 krisses of his chiefs and officers were getting handsomer 



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