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 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