424* DUTCH HISTORY The principal evidence was extorted from the conspirvators themselves on the rack ; and much of it, therefore, may well be discredited ; but, whether the particulars be real or imagined, they afibrd so curious an illustration of the character of the Dutch administration, that they ought not to be passed over in silence. After being frequently put to the question, the conspirators confessed to the following circumstances : The first object was to massacre the Dutch with all the Europeans, and the Christians of every denomination ; atter which, the conspirators were to be joined by all the -Asiatics in the island. Erberjeldj the chief con- spirator, took the name of " Ywa?ig Giisti," or The Lord ; and Cantadia, the second conspira- tor, the title of Raden, or Noble. The plot was laid at the house of Erberfeld without the walls of the city ; and it appeared that the conspirators had been in the practice of holding frequent meetings at a country house of their leader, and there con- ducting a correspondence with several native chiefs and princes, both in the island and in the neigh- bouring countries. Some of the conspirators were engaged, according to the superstitious notions of the Javanese, and, as always happens on similar occasions, in distributing charins and arnulets to render the possessors invulnerable. Ihe attack was to have commenced on the first day of the new year, and with the iirbt opening of the gates of the
