in another constructing ladders to mount the smooth face of a
precipice. The chiefs who superintended the work fixed upon
the length of each day's journey beforehand according to the
nature of the road; and chose pleasant places by the banks of
clear streams and in the neighborhood of shady trees, where they
built sheds and huts of bamboo, well thatched with the leaves of
palm-trees, in which the rajah and his attendants might eat and
sleep at the close of each day.

And when all was ready, the princes and priests and chief
men came again to the rajah to tell him what had been done,
and to ask him when he would go up the mountain. And he
fixed a day, and ordered every man of rank and authority to
accompany him, to do honor to the great spirit who had bid him
undertake the journey, and to show how willingly they obeyed
his commands. And then there was much preparation through-
out the whole island. The best cattle were killed, and the meat
salted and sun-dried, and abundance of red peppers and sweet

potatoes were gathered, and the tall pinang-trees were climbed
XXVI — 971



iee22 ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE

for the spicy betel-nut, the sirih-leaf was tied up in bundles,
and every man filled his tobacco-pouch and lime-box to the brim,
so that he might not want any of the materials for chewing the
refreshing betel during the journey. And the stores of provis-
ions were sent on a day in advance. And on the day before
that appointed for starting, all the chiefs, both great and small,
came to Mataram, the abode of the King, with their horses and
their servants, and the bearers of their sirih-boxes, and their
sleeping-mats, and their provisions. And they encamped under
the tall waringin-trees that border all the roads about Mataram,
and with blazing fires frighted away the ghouls and evil spirits
that nightly haunt the gloomy avenues.

In the morning a great procession was formed to conduct the
rajah to the mountain; and the royal princess and relations of the
rajah mounted their black horses, whose tails swept the ground.
They used no saddle or stirrups, but sat upon a cloth of gay
colors; the bits were of silver, and the bridles of many-colored
cords. The less important people were on small strong horses
of various colors, well suited to a mountain journey; and all
(even the rajah) were bare -legged to above the knee, wearing
only the gay-colored cotton waist-cloth, a silk or cotton jacket,
and a large handkerchief tastefully folded round the head. Every
one was attended by one or two servants bearing his sirih and
betel boxes, who were also mounted on ponies; and great num-
bers more had gone on in advance, or waited to bring up the
rear. The men in authority were numbered by hundreds, and
their followers by thousands, and all the island wondered what
great thing would come of it.

For the first two days they went along good roads, and
through many villages which were swept clean, and where bright
cloths were hung out at the windows; and all the people, when
the rajah came, squatted down upon the ground in respect, and
every man riding got off his horse and squatted down also, and
many joined the procession at every village. At the place where
they stopped for the night, the people had placed stakes along
each side of the roads in front of the houses. These were split
crosswise at the top, and in the cleft were fastened little clay
lamps, and between them were stuck the green leaves of palm-
trees, which, dripping with the evening dew, gleamed prettily
with the many twinkling lights. And few went to sleep that



ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE 15523

night till the morning hours; for every house held a knot of
eager talkers, and much betel-nut was consumed, and endless
were the conjectures what would come of it.

On the second day they left the last village behind them, and
entered the wild country that surrounds the great mountain; and
rested in the huts that had been prepared for them on the banks
of a stream of cold and sparkling water. And the rajah's hunt-
ers, armed with long and heavy guns went in search of deer
and wild bulls in the surrounding woods, and brought home the
meat of both in the early morning, and sent it on in advance
to prepare' the midday meal. On the third day they advanced as
far as horses could go, and encamped at the foot of high rocks,
among which narrow pathways only could be found to reach the
mountain-top. And on the fourth morning, when the rajah set
out, he was accompanied only by a small party of priests and
princes, with their immediate attendants; and they toiled wearily
up the rugged way, and sometimes were carried by their serv-
ants, till they passed up above the great trees, and then among
the thorny bushes, and above them again on to the black and
burnt rock of the highest part of the mountain.

