eating. He was a youth of about fifteen, and had already
three wives. All wore the kris, or Malay crooked dagger,
on the beauty and value of which they greatly pride themselves.
A companion of the Rajah’s had one with a
golden handle, in which were set twenty-eight diamonds
and several other jewels. He said it had cost him 700?.
The sheaths are of ornamental wood and ivory, often
covered on one side with gold. The blades are beautifully
veined with white metal worked into the iron, and they
are kept very carefully. Every man without exception
carries a kris, stuck behind into the large waist-cloth
which all wear, and it is generally the most valuable
piece of property he possesses.
A few days afterwards our long-talked-of excursion to
Gunong Sari took place. Our party was increased by the
captain and supercargo of a Hamburg ship loading with
rice for China. We were mounted on a very miscellaneous
lot of Lombock ponies, which we had some difficulty in
supplying with the necessary saddles, &c.; and most of us
had to patch up our girths, bridles, or stirrup-leathers, as
best we could. We passed through Mataram, where we
were joined by our friend Gusti Gadioca, mounted on a
handsome black horse, and riding as all the natives do,
without saddle or stirrups, using only a handsome saddlecloth
and very ornamental bridle. About three miles
further, along pleasant byways, brought us to the place.
We entered through a rather handsome brick gateway
supported by hideous Hindoo deities in stone. Within was
an enclosure with two square fish-ponds and some fine trees ;
then another gateway through which we entered into a -
park. On the right was a brick house, built somewhat in
the Hindoo style, and placed on a high terrace or platform;
on the left a large fish-pond, supplied by a little rivulet
which entered it out of the mouth of a gigantic crocodile
well executed in brick and stone. The edges of the pond
were bricked, and in the centre rose a fantastic and picturesque
pavilion ornamented with grotesque statues. The
pond was well stocked with fine fish, which come every
morning to be fed at the sound of a wooden gong which
is hung near for the purpose. On striking it a number of
fish immediately came out of the masses of weed with
which the pond abounds, and followed us along the margin
expecting food. At the same time some deer came out of
an adjacent wood, which, from being seldom shot at and
regularly fed, are almost tame. The jungle and woods
which surrounded the park appearing to abound in birds,
I went to shoot a few, and was rewarded by getting several
specimens of. the fine new kingfisher, Halcyon fulgidus,
and the curious and handsome ground thrush, Zoothera
andromeda. The former beslies its name by not frequenting
water or feeding on fish. It lives constantly in low damp
thickets picking up ground insects, centipedes, and small