The Rajah of Lombock was a very wise man and he showed his wisdom
greatly in the way he took the census. For 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 man, 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 off; but
it had to pass through many hands before it reached the Government
storehouses. When the harvest was over the villagers brought their rice
to the Kapala kampong, or head of the village; and no doubt he sometimes
had compassion for the poor or sick and passed over their short measure,
and sometimes was obliged to grant a favour to those who had complaints
against him; and then he must keep up his own dignity by having his
granaries better filled than his neighbours, and so the rice that he
took to the "Waidono" that was over his district was generally 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 Rajah. And the "Gustis" or princes who received the rice from
the Waidonos helped themselves 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 great 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 and handsomer; and the
handles that were of yellow wood were changed for ivory, and those of
ivory were changed for gold, and diamonds and emeralds sparkled on many
of them; and he knew very well which way the tribute-rice went. But as
he could not prove it he kept silence, and resolved in his own heart
someday to have a census taken, so that he might know the number of
his people, and not be cheated out of more rice than was just and
reasonable.
But the difficulty was how to get this census. He could not go himself
into every village and every house, and count all the people; and if
he ordered it to be done by the regular officers they would quickly
understand what it was for, and the census would be sure to agree
exactly with the quantity of rice he got last year. It was evident
therefore that to answer his purpose no one must suspect why the census
was taken; and to make sure of this, no one must know that there was any
census taken at all. This was a very hard problem; and the Rajah thought
and thought, as hard as a Malay Rajah can be expected to think, but
could not solve it; and so he was very unhappy, and did nothing but
smoke and chew betel with his favourite wife, and eat scarcely anything;
and even when he went to the cock-fight did not seem to care whether his
best birds won or lost. For several days he remained in this sad state,
and all the court were afraid some evil eye had bewitched the Rajah; and
an unfortunate Irish captain who had come in for a cargo of rice and
who squinted dreadfully, was very nearly being krissed, but being first
brought to the royal presence was graciously ordered to go on board and
remain there while his ship stayed in the port.
One morning however, after about a week's continuance of this
unaccountable melancholy, a welcome change took place, for the Rajah
sent to call together all the chiefs, priests, and princes who were
then in Mataram, his capital city; and when they were all assembled in
anxious expectation, he thus addressed them:
"For many days my heart has been very sick and I knew not why, but now
the trouble is cleared away, for I have had a dream. Last night the
spirit of the 'Gunong Agong'--the great fire mountain--appeared to me,
and told me that I must go up to the top of the mountain. All of you may
come with me to near the top, but then I must go up alone, and the
great spirit will again appear to me and will tell me what is of great
importance to me and to you and to all the people of the island. Now go
all of you and make this known through the island, and let every village
furnish men to make clear a road for us to go through the forest and up
the great mountain."
So the news was spread over the whole island that the Rajah must go to
meet the great spirit on the top of the mountain; and every village sent
forth its men, and they cleared away the jungle and made bridges over
the mountain streams and smoothed the rough places for the Rajah's
passage. And when they came to the steep and craggy rocks of the
mountain, they sought out the best paths, sometimes along the bed of a
torrent, sometimes along narrow ledges of the black rocks; in one place
cutting down a tall tree so as to bridge across a chasm, in another
constructing ladders to mount the smooth face of a precipice. The chiefs
who superintended the work fixed upon the length of each day's journey
beforehand according to the nature of the road, and chose pleasant
places by the banks of clear streams and in the neighbourhood of shady
trees, where they built sheds and huts of bamboo well thatched with the
leaves of palm-trees, in which the Rajah and his attendants might eat
and sleep at the close of each day.