And when they were near the summit the rajah ordered
them all to halt, while he alone went to meet the great spirit
on the very peak of the mountain. So he went on with two
boys only, who carried his sirih and betel; and soon reached the
top of the mountain among great rocks, on the edge of the great
gulf whence issue forth continually smoke and vapor. And the
rajah asked for sirih, and told the boys to sit down under a rock
and look down the mountain, and not to move till he returned
to them. And as they were tired, and the sun was warm and
pleasant, and the rock sheltered them from the cold wind, the
boys fell asleep. And the rajah went a little way on under an-
other rock; and he was tired, and the sun was warm and pleas-
ant, and he too fell asleep.

And those who were waiting for the rajah thought him a
long time on the top of the mountain, and thought the great
spirit must have much to say, or might perhaps want to keep
him on the mountain always; or perhaps he had missed his
way in coming down again. And they were debating whether
they should go and search for him, when they saw him coming
down with the two boys. And when he met them he looked
very grave, but said nothing; and then all descended together,



^^^^^ ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE

and the procession returned as it had come; and the rajah went
to his palace, and the chiefs to their villages, and the people to
their houses, to tell their wives and children all that had hap-
pened, and to wonder yet again what would come of it.

And three days afterward the rajah summoned the priests
and the princes and the chief men of Mataram to hear what the
great spirit had told him on the top of the mountain. And when
they were all assembled, and the betel and sirih had been handed
round, he told them what had happened. On the top of the
mountain he had fallen into a trance, and the great spirit had
appeared to him with a face like burnished gold, and had said,
^* O rajah ! much plague and sickness and fevers are coming
upon all the earth, — upon men, and upon horses, and upon cat-
tle; but as you and your people have obeyed me and have come
up to my great mountain, I will teach you how you and all the
people of Lombok may escape this plague.'*^ And all waited
anxiously, to hear how they were to be saved from so fearful a
calamity. And after a short silence, the rajah spoke again, and
told them that the great spirit had commanded that twelve
sacred krisses should be made, and that to make them every vil-
lage and every district must send a bundle of needles, — a needle
for every head in the village. And when any grievous disease
appeared in any village, one of the sacred krisses should be sent
there : and if every house in that village had sent the right
number of needles, the disease would immediately cease; but if
the number of needles sent had not been exact, the kris would
have no virtue.

So the princes and chiefs sent to all their villages and com-
municated the wonderful news: and all made haste to collect the
needles with the greatest accuracy; for they feared that if but
one were wanting, the whole village would suffer. So one by
one, the head-men of the villages brought in their bundles of
needles; those who were near Mataram came first, and those who
were far off came last: and the rajah received them with his
own hands, and put them away carefully in an inner chamber,
in a camphor- wood chest whose hinges and clasps were of silver;
and on every bundle was marked the name of the village, and
the district from whence it came, so that it might be known that
all had heard and obeyed the commands of the great spirit.

And when it was quite certain that every village had sent in
its bundle, the rajah divided the needles into twelve equal parts.



ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE 1 55 25

and ordered the best steel-worker in Mataram to bring his forge
and his bellows and his hammers to the palace, and to make the
twelve krisses under the rajah's eye, and in the sight of all men
who chose to see it. And when they were finished, they were
wrapped up in new silk, and put away carefully until they might
be wanted.

Now the journey to the mountain was in the time of the east
wind, when no rain falls in Lombok. And soon after the kris-
ses were made it was the time of the rice harvest, and the
chiefs of the districts and of villages brought in their tax to the
rajah according to the number of heads in their villages. And
to those that wanted but little of the full amount the rajah said
nothing; but when those came who brought only half or a fourth
part of what was strictly due, he said to them mildly, ^^The nee-
dles which you sent from your village were many more than
came from such a one's village, yet your tribute is less than
his: go back and see who it is that has not paid the tax. ^^ And
the next year the produce of the tax increased greatly, for they
feared that the rajah might justly kill those who a second time
kept back the right tribute. And so the rajah became very rich,
and increased the number of his soldiers, and gave golden jewels
to his wives, and bought fine black horses from the white-
skinned Hollanders, and made great feasts when his children
were born or were married; and none of the rajahs or sultans
among the Malays were so great or so powerful as the rajah of
Lombok.

