“The Sahib Martin,” replied the other, “is again himself, and the joy of having his cousin restored to him will be sufficient recompense for his present sufferings. But, again, let me assure him that she is safe, for the hunchback would not have dared to deceive Prabu.”
“But why should he not deceive you?—who can believe one word from the lips of so great a rogue?” asked Martin.
“There are reasons that I may not now disclose; but one I may. Having discovered him in the very act of sorcery, one word of mine would bring down upon him and his whole family, no matter how wide apart they may be, a dreadful punishment—for terrible are the laws of Bali; and that word I promised should never be spoken if he could convince me, beyond all doubt, that the girl was safe and unharmed, and that he did—by what means, for the present, no matter;” and with this explanation we were compelled to rest content, and so returned to our lodgings.
Apropos of sorcery, among those of the Indian islands not converted to Mahomedanism, it is regarded, as of yore in England, as the most atrocious of crimes, and punished accordingly.
“If,” says the Balinese law, “a man falsely accuse another of sorcery, and speak publicly thereof, the magistrate shall fine him forty thousand.” “If a person write the name of another on the winding-sheet of a corpse, or on a dead man’s bier, or make images of another of paste, or, writing the name of a man on a slip of paper, suspends it on a tree, buries it in the earth, deposits it in haunted ground, or where two roads cross each other, any of these shall be deemed sorcery. If a man write the name of another on a human bone, with blood and charcoal, this also shall be deemed an incantation. Whoever is guilty of any of these practices shall be put to death. If the matter be very clearly made out, let the punishment of death be extended to his father and mother, to his children, and to his grandchildren!—let none of them live!—let none connected with one so guilty remain on the face of the land, and let their goods be, in like manner, confiscated. Should the children or parents of the sorcerer live in a remote part of the country, still let them be sought out and put to death; and let their goods, if concealed, be brought forth and confiscated.”
This cruel custom of putting to death a whole family for the fault of one, reminds me of a similar custom among the Japanese, and which is sufficiently illustrated by the following historical anecdote:—
In the year 1638, the governor of a small province near Jeddo so oppressed the people, that the Tycoon ordered that he and all his relations should have their stomachs ripped open, as nearly as possible, at one and the same hour. He had a brother, who lived two hundred and forty-seven leagues from Jeddo, in the service of the King of Fingo; an uncle, who lived in Satsuma, twenty leagues further; a son, who served the King of Kinocuni; a grandson, who served the King of Massame, a hundred and ten leagues from Jeddo; and at three hundred and eighty leagues from Satsuma, another son, who served the governor of the castle of Quanto; two brothers, who were of the regiment of the Emperor’s guards; and another son, who had married the only daughter of a rich merchant, near Jeddo;—yet were all these persons to be executed precisely at the same hour. To do that they cast up what time was requisite to send the order to the farthest place; and, having appointed the day for the execution there, orders were sent to the Princes of all the places I have mentioned, that they should put to death all those persons on the same day, just at noon, which was punctually done. The merchant who had bestowed his daughter on that gentleman’s son, died of grief, and the widow starved herself.
CHAPTER XXII.
WE JOIN A TIGER-HUNT, BUT NARROWLY ESCAPE POISONING, AND ESCAPE TO OUR ISLAND.
That night the heavy rains commenced, and for three days we were kept within doors, for in those islands it literally “never rains but it pours”—nay, falls in torrents, which deluge the whole land. Neither was this seclusion rendered any the more agreeable, now that, having been assured of our cousin’s safety, our minds were perpetually racked with curiosity as to her whereabouts and Prabu’s reasons for keeping it secret from us.
Thus, when the rains cleared off, and the Chief Mahomed invited us to join him and party in a tiger-hunt, we rejoiced—I, that activity would prevent my mind from preying upon itself—Martin, partly for a similar reason, but chiefly, that he was about joining in a sport of which he had heard so much, but seen nothing. As for Prabu, he, I believe, accepted the invitation out of mere politeness, and, perhaps, policy, hoping thereby to secure the young Mahomed to the interests of the “Dutch-hating party.” But, however that might have been, he must at last have begun to entertain some suspicions as to the Chief’s honesty of purpose; for, upon the morning of the hunt, he sent Martin down to the prahu, with orders to bring back a party of six of the best of the crew, armed with muskets and creeses.