"Gone to the Rajah's," said he. "We are going," said I. "Oh! pray
don't," said he; "wait a little; they are having a consultation, and
some priests are coming to see you, and a chief is going off to Mataram
to ask the permission of the Anak Agong for you to stay." This settled
the matter. More talk, more delay, and another eight or ten hours'
consultation were not to be endured; so we started at once, the poor
interpreter almost weeping at our obstinacy and hurry, and assuring us
"the Pumbuckle would be very sorry, and the Rajah would be very sorry,
and if we would but wait all would be right." I gave Ali my horse, and
started on foot, but he afterwards mounted behind Mr. Ross's groom, and
we got home very well, though rather hot and tired.
At Mataram we called at the house of Gusti Gadioca, one of the princes
of Lombock, who was a friend of Mr. Carter's, and who had promised to
show me the guns made by native workmen. Two guns were exhibited, one
six, the other seven feet long, and of a proportionably large bore. The
barrels were twisted and well finished, though not so finely worked as
ours. The stock was well made, and extended to the end of the barrel.
Silver and gold ornament was inlaid over most of the surface, but the
locks were taken from English muskets. The Gusti assured me, however,
that the Rajah had a man who made locks and also rifled barrels. The
workshop where these guns are made and the tools used were next shown
us, and were very remarkable. An open shed with a couple of small mud
forges were the chief objects visible. The bellows consisted of two
bamboo cylinders, with pistons worked by hand. They move very easily,
having a loose stuffing of feathers thickly set round the piston so
as to act as a valve, and produce a regular blast. Both cylinders
communicate with the same nozzle, one piston rising while the other
falls. An oblong piece of iron on the ground was the anvil, and a small
vice was fixed on the projecting root of a tree outside. These, with a
few files and hammers, were literally the only tools with which an old
man makes these fine guns, finishing then himself from the rough iron
and wood.
I was anxious to know how they bored these long barrels, which seemed
perfectly true and are said to shoot admirably; and, on asking the
Gusti, received the enigmatical answer: "We use a basket full of
stones." Being utterly unable to imagine what he could mean, I asked if
I could see how they did it, and one of the dozen little boys around
us was sent to fetch the basket. He soon returned with this most
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