And when all was ready, the princes and priests and chief men came again
to the Rajah, to tell him what had been done and to ask him when he
would go up the mountain. And he fixed a day, and ordered every man of
rank and authority to accompany him, to do honour to the great spirit
who had bid him undertake the journey, and to show how willingly they
obeyed his commands. And then there was much preparation throughout
the whole island. The best cattle were killed and the meat salted
and sun-dried; and abundance of red peppers and sweet potatoes were
gathered; and the tall pinang-trees were climbed for the spicy betel
nut, the sirih-leaf was tied up in bundles, and every man filled his
tobacco pouch and lime box to the brim, so that he might not want any of
the materials for chewing the refreshing betel during the journey.
The stores of provisions were sent on a day in advance. And on the day
before that appointed for starting, all the chiefs both great and small
came to Mataram, the abode of the king, with their horses and their
servants, and the bearers of their sirih boxes, and their sleeping-mats,
and their provisions. And they encamped under the tall Waringin-trees
that border all the roads about Mataram, and with blazing fires frighted
away the ghouls and evil spirits that nightly haunt the gloomy avenues.
In the morning a great procession was formed to conduct the Rajah to the
mountain. And the royal princes and relations of the Rajah mounted
their black horses whose tails swept the ground; they used no saddle or
stirrups, but sat upon a cloth of gay colours; the bits were of silver
and the bridles of many-coloured cords. The less important people were
on small strong horses of various colours, well suited to a mountain
journey; and all (even the Rajah) were bare-legged to above the knee,
wearing only the gay coloured cotton waist-cloth, a silk or cotton
jacket, and a large handkerchief tastefully folded around the head.
Everyone was attended by one or two servants bearing his sirih and betel
boxes, who were also mounted on ponies; and great numbers more had gone
on in advance or waited to bring up the rear. The men in authority
were numbered by hundreds and their followers by thousands, and all the
island wondered what great thing would come of it.
For the first two days they went along good roads and through many
villages which were swept clean, and where bright cloths were hung out
at the windows; and all the people, when the Rajah came, squatted down
upon the ground in respect, and every man riding got off his horse and
squatted down also, and many joined the procession at every village. At
the place where they stopped for the night, the people had placed stakes
along each side of the roads in front of the houses. These were split
crosswise at the top, and in the cleft were fastened little clay lamps,
and between them were stuck the green leaves of palm-trees, which,
dripping with the evening dew, gleamed prettily with the many twinkling
lights. And few went to sleep that night until the morning hours,
for every house held a knot of eager talkers, and much betel-nut was
consumed, and endless were the conjectures what would come of it.
On the second day they left the last village behind them and entered the
wild country that surrounds the great mountain, and rested in the huts
that had been prepared for them on the banks of a stream of cold and
sparkling water. And the Rajah's hunters, armed with long and heavy
guns, went in search of deer and wild bulls in the surrounding woods,
and brought home the meat of both in the early morning, and sent it on
in advance to prepare the mid-day meal. On the third day they advanced
as far as horses could go, and encamped at the foot of high rocks, among
which narrow pathways only could be found to reach the mountain-top. And
on the fourth morning when the Rajah set out, he was accompanied only
by a small party of priests and princes with their immediate attendants;
and they toiled wearily up the rugged way, and sometimes were carried
by their servants, until they passed up above the great trees, and then
among the thorny bushes, and above them again on to the black and burned
rock of the highest part of the mountain.
And when they were near the summit, the Rajah ordered them all to halt,
while he alone went to meet the great spirit on the very peak of the
mountain. So he went on with two boys only who carried his sirih and
betel, and soon reached the top of the mountain among great rocks, on
the edge of the great gulf whence issue forth continually smoke and
vapour. And the Rajah asked for sirih, and told the boys to sit down
under a rock and look down the mountain, and not to move until he
returned to them. And as they were tired, and the sun was warm and
pleasant, and the rock sheltered them from the cold wind, the boys fell
asleep. And the Rajah went a little way on under another rock; and as he
was tired, and the sun was warm and pleasant, and he too fell asleep.