And the twelve sacred krisses had great virtue. And when
any sickness appeared in a village, one of them was sent for;
and sometimes the sickness went away, and then the sacred kris
was taken back again with great <honor, and the head-men of the
village came to tell the rajah of its miraculous power, and to
thank him. And sometimes the sickness would not go away;
and then everybody was convinced' that there had been a mis-
take in the number of needles sent from that village, and there-
fore the sacred kris had no effect, and had to be taken back
again by the head-men with heavy hearts, but still with all
honor — for was not the fault their own?



15526 ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE

LIFE IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO

From <The Malay Archipelago)

A Visit to the Chief (Orang Kaya) of a Borneo Village

IN THE evening the orang kaya came in full dress (a spangled
velvet jacket, but no trousers), and invited me over to his
house, where he gave me a seat of honor under a canopy
of white calico and colored handkerchiefs. The great veranda
was crowded with people; and large plates of rice, with cooked
and fresh eggs, were placed on the ground as presents for me. A
very old man then dressed himself in bright-colored clothes and
many ornaments, and sitting at the door, murmured a long prayer
or invocation, sprinkling rice from a basin he held in his hand,
while several large gongs were loudly beaten, and a salute of
muskets fired off. A large jar of rice wine, very sour, but with
an agreeable flavor, was then handed round, and I asked to see
some of their dances. These were, like most savage perform-
ances, very dull and ungraceful affairs; the men dressing them-
selves absurdly like women, and the girls making themselves as
stiff and ridiculous as possible. All the time six or eight large
Chinese gongs were being beaten by the vigorous arms of as
many young men; producing such a deafening discord that I
was glad to escape to the round-house, where I slept very com-
fortably, with half a dozen smoke-dried human skulls suspended
over my head.

The Durion

The banks of the Sarawak River are everywhere covered
with fruit-trees, which supply ,the Dyaks with a great deal of
their food. The mangosteen, lansat, rambutan, jack, jambou, and
blimbing, are all abundant ; but most abundant and most es-
teemed is the durion, — a fruit about which very little is known
in England, but which both by natives and Europeans in the
Malay Archipelago is reckoned superior to all others. The old
traveler Linschott, writing in 1599, says, ** It is of such an excel-
lent taste that it surpasses in flavor all the other fruits of the
world, according to those who have tasted it. '^ And Doctor
Paludanus adds, « This fruit is of a hot and humid nature. To
those not used to it, it seems at first to smell like rotten onions,
but immediately they have tasted it they prefer it to all other



ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE 15527

food. The natives give it honorable titles, exalt it, and make
verses on it. '^ When brought into a house the smell is often so
offensive that some persons can never bear to taste it. This was
my own case when I first tried it in Malacca; but in Borneo I
found a ripe fruit on the ground, and eating it out of doors, I at
once became a confirmed durion eater.

The durion grows on a large and lofty forest-tree, somewhat
resembling an elm in its general character, but with a more
smooth and scaly bark. The fruit is round or slightly oval, about
the size of a large cocoanut, of a green color, and covered all
over with short stout spines, the bases of which touch each other,
and are consequently somewhat hexagonal, while the points are
very strong and sharp. It is so completely armed that if the
stalk is broken off, it is a difficult matter to lift one from the
ground. The outer rind is so thick and tough that from what-
ever height it may fall, it is never broken. From the base to
the apex five very faint lines may be traced, over which the
spines arch a little; these are the sutures of the carpels, and show
where the fruit may be divided with a heavy knife and a strong
hand. The five cells are satiny-white within, and are each filled
with an oval mass of cream-colored pulp, imbedded in which are
two or three seeds about the size of chestnuts. This pulp is the
eatable part, and its consistence and flavor are indescribable. A
rich butter-like custard highly flavored with almonds gives the
best general idea of it; but intermingled with it come wafts of
flavor that call to mind cream cheese, onion sauce, brown sherry,
and other incongruities. Then there is a rich glutinous smooth-
ness in the pulp, which nothing else possesses, but which adds to
its delicacy. It is neither acid, nor sweet, nor juicy, yet one feels
the want of none of these qualities, for it is perfect as it is. It
produces no nausea or other bad effect, and the more you eat of
it the less you feel inclined to stop. In fact, to eat durions is a
new sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience.

