word he say;" and so I was obliged to leave him in the uncomfortable
persuasion that he might any day have his throat cut.
A circumstance occurred here which appeared to throw some light on the
cause of the tremendous surf at Ampanam. One evening I heard a strange
rumbling noise, and at the same time the house shook slightly. Thinking
it might be thunder, I asked, "What is that?" "It is an earthquake,"
answered Inchi Daud, my host; and he then told me that slight shocks
were occasionally felt there, but he had never known them to be
severe. This happened on the day of the last quarter of the moon, and
consequently when tides were low and the surf usually at its weakest.
On inquiry afterwards at Ampanam, I found that no earthquake had been
noticed, but that on one night there had been a very heavy surf, which
shook the house, and the next day there was a very high tide, the water
having flooded Mr. Carter's premises, higher than he had ever known
it before. These unusual tides occur every now and then, and are not
thought much of; but by careful inquiry I ascertained that the surf had
occurred on the very night I had felt the earthquake at Labuan Tring,
nearly twenty miles off. This would seem to indicate, that although the
ordinary heavy surf may be due to the swell of the great Southern Ocean
confined in a narrow channel, combined with a peculiar form of bottom
near the shore, yet the sudden heavy surfs and high tides that occur
occasionally in perfectly calm weather, may be due to slight upheavals
of the ocean-bed in this eminently volcanic region.
CHAPTER XI. LOMBOCK: MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE.
HAVING made a very fine and interesting collection of the birds of
Labuan Tring, I took leave of my kind host, Inchi Daud, and returned
to Ampanam to await an opportunity to reach Macassar. As no vessel had
arrived bound for that port, I determined to make an excursion into the
interior of the island, accompanied by Mr. Ross, an Englishman born in
the Keeling Islands, and now employed by the Dutch Government to settle
the affairs of a missionary who had unfortunately become bankrupt here.
Mr. Carter kindly lent me a horse, and Mr. Ross took his native groom.
139