And those who were waiting for the Rajah thought him a long time on the
top of the mountain, and thought the great spirit must have much to say,
or might perhaps want to keep him on the mountain always, or perhaps he
had missed his way in coming down again. And they were debating whether
they should go and search for him, when they saw him coming down with
the two boys. And when he met them he looked very grave, but said
nothing; and then all descended together, and the procession returned
as it had come; and the Rajah went to his palace and the chiefs to
their villages, and the people to their houses, to tell their wives and
children all that had happened, and to wonder yet again what would come
of it.
And three days afterwards the Rajah summoned the priests and the princes
and the chief men of Mataram, to hear what the great spirit had told him
on the top of the mountain. And when they were all assembled, and the
betel and sirih had been handed round, he told them what had happened.
On the top of the mountain he had fallen into a trance, and the great
spirit had appeared to him with a face like burnished gold, and had
said--"Oh Rajah! much plague and sickness and fevers are coming upon all
the earth, upon men and upon horses and upon cattle; but as you and
your people have obeyed me and have come up to my great mountain, I will
teach you how you and all the people of Lombock may escape this plague."
And all waited anxiously, to hear how they were to be saved from so
fearful a calamity. And after a short silence the Rajah spoke again
and told them, that the great spirit had commanded that twelve sacred
krisses should be made, and that to make them every village and every
district must send a bundle of needles--a needle for every head in the
village. And when any grievous disease appeared in any village, one
of the sacred krisses should be sent there; and if every house in
that village had sent the right number of needles, the disease would
immediately cease; but if the number of needles sent had not been exact,
the kris would have no virtue.
So the princes and chiefs sent to all their villages and communicated
the wonderful news; and all made haste to collect the needles with the
greatest accuracy, for they feared that if but one were wanting, the
whole village would suffer. So one by one the head men of the villages
brought in their bundles of needles; those who were near Mataram came
first, and those who were far off came last; and the Rajah received them
with his own hands and put them away carefully in an inner chamber, in a
camphor-wood chest whose hinges and clasps were of silver; and on every
bundle was marked the name of the village and the district from whence
it came, so that it might be known that all had heard and obeyed the
commands of the great spirit.
And when it was quite certain that every village had sent in its bundle,
the Rajah divided the needles into twelve equal parts, and ordered the
best steelworker in Mataram to bring his forge and his bellows and his
hammers to the palace, and to make the twelve krisses under the Rajah's
eye, and in the sight of all men who chose to see it. And when they were
finished, they were wrapped up in new silk and put away carefully until
they might be wanted.
Now the journey to the mountain was in the time of the east wind when no
rain falls in Lombock. And soon after the krisses were made it was the
time of the rice harvest, and the chiefs of districts and of villages
brought their tax to the Rajah according to the number of heads in their
villages. And to those that wanted but little of the full amount, the
Rajah said nothing; but when those came who brought only half or a
fourth part of what was strictly due, he said to them mildly, "The
needles which you sent from your village were many more than came from
such-a-one's village, yet your tribute is less than his; go back and see
who it is that has not paid the tax." And the next year the produce of
the tax increased greatly, for they feared that the Rajah might justly
kill those who a second time kept back the right tribute. And so the
Rajah became very rich, and increased the number of his soldiers, and
gave golden jewels to his wives, and bought fine black horses from the
white-skinned Hollanders, and made great feasts when his children were
born or were married; and none of the Rajahs or Sultans among the Malays
were so great or powerful as the Rajah of Lombock.
And the twelve sacred krisses had great virtue. And, when any sickness
appeared in a village one of them was sent for; and sometimes the
sickness went away, and then the sacred kris was taken back again with
great Honour, and the head men of the village came to tell the Rajah of
its miraculous power, and to thank him. And sometimes the sickness would
not go away; and then everybody was convinced that there had been a
mistake in the number of needles sent from that village, and therefore
the sacred kris had no effect, and had to be taken back again by the
head men with heavy hearts, but still, with all honour--for was not the
fault their own?