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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/27422-8.txt b/27422-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4069d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/27422-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5589 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Through the Malay Archipelago, by Emily Richings + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Through the Malay Archipelago + +Author: Emily Richings + +Release Date: December 5, 2008 [EBook #27422] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Through the + Malay Archipelago. + + + BY + EMILY RICHINGS. + + Author of + "Sir Walter's Wife," "In Chaucer's Maytime," &c. + + + LONDON: + HENRY J. DRANE, LIMITED, + DANEGELD HOUSE, 82A, FARRINGDON STREET, E.C. + + + + + O hundred shores of happy climes! + How swiftly streamed ye by the bark! + At times the whole sea burned--at times + With wakes of fire we tore the dark. + + New stars all night above the brim + Of waters lightened into view; + They climbed as quickly, for the rim + Changed every moment as we flew. + + We came to warmer waves, and deep + Across the boundless East we drove, + Where those long swells of breaker sweep + The nutmeg rocks, and isles of clove. + + For one fair Vision ever fled + Down the waste waters day and night, + And still we followed where she led, + In hope to gain upon her flight. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + Prologue. + + + JAVA. + + Batavia and Weltevreden--Buitenzorg--Soekaboemi + and Sindanglaya--Garoet and her Volcano-- + Djokjacarta--Boro-Boedoer--Brambanam-- + Sourakarta--Sourabaya and the Tengger. + + + CELEBES. + + Makassar and Western Celebes--The Minahasa-- + Gorontalo and the Eastern Coast. + + + A Glimpse of Borneo. + + + THE MOLUCCAS. + + Ternate, Batjan, and Boeroe. + + Ambon. + + Banda. + + + The Solo-Bessir Isles. + + + SUMATRA. + + The Western Coast and the Highlands. + + + A View of Krakatau. + + + PENANG. + + + Epilogue. + + + + +PROLOGUE. + + +The traveller who reaches those enchanted gates of the Far East which +swing open at the palm-girt shores of Ceylon, enters upon a new range +of thought and feeling. The first sight of tropical scenery generally +awakens a passionate desire for further experiences of the vast +Archipelago in the Southern Seas which girdles the Equator with an +emerald zone. Lured onward by the scented breeze in that eternal search +for perfection destined to remain unsatisfied where every step marks a +higher ideal than the one already attained, the pilgrim pursues his +endless quest, for human aspiration has never yet touched the goal of +desires and dreams. The cocoanut woods of Ceylon and her equatorial +vegetation lead fancy further afield, for the glassy straits of Malacca +beckon the wanderer down their watery highways to mysterious Java, +where vast forests of waving palms, blue chains of volcanic mountains, +and mighty ruins of a vanished civilisation, loom before the +imagination and invest the tropical paradise with ideal attractions. +The island, seven hundred miles long, and described by Marianne North +as "one magnificent garden of tropical luxuriance," has not yet become +a popular resort of the average tourist, but though lacking some of +those comforts and luxuries found under the British flag, it offers +many compensations in the wealth of beauty and interest afforded by +scenery, architecture, and people. The two days' passage from Singapore +lies through a green chain of countless islets, once the refuge of +those pirates who thronged the Southern seas until suppressed by +European power. The cliffs of Banka, honeycombed with tin quarries, and +the flat green shores of Eastern Sumatra, stretching away to the purple +mountains of the interior, flank the silvery straits, populous with +native _proas_, coasting steamers, _sampans_, and the hollowed log or +"dug-out" which serves as the Malayan canoe. Patched sails of scarlet +and yellow, shaped like bats' wings, suggest gigantic butterflies +afloat upon the tranquil sea. The red roofs of whitewashed towns, and +the tall shafts of white lighthouses emphasise the rich verdure between +the silvery azure of sky and water. The little voyage ends at Tandjon +Priok, nine miles from Batavia, for a volcanic eruption of Mount Salak +in 1699 filled up the ancient harbour, and necessitated the removal of +shipping to a deep bay, as the old city was landed high and dry through +the mass of mud, lava, and volcanic sand, which dammed up the lower +reaches of the Tjiligong river, and destroyed connection with the sea. +The present model harbour, erected at tremendous cost, permits ships of +heavy burden to discharge passengers and cargo with comfort and safety +at a long wharf, without that unpleasant interlude of rocking _sampans_ +and reckless boatmen common to Eastern travel. A background of blue +peaks and clustering palms rises beyond the long line of quays and +breakwaters flanked by the railway, and a wealth of tropical scenery +covers a marshy plain with riotous luxuriance. No Europeans live either +in Tandjon Priok or Old Batavia, and the locality was known for two +centuries as "the European graveyard." Flourishing Arab and Chinese +_campongs_ or settlements appear immune from the terrible Java fever +which haunts the morasses of the coast, and the industrial Celestial +who absorbs so much of Oriental commerce, possesses an almost +superhuman imperviousness to climatic dangers. + +In the re-adjustment of power after the Fall of Napoleon, Java, invaded +by England in 1811, after a five years' interval of British rule under +the enlightened policy of Sir Stamford Raffles, was restored to the +Throne of Holland. The supremacy of the Dutch East India Company, who, +after a prolonged struggle, acquired authority in Java as residuary +legatee of the Mohammedan Emperor, ended at the close of the eighteenth +century. Perpetual warfare and rebellion, which broke out in Central +Java after the return of the island to the Dutch, taxed the resources +of Holland for five years. Immense difficulties arrested and delayed +the development of the fertile territory, until the "culture system" of +forced labour within a certain area relieved the financial pressure. +One-fifth of village acreage was compulsorily planted with sugar-cane, +and one day's work every week was demanded by the Dutch Government from +the native population. The system was extended to tea and coffee; and +indigo was grown on waste land not needed for the rice, which +constitutes Java's staff of life. Spices and cinchona were also +diligently cultivated under official supervision, and the lives of many +explorers were lost in search of the precious Kina-tree, until Java, +after years of strenuous toil, now produces one-half of that quinine +supply which proves the indispensable safeguard of European existence +on tropic soil. The ruddy bark and scarlet branches of the cinchona +groves glow with autumnal brightness amid the evergreen verdure of the +Javanese hills, and the "culture system," as a financial experiment, +proved, in spite of cavillers, a source of incalculable benefit to the +natives as well as to the colonists of Java. As we travel through the +length and breadth of an island cultivated even to the mountain tops +with the perfection of detail common to the Dutch, as the first +horticulturists of the world, we realise the far-reaching wisdom, +which in a few decades transformed the face of the island, clearing +vast tracks of jungle, and pruning that riot of tropical nature which +destroys as rapidly as it creates. A lengthened survey of Java's +political economy and past history would be out of place in a slight +volume, written as a "compagnon de voyage" to the wanderer who adds a +cruise in the Archipelago to his Eastern itinerary, but the colonial +features of Dutch rule which have produced many beneficial results +demand recognition, for the varied characteristics of national genius +and racial expansion suggest the myriad aspects of that creative power +bestowed on humanity made in the Divine Image, and fulfilling the great +destiny inspired by Heavenly Wisdom. + + + + +JAVA. + + + + +BATAVIA AND WELTEVREDEN. + + +From the railway station at Batavia the comfortless "dos-a-dos," +colloquially known as the _sado_, a vehicle resembling an elementary +Irish car, and drawn by a rat-like Timor pony transports us to the +fashionable suburb of Weltevreden, away from the steamy port and +fever-haunted commercial capital. The march of modern improvement +scarcely affects old-world Java, where jolting _sado_ and ponderous +_milord_ remain unchanged since the early days of colonisation, for +time is a negligeable quantity in this lotus-eating land, too apathetic +even to adopt those alleviations of tropical heat common to British +India. The Java of the ancient world was considered "The Jewel of the +East," and possesses many claims to her immemorial title, but the +stolid Dutchman of to-day contents himself with the domestic +arrangements which sufficed for his sturdy forefathers, scorning the +mitigations of swinging punkah or electric fan. The word Batavia +signifies "fair meadows," and these swampy fields of rank vegetation, +exhaling a deadly miasma, were considered such an adequate defence +against hostile attack, that forts were deemed unnecessary in a +locality where 87,000 soldiers and sailors died in the Government +Hospital during the space of twenty years. Batavia proper is a +commonplace city of featureless streets, brick-walled canals, and +ramshackle public buildings, but the residential town of Weltevreden, +suggesting a glorified Holland, combines the quaint charm of the mother +country with the Oriental grace and splendour of the tropics. The broad +canals bordered by colossal cabbage-palms, the white bridges gay with +the many coloured garb of the Malay population, the red-tiled roofs +embowered in a wealth of verdure, and the pillared verandahs veiled +with gorgeous creepers, tumbling in sheets of purple and scarlet from +cornice to floor, compose a characteristic picture, wherein Dutch +individuality triumphs over incongruous environment. Waving palms clash +their fronds in the sea-breeze; avenues of feathery tamarind and +bending waringen trees surround Weltevreden with depths of green +shadow; the scarlet hybiscus flames amid tangled foliage, where the +orange chalices of the flowering Amherstia glisten from sombre +branches, and hang like fairy goblets from the interwoven roofs of +tropical tunnels, pierced by broad red roads. On this Sunday afternoon +of the waning year which introduces us to Weltevreden, family groups +are gathered round tea tables canopied with flowers and palms, in the +white porticos of the Dutch villas, and the startling déshabille +adopted by Holland in the Netherlands India almost defies description. +The ladies, with stockingless feet thrust into heelless slippers, and +attired in the Malay _sarong_ (two yards of painted cotton cloth), +supplemented by a white dressing-jacket, display themselves in +verandah, carriage, or street, in a garb only fit for the bath-room; +while the men, lounging about in pyjamas, go barefoot with the utmost +_sangfroid_. The _sarong_, as worn by the slender and graceful Malay, +appears a modest and appropriate garb, but the grotesque effect of +native attire on the broad-built Dutchwoman affords conclusive proof +that neither personal vanity nor a sense of humour pertain to her +stolid personality. Dutch Puritanism certainly undergoes startling +transformations under the tropical skies, and the Netherlands India +produces a modification of European ideas concerning what have been +called "the minor moralities of life," unequalled in colonial +experience. An identical exhibition fills the open corridors of the +Hotel Nederlanden, built round a central court, and the general resort +of the guests during the hot hours of the January days. Evening dress +is reserved for State occasions, and though _sarong_ and _kabaja_ be +discarded at the nine o'clock dinner, the blouse and skirt of morning +wear in England suffices even at this late hour for the fair Hollander, +who also concedes so far to the amenities of civilisation as sometimes +to put on her stockings. So much of life in Java is spent in eating, +sleeping, and bathing, that but a small residuum can be spared for +those outside interests which easily drop away from the European when +exiled to a colony beyond the beaten track of travel, and destitute of +that external friction which counteracts the enervating influence of +the tropics. Comfort is at a discount according to English ideas, but +the arrangements of the Hotel Nederlanden, under a kindly and capable +proprietor, render it an exception to the prevailing rule. Each guest +is apportioned a little suite, consisting of bedroom, sitting-room, and +a section of the verandah, fitted up with cane lounge, table, and +rocking-chair. The bathrooms, with porcelain tank and tiles, leave +nothing to be desired, and the "dipper-bath," infinitely cooler than +the familiar tub, becomes an unfailing delight. Ominous prophecies have +emphasised the rashness of coming to Java in the rainy season, but it +has expended its force before January arrives, and though daily showers +cool the air, and the sky is often overcast, no inconvenience is +experienced. Lizards and mosquitoes are few, and in the marble-floored +dining hall of cathedral proportions the absence of a punkah is +generally unfelt, though the fact of a tropical climate is realised at +the slightest exertion. The day begins at 6 a.m. with a cup of the Java +coffee, which, at first unpalatable, reveals by degrees the hidden +excellence of the beverage, brought cold in a stoppered cruet, the +potent essence requiring a liberal admixture of boiling water. At 9 +a.m. a solid but monotonous breakfast of sausage, bacon, eggs, and +cheese is customary, with the accompaniment of iced water, though tea +and coffee are provided for the foreign traveller, unused to the cold +comfort which commends itself to Dutch taste. The mid-day _riz-tavel_ +from beginning to end of a stay in Java, remains the terror of the +English visitor. Each plate is heaped with a mound of rice, on which +scraps of innumerable ingredients are placed--meat, fish, fowl, duck, +prawns, curry, fried bananas, and nameless vegetables, together with +chilis and chutneys, sembals, spices, and grated cocoanut, in +bewildering profusion. The Dutch digestion triumphantly survives this +severe test at the outset of the meal, and courageously proceeds to the +complementary courses of beefsteak, fritters and cheese. Fortunately +for those of less vigorous appetite, mine host of the Nederlanden, far +in advance of his Javanese fraternity, kindly provides a simple +"tiffin" as an alternative to this Gargantuan repast. Afternoon tea is +served in the verandah, and at eight o'clock the Dutch contingent, +having slept off the effects of the rice table, prepares with renewed +energies to attack a heavy dinner. New Year's Eve is celebrated by a +very bombardment of fireworks from the Chinese _campong_, and crowds +hasten to the fine Roman Catholic church for Benediction, Te Deum, and +an eloquent, though to me incomprehensible, Dutch sermon. Crisp muslins +and uncovered heads for the women, and white linen garb for the men, +are the rule in church, for the slatternly undress of _sarong_ and +pyjamas is happily inadmissible within the walls of the sanctuary, +where the fair fresh faces and neat array compose a pleasing picture +which imagination would fail to evolve from the burlesque ugliness of +the slovenly déshabille wherewith the Dutch colonist disguises every +claim to beauty or grace. On alluding to the shock experienced by this +grotesque travesty of native garb, a Dutch officer asserts that there +are in reality but few Dutch ladies in Java of pure racial stock, for +one unhappy result of remoteness from European influence is shown by +the gradual merging of the Dutch colonists into the Malay race by +intermarriage. Exile to Java was made financially easy and attractive +by the Dutch Government, but it was for the most part a permanent +separation from the mother country, and a long term of years +necessarily elapsed before the colonial planter could even return for a +short visit to his native land. The overwhelming force of public +opinion against mixed marriages, and the consequent degeneration of +type, from a union which lowers one of the contracting parties without +raising the other, beats but faintly against these remote shores, cut +off from associations which mould and modify the crudities of +individual thought in regions swept by the full tide of contemporary +life. The idea of welding European and Asiatic elements into one race, +as a defence against external aggression, possesses a superficial +plausibility, but ages of historical experiment only confirm the +unalterable truth of the poetic dictum that + + East is East, and West is West, + And never the two shall meet. + Until they stand on either hand, + At God's great Judgment Seat! + +The sudden rise of an Oriental race to the position of a great +world-power, and the apprehensions of coming struggles for supremacy in +Eastern waters, present many future complications concerning Java, even +if not weakened by the assimilation of her European colonists to an +inferior race. + +Neither landlord nor secretary of the Hotel Nederlanden spare time or +trouble in arranging the programme of sight-seeing, and but for their +kindly help, only a partial success would be possible, owing to the +difficulties presented by the two unknown tongues of Dutch and Malay. +Ignorance of the former involves separation from the world as revealed +by newspapers, and though a smattering of "coolie Malay" is picked up +with the aid of a handbook, and the "hundred words" mastered, +sanguinely asserted to suffice for colloquial needs, there are many +occasions when even the practice of this elementary language requires a +more extensive vocabulary. At a New Year's fête given by the proprietor +of the hotel to his numerous Malay employés, we make our first +acquaintance with native music. Dancing girls, in mask and tinsel, +gyrate to the weird strains of the _Gamelon_, an orchestra of tiny +gongs, bamboo tubes, and metal pipes. Actors perform old-world dramas +in dumb show, and conjurors in gaudy attire attract people of all ages +to those time-honoured feats of legerdemain which once represented the +sorcery of the mystic East. The simple Malay has not yet adopted the +critical and unbelieving attitude which rubs the gilt off the +gingerbread or the bloom off the plum, and his fervid faith in mythical +heroes and necromantic exploits gives him the key to that kingdom of +fancy often closed to a sadder if wiser world. The electric tram +provides an excellent method of gaining a general idea of Batavia and +Weltevreden; the winding route skirting canals and palm groves, +_campongs_ of basket-work huts, and gay _passers_, the native markets, +with their wealth of many-coloured fruit. Stacks of golden bananas, +olive-tinted dukus, rambutans like green chestnut-shells with scarlet +prickles, amber star-fruit, brown salak, the "forbidden apple," +bread-fruit, and durian offer an embarassing choice. Pineapples touch +perfection on Java soil; cherimoya and mango, papaya and the various +custard-fruits, the lovely but tasteless rose-apple, and the dark green +equatorial orange of delicious flavour, afford a host of unfamiliar +experiences. The winter months are the season of the peerless +mangosteen, in beauty as well as in savour the queen of tropical +fruits. The rose-lined purple globes, with the central ball of ivory +whiteness in each fairy cup, suggest fugitive essences of strawberry +and nectarine combined with orange to produce this equatorial marvel, +also considered perfectly wholesome. The mangosteen, ripening just +north or south of the Equator, according to the alternations of the wet +and dry seasons, cannot be preserved long enough to reach the temperate +zone, and though every year shows fresh varieties of tropical fruit +successfully transported to European markets, the mangosteen remains +unknown outside the narrow radius of the equatorial region to which the +tree is indigenous. The flower markets blaze with many-coloured roses, +tons of gardenias and a wealth of white heavy-scented flowers, such as +tuberoses and Arabian jasmine. All the spices of the East, in fact, +seem breathing from these mounds of blossom, as well as from gums and +essences distilled from them in archaic fashion. Transparent sachets, +filled with the scented petals of _ylang-ylang_, fill the air with +intoxicating sweetness, and outside the busy _passer_, a +frangipanni-tree, the native _sumboya_ or "flower of the dead," just +opening a white crowd of golden-hearted blossoms to the sun, adds +another wave of perfume to the floral incense, steaming from earth to +sky with prodigal exuberance. + +Batavia possesses few objects of interest. The dismal green-shuttered +Stadkirche, a relic of Dutch Calvinism; the earliest warehouse of the +Netherlands Company, a commonplace lighthouse, and the gate of Peter +Elberfeld's dwelling (now his tomb), with his spear-pierced skull above +the lintel, as a reminder of the sentence pronounced on traitors to the +Dutch Government, comprise the scanty catalogue. Antiquities and +archæological remains fill a white museum of classical architecture on +the Koenig's Plein, a huge parade ground, flanked by the Palace of the +Governor-General. Gold and silver ornaments, gifts from tributary +princes, shield and helmet, dagger, and _kris_, of varied stages in +Malay civilisation, abound in these spacious halls, where every +Javanese industry may be studied. Buddhist and Hindu temples have +yielded up a treasury of images, censers, and accessories of worship, +the excavations of ruined cities in Central Java, long overgrown with +impenetrable jungle, opening a mine of archæological wealth in musical +instruments, seals, coins, headgear, chairs and umbrellas of State. +Golden pipes and betel-boxes show the perfection of the goldsmith's +art, and metal statues vie with those of sculptured wood or stone. Here +Captain Cook left his treasure trove from the Southern seas, and the +Council Chamber of the Museum contains portraits and souvenirs of the +great navigators who sailed into the uncharted ocean of geographical +discovery, and in various stages of their adventurous careers anchored +at Java, to display the wondrous trophies of unknown lands in the +island then regarded as the farthest outpost of contemporary +civilisation. + +The _toelatingskaart_, or Javanese passport, formerly indispensable for +insular travel beyond the radius of forty miles from Batavia, though +not yet obsolete, proves practically needless, and is never once +demanded during a six weeks' stay. The small addition contributed to +the rich revenue by this useless official "permit," appears the sole +reason for retaining it, now that vexatious restrictions are withdrawn. +In the intervals of arranging an up-country tour from monotonous +Weltevreden, destitute of any attraction beyond the white colonnades +and verdant groves flanking sleepy canals and quaint bridges, the local +industry of _sarong_ stippling affords a curious interest. Every city +in Java possesses a special type of this historic dress, represented on +the walls of temples dating before the Christian era, and worn by the +Malay races from time immemorial. This strip of cotton cloth, which +forms the attire both of men and women, is twisted firmly round the +body, and requires no girdle to secure it. Palm-fronds, birds, and +animals, geometric patterns, religious emblems, fruits and flowers, are +represented in bewildering confusion. The girls, with flower-decked +hair and scanty garb, occupy a long, low shed, filled with rude frames +for stretching the cloth, painted in soft-tinted dyes--brown, blue, and +amber for the most part--with tapering funnels. These waxed cloths +allow infinite scope for native imagination, only a small panel of +formal design being obligatory, the remaining surface fancifully +coloured at will in harmonious hues. No two _sarongs_ are alike, and +the painted _battek_, notwithstanding the simplicity of the cotton +background, represents an amount of labour and finish which makes the +archaic garment a costly, though almost indestructible production. The +graceful _slandang_, a crossed scarf of the same material, only serves +as a shoulder-strap, wherein the brown Malay baby sits contentedly, for +the ugly white jacket of the Dutchwoman is now compulsory on the +native. Every variety of _battek_, basket-work, mats, and quaint silver +or brass ware, is brought by native peddlers to the broad verandahs of +the hotel, the patient and gentle people content to spend long hours on +the marble steps, dozing between their scanty bargains, or crimsoning +their months with the stimulating morsel of betel-nut, said to allay +the hunger, thirst, and exhaustion of the steaming tropics. The +conquered race, cowed by ages of tyranny under native princes, +possesses those mild and effeminate characteristics fostered by a +languid and enervating climate. That the salient angles of the sturdy +Dutch character, which accomplished so many feats of endurance in the +earlier days of the colony, should undergo rapid disintegration by +intermarriage with the native stock, must arouse regret in all who +realise the claims to respect possessed by the fighting forefathers of +Holland's tropical dependencies. + +Educational matters were for centuries in abeyance, and until 1864 the +Malays were forbidden to learn the language of their European rulers. +Many dialects are found in Java's wide territory, but Low Malay has +been declared the official tongue, and with the advance of public +opinion, wider views prevail concerning the rights of the subject race. +A good Roman Catholic priest, one of the most enlightened and liberal +Dutchmen encountered in Java, asserts that in the schools of the +Colonial Government, the Malay boy possesses a mathematical facility +superior to that of the Dutch scholar, in spite of the advantage +accruing from hereditary education. + +At the sunset hour, Batavian life awakens from the long slumbers of the +tropical afternoon, and as the golden light filters through the waving +palms, the long Schul-Weg, beside the central canal, fills with +saunterers, enjoying the delights of that brief spell, when peace and +coolness fall on the world before the sudden twilight drops veil after +veil of deepening gloom, merging into the "darkness which may be felt," +for the twelve hours of the tropical night. Gathering clouds reveal but +scanty glimpses of the moon in these January weeks, but through rifts +in the sombre canopy, the Southern stars hang low in the dome of +heaven, and shine like burning lamps, appearing almost within reach of +an outstretched hand. + + + + +BUITENZORG. + + +The first destination of the up-country traveller in Java is +Buitenzorg, the Dutch "Sans Souci," containing the Governor-General's +rural Palace, the houses of Court officials, and the superb Botanical +Garden, which ranks first among the horticultural triumphs of the +world. The two hours' journey by the railway, which now traverses the +whole of Java, shows a succession of tropical landscapes, appearing +unreal in their fantastic and dream-like beauty. The glowing green of +rice-fields, the dense forests of swaying palms, the porphyry tints of +the teeming soil, and the purple mountains, carved into the weird +contours peculiar to volcanic ranges, frame myriad pictures of +unfamiliar native life with dramatic effect. Villages of woven +basket-work cluster beneath green curtains of banana and spreading +canopies of palm, the central mosque surmounting the tiny huts with +many-tiered roofs, and walls inlaid with gleaming tiles of white and +blue. Brown figures, with gay _sarong_ and turbaned headgear, bring +bamboo buckets to moss-grown wells, gray water-buffaloes crop marshy +herbage, a little bronze-hued figure seated on each broad back, and +busy workers stand knee-deep in slush, to transplant emerald blades of +rice or to gather the yellow crops, for seedtime and harvest go on +together in this fertile land. Our train halts at Depok, a Christian +village unique in Java, for the religious history of the island shows +little missionary enterprise among a race strangely indifferent to the +claims of faith, and lightly casting away one creed after another, with +a carelessness which has ever proved a formidable bar to spiritual +progress. The Portuguese Jesuits were expelled by the Dutch, and +English efforts at conversion were succeeded by a general exclusion of +foreign missionaries. Public opinion eventually prevented the +continuance of this despotic rule, and at the present day a certain +number of Roman and Protestant clergy are supported by the Government, +but Roman zeal outstrips the niggardly spiritual provision, and proves +the appreciation in which it is held by full churches and devout +worshippers. The Mohammedanism of the Malay lacks the fiery fervour +common to Islam, and his slack hands are ever ready to forego all +symbols of faith. From the region of rice and tapioca, maize and +sugar-cane, we reach the great cacao plantations, hung with +chocolate-coloured pods, and the ruddy kina-groves on the lower slopes +of the mountain chain. The palms are everywhere, clashing their huge +fronds, and undulating in waves of fiery green, the light and shadow of +the golden evening reflected on the swaying foliage. Stately Palmyra, +slender areca, graceful pandang with a length of scarlet crowning each +smooth grey stem, the mighty royal palm, king of the forest, spreading +cocoanuts, and a hundred unknown varieties, soaring among bread-fruit +and teak, nutmeg and waringen, reveal the inexhaustible powers of +tropical Nature. Buitenzorg occupies an ideal position between the blue +and violet peaks of Gedeh and Salak, the guardian mountains of the +fairy spot, perennially green with spring-like freshness, from the +daily showers sweeping across the valley from one or other of the lofty +crests, and possessing a delicious climate at an altitude of eight +hundred feet. The Hotel Bellevue, where _back_ rooms should be secured +on account of a superb prospect, comprising river, mountain and forest, +stands near the great entrance of the world-famous Gardens, and our +balcony commands a profound ravine, carved by a clear river, winding +away between forests of palm to the dark cone of Mount Salak, the +climax of the picture. The artist destined to interpret the soul of +Java is yet unborn, or unable to grasp the character of her unique and +distinctive scenery, but a village of plaited palm-leaves, accentuating +this tropical Eden, brings it down to the human level, where soft Malay +voices, glimpses of domestic life, and a canoe afloat on the brimming +stream, remind us that we are still on _terra firma_, and not gazing +at a dreamland Paradise beyond earthly ken. Sleeping accommodation in +the hills suggests little comfort. A hard mattress beneath a sheet is +the sole furniture of the huge four-poster, surrounded by thick muslin +curtains to exclude air and creeping things; pillows are stuffed hard +with cotton-down, and no coverings are provided--an unalterable custom +possessing obvious disadvantages in a climate reeking with damp, where +the walls of a room closed for a day or two become green with mould. +Rheumatic stiffness on waking is a matter of course in humid Java, for +the hour between darkness and dawn contains a concentrated essence of +dew, mist, and malaria, which penetrates to the very marrow of +unaccustomed bones, even when it lacks the frequent accompaniment of +the violent cascade known as "a tropical shower." The glorious +Botanical Garden is approached by a mighty avenue of colossal +kanari-trees, over a hundred feet high, with yellow light filtering +through the fretted roof of interlacing boughs, which suggests a vast +aisle in some primeval forest. Stately columns and spreading roots +garlanded with stag-horn ferns, waving moss, white and purple orchids, +or broad-leaved creepers, falling in sheets and torrents of shining +foliage and knitting tree to tree, attest the irrepressible growth of +vegetation, which flings a many-coloured veil of blossom and leaf over +root, branch, and stem. A fairy lake glows with the pink and crimson +blossoms of the noble Victoria Regia, the huge leaves like green +tea-trays floating on the water, where a central fountain adds +prismatic radiance to the scenic effect of the splendid lilies. +Climbing palms and massive creepers, splashed with orange, scarlet, and +gold, tumble in masses from lofty branches, and the dazzling +Bougainvillea flings curtains of roseate purple over wall and gateway. +A dense thicket of frangipanni scents the air with the symbolic +blossoms, shining like stars from grey-green boughs of sharp-cut +leaves. A copse of splendid tree-ferns flanks the forest-like +plantation known as "The Thousand Palms," and beneath dusky avenues of +waringen (a variety of the banyan species, which strikes staff-like +boughs into the earth and springs up again in caverns of foliage), +herds of deer are wandering, snatching at drooping vines, or sheltering +from the fierce sun in depths of impenetrable shade. Tufts of +red-stemmed Banka palms cluster on the green islets of lake and river, +vista after vista opens up, each mysterious aisle appearing more lovely +than the last, and luring the wanderer to the climax formed by a +terraced knoll, commanding a superb view of Gedeh and Salak, the twin +summits of chiselled turquoise, gashed by the amethyst shadows of deep +ravines, with Gedeh's curl of volcanic smoke staining the lustrous +azure of the sky. Many-coloured tree carnations, gorgeous cannas and +calladiums, copses of snowy gardenia, and flowering shrubs of rainbow +hues, blaze with splendour, or exhale their wealth of perfume on the +languid air, thronged with the invisible souls of the floral multitude. +Graceful rattans shoot up in tall ladders of foliage-hidden cane, +climbing to the topmost fronds of the loftiest palm, and, unless +ruthlessly cut down, overthrowing the stately tree with their fatal +embrace. Sausage and candle trees, with strange parodies of prosaic +food and waxen tapers, climbing palms, sometimes extending for five +hundred feet, and gigantic blossoms like crimson trumpets, or +delicately-tinted shells of ocean, comprise but a tithe of Nature's +wonders, crowned by the mighty "Rafflesia," the largest flower in the +world, with each vast red chalice often measuring a circumference of +six feet. A hundred native gardeners are employed in this park-like +domain, and seventy men work in the adjacent culture-garden of forty +acres, where experiments in grafting and acclimatizing are carried on, +as well as in the supplementary garden of Tjibodas, beautifully +situated on the lower slopes of Mount Salak. The white palace of the +Governor-General faces the lake, fed by the lovely river Tjiligong, +winding in silver loops round verdant lawn and palm-clad hill, or +expanding into bamboo-fringed lakes, and bringing perennial freshness +into the tropical Eden of sun-bathed Java. + +Beyond the fretted arches of the great kanari avenue, the white tomb +of Lady Raffles, who died during her husband's term of office in the +island, forms a pathetic link with the past. When the colony was +restored to Holland, a clause in the treaty concerning it, made the +perpetual care of this monument, to one deeply loved and mourned, +binding upon the Dutch Governor--a condition loyally observed during +the century since the cessation of English rule. Cinnamon and clove +scent the breeze which whispers mysterious secrets to the swaying +plumes of the tall sago-palms, and dies away in the delicate foliage of +tamarind and ironwood tree. A network of air roots makes a grotesque +circle round the spreading boughs of the banyan grove, mahogany and +sandal-wood, ebony and cork, ginger-tree and cardamom, mingle their +varied foliage, the translucency of sun-smitten green shading through +deepening tones into the sombre tints of ilex and pine with exquisite +gradation. Flamboyant trees flaunt fiery pyramids of blossom high in +the air, and the golden bouquets of the salacca light up dusky avenues, +where large-leaved lianas rope themselves from tree to tree in cables +of vivid green. Bare stems, except in the palms, are unknown in this +richly-decorated temple of Nature; climbing blade-plants with +sword-like leaves of gold-striped verdure, huge orchids like +many-coloured birds and butterflies fluttering in the wind, wreathe +trunk and branch with fantastic splendour, and matted creepers weave +curtains of dense foliage from spreading boughs. The austere and scanty +vegetation of Northern climes, which gives a distinct outline and value +to every leaf and flower, has nothing in common with the prodigal and +passionate beauty of the tropical landscape, where the wealth of earth +is flung broadcast at our feet in mad profusion. Day by day the +marvellous gardens of Buitenzorg