would certainly be shot. A few months afterwards the same man stole a
horse from Mr. Carter. The horse was recovered, but the thief was not
caught. It is an established rule, that anyone found in a house after
dark, unless with the owner's knowledge, may be stabbed, his body thrown
out into the street or upon the beach, and no questions will be asked.
The men are exceedingly jealous and very strict with their wives. A
married woman may not accept a cigar or a sirih leaf from a stranger
under pain of death. I was informed that some years ago one of the
English traders had a Balinese woman of good family living with him--the
connection being considered quite honourable by the natives. During some
festival this girl offended against the law by accepting a flower or
some such trifle from another man. This was reported to the Rajah (to
some of whose wives the girl was related), and he immediately sent to
the Englishman's house ordering him to give the woman up as she must be
"krissed." In vain he begged and prayed, and offered to pay any fine
the Rajah might impose, and finally refused to give her up unless he
was forced to do so. This the Rajah did not wish to resort to, as he no
doubt thought he was acting as much for the Englishman's honour as for
his own; so he appeared to let the matter drop. But some time afterwards
he sent one of his followers to the house, who beckoned the girl to the
door, and then saying, "The Rajah sends you this," stabbed her to the
heart. More serious infidelity is punished still more cruelly, the woman
and her paramour being tied back to back and thrown into the sea, where
some large crocodiles are always on the watch to devour the bodies. One
such execution took place while I was at Ampanam, but I took a long
walk into the country to be out of the way until it was all over, thus
missing the opportunity of having a horrible narrative to enliven my
somewhat tedious story.
One morning, as we were sitting at breakfast, Mr. Carter's servant
informed us that there was an "Amok" in the village--in other words,
that a man was "running a muck." Orders were immediately given to shut
and fasten the gates of our enclosure; but hearing nothing for some
time, we went out, and found there had been a false alarm, owing to a
slave having run away, declaring he would "amok," because his master
wanted to sell him. A short time before, a man had been killed at a
gaming-table because, having lost half-a-dollar more than he possessed,
he was going to "amok." Another had killed or wounded seventeen people
before he could be destroyed. In their wars a whole regiment of these
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