"The first place I visited, after leaving Sourabaya, was the island of Lombock. There is not much of interest in the principal port, which is called Ampanam, as the place is small, and the inhabitants are not particularly enterprising. There are some groves of wild fig-trees close to the town; and one of my amusements was to shoot the green pigeons and orioles that abounded there. Some of the trees are almost covered with the hanging-nests of the orioles; and, as they are rarely disturbed by the natives, I found them so tame that it required no skill at all to get near enough to shoot them.
A VILLAGE IN LOMBOCK.
"Several miles out in the country from Ampanam is the village where the Rajah of the island lives; it is called Mataram, and no native of the lower classes is allowed to ride on horseback through it. If you should happen to be travelling there, and had your Javanese servant mounted on a horse, he would be obliged to walk from one end of the town to the other, and lead his animal.
VIEW NEAR MATARAM.
"There is a fine volcano in Lombock, about eight thousand feet high. Mr. Wallace tells a good story in connection with this volcano, and the plan by which the Rajah took the census of the population of the island.
"You must know that the principal product of Lombock is rice, and the taxes are paid in this article. Each man, woman, and child contributed a small measure of rice once a year; but it passed through many hands before it reached the treasury, and a little of it clung to each hand that it touched. The result was that the Rajah did not get half of what was due him, and all his officers conspired to tell him that the crops were short in some districts, and many people had died in others; and no matter what he did to find out the truth, they managed to prevent his learning it. He determined to take a census of his people, but did not know how to go at it, as his officers would suspect what it was for, and would make out the population according to the rice that he received the previous year. He thought a long time over the matter, and finally hit on a plan so shrewd that nobody suspected there was any census at all.