take deeper hold of mind and +imagination. The early dawn, when the dark silhouettes of the palms +stand etched against the rose-tinted heavens, the hot noontide in the +shadows of the colossal kanari-trees, the sunset gold transfiguring the +foliage into emerald fire, and spilling pools of liquid amber upon the +mossy turf, or the white moonlight which transmutes the forest aisles +into a fairy world of sable and silver, invest this vision of Paradise +with varied aspects of incomparable beauty. The surrounding scenery, +though full of interest, seems but the setting of the priceless gem, +and when inexorable Time, the modern angel of the flaming sword, at +length bars the way, and banishes us from our Javanese Eden, the exiled +heart turns back perpetually to the floral sanctuary, the antitype of +that Divinely-planted Garden on the dim borderland of Time which +revealed and fulfilled the primeval beauty of earth's morning hours. + + + + +SOEKABOEMI AND SINDANGLAYA. + + +Soekaboemi (Desire of the World), a favourite sanatorioum of the Dutch, +is approached by an exquisite railway, curving round the purple heights +of forest-girt Salak. The usual afternoon deluge weeps itself away, +palm plumes and cassava boughs, overhanging the silvery Tjiligong, drop +showers of diamonds into the current, and giant bamboos creak in the +spicy wind, redolent of gardenia and clove. The hills, scaled by green +rice-terraces, each with tiny rill and miniature cascade, are vocal +with murmuring waters. Lilac plumbago, red hybiscus, and golden +allemanda mingle with pink and purple lantana, yellow daisies, and +hedges of scarlet tassels, enclosing wicker huts in patches of banana +and cocoanut. Brown girls, in blue and orange _sarongs_, occupy the +steps of a basket-work shrine, from whence an unknown god, smeared with +ochre, extends a sceptred hand, for Hinduism left deep traces on +inland Java, dim with the dust of vanished creeds. The expense and +trouble of former travel by the superb post-roads, made at terrible +sacrifice of life in earlier days, is now done away with, though the +noble avenues and picturesque shelters, erected for protection from sun +or rain, suggest a pleasant mode of leisurely progress. No trains may +run at night, not only on account of native incompetence, but from +dangers caused by constant geographical changes on this volcanic soil, +where rivers suddenly alter their course, and earthquakes obstruct the +way with yawning chasms or heaps of debris. A paternal Government +provides the traveller with a half-way house, erecting a large hotel at +Maos, with uniform rates, entirely for the benefit of the passenger by +rail. Trains are built on the American plan, stations are spacious and +airy, refreshments easily secured, and every halting-place offers an +_embarras de richesses_ in the shape of tropical fruits, wherewith to +supplement or replace the solidity of the Dutch commissariat. Coffee +and tea plantations in ordered neatness, contrast with the untamed +profusion of forest vegetation, clothing sharp promontory and shelving +terrace. Dusky villages cling like birds' nests to ledges of rock, +screw-palms with airy roots frame mountain tarns, and a Brazilian +Emperor-palm, with smooth column bulging into a pear-shaped base, +accentuates the sunset glory from a crag crowned by the black canopy +of colossal fronds. The Preanger Regency was the heart of ancient +Mataram, that historic kingdom of old-world Java round which perpetual +warfare waged for centuries. + +Language and customs change as we cross the saddle between the blue +peaks of Salak and Gedeh; gay crowds bring fruits to picturesque +wayside markets, bearing bamboo poles laden with golden papaya and +purple mangosteen, or plaited baskets containing the conglomerate +native cuisine. The elastic and gracefully-modelled figures of the +Soendanese populace betoken a purer race than that of the steamy +Batavian lowlands, where foreign elements deteriorate the native stock. +The Hotel Victoria at Soekaboemi consists of detached white buildings +round tree-filled courts, erected on the "pavilion system." Every two +visitors occupy a tiny bungalow of two bedrooms, opening on a spacious +verandah divided by a screen, and each section provided with lamp, +rocking-chair, and tea-table, the long public dining hall being +approached by a covered alley. The rain, swishing down through the +night in torrents and cataracts, clears at sunrise, and though heavy +clouds still veil the heights of Salak, the transparent beauty of the +morning crystallises the atmosphere, and sharply defines every feature +of the landscape. The country roads, shaded by towering palms and +fruit-laden mangos, glow with a continuous procession of brown +figures, the women clad in the universal _sarong_, but men and children +often in Nature's garb, with touches of orange or crimson in scarf and +turban. Water-oxen and buffaloes, goats and sheep, vary the throng, but +cattle fare badly in fertile Java, where the all-pervading rice ousts +the pasture-land. Glorious bamboos form arches of feathery green +meeting across the road, and the busy China _campong_, or _désar_ in +Preanger parlance, is full of life and movement with the first streak +of day, for all trade in Java depends upon the indefatigable industry +of the Celestial. The idle gambling Malay, though an expert hunter and +fisher, takes no thought for the morrow, and is protected by the Dutch +Government from ruin by an enforced demand of rice for storage, +according to the numbers of the family. Every village contains the +great Store Barn of plaited palm leaves, so that, in case of need, the +confiscated rice can be doled out to the improvident native, who thus +contributes to the support of his family in times of scarcity. This +regulation relieves want without pauperising, the common garner merely +serving as a compulsory savings bank. Many salutary laws benefit the +Malay, possessing a notable share of tropical slackness, and the lack +of initiative partly due to a servile past under the sway of tyrannical +native princes. The little brown people of Java, eminently gentle and +tractable, are honest enough for vendors of eatables to place a laden +basket at the roadside for the refreshment of the traveller, who drops +a small coin into a bamboo tube fastened to a tree for this purpose. +The customary payment is never omitted, and at evening the owner of the +basket collects the money, and brings a fresh supply of food for future +wayfarers. Country districts demonstrate the fact of Java being a +creedless land. This is Sunday, and the Feast of the Epiphany, but the +only honour paid to the day consists in a gayer garb, and a band +playing for an hour in the palm-shaded garden. Work goes on in +rice-field and plantation, but no church bell rings from the closed +chapel outside the gates, and no sign of religion is evident, whether +from mosque, temple, or church. Lovely lanes form alluring vistas. The +pretty _désas_ of plaited palm and bamboo, hiding in depths of tropical +woodland, with blue thunbergia clambering over every verandah, and the +Preanger girls, with their brilliant _slandangs_ of orange and scarlet, +amber and purple, make vivid points of colour in the foreground of blue +mountain and dusky forest. A copper-coloured boy carries on his head a +basket of gold-fish large as salmon, the westering sun glittering on +the ruddy scales. + +Traditional servility remains ingrained in Preanger character, and the +crouching obeisance known as the _dodok_, formerly insisted upon, is +still observed by the native to his European masters, the humble +posture giving place to kneeling on a nearer approach. The kind +proprietor of the Soekaboemi Hotel offers every facility to those +guests anxious to penetrate below the surface of Soendanese life, +placing his carriage and himself at the disposal of the visitor, and +affording a mine of information otherwise unattainable, for books on +Java are few and far between, and the work of Sir Stamford Raffles +continues the best authority on island life and customs, though a +century has elapsed since it was written. Why, one asks in amazement, +did England part with this Eastern Paradise? rich not only in +vegetation, but containing unexplored treasures of precious metal and +the vast mineral wealth peculiar to volcanic regions, where valuable +chemical products are precipitated by the subterranean forces of +Nature's mysterious laboratory. In the far-off days when "the grand +tour" of Europe was the climax of the ordinary traveller's ambition, +beautiful Java was relinquished on the plea of being an unknown and +useless possession, too far from the beaten track of British sailing +ships to be of practical value. The remonstrances of Sir Stamford +Raffles, and his representations of future colonial expansion, were +regarded as the dreams of a romantic enthusiast, and the noble English +Governor, in advance of his age, while effecting during his brief +tenure of office results unattainable by a century of ordinary labour, +found his efforts wasted and his work undone. Instead of returning +home, he applied himself heroically to the developement of Singapore, +the eternal monument of patriotic devotion and invincible courage. + +The line to Tjandjoer, the starting point for Sindanglaya, traverses +one of the exquisite plains characteristic of Java. Mountain walls, +with palm-fringed base and violet crest, bound a fertile expanse, where +myriad brooks foam through fairy arches of feathery bamboo and long +vistas of spreading palm fronds. Rice in every stage of growth, from +flaming green to softest yellow, covers countless terraces, the +picturesque outlines of their varied contours enhancing the beauty of +the fantastic scene. A _sado_, with a team of three tiny ponies, dashes +up the long avenue leading to the palm-fringed hills, the mighty +Amherstia trees forming aisles of dark green foliage, brightened with +the vivid glow of orange red blossoms. The broad road is a kaleidoscope +of brilliant colour, for native costume vies with the dazzling tints of +tropical Nature as we advance further into the Preangers. The gay +headgear, worn turbanwise, with two ends standing upright above plaited +folds, and magenta _kabajas_, with _slandangs_ of apple green, amber or +purple, make a blaze of colour against the forest background, or glow +amidst the dusky shadows of palm-thatched sheds, where thirsty +travellers imbibe pink and yellow syrups, the favourite beverages of +the Malay race. The ascending road commands superb views of the +mountain chain, and the rambling two-storied hotel, widened by immense +verandahs, stands opposite cloud-crowned Gedeh, half-veiled by the +spreading column of volcanic smoke. The misty blue of further hills +leads the eye to the three weird peaks of the Tangkoeban Prahoe, the +boat-shaped "Ark" regarded as the Ararat of Java, for the universal +tradition of the great Deluge underlies the religious history welded +from Moslem, Buddhist, and Hindu elements. Legendary lore clusters +round the petrified "Ark" in which the progenitors of the Malayan stock +escaped from the Noachian flood. The storm-tossed and water-logged +boat, lodged between jutting rocks, was reversed that it might dry in +the sun, but the weary voyagers who traditionally peopled the Malay +Archipelago remained in the lotus-eating land, and the disused "Ark" or +_Prau_, fossilizing through the ages, became a portion of the peaks +whereon it rested. The sacred mountain developed into a place of +pilgrimage and prayer, and the ruins of richly-carved temples, together +with four broken flights of a thousand steps, denote the former +importance ascribed to the great Altar of Nature, and the power of +religion on the social life of the past. Generations of later +inhabitants, dwelling in flimsy huts of bamboo and thatch, regarded the +mysterious ruins of the Tankahan Prahoe as the work of giants or +demons, and the haunted hill as a mysterious resort of evil spirits. +In lofty Sindanglaya, the swaying palms of the lowlands yield to +glorious tree-ferns, shading road and ravine with feathery canopies of +velvet green. A lake of azure crystal mirrors a thick fringe of the +great fronds, and on every parapet of the ruddy cliffs the living +emerald of the lanceolated foliage glows in vivid contrast with the +splintered crags. Sindanglaya is the refuge of fever-stricken Europeans +from malarial coast or inland swamp, but the hotel is now empty of +invalids. The kind proprietor lavishes time and care on English guests, +and the attentive Malay "room-boys," squatting on the verandah outside +our doors, fear to lose sight of their charges for a moment, lest some +need of native help should arise. They watch hand and eye like faithful +dogs, for their language is unintelligible to us as ours to them, and +the only attempt at speech is "_Chow-chow, mister!_" when the +dinner-bell rings, the mystic words accompanied by a realistic +pantomime of mouth and fingers. + +The following morning dawns like an ideal day of June, and we start in +chairs, carried by four coolies, for the beautiful Falls of Tjibereum. +A mountain road winds through rice-fields and tree-ferns towards fold +upon fold of lilac peaks, until we reach the mountain garden of +Tjibodas, the beautiful supplement of incomparable Buitenzorg. A +strange sense of remoteness belongs to this lonely pleasaunce of the +upper world, on a sheltered slope of ever-burning Gedeh, quiescent now +save for the blue curl of sulphurous smoke, which gives perpetual +warning of those smouldering forces ever ready to devastate the +surrounding country. Subterranean activity increases during the rainy +season, and tremors of earthquake occasionally startle the equanimity +of those unused to the perils of existence on this thin crust of Mother +Earth, for Java's teeming soil and population rest upon an ominous +fissure of the globe's surface, and twelve of the forty-five volcanos +on this island of terror and beauty are still moderately active, +sometimes displaying sudden outbursts of energy. The green lawns and +towering camphor trees of Tjibodas suggest the spellbound beauty of +some enchanted spot, unprofaned by human foot. A glassy lake mirrors +the tall bamboos and feathery tamarinds, their slender and sensitive +foliage motionless in the still air of the dewy dawn. Huge coleas +accentuate the spring verdure with heavy masses of bronze and crimson, +and magnolias exhale intoxicating odours from snowy chalices. Blue +lilies and flaxen pampas grass grow in thickets upon the emerald +slopes, and the ordered loveliness of the mountain Paradise, walled in +by dense jungle and savage precipice, brings the glamour of dreamland +into the stern environment of mysterious forest and frowning peak. A +rudely-paved and mossy path, shadowed by the black foliage of stately +casuarinas, leads into the gloomy jungle. The forest monarchs are +curtained with tangled creepers and roped together with serpent-like +lianas, stag-horn ferns, and green veils of filmy moss fluttering from +every bough. A swampy path through rank grass and rough boulders +pierces the dense thickets, matted together with inextricable +confusion, teak and tamarind, acacia and bread-fruit, palm and +tree-fern losing their own characteristics and merging themselves into +concrete form. The appalling stillness and solemnity of the dense +jungle appears emphasised by a solitary brown figure, with pipe and +betel-box, beneath a thatched shed at an angle of the narrow track, +where he presides over a little stall of cocoanuts, bananas, and +coloured syrups, for the refreshment of coolies on their way from the +Tjibodas garden to villages across the heights of Gedeh. No voice ever +seems raised in these remote recesses of the mountains, where even the +children of each brown hamlet play silently as figures in a dream. Our +bearers, swishing through wet grass and splashing across brimming +brooks, push with renewed energies up a steep ascent to the heart of +the wild solitude, where three mighty waterfalls dash in savage +grandeur from a range of over hanging cliffs into a churning river, +descending by continuous rapids over a stairway of brown-striped +trap-rock and swirling between lichen-clad banks, to lose itself in the +green gloom of the impenetrable woods. One of these huge cascades +would make the fortune of a Swiss valley, and we need no further +efforts of our willing bearers in the cause of sight-seeing, but as +neither words nor gestures prove intelligible to Western obtuseness, a +brown coolie seizes each arm, and rushes us up a grassy hill to a huge +cavern, hung with myriad bats, and containing a pool of crystal water. +The simple minds of these kindly mountaineers shirk no trouble for the +benefit of the stranger, who, though regarded as a madman, must be +humoured as such, not only to the top of his bent, but often beyond it. +A descent through rice-fields and _désas_ skirts the serrated cliffs of +Gedeh's northward side, though tree-ferns growing in thousands afford +shelter from the daily showers. The sudden passion of tropical rain +dies away, leaving an atmosphere of unearthly transparency. Gedeh, +carved in amethyst, leans against a primrose sky, streaked by the puff +of white smoke from the crater. Villagers returning from work brighten +the road with patches of scarlet and yellow; children, clad only in +necklaces of red seeds and silver bangles, running about amid groups of +women in painted _battek_, with brown babies carried in the orange or +crimson folds of the _slandang_, pause before the doorways of woven +basket-work huts, or carry crates of yellow bananas and strings of +purple mangosteens, to supplement the "evening rice" of their frugal +meal. The Malay races have been called "the flower of the East," noted +for their soft voices and courteous manners in the days of old, but +European intercourse obliterates native characteristics, and the +inhabitant of the sea-coast, or of the larger towns, unpleasantly +imitates the brusquerie of his Dutch masters, and even exaggerates it. +The Soendanese of the Preanger hills, less in contact with the external +world, retains traces of life's ancient simplicity, and though a keen +intelligence forms no part of his mental equipment, his desire to +please and satisfy his employer is of pathetic intensity. + +The Governor-General of Java, whose stipend is of double the amount +received by the American President, owns a country palace at +Sindanglaya, in addition to the splendid official residences at Batavia +and Buitenzorg. A lovely walk leads from this flower-girt mansion to a +pavilion on the Kasoer hill, commanding a prospect of four mountain +ranges, outlined in tender hues of lavender and turquoise against the +cobalt sky. In the foreground stretches a fertile plain, with bamboo +and sugar-cane varying the eternal rice in brilliant shades of green +and gold, always decorative, from the first emerald blade to the +amber-tinted straw, for the sacred grain possesses a beauty far +exceeding that of wheat, barley, or rye. + +Undulating lines and ascending terraces break the uniformity of the +lovely plains with the fascination of weird contour and fanciful +design, intricate as the pattern traced on the native _sarong_. The +rice-culture of these fields and valleys is a perfect survival of the +primeval system, unchanged since the days when "the gift of the gods" +was first bestowed on primitive man in this land of plenty. The +peasant, toiling in the flooded _sawas_, and occupied from seedtime to +harvest in the arduous labour demanded by the rice-field, combines with +his agricultural work the idea of a sacred duty to the divinities who +gave him the staple commodity whereon his life mainly depends. Cocoanut +and sugar-cane, maize and tapioca, banana and cassava, supplement the +rice, but it ranks above all other products of the teeming soil, for +sacramental efficacy and supernatural origin have hallowed the "grain +of heaven" from the very dawn of history, and the hereditary belief in +the efficacy of the sacred crop still remains mystically rooted in the +sub-consciousness of the Malay race. + + + + +GAROET AND HER VOLCANO. + + +The occasional drawback of weeping skies is counterbalanced by the +gorgeous vegetation only seen to perfection in the rainy season, and +that clouds should sometimes veil the burning blue to mitigate +Equatorial sunshine proves a source of satisfaction to those who fail +to appreciate the Rip Van Winkle life of womankind in Java. The journey +to Garoet supplies a succession of vivid pictures, illustrating the +individuality of the insular scenery. The weird outlines of volcanic +ranges, shading from palest azure to deepest plum-colour, the dreamlike +beauty of Elysian plains, and the stately palm-forests extending league +upon league, with mighty vans clashing in the mountain breeze, assume +magical charm as we penetrate into the heart of the alluring land. Two +pyramidal peaks, Haroeman and Kaleidon, rise sheer from the fair plain +of Lelés in colossal stairways of green rice-terraces. Knots of palm +shelter innumerable villages which dot the mountain flanks, the woven +huts fragile as houses of cards, but built up on identical sites +through countless ages, recorded in perennial characters of living +green on these twin trophies of primitive agriculture. Many travellers +have commented on the strange undertone of music, echoing from a +thousand silvery rills and tiny cascades, which follow the verdant +lines of terrace or parapet, and make the shimmering air vocal with +melody, like the distant song of surf on a coral reef. Variety of form +belongs to all Javanese agriculture as the result of handicraft, for +the peasant unconsciously puts his own personality into his toil. The +exquisite tints of the rice in different stages of growth display a +translucence indescribable except in terms of light and fire. The amber +gleam of young shoots, the green flames of the springing crop, the +pulsating emerald of later growth, and the golden sheen of ripened +ears, invest the "gift of the gods" with unearthly radiance. The +Eastern mind has ever responded to Nature's touch, for the great Mother +whispers her closest secrets to simple hearts, and science now realises +that civilisation has broken many of the subtle links which in earlier +days were mystic bonds of union between man and the universe. + +Malay idiosyncracy evidences the survival of many primal influences +forgotten or denied by races of higher type and deeper culture. Very +little is known concerning the Malayan people who mingled with almost +every Oriental stock. Amphibious tastes suggest picturesque traditions +of prolonged voyaging in search of fresh fishing grounds to supply the +needs of a rapidly multiplying population. A strong Malay element +exists even in far-off Japan, and the wide ramifications of the nomadic +stock can be traced to broad rivers encountered on the southward +journey, and luring stragglers from the main body by the mysterious +glamour of winding water-ways piercing the tangled forests, and +pointing to unknown realms of hope or promise. The Malay retains many +of the hereditary gifts bestowed on the untaught children of Nature, +and, in spreading his language and customs far over the vast Pacific, +adopted few extraneous ideas from the world through which he wandered. +His primeval instincts still sway his life under other conditions. +Marvellous skill in hunting, fishing, boat-building, and navigation in +tornado-swept waters, remains to him. The deft weaving of palm-leaf hut +and wall of defence creates a village or destroys it at lightning +speed. Even now his basket-work home is never built on dry land, if +water can be found wherein to plant the supporting poles of the fragile +dwellings, suggesting the impermanence of a nomadic race. The Malay +never travels on foot to any place which can possibly be reached by +water, his native element; winds and tides have imbued him with +something of their own unstable and changing character, and the sea +which nurtured him is still the supreme factor in his life. Feet vie +with fingers in marvellous capacity, and to see a native cocoanut +gatherer run up the polished stem of a swaying palm, with greater ease +and swiftness than anyone shows in mounting a ladder, transports +thought to the distant past, when the ancestral stock, disembarking +from the rude canoes at nightfall, sought an evening meal on the edge +of the palm-forest, bowed beneath the weight of green and yellow nuts a +hundred feet overhead. What wonder if in lands of perpetual summer the +syren song of some "long bright river" should lure the storm-tossed +mariners from the perilous seas to the comparative security of inland +life! The stern environment of Northern poverty stands out in terrible +contrast with the teeming prodigality of tropical Nature, offering all +the richest fruits of earth in full measure to these early wanderers +across the Southern seas. + +The mountain railway, curving round ridge or precipice and spanning +sombre gorge with bridge and aqueduct, affords superb views of the +unrivalled plains. Waterfalls foam over granite cliffs; a sinuous river +flings a silver chain round the symmetrical base of Kaleidon, and from +our lofty vantage point we gaze into the luminous green of a million +palms, where the warm heart of a deep forest opens to display the +lustre and colour of molten emeralds. The Soendanese quarter of the +island gives place to the ancient Javanese territory, and Malay +characteristics, though underlying and mingling with every insular +stock, are here modified by a strain of Hindu ancestry, which gives +refinement of feature and grace of carriage. Well-modelled figures and +delicate hands and feet are attributed to the liberal admixture of +royal and noble blood with that of the peasantry, for the ancient +Rulers of Java respected no rights but their own, and the domestic +arrangements of King Solomon prevailed in a kingdom of tyrants and +slaves. Hindu thraldom was intensified under Arab priests, who, +following in the train of piratical Moormen, claimed the sovereignty of +Java under their protection. The gold-embroidered jacket of civil or +military rank, with the _kris_ thrust into a brilliant sash, here +supplements the universal _sarong_, itself of bolder design and glowing +colour in this old-world realm of Mataram, the centre of Java's +historic interest. The crooked blade of the _kris_ is still used in +divination, light and shadow playing over the wavy steel, ever +suggesting cabalistic signs inscribed by an invisible hand on the azure +surface. The _kris_ is popularly endowed with healing efficacy, and the +availing touch of the sacred talisman is an article of Javanese faith. +A hundred varieties of the weapon are found in the Malay Archipelago, +from the gold-hilted and diamond-studded royal _kris_ to the +boat-handled dagger of common use, permitted to all but peasants; +women of the higher class wear it in the girdle, and though +unrepresented in the sculpture of Javanese temples, the _kris_ is +ascribed to the days of Panji, a Hindu warrior whose feats form the +libretto of a popular drama, though his authenticity appears uncertain. +The changes in local costume and character, as seen in wayside +villages, enliven the journey until we reach the mountain gateway of +Tjadas Pangeran, "the Royal Stone," flanked by flashing waterfalls, and +forming the entrance to the region supreme in natural scenery, archaic +art, and literary interest. The black cone of Goentoer, "the thunder +peak," accentuates the red blaze of the declining sun on the intricate +rice-mosaic of green and gold in the divinely beautiful plain revealed +through the rocky cleft. Amid the many glories of Javanese landscape, +the poetic glamour of these palm-girt levels lingers longest in the +memory, for the world-famed picture known as "The Plains of Heaven" +might have been inspired by the haunting loveliness of these rolling +uplands. Our railway carriage contains a native Regent, his principal +wife, and a pretty daughter. Javanese princes are made ostensible +rulers of native districts, but associated with Dutch Residents as +"Elder Brothers," who may be more accurately termed compulsory +advisers. Without a measure of despotic authority exercised by the +fraternal partner, the spendthrift Malay would cause perpetual +hindrance to insular development and commercial prosperity. The old +Regent, with embroidered military jacket glittering above his +elaborately-patterned _sarong_, looks a grim and forbidding figure, and +evidently regards his womenkind as beneath notice. His head is tied up +in a black kerchief, and a brilliant Order conferred by the Queen of +Holland adorns his breast. Madame, in magenta shawl and purple gown, +travesties European costume. Diamonds blaze incongruously on arms and +neck, a scarlet flower in oily black braids completing her startling +attire. The girl, in yellow _sarong_ and pink cotton jacket glorified +with rubies and pearls, shows her high breeding in slender wrists, +delicate hands, and bare feet of exquisite modelling, a red stain of +henna drawing attention to their statuesque contour. She staggers +beneath a load of impedimenta belonging to her princely father: bags, +bundles, and a heavy cloak. Javanese parents of exalted rank treat +their daughters with disdain, the approved discipline of family life +consisting in stamping an impression of abject insignificance deeply on +the plastic mind of girlhood. Fertile plain and wooded slopes are alike +destitute of domestic animals. The sheep was unknown to native races in +this pastureless land, and, though introduced by the earliest +colonists, is still spoken of as "the Dutch goat," no other term +existing for it in Malay parlance. Monkeys chatter and rustle in +forest trees, gorgeous birds flit past on jewelled wings, and frogs in +this rainy season make a deep booming like the tuning of numerous +violoncellos. At length the little town of Garoet appears in a green +valley, encircled by a diadem of peaks which suggest a tropical +Engadine. Volcanic mountains replace Alpine crests, but the white +battlements of Papandayang's smoking crater give the effect of distant +snow, and the dark pines of the Swiss valley are merely translated into +the lustrous green of crowding palms. Brawling river, rustic bridge, +and brown hamlets foster the strange illusion, and if it be true that +somewhere in the wide world every face finds a counterpart, natural +scenery may be subject to an identical law, and various ice-bound +landscapes be mirrored under Southern skies in pictures wreathed with +palm-fronds and tropic flowers. The Hotel Rupert, garlanded with +creepers, the open lattices trellised with ivy and roses, shows a more +poetic aspect than any hostelry of the distant Engadine. Our hostess is +the widow of a German physician, and her fair young daughter, alert and +capable as the typical _Hausfrau_ of her native land, has established a +reputation for supplying the guests with the home comforts and restful +atmosphere which make the Hotel Rupert an ideal abiding-place in +stagnant Java, where as a rule the sole luxuries are out-of-doors, and +of Nature's providing. That the Dutchman flourishes on his diet of +tinned meat, his appalling rice-table, and the extraordinary sequence +of dishes which probably belonged to the early days of colonisation, +either proves herculean strength or the triumph of mind over matter, +but to those of less heroic mould the unwonted amenities of a more +familiar civilisation are welcome as a green oasis in a sandy desert. A +cool and healthy mountain climate gives unwonted zest for the lovely +excursions of which Garoet is the centre. From the little lake Setoe +Bajendit, a covered raft plies to a cupola-crowned hill, facing a noble +panorama of volcanic peaks the Soendanese _désa_ of basket-work huts, +through which we pass, presents a curious spectacle, with the village +street lined on either side by rows of kneeling children, clad in Dame +Nature's brown suit alone; each little figure holding up a long-stemmed +flower--red hybiscus, creamy tuberose, or snowy gardenia--the imploring +faces raised in silent entreaty to the white strangers for the +infinitesimal coins which suffice to purchase a sheaf of blossom. +Changing lights and shadows sweep across the glancing emerald of the +rice-filled vale, darken the purple rifts of mountain gorges, or +intensify the luminous azure of soaring crests. Wayside fruit-stalls +make gay patches of colour among green piles of banana leaves, and thin +yellow strips of bamboo, the approved paper and string of the tropics, +in which every parcel is packed. Tall sugar-cane and plumy maize +surround each brown _désa_ beneath the knot of palms, and fields of +tapioca vary the prevailing rice-grounds with sharp-pointed leaves and +paler verdure. The entire tapioca crop of Java belongs to Huntley and +Palmer, for use in the manufacture of the biscuits which make a +valuable supplement to the Javanese commissariat, for unlimited rice +seldom commends itself to English tastes. Hot springs abound in this +volcanic soil, and in the "five waters" of Tjipanas, each of different +temperature, the native finds a panacea wherein he can indulge to his +heart's content, the healing springs rushing into stone tanks set in +sheds of bamboo. The principal excursion from Garoet is to the active +crater of the Papandayang, a long drive of twelve miles leading to the +foot of the volcano. From this point a chair carried by six coolies is +required for the steep road, formed by hundreds of moss-grown steps. +Plantations of coffee, cinchona, and tapioca girdle the lower slopes of +the mountain, hedges and thickets of red and purple coleas bordering +the primeval jungle of orchid-decked trees on the higher levels, the +moss-grown boughs wreathed with epiphytal plants, the trunks covered +with branching ferns, and the thick ropes of matted lianas strangling +the dense forest in their green embrace. Wild oleander mingles rosy +blossoms with bushes of living gold like tall growths of double +buttercups, and at length the cooler regions show the familiar ferns, +violets, and primroses of the temperate zone. The weird silence of the +jungle is emphasised by an occasional cry of a wild bird, flitting +among the tall tree tops, or the crash of a bough, dragged down by the +weight of some climbing rattan. A walk up a boulder-strewn slope +reaches the old crater, or Solfatara, almost surrounded by steep walls +of rock. Boiling and wheezing springs, fast-forming sulphur columns, +and clouds of choking steam, rise from the yellow and orange-powdered +earth. A deafening noise issues from the self-building architecture of +ruddy pillars, the bubbling of boiling mud, and the shrill spouting of +hot vapours from narrow orifices in the trembling crust of the +fire-charged earth. Golden sulphur-pools shower burning drops on every +side, and from the mysterious _kawa_ or crater, echoes of subterranean +thunder sound at intervals, from the traditional forge where native +legends assert that a chained giant is condemned to work eternally in +the service of the Evil One. + +At night the broad verandah of the Hotel Rupert is transformed into a +stage for a performance of the _topeng_ or national drama, chartered by +an American guest. The weird spectacle, accompanied by the _gamelon_ +music, transports us to the days of old-world Java, story and +performance being of ancient origin and religious signification. The +subjects of the _topeng_ are derived from the Panji group of dramatic +poems, the ancient costumes, the curious masks, and the office of the +_dalang_ or reciter, whose ventriloquial skill is required for the +entire wording of the _libretto_, comprise a valuable memento of bygone +days, otherwise entirely forgotten. The _wayang-wayang_ or "shadow +dance" of puppets, vies with the _topeng_ in popularity, but the latter +ranks as classic and lyrical drama. A graceful girl in pink, with +floating scarf, and gleaming _kris_ in her spangled sash, exhibits +wonderful skill in the supple play of wrist and fingers, through the +process known as devitalization, a form of drill which gives to the arm +a plastic power of detached movement, fascinating but uncanny. The +dusky garden is filled with a native crowd, moved alternately to tears +and laughter by exploits unintelligible to the European spectator, for +the story of every national hero is known to the poorest and most +ignorant of the people, from perpetual attendance on theatrical +performances. The _al fresco_ entertainments necessitated by the +climate provide exceptional opportunities of dramatic education in the +legends of Java's heroic age. The spacious verandahs gleaming with the +soft light of Chinese lanterns, and set in depths of shadow, the +scented gloom of the tropical night veiling the dusky lawns, crowded +with mysterious figures drawn by the weird music from every quarter, +the brilliant robes and grotesque masks of the actors, compose a +picture of archaic charm. Passers-by pause on their way to look, and +listen with unwearied interest to the oft-told tales, for the stories +of the world's childhood, like the fairy lore of our