Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/127

Rh condemned him to be chained for life to that stone.

A more particular account—for which I am indebted to Drahman, who gleaned the particulars from some of the old natives of that locality—makes it appear that, two or three hundred years ago, a vessel having been wrecked off the coast of Djodjokarta, the whole of the crew were lost except this man, who was picked up half dead on the shore by some fishermen, who took him to one of their huts, and succeeded in restoring him to life.

The news that a white man had been found under such melancholy circumstances soon spread far and wide, and numbers flocked to the fisherman's hut, in order to catch a glimpse of a sight more uncommon in those days than now. The Sultan of Matarram who then reigned was a very cruel, suspicious, and despotic man. Hearing of the curiosity manifested by the natives, and