vessels loading in the port. It is brought into Ampanam on pack-horses,
and almost every day a string of these would come into Mr. Carter's
yard. The only money the natives will take for their rice is Chinese
copper cash, twelve hundred of which go to a dollar. Every morning two
large sacks of this money had to be counted out into convenient sums for
payment. From Bali quantities of dried beef and ox-tongues are exported,
and from Lombock a good many ducks and ponies. The ducks are a peculiar
breed, which have very long flat bodies, and walk erect almost like
penguins. They are generally of a pale reddish ash colour, and are kept
in large flocks. They are very cheap and are largely consumed by the
crews of the rice ships, by whom they are called Baly-soldiers, but are
more generally known elsewhere as penguin-ducks.
My Portuguese bird-stuffer Fernandez now insisted on breaking his
agreement and returning to Singapore; partly from homesickness, but
more I believe from the idea that his life was not worth many months'
purchase among such bloodthirsty and uncivilized peoples. It was a
considerable loss to me, as I had paid him full three times the usual
wages for three months in advance, half of which was occupied in the
voyage and the rest in a place where I could have done without him,
owing to there being so few insects that I could devote my own time
to shooting and skinning. A few days after Fernandez had left, a small
schooner came in bound for Macassar, to which place I took a passage. As
a fitting conclusion to my sketch of these interesting islands, I will
narrate an anecdote which I heard of the present Rajah; and which,
whether altogether true or not, well illustrates native character, and
will serve as a means of introducing some details of the manners and
customs of the country to which I have not yet alluded.
CHAPTER XII. LOMBOCK: HOW THE RAJAH TOOK THE CENSUS.
The Rajah of Lombock was a very wise man and he showed his wisdom
greatly in the way he took the census. For my readers must know that
the chief revenues of the Rajah were derived from a head-tax of rice, a
small measure being paid annually by every man, woman, and child in the
island, There was no doubt that every one paid this tax, for it was a
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