own early days, +deepen their significance to the untaught mind by perpetual repetition. +The Hindu cloudland which veils the Javanese past "was reached by a +ladder of realities," for the exploits of gods and mythical heroes were +afterwards attributed to native Rulers, until the medley of truth and +fiction, history and mythology, became an inextricable tangle. The +birds' beaks, and hooked noses of the masks in the _topeng_, and of the +puppets in the shadow-play, were made compulsory after the Arabic +conquest, in order to reconcile the national pastime with the creed of +Islam, which forbade the dramatic representation of the human form. The +reigning _Susunhan_ evaded the decree by distorting mask and puppet, +but although the outside world might no longer recognise the heroes of +the play, Javanese knowledge of national tradition easily pierced the +flimsy disguise, and credited their deified heroes with a new power of +metamorphosis. The fantastic play lasts so far into the night that the +prolonged _libretto_ is brought to a summary conclusion by the hostess, +since European nature can stand no more, though the rapt attention of +the Malay would continue till morning. The satiety of modern days has +never touched these simple minds, and an entire absence of that +critical element which disintegrates so many of life's simple joys, +ministers to the supreme satisfaction derived from the crude ideals of +native drama. Silently the brown spectators slip away like shadows from +the dim and dewy garden, for the simple and untaught Malay, though +eagerly welcoming the privileges permitted to him, never encroaches +upon them, and the conduct of these Eastern playgoers affords an +example of order and sobriety which shames many an audience of higher +education and social superiority in distant Europe. + + + + +DJOKJACARTA. + + +A long day's journey lies between Garoet and Djokjacarta, which popular +parlance abbreviates into Djokja. From the blue Preanger hills and +palm-shadowed upland plains, the railway descends by steep gradients to +the dense jungle and fever-laden swamp known as the Terra Ingrata. +Malarious mists steam from marsh and mere, pink and purple lantana, +yellow daisies, and the pallid blossoms of strangling creepers +emphasise the gloom of the matted foliage, forming an impenetrable +screen on either side of the narrow embankment across the dreary +morass. The railway through the hundred miles of this miasma-haunted +region was laid at immense sacrifice of human life, even the native +workmen being compelled to sleep in camps far away from the scene of +their daily toil. No white man could even direct the work, and the +ubiquitous Chinaman, proof against every ill that flesh is heir to in +Java, was deputed to superintend the solution of abstruse professional +problems, between the short and hasty visits of Dutch and English +engineers. Quagmire and quicksand, stagnant pool and sluggish stream, +succeed in weary iteration. Bleached skeletons of dead trees writhe in +weird contortions against the dark background of jungle, as though some +wizard's curse had blighted life and growth amid the rank vegetation +rising from this dismal Slough of Despond. The brooding melancholy of +atmosphere and scenery penetrates mind and soul, oppressed by an +intangible weight, and escape from the Dantesque horrors of this _selva +oscura_ is accompanied by a sudden relief and buoyancy of spirit which +perceptibly heightens the interest of the old-world city, once isolated +by the woodland fastness of Nature, and belonging to an ageless past, +surrounding the authentic origin of Djokjacarta with thick clouds of +fable and myth. The modern name is derived from Arjudja, a city +recorded in Java's ancient annals as being established by Rama, the +incarnate Sun-God. Na-yud-ja, the first king of this Divinely-founded +capital, also memorialises in his name the place which became the +nucleus of the ancient Hindu empire. Temples and palaces, walls and +watch-towers, ruined by earthquake, buried in jungle, and blackened by +smoke of war, testify to the splendours of old Mataram. A bitter +resistance was offered by the invading hordes of Islam, whether pirates +or prophets, princes or soldiers, and the Hindu territory remained +independent until the fierce conflict in the 18th century with +usurping Mohammedans and Dutch colonists, when family influence was +undermined by political intrigues. The Dutch, after many vicissitudes, +became absolute rulers of Java, though native princes, as tributaries, +were suffered to retain a semblance of sovereignty. The shadowy +paraphernalia of vanished power is still accorded to the Sultan of +Djokjacarta, in melancholy travesty of past authority, though every +hereditary privilege has been wrested from his grasp. A curious relic +of primitive days remains in the _al fresco_ Throne of Judgment, a +block of stone beneath a rudely-tiled canopy, moss-grown and hoary. Two +ancient waringen-trees, their aerial roots, drooping branches, and +colossal main trunks denoting an almost fabulous age, flank the +historic seat, where the turbaned Ruler administered justice to the +surging crowd which thronged around him, the indigo garb of the +Soendanese contrasting with the gay _sarongs_ of Central Java, glowing +in the hot sunlight as it poured through the dark trellis of fluttering +boughs. The city in the course of ages moved away from this ancient +centre, and the rustic Throne is now remote from the heart of civic +life. The streets of Djokjacarta, and the surrounding roads, consist of +shady avenues, where open _tokos_ (the native shops) vary the monotony +of Dutch villas, their white colonnades and porticos gleaming against +the background of stately trees, and rising from a mass of tropical +vegetation. The prevailing indigo of Soendanese dress gives a dull +aspect to the wide but squalid streets, for in native capitals, though +Dutch cleanliness may enforce perpetual "tidying up," the lacking sense +of order produces a strange impermanence in the conditions insisted +upon. The inner court of the Sultan's Kraton, or Royal Enclosure, is +now taboo to visitors, for the barbaric monarch, on the plea of age and +infirmity, has obtained the privilege of privacy, and the Palace can +only be seen through a personal interview. The outer courts are +accessible to carriages, which make the square-mile circuit of the +spacious quadrangles. Massive gates and crumbling machicolated walls +command a green plain, where immense waringen-trees, clipped into the +semblance of evergreen umbrellas, display the Eastern symbol of +sovereignty. Officials passing to and fro show a continuous procession +of these State _pajongs_. The Sultan's august head is canopied with +gold, edged by an orange stripe, the Crown Prince sporting an umbrella +with a golden border. Sultanas and royal children are known by white +_pajongs_, while the vast concourse of Court officials, with umbrellas +of pink, blue, red, black, purple and green, show their status to the +initiated eye through the sequence of colour by which the _pajongs_ +form a complete system of heraldry. In the dusky angle of a mossy wall, +four elephants, used in State processions, feed upon bundles of bamboo +and sugar-cane. Mud huts and bamboo sheds prop themselves against tiled +eaves and windowless houses. Open doors afford glimpses of squalid +interiors, crowded with slatternly women and dirty children, the +hereditary retainers and hangers-on of this effete and moribund +royalty. Private troupes of dancing _bedayas_, _gamelon_ players, +actors, pipe, fan, and betel-box bearers, pertain to the tumbledown +Palace, and the patriarchal system of ancient Java permits the presence +of whole families belonging to these indispensable ministers of the +royal pleasure. The people show the same indifference to Mohammedanism +as to the perished faiths of olden time, and a large funeral party +encountered on leaving the Kraton displays painful irreverence, though +scattering rice and lighting incense sticks before a white coffin borne +shoulder-high, and decked with a tracery of yellow marigolds and +rosettes of pink paper. No priest accompanies the procession, and the +laughter of the white-scarved mourners, preceded by men carrying ropes +and planks, suggests an utter heartlessness and barbarity. Gay +_passers_, a busy _campong Tchina_, a very hive of Celestial industry, +and innumerable drives beneath over-arching trees, with distant views +of purple peaks, comprise the interests of old-world Djokja, with the +one exception of the famous Taman Sarie, or Water Castle, ruined by +earthquake, but remaining as a pathetic memorial of bygone power and +pride. Pavilions and baths, grottoes and fish-ponds, set in the tangled +verdure of a neglected garden, surround the arcaded parapets of a +colossal tower. Green plumes of fern wave from wall and battlement, +velvet moss and orange lichen tapestry the blackened stone, and matted +creepers sway their woven curtains in the evening wind. A Dancing Hall, +which formerly rang with the weird music accompanying the "woven paces +and waving hands" of Court _bedayas_, in their spangled pink robes, now +echoes to the tread of alien feet; the dim arcades teem with ghostly +memories, and the mournful desolation of the Taman Sarie borrows fresh +poignancy in the former scene of mirth and music. A moss-grown and +slippery stairway leads to the green twilight of a subterranean grotto, +containing the richly-carved stone bedstead of the Sultan, who sought +this cool retreat from the ardour of a tropical sun. A silvery curtain +of murmuring water fell before his sculptured couch, and supplied this +haunt of dreams with an ideal, if rheumatic environment of poetic +beauty and lulling charm. Superstition clings to the deserted +resting-place, and to touch even the stone columns of the royal couch +is to invoke the powers of evil, and the presence of Death. The _Sumoor +Gamelon_, or "Musical Spring," echoing with the voice of flowing +waters, flanks the ancient banqueting hall, and cools a circle of +vaulted grottoes, their shadowy depths bathed in the emerald twilight, +deepened by the veil of verdure and the transparent foliage drooping +over open window spaces. The Sultan's oval bathing tank, with stone +galleries and spiral pavilions, occupies a hollow tower, but a touch of +young life dispels the gloom, for a group of brown children swim and +dive in the cool depths, shouting and splashing with a merriment +unsubdued by the solemn sadness of the deserted halls. A Portuguese +architect designed this fantastic retreat for an old-time Sultan, who +brought the idea of the Water Castle from a far-off Indian home. The +earthquake of 1867 rendered the Taman Sarie uninhabitable, choked the +lake in which it stood, and destroyed the subaqueous tunnel which +ensured the absolute seclusion of Sultan and harem. The famous Marshal +Daendels, weary of waiting for an interview with a dilatory Sultan, +yielded to natural impatience, and hearing the sound of distant music +from the watery depths, dashed through the thicket of tamarinds which +concealed the entrance to the water pavilion, and, dragging the Sultan +from the place of dreams, scattered _bedayas_ and _gamelon_ players in +terror, forcing the so-called "Regent of the World" and "Shadow of the +Almighty" to accompany him to the Dutch headquarters. Rose garden and +shrubbery, palm grove and pleasaunce, are fast relapsing into +impenetrable jungle. Broken fountains, and mouldering vases once +filled with orange-trees, outline the balustraded terraces; gilt +pavilions lift their upcurved eaves above a wild growth of oleander, +but the enchanted scene of old romance is given up to bats and lizards, +for the crumbling Taman Sarie is now a fast-vanishing monument of +Java's buried past. + +The number of _rechas_, or sacred stone figures of Brahmin and Buddhist +origin, in the garden of the Dutch Residency, shows the scant care +bestowed on the ancient temples, for years used as mere quarries of +broken statuary, and still receiving inadequate recognition as +historical remains, though Sir Stamford Raffles a century ago realised +the supreme importance of Javanese sculpture as an indispensable link +in archæological science. Djokjacarta, interesting in itself as the +survival of an ancient dynasty, borrows double attraction from the +architectural wonders which surround it, buried for ages in the deep +green grave of tropical vegetation, but now laid bare as an open book, +wherein we may read those graven records which unveil the mysteries of +the past, and enable us to gaze down the long vista of Time and Change. + + + + +BORO-BOEDOER. + + +The archæological interest of Java culminates in the mysterious temple +known as Boro-Boedoer, "the aged thing," with an actual history lost in +mist and shadow, though recorded in imperishable characters on this +spellbound sanctuary of a departed faith. The little tramway from +Djokjacarta traverses fields of rice and sugar-cane, indigo and pepper; +a range of dreamlike mountains bounds the view, crowned by the +turquoise cone of Soemboeung, the traditional centre of Java, a green +knoll at the base of the volcanic pyramid being regarded as the "spike" +which fastens the floating isle to some solid rock in unfathomed depths +of ocean. The fitful fancy of a wandering race, ever drifting across +the changing seas, reflects itself in the legendary lore of the Malay +Archipelago, often represented by weird traditions as though in +perpetual motion. The vicissitudes of volcanic action, whereby islands +were sometimes submerged or created, gives a colouring of fact to the +vague ideas entertained by these nomads of the sea. Merbaboe, the +"ash-ejecting," and Merapi, the "fire-throwing," flank the loftier +crest, honeycombed with dim cave temples, now deserted and forgotten, +but formerly sanctifying those watch-towers of Nature which guard the +hoary shrine of Boro-Boedoer. At Matoelan we hear that the swift river +separating the great Temple from the secular world is in flood, the +bridge broken down, and the supplementary raft impossible through the +swirling current. This untoward event involves a further expedition to +Magelang, a sordid town of continuous markets, the Javanese population +being of pronounced Hindu type, silent and sad, according to the +idiosyncracy of their mysterious ancestors across the sea. The +conversational difficulties presented by the Dutch and Malay languages, +combined with the incapacity of our brown driver, eventually land us at +Mendoet, on the wrong side of the turbid stream--the Jordan which +divides the weary traveller from his Land of Promise. Evening draws on, +the clear sky flushes pink above the darkness of the palm-woods, and +hope sinks apace, for the surging flood shows no sign of abatement. +Suddenly the apathetic driver rouses himself from what proves a +profitable meditation, and, with folded hands, breathes the magic word +_pasteur_, whipping up his sorry steeds to fresh exertions. We draw up +at a white bungalow on the roadside, close to a rustic church, and find +a friend in an English-speaking Dutch priest, who, after giving us tea +on his verandah, suggests inspection of Mendoet's little moated +temple, on the edge of the forest. An ever-growing tangle of lianas and +vines buried this ancient shrine through the lapse of ages, until +accident revealed the entombed sanctuary about eighty years ago. A +processional terrace surrounds the walled pavement supporting the grey +edifice, and the sculptured bas-reliefs denote the transitional stage +of Buddhist faith, as it materialised through Jainism into the Puranic +mythology of Hindu creed. The central chapel contains the famous +picture in stone known as "The Tree of Knowledge," and represents the +Buddha beneath the sacred Bo-Tree of Gaya. A fluted _pajong_, propped +against the boughs, canopies his head, one hand being raised in +benediction over kneeling converts, offering rice and incense. +Listening angels hover overhead, birds peep out from nests among the +leaves, and kids lean with necks outstretched over fretted crags, +magnetised by the mystic attraction of the inspired Teacher. Long-eared +statues show Nepalese influence, even the Buddhist images being girt +with the sacred cord of Brahma. A controversy exists as to their +identification with the Hindu Trinity, but as Eastern cults frequently +bestow Divine attributes on mortals, the mysterious figures may +possibly represent the murdered wives of the Rajah who founded the +Mendoet temple in expiation of his crime. Another legend suggests the +petrification of a princely family, as a punishment for marrying +within the forbidden degrees, but myth grows apace in this haunted +land, and every century offers fresh variations of old-world stories, +until original form is lost beneath a weight of accretion, like the +thick moss blurring the chiselled outlines of some carven monument. +After careful scrutiny of the miniature temple which suggests so many +interpretations of symbolic imagery, we return to the little presbytery +to hear of the subsiding river, and the good priest, announcing that +the raft can now be safely negotiated, accompanies us to the tottering +structure, a straw matting laid over three crazy boats punted across +the turbulent stream. A half-hour's stroll beneath the arching boughs +of a kanari avenue, ends at a picturesque Rest House, facing the +temple-crowned hill. Surely we have reached the peace and silence of +Nirvana at last! and the exquisite beauty of the surrounding landscape, +mountain and forest, park-like valley and winding glen, transfigured in +the deepening gold of sunset, stamps an ineffaceable impression of +Boro-Boedoer in that mystic gallery of imagination and memory which +retains earth's fairest scenes as eternal possessions of mind and soul. +A shadowy garden, fragrant and dim, stretches up to the pyramidal pile +which covers the hill. A frangipanni grove scents the air, with +gold-starred blossoms gleaming whitely amid the silvery green of +lanceolated leaves, and a shaft of ruby light striking the stone +Buddhas which guard the portico, emphasises the inscrutable smile of +the tranquil faces. Like all stupendous monuments of Art or Nature, +Boro-Boedoer at first sight seems a disappointment, simply because the +mind fails to grasp the immensity of the noblest Temple ever dedicated +to the gentle Sage whose renunciation typified the greater Sacrifice +offered by the Saviour of the World. Who that reads the story of Sakya +Munyi can doubt that through the Prince who gave up kingdom, throne, +and earthly ties for the sake of downtrodden humanity, a prophetic +gleam of heavenly light pierced the darkness of the future, and pointed +to the distant Cross? Twenty-five centuries have rolled away since +Prince Siddartha closed his unique career, and twelve centuries later +the wondrous sanctuary of Boro-Boedoer was erected in honour of the +creed eternally dear to the heart of the mystic East. The eight stately +terraces which climb and encircle the sacred hill rise from a spacious +pavement of blackened stone, and the walled processional paths display +a superb series of sculptured reliefs, which would measure three miles +in length if placed side by side. The grey and black ruins, with their +rich incrustations of sacred and historic scenes, remain in such +splendid preservation that fancy easily reconstructs the bygone glory +of the golden age, when this mighty Altar of Faith witnessed the +glittering pageantry of Oriental devotion; when gaily-clad crowds +flocked to the morning sacrifice of flowers and music, while monarchs +brought their treasures from far-off lands to lay at the feet of the +mystic Sage, prophetically revealed as an incarnation of purity and +peace vouchsafed to a world of oppression and sorrow. Life-size +Buddhas, enthroned on the sacred lotus, rise above the crumbling altars +of five hundred arcaded shrines, and stone stairways ascend from every +side, beneath sharply-curved arches bordered with masks or gargoyles. +The last three terraces form sweeping circles, flanked by bell-shaped +_dagobas_ resembling gigantic lotus-buds. Each open lattice of hoary +stone reveals an enthroned Buddha, mysteriously enclosed in his +symbolical screen, for these triple terraces typify the higher circles +of Nirvana. Each dreamy face turns towards the supreme Shrine of the +glorious sanctuary, a domed _dagoba_ fifty feet high, and once +containing some authentic relic of the Buddha's sacred person. Certain +archæologists recognise in this spire-tipped cupola a survival of +Nature-worship, incorporated with the later Buddhism in a form derived +from the tree temples of primeval days, and built over a receptacle for +the cremated ashes of the Buddhist priesthood. A touch of mysticism +added by an unfinished statue in the gloom of the shadowy vault, +suggests the unknown beauty of the soul which attains Nirvana's +supremest height, for the supernal exaltation of purified humanity to +Divine union may not be interpreted or expressed by mortal hands, but +must for ever remain incommunicable and incomprehensible. From the +central _dagoba_, ascended by a winding stair, the intricate design of +the spacious sanctuary discloses itself with mathematical precision, +and the changing glories of dawn, sunset, and moonlight idealize the +sacred hill, rising amid the palm-groves and rice-fields of a matchless +valley, sweeping away in green undulations which break like emerald +waves against the deepening azure and amethyst of the mountain heights. +The solemn grandeur of Boro-Boedoer blinds the casual observer to many +details which manifest the ravages of time, the ruthlessness of war, +and the decay of a discarded creed. Headless and overthrown figures, +broken _tees_, mutilated carvings, and shattered chapels abound, but +the vast display of architectural features still intact conveys an +impression of permanence rather than of ruin. + +For six centuries, Boro-Boedoer was blotted from the memory of the +people, and the heavy pall of tropical verdure which veiled the vast +Temple remained unlifted. Superincumbent masses of trees, parasites, +and strangling creepers wove their intricate network of root, branch, +and stem round the monumental record of a dead faith and a buried +dynasty. The riotous luxuriance of tropical Nature triumphed over the +glories of Art, hewn with incalculable toil and skill in the living +rock. Seeds borne on the wind, or sown by wandering birds, filled +every interstice of the closely-matted verdure; stair and terrace, dome +and spire, sank out of sight into the forest depths, and when English +engineers arrived to excavate the monumental pile, the task of clearing +away the tangled masses of foliage occupied two hundred coolies during +six weeks of arduous toil. The brief English occupation of the island +necessarily left the work unfinished, but Dutch archæologists continued +the labour, though with slower methods and feebler grasp of the +situation. A transient cult sprang up among the Javanese populace as +the ancient sanctuary revealed itself anew. The statues were invoked +with reverential awe, incense was offered; the saffron, used as a +personal decoration on festive occasions, was smeared over the +impassive faces, unchanged in the eternal calm of a thousand years, and +fragrant flower petals were heaped on the myriad altars. Vigils were +kept on the summit, and the sick were laid at the feet of favourite +images. This spurious devotion, hereditary or instinctive, sprang up in +responsive hearts with simultaneous fervour, though the forgotten +doctrines of Buddhism were never reinstated. Sentiment survived dogma +in the subconscious soul, and the faint shadow cast by an immemorial +past indicates the depths plumbed by the early creed in the abyss of +Eastern personality. The vague simulacrum quickly faded, like a +flickering flame in the wind which fanned it into life; but simple +souls, as they pass Boro-Boedoer in the brief twilight, mutter +incantations, and brown hands grasp the silver amulets which ward off +the powers of evil, for the deserted temple is still regarded as the +haunt of unknown gods, who may perchance wreak vengeance on the world +which has forsaken them. + +The long scroll of ancient history, unrolled by the sculptured +terraces, represents the birth, growth, and development of Buddhist +faith. Queen Maya, jewelled and flower-crowned, with the miraculous +Babe on her knee, sits among her maidens, the earth breaking into +blossom at the advent of her star-born child. His education in the +mental and physical achievements imperative on Eastern royalty, when +the sword-pierced heart of the mother who typified the Virgin Queen of +Saints was translated to Nirvana's rest, is contrasted with the sudden +realisation of life's vanity when brought face to face with the world's +threefold burden of sorrow, sickness and death. The renunciation of +power, wealth and love follows, liberating the soul for the pilgrimage +along the mystic "path," pursued until "the dew-drop fell into the +shining sea" of Eternity. The manifold details of the Buddha's +traditional career are vividly pourtrayed on the hoary walls of +volcanic trachyte in outline clear and sharp, as though the sculptors +of the eighth century had just laid down burin and chisel. The indented +leaves of the Bo-Tree, beneath which the Sage meditates, are so +exquisitely carved that they almost seem to flutter in the breeze. The +scene of the deer-park wherein he judges beasts and men, carefully +weighing the tiniest birds in the balance of the sanctuary, suggests a +prophetic vision of the greater Saviour, Who declared that even the +humble sparrow is remembered by the Creator. Countless scriptural +truths throw their anticipatory shadows across the life of the Eastern +mystic who approached so closely to the Christian ideal of a later age, +for the Buddha's spiritual experiences became the inspiration of +unnumbered hearts, and exercised a purifying influence over every creed +of the philosophic East. The social life of ancient Java, comprising +public ceremonials, domestic occupations, architecture, agriculture, +navigation, drama and music, is memorialised by succeeding terraces of +the igneous rock which sufficed for the old-world sculptor as the +medium of his Art. An unknown King and Queen, the traditional founders +of Boro-Boedoer, appear in varied guise, throned and crowned, walking +in religious processions beneath State _pajongs_, kneeling before +Buddha with open caskets of treasure, and receiving the homage of the +people, accompanied by bearers of smoking censers and waving fans. +Armed warriors guard the jewelled thrones, and the popular attitude in +every scene of the royal progress evidences the semi-sacred character +awarded to Indian sovereignty. The eighth century A.D. was the meridian +of the Javanese Empire, and in the subsequent changes of nationality +the facial type of the past has altered beyond recognition, for in the +ancient civilisation depicted on these sculptured terraces, +archæologists assert that every physiognomy is either of Hindu or +Hellenic character. Ships of archaic form, with banks of rowers; +palm-thatched huts built on piles, in the unchanging fashion of the +Malay races; graceful _bedayas_, the Nautch girls of Java, performing +the old-world dances still in vogue; and women with _lotahs_ on their +heads, passing in single file to palm-fringed tanks, might be +represented with equal truth in this twentieth century. Seedtime and +harvest, ploughing and reaping, bullock-carts and water-buffaloes, +fruit-laden wagons and village _passers_, pass in turn before the +spectator in this wondrous gallery of native art. Richly-caparisoned +elephants suggest Indian accessories of royal life and State +ceremonial, an occasional touch of humour enlivening the solemn +pageantry. In one grotesque relief a _bedaya_ and an elephant stand +_vis-a-vis_, the ponderous monster imitating the steps of the slim +maiden in floating veil and embroidered robes, her slender limbs +contrasting with the outflung feet of her clumsy partner. Weird myths +of the great fishes which guided and propelled the coracle-like boats +of the first Buddhist missionaries to the shores of Java are +perpetuated in stone, and the forest, sloping down to the wave-beaten +coast, shows the rich vegetation which still clothes this island of +eternal summer. The _sumboya_ or flower of the dead, droops over +stately tombs; bamboo and palm, banana and bread-fruit, mingle their +varied foliage; mangosteen and pomegranate, mango and tamarind, acacia +and peepul, show themselves as indigenous growths of the fertile soil; +while palace and temple, carven stairway, and flower-girt pavilion, +suggest the wealth and prosperity of the ancient empire. The mighty +Temple of Boro-Boedoer, built up through successive ages, indicates the +gradual change from the simplicity of the early faith, at first +supplanting, and eventually becoming incorporated with, the Brahminism +which succeeded it in modified form, as though rising from the ashes of +the earlier Hindu creed which Buddhism virtually destroyed. In the +higher terrace, the last addition to this stupendous sanctuary, the +images of Buddha represent the ninth _Avatar_ or Incarnation of the god +Vishnu, though he still sits upon the lotus cushion and holds the +sacred flower in one hand. This inclusion of Sakya Munyi within the +Puranic Pantheon was a masterly feat of strategy accomplished by +reviving Brahminism, the heresy of the Jains supplying the link between +the rival creeds. All the sculptured figures, leaning forward in +veneration of the mystic statue in the central cupola, are invested +with the sacred thread of the Vishnavite Brahmin. The images of the +highest circular terrace are carved in four symbolical attitudes. The +"teaching" Buddha rests an open palm on one knee; in the posture of +"learning" his hands are outstretched to receive the gift of knowledge. +In "exposition," one hand is raised towards Heaven, and in the act of +"demonstration," thumbs and index fingers are joined. Ferguson points +out that within the grey lattice of each lotus-bell _dagoba_, the right +palm of the enthroned Buddha curves over the left hand. This restful +posture indicates the state of final comprehension, when the aspiring +soul, raised to the different spheres of Nirvana by steps of ascending +sanctity, receives increasing peace and satisfaction from gradual +absorption into the Infinite. No creed passes unaltered through any +crucible of national thought; Indian Buddhism borrowed both form and +colour from races which, in accepting the new faith, retained their own +individuality and modes of assimilation. They gave as well as received, +and the value of the gift depended on the character of the giver. + +No inscriptions exist on the stones of Boro-Boedoer. The sculptured +reliefs tell their own story, which admits of diverse interpretations. +The relics of the world-renowned Mystic were dispersed throughout Asia +in the sudden impulse of missionary enterprise three centuries after +his death, and every Buddhist temple received some infinitesimal +treasure. No record is found of the date when the precious relic, +probably a hair or an eyelash, was deposited in the great _dagoba_ of +Boro-Boedoer, but an Indian prince sailed with an imposing fleet to +found a Buddhist empire in Java at the opening of the 7th century A.D., +and a subsequent inscription discovered on the coast of Sumatra +commemorates the completion of a seven-storeyed _Vihara_, evidently the +colossal Temple of Boro-Boedoer, by the contemporary King of "Greater +Java," the ancient name of Sumatra. In the tenth century, a reigning +monarch sent his sons to India for religious education. They brought +back in their train artists, sculptors, monks, priests, and the +gorgeous paraphernalia then used in the ceremonial of Buddhist worship, +but the heart of the ancient faith was atrophied by the indifference of +the people, and the zealous attempt to galvanise a moribund creed into +fresh life failed even to arrest the progress of decay. National +thought, fickle as the wind, had turned from an impersonal philosophy +to the materialistic cult of Hindu deities, as the Israelites of old +hankered after the visible symbol of Isis and Osiris in the Golden +Calf. No definite creed succeeded in gaining a permanent hold upon the +wandering minds and shallow feelings of a race whose deepest instincts +reveal the fleeting fancies and inconstant ideas indigenous to a +sea-faring stock, imbued with the spirit of change and unrest. A +magical charm broods over the mysterious Temple, the materialised dream +of a mighty past rescued from the sylvan sepulchre of equatorial +vegetation, and restored to a vivid reality beside which the paintings +of Egyptian tombs sink into comparative insignificance. The seclusion +of the memory-haunted pile enhances the thrill of an unique experience. +Vista after vista opens into the world of long ago so graphically +depicted on the monumental tablets of the processional paths, while +type and symbol point also to the infinite future intensely realised by +Eastern mysticism. Mortal life was but a fleeting mirage besides this +vision of the life beyond. For the words "_Shadow_, _Unreality_, +_Illusion_," perpetually repeated by the yellow-robed monks on the +beads of the Buddhist Rosary were inscribed on the inmost heart of the +faithful disciple, who strove to attain that detachment from the world +of sense inculcated by the creed expressed on the hoary stones of +Boro-Boedoer. + + + + +BRAMBANAM. + + +The ruined temples of Brambanam memorialise that phase of Java's +religious history, when the altars of Buddha were finally deserted, and +Hinduism became the paramount creed of the fickle populace. An +archæological report sent to Sir Stamford Raffles a century ago, +describes the remains of Brambanam as "stupendous monuments of the +science and taste belonging to a long-forgotten age, crowded together +in the former centre of Hindu faith." A rough country road leads from +the little white railway station, perched on a desolate plain, to these +far-famed temples. A brown village, shaded by the dark foliage of +colossal kanari-trees, shows the usual fragility of structure in +basket-work walls and roofs of plaited palm-leaves, but the humble +dwellings, destroyed and rebuilt myriad times on the ancient site of +Java's Hindu capital, have supplemented native workmanship by a +multitude of carven stones, broken statues, and moss-grown reliefs, for +the ruins, theoretically guarded from the spoiler's hand, are still +inadequately protected, and the grey _recha_ have been used as seats, +landmarks, or stepping-stones over muddy lane and brimming +water-course. The conversion of Java to the materialistic creed for +which she forsook the subtleties of an impersonal Buddhism, though +shallow was complete, and the doctrine of impermanence, inculcated by +the discarded faith, continued an essential factor in spiritual +development, for the inconstancy of the national mind only found a +temporary halting-place in each successive creed which arrested it. The +seed was sown, the bud opened, and the flower faded, with incredible +rapidity, but the growth while it lasted, showed phenomenal luxuriance. +The erection of these Hindu sanctuaries signalised the zenith of +Javanese power; their fame travelled across the seas, and numerous +expeditions sailed for this early El Dorado of the Southern ocean. +Kublai Khan came with his Mongol fleet, but was repulsed with loss, and +branded as a felon. A second and stronger attempt from the same quarter +met with absolute defeat. Marco Polo, compelled to wait through the +rainy season in Sumatra for a favourable wind, came hither in the palmy +days of mediæval Portugal, but returned discomfited. Goths from the +Northern bounds of Thuringian pine forests followed in their turn, but +the power and prestige of Hindu Java remained invincible until +destroyed by the wayward fickleness of her own children. Brahminism +was finally discarded for the specious promises of Arabian invaders, +and the lightly-held faith succumbed to the creed of Islam. Mosques +were built, Hindu temples were forsaken, and Nature's veil of +vegetation was once more suffered to hide altar and statue, wall and +stairway, until every sculptured shrine became a mere green mound of +waving trees, strangling creepers, and plumy ferns. The memory of the +past was entirely obliterated from the hearts of the people, and every +year buried the relics of the former religion in a deeper grave. + +Siva the Destroyer, and also the Life-Giver, the Third Person of the +Hindu Trinity, together with Parvati and Brahma, were worshipped here +in their original character, and an exquisite statue of Lora Jonggran +(Parvati in her Javanese guise) remains enshrined in a richly-decorated +chapel, surrounded by dancing houris, inspired in their sacred measure +by the flute-playing of Krishna. A further instance of the mode already +mentioned by which sentiment survives dogma in the Malay races, is +shown by the fact that Lora Jonggran still receives the homage of +Javanese women. Flowers are laid at