[Footnote 11: I have taken this inscription as I found it
translated in D'Almeida's "Life in Java," from which I have also
abridged the story.]

This Peter Elberfeld was one of the many natives who conspired from time
to time against the Dutch. According to Raffles, the Dutch
administration of Java was distinguished from the very first by a
"haughty assumption of superiority, for the purpose of overawing the
credulous simplicity of the natives, and a most extraordinary timidity,
which led them to suspect treachery and danger in quarters where they
were least to be apprehended." But large allowances must be made for the
precarious position of a handful of Europeans living in the midst of a
hostile and numerous population. In the case of the conspiracy in
question, the historical outlines of the story are tinctured by an
element of romance.

Peter Elberfeld was a half-caste who had acquired considerable wealth,
but who was possessed by an intense hatred of the Dutch. Uniting the
native princes in a league, he formed a conspiracy to extirpate the
entire white population of the island by concerted massacres. When his
plans were fully formed and ready for execution, an unexpected
circumstance revealed the plot and brought destruction upon the chiefs
of the conspiracy. Elberfeld had a niece living with him, who, so far
from sharing her uncle's hatred of the Dutch race, had secretly fallen
in love with a young Dutch officer. Knowing her uncle's aversion to
their foreign masters and jealousy of their power, she did not dare to
ask for his consent to the marriage. At last she arranged to elope with
her lover. On the night previous to that fixed upon for this event she
was unable to sleep, from a feeling of remorse at conduct which seemed
ungrateful to one who had at least been indulgent and affectionate to
her. As she stood upon the verandah, looking out upon the darkness of
the night, she became conscious that some persons, unseen in the
darkness, were moving around her. She made her way in alarm to her
uncle's chamber, but found it empty. She then went to the dining-room.
The door of this room was shut, but, bending down, she perceived that
the room itself was filled with people, and listened to their whispered
consultations. Overwhelmed with horror at the cruel nature of the
conspiracy, and at the terrible ceremonies by which they bound
themselves at the same time to mutual loyalty and vengeance on their
enemie