had been for many years resident here said to Manuel, "One thing is
strange in this country--the scarcity of ghosts." "How so?" asked
Manuel. "Why, you know," said the Malay, "that in our countries to the
westward, if a man dies or is killed, we dare not pass near the place
at night, for all sorts of noises are heard which show that ghosts are
about. But here there are numbers of men killed, and their bodies lie
unburied in the fields and by the roadside, and yet you can walk by them
at night and never hear or see anything at all, which is not the case in
our country, as you know very well." "Certainly I do," said Manuel;
and so it was settled that ghosts were very scarce, if not altogether
unknown in Lombock. I would observe, however, that as the evidence
is purely negative we should be wanting in scientific caution if we
accepted this fact as sufficiently well established.
One evening I heard Manuel, Ali, and a Malay man whispering earnestly
together outside the door, and could distinguish various allusions to
"krisses," throat-cutting, heads, etc. etc. At length Manuel came
in, looking very solemn and frightened, and said to me in English,
"Sir--must take care,--no safe here;--want cut throat." On further
inquiry, I found that the Malay had been telling them that the Rajah had
just sent down an order to the village, that they were to get a certain
number of heads for an offering in the temples to secure a good crop of
rice. Two or three other Malays and Bugis, as well as the Amboyna man in
whose house we lived, confirmed this account, and declared that it was a
regular thing every year, and that it was necessary to keep a good
watch and never go out alone. I laughed at the whole thing, and tried to
persuade them that it was a mere tale, but to no effect. They were all
firmly persuaded that their lives were in danger. Manuel would not go
out shooting alone, and I was obliged to accompany him every morning,
but I soon gave him the slip in the jungle. Ali was afraid to go and
look for firewood without a companion, and would not even fetch water
from the well a few yards behind the house unless armed with an enormous
spear. I was quite sure all the time that no such order had been sent
or received, and that we were in perfect safety. This was well shown
shortly afterwards, when an American sailor ran away from his ship on
the east side of the island, and made his way on foot and unarmed across
to Ampanam, having met with the greatest hospitality on the whole route.
Nowhere would the smallest payment be taken for the food and lodging
which were willingly furbished him. On pointing out this fact to Manuel,
he replied, "He one bad man,--run away from his ship--no one can believe
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