times, ten thousand followers have been known to
have attended him.
These more general delusions, as already mentioned,
may, as far as our information extends, be
considered to belong more . particularly to the
character of the Javanese. On minor occasions,
the maritime tribes are not a jot less superstitious.
On the superstitious attachment to relics, they
even go beyond them. Among the people of Celebes
this is carried to an extravagance not easily
credited. The regalia of the different states consist
of a parcel of rusty iron weapons, such as krises,
hangers, spears, and other still greater trifles, which
are held in the most religious veneration ; nay, the
possession of them is held indispensably necessary
to the security of the government; no prince being
sure of the allegiance of -his subjects that wants
them. The regalia of Macassar were, about forty
years ago, in the hands of the Bugis sovereigns of
Boni, and they consequently acquired such an ascendancy
in the affairs of the state of Macassar, that
the European supremacy was undermined, and the
power of the government of the Goa Macassars
nearly destroyed altogether. In 1814,1 saw them
surrendered, with great pomp and ceremony, into
the hands of the British authority, for the purpose
of being restored to the Macassars. Day and
night they were watched; and at stated times fumigated
and perfumed. The apartment in which
they were deposited was entered with more awe and
solemnity than the people were wont to observe in
approaching their temples. Many chiefs of high
rank attended at the first presentation, who refused
to be seated, as usual, on chairs, in the European
fashion, because the regalia were borne by slaves,
who squatted on the ground, and it would have
been sacrilege in their eyes to have been seated
higher than these objects of their veneration. The
reader will feel some surprise when he hears an
enumeration of some of the principal articles of
the Macassar regalia. They consisted of such
as the following :—The book of the laws of Goa,
—the fragment of a small gold chain,—a pair of
China earthenware dishes,—an enchanted stone,
—a P°Pgun»—some krises and spears,—and, above
all, the revered weapon, called the sudang, a kind
of hanger or cleaver ; the express object of which,
according to the naked expression of the people
themselves, was “ to rip open bellies / ”
Upon the subject of the superstitious attachment
to relics, it may be remarked, as a singular fact, that
among the Indian islanders it never takes, as in Europe,
a religious form. The genius of Mahomedan-
ism, to be sure, it may be said, is peculiarly averse
to i t ; but among a people so. imperfectl y converted,
this would have been disregarded, had there
existed any tendency in the society towards the
worship of relics.