The Dutch have sustained another defeat in Lombok, in the
Eastern Archipelago, at the hands of the Balinese. The defeat is of little importance except to the Dutch Govern- ment, which is worried beyond measure by its failure to obtain an efficient force in its Asiatic dominion, but the position of the victors is most remarkable. They are Hindoos from Bali, the island full of Hindoo temples, and are descendants of those vigorous Hindoos who, sailing out of India, once conquered and settled the great Eastern Archipelago. They are only fifty thousand strong, and are said to govern six hundred thousand Sassaks with a rod,of iron. Why the Hindoos abandoned maritime adventure, and even placed it under a religious ban, is one of the most mysterious problems in history. If they had continued to be sailors, they might have conquered half Asia or filled up Australia; but after years of effort they withdrew, and never again built a ship or produced a naval 'captain. We know of nothing stranger in the early history of the world.
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