ed until sheathed in your breast. On these words
the nobles brought Truna Jaya to the foot of the
throne, from whence the prince rising, came near
him, and stabbed him to the heart ; the kris passing
through and through under the shoulder-blade,
ami the blood gushing out in a torrent. Anto
Gopo, an officer of the palace, repeated the blow,
and all the nobles present followed his example,
leaving the body of Truna Jaya thoroughly
mangled. The prince rising again from his throne,
exclaimed, in a loud voice,— Let his heart be
devoured. The chiefs rushed upon the body
again, and tearing out the heart, divided it into
fragments of a nail’s-breadth, and devoured it accordingly.
The head they severed from the body,
and laid it at the foot of the throne.”
It appears, farther, on the same authority, that
three of the nobles entering even more fully than
the rest into the infernal spirit which actuated their
sovereign, smeared their naked bodies all over with
the blood of the prisoner. The head was carried
in procession before the Susunan, and when the
savage retired at night to rest, he is reported to
have used it as a mat to wipe his feet upon.
During the scene in the palace, the Dutch general
officers and party were present, but astoby
names. The kris here named was an ancient heirloom of the
royal family, and is still preserved at Surakarta.
6
nished and appalled at the frightful scene which
was transacted before them, they wanted the courage
or magnanimity to interfere, though it was
acknowledged that their honour was pledged for
the safety of Truna Jaya.
I shall give one other anecdote of this reign,
chiefly because it affords an illustration, unusually
authentic, of the effects of eastern despotism, and •
is, at the same time, connected with the state of
domestic manners among the people of whom I am
rendering an account.
The Susnnan had married his eldest son and successor
to the daughter of his brother the Pangeran
Pugar. The parties were soon compelled to separate
on account of the ill conduct of the husband,
a prince of brutal character and manners. The
princess, thus neglected, formed an attachment to
Sukro, son of the first minister, a youth of agreeable
manners and handsome person. The criminal
connection was in time discovered through an intercepted
letter from the lover to his mistress.
The Susunan was highly incensed at the discovery,
and the Pangeran Pugar, to avert from himself
and his family the effects of his resentment, resolved
to take the life of his daughter. He, accordingly,
ordered his seven sons into his presence,
and informed them of the necessity of their
becoming the instruments of taking the life of their
sister, to avert the wrath of their unde and sove