When the fruit is ripe it falls of itself; and the only way
to eat durions in perfection is to get them as they fall, and the
smell is then less overpowering. When unripe, it makes a very
good vegetable if cooked, and it is also eaten by the Dyaks raw.
In a good fruit season large quantities are preserved salted, in
jars and bamboos, and kept the year round; when it acquires a
most disgusting odor to Europeans, but the Dyaks appreciate it
highly as a relish with their rice. There are in the forest two



15528



ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE



varieties of wild durions with much smaller fruits, one of them
orange-colored inside; and these are probably the origin of the
large and fine durions, which are never found wild. It would
not, perhaps, be correct to say that the durion is the best of all
fruits, because it cannot supply the place of the subacid juicy
kinds, such as the orange, grape, mango, and mangosteen, whose
refreshing and cooling qualities are so wholesome and grateful;
but as producing a food of the most exquisite flavor it is unsur-
passed. If I had to fix on two only as representing the perfec-
tion of the two classes, I should certainly choose the durion and
the orange as the king and queen of fruits.

The durion is however sometimes dangerous. When the fruit
begins to ripen, it falls daily and almost hourly, and accidents
not unfrequently happen to persons walking or working under
the trees. When the durion strikes a man in its fall, it produces
a dreadful wound, the strong spines tearing open the flesh, while
the blow itself is very heavy; but from this very circumstance
death rarely ensues, the copious effusion of blood preventing the
inflammation which might otherwise take place. A Dyak chief
informed me that he had been struck down by a durion falling on
his head, which he thought would certainly have caused his death,
yet he recovered in a very short time.

Poets and moralists, judging from our English trees and
fruits, have thought that small fruits always grew on lofty trees,
so that their fall should be harmless to man, while the large
ones trailed on the ground. Two of the largest and heaviest
fruits known, however, — the Brazil-nut fruit (Bertholletia) and
durion, — grow on lofty forest-trees, from which they fall as soon
as they are ripe, and often wound or kill the native inhabitants.
From this we may learn two things: first, not to draw general
conclusions from a very partial view of nature; and secondly,
that trees and fruits, no less than the varied productions of the
animal kingdom, do not appear to be organized with exclusive
reference to the use and convenience of man.



Cat's-Cradle in Borneo

I AM inclined to rank the Dyaks above the Malays in mental
capacity, while in moral character they are undoubtedly superior
to them. They are simple and honest, and become the prey
of the Malay and Chinese traders, who cheat and plunder them



ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE 15529

continually. They are more lively, more talkative, less secretive,
and less suspicious, than the Malay, and are therefore pleas-
anter companions. The Malay boys have little inclination for
active sports and games, which form quite a feature in the life
of the Dyak youths; who, besides outdoor games of skill and
strength, possess a variety of indoor amusements. One wet
day in a Dyak house, when a number of boys and young men
were about me, I thought to amuse them with something new,
and showed them how to make ^' cat's-cradle '^ with a piece of
string. Greatly to my surprise, they knew all about it, and more
than I did; for after Charles and I had gone through all the
changes we could make, one of the boys took it off my hand, and
made several new figures which quite puzzled me. They then
showed me a number of other tricks with pieces of string, which
seemed a favorite amusement with them.



The Trial of a Thief in Java

One morning as I was preparing and arranging my speci-
mens, I was told there was to be a trial; and presently four
or five men came in and squatted down on a mat under the
audience-shed in the court. The chief then came in with his
clerk, and sat down opposite them. Each spoke in turn, telling
his own tale; and then I found out that those who first entered
were the prisoner, accuser, policemen, and witness, and that the
prisoner was indicated solely by having a loose piece of cord
twined round his wrists, but not tied. It was a case of rob-
bery; and after the evidence was given and a few questions had
been asked by the chief, the accused said a few words, and then
sentence was pronounced, which was a fine. The parties then
got up and walked away together, seeming quite friendly; and
throughout there was nothing in the manner of any one present
indicating passion or ill-feeling, — a very good illustration of the
Malayan type of character.



