THE islands of Bali and Lombock, situated at the eastern end of
Java, are particularly interesting. They are the only islands of
the whole Archipelago in which the Hindu religion still
maintains itself - and they form the extreme points of the two
great zoological divisions of the Eastern hemisphere; for
although so similar in external appearance and in all physical
features, they differ greatly in their natural productions. It
was after having spent two years in Borneo, Malacca and
Singapore, that I made a somewhat involuntary visit to these
islands on my way to Macassar. Had I been able to obtain a
passage direct to that place from Singapore, I should probably
never have gone near them, and should have missed some of the
most important discoveries of my whole expedition the East.
It was on the 13th of June, 1856, after a twenty days' passage
from Singapore in the "Kembang Djepoon" (Rose of Japan), a
schooner belonging to a Chinese merchant, manned by a Javanese
crew, and commanded by an English captain, that we cast anchor in
the dangerous roadstead of Bileling on the north side of the
island of Bali. Going on shore with the captain and the Chinese
supercargo, I was at once introduced to a novel and interesting
scene. We went first to the house of the Chinese Bandar, or chief
merchant, where we found a number of natives, well dressed, and
all conspicuously armed with krisses, displaying their large
handles of ivory or gold, or beautifully grained and polished wood.
The Chinamen had given up their national costume and adopted the
Malay dress, and could then hardly be distinguished from the
natives of the island - an indication of the close affinity of the
Malayan and Mongolian races. Under the thick shade of some mango-
trees close by the house, several women-merchants were selling
cotton goods; for here the women trade and work for the benefit
of their husbands, a custom which Mahometan Malays never adopt.
Fruit, tea, cakes, and sweetmeats were brought to us; many questions
were asked about our business and the state of trade in
Singapore, and we then took a walk to look at the village. It was
a very dull and dreary place; a collection of narrow lanes
bounded by high mud walls, enclosing bamboo houses, into some of
which we entered and were very kindly received.
During the two days that we remained here, I walked out into the
surrounding country to catch insects, shoot birds, and spy out
the nakedness or fertility of the land. I was both astonished and
delighted; for as my visit to Java was some years later, I had
never beheld so beautiful and well cultivated a district out of
Europe. A slightly undulating plain extends from the seacoast
about ten or twelve miles inland, where it is bounded by a wide
range of wooded and cultivated hills. Houses and villages, marked
out by dense clumps of cocoa-nut palms, tamarind and other fruit
trees, are dotted about in every direction; while between then
extend luxuriant rice-grounds, watered by an elaborate system of
irrigation that would be the pride of the best cultivated parts
of Europe.
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