her feet, love affairs are confided +to her advocacy, and as the shadows deepen across the great quadrangle, +a weeping girl prostrates herself before the smiling goddess, and, +raising brown arms in earnest supplication, kisses the stone slab at +the feet of the beautiful statue, popularly endowed with some occult +virtue which the loosely-held Mohammedanism of a later day has failed +to discredit or deny. The temples of Brambanam were erected shortly +after the completion of that upper terrace in the great sanctuary of +Boro-Boedoer which marks the traditional epoch between Buddhism and the +later Hinduism, including Sakya Munyi among the _avatars_ of Vishnu. +The sacred trees and lions carved here on the walls of the temple +quadrangle, give place in the galleries to scenes from the great Hindu +epic of the Ramayan. The familiar form of Ganesh, the elephant-headed +God of Wisdom, looms from the shadows of a vaulted shrine; Nandi, the +sacred bull, stands beneath a carven canopy, and the great memorial of +a bygone faith contains the identical galaxy of gods found in the +Indian temples of the present day, for the thin veil of Javanese +thought is a transparency rather than a disguise, softening rather than +hiding the clear-cut outlines of the original idea. The "fatal beauty" +of the graceful waringen-tree has played an ominous part in the +destruction of the Brambanam temples, for the interlacing roots, like a +network of branching veins, make their devious way through crevice and +cranny, splitting and uplifting the strongest slab, wherein one tiny +crack suffices for the string-like fibres to gain foothold. Masks and +arabesques, fruit and flowers, fabulous monsters and sacred emblems, +encrust the grey balustrades and bas-reliefs of the noble stairways. +Roof and column teem with richest ornament, for Hindu art had reached +the climax of splendour when the great city, formerly surrounding the +monumental group of stately temples, attained to her utmost power and +fame. The Greek influences which prevailed in Northern Hindustan were +translated to Brambanam in their attributes of dignity and grace, for +the flowing robes and easy postures of the sculptured figures correct +and modify the grotesque and over-laden character of original Hindu +art. The great stone-paved court once contained an imposing group of +twenty pyramidal shrines, but only three remain in the original contour +of the so-called "pagoda style," peculiar to the Dravidian temples of +Southern India, from whence Java derived her special form of faith. The +ruins on the opposite side of the grey quadrangle are mere cone-shaped +piles of rubbish, dust, and broken stone, but the tapering pyramids, +with their graceful galleries and processional terraces, richly carved +and adorned with images, enable us to reconstruct in imagination the +stately beauty of the architectural panorama once displayed by the +temple courts. Scenes from the Ramayan and Mahabharata adorn the great +blocks of the boundary wall, sculptured in high relief. The Vedic +Powers of Nature, with Indra as the god of storm and hurricane, +manifest the recognition of that earlier belief which became submerged +in the vast system of Pantheistic mythology. The faith of further India +takes form and colour from the idiosyncracy of Java, and the goddess +Parvati, or Kali, worshipped under these different names according to +her attributes of glory or terror, becomes Lora Jonggran, the benignant +goddess of Java, popularly known as "the maiden of the beauteous form." +Four lofty stairways ascend to the hoary chapels within each sculptured +pyramid, every dusky vault containing the broken image of the tutelary +_Deva_. + +Only separated from Brambanam by a winding path and a green belt of +jungle, stands the great Buddhist temple of Chandi Sewon, and the +colossal figures flanking the entrance gate indicate a decadent phase +of the ancient creed which Boro-Boedoer illustrates in the purity of +earlier developement. Chandi Sewon, the "thousand temples," includes in +the number myriad unimportant shrines, ruined, overthrown, or covered +with a green network of interlacing creepers. The great architectural +pile, built at a uniform level, surrounds the central sanctuary with +five great enclosures. All the ancient faiths of the world contain +foreshadowings or reflections of Christian truth, and the cruciform +temple which forms the climax of this monumental erection shows the +mystic value attached to the sacred Sign so frequently encountered in +Buddhist shrines, and known as the _Shvastika_. The numerous chapels +of Chandi Sewon contained the galaxy of Tirthankas or Buddhist saints +which the materialism of the Jains added to the impersonal subtleties +of esoteric Buddhism. The blank emptiness and desertion of this vast +sanctuary produces an impression of unutterable desolation. The +weed-grown courts, the ruined altars, and the moss-blackened arches, +encumbered with indistinguishable heaps of shattered sculpture, lack +all the reposeful charm of Boro-Boedoer, still a sermon in stone which +he who runs may read. The degenerate creed memorialised by Chandi +Sewon, has failed to impress itself on the colossal pile which bears +melancholy witness to the evanescent character of the heretical +offshoot from the parent stem. Jungle and palm-forest in Central Java +contain innumerable vestiges of pyramidal temples, palaces, and +shrines; vaults hidden beneath the shrouding trees have yielded a rich +store of gold, silver, and bronze ornaments, household utensils, and +armour. For many years the peasants of the region between Samarang and +Boro-Boedoer paid their taxes in gold melted from the treasure trove +turned up by the plough, or dug from the precincts of some forgotten +sanctuary, buried beneath the rank vegetation of the teaming soil. The +discarded Hindu gods still haunt the forest depths, and the +superstitious native, as he threads the dark recesses of the solemn +woods, gazes with apprehensive eyes on the trident of Siva, or the +elephant's trunk of Ganesh emerging from the trailing wreaths and +matted tapestry of liana and creeper, veiling the blackened stone of +each decaying shrine. Nature has proved stronger than Art or Creed, in +the eternal growth beneath an equatorial sun, of the kingdom over which +she reigns in immortal life. Silently and insidiously she undermines +man's handiwork, and realisation of his futile conflict with her +invincible power enters with disastrous effect into the popular mind, +lacking that immutable force without which the spiritual temple of +faith rests on a foundation of shifting sand. Kawi literature, +popularised by translation, and familiar through the medium of national +drama, interprets Javanese creeds and traditions. This "utterance of +poetry" derived from Sanskrit, fell into disuse after the Mohammedan +conquest, though a few Arabic words became incorporated into the +two-fold language comprising _Krama_, the ceremonial speech, and +_Ngoko_, the speech of "thee and thou," or colloquial form of address. +The island of Bali, and the slopes of the Tengger range, retain a +modification of Hinduism, and Bali treasures a Kawi version of the +Ramayan and Mahabharata epics. Many inspiring thoughts and noble +sentiments, expressed in story and song, have become well-known maxims +identified with Javanese life. "Rob no man of due credit, for the sun, +by depriving the moon of her light, adds no lustre to his own." "As +the lotus floats in water, the heart rests in a pure body." "Ye cannot +take riches to the grave, but he who succoureth the poor in this world +shall find a better wealth hereafter." A _babad_ or rhythmical ballad +of semi-religious character belongs to every province, but though many +details of temple worship--Buddhist, Hindu, and Mohammedan--may be +gathered from the lengthy scroll, heroic and princely exploits, myths +and traditions, encumber the sacred text, which Eastern imagination +transforms into a fairy tale. Creeds lose their chiselled outline, and +crumble away in the disintegrating medium of Javanese thought, which +blends them into each other with changing colour and borrowed light. +The inconstant soul of the Malay knows nothing of that rigid adherence +to some centralising truth which often forms the heart of a living +faith, and his religious history is an age-long record of failure, +change, desertion, and oblivion, repeated in varying cadences, and +inscribed in unmistakeable characters on the ruined sanctuaries of old +Mataram. + + + + +SOURAKARTA. + + +The imperial city of Sourakarta, commonly abbreviated into "Solo," was +the hereditary capital of the Mohammedan emperors, now mere +puppet-princes held in the iron grasp of Holland. The present Susunhan, +descended from both Hindu and Arab ancestry, maintains a brilliant +simulacrum of royal state, and his huge Kraton, far surpassing that of +Djokjacarta, contains 10,000 inhabitants. The pronounced Hindu type, +though debased and degraded, remains noticeable even amid the +all-pervading environment of squalor and disorder, which dims the +gorgeous colour and brilliant ceremonial, producing the effect of +jewels flung in the dust. A dense throng of brown humanity, clad and +unclad, walks to and fro beneath the dusky avenues of feathery +tamarinds which shield Solo from the ardour of the tropical sun. Old +crones, with unkempt locks streaming over brown and bony necks, pass +by, their wide mouths distorted and discoloured with sucking the +scarlet lumps of _Sarya_, from which the native derives unfailing +consolation, even the Javanese girl showing absolute disregard of the +disfigurement produced by this favourite stimulant. Deep moats, +lichen-stained walls, and hoary forts, invest Solo with a feudal +aspect, and the grim tower of Vostenberg menaces the Kraton with +bristling cannon, reminding the hereditary Ruler of his subserviency to +modern Holland, for only a melancholy illusion of past glory remains to +him. The dragon-carved eaves of the Chinese quarter, the open _tokos_ +beneath waringen boughs, the shadowy _passer_ brightened by mounds of +richly-coloured fruits, and the stuccoed palaces of Court dignitaries, +framed in dark foliage, give character and interest to the city, where +the life of the past lingers in a series of street pictures remaining +from bygone days of pomp and show. Ministers of State walk beneath +many-coloured official umbrellas, held by obsequious attendants; +graceful _bedayas_, in glittering robes, execute intricate dances, and +_gamelon_ players discourse weird music on pipe and drum. Court +ballet-girls, known as _Serimpi_, are borne swiftly through the crowd +in gilded litters, and masked actors give _al fresco_ performances of +the historic _Wayang-wayang_, represented by living persons, for the +actual "shadow-play" is impossible in broad daylight. The colour of the +mask indicates the character assumed by the actor. The golden mask +signifies Divinity, heroes wear white, and evil spirits black or red. +Here, as elsewhere, the profile of the grotesque disguise invariably +shows either the Greek, or the hawk-nose strangely suggestive of +Egyptian origin, and which, as a variation on human physiognomy, +specially commended itself to Mohammedan thought as a skilful evasion +of an inconvenient dogma. Elsewhere the spirit of concession to alien +ideas is almost unknown, even flower and leaf being conventionalised on +those architectural monuments of Islam which form the supreme +expression of Mussulman genius. The suppression of national amusements +has ever proved a perilous step, and in the heart of this ancient +kingdom the original setting of Javanese life remained in stereotyped +form. The moving panorama of the tree-shadowed streets possesses a +strange fascination, and the light of the past lingers like a sunset +glow over the human element of the changed and modernised city. The +twang of double-stringed lutes, the tinkle of metal tubes, and the +elusive melody of silvery gongs, echo from the ages whence dance and +song descend as an unchanged inheritance. An itinerant minstrel recites +the history of _Johar Mankain_, the Una of Java, who shone like a jewel +in the world which could not tarnish the purity and devotion of one +whose heart entertained no evil thought. In the intricate byways of the +crumbling Kraton, a professional story-teller draws a squalid crowd of +women from their dark hovels and cellars, with the magic wand of +enchantment wielded by the reciter of heroic deeds from the _Panji_, +exaggerated out of all recognition by the addition of fairies and +giants, demons and dwarfs, to the simple human element of the original +story. The apathy and decay of native life, lacking all the scope and +interest common to a strenuous age, appears galvanised into some +fleeting semblance of vitality by the extravaganza presented to it, for +the language of hyperbole is the natural expression of Eastern thought, +and penetrates into mental recesses unknown and unexplored by the +relater of unvarnished facts. The quick response of the native mind to +Nature's teaching, and the wealth of tradition woven round flower and +tree, mountain and stream, foster the love of marvel and miracle in +those whose daily wants are supplied by the prodigality of a tropical +climate, for the innate poetry of the race has never been crushed out +by the weight of practical necessities. + +A permit being obtained to view the interior of the Susunhan's palace +under a Dutch escort, we present ourselves at the colonnaded portico, +where the Prince Probolingo, brother of the Susunhan, receives his +visitors with simple courtesy. This descendant of a hundred kings is +simply attired in a dark brown _sarong_ and turban, the _kris_ in his +belt of embroidered velvet ablaze with a huge boss of diamonds. +Attendants, holding State umbrellas over the favoured guests, usher +them through marble-paved courts, in one of which a little prince is +seated, with furled golden umbrella behind him to denote his rank, a +group of royal children playing round him, their lithe brown forms +half-hidden in the green shadows of a great tamarind tree. A superb +marble ball-room with crystal chandeliers, forms an incongruous modern +feature of the spacious Palace, but helps to popularise the so-called +"Nail of the Universe" among the European inhabitants of Solo, by the +splendid entertainments continually given at the imperial command. The +porcelain and glass rooms convey an idea of the boundless hospitality +bestowed; the thousands of wine-glasses being especially noticeable, +for 800 guests are often invited at a time. Treasures of linen and +costly embroidery, silken hangings and velvet banners, gorgeous carpets +and mats of finest texture, are displayed to our admiring eyes, but +possession rather than enjoyment is the keynote of Eastern character, +and the bales and bundles of priceless value, kept in huge cabinets of +fragrant cedar-wood, seldom see the light of day. Long counting-houses +are crowded with native scribes, their brown bodies naked except for +_sarong_ and _kris_, the perpetual rattle of the abacus making a +deafening din, for apparently the smallest sum cannot be added up under +Eastern skies without the assistance of this wire frame with the +ever-shifting marbles. Cramped fingers move wearily over the yellow +parchments, with their long lists of undecipherable hieroglyphics, and +the turbaned heads are scarcely raised until the entrance of the Prince +necessitates the time-honoured salute of the _dodok_, the crouching +posture assumed in the presence of a superior. The needs and luxuries +of the immense royal household render the counting-house a feature of +the utmost importance. The Prince Probolingo has himself forty wives, +and a Harem in proportion to their numbers, the Susunhan's Imperial +Harem far exceeding that of his brother. Wonderful tales are told of +the fairy-like loveliness belonging to these inner palaces, with their +treasures of ivory and sandalwood, cedar and ebony, but they are +jealously guarded from intrusion, and a glimpse of their fantastic +glory seldom permitted to Western eyes. After an exhibition of +gold-encrusted litters and painted coaches of State, used in royal +processions, the Prince, a clever-looking man of forty, takes wine with +his guests. Each stand of solid silver contains six bottles, the +crouching attendants also carrying silver trays of tumblers and +wine-glasses, a gaily clad servitor with a huge silver ice-bowl +bringing up the rear. After drinking the health of His Royal Highness +in iced Rhine wine, we make our adieux, and escape from our splendid +_pajongs_ of rainbow hue on the steps of the Great Entrance, conveying +our thanks through the medium of an interpreter. These fainéant princes +learn no tongue but their own, greatly to the advantage of their Dutch +masters. The colossal incomes assigned to scions of the royal stock +only serve the double purpose of political expediency and personal +extravagance, for the luxury of a licentious Court remains unchecked, +and the idea of educating or reforming tributary princes is unknown in +Java. Territorial rights were relinquished for pecuniary gains, and the +entire Court of the Susunhan is in the pay of the Dutch, the wealth +amassed from the richest island in the world affording ample +compensation for the pensions lavishly bestowed on the former owners of +the tropical Paradise. The Dutch Resident, in his capacity of "Elder +Brother" to the indigenous race, claims the full privileges of his +assumed position, but the advancing tide of social reform has even +touched these distant shores, and the alien authority tends on the +whole to the welfare of the community. Hygienic regulations are +compulsory, and even here the traditions of Holland enjoin an amount of +whitewashing and cleaning up unique in tropical colonies. The green and +vermilion panelled _sarongs_ of Solo are renowned for their elaborate +designs, and the painting of _battek_, or cotton cloth, remains a +flourishing industry of the ancient capital. The intricate beauty of +the hand-made patterns far surpasses that of the woven fabrics +wherewith new mills and factories begin to supply the market. Centuries +of hereditary training, from the days when royal Solo was a +self-supporting city, contribute to the amazing skill of the _battek_ +girls, but the elaboration of native Art is doomed to decay, for Time, +hitherto a negligeable quantity in this "summer isle of Eden," begins +to reveal a value unknown to the Javanese past, and as the poetry of +illumination vanished before the prose of the printing press, so the +painting of _battek_ must inevitably give way to the wholesale methods +of Manchester in the near future of Java, just awakening from her +spellbound sleep to the changed conditions of life and labour. An +exquisite plain, described by de Charnay as unrivalled even in Java, +surrounds Sourakarta with belts of palm, avenues of waringen, and +picturesque rice-fields of flaming green and vivid gold. Azure peaks +frame the enchanting picture. The storied heights are rich in +traditions of gods and heroes, with innumerable myths haunting the +ruined temples which cluster round the base of the mountain range, and +suggest themselves as relics of an earlier creed than Buddhism or +Brahminism. Archaic sculptures, obelisks, and gateways, massive and +undecorated, recall the architecture of Egyptian sanctuaries, but no +record exists which throws any light on the origin of the extensive +monuments of a forgotten past, though the triple pyramid of Mount Lawu +is still a place of sacrifice to Siva the Destroyer. Pilgrims climb the +steep ascent to lay their marigold garlands and burn their +incense-sticks at the foot of the rude cairn erected in propitiation of +the Divine wrath, typified by the cloud and tempest hovering round the +jagged pinnacles of the volcanic range, which frowns with perpetual +menace above the verdant loveliness of plain and woodland. The +instinctive worship seems one of those hereditary relics of a perished +faith so frequently encountered in Java; a blind impulse for which no +reason can be ascribed by the devotee, swayed by those mysterious +forces of the subconscious self which seem imperishable elements in the +brown races of the Malay Archipelago. The native Court attracts myriad +parasites, and the wealthy Chinese half-castes, or _Paranaks_ of Solo, +with their inborn commercial genius, surpass all competitors in the +pursuit of fortune. The three centuries of mixed marriages have +modified Chinese conservatism, and though the _Paranak_ is severely +taxed, and excluded from all political offices, he remains supreme in +the kingdom of finance, regarded even by the Dutch as an indispensable +factor in the complicated affairs of the island. + +The great _passer_ of Solo becomes an endless delight, and the +interminable corridors, where the fumes of incense mingle with the +breath of flowers, convey strange suggestions of antiquity. Simple +meals of rice and bananas progress round cooking-pots of burnished +copper. Pink pomelo and purple mangosteen vary the repast; strips of +green banana leaf folded into cups fastened with an acanthus thorn, or +serving as plates for Dame Nature's prodigality, provide the +accessories of the feast as well as the provisions. The Javanese +populace, wonderfully free from those household cares which involve so +much time and trouble in Northern nations strenuously occupied in +keeping the wolf from the door, and left to carry out their own +inventions, have evolved numerous methods of blending the different +metals--steel and iron, brass and silver. The veinings of the _kris_, +beautiful as those of any Toledo blade, are produced by the welding of +metals steeped in lime-juice and arsenic, which destroy the iron and +retain the ingrained pattern. The chains of mingled brass and silver +show exquisite designs and a special charm of colour, in the soft +golden hue and subdued gleam of the heavy links, with their +richly-enamelled talismans of ruby and turquoise enamel. Soft voices, +tranquil movements, and courteous manners are the age-long heritage of +Malay idiosyncracy, and even in the crowded _passer_, with its horde of +buyers and sellers, noise and dispute are non-existent. It is a market +of dreamland, and though echoes of marching feet and music of native +bands remind us that we are in imperial Sourakarta, the busy hive of +the _passer_ suggests a panoramic picture of native life, rather than +the pushing, jostling crowd represented by the ordinary idea of a +market in that Western hemisphere which, in bestowing so many priceless +gifts on humanity, has taken from it the old-world grace of repose. + + + + +SOURABAYA AND THE TENGGER. + + +The port of Sourabaya, supreme in mercantile importance, ranks as the +second city of Java, as it contains the military headquarters, the +principal dockyards, and the arsenal. Leagues of rice and sugar-cane +lie between Solo and Sourabaya, the landscape varied by gloomy teak +woods, feathery tamarinds, and stately mango trees. White towns nestle +in rich vegetation, and the green common known as the _aloon-aloon_ +marks each hybrid suburb, Europeanized by Dutch canals, white bridges, +and red-tiled houses, planted amid a riotous wealth of palm and banana. +A broad river, brimming over from the deluge of the previous night, +flows through burning Sourabaya; a canal, gay with painted _praus_ +connecting it with the vast harbour, where shipping of all nations lies +at anchor, the sheltered roads bristling with a forest of masts and +funnels. Bungalows, in gorgeous gardens, flank dusky avenues of +colossal trees, for even Sourabaya, the hottest place in steaming Java, +enjoys "a boundless contiguity of shade." In the _sawa_ fields +broad-eaved huts, set on stilts above the swamp, protect the brown boys +who frighten birds from the rice, for the clapping and shouting must be +carried on under shelter from the ardent sun. No air blows from the +rippling water, set with acres of lotus-beds, the fringed chalices of +rose and azure swaying on their plate-like leaves of palest green. The +heterogeneous character of Sourabaya gives unwonted interest to the +streets, uniquely brilliant in grouping and colour. Gilded eaves of +Chinese houses, many-tiered Arab mosques, encrusted with polished tiles +of blue and purple, white colonnades of Dutch bungalows, and pointed +huts of woven basket-work within wicker gate and bamboo fence, mingle +in fantastic confusion to frame a series of living pictures. +Cream-coloured bullocks and spirited Timor ponies, in creaking waggons +and ramshackle carriages, pass in endless procession. Bronze-hued +coolies balance heavy loads on the swaying _pikolan_, a sloping pole of +elastic bamboo, and strolling players, rouged and tinselled, collect +crowds in every open space where a fluttering tamarind-tree offers a +welcome patch of shadow to each turbaned audience, clad in the +paradisaical garb of the tropics. Graceful Malay women flit silently +past, in pleasing contrast to their burly Dutch mistresses, clad in a +caricature of native garb which the appalling heat of Sourabaya renders +a more slatternly disguise than even colonial _sans géne_ accomplishes +elsewhere. Orchids spread broad spathes of scented bloom from grey +trunks of courtyard trees, and cascades of crimson and purple creepers +tumble over arch and wall. Insinuating Chinamen untie bundles of +_sarongs_, scarves, and delicate embroideries on the marble steps of +hotel porticoes, where the prolonged "shopping" of the drowsy East is +catered for by the industrious Celestial, when _tokos_ are closed, and +the tradesman sleeps on the floor amid his piled-up wares, for the +slumber of Java is too deep to be lightly disturbed, and the solemnity +of the long siesta seems regarded almost as a religious function. In +this far-off land of dreams it seems "always afternoon," and the +complacency wherewith the entire population places itself "hors de +combat" becomes a perpetual irritation to the traveller, anxious to +seize a golden opportunity of fresh experience. The sun sinks out of +sight before the sultry atmosphere begins to cool. The weird "gecko," a +large lizard which foretells rain, screams "Becky! Becky!" in the +garden shadows, and a cry of "Toko! Toko!" echoes from another unseen +speaker of a mysterious language, while wraith-like forms of his tiny +brethren make moving patterns on the white columns, as the hungry +little reptiles hunt ceaselessly for the mosquitos which form their +staple diet. Lashing rain and deafening thunder at length cool the +fiery furnace, blue lightning flares on the solid blackness of heaven, +and the storm only dies away when we start at dawn for Tosari, the +mountain sanatorium of the Tengger. The flat and flooded land glows +with the vivid green of springing rice, tremulous tamarind and +blossoming teak bordering a road gay with pilgrim crowds, for the great +volcano of the Tengger remains one of Nature's mystic altars, dedicated +to prayer and sacrifice. Moslem girls in yellow veils jostle brown men +with white prayer-marks and clanking bangles. The _sari_ of India +replaces the _sarong_ of Java, with fluttering folds of red and purple; +children, clad only in silver chains and medals, or strings of blue +beads, dart through the crowd, from whence the familiar types of Malay +and Javanese personality are absent. We change carts in a busy roadside +_passer_, which drives a roaring trade in rice-cakes and fruit, syrups +and stews, to mount through changing zones of vegetation, where palms +give place to tree ferns, and luscious frangipanni or gardenia yields +to rose and chrysanthemum. From the half-way house of Poespo, a forest +road ascends to Tosari. Sombre casuarina, most mournful of the pine +tribe, mingles with teak and mahogany in dense woods falling away on +either side from the shadowy path. Innumerable monkeys swing from bough +to bough, eating wild fruits, and breaking off twigs to pelt the +intruders on their domains. At length the sylvan scenery gives place to +endless fields of cabbage, potatoes, maize, and onions, for the cool +heights of the Tengger range serve the prosaic purpose of market-garden +to Eastern Java, and all European vegetables may be cultivated here +with success. A patchwork counterpane of green, brown, and yellow, +clothes these steep slopes, but the extent of the mountain chain, and +the phantasmal outlines of volcanic peaks, absorb the incongruities +grafted upon them. Valerian and violet border the track between swarthy +pines with grey mosses hanging down like silver beards from forked +branches, and sudden mists shroud the landscape in vaporous folds, torn +to shreds by gusts of wind, to melt away into the blue sky, suddenly +unveiled in dazzling glimpses between the surging clouds. A long flight +of mossy steps ascends to the plateau occupied by the Sanatorium, with +wide verandahs and a poetic garden, like some old Italian pleasaunce, +with fountain and sundial, espaliered orange boughs, and ancient +rose-trees overhanging paved walks, gay parterres, and avenues of +myrtle or heliotrope. Flowers are perennial even on these airy heights, +and dense hedges of datura, with long white bells drooping in myriads +over the pointed foliage, transform each narrow lane into a vista of +enchantment. Eastern Java spreads map-like beneath the overhanging +precipice, the blue strait of Madoera curving between fretted peak and +palm-clad isle. The velvety plum-colour of nearer ranges fades through +tints of violet and mauve into the ethereal lilac of distant summits. +The lowlands gleam with brimming fish-ponds and flooded _sawas_, as +though the sea penetrated through creek and inlet to the heart of the +green country, the vague glitter of this watery world investing the +scene with dream-like unreality. Brown _campongs_ cling to mountain +crest and precipitous ledge. These almost inaccessible fastnesses were +colonised after the Moslem conquest by a Hindu tribe which refused to +relinquish Brahminism. Driven from place to place by the fanatical +hordes of Islam on the downfall of the Hindu empire, the persecuted +race, a notable exception to native inconstancy and indifference, +retreated by degrees to this mountain stronghold, where they +successfully retained their religious independence, and defended +themselves from Mohammedan hostility. Brahminism through centuries of +isolation, has assimilated many extraneous heathen rites, and wild +superstitions have overlaid the original creed. The worship of the +Tenggerese is now mainly directed to the ever-active crater of the +awe-inspiring Bromo, always faced by the longer side of the windowless +communal houses, built to contain the several generations of the +families which in patriarchal fashion inhabit these spacious dwellings. +Huge clouds of smoke from the majestic volcano curl perpetually above +the surrounding peaks, and float slowly westward, the thunderous roar +of the colossal crater echoing in eternal menace through the rarefied +air, and regarded as the voice of the god who inhabits the fiery +Inferno. These lonely hills, ravaged by tempest and haunted by beasts +of prey, are the hiding-places of fear and the cradles of +ever-deepening superstition. Wild fancies sway the untaught +mountaineers, responsive to Nature's wonders, though powerless to +interpret their signification. The constant struggle for existence +produces a character utterly opposed to that of the suave and facile +Malay. The graces of life are unknown, but the strenuous temperament of +the Tenggerese is shown by indefatigable industry in the difficult +agriculture of the mountain region, and the careful cultivation of the +vegetables for which the district is renowned. Day by day, the +Tenggerese women--gaunt, scantily-clad, and almost unsexed by incessant +toil in the teeth of wind and weather--carry down their burdens to the +plain, their backs bent under the weight of the huge crates, while the +brown and wizened children are prematurely aged and deformed by their +share in the family toil. The more prosperous inhabitant carries his +vegetables on a mountain pony, trained to wonderful feats in the art of +sliding up and climbing down walls of rock almost devoid of foothold, +for the riding of Tenggerese youth and maiden rivals that of the Sioux +Indian. Misdirected zeal strips the hills of forest growth; the scanty +pines of the higher zone serving as fuel, and the ruthless destruction +of timber brings the dire result of decreasing rainfall. Only bamboo +remains wherewith to build the communal houses, formerly constructed of +tastefully blended woods, and the flimsy substitute, unfitted to resist +drenching rain and raging wind, is dragged with the utmost difficulty +from cleft and gorge along rude tracks hewn out in the mountain side. +Rice, elsewhere the mainstay of life in Java, has never been cultivated +by the Tenggerese, the sowing and planting of the precious crop being +forbidden to them during the era of gradual retreat before the +Mohammedan army centuries ago, and the innate conservatism of the +secluded tribe, in spite of life's altered environment, clings to the +dead letter of an obsolete law. The tigers, once numerous round Tosari, +have retreated into the jungle clothing the lower hills, and seldom +issue from their forest lairs unless stress of weather drives them +upward for a nightly prowl round byre and pen. The destruction of +covert renders Tosari immune from this past peril, and the tragic tiger +stories related round the hearthstone of the communal house are +becoming oral traditions of a forgotten day, gathering round themselves +the moss and lichen of fable and myth. + +The main interest of Tosari centres round the stupendous Bromo, +possessing the largest crater in the world, a fathomless cavity three +miles in diameter, veiled in Stygian darkness, and suggesting the +yawning mouth of hell. This bottomless pit, bubbling like a boiling +cauldron, pouring out black volumes of sulphureous smoke, and +clamouring with unceasing thunder, was for ages a blood-stained altar +of human sacrifice. Every year the fairest maiden of the Tengger was +the chosen victim offered to Siva, who, in his attribute of a Consuming +Fire, occupied the volcanic abyss. The worship of the Divine Destroyer +has ever been a fruitful source of crime and cruelty, and a tangible +atmosphere of evil lingers round those hoary temples of India dedicated +to the Avenging Deity, whose fanatical followers are reckoned by +millions. Through the inversion of creed peculiar to Hindu Pantheism, +the propitiation of Divine wrath has become the fundamental principle +of religion, and pathetic appeals for mercy continually ascend from +darkened hearts to those unseen powers vividly present to Hindu +thought, which, amid countless errors and degradations, has never +ceased to grasp the central fact of Eternity. The impalpable air teems +with Divinity. Watchful eyes and clutching hands surround the pilgrim's +path, and unseen spirits dog faltering footsteps as they stumble +through the snares and pitfalls of earthly life. In the rude tribes of +the Tengger, hereditary faith reflects the uncompromising features of +local environment. The lotus-eating races of the tropical lowlands, +with their feeble grasp on the sterner aspects of creed and character, +have nothing in common with this Indian tribe, remaining on the +outskirts of an alien civilisation. The creed for which the early +Tenggerese fought and conquered, has cooled from white heat to a +shapeless petrifaction, and weird influences throng the ruined temple +of a moribund faith, but the shadows which loom darkly above the +mouldering altars still command the old allegiance, and a thousand +hereditary ties bind heart and soul to the past. + +The expedition to the Bromo, by horse or litter, affords the supreme +experience of Javanese volcanoes. The broken track, knee-deep in mud +and rent by landslips, traverses fields of Indian corn, rocky clefts, +and rugged water-courses. The familiar flora of Northern Europe fringes +babbling brooks, their banks enamelled with wild strawberries and +reddening brambles. Curtains of ghostly mist lift at intervals to +disclose the magical pink and blue of the mountain distance, as sunrise +throws a shaft of scarlet over the grim cliff's of the Moengal Pass. A +chasm in the stony wall reveals the famous Sand Sea below the abrupt +precipice, a yellow expanse of arid desert encircling three fantastic +volcanoes. The pyramidal Batok, the cloud-capped Bromo, and the +serrated Widodaren, set in the wild solitude of this desolate Sahara, +form a startling picture, suggesting a sudden revelation of Nature's +mysterious laboratories. The deep roar of subterranean thunder, and the +fleecy clouds of sulphureous smoke ever rising from the vast furnaces +of the Bromo, emphasise the solemnity of the marvellous scene. Native +ideas recognise this terror-haunted landscape as the point where Times +touches Eternity, and natural forces blend with occult influences. +Tjewara Lawang, "the gate of the spirits," traditionally haunted by the +countless _Devas_ of Hindu Pantheism, bounds the ribbed and tumbled +Sand Sea with a black bridge of fretted crags, from