Architecture in the Celebes

My house, like all bamboo structures in this country, was
a leaning one, the strong westerly winds of the wet season hav-
ing set all its posts out of the perpendicular to such a degree



jre^o ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE

as to make me think it might some day possibly go over alto-
gether. It is a remarkable thing that the natives of Celebes
have not discovered the use of diagonal struts in strengthening
buildings. I doubt if there is a native house in the country, two
years old, and at all exposed to the wind, which stands upright;
and no wonder, as they merely consist of posts and joists all
placed upright or horizontal, and fastened rudely together with
rattans. They may be seen in every stage of the process of
tumbling down, from the first slight inclination to such a dan-
gerous slope that it becomes a notice to quit to the occupiers.

The mechanical geniuses of the country have only discovered
two ways of remedying the evil. One is, after it has commenced,
to tie the house to a post in the ground on the windward side
by a rattan or bamboo cable. The other is a preventive ; but
how they ever found it out and did not discover the true way is
a mystery. This plan is to build the house in the usual way,
but instead of having all the principal supports of straight posts,
to have two or three of them chosen as crooked as possible. I
had often noticed these crooked posts in houses, but imputed it
to the scarcity of good straight timber; till one day I met some
men carrying home a post shaped something like a dog's hind
leg, and inquired of my native boy what they were going to do
with such a piece of wood. " To make a post for a house, '^ said
he. " But why don't they get a straight one ? there are plenty
here,'^ said I. ^^Oh,'^ replied he, "they prefer some like that in
a house, because then it won't fall ; ^^ evidently imputing the effect
to some occult property of crooked timber. A little considera-
tion and a diagram will, however, show that the effect imputed
to the crooked post may be really produced by it. A true square
changes its figure readily into a rhomboid or oblique figure; but
when one or two of the uprights are bent or sloping, and placed
so as to oppose each other, the effect of a strut is produced,
though in a rude and clumsy manner.



15531



LEWIS WALLACE

(1827-)




[eneral Lew Wallace is an American of whom his native
State, Indiana, is justly proud. In the army and in diplo-
matic service he has an honorable record; as an author,
one of his books has been, with the single exception of Mrs. Stowe's
< Uncle Tom's Cabin, ^ the most popular romance written in the
United States. *â–  Ben-Hur * is a striking production, known and en-
joyed far beyond the limits of General "Wallace's own land; and it
has qualities sure to commend it to all who like fiction that with a
historical setting, is dramatic and pictur-
esque.

Lewis Wallace is the son of David Wal-
lace, — a distinguished Indiana lawyer who
was once governor and twice lieutenant-
governor of the State. Lewis was born in
Brookville, on April loth, 1827. The family
homestead is at Crawfordsville, where Gen-
eral Wallace now resides. His family has
fighting blood in it, several of his kin hav-
ing been soldiers. Lew Wallace — he has
taken the more familiar form of the Christ-
ian name — studied law and practiced it
until the breaking out of the Civil War in
April of 1861; when he was made adjutant-
general on the governor's staff, organized the Eleventh Indiana, and
was made its colonel. Good service at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and
other notable engagements, brought him promotion in turn to the
rank of brigadier-general and major-general. He was a member of
the commission appointed to try Lincoln's assassins, was given a
diplomatic mission to Mexico in 1866, and made governor of New
Mexico in 1880. From 1881 to 1885 he was United States minister to
Turkey : it is interesting to note that ^ Ben-Hur ^ was written before
General Wallace went to that country, the verisimilitude being pro-
duced by careful study and the exercise of sympathetic imagination.
It will be seen from these biographical details that his life has
been one of varied activity, such as to furnish a writer with excellent




Lewis Wallace



iee32 LEWIS WALLACE

romantic material. His work shows what good use he has made of
it. General Wallace's stories are vivid in foreign color, brisk with
action, and exhibit the instinct for broadly effective scenes and
strongly marked characters. Few fictionists offer so many episodes