time that the real circumstances as now narrated
transpired.
Although we cannot always be sure when an attack
of this nature is to be made, one thing we may
be certain of, that whenever an Indian islander
is placed, with arms in his hands, in a situation
where he thinks his life or his honour in danger,
the chances are, that he will devote himself to be
avenged of those he deems his oppressors, totally
regardless of all consequences. In our intercourse
with them we must always be prepared for such a
result, and the natives are themselves so fully aware
of this feature of character, that the very first step
taken with a prisoner, however trivial his offence,
is to disarm him.
Another vice incident to such a state of society
as that of the Indian islanders, is a disregard for
human life. They live in a state of turbulence
and anarchy; the empire of law is next to nothing;
death is familiar to the people, and has few terrors
for them, and the great body are in such a state
of degradation, that they neither value the lives of
each other, nor are those lives likely to be valued
by their chiefs, who despise them in every thing
else. The exercise of the right of private revenge,
and the law which acknowledges it, demand
life for life, but both accept a pecuniary commutation
, so that every man’s life has its price,
and that, too, not a very high one. Murders and as*
sassinations are frequent, therefore, in every country
of the Archipelago. A hired assassin may be had
in Java for twenty shillings Sterling, provided the
person to be assassinated be a plebeian, but hardly
any consideration wdl obtain one to assassinate a
chief. 1 do not mean to assert that the abominable
and cowardly practice of employing hired desperados
is frequent in any country of the Archipelago.
A man generally takes vengeance with his own hand,
but should he choose the less dangerous course, he
will find those who are not reluctant to be employed.
In the year 1812, when 1 was Resident at the
court of the Sultan, a Chinese hired a Javanese to
assassinate another Javanese who had offended him.
The agent perpetrated the murder, and claimed his
reward,—-as far as I remember, about fifteen shillings.
The Chinese refused payment. The matter
having sometime afterwards come to light,
the Chinese absconded, and the Javanese having
been apprehended, made, in my presence, , according
to the frequent custom of his countrymen, a
full confession of every circumstance.
Perfidy and faithlessness are vices of the Indian
islanders, and those vices of which they have been
most frequently accused by strangers. This sentence
against them must, however, be understood with;
some allowances. In their domestic and social intercourse,
they are far from being a deceitful people,
but in reality possess more integrity than it is rea