whence the +invisible host keeps watch and ward over the regions of eternal fire. + +By a fortunate coincidence, the annual festival of the Bromo is +celebrated to-day, when Siva, the Third Person of the Hindu Triad, is +propitiated by a living sacrifice. Goats and buffaloes were flung into +the flaming crater long after the offering of human victims was +discontinued, but, alas for the chicanery of a degenerate age! even the +terrified animals thrown into the air by the sacrificing priest never +reach the mystic under-world, their downward progress being arrested by +a skilled accomplice, who catches them at a lower level, and risks +great Siva's wrath by preserving them for more prosaic uses. The +silence of the Sand Sea is broken to-day by the bustle of a gay market +on the brink of the yellow plain. The terrific descent through a gash +in the precipice, carved by falling boulders, landslips, and torrential +rains, lands the battered pilgrim in the midst of a lively throng in +festal array. Girls in rose and orange _saris_, with silver pins in +sleek dark hair plaited with skeins of scarlet wool, dismount from +rough ponies for refreshment, or gallop across the Sand Sea to the +mountain of sacrifice. The turbaned men in rough garb of indigo and +brown show less zeal than their womenkind, and betel-chewing, smoking, +or the consumption of syrups and sweetmeats, prove more attractive than +the religious service, for modern materialism extends even to these +remote shores, and the Avenging God is often worshipped by proxy. + +The Sand Sea was originally the base of the Tengger volcano, split from +head to foot by an appalling eruption, which forced mud, sand, and lava +from the enclosing walls into the surrounding valley. Fresh craters +formed in the vast depths of sand and molten metal; the three new +volcanoes--Bromo, Battok, and Widodaren--casting themselves up from the +blazing crucibles hidden beneath the fire-charged earth. We stand on +the thin and crumbling crust of the globe's most friable surface, a +mere veil concealing fountains of eternal fire, foaming solfataras, and +smoking fumaroles. Circle after circle, the great belt of volcanic +peaks rises around us, visible outlets of incalculable forces, ever +menacing the world with ruin and havoc. + +On the steep descent, a few devout pilgrims offer preliminary +sacrifices of food, or flowers, to the _Devas_ of the mountains, laying +the little treasures in oval vaults dug by human hands, before entering +the inner courts of the fiery sanctuary. The yellow Sand Sea, swept by +a moaning wind, sends up whirling eddies, and the dusky haze shimmers +in fantastic outlines, which probably originated the idea of spiritual +presences hovering round the scene. Grey heather and clumps of +cypress-grass dot the wild Sahara with their dry and colourless +monotony, but give place on the southern side to patches of fern and +turf, the scanty pasture of the mountain ponies, herding together until +sickness or accident breaks the ranks, when the hapless sufferer, +deserted by his kind, falls an easy prey to the wild dogs of the +Tengger ranges. A heap of bleaching bones points to some past tragedy, +and terrifies the swerving horses of the native pilgrims. The ascent of +the Bromo is negotiated from the eastern side to the lip of the +gigantic crater. Slanting precipices of lava, their grey flanks scored +with black gullies below the volcanic ash which covers the upper +slopes, rise to the jagged pinnacles bordering the black gulf of +eternal mystery and night. A rickety ladder of bamboo, approached +through a chaos of boulders, mounts to the edge of the profound abyss. +The ladder has been renewed for this Day of Atonement, and worshippers +clad in rainbow hues crowd round the base of the volcano, while the +priests of Siva, in motley robes of brilliant patchwork, adorned with +cabalistic tracery in white, ascend the swaying rungs, bearing their +struggling victims, bleating, crowing, and clucking in mortal terror. +Stalwart arms toss the black goat with accurate aim to an assistant +priest, who passes on his clever "catch" to a third expert in the task +of hoodwinking Siva and depriving him of his lawful prey. Sundry cocks +and hens, evidently toothsome morsels, are then thrown from one priest +to another, and saved for the cooking-pot, but a tough-looking +chanticleer of the Cochin China persuasion is finally selected, and +cast into the seething pit to propitiate the terrible wrath of the +Avenging Deity at the smallest expense and loss to the astute +priesthood. At the close of the sacerdotal is sacreligious performance, +we mount the shaking ladder to a thatched shed on the rim of the +crater. From hence, between the dense volumes of smoke, the huge cavity +is visible to a depth of 600 feet. Sallow clouds of sulphur emerge from +a pandemonium of tumultuous clamour; red-hot stones shoot upward, but +fall back into the chasm before they reach us; burning ashes strike the +smooth walls with a weird scream, and then whirl back into the +darkness; yellow solfataras rise in foaming jets, with the fierce hiss +of unseen serpents, and bellowing thunders shake the earth. The superb +spectacle of nature's power in her armoury of terror is unique among +the volcanos of Java, for unless the Bromo blazes in the throes of a +violent eruption, when the ascent to the crater becomes impossible, no +danger exists in gazing down into the mysterious abyss. At every gust +which rages round this laboratory of Nature, the vast clouds--black, +yellow, and blue--floating away into space, assume grotesque forms +suggesting primeval monsters or menacing giants, darkening the skies +with their ghostly presence. Driving rain and a rising gale hasten a +rapid descent to the Sand Sea, but the sudden storm dies away into +sunlit mists. The climb to the Moenggal Pass is complicated by a series +of pools and cascades; the horses pick their own perilous way, but the +management of the chairs by the noisy coolies demands superhuman +strength and security of hand and foot, the crazy and battered _doolie_ +escaping falls and collisions by a continuous miracle. + +The expedition to Ngandwona, in the heart of the hills, skirts green +precipices and traverses brown _campongs_ forlorn and neglected, like +this stranded Hindu race, incapable of adjustment to life's law of +change, and retaining the form without the spirit of the past. The +glens lie veiled in cloud, but the peaks bask in sunshine. Waterfalls +dash through thickets of crimson foxglove, and daturas swing their +fragrant bells over the dancing water. A little goatherd, leading his +bleating flock, plays on a reed flute to summon a straggler from a +distant crag. The brown figure, in linen waistcloth and yellow turban, +suggests that Indian personality which has survived ages of exile on +these lonely heights. The route to Ngandwona discloses the Tengger in +a different aspect; the volcanos are far away, and this central region +is rich in pastoral pictures full of lulling charm. The voice of the +Bromo still breaks the silence of the deep valley with a mysterious +undertone, but only benignant _Devas_ haunt this flower-filled hollow, +remote alike from the terrors of Nature and the influences of the +external world. + +The following day varies the character of the range, exposed to every +vicissitude of temperature and climate. White billows of fog beat upon +the mountain tops like a silent sea, and blot out the landscape with an +impenetrable veil. Thunder echoes through the rocky caves with +incessant reverberations, and rain settles down in a drenching flood. +The chill of the wooden Hotel penetrates to the bone; enthusiasm wanes +below zero, and even scorching Sourabaya appears preferable to this wet +and windy refuge on the storm-swept heights. The hurricane proves brief +in proportion to the violence displayed, and the walk to Poespo at +dawn, behind the baggage-coolie, is a vision of delight. Violet +mountains lean against the pale blue of a rain-washed sky, tjewara and +teak glisten with jewelled lustre, and the Tengger, bathed in +amethystine light, lifts itself above the world as the realm of purity +and peace, ever revealed and prophesied by the glory of mountain +scenery. + + + + +CELEBES. + + + + +MAKASSAR AND WESTERN CELEBES. + + +Each island of the great Archipelago offers distinctive interests, for +many alien races grafted themselves on the original stock, after those +age-long wanderings across the Southern seas which probably coincided +with the westward march from Central Asia, whereby primeval man +fulfilled the decrees of destiny. + +A long pull in a rickety _sampan_ across the harbour of Sourabaya +involves numerous collisions with fruit-boats, canoes, and rafts, +before reaching the steamer in the offing. Intervals of comparative +safety permit cursory observation of the gorgeously-painted _praus_ +with upturned stern, curving bamboo masts, and striped sails, the +outline of the gaudy boats accentuated by a black line, and producing +the effect of huge shells tossing on the tide. The green isle of +Madoera, and the level morasses of Eastern Java, bound the wide +harbour, the blue cloud of the distant Tengger soaring abruptly on the +horizon. The ship becomes our home for a month, and affords a welcome +relief from divers struggles on land, involved by a dual language, +official red tape, and native incompetence. A brilliant sunset flames +across the heavens, and we glide across a golden sea as a fitting +prelude to unknown realms of enchantment. The dreamful calm of the two +days' passage obliterates the memory of bygone difficulties and +perturbations, the interval between past and future experiences falling +like refreshing dew on the weary spirit, and increasing the receptive +capacity required for the assimilation of new impressions. The vast +extent of the Malay Archipelago, and the stupendous size of the +principal islands, comes as a fresh revelation to travellers whose +ideas have been limited by vague recollections of schoolroom geography. +The seven hundred miles of Java's length, Sumatra's vast extent of +fourteen hundred miles, the area of Borneo equalling that of France and +Germany combined, and the fact of Celebes, for which we are bound, +exceeding the dimensions of Norway and Sweden, convey startling +suggestions of the limitless space occupied by the great Equatorial +group. The palms and flowers of myriad smaller isles break the blue +monotony of these summer seas traversed by the Malay wanderers of olden +days, striving to sail beyond the sunset, and to overtake that +visionary ideal flitting ever before them, and luring them on with the +fairy gold of unfulfilled desires. + +At length the high blue peaks of central Celebes pierce the silver +mists of a roseate dawn, and beyond a cluster of coral islets, the +white town of Makassar gleams against a green background of palms. +Miles of brown _campongs_ fringe the shore, but the gay scene on the +wooden wharves at first occupies undivided attention. _Sarongs_ of +crimson, orange, purple, or boldly-contrasting plaids, enhance the deep +bronze of native complexion, the ample folds of the wide skirts drawn +up above the knees. High turbans of white or red cambric, elaborately +twisted, add dignity to the stately figures, deeply-cut features and +hawk noses denoting Arab origin, for the Makassarese is a lineal +descendant of the Moslem pirates, once the terror of these +island-studded seas. Proud, courageous, and passionately addicted to +adventurous travel in far-off lands, these sturdy islanders have little +in common with the inert races of Java. The normal Malay element +appears extinguished by the fiery superstructure of Arab nature, +retaining the vindictive and fanatical traits of ancestral character. +The women, in rainbow garb, use their floating _slandangs_ as +improvised _yashmaks_, holding the red and yellow folds before their +faces in approved Moslem fashion, when passing a man. Makassar, +formerly ruled by a line of powerful princes as an independent fief, +but now subject to a Dutch Governor, has become the capital of Celebes, +and occupies an important commercial position. The wharves are filled +with bales of _copra_, mother-of-pearl shells, plumage of native birds, +dried fish, bundles of rattan, and precious woods from the primeval +forests of the interior. The boom of the fisherman's drum echoes across +the water in constant reverberations, a secularised relic of the +religious past, originally serving the purpose of the Mohammedan call +to prayer, but now fulfilling the prosaic office of signalling the +arrival or departure of boats, though the devout mariner still appeals +by drum to the Heavenly Powers for fair weather and a good haul of +fish. The official buildings of Makassar, including the Dutch +Governor's palace, face a green _aloon-aloon_, flanked by superb +avenues of kanari and tamarind trees. The hoary fort, scarcely +distinguishable from the solid rock which supports it, was captured +from the King of Goa by a Dutch admiral, who thrust his sword through +an adjacent cocoanut palm, to symbolise his intention of piercing the +hearts of all who resisted the Treaty afterwards drawn up. The sword +and cocoanut now form part of the heraldic arms belonging to Makassar. + +Local costume affords a continuous feast of colour, and streets and +avenues appear like moving tulip beds, the broad blue sky and dazzling +sunshine of this tropical land intensifying every glowing tint of robe, +fruit, and flower. In the umber shadows of dusky _tokos_, gold-beaters +fashion those red-gold ornaments rich in barbaric beauty, for which +Makassar has ever been renowned. Portuguese art glorifies native +workmanship, and the Dutch carry on the traditions of the past, merely +simplifying the old methods by introducing modern tools to lighten the +labour of production. Silken scarves, and elaborately-painted _battek_, +woven with gold and silver thread, swing from the black rafters of dim +corridors, and countless treasures of the deep, in shells and coral of +rich and delicate colouring, manifest the infinite variety of Nature's +handiwork. From the crowded lanes, with their busy markets and hybrid +population, we drive through the long line of _campongs_ bordering the +palm-fringed coast. The bamboo walls of the fragile houses, standing on +stilts or rocking on poles in the rippling sea, show a multitude of +fantastic designs, the broad roofs of thatched grass or plaited +palm-leaves extending in penthouse eaves above carven panels let into +the gables. A riot of glorious vegetation frames and overshadows the +clustering huts of deftly-woven cane. Dark faces peer through the +narrow slits of bamboo window-spaces, but Makassar pride contains the +elements of self-respect, and though the stranger attracts a certain +amount of interest, no discourtesy mars the pleasure of exploration. A +red road beneath towering palms, skirts rice-fields and bamboo thickets +to the beautiful ford of the Tello, a broad river flowing between vast +woods of cocoanut and bread-fruit trees, with only a tiny dug-out, +steered by a brown boy in a scarlet turban, to dispel the loneliness of +the scene. The vicinity of Makassar offers no special characteristics +beyond those of a tropical garden, but the changing aspects of native +life provide subjects of unceasing interest. To-day a great Chinese +festa takes place, which attracts all the inhabitants of town and +_campong_, for amusements are scarce on these distant shores, and no +questions of race or faith complicate the determination to secure a +share in the pleasures of the ceremony. When the usual burst of squibs +and crackers, lighting of bonfires, and tossing of joss-papers into the +air, marks the commencement of the holiday, spectators line the roads, +climb the trees, and crowd the fiat roofs of Portuguese houses. The +afternoon is the children's portion of the festival, and the little +bedizened figures, with rouged faces, tinsel crowns, and spangled +robes, bestride grotesque wooden dragons, fishes, and birds, +brilliantly painted, and drawn on wheels by masked men in robes of pink +and green. A crowd of high-class babies, also bedizened and spangled, +follows in perambulators wreathed with flowers, and pushed by their +Chinese nurses. Hideous gods in glittering robes, and appalling demons +painted in black and scarlet, bring up the rear of the long procession, +which traverses every street and lane of the Chinese _campong_, the +open houses displaying the lighted altars and tutelary gods of +Buddhist and Taoist creed, for the mystic philosophy of the Eastern +sages materialises into grossest realism by passing through the +crucible of Chinese thought. + +A visit to the so-called "Kingdom of Goa" fills up our last day in +Makassar. The Palace of the tributary Sultan, ten miles from the +capital, consists of steep-roofed houses built upon huge trunks of +forest trees, and connected by carved galleries and crumbling stairs +with the Harem at the back of the main edifice. Squalid women in blue +yashmaks loll on the crazy verandah, whence a native secretary marshals +us through the dusty and ruinous building. The Sultan, taking to the +hills as a necessary precaution after inciting his subjects to +rebellion against the Dutch, has just been captured, but, whether by +accident or design, fell over a cliff, and until his dead body is +brought back to receive the Mohammedan rites of burial, the royal +residence remains in charge of the police. The grass-grown road to the +decaying Palace intersects the rambling and sordid village of Goa, the +feudal appanage of the sorry chieftain, a perpetual thorn in the side +of the Dutch Government. The surrounding country appears almost a +solitude, the silence stirred by the song of the distant surf, the +chirping of myriad grasshoppers, and the ceaseless clash of waving +palms in the breeze which steals up from the sea. A quaint +water-castle, shaped like a Chinese junk, stands on a rock in a +fish-pond reflecting the rosy sky, and the fretted marble of a +beautiful Arabian tomb gleams from a clump of white-starred _sumboya_ +exhaling incense on the air. As the magic and mystery of night shroud +Makassar in a mantle of gloom, the surrounding sea becomes a vision of +phosphorescent flame to the furthest horizon. The sheet-lightning of +the tropical sky repeats the wonders of the deep, the glamour of +romance gilds the prose of reality, and we apprehend that spirit of +wondering awe which breathes through the records of old-world voyagers +across uncharted oceans, when witnessing the phenomena of Nature in the +sanctuary of her power, before Science had torn the veil from the +mystic shrine. + +The steamer's course follows the bold and mountainous coast; steep +cliffs alternate with forest-clad ravines, the purple ranges of the +foreground melting into the azure crests of soaring peaks. Skilful +navigation is required in threading the blue water-lanes of the +Spermunde group, the scores of palm-clad islets like bouquets of +verdure thrown on the tranquil sea. The wicker-work _campongs_ of the +fishing population form a ring round each white beach of sparkling +coral sand. The black bow of the "Bromo," a ship which broke her back +on a reef twenty years ago, stands high above the treacherous rocks, +and accentuates the vivid colouring of water and foliage. At Paré-Paré, +a native _campong_ in a deep bay at the edge of a forest, the steamer +stops to discharge cargo, and affords an opportunity of landing. A gay +crowd lines the shore of the picturesque village, the houses of +palm-thatched bamboo adorned with carved ladders and upcurving eaves of +white wood. One of the numerous military expeditions to turbulent +Celebes has lately been successful, and the _campong_, where every hut +was closed for a year in consequence of the local Rajah forcing his +people to join in his insurrection, has at last been re-opened, though +under a guard of Dutch and Malay troops. A brown bodyguard of native +children, mainly clad in silver chains and medals, escorts the +strangers with intense delight to a shabby little mosque, where a +Dervish, in the orange turban rewarding a pilgrim to Mecca, beats a big +drum in the stone court. The little savages encountered at Mandja on +the following day seem equally free from clothes and cares, but +Europeans, though possessing the charm of novelty, are regarded with +awe; a sudden stop, a word, or even a lifted hand, sufficing to make +the whole juvenile population take to their heels, and hide among the +palms and bananas until a sudden impulse of fresh curiosity banishes +fear. Clothing is at a discount, but ornaments of brass, silver, and +coloured beads, are evidently indispensable. Natural flowers, like +immense red fuchsias with long white bells, serve as ear-rings, and +scarlet caps adorn the sleek black heads of the elder girls. An _al +fresco_ picnic party from the hills occupies a green mound, and boils a +kettle on sticks of flaming bamboo, though a stray spark might easily +burn down the entire _campong_. A great part of Celebes is uninhabited +and uncultivated, but the tribes of the interior, warlike and +treacherous, have never been completely subjugated. The slave trade +flourishes among these lonely hills, murder and violence are rife; the +methods of warfare, comprising poisoned arrows, and bullets containing +splinters of glass, denote absolute barbarism, and the enormous island, +which ought to be a field of emigration for some of Java's twenty-seven +millions, except for the coast _campongs_ and the rice-grounds of the +far interior, remains one of the waste places of the earth, in spite of +a perfect climate and a teeming soil. + +Day by day the scenery becomes more wild and dreary; the forests +disappear, and the sun-baked hills encroach on the low brushwood beyond +the white beaches of coves and inlets, without any sign of habitation. +An atmosphere of crystalline purity discloses the highest range of the +interior, a long chain of azure peaks. Our course traverses league upon +league of melancholy solitude, emphasised rather than relieved by the +brilliant sunlight and balmy breezes playing over this realm of +neglected possibilities, where the wants of countless sufferers might +be abundantly supplied. Anchoring for an hour in the deep blue bay of +Tontoli, we come once more into the haunts of men, and two picturesque +_campongs_ buried in cocoa-palms beneath the wooded mountains of Tomini +are pointed out as exclusively peopled by descendants of the pirates +who infested this western coast of Celebes. From this point the +interest of the cruise increases. Pretty _campongs_ line the shore of +every sheltered creek. Boats of quaint form and colour push off to meet +the steamer, quickly surrounded by _sampans_, _blotos_ (the native +canoes), or carved and painted skiffs, all manned by an amphibious race +in Nature's suit of brown, which renders the wearers indifferent to +overturned boats, water-logged _blotos_, and collapsing rafts, though +the encouraging statements of our Malay crew as to the warmth and +shallowness of the water in case of any contretemps, is less reassuring +to the travellers who venture shoreward on the risky craft. The loan of +the captain's boat makes the visit to Dongalla an experience of +unalloyed pleasure, but the people appear morose and sullen. A +dignified youth, in purple turban and checked _sarong_, attempts to do +the honours of his native place, but his comrades, oppressed by vague +suspicions, close the heavy doors of their wooden houses, and peep +through the interstices of the bamboo shutters as we thread the narrow +alleys, escorted by the deck steward. A more genial crowd welcomes us +to the palm-groves of Palehle, where a light-hearted bodyguard of +children shows us every nook and corner of the brown _campong_, with +smiling faces and merry laughter. The heart-whole mirth of these little +savages might brighten the saddest soul. Living in the present, with no +artificial wants to create dissatisfaction, and free from the pains or +penalties of poverty, as experienced in Northern climes, the simple +life close to the heart of Nature suggests ideas of Eden's unshadowed +joy. Amid the treasures of memory garnered during the winter's +wanderings through the Malay Archipelago, the unclouded merriment which +endows these children of Nature remains as the deepest impression +stamped on the memory of the Western pilgrim. European childhood, at +the best and brightest, but faintly approaches this spontaneous gaiety, +the special attribute of untutored souls in a world of primal +innocence. + +At Soemalata the steep declivities of wooded mountains enclose the +harbour, and a narrow pass leads to the gold mines, where the process +of smelting and separating the ore takes place in a primitive series of +conduits, sluices, mills, and pounding machines. The gold concession +granted by the local Rajah prospers in European hands, but the barbaric +chieftain adheres to the ancient custom of having the gold washed from +the river sand by his own slaves. The English engineer of the mines +hails a compatriot with delight, and his explanation of the complicated +machinery ends with a welcome invitation to tea in his pretty +bungalow. A solitary Englishman is frequently found stationed in the +remotest outposts of civilisation throughout the Malay Archipelago, +enduring a life of unexampled loneliness with the tenacity and +determination inherent in national character. The oft-receding vision +of a successful future inspires the dauntless heart less than a sense +of present duty, and these exiles from the social ties of nation and +kindred possess special claims on sympathy and remembrance. Lovely +lanes of palm and banana, brightened by trees of crimson poinsettia, +wind upward to the hills, and a cluster of green islets gems the blue +waters; the scarlet-stemmed Banka palm offering a glowing contrast to +the sweeping emerald of the feathery fronds. The little settlement of +Kwandang, with a gold _fabrik_ occupying a wooded islet, completes the +circuit of the western coast, for the North-Eastern Cape comprises a +distinctive province, requiring a separate chapter. Intervening +mountains, with jagged cliffs and towering summits, rise like Titanic +fortresses from the creaming surf which washes the yellow bastions, +leaving no space for the wicker _campongs_, impermanent as a child's +house of cards, but perpetually rebuilt in identical fashion, and never +developing into substantial dwellings, or adjusted on the new lines +required by varieties of environment. + + + + +THE MINAHASA. + + +Steaming slowly through the phosphorescent seas of the starlit night, +we anchor at dawn in the forest-lined bay of Amoerang, the principal +harbour of the Minahasa. The picturesque Northern Cape of Celebes +contains a population differing in origin and character from all other +races of the vast island, and conveys the idea of a distinctive +country. The mountain panorama of shelving ridges and fretted +promontories, breaking the outlines of the rocky coast with infinite +variety, culminates in the chiselled contours of volcanic peaks, +cutting sharply into the silvery blue of a stainless sky. Amoerang, +half-buried in sago-palms, on the green rim of the secluded haven, +shows slight resemblance to the _campongs_ generally encountered on the +western coast. Wooden cottages, though built on piles of wood or stone, +and thatched with _atap_ (plaited palm leaves) possess many features in +common with the screened and balconied dwellings of Japan. The people, +in aspect and feature, also convey suggestions of the Japanese origin +ascribed to them, for ancient traditions assert that the Minahasa was +colonised by an Asiatic tribe, driven out of Formosa by native savages, +in one of those wild raids upon the peaceful maritime population which +drove them to face the perils of an unknown sea, rather than fall into +the ruthless hands of the bloodthirsty aborigines who inhabited the +forests and mountains of the interior. Many of the hapless exiles +perished through hunger, thirst, storm, and shipwreck of their +slightly-built craft, during the long wanderings which ended as though +by chance for the survivors, in the distant Minahasa. The Malay element +in those Japanese refugees, displayed the usual characteristics of +skill in boat-building and navigation, together with that accurate +observation of natural phenomena which alone could compensate for the +lack of scientific knowledge. The women, with oblique eyes and oval +faces, wear the gay _sarong_ and white _kabaja_ customary in Eastern +Java. The men, in shapeless gowns and wide trousers, with broad hats of +battered straw on their close-cropped hair, afford a sorry spectacle of +unbecoming and disorderly attire, conveying grotesque hints of Japanese +ideas beneath the squalid ugliness overlaying them. The fishermen, +conveniently unclad for the necessities of their calling, wear only a +yellow or scarlet waist-cloth, the bright touch of colour emphasising +the deep bronze of their slight but athletic forms. The people of the +Minahasa, Christianised after the Calvinistic methods of Dutch and +German missionaries a century ago, have always been specially favoured +by the Government of Holland, and large sums are annually expended in +improving the status of this distant colony. The making of roads, the +building of schools and churches, and the improvement of social +conditions, are liberally catered for, not only for the advantage of +the Minahasa, but that no excuse may exist for any rebellion against +such paternal rule. Tribal insurrections continually recur in the great +Archipelago, where a storm in a teacup often swells into dangerous +proportions, and the peaceful adherence of the Minahasa to the powers +that be becomes an important factor in turbulent Celebes. The race, so +strangely amalgamated with alien interests, shows the apathy of a +temperament incapable of developement on foreign lines, though unable +to resist the pressure imposed upon it. The pretty _campong_ seems +silent as the grave. No native _warongs_, or restaurants, enliven the +straight roads with their merry crowds or cheerful gossip, and sellers +of food and drink, whose cries echo through the streets of Makassar, +are unknown in this northern port, where even the arrival of the +fortnightly steamer fails to excite much interest in the public mind. + +A rash determination to drive across the Minahasa, and pick up the boat +at Menado, involves unimagined difficulties. Heavy waggons drawn by +brown _sappies_ (_i.e._, bullocks), which travel at the rate of two +miles an hour, suffice for native use in remote Amoerang, but at length +a dilapidated gig, with two sorry steeds harnessed in tandem fashion by +sundry bits of old rope, is produced. Having frequently experienced the +pace accomplished by many a Timor pony of emaciated and dejected +aspect, faith accepts even this unpromising team for the long drive of +thirty miles. Quaint _campongs_, with bamboo fences and curiously +arched gateways, flank the woodland road. Each little garden flames +with red poinsettia, purple convolvulus, and yellow daisies. The +latticed screens pushed back from open verandahs, show Japanese-looking +rooms, furnished with the European lamps, chairs, and tables, exported +by thousands to the Minahasa, but the same atmosphere of stagnation +broods over these quiet villages, and even the children, returning from +a bamboo schoolhouse on the edge of the forest, show the staid and +solemn demeanour of their elders. For a few miles all goes well, with +the trifling exception of occasional breakages in the countless knots +of the rope harness. The last whistle of the steamer floats upward as +she leaves her anchorage, and refusing to yield to a faint misgiving as +to the success of the present enterprise, eyes and thoughts concentrate +themselves on the increasing beauty of the mountain road, the living +emerald of the rice-fields, and the picturesque mills for husking the +grain, which give special character to this unique district of Celebes. +Suddenly the rickety conveyance comes to a full stop, and a kicking +match begins, the plunging ponies refusing to budge an inch. The +incapable Jehu implores his fare's consent to an immediate return, but +meets with an inexorable refusal, the halting Malay sentences eked out +with an unmistakable pantomime of threats and warnings. The driver's +whip, supplemented by an English umbrella, produces no effect on the +obtuse animals, which have to be led, or rather hauled, on their +unwilling way. One obstreperous steed becomes so unmanageable that it +becomes necessary to hitch him to the back of the cart, at the imminent +risk of overturning it, in his determination to thwart his companion's +enforced progress. Mile after mile the wearisome struggle continues. +Even a lumbering bullock waggon passes us again and again, in the +numerous stoppages required for fresh conflict. The endless hours of +the weary day drag on like a terrible nightmare, but a descent into a +profound ravine of these mountain solitudes at length enables the +driver to start the team at a rate which makes it impossible for them +to stop, and he vaults lightly into his place as we spin merrily +downhill. Our troubles are not over, for on the next upward grade the +old game of rearing, backing, and futile attempts at buck-jumping, +begins again. Despairing eyes rest on a thatched booth at the +roadside, containing a row of bottles hung up by a string, with the +bamboo tube for coins. Holding the ropes, and currying favour with the +ponies by leading them to a patch of grass, it becomes possible for the +boy to leave them for a sorely-needed drink of the sago-wine. The +fiendish animals try to upset the cart, and the fight recommences for +the fiftieth time, but the brown huts of a _campong_ in a cactus +thicket inspire hope, and after a furious battle in the street, to the +intense delight of the Japanese-looking people, a man comes to the +rescue with a stout pony. The boy mounts one battered steed, the other +is left behind in a hospitable stable, and we trot briskly on through +lovely scenery of forest and mountain to Kanas, at the head of the +beautiful lake of Tondano, hitherto seen in glimpses at an immense +depth between encircling peaks. Wearied almost to stupefaction by +eleven hours of a combat, after which victory seems scarcely less +ghastly than defeat, we would gladly remain for the night at the little +Rest House of Kanas, but prudence compels us to push on to Tondano, at +the other end of the lake, while a capable pony remains at disposal. +The lake road is a vista of entrancing loveliness, overhung by arching +bamboos and great sago-palms, the vanguard of the forest which clothes +the lower spurs of the purple mountain ranges, shutting off the long +blue lake from the outside world. A rudely-built _bloto_, merely the +hollowed trunk of a tree, crosses the water, with a torch flickering at +the prow, for the sun has set, and the crimson afterglow begins to fade +from the serrated crests of the opposite heights. The ripple of the +water in the reeds at the edge of the road, and the sigh of the evening +breeze, fluttering the leaves and creaking the yellow canes of the +great bamboos, alone stir the silence, which comes as a welcome relief +after the toil and excitement of the day; but alas! we have all +forgotten the perils of the road at nightfall, and in the sudden +darkness, deepened by the shadowy trees, a false step might precipitate +cart and passengers into the deep water. Any advance becomes dangerous +on the winding way, which follows every curve of the irregular shore, +so a halt is called, while the boy rides on towards some twinkling +lights denoting a lakeside _campong_. After a long wait, he returns in +triumph with three matches and a piece of flaming tow in a bottle. By +observing due precaution, we can now follow his guidance, while he +holds out the flaring light with extended arm. As we turn round the +foot of the lake into a raised causeway above fields of ripening rice, +the full moon comes up behind the sombre hills, and transfigures the +night with a sparkling flood of silver glory. We reach the white Dutch +town of Tondano as the clock strikes ten, but everyone is in bed at +this dissipated hour, and difficulty is experienced even in getting +admission to the little Hotel, though the delight of finding an +English-speaking landlord atones for a somewhat ungracious reception +after a long and painful pilgrimage, which should serve as a solemn +warning against the rash attempt to penetrate the wilds of the Minahasa +under native guidance. + +Tondano, with houses and verandahs gleaming in spotless whiteness among +green spaces and luxuriant trees, appears a typical Dutch town, +incongruous but picturesque. The absolute purity and transparency of +the atmosphere give value and intensity to every shade of colour, and +the scarlet hybiscus flowers show the incandescent glow belonging +rather to lamps than to blossoms. The river Tondano forms a series of +lovely cascades below the town, situated four miles from the lake at +the present time, for the marshy flats have been reclaimed as +rice-grounds, thus somewhat diminishing the stretch of water. The steep +drive down to Menado offers a succession of lovely views. The little +port, in a nest of verdure, encircles the azure bay, where our steamer, +merely a white speck in the distance, lies at anchor. A turn of the +road discloses a glimpse of the mountain lake, a sheet of sapphire +sparkling in the morning sun, but retrospective thoughts in this +instance convey pain as well as pleasure, for "mounting ambition" has +for once "o'erleapt itself," and failure counterbalances success. +Menado, divided by the river, is inhabited by two distinct tribes of +the mysterious colonists who came from the farthest East to these +unknown shores. The ubiquitous Chinaman has found a firm footing in the +northerly port of Celebes, and the splendidly-carved dragons of a +stately temple, rich in ornaments of green jade, blue porcelain, and +elaborate brass-work, denote the important status of the wealthy +community. A busy _passer_ supplies the usual pictures of native life, +but the people of the Minahasa, here as elsewhere, lack both the gay +insouciance of the South, and the strenuous energy of the Northern +mind, the residuum of apathetic dullness, deprived of all the salient +characteristics which constitute charm and interest. European houses of +Dutch officials stand in ideal gardens of brilliant flowers and richest +foliage. The little Hotel Wilhelmina is a paradise of exotic blossoms, +but Menado, apart from a lovely situation, and the usual riot of +glorious verdure which makes every tropical weed a thing of beauty, +offers little inducement for a prolonged stay. The bay, exposed to +contrary winds and chafed by conflicting currents, tosses in perpetual +turmoil, though a long jetty diminishes the former difficulties of the +stormy passage between ship and shore. In the amber light of sunset, +the dark mountain ranges stand out with unearthly clearness. The jagged +peaks of Klabat and Soedara in the background, bringing into prominence +the grey cliffs and purple ravines of the smoking Lokon. The wonderful +scenery of the Malay Archipelago seldom lacks that element of terror +which enhances the radiant loveliness of Nature by painting it on a +tragic background of storm and cloud, the vague suggestion of +evanescence intensifying the mysterious charm with poetic significance. +The receding coast discloses a striking panorama of the mountain +heights piled one upon another, the grey towers and bastions guarding +this narrowing Cape of the Minahasa, a veritable outpost of Nature, +eternally washed by the restless seas. As the steamer rounds the savage +promontories, and threads the blue straits formed by two rocky islets +at the northern extremity, the weird and desolate landscape conveys a +strange sense of separation even from the alien humanity which peoples +the far-reaching peninsula of the Minahasa, and this northern extremity +appears a limitless waste. Chaotic masses of imperishable granite, +splintered reefs thrusting black spikes through the creaming surge, and +wind-swept cliffs of fantastic form, characterise the solemn headland, +unpainted and unsung, although the sea-girt sanctuary of Nature demands +interpretation through the terms of Art and Poetry. + + + + +GORONTALO AND THE EASTERN COAST. + + +The steamer's first halt on the wild eastern coast of Celebes is the +gold-mining settlement of Todok, where the Company's rustic offices of +palm-thatched bamboo border an enchanting bay, with a string of green +islets studding the shoaling blue and purple of the gleaming depths. +Two passengers disembark for the ebony plantations on the slopes of a +volcanic range, declaring itself by a slight earthquake rocking the +_atap_ shanty, where the ship's officer who tallies the cargo, offers +hospitality until the fierce heat modifies sufficiently for a stroll. + +A dusty and shadeless road leads up into the wooded hills which +bound the prospect, but the _campong_, largely consisting of +recently-constructed dwellings, occupied by alien employés in the +service of the Gold Syndicate, offers no inducements for exploration, +and until the launch returns, a shadowy palm-grove by the wayside makes +a welcome retreat from the dust and glare, the creaking of innumerable +bullock-waggons, and the shouts of crew and coolies, disputing over the +loading of a raft. + +The arrival at Gorontalo in the radiant dawn provides a more +interesting experience. The river which forms the beautiful harbour, +rushes through a profound ravine of the forest-clad mountains, which +descend sharply to the water's edge. The scene resembles a Norwegian +fiord, translated into tropical terms of climate and vegetation. A +narrow track climbs the ledges of a cliff behind the brown fishing +_campong_ of Liato, but a rude wharf on the opposite side affords a +less picturesque though safer landing, for the swirling currents of the +swift stream require more careful navigation than the amphibious +boatman, unembarrassed by clothing, is wont to bestow on craft or +passenger. The spirit of enterprise is also in abeyance, scotched if +not killed by the struggles of the memorable pilgrimage through the +Minahasa. The quiet haven in the shadow of the guardian hills looks an +ideal haunt of peace. A Dutch battleship lies at anchor, and the red +sails of a wide-winged _prau_ make broken reflections in the rippling +clearness of the green water. A wooden bridge crosses the river at the +narrow end of the funnel-shaped harbour, connecting it with the town in +the steaming valley, the usual medley of open _tokos_ and _atap_ huts, +supplemented by two dubious hotels, a green _aloon-aloon_, and a few +stone houses denoting the presence of the European element. The +original inhabitants of Gorontalo are of Alfoer race--dark, glum, and +forbidding. How this ancient stock, indigenous to some of the southern +islands in the Malay Archipelago, wandered from thence to distant +Celebes has not been satisfactorily accounted for. The records of +savage tribes depend on oral tradition, but the outlines of an oft-told +tale become blurred and dim during the lapse of ages, when the mental +calibre of the racial type lacks normal acumen. The graces of life are +ignored by the Alfoer woman, her mouth invariably distorted by the red +lump of betel-nut, accommodated with difficulty, and rendering silence +imperative. Her bowed shoulders become deformed with the heavy loads +perpetually borne, for the rising trade of Gorontalo supplies the men +with more congenial employment than the field work, which frequently +becomes the woman's province. A straight road between crowding palms +crosses a wide rice-plain, opening out of the cleft carved by the +mountain river, and leads to the curious Lake of Limbotto, a green mass +of luxuriant water-weeds, the dense vegetation solidifying into +floating islands of verdure, intersected by narrow channels, only +navigable to a native _bloto_ skilfully handled, for Nature alternately +builds up and disperses these flowery oases, blocking up old water-ways +and opening new ones with bewildering confusion. Buffaloes wallow +between the tangled clumps of pink lotus and purple iris, and wild +ducks nest in the waving sedges, or darken the air in a sudden flight +down the long lake. A noisy market flanks the water, and bronze +figures, in red turbans row gaily-clad women, laden with purchases, to +some distant _campong_, reached through the mazes of verdure. The +country _passer_, a shifting scene of gaudy colouring, contains greater +elements of interest than commercial Gorontalo, where the native +_campong_ loses individuality in gaining the prosaic adjuncts of a +trading centre. The lovely harbour dreams in the moonlight as we steam +slowly out of the widening estuary to pick up cargo in the great bay of +Tomini, which sweeps in a mighty curve round half the Eastern coast of +Celebes. The conical island of Oena-Oena rises sheer from the waves, +the red peak of a lofty volcano composing the apex of a green pyramid, +formed by a forest of palms. Until six years ago no anchorage for ships +was possible at this forest-clad isle, but a volcanic eruption deepened +the bay, and a thriving trade in _copra_ was initiated, for the whole +surface of Oena-Oena is clothed with a dense mass of drooping cocoanut +trees. Scattered dwellings nestle in the thick woods, but no regular +_campong_ exists in this thinly-peopled spot, a vernal Eden set in the +purple sea. The heat of the day, though intense, is everywhere tempered +by the interlacing canopies of the feathery fronds, until sunset fuses +them into the vivid transparency of green fire, and a fluttering zephyr +stirs the whispering foliage. The shy brown people, who at first hide +in their _atap_ huts at the approach of strangers, venture out to see +the last of the departing steamer, which forms the sole link between +barbarism and civilisation, and a month must elapse before any contact +with the outside world can vary the seclusion of this lonely spot, a +dreamland vision of repose. At Posso, the next port on Celebes, we land +a Dutch officer, bound for the important barracks on a hill above the +straggling _campong_, after a successful expedition against the +tree-dwellers, cannibals, and slave-traders of the interior, still sunk +in barbarism. An olive-green river, infested with crocodiles, flows +sluggishly through rank vegetation into the sea below the dilapidated +huts of the depressing native town. This forlorn outpost of military +duty involves exile from civilisation, and the risk of occasional raids +from the wild tribes of the surrounding hills. + +At Parigi, canopied by spreading palms, the _atap_ houses, with bamboo +rafters strengthening the fragile walls, stand in neglected gardens, +overgrown with a tangle of flower and foliage. The low tide makes the +dangerous _bloto_ a necessity, though the hollowed tree, top heavy and +water-logged, is in imminent peril of capsizing every minute of the +long course between ship and shore. Objections to a boat upsetting in +shallow water being beyond Malay comprehension, the only way of +accomplishing the transit in safety is by a summary command that two +brown boys should immediately jump overboard to lighten the rocking +craft. Nothing loth, they swim to shore in our wake, rolling over in +the sand to dry themselves like Newfoundland dogs, and with less +embarrassment on the score of clothing. A native Queen or Maharanee +rules Parigi from her bamboo palace in the deepest recesses of the +adjacent palm-forest, but she is invisible to her subjects, and dwells +in the seclusion of _purdah_, possibly a relic of Indian origin. Her +nominal authority proves insufficient to keep the peace between the +native population and the Dutch, for Parigi has been for months in a +state of insurrection and unrest. Only a year ago a raid was made on +the Eurasian merchant's office wherein I take shelter from the noonday +sun, and two white men were attacked by a band who rushed down from the +mountains and cut off their heads. The ringleader of the assassins is +now imprisoned for life in the gaol of Batavia, no capital punishment +being permitted in the Netherlands India. An immense cargo of _copra_ +and rattan fills a fleet of boats and rafts. The great stacks of cane +cause no annoyance, but the sickening smell of _copra_ (the dried and +shredded cocoanut used for oil) pervades the ship, and an occasional +cockroach of crab-like dimensions clatters across the deck in his coat +of mail from a hiding place in the unsavoury cargo. The philosophic +Hollander accepts these horrors of the tropics with undisturbed +composure, but happily for the peace of the English passenger, the +Malay "room-boy" welcomes a new idea, and becomes gradually inspired +with the ardour of the chase. Ominous clouds darken over the Bay of +Tomini as we embark once more on the rolling waters, having completed +the circuit of the vast island, possessing a coast-line of 2,500 miles. +Blue peaks and waving palms recede into the mists of falling night. We +are once more afloat on a sleeping sea, the restful monotony of wind +and wave enabling indelible impressions of each varying scene to sink +deeply into mind and memory, and preventing the too rapid succession of +travelling experiences. + + + + +A GLIMPSE OF BORNEO. + + +An element of uncertainty attends the cruise among the Malayan islands, +through sudden orders to include strange ports of call in the programme +of the route. During the stay at Makassar, a cable from Batavia +necessitates a flying visit to Borneo, and though the détour was made +from the western coast of Celebes, the great sister island demands a +special notice. In steaming thither through the radiant glory of an +Equatorial sunset, strange atmospheric effects denote fresh variations +of climate and temperature. The rounded horizon, which suggests the rim +of the terrestrial globe, seems within a stone's throw of the ship, and +as the crimson sun sinks below the sharply-defined curve outlined by +the sea, a glowing hearth of smouldering embers appears burning on the +edge of the water. The eastern sky blooms into vivid pink from the +reflection of this fiery incandescence, which fades only to give place +to the leaping brightness of phosphorescent waves, and the nightly +pageant of tropical skies ablaze with lambent flames of summer +lightning. Morning reveals the dark forests of mysterious Borneo, +rolling back to the misty blue of a mountain background. The pathless +jungles of teak and iron wood, inextricably tangled by ropes of liana +or ladders of rattan, latticed with creepers and wreathed with +clambering fern, make an impenetrable barrier between the settlements +of the coast and the unknown interior, where barbarism still reigns +triumphant, and "head-hunting" remains the traditional sport. +Insurmountable difficulties of transit and progress are reported, even +by the few enthusiastic botanists, who merely penetrate the outworks of +Nature's stronghold in search of rare orchids, worth more than a king's +ransom if we take into account the sacrifice of life, and the hardships +suffered in wresting these floral gems from their forest casket. Any +complete exploration of these tropical wilds seems at present beyond +human means and capacities, but even a few months of the soil and +climate of Borneo can transform a forest clearing into a wilderness of +riotous vegetation, more impassable than that woodland maze of a +century's growth encircling the palace of the Sleeping Beauty in the +loveliest of old-world fairy tales. Our present quest has no connection +with the mysteries of the interior, and only concerns itself with the +prosaic task of taking in a cargo of oil, used as the ship's fuel. We +steam into a wooded bay, beneath a hill covered with the brown _atap_ +bungalows of European colonists. Colossal oil-tanks, painted red, +disfigure the shore. Each tank holds 4,000 tons of oil, 30,000 tons per +month being the usual export. Kerosene taints the air, but is +considered to be innocuous, and to drive away the curse of mosquitos. +The unimaginable and ferocious heat makes every step a terror, during a +snail's progress up a wooded road. Sun-hat and white umbrella scarcely +mitigate the scorching rays on this perilous promenade, but there is +only a day at disposal, and it cannot be wasted. Towards noon a breeze +springs up, and exploration of the long line of _tokos_ beyond the +wharves is simplified by the spreading eaves of palm-leaf thatch. A row +of workmen's dwellings forms a prosaic continuation of the _campong_, +inhabited by a mixed population, chiefly imported to Balik-Papan in the +interests of the oil trade. A chance rencontre with the Scotch doctor +of the European settlement affords an opportunity of visiting the Oil +Refinery, with the varied distillations, culminating in the great tank +of benzine, a concentration of natural forces like a liquid dynamite, +capable of wrecking the whole settlement in a moment. Endless +precautions and vigilant care alone secure the safety of Balik-Papan +from the perils incidental to the vast stores of explosive material. +The raw petroleum brought from the mines of Samarinda, farther down the +coast, by a fleet of _hoppers_ (the local steamers which ply round the +indented shore), is extracted by boring a stratum of coal known as +"antichine," and always containing indications of mineral oil. Dutch +and English Companies work this valuable product; fortunes are quickly +made, and the industrious inhabitants, absorbed in dreams of a golden +future, appear untroubled by any consciousness of metaphorically +sleeping on the brink of a volcano. Iced soda-water, and a brief +siesta, revive drooping spirits after the broiling exertions of the +morning, and as the shadows of the palm-trees lengthen on the edge of +the jungle, it becomes possible to mount the hill behind the wharf to +the picturesque bungalow of another kindly Scot, who invites me to tea. +The pretty tropical dwelling of plaited _atap_, through which every +precious breath of air can penetrate, stands in the midst of a gorgeous +thicket, composed of scarlet hybiscus and yellow Allemanda, the +splendid blossoms growing in wild luxuriance on this sandy soil. The +glare of the sun still requires the _atap_ screens to be closed on the +broad-eaved verandah, but the freshness of the evening breeze steals +into the twilight of the pretty drawing-room, the simple but refined +appointments of a restful home intensely refreshing after weeks of ship +and hotel existence. The fragrant tea, with dainty cups and saucers, +and the home-made cakes, seem almost forgotten luxuries, for the +amenities of British civilisation stop short at Singapore. A cheery +party assembles round the table, and these exiles on a foreign shore +extend the warmest of welcomes to the stray bird of passage, who will +soon leave behind only the shadowy "remembrance of a guest who tarrieth +but a day." The idea so familiar to the self-seeking spirit, that "it +is not worth while" to trouble about a passing acquaintance, finds no +echo in this hospitable coterie. To the visitor, the bright hours of +that afternoon, ten thousand miles away from England, remain as an +evergreen memory of genuine human sympathy, the true "touch of Nature" +linking hearts and lives. A long walk through the encroaching jungle +fills up the day. The narrow track skirts dark depths of matted +foliage, with strange bird-calls echoing through the gloom. The +phenomenal growth of vegetation in Borneo is so rapid that a month's +neglect in cutting back branches, and rooting up masses of strangling +creeper, would entirely obliterate the path. In six months a tree, +supposed to be cut down beyond possibility of resurrection, lately shot +up to the height of seventeen feet, with a girth of several inches in +diameter, so tenacious is the exuberant life of this irrepressible +vegetation, eternally renewing itself in immortal strength and primeval +freshness. From the edge of the sombre jungle the azure bay, set in the +dark frame of forest and gilded with sunset light, resembles a Scotch +loch at midsummer, and the poignant counterpart brings a sigh to the +lips of my companion, exiled for years from his Highland home. A long +slow river, navigable for native craft, widens into an estuary as it +approaches the sea, through the shadowy and impenetrable mazes of the +virgin woods traversed by the winding waterway. The Dyaks and other +wild aborigines of Borneo still haunt the forest depths, though the +fringe of civilisation drives them further inland, and some of the +local Sultans begin to fraternise with the settlers, who alone can +develope the riches of the extensive island. At present the northern +territory of Sarawak, successfully governed by an alien race, finds no +adequate counterpart on the island, though coast towns, springing up at +wide intervals, open small districts to the enterprise of the European +world. Balik-Papan, rising tier above tier on the dark hillside, and +brilliant with a multitude of flashing lights, looks picturesque as +Naples itself, when we steam away in the gathering gloom, and the +dazzling illumination, reflected in the tranquil sea, appears a +miraculous transfiguration. Oil tanks and warehouses, refineries and +factories, vanish under the veil of night, and only a fairy vision of +unearthly brightness remains as a final recollection of our brief visit +to Borneo. + + + + +THE MOLUCCAS. + + + + +TERNATE, BATJAN, AND BOEROE. + + +The Birds of Paradise (known by the Malay as _Manuk Devata_, "birds of +God") were traditionally represented as lured from their celestial home +by the spicy perfume of these enchanted isles, from whence perpetual +incense steals across the sea, and rises heavenward with intoxicating +fragrance. A Dutch naturalist in 1598 says, "These birds of the sun +live in air, and never alight until they die, having neither feet nor +wings, but fall senseless with the fragrance of the nutmeg." Linnaeus +asserts that "they feed on the nectar of flowers, and show an equal +variety of colour, blue and yellow, orange and green, red and violet." +Portuguese naturalists also represent the _passaros de sol_ as +footless, their mode of flight concealing the extremities. Birds of +Paradise were articles of tribute from native chiefs, and a sacred +character belonged to the feathered tribe, wheeling between earth and +sky above the spicy groves of the alluring Moluccas. This island group, +for ages the coveted prize of European nations, exercised an +irresistible attraction on Arabia and Persia. Various expeditions were +organised, and in the ninth century Arab sages discovered the healing +virtues of nutmeg and mace, as anodynes, embrocations, and condiments. +A record remains of a certain Ibn Amram, an Arabian physician, whose +uncontrolled passion for the _nux moschata_ overthrew his reason. The +story, continually quoted as a warning to subsequent explorers of the +Spice Islands, has apparently kept his memory green, for no previous +details of his career have come down to us. Eastern spices were +favourite medicines in Persia during the tenth century, and fifty years +later the _karoun aromatikon_ was added to the Pharmacopeia of Europe. +In A.D. 1400, Genoa and Barcelona became the principal spice markets, +though the attention of Northern Europe had been directed to the +Moluccas by those voyages of Marco Polo which, especially in lands of +fog and snow, fired popular imagination with myriad visions of realised +romance. Camöens, in the Lusiad, chanted the praises of the _verde noz_ +in those poetic groves, which he regarded as a new garden of +Hesperides, when the magic lure of an untravelled distance, and the +dreamful wonder of an untracked horizon, wove their spells over the +mind of an awakening world. Powers of observation and comparison were +still untrained and untried; superstition was rife, and a necromantic +origin was frequently ascribed to the unfamiliar products of the mystic +East. Portugal, in the zenith of her maritime power, became the first +European trader in the Southern Seas, and in A.D. 1511 Albuquerque +reached the Moluccas, but was quickly followed by the Spaniards under +their great Emperor Charles V. Incessant war continued for the +possession of "the gold-bearing trees," until Spain and Portugal, +united by a common danger, combined their forces to exclude the +northern nations from any share in the coveted spoil. The rage for +spices spread throughout Europe, and kindled a fire of international +animosity which lasted for centuries. In A.D. 1595 the unwieldy Dutch +ships started on a perilous voyage round the Cape, to trace the unknown +path to the mysterious Moluccas, described as "odorous with trees of +notemuge, sending of their fragrance across the sea on the softe breath +of the south winde," and Holland, at the climax of her power, +eventually secured the monopoly of spices. The islands so fiercely +contested were twice owned by England, but finally relinquished in that +readjustment of power necessitated by the fall of Napoleon. Although +the Moluccas were declared open to the flag of every friendly nation in +1853, it was not until twenty years later that every vestige of +monopoly disappeared, and the Spice Islands were liberated from the +political chicanery of rival Powers. Peace brooded at last over the +sea-girt Elysium, where "Nature tries her finest touch," and in the +green shades of these "ultimate islands," the tumult of the world died +away into silence. Old German and Flemish ballads borrow quaint +anachronisms from that sylvan sanctuary of incense-laden sweetness, +which coloured the thoughts and dreams of contemporary poets, and added +exotic traits to their descriptions of northern scenery. "The nutmeg +boughs in the Garden of Love," droop over the fair-haired Teutonic +maiden in her home amid German pine-forests, and she gathers "the +scented fruit of gold," as a worthy _gage d'amour_ for her stalwart +Saxon lover, with that picturesque incongruity of poetical license +permitted to mediæval versifiers. The canvas of many an early painter +depicts the sacred figures of Madonna and Child on an incongruous +background of German or Italian landscape, and the mediæval poet seldom +hesitates to enrich his verse with whimsical allusions, full of +fantastical inaccuracy, but valuable as revelations of current thoughts +and ideas. Only a slight sketch of the prolonged conflict waged for +centuries round the nutmeg groves of the remote Moluccas is possible in +this little record, but even the briefest account of the Spice Islands +demands mention of evidence proving the value attached to the precious +"fruit of gold," then outweighing every other product of tropical +climes in popular estimation. + +Three volcanic peaks tower up before us on reaching Ternate, the first +of the Molucca group. This mountain chain includes types representing +every period of volcanic agency. The smoking cone of Ternate slopes in +sweeping contours to the blue strait unbroken by bay or creek, and +smaller satellites flank the central height, grooved by wooded gorges. +The serrated ridge of Tidore, the opposite island, culminates in the +red pinnacle formed by a fresh pyramid of lava above the ruined wall of +a broken crater, the gap creating a sheltered inlet, where a fishing +boat with yellow sails skims like a huge butterfly across the +shimmering purple of the flowing tide. The fretted turquoise of the +further range rises on the great island of Halmaheira, inhabited by an +Alfoer population of Papuan origin, but beyond the scope of the present +cruise. The port of Ternate, on the southern slope of the volcano, +shows the pointed gables of palm-thatched dwellings rising from masses +of glorious greenery, brightened by purple torrents of bougainvillea, +or golden-flowered ansena trees, wreathed and roped with a gorgeous +tangle of many-coloured creepers. The breath of heavily-scented flowers +mingles with the pungent sweetness of clove and nutmeg. An avenue of +dadap trees skirts the shore, with varied foliage of amber and carmine. +The dark figures sauntering in the shade, and clad in rose-colour, +azure, or orange, add deeper notes to the symphony of colour, only +marred by the white-washed Dutch conventicle, like an emphatic protest +against Nature's response to her Creator. Ruined arches and pillars of +white Portuguese houses, standing in a wilderness of verdure amid +tumbled heaps of stone and concrete, testify to the earthquakes which +have continually wrecked the little port. The mixed population includes +Chinese, Arabs, and Malays. The original native race also contains +Malay, Dutch, and Portuguese elements, European descent resulting here +as elsewhere in darkening the native brown of the pure-blooded +Ternatian to ebony blackness in the second and succeeding generations. + +The discovery of an English-speaking schoolmistress simplifies the +day's itinerary, which begins with the thatched palace or _kedaton_ of +the Sultan. The tiered roofs of the royal _Messighit_ rise above the +_atap_ dwellings of the rustic Court, still professing a slack +Mohammedanism. The Dutch territory includes the Chinese and Oriental +_campongs_ divided by Fort Orange, but though the palmy days of +Ternate's hereditary Ruler have long since passed away, he retains a +shadowy authority over a limited area. Sir Francis Drake, on one of his +romantic voyages, touched at Ternate in the early days of the 16th +century, and in graphic words records his amazement at "the fair and +princely show" of this barbaric potentate, who sat robed in cloth of +gold, beneath a gold-embroidered canopy, and wore "a crown of plaited +golden links." Chains of diamonds and emeralds clasped his swarthy +neck, and on the royal right hand "there shone a big and perfect blue +turky." This regal splendour was attained by monopoly of the Spice +Trade, the incalculable profits inducing Europeans to exchange fortunes +of gold and jewels with native magnates. The Dutch, when seizing the +islands, often compelled the local Sultans to destroy acres of +spice-bearing trees, in order to concentrate the focus of commerce. The +thriving industries of _copra_, rattan, and _damar_ (the gum used in +making varnish) were increased tenfold by the abolition of private +spice-trading, and by emancipation of the slaves in 1861, when the +Dutch Government placed the liberated population under police +surveillance, compelling each individual to prove honest acquirement of +the slender means necessary for subsistence. Contact with the world +begins to sharpen native intelligence, already heightened by the fusion +of European blood with the island race, and external cleanliness being +enforced systematically in Dutch territory, the concrete cottages which +alternate with the thatched dwellings are dazzlingly white, the +diligent sweeping and watering at fixed hours helping to energise the +indolent people of the Moluccas. The warm air, redolent of spices and +flowers, the riotous profusion of richest foliage, and the depth of +colour in sea and sky, imbue Ternate with the glow and glamour of +fairyland. Bright faces and gay songs manifest that physical _joie de +vivre_ of which Northern nations know so little. The grass screens +hanging before the open houses are drawn to keep off the burning sun, +but the twang of lutes (a relic of the Portuguese occupation), and the +sound of laughter echo from the dusky interiors. A forest of mangos, +mangosteens, bread-fruit, and cocoa-palms, extends between the town and +Fort Teloko, the first Portuguese stronghold, and now a rocky outpost +of Fort Orange, the headquarters of the Dutch troops. Beyond shadowy +nutmeg groves lies the Laguna, a volcanic lake between mountain and +sea. In the poetic Moluccas one draws closer to the warm heart of +Nature than in any other part of the vast Archipelago, for the great +Mother seems calling her children to rest, as she raises the veil from +her inmost shrine and discloses her altar of peace. The presence of the +smoking volcano which dominates the landscape, supplies that poignant +note which, like a minor chord, accentuates the sweetness of the +melody. "Gather ye roses while ye may," sounds Nature's admonition to +humanity amid the lavish loveliness of blossom and foliage, clothing +the mysterious height which hides the smouldering fountains of eternal +fire beneath the vivid splendours of tropical vegetation. The +population of Ternate--native, Malay, Dutch, and half-caste--throngs +the wharf; the pretty schoolmistress, in spotless muslin, waves a +smiling farewell. Though we are to each other but as "ships that pass +in the night," the memory of cheery words and gracious deeds throws +rays of light across the surging seas, and the golden cord of kindness +anchors heart to heart. Passengers are few from these remote parts. A +Dutch officer, with a half-caste wife and two unruly children, whose +violent outbreaks would even give points to the juvenile English of +British India, are returning from a three years' exile at Ternate. The +incompetence of Malay nurses is equalled by the maternal indifference +to kicking and squealing, which threatens pandemonium for the remainder +of the voyage. At the last moment the native Sultan of Batjan embarks +for his island home, after commercial negotiations in Ternate, for this +native prince, a keen-faced man in European dress and scarlet turban, +trades largely in _damar_, the basis of his wealth. When at anchor next +morning in the wooded bay of Batjan, the green State Barge of his +Highness, with drums beating and banners flying, flashes through the +water, the blades of the large green oars shaped like lotus-leaves. A +horse's head carved at the prow, and a line of floating pennants--red, +black, and white--above the gilded roof of the deck-house, enhance the +barbaric effect of the gaudy boat, the brown rowers clad in white, +with gay scarves and turbans. + +Although our ship possesses a launch, various modes of landing are +required by the vagaries of the tide, the outlying reefs, and the +position of the ports. A wobbling erection of crossed oars, a plank +insecurely poised on the shoulders of two men, a rocking _bloto_, and +an occasional wade to shore, with shoes and stockings in hand, vary the +monotony of the proceedings. Landing at Batjan is accomplished in a +chair, borne aloft on two woolly black heads, but the shore, being cut +off by a crowd of fishing craft, can only be reached by sundry +scrambles over intermediate boats. The Sultan's modest mansion stands +in the midst of the palm-thatched _campong_, ostensibly guarded by a +grey fort, among rustling bamboos and tall sugar-canes. A friendly +native offers me a palm-leaf basket, filled with nutmeg sprays of +glossy leaves and yellow fruit from a roadside plantation, and a tribe +of children, dancing along through the delicious shade of a palm-grove, +leads the way to a point of view on a green knoll, with merry laughter +and eager gesticulation. Blue mountain crests soar above dark realms of +virgin forest, where the sombre conifers exude the precious _damar_, +which glues itself to the red trunks in shining lumps often of twenty +pounds' weight, or sinks deeply into the soft soil, from whence the +solidified gum needs excavation. The _damar_, pounded and poured into +palm-leaf tubes, serves for the torches of the fishermen, and for the +lighting of the dusky native houses. Batjan--rich in gold, copper, and +coal--awaits full development of the mineral treasures hidden in the +mountains of the interior. The island was colonised in early days by a +band of wandering Malays, who exchanged the perils of the sea for the +tropical abundance of this unknown anchorage, sheltered within the +reefs of the lagoon-like bay. If an aboriginal element existed in +Batjan, it probably died out or mingled with the immigrant race, which +broke off from the main body of the nomadic Malays, and formed one of +the numerous sub-divisions of the stock eventually planted on almost +every island and continent of the vast Pacific. The weaving of a bark +cloth, stained with the red juice of water-plants, suggests an industry +of these early days. The native cuisine still includes the unfamiliar +Malay delicacy of flying fox cooked in spice, and the hereditary skill +in hunting finds endless satisfaction in forests abounding with deer, +wild pig, and edible birds. A touch of barbarism lends a charm to +mysterious Batjan, and the marked individuality which belongs to every +portion of the Molucca group is nowhere more apparent than in this +island, which lies on the borderland of civilisation without losing the +distinctive character stamped upon it by the influences of an +immemorial past. + +Crescent-shaped Boeroe, where difficulties in landing involve launch, +_bloto_, and paddling through a long reach of shallow water to a black +swamp, possesses a commercial rather than an artistic value, being the +only place in the Archipelago which exports eucalyptus oil, locally +known as _kajopoetah_. A fleet of _praus_, with graceful masts of +bending bamboo, surrounds the steamer, the aromatic cargo packed in +long bamboo cases. The head-man of the _campong_, lightly attired in +his native brown, with a few touches of contrasting colour in scarf and +turban, acts as escort through a maze of weedy paths, and across bamboo +bridges in various stages of dilapidation to a couple of dreary +villages. The religious interests of Boeroe are represented by two +ruinous _Messighits_, and a deplorable Dutch conventicle. Some Hindu +element underlies native idiosyncracy, for nearly every forehead bears +a white prayer-mark, but the unchanging conservatism of localities +almost untouched by the lapse of Time, often retains symbolic forms +when their original meaning is entirely forgotten, and the lack of +missionary or educational enterprise among the Dutch exercises a +paralysing effect on the small communities of distant islands. Only a +relative poverty belongs to a clime where the shaking of a sago-palm +provides a large family with rations for three months, but the physical +energies of Boeroe have ebbed to a point where "desire fails," and the +unsatisfactory conditions of life meet for the most part with apathetic +acceptance. The marshy coast abounds with harmless snakes, but these +gruesome inmates of the tropical morass seldom leave their +hiding-places before sunset. The presence of the steamer awakens a +faint simulacrum of life and interest in sleepy Boeroe, and a native +woman, in the rusty black calico wherewith Dutch Calvinism counteracts +the Eastern love of glowing colours, brings a rickety chair from her +dingy hut, and sets the precious possession under a shadowy nutmeg-tree +in the village street. A little crowd assembles, for local excitements +are few, and the Malay phrase-book, an inseparable companion, aids in +carrying on a halting conversation, eked out with signs and facial +contortions. No school is found on Boeroe, and the simple people assert +with submissive sadness that nothing is done for them. The tone of +regret suggests an underlying consciousness of the hopeless ignorance +inevitable under the conditions of their narrow lot. The watery plain, +covered with tangled verdure, extends to the foot of the twin peaks +which merge into a low range of wooded hills, their lower slopes +glistening with the grey-green foliage of the great _kajopoetah_ trees. +The writhing roots of screw-palms rise above the green marshes, and +patches of tobacco alternate with ripening millet, but every crop seems +allowed to degenerate into unpruned disorder, and the feeble attempts +at cultivation soon lapse into the surrounding wilderness. The ruddy +trunk of the candelabra-tree towers above the ferns and oil-palms of +the tall undergrowth, the glossy sword-like leaves, often ten feet +long, being woven into the _cocoyas_, or sleeping mats, peculiar to +Boeroe. The whistle of the steamer proves a welcome summons from this +melancholy island, a solitary exception to the divine beauty and +irresistible witchery of the Molucca group. + + + + +AMBON. + + +The fiord-like Bay of Ambon flows into the heart of the fragrant Clove +Island, between the peninsulas of Heitor and Léitemor, which gradually +ascend from the harbour's mouth until their heights of glowing green +merge into wooded mountains, behind the white town of Amboyna. This old +European settlement ranks as the tiny capital of the Molucca group. +_Praus_ and fishing smacks dot the blue inlet with tawny sails and +curving masts, the local craft varied by a fantastic barque from the +barbarous Ké isles, with pointed yellow beak and plume of crimson +feathers at the prow, suggesting some tropical bird afloat upon the +tide. The glossy darkness of the clove plantations enhances the paler +tints of the prevailing foliage, and the virginal tints of the sylvan +scenery indicate a climate of perpetual spring. Thatched roofs, and +walls of plaited palm-leaf, stand among white-washed cottages of coral +concrete, for low houses, or slight material, afford comparative +security against collapse by earthquake. The brown population throngs +the pier, and a little fleet of _dug-outs_ escorts the steamer through +the bay with gay songs and merry laughter, for the lively Ambonese +value every link that binds them to the outside world, and this is +their gala day. Bold, eager, craving for foreign intercourse, and +possessing the quickened intelligence due to the mixture of Dutch and +Portuguese blood with the native strain, a roving spirit of adventure +counteracts the lazy independence of a life where daily needs are +supplied without exertion. The sea swarms with fish, the woods teem +with sago, and cultivation of the clove procures extra wages when any +special purpose requires them. The Portuguese who colonised Ambon, in +the zenith of their maritime power, were of vigorous stock, and the +mental heritage of the island was permanently enriched by elements +derived from a foreign source. + +The Ambonese soldiers of the Netherlands India manifest a courageous +and warlike character; their rate of payment equals that of their +European brothers-in-arms, and in the raids or skirmishes frequent +throughout the wild districts of Celebes and Sumatra they play a +spirited part. The burghers of Ambon show more of the Dutch element in +their composition. The island, Christianised in the dreary mode of +Calvinistic Holland, accepts in half-hearted fashion the creed so +incongruous with tropical Nature. Dutch missionaries, waging aimless +war against brightness and colour, arrayed their brown converts in +funereal gloom. The Sunday attire of the men consists of black calico +coats down to the heels, and flopping black trousers. The women wear a +shapeless gown of the same shabby and shiny material, with a white +scarf dangling from the left arm. These blots on the brilliancy of the +scene produce a curious impression when approaching the wharf, where +the native bronze of children and coolies, the blue robes of Chinamen, +and the gay turbans of Mohammedans, blend harmoniously with the scheme +of colour in flower and foliage. The _praus_ which follow in our wake +make ready the rustic Malay anchor, a forked branch of stout timber, +strengthened by twisted rattan, which also secures the stone +cross-piece. This relic of a distant past can scarcely have changed +since the days when the wandering tribe first launched upon the blue +waters of the Pacific, in that mysterious voyage which moulded the +destinies of the Malay race. A rudimental feeling for art co-exists +with imperfect civilisation, and elaborate carving adorns rude skiffs, +floats of fishing lines, and even wooden beaters of the clay used in +native pottery. A dervish, in turban of flaming orange and garb of +green and white, beats a huge drum in the pillared court of a large +mosque, for the followers of the Prophet are numerous, and though the +usual deadly conventicle occupies a conspicuous place, it produces no +effect on the Arab element. The son of the Dutch pastor who, after his +grim fashion, Christianised the former generation, proves better than +his condemnatory creed, and acts as personal conductor to the sights of +Amboyna. After a rest in the flower-wreathed verandah of his home, and +a chat with his kindly half-caste wife, we visit the gilded and +dragon-carved mansion of a leading Chinese merchant, friendly, +hospitable, and delighted to exhibit his household gods, both in +literal and figurative form. A visit to the Joss Temple follows, +liberally supported by this smiling Celestial, whose zeal and charity +may perchance plead for him in that purer sanctuary not made with +hands, and as yet unrevealed to his spiritual sight. The appalling +green and vermilion deities who guard the temple courts, indicate fear +as the chosen handmaid of faith in this grotesque travesty of religion, +but the costly tiling of violet and azure, the rich gilding of the +curling eaves terminating in scarlet dragons, and the deeply-chiselled +ebony, falling like a veil of thick black lace before the jade and +porphyry shrines, prove that even the despised Chinaman offers of his +best to the Divinity dimly apprehended by his darkened soul. + +The large Malay School of Amboyna manifests an educational position in +advance of the smaller islands, and knowledge of the wider world +beyond the Archipelago stimulates the spirit of enterprise inherited in +different degrees and varying conditions, both from Malay and +Portuguese ancestry. + +A dilapidated carriage is chartered with difficulty, as only three +vehicles belong to the island, and the driver evidently expects his +skeleton steed to collapse at any pace quicker than a walk. The green +lanes, with their hedges of scarlet hybiscus overhung by the feathery +foliage of tamarind and bamboo, wind along the shore, and penetrate +into the depths of the hills. Rustling sago-palms sway their tall +plumes on the mountain side, and shadow luxuriant clove gardens, their +pungent aroma mingling with nutmeg and cinnamon to steep the soft +sea-wind in a wealth of perfume. European houses of white stone nestle +among palm and tamarind, the broad seats flanking the central door, and +the bulging balconies of old Dutch style recalling the 16th century +dwellings on the canal banks of distant Holland, but the crow-stepped +gable here gives place to the flat roof. Every green garden contains a +refuge of interwoven _gaba-gaba_ stalks, as a retreat during +earthquakes, when the overthrow of the flimsy arbour would entail no +injury, though it serves as a shelter from the torrential rains which +often accompany volcanic disturbances. A wayside stall of palm-thatched +bamboo provides _sageroe_ for thirsty pilgrims. This fermented beverage +often excites the Ambonese nature to frenzy, though only made from the +juice of the _arên_ or sugar palm. The brown dame who presides over the +bamboo buckets, in her eagerness to honour a white customer, wipes an +incredibly dirty tumbler on her gruesome calico skirt before dipping +the precious glass into the foaming pail, and tastes the draught by way +of encouragement. With some difficulty she is induced to wash the +tumbler, and to omit the last reassuring ceremony. The _sageroe_, sweet +and refreshing, gains tonic properties from an infusion of quassia, +which sharpens the flavour and strengthens the compound, packed in +bamboo cases or plaited palm-leaf bags for transport to the +neighbouring islands. A grey fort, and weather-worn Government offices, +flank the green _aloon-aloon_ of Amboyna, surrounded by tamarind +avenues. The Dutch Resident finds ample employment, owing to the mania +for litigation among the Ambonese. The honour of appearing before a +Court of Justice is eagerly sought, and imaginary claims or grievances +are constantly invented in order to satisfy the ambition for publicity. +A modest and retiring temperament forms no part of native equipment, +and the slight veneer of Christianity, in the crudest phase of Dutch +Protestantism, increases the aggressive tendency. The missionary +agencies of Calvinistic Holland seem incapable of practical sympathy +with the island people; but half a loaf is better than no bread, and +in any form of Christian faith the Heavenly Husbandman scatters grains +of wheat among the tares, that all His wandering children may reap a +share of harvest gold even from a stubborn and sterile soil. + +Amboyna shows signs of commercial prosperity in the crowded _passer_ +and the busy Chinese _campong_, for the enterprising Celestial forms an +important element of the mercantile community in the Clove Island. +Three memorial tablets erected in front of the hoary fort, the bare +Dutch church, and the crumbling guard-house, record the worthy name of +Padrugge, a Dutch Governor who restored Amboyna after complete +destruction by a violent earthquake, that ever-haunting terror within +the great volcanic chain of the Malay Archipelago. The steep acclivity +behind the palm-shaded park of the Residency contains a stalactite +grotto, infested by a multitude of bats, which cling to the sparkling +pendants of the fretted roof, unless disturbed by the Ambonese coolies, +who regard them as culinary delicacies, and catch them in this ancient +breeding-place, with a noise which brings down the terrified creatures +into unwelcome proximity, cutting short any attempts at exploration, +and causing rash intruders to beat a hasty retreat. + +In the hush of dawn, when the intensity of calm steals colour as well +as sound from the motionless waters, we embark on an expedition to the +_Zeetuinen_, or Sea Gardens, the fairy world of the coral reefs, +revealed through the magic mirror of the watery depths. As we gaze +steadily through the silvery blue of the glassy sea, a misty vision of +vague outline and shifting colour materialises into an enchanted +forest, and appears rising towards the surface. Coral trees, pink and +white, gold and green, orange and red, wave interlacing branches of +lace-like texture and varying form, above the blue water-ways which +divide the tremulous masses of rainbow-tinted foliage. The sinuous +channels expand at intervals into quiet pools, bordered with azure and +purple sea-stars, or studded with clumps of yellow lilies, spotted and +striped with carmine. A circle of rock, enclosing a miniature lake, +blazes with rose and scarlet anemones, and the boat, floating over the +wilderness of marine vegetation, pauses above a coral growth, varied in +form as any tropical woodland. Majestic trees, of amber and emerald +hue, stand with roots muffled in fading fern, or sunk in perforated +carpets of white sponge, and huge vegetable growths or giant weeds, +lustrous with metallic tints of green and violet, fill clefts and +ravines of coral rock. A grove of sea-palms mimics the features of the +upper world, as though Nature obeyed some mysterious law of form, lying +behind her operations, to regulate expression and bring order out of +chaos. Giant bunches of black and mauve grapes, like the pictured +spoils of the Promised Land, lie on soft beds of feathery moss, but the +familiar greens of the velvety carpet shade into orange and pink. A +weird marine plant shoves long black stems, crowned with a circle of +azure blue eyes, which convey an uncanny sensation of being regarded +with sleepless vigilance by mysterious sentinels, transformed and +spellbound in ocean depths. Tree-fern and hart's-tongue show verdant +fronds, flushed with autumnal red or gold, and a dense growth of starry +flowers suggests a bed of many-coloured tulips. Dazzling fish dart +through the crystal depths. A shoal of scarlet and green parrot-fish +pursue a tribe striped with blue and orange. Gold-fish flash like +meteors between uplifted spears of blood-red coral, and the glittering +scales of myriads, splashed with ruby, or flecked with amethyst, +reflect the colours of the gorgeously-frilled and rosetted anemones in +parterres between red coral crags. Tresses of filmy green floating from +the mouth of a cavern, suggest a mermaid's hair, and her visible +presence would scarcely add to the wonders in this under-world of +glamour and mystery. Shells, pink and pearly, brown and lilac, scarlet +and cobalt, strew the flower-decked floor with infinite variety, +concave and spiral, ribbed and fluted, fretted and jagged--the satin +smoothness of convoluted forms lying amid rugged shapes bristling with +spines and needles. We gaze almost with awe at the lovely vision of a +dainty Nautilus, sailing his fairy boat down a blue channel fringed +with purple and salmon-coloured anemones, beneath a hedge of rosy +coral. The shimmering sail and carven hull of iridescent pearl skim the +water with incredible swiftness, and tack skilfully at every bend of +the devious course, not even slackening speed to avoid collision with a +lumbering star-fish encountered on the way. These submarine Gardens +contain the greatest natural collection of anemones, coral beds, +shells, and fish, discovered in the ocean world. The richest treasures +of Davy Jones's Locker lie open to view, as the boat glides through the +ever-changing scenery mirrored in the transparent sea. Opalescent +berries resemble heaps of pearls, and the lemon stalks of marine sedge +gleam like wedges of gold in the crystalline depths. The long oars +detach pinnacles of coral like tongues of flame, and a cargo of +seaweed, shells, and anemones, fills the boat as each enchanted grotto +contributes a quota of treasure trove, but the vivid colouring fades +apace when the sea-born flora leaves the native element, and the deep +blue eyes, gazing from their dark stems with weird human effect, lose +their radiance in the upper world. + +We land at the pretty valley of Halong, where a rippling brook +traverses a wood of sago-palms, and falls in a white cascade over the +rocks of a sheltered bathing-pool, screened by green curtains of banana +and tall mangosteens, laden with purple fruit. Makassar-trees rain +their yellow blossoms into the water, cloves fill the air with pungent +fragrance, and lychees droop over the clear current. A melancholy Malay +song floats up from the sea, but the sad sweet notes only accentuate +the haunted silence of the fairy glen, with an echo from that distant +past which breathes undying music round these enchanted isles. Woodland +shadows and wayside palms disclose the sweeping horse-shoe curves of +numerous Chinese tombs, the white stone elaborately carved and covered +with hieroglyphics. Plumy cocoanut and tremulous tamarind wave over the +last resting-places of these exiles from the Holy Land of the Celestial +Empire, for the second generation established on an alien soil is +forbidden to seek burial in China. The so-called _Paranak_ of the Malay +Archipelago frequently marries a native wife, and, as purity of race +becomes destroyed, ancestral obligations lose their power even over the +mind of the most conservative people in the world. + +The woods of Ambon teem with the abundant bird-life peculiar to the +Moluccas. An exquisite kingfisher, with golden plumage and emerald +throat, darts across the stream, and the scarlet crests of green +parrots resemble tropical flowers, glowing amidst the verdant foliage +hardly distinguishable from the fluttering wings of the feathered +tribe, which includes twenty-two species indigenous to the islands. +The megapodius or mound-maker, an ash-coloured bird about the size of a +small fowl, grasps sand or soil in the hollow of a powerful claw, and +throws it backwards into mounds six feet high, wherein the eggs are +deposited, to be hatched by this natural incubator, through the heat of +the vegetable matter contained in the rubbish heap. The young birds +work their way through the mound, and run off at once into the forest, +where they start on an independent career. They emerge from their +birthplace covered with thick down and provided with fully-developed +wings. The maternal instinct of the megapodius ceases with the laying +of eggs, and, having supplied a safe cradle for the rising generation, +she takes no further thought for her precocious progeny, capable of +securing a livelihood in the unknown world from the moment of their +first appearance in public. + +A merry group, half-hidden in the shadows of clustering sago-palms, +gathers the harvest of precious grain, the pith of a large tree +producing thirty bundles, each of thirty pounds weight. The baking of +the sago-cakes made from this lavish store occupies two women for five +days, and the housekeeping cares of the largest family only need +quarterly consideration in this island of plenty, where the struggle +for the necessaries of existence is unknown and unimaginable. Leisure +and liberty, those priceless gifts which can only be attained where +the pressure of poverty is unfelt, serve valuable purposes in Ambonese +hands, for the European energies fused into the native race prevent +mental stagnation, and spur tropical indolence to manifold activities. +A variety of thriving industries belong to this far-off colony. +Mother-of-pearl shells, and _bêche-de-mer_ (the sea-slug of Chinese +cuisine) supplement the important export of the cloves, the speciality +of Ambon, chosen by the East India Company as the sole place of +cultivation for this spice-bearing tree, when the system of monopoly +extirpated the clove gardens of the other islands. Vases, mats, and +miniature boats, of fringed and threaded cloves, are offered as +fantastic souvenirs of Amboyna, and the spirit of the place seems +imprisoned in these tiny curios which revive so many haunting memories +of the romantic island. + +Nominal adherence to Dutch Calvinism fails to repress the natural +instincts of a gay and pleasure-loving race. The national dance known +as _Menari_, and often performed on the shore in honour of the outgoing +steamer, no longer satisfies Ambonese requirements, with the slow +gyrations and studied postures of Oriental tradition. The eager and +passionate temperament finds truer expression in the walzes and galops +of European origin, known as _dansi-dansi_, enthusiastically practised +on those festive occasions, when the full dress of funereal black and +white seems specially inappropriate to the wild abandon of the +merry-making populace. In sunny Amboyna the cowl does not make the +friar, and the last recollection of the little Moluccan capital is a +vision of whirling figures and twanging lutes at the water's edge, +while the receding steamer furrows the milky azure of the land-locked +bay. The vivid green of one palm-clad shore burns in the gold of +sunset, but the eastern side lies veiled in shadow, and as the +sheltered inlet gives place to the open sea, the luminous +phosphorescence of the Southern ocean bathes the rocky bastions of +enchanted Ambon in waves of liquid fire. A strange history belongs to +the physical conformation of volcanic shores, alternately raised and +depressed by the agitation of earth and sea. The coast-line has varied +from time to time; straits have become lakes, islands have severed or +united, occasionally rising suddenly from the waves, or vanishing in +the bosom of the deep. Geologists assert that the Malay Archipelago was +originally thrown off by volcanic action from Asia and Australia, and +that an interchange of animal and vegetable life has frequently taken +place. Hurricanes have uprooted forest trees, and floods have borne +them out to sea, the tide eventually washing them up on the shores of +distant islands. A fresh growth of foreign vegetation was thus +inaugurated, as these sylvan colonists struck their saplings into an +alien soil. Insects, preserved by the bark, propagated themselves in +new surroundings, and seeds drifting on the waves, or clinging to roots +and fibres, wreathed unfamiliar shores with exotic flowers. Animal +migration has frequently been caused by natural catastrophes, and to +birds directing their swift flight by faculties now attributed to keen +observation rather than to unreasoning instinct, the change of locality +was infinitely simplified. In the Moluccas we may read a compendium of +the wide-spread history which applies to the vast regions comprised in +the mighty Archipelago. The doctrine of earthly changes and chances, +too often accepted as a mere figure of speech, is here recognised as a +stern reality; the tragedies of destruction repeat themselves through +the ages, the laboratories of Nature eternally forge fresh +thunderbolts, and the fate of humanity trembles in the balance. +Meanwhile a profusion of flowers wreathes the sacrificial altars, the +fairest fruits ripen above the thin veil which hides the fountains of +volcanic fire, and the sweetest spices of the world breathe incense on +the air. The uncertain tenure of earthly joys gives them redoubled zest +and poignancy, the passionate love of life becomes intensified by the +looming shadows of Death, and the light glows with clearer radiance +against the blackness of the menacing thunder-cloud. + + + + +BANDA. + + +The exquisite islands of Banda, dominated by the stately volcano of +Goenoeng Api (the mountain of fire), form the climax of the enchanting +Moluccas. Contour and colour reach their utmost grace and softest +refinement in this ideal spot, a priceless jewel resting on the heart +of the Malay Archipelago. + +The mists of dawn have scarcely lifted their gossamer veils from the +dreaming sea, when the pinnacled rocks of Rum and Aye, the outposts of +the Banda group, pierce the swathing vapours. The creamy cliffs of +Swangi (the Ghost Island), traditionally haunted by the spirits of the +departed, show their spectral outlines on the northern horizon, and the +sun-flushed "wings of the morning" span the sapphire arch of heaven as +we enter the sheltered gulf of the Zonnegat, fringed by luxuriant woods +clothing a mountain side, and brushing the water with a green fringe of +trailing branches. Gliding between Cape Lantaka and two isolated crags, +the steamer enters a glassy lake, encircled by sylvan heights, with +the menacing cone of the Goenoeng Api rising sheer from the water's +edge. A white town climbs in irregular tiers up the shelving terraces +of a fairy island, the central hill crowned by the crenellated +battlements of a grey citadel. The largest ship can anchor close to +shore, for the rugged boundaries of Banda descend by steep gradients +into the crystalline depths. Chinese and Arab _campongs_ border +European streets of concrete houses, long and low, with flat roofs and +external galleries. + +The southern shore of Banda Neira faces the forest-clad heights of +Great Banda, clothed from base to summit with nutmeg trees, shadowed by +huge kanaris, their interlacing canopies protecting the precious spice +plantations from the sun. A slender rowing boat, known as a _belang_, +makes a brilliant point of colour on the blue strait between the sister +islands. Red and yellow flags and pennants flutter above the green +deck; the clash of gongs and cymbals echoes across the water, and a +weird chant accompanies the rhythmic plash of the short oars, as the +brown rowers toss them high in air, and bring them down with a sharp +splash. A splendid avenue of kanari-trees extends along the shore, the +usual Dutch church symbolises the uncompromising grimness of +Calvinistic creed, and the crumbling fort of Orange-Nassau, the scene +of many stirring incidents in the island past, adjoins the beautiful +thatched bungalow of the Resident, the broad eaves emerging from depths +of richest foliage. A subterranean passage connects the deserted +stronghold on the shore with Fort Belgica, the citadel now used as +barracks, but formerly for the preservation of the nutmegs from the +fierce raids of foreign powers, when the new-born passion for spices +intoxicated the mind of the world, and kindled the fires of war between +East and West. The lofty peak of the Goenoeng Api still smoulders, +although the main crater is supposed to be extinct. The lower slopes, +where not planted with vegetables by enterprising invaders from the +island of Boeton, abound with delicate ferns and rare orchids, for the +fertility of the volcanic soil, rich in metallic ingredients, creates a +luxuriant growth. Sulphureous vapours rise continually from a plateau +beneath the summit, where tumbled boulders of blackened lava lie sunken +in deep layers of volcanic ash. Banda Neira evidently rose from the sea +in some long-past eruption of the larger island, now the long ridge of +a ruined crater which collapsed in a fierce outburst, and threw off the +fragments of rock which compose the outer group. A curious fatalism +characterises the inhabitants of volcanic districts, and the +incalculable value of Banda in the middle ages outweighed all risks of +eruption and earthquake. The history of island colonisation by +Portugal, Spain, and Holland, forms a continuous record of battle, +loot, and persecution, in which the native population was decimated, +and even now the inhabitants would be quite insufficient to cultivate +and gather the "golden fruit," without the aid of innumerable emigrants +from Java. Hard measures were dealt out in order to maintain the +monopoly of spices, and the injury to the native races, by destroying +the nutmeg trees of the other islands, crippled the trade which had +found a natural outlet in Asia. All the nutmegs were sent to Europe, +but one-fifth of the yearly produce was diverted by smuggling into +forbidden channels, though severe punishment was inflicted upon +offenders. Economic administration was unknown in the 17th and 18th +centuries, but the holocaust of spices burnt in the market-place of +Amsterdam, and the extermination of the nutmeg trees in Moluccan +islands, sent a thrill of horror through the European world, which +placed such an exaggerated value on the possession of spices that the +wars waged to secure them breathe the romantic fanaticism of a wild +crusade. Monopoly and slavery were at length definitely abolished, and +in 1873 the Dutch Government, realising the necessity of Free Trade, +sanctioned the independence of the nutmeg planters. The far-seeing +views of Sir Stamford Raffles during the second brief English +occupation of the Moluccas, from 1810 to 1816, were disregarded in +England (knowing little, and caring less, about the remote Spice +Islands), though his counsels were eventually adopted by the Dutch +Government as the only means of ensuring an increased profit. A +high-prowed native boat, known as an _orembai_, plies across the +narrow strait which separates the islands of Banda Neira and Banda +Lonthar, or Great Banda. The long range of hills covered with a dense +forest of the precious nutmeg trees, attains an ideal of sylvan scenery +surpassing even the glorious palm-woods of Java. These may be described +in terms of comparative accuracy, and their beauty painted in realistic +language, but none can translate into words the irresistible charm and +glamour of the nutmeg aisles, the exquisite foliage and contours of the +spice-bearing trees, the wealth of delicate blossom and peach-like +fruit, and the flickering emerald light from hues shading through the +whole gamut of colour, from the tender verdure of spring to the glossy +darkness of winter evergreen. Colossal kanari-trees, veritable monarchs +of the forest, tower over the nutmegs, and form an unbroken roof of +interlacing boughs, for the nutmeg, needing shelter to bring the fruit +to perfection, is not suffered to attain a height of more than seventy +feet. The columnar trunks of the majestic kanaris wreathe their huge +girth with lace-like fern and broad-leaved epiphytal plants, and the +symmetrical beauty of the conical nutmeg-trees in these forest aisles +suggests a vast sanctuary of Nature, enshrining the mystic presence of +Divinity. Here, as amid the shades of unfallen Eden, we can imagine a +trysting-place of God and man in the perennial "cool of the day," which +breathes through the green twilight of these solemn groves, redolent +with the incense from myriad sprays of creamy blossom and ripened nuts +in shells of pink-flushed amber, for flower and fruit deck the +"gold-bearing tree" without intermission, and every day produces a +fresh harvest of nutmegs. The brown kernel of the opening fruit, +contained in a network of scarlet mace, falls to the ground in +twenty-four hours, and unremitting care is needed in gathering and +handling the nutmegs with the _gaai-gaai_, a long stick ending with a +prong, to break off the ripe fruit into the woven basket accurately +poised beneath the wooden fork. Only the female trees yield the +precious crop, and the highest point of production, attained at the +twentieth year, continues undiminished through four subsequent decades, +after which the strength of the average tree declines, although it +often lives for a century. The cooing of the nutmeg pigeon, which feeds +on the abundant fruit, echoes through the shadowy glades with soothing +monotony. Yellow canaries flit through the vivid green of the pointed +foliage, and the scarlet crests of parrots glow through the dark +canopies of the giant kanari-trees. The voices of children at play, the +distant songs of the nutmeg-gatherers, the plash of the waves on the +coral reef, and the scented breeze whispering in the green crowns of a +million trees, blend in harmonious concord to fill the sylvan temple of +tropical Nature with mysterious music. At wide intervals the white +houses of the planters gleam amid the drooping boughs, the prevailing +green of the spacious woods relieved by the rosy purple of +Bougainvillea mantling a pillared verandah, or by great vases of +crimson and yellow flowers, bordering broad flights of stone steps. +Life on a great nutmeg plantation retains patriarchal character and +archaic charm; the multitude of dependents calls forth, in the present +day at any rate, much of kindly solicitude, and though the unvarying +sameness of existence sometimes proves the serpent which destroys the +peace of the idyllic Eden in young and eager hearts, the ramifications +of the large family party, gathered under one roof, mitigate the +monotony of daily tasks, and supply the necessary mental friction. Work +in the nutmeg-woods begin at 5 a.m., when a pealing bell summons the +labourers to each plantation for their different duties of gathering +the nuts, drying the mace, or sorting and liming the fruit. The +beautiful forest constitutes the world of the nutmeg-gatherer, both for +labour and recreation. In these dusky avenues youth and maiden tell +each other Love's eternal story, wandering away into the dreamland +shadows, vocal with sweeter melody than that of bird or breeze. The +musical call of the nutmeg-pigeon serves as a danger-signal, uttered +by sympathising friends, when love must yield to life's stern realities +in the person of the overseer. An ardent courtship often contributes to +the rapid filling of the nutmeg-basket in the hand of a rustic beauty, +whose admirers strive to secure for her the premium awarded for special +diligence, and a judicious official learns on occasion to be +conveniently deaf to the feigned voice of the _manoek faloer_. If the +chivalrous zeal of the brown lover is apt to overleap frontiers, and to +fill the baskets of one plantation with the produce of the other, the +ethics of Banda demonstrate the identity of human nature when swayed by +the passion which, according to circumstances, wrecks Troy or raids a +nutmeg orchard. A story is told of a planter who, in consequence of +engaging a bevy of attractive maidens for the year's work, was rewarded +by a phenomenal harvest of nutmegs, though the adjacent estates were +barren of fruit. Evening shadows darken apace in the woodland world, +and work ceases at three in the afternoon, when the store of gathered +fruit is brought to the _pagger_, where drying and liming sheds +surround the central warehouse. The nutmeg-pickers sort the ripe nuts +in an open gallery before taking them to the drying-shed, where they +are spread on a platform of split bamboo, twelve feet above a +smouldering fire. The process continues for six weeks, the nuts being +repeatedly turned until they begin to rattle. Only a slow method of +drying prevents the escape of the essential oil, necessary to the +flavour of the fruit, which must afterwards be dipped in slaked lime to +preserve it from insects. The coral-like mace contains a rich supply of +aromatic balm, and when loosened from the nutmeg can be dried in the +sun. The delicate scarlet branches, spread on wickerwork frames in open +spaces of the woods, contrast vividly with the shaded verdure of the +beautiful trees. The mace, trodden flat for facility in packing, +resembles a dainty growth of finest seaweed, and in the 16th century +shared popularity with the nutmeg which produced it. Even in the +present day a pewter spice box is an indispensable present on that +sixth anniversary of a Dutch marriage still known as "the pewter +wedding," and a nutmeg-box, with a grater, remains as a favourite +bridal gift, the fashion originating when the passion for spices first +pervaded mediæval Europe. Trade, as well as Science, wrote many +chapters of romantic adventure in the long history of the world's +social development, and modern thought but dimly realises the magnetic +spell of the days when the veil was first lifted between East and West, +and the wonders of untrodden shores disclosed to the pioneer. Heine, in +his _Lieder_, chants of the mystic nutmeg-tree as the ideal growth of +the tropical forest, for every stage of life and growth reveals some +fresh beauty in delicate bloom, glistening foliage, and fruit of +roseate gold. The spreading boughs, with their perfect contour and +emerald depths of light and shadow, suggest a typical picture of that +unfading Tree of Life in the midst of the earthly Paradise, round which +the passing ages weave innumerable dreams, while faith transplants it +to a fairer Garden than that of Eden. Where the winding woodland roads +lead along the shore, colossal screw-palms and silver-flowered +Barringtonias border the rocks, the sparkling azure of the sea visible +through the fantastic boughs, and the eternal song of the surf +vibrating through the still air with mysterious undertones. The brown +_campong_ of Banda Lonthar stands at the foot of the mossy steps which +lead to the summit of the wooded range, and command a superb view of +the island group. A further flight of stairs descends to the outside +coast or Achterval, but wherever we go, to quote the words of a modern +traveller, "we may imagine ourselves transported to the holy groves +whereof ancient poets sing." From the rich carpet of velvety moss and +plumy fern to the green vault of the leafy roof, the eye for once seems +"satisfied with seeing," for no hint of imperfection breaks the fairy +spell of enchantment in this poetic nutmeg-forest. Among serpentine +kanari roots, which stream across the mossy turf as though poured out +in liquid form and then petrified, we come across brown babies sleeping +in the shade, and cradled softly in the tender lap of earth, while the +mother, crooning a low song, pursues her work among the rustling +leaves. Terrace after terrace, the green aisles mount to the summit of +the great ridge, and the ruined forts on each wooded promontory recall +the long-past days when the "fruit of gold" demanded the increasing +vigilance of military power to defeat the onslaught of merchantman or +privateer, willing to run every risk in order to capture a cargo of +spices, and secure fabulous gains by appeasing the frantic thirst of +Europe for the novel luxury of the aromatic spoils. The mediæval craze +has died away, and the pungent spices of the Orient have taken a +permanent position of reasonable proportion in the culinary art of +modern times, but the glamour of the past, like the amber haze of a +tropical sunset, still environs the poetic tree in the island home +where, amid evergreen foliage and waxen flowers, the famous "fruit of +gold" still opens each coral-lined censer to exhale a wealth of undying +fragrance on the balmy air. + + + + +THE SOELA-BESSIR ISLES. + + +Outside the fairy circle of the exquisite Moluccas, a tiny cluster of +palm-clad islets gems the wide blue spaces of the lonely sea, unbroken +for many leagues by any foothold possible for human habitation. The +Dutch steamer only calls thrice a year at the remote Soela-Bessir +group, in quest of rattan, a plentiful product of these fertile isles, +where the leafy ladders of the aspiring parasite climb to the green +crowns of the tallest palms, wrapping them in the fatal embrace which +eventually levels the strongest monarch of the tropical forest to the +earth. The thick mantle of glossy foliage often hides the multitude of +hooks, loops, and nooses which the pliant cane flings round branch and +stem, gripped by long ropes of flexible fibre, hardening into thick +coils, rigid and unyielding as iron. The immense export of rattan for +chairs, couches, and innumerable domestic purposes, indirectly results +in the preservation of myriad palm-trees, by releasing them from the +deadly grasp of the tenacious creepers. The waving cocoanut trees of +Senana, the principal island of the Soela-Bessir group, kiss the blue +water with sombre plumes, bowed down by the wealth of heavy fruit lying +in green and golden clusters between frond and stem. The steamer +anchors far from the shore, and the launch proving unable to cross the +shallow bay, the landing of passengers can only be accomplished by two +crossed oars, carried and steadied by four of the crew. The mode of +progression is wobbling and risky, but the improbability of revisiting +Senana supplied a mental argument of unfailing force in balancing pros +and cons. The secluded island, so slightly influenced by the outside +world, changes but little with the lapse of time, and the triple-tiered +roofs of numerous thatched _Messighits_ rising above the palm-leaf huts +of the brown _campong_, assert the hereditary creed. The green banner +of Islam was planted here centuries ago by a fanatical horde of Arab +pirates, who added religious enthusiasm to love of plunder and thirst +of conquest. Their fiery zeal, though not according to knowledge, +ensured a vigorous growth of the foreign offshoot from the questionable +faith of these Arab corsairs, who left indelible traces on the whole of +the Malay Archipelago. The _Messighits_ of Senana are now only the +ruined shrines of a decadent creed, but the simple islanders remain +nominal adherents to the Monotheism of the past. Canoes and _blotos_, +rowed by lithe brown figures, come out to welcome the steamer, and a +fantastic boat, with carven prow, darts from beneath a green bower of +tangled foliage, laden with golden bananas. Merry-faced little savages +line the shore, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the white strangers, +who supply them with the amusement afforded by a travelling circus to +the more sophisticated children of the West. An eager desire to please +and gratify the extraordinary visitors, mingles with the uncontrollable +delight, manifested in capering, dancing, and gay laughter, as they +beckon us to follow them through the narrow lanes of the long +_campong_. Naked brown forms dash into their native huts at sundry +points of the route, to summon friends and kinsfolk, until the +procession swells into formidable proportions, for the whole _campong_ +is eventually in tow, with the exception of the men and boys occupied +in lading cargo. Through the dappled sunlight and shadows of the +sweeping palms which flank the glassy bay, we are personally conducted +to the principal _Messighit_, a bare, whitewashed building, without any +decoration beyond the blue and white tiles outlining the horse-shoe +arch of the _Mihrab_ looking towards Mecca. The exterior with three +roofs of mossy thatch supported on bamboo poles, offers a shelter from +the sun on a flight of crumbling steps, overshadowed by the spreading +eaves. A big cocoanut frond serves as an improvised broom in a dusky +hand, and the central step is carefully swept before the stranger, with +respectful salaams and gesticulations, is invited to sit down. A +turbaned _Imaum_, the custodian of the decaying sanctuary, comes forth +from his dilapidated hut among the palms behind the shrine, at the +unwonted excitement breaking the silence and solitude of the ancient +mosque, but he evidently belongs to the dreamland of the past, and +retires quickly from the disturbing present to meditations or slumbers +in his obscure dwelling, closing the bamboo door against all intruders. +This day's incident of the cruise in the Malay Archipelago seems +absolutely cut off from ordinary experience--a solitary Englishwoman, +resting in the shadow of the rustic mosque, and surrounded by a +half-barbaric tribe of unfamiliar aspect, the dark woolly hair, flat +noses, wide mouths, and dazzling teeth suggesting a liberal admixture +of negro or Papuan blood. Native intelligence simplifies a halting +conversation, carried on by means of the indispensable Malayan +phrase-book. Wistful eyes rest on the stranger whose lot is cast under +happier auspices, and unmistakeable characteristics manifest the +Soela-Bessir islanders as a gentle and teachable race. Alas! the Dutch +Government plants neither schools nor missions in distant Senana, too +far from the beaten track to commend itself to the religious or +educational care of a nation apparently indifferent to the claims of +small communities, in the vast Archipelago subject to Holland. Only the +quarterly call of the Dutch steamer stirs the stagnation of ages on the +Soela-Bessir isles, but although the young, sharing in that wondrous +heritage of mirth and gladness peculiar to the joyous early life of the +tropics, recognise no limitations in their lot, the mothers sadly +repeat the complaint heard elsewhere that no chance of improvement is +given to them. The steamer, frequently bringing hither the inhabitants +of more favoured islands in the interests of trade, already begins to +stir feelings of unrest, and vague longings for the better things as +yet withheld. A chieftain's daughter joins the throng round the old +_messighit_. A red-cotton drapery, thrown over bronze limbs, is her +only garment, but a diamond glistening on her dark hand looks +incongruous with the scanty clothing. The gem seems a talisman or +heirloom, but a request to examine it terrifies the owner, and she +rushes away into the woods to safeguard the precious possession from +perils suggested by the presence of the white pilgrim from across the +seas. The delicious breeze which always spring up after ten o'clock in +these latitudes renders walking a delight, the two following hours +being invariably cooler than the trying time between eight and ten, +when the fierce sun, on a level with the face, creates an atmosphere of +blistering glare. The brown procession forms an orderly escort to the +lading shed beneath a clump of tall cocoa-palms, and the kindly +merchant who negotiates the commerce of the Soela-Bessir isles for the +Dutch Government, sends a native boy up the smooth stem of a colossal +tree in search of a fresh cocoanut, which fills two tumblers with +refreshing sap. The thatched _campong_ stands against a background of +green hills and dense woods, rich in tropical verdure, but lacking the +loveliness of the Moluccas. The return to the ship involves a _bloto_ +across the bay, with many misgivings as to the seaworthy capacities of +the clumsy craft, but four bamboo safety-poles, fastened by forked +sticks to the sides of the hollowed log, suffice to steady it enough to +avoid capsizal. In the Soela-Bessir Isles, as in many other far-off and +forgotten regions, the genius of commerce begins to awaken the desire +of civilisation in untutored hearts, for Trade sharing in the romance +no longer regarded as the exclusive attribute of Art or Science, now +helps to fuse opposing elements into unity and order. The simple +inhabitants of distant Senana seem only waiting for an outstretched +hand to lift them to a higher level of creed and culture, for the +modern pioneers of missionary enterprise raise the superstructure of +Christianity with unexampled success on the substratum of truth +contained even in imperfect and erroneous creeds. That solid foundation +stone of belief in the One Eternal God, laid by Arab pirates centuries +ago, amid the lust of rapine and the smoke of war, which ever heralded +the onward march of conquering Islam, should serve as a firm basis for +building up these simple children of Nature into the mystical sanctuary +of the Christian Church. The lapse of time obliterates countless +landmarks of Moslem creed in localities removed from external contact, +but amid the dust of disintegrating forces and forgotten forms, the +central Truth remains imbedded, like a wedge of gold trodden in the +mire, but retaining intrinsic value and untarnishable purity. + + + + +SUMATRA. + + + + +THE WESTERN COAST AND THE HIGHLANDS. + + +Passing through the straits of Saleir, between a cliff-bound island and +the south-eastern Cape of Celebes, the returning steamer in due time +reaches her moorings in Sourabaya, and a rapid railway journey through +Java connects with the outgoing boat from Batavia to Padang, a three +days' voyage through a chain of green islands breaking the force of the +monsoon on a desolate and harbourless shore. The forest-clad ranges of +Sumatra draw nearer at Benkoelen, buried in cocoa-palms on the rim of a +quiet bay, within a terrific reef which makes landing impossible in +stormy weather. Fort and Residency, villas and gardens, manifest +Benkoelen as an oasis of civilisation, the steeply-tiled roofs +remaining as relics of the English occupation a century ago. Beyond +the little military settlement, the Sumatran mountains tower in +majestic gloom beyond a broken line of bristling crags, like granite +outworks guarding the eleven hundred miles of coast-line facing the +Indian Ocean. The rugged backbone of mysterious Sumatra, descending +sharply to the western sea, overlooks a vast alluvial plain on the +eastern side, where rice and sugar-cane, coffee and tobacco, flourish +between the wide deltas of sluggish rivers, though rushing streams and +wild cascades characterise the opposite shore. Ridges and bastions of +rock, above profound valleys, culminate in cloud-capped Indrapura, at a +height of 12,000 feet. Geologists affirm the vast age of Sumatra, +indicated by the Silurian rock, the bastions of granite, the +extraordinary vegetation fossilised in the huge coal-beds, and the +sandstone formation, often a thousand feet thick, carved by time and +weather into fantastic ravines. Inexhaustible mineral wealth lies +hidden in these weird ranges, together with the costly chemical +products of a volcanic soil, but the rich treasures of the virgin rocks +are for the most part unknown and unexplored. Columns of smoke rise +continually from numerous active volcanos, and the beautiful mountain +lakes fill extinct craters. The great island, lying north-west and +south-east, possesses a glorious climate, and the superb vegetation +shows a distinctive character from that of Java. The Dutch, though +supreme on the coast, have never yet subdued the interior, and +unconquerable Acheen remains a perpetual centre of unrest. The flower +of the Malay race belongs to Sumatra, and the wild Battek tribes of +alien origin are fast merging themselves into the dominant stock, +though the Redjanger clan, retaining curious customs of a remote past, +and possessing a written character, cut with a _kris_ on strips of +bamboo, is slow to assimilate itself to the Malayan element. The +Sumatran language shows traces of Indian and Arabic influence, and that +the early civilisation of the huge island was of Hindu origin is +evidenced by innumerable Sanskrit words, and by the fact that the +consecrated pipal tree, the "Ficus Religiosa" of India, remains to this +day the sacred tree of the Batteks. Native chronicles record the +descent of Sumatran princes from Alexander the Great, but though the +pages of Javanese history are comparatively legible, those of Sumatra, +designated in early days as "the older Java," resemble a dim +palimpsest, marred by erasure or hiatus, and barely decipherable +beneath the lettering on the surface of the age-worn parchment. + +Little _campongs_ of palm-thatched huts stand on piles at the water's +edge, and skirt the over-shadowing forest; fairy islands, encircled +with red-stemmed _arén_-palms, lie like green garlands on the indigo +sea, dotted with the yellow sails of native _proas_, and the little +train which conveys us to Padang, the western capital, seems an +incongruous feature in a scene suggestive of primeval peace and +solitude. A sylvan charm belongs even to this Sumatran township, for +the wooden houses, with pointed roofs of dried palm-leaves, and broad +eaves forming shady verandahs, stand far apart in flowery gardens, +aflame with orange or scarlet cannas, and fragrant with golden-hearted +frangipanni. The sweeping boughs of giant cocoanut trees make a green +twilight beneath their interwoven fronds, Bougainvillea drapes +crumbling wall and forest tree with curtains of roseate purple, and +thatched stalls of tropical fruits and glowing flowers brighten the +dusky avenues with patches of vivid colour. The determined aspect of +the Sumatran people denotes the superior calibre of the ancestral stock +which colonised the Archipelago, for foreign intercourse, which +elsewhere modified national character, scarcely affected the Sumatran +Malays, independent of the servile yoke imposed by the mighty princes +of Java. The forty _Soekoes_, or clans, of Sumatra, are sub-divided +into branches consisting of numerous families, all descended from a +common stock in the female line. This curiously constituted pedigree is +known as the Matriarchate, an ancient social system only retained in +Western Sumatra, and among certain South American tribes. The resolute +mien and dignified carriage of the Sumatran woman denote clear +consciousness of her supreme importance. The cringing submission so +painfully characteristic of Oriental womanhood is wholly unknown, and +though nominally of Mohammedan faith, the humble position prescribed by +the Korán to the female sex is a forgotten article of Sumatra's +hereditary creed. After marriage (forbidden between members of the same +clan) both man and woman remain in their own family circle. The husband +is only an occasional visitor, and the wife is regarded as the head of +the house. Her children remain under her exclusive care, and inherit +her property, together with the half of what their father and mother +earn together. The other half goes to the brothers and sisters of the +husband, whose titles descend to his own brothers and sisters. Sumatra +is veritably El Dorado to the Eastern wife and mother, conversant with +every detail respecting the management of land or money, and jealously +guarding the time-honoured rights and privileges of her exalted +position. + +The hereditary chieftains of Sumatran clans exercise a patriarchal rule +of uncompromising severity, and combine in every district to form the +_Laras_ or local Council, the distance separating forest and mountain +_campongs_ often necessitating sub-division into a village assembly. +The _Laras_, and those rural chieftains nominated by popular consent, +possess a seat on the Supreme Council of the Dutch Government, thus +forming the transitional element between Asiatic and European rule. +There is no Sumatran nobility, and although the hereditary chief of a +clan is invested with official authority, the stringent regulations of +the Matriarchate acknowledge no superiority of social status as an +appanage of his power. + +The hothouse atmosphere of Padang is gladly exchanged for the freshness +of the mountain heights, approached by a cog-wheel railway, and +affording truer pictures of Sumatran life than the hybrid port of the +steaming Lowlands. The luxuriant verdure of the swampy plain basks in +the sunshine of a blazing March day, and children in gaudy _sarongs_ +drive a brisk trade at palm-thatched wayside stations, with bamboo +trays of sliced pineapple sprinkled with capsicum, the approved +"pick-me-up" of Sumatra. The little train burrows through a +forest-lined pass, and skirts the chafing waters of the Anei river, +foaming over swarthy boulders. The turbulent stream, now deeply sunk +between granite cliffs, rises with terrific violence when lashed by the +wild mountain wind known as the _bandjir_, and rushes up the rocky +walls, overthrowing bridges, and dragging along immense crags with +resistless impetus. The shrill laughter of the black bush-apes echoes +from sombre masses of matted foliage, as the train ascends the lofty +range, and curves round the basin of a sparkling waterfall, dashing +from a fern-draped height. Granite cliffs soar above tropical jungle +and solemn forest; the narrow gap of the Anei widens into a luxuriant +valley; sago-palms rustle in the breeze, and tree-ferns spread their +green canopies over the brawling river. The splendid scenery is viewed +to advantage from a platform of the foremost railway carriage, the +train being pushed up the mountains by an engine in the rear. Beyond +the climbing forests, a bare plateau affords a glimpse of ever-burning +Merapi, with wooded flanks and lava-strewn summit, from whence a grey +cloud of smoke mounts in a spiral curl to the azure sky. Beyond this +point of view lies the green plain of beautiful Fort de Kock, the gem +of the Sumatran Highlands, to be numbered henceforth among those ideal +scenes which remain permanently photographed on mind and memory. The +crystalline atmosphere seems the very breath of life after a long +sojourn in the steaming tropics, and Fort de Kock, under the shadow of +mysterious Merapi, an Elysium of health and repose. The little Hotel +Jansen offers clean and comfortable accommodation, the kindly German +hostess proving a model landlady. As a Residency and the headquarters +of a Dutch garrison. Fort de Kock provides all the necessaries of life, +and the broad military roads of the vicinity simplify exploration. The +little white settlement beneath the wooded volcano possesses a bright +and cheery character, in keeping with the exhilarating climate, and +the beautiful Sturm Park, from palm-crowned hill and flowery terrace, +commands an exquisite prospect of the blue peaks belonging to the +borderland of those Native States extending to the Dutch possessions on +the Eastern coast. The curious houses of the Sumatran Highlands, with +their adjacent rice-barns, form distinctive features of this unique +island. The ridge of the steep thatch rises in sharp horns, interlaced +with black fibres of _arén_ palm, or covered with glittering tin. These +tapering points are considered talismans of good fortune, a fresh horn +being added on every occasion of marriage, for the married daughters, +under the provisions of the Matriarchate, remain in the home of their +childhood, and portions of the central division belonging to the house +are reserved for their use. Manifold horns frequently bristle above the +lofty roof, and the front of the main building is the common living +room for unmarried members of the large household. Houses and +rice-barns stand on high poles, after the Malay fashion, which +originated in the malarious districts of the Lowlands. The typical +rice-barns are lavishly decorated with gilding, carving, and colour, +inlaid with glass mosaic, and edged with balls of red and blue crystal, +the upward sweep of the slender horns sharply silhouetted against the +glowing cobalt of heaven. In every _kota_ (the Sumatran word signifying +a fortified place, or village), the beauty of the picturesque roofs +culminates in _Messighit_ and _Balei_, respectively the Mosque and Hall +of Consultation for the Village Council. The roofs of the Mosque rise +on thatched tiers, mounted on slender pine-stems, and the long _Balei_, +with mossy thatch prolonged into an open verandah on either side, shows +a multitude of curving horns pointing to Heaven, and symbolically +invoking celestial aid for the solemn assembly gathered beneath them, +when the full moon floods upland Sumatra with molten silver. Primitive +hospitality provides a _roemah negari_, or "House of Strangers," in +every village rich enough to erect this refuge for the toil-worn +wanderer, but where no special resting-place for pilgrims can be +offered, lodging can always be had in the open _Balei_, on application +to any member of the Village Council. The primitive simplicity of +Sumatran life remains practically unchanged in these remote hamlets of +the Western Highlands, and though Fort de Kock poses as the nucleus of +modern progress, European influences glance off the indurated surface +of native character like water poured over a granite slab. + +Across the rice-plain of Agam, dotted with brown _kotas_, crowned by +myriads of interweaving horns, we reach the scattered village of +Paja-Kombo, shadowed by dense woods of cocoanut palms, and famed for +one of the most picturesque native markets in the East. The women of +Paja-Kombo are noted for their beauty, enhanced by the splendour of +many-coloured _sarongs_, gleaming with gold and silver thread. Gay +turbans swathe the stately heads, and the golden filagree of barbaric +breastplates, heavy earrings, and broad armlets, lights up the shadowy +gloom of stone galleries and _al fresco_ stalls, beneath the drooping +boughs of ancient waringen-trees. The Sumatran Malays are energetic +traders, and the dignified personality of the Sumatran woman is +perpetually in evidence. Keen, thrifty, economical, and thoroughly +versed in all the details of commerce, she shows herself the +predominant partner in domestic life, and to her all decisions on +financial matters are referred, in accordance with the laws of the +Matriarchate, which protects her independence. The husbands and fathers +in attendance on their womankind at the great Market, submissively +defer to the gentler sex, which in Sumatra has ever held the reins of +social and domestic management, exercising authority wisely and well +within the wide area deputed to feminine sway. The Fair of Paja-Kombo +is a treasury of native Art in most delicate filigree, silver-threaded +cloth, baskets or fans of scented grass, and the heavy jewellery of +burnished brass which copies the designs of the many golden heirlooms +treasured by Sumatran womanhood. Streets of palm-thatched stalls, +alleys of eating-houses, and the wide enclosure of a Mule-Fair, cover +an open meadow, fringed by great sago-palms, the central grain and +rice Market crowded with picturesque figures in striped _sarong_ and +gold-flecked turban. The feast of colour provided by Paja-Kombo is +scarcely surpassed even by the famous Fair of Darjeeling, the +remoteness of the little settlement in the Sumatran Highlands +preserving the unfaded charm of an immemorial past. The wonderful Gap +of Harau may be reached by cart from Paja-Kombo; the palm-shaded road +narrows at the mighty gorge, where vermilion cliffs, grooved and ribbed +as though by some convulsion of Nature, tower up in colossal majesty on +either side. Splendid waterfalls flash down in foam and thunder, +scoring deep channels in the perpendicular heights, and bathing +thickets of tree-fern and maidenhair in pearly spray. A wild river +swirls through the deep ravine, opening towards the ethereal blue of +clustering peaks, which lie fold upon fold in the hazy distance of the +Native States, and disclose a mystic pathway into dreamland. + +Another deep gully of yellow tufa-rock behind Fort de Kock, forms the +first stage of the romantic route to Lake Manindjoe. Crossing the twin +rivers which have carved their winding gorge in the bosom of the hills, +the rude track through the mountains ascends to smooth plateaux forming +a flight of gigantic stairs, supported by rocky girders like natural +cross-beams. In early days of Dutch colonisation these successive +points of vantage, occupied by hostile tribes, were stormed in vain by +the invading army, and eventually only captured by surprise. The beauty +of upland Sumatra culminates at this mountain lake, lying within the +foundered crater of the Danau. The volcanic walls rise fourteen hundred +feet above the dark blue mere, a glitting sheet of _lapis lazuli_ set +within the black cleft of the profound chasm. Brown and purple rocks +enamelled with orange lichen, and garlanded with waving verdure, open +to display a mysterious vision of the glistening sea, with one white +sail like a butterfly's wing, crossing the distant waves. The flushing +rose-tints of a tropical sunset glorify the landscape into transcendent +beauty; the rude sculpture of the river crags, the black shadows of +primeval forest, and the far-off gleam of the Indian Ocean, composing +an ideal picture, enhanced by vague impressions of Infinity and +Eternity. + +The great Lake of Sinkarah, flanked by volcanic ridges, and by the +dense foliage of palm forests and coffee plantations, also presents a +succession of entrancing landscapes. White and purple orchids wreathe +the forest trees, troops of red monkeys chatter among the boughs, and +woodland vistas reveal leagues of emerald rice and golden millet. +Beyond Sinkarah lies the famous coal district of the island, where +Chinamen, convicts, and Hindu coolies, in perpetual bustle and +commotion, manifest an activity unique in the thinly-populated +interior of Sumatra, dependent on the labour of alien races. Javanese +act as woodmen, gardeners, and road-makers; the Klings serve as +cowherds and drivers of ox-waggons; the Bengalese prove efficient +policemen, and the Boyans skilful carpenters; the clearing of the +forest pertaining to Malays and Batteks, also responsible for the +building of the marvellous rice-barns, the apotheosis of Sumatran +architecture. The ordinary tourist omits Sumatra from his itinerary. +Occasional elephant-hunters penetrate the dense forests of the +interior, and engineers or tobacco-planters flock to the monotonous +levels of the eastern coast, but the glorious Western Highlands, the +Sumatran _Bovenland_, is seldom visited. Warlike Acheen, for ever at +feud with the Dutch Government, is forbidden ground to the European +traveller. The unconquerable independence of the Achinese, fiercely +resenting the sovereignty of Holland, proves an insoluble problem to +the Dutch methods of subjugation. The bold and lawless character of +this rebellious clan defies military discipline. The spirit of +insurrection animates every man, woman, and child of the brave but +treacherous race, and Acheen remains the dark centre of countless +tragedies, due to the spurious patriotism which counts a stab in the +dark, a poisoned arrow, or a cruel betrayal, as heroic and laudable +modes of resistance to the hated invader of Sumatra's ancient +liberties. The forest-clad interior of the vast island remains an +unknown wilderness. Cannibals still lurk in the black depths of the +pathless jungle; weird tribal customs linger unchanged in barbarous +_campongs_, where strange gods are worshipped with the immemorial rites +of an ageless past, rude carvings and weird symbols showing the +personification of those natural phenomena deified by primeval tribes. +Sumatra, with her wealth of mines and forests and her important +geographical position, remains as yet an almost undiscovered country, +and though her undeveloped resources excite the cupidity and arouse the +envy of European nations, political greed and private enterprise have +proved powerless to open up the hidden treasures of the vast island, +apparently intended by Nature to become the key of the Southern Seas. + + + + +A VIEW OF KRAKATAU. + + +Emma-Haven, the little port of Padang, twenty minutes by train from the +palm-girt Sumatran capital, scarcely mars the beauty of the secluded +inlet with the red and white warehouses standing against the sylvan +verdure which fringes the blue arc of the deep bay. Cloud upon cloud, +the spectral vision of distant mountains gleams through the vanishing +veil of mist melting in the sunrise, and the departing steamer, hugging +the shore, but halting for cargo at sundry barbaric _campongs_, affords +numerous glimpses of native life. Passengers are forbidden to land at +these rural ports of call, for a herd of twenty frolicsome elephants +battered down one brown village of palm-thatched bamboo only a week +ago, and although the ruined architecture possesses the advantage of +being as easily restored as destroyed, the unpleasant proximity of the +dark jungle suggests the need of prudence. At another point of the +little voyage, we anchor for a cargo of rattan before a thatched shed +on a shell-strewn beach, but even here a solitary elephant, disturbed +in bathing, has lately attacked a woman, rescued with difficulty from +formidable tusks and lashing trunk. A tribe of coolies come on board +from the pepper plantation on a terraced hill, covered with the vivid +green of the festooning creeper, twined round long poles, and +resembling hop-vines in growth and foliage. The landing of this +contingent involves a call at Anjer, the northern extremity of Java, +distinguished by the white column of the colossal Pharos on the green +headland. A halt at nightfall outside a bristling reef, in consequence +of a Malay lighthouse-keeper omitting to trim his lamp, after the +fashion of his unthinking kind, secures the compensation of steaming +within sight of world-famous Krakatau, the volcanic cone, which in 1883 +was split in half by the stupendous eruption affecting in various +degrees the whole of the world. The successive waves of atmospherical +disturbance, travelling with the velocity of sound, were traced three +times completely round the globe. Krakatau, though uninhabited, was the +occasional resort of fishermen who plied their calling in the Sunda +Straits. A Dutch record exists of a violent eruption in 1680, but the +Krakatau volcano was afterwards considered extinct, and until the +spring of 1883 no signs of activity occurred. At this date, smoke, +pumice, and cinders, fell without intermission. For eight weeks +Krakatau blazed and thundered, the explosions being audible at Batavia, +eighty miles off. As the fatal dawn of an August morning broke with +lurid light, the culminating shock of an appalling detonation, +described as "the very crack and crash of doom," echoed across the +ocean, and was heard even in India and Australia, two thousand miles +away. Gigantic tidal waves swept the Sundanese shores, destroying the +adjacent villages, 36,000 people being either washed away or buried +under the boiling rain of mud, fire, and ashes. The Royal Society +estimated the altitude of the vast black and crimson column of flame +and smoke, mounting from the volcano, at seventeen miles. The ashes +fell at Singapore and on the Cocos Isles, respectively five and eight +hundred miles away, the ejection of volcanic matter being computed at +more than four cubic miles in extent. Krakatau, reduced from thirteen +to six square miles, from the northern portion of the symmetrical +pyramid being completely blown away by the volcanic fires, retains the +conical peak of Mount Radaka, nearly three thousand feet high. Some of +the contiguous islands sank beneath the waves, others changed their +shape, and the formation of various banks and shoals added fresh +difficulties to the intricate navigation of reef-bound seas. Thrilling +stories are told of the enveloping pall of smoke and ashes, which +shrouded Java in midnight gloom, amid the continuous roar of violent +explosions which led up to the awful climax of the final catastrophe. +Red-hot stones and burning cinders fired the ships, the weight of +pumice sinking _praus_ and fishing smacks as it fell into the hissing +sea, and a 600-ton schooner, thrown by the force of the world-shaking +concussion into a mountain cleft of the opposite coast, still lies +wedged between the black walls of rock. The floating pumice, which +filled the harbour of Batavia with layers so deep that planks resting +upon it made a safe bridge over a mile in length, drifted even to +Zanzibar and Madagascar. The fine dust, expelled into the upper air, +painted the sunset heavens with these translucent green and violet +tints which enhanced the pageantry of cloudland throughout the world +for many months after the fiery forces had expended themselves. Smoke +still issues from Krakatau, though the vast rent in the cloven pyramid +must materially diminish the power of any future eruption, and Nature's +busy hand already covers the torn side of the precipitous cone with a +green veil of sparse vegetation. A curious marine growth of weed and +moss rooted itself on Krakatau three years after the phenomenal +eruption, from seeds floating on the tide or carried by the wind. The +thin soil formed by these decaying plants, and enriched by the chemical +ingredients of disintegrating volcanic ash, in time produced a more +luxuriant verdure, and in the interval elapsing since the threefold +ravages of fire, flood, and earthquake, caused by Krakatau, convulsed +the East with terror, the dread mountain has become wreathed with +flower and fruit, for orchards and gardens, tended by the Malays from +the surrounding islands, now flourish at the foot of the quiescent +peak. Javanese colonists, who experienced the terrors of the +overwhelming catastrophe, assert that no similes drawn from the most +appalling thunderstorm, or from the roar of the heaviest artillery, +could convey an adequate idea of the stupendous detonation which seemed +to shatter earth and sky, as the pent-up fires burst forth in the final +explosion, which tore the mountain asunder and poured forth the +devastating forces of the abysmal depths over land and sea. Crimson +lava-flood and burning hail, blackened heaven and rocking earth, +roaring sea and clamouring volcano, represented an Apocalyptic vision +of Divine wrath, but probably no survivor remained to record the actual +sight of the unprecedented phenomenon, transcending every terrestrial +convulsion recorded in the chronicles of scientists. Only a slender +feather of grey steam now issues from the lofty crater. Leaves and +grasses flutter in the soft breeze, and a shower of white petals drifts +upon the iron boulders, once incandescent amid the red torrents of +rushing fire. A sheer precipice remained as the severed half of the +shattered cone, when the rent cliffs shivered into fragments, and +toppled over into the sea. Nature again breathes "peace and safety," as +she did before "the sudden destruction" gave the lie to her mocking +voice, and as the ruined pyramid of terrible Krakatau sinks below the +horizon, and the good ship speeds on her way, a weight of awe seems +lifted from the mind, oppressed by imagination and association with the +ghastly tragedy of those untameable forces which defy calculation or +comprehension. + +History has often proved the truth of the assertion that Time turns +memories into dreams, but in the presence of Krakatau's smoking crater, +the memories looming over the haunted volcano translate themselves into +a nightmare of horror, for the shadows of doom still cling to the +monumental pyramid, a menacing witness to the existence of those occult +laws which baffle human investigation with their insoluble problems, +and compel the defeated scientist to acknowledge himself a mere +chronicler of inexplicable mysteries. The extent of the volcanic zone +encircling the Malay Archipelago minimises the risk of catastrophe by +numerous safety valves for the imprisoned forces of Earth's fiery +abyss. In isolated Krakatau only one outlet existed for the vast +accumulations of destructive agencies, gathering irresistible impetus +through the protracted period of condensation and suppression which +heated this mighty furnace of Nature's subterranean laboratory with +sevenfold power. A generation has grown up since the hell of devouring +fire swept across land and sea from this solitary mountain peak; +villages have been rebuilt on their ancient sites, and the activities +of life go on from year to year undisturbed. The story of Krakatau, +told under the drooping boughs of dusky waringen-trees in the evening +hour of leisure, seems veiled in the mists of legendary lore to youth +and maiden, listening to the oft-told tale. Poverty clings to familiar +soil, and in the deep groove of a narrow existence the popular mind +takes little thought for the future. The realities of life are bounded +by the daily needs, and the shadow of Krakatau fails to destroy the +present peace of the simple folk, who, like children gathering flowers +on the edge of a precipice, heed none of the grim possibilities of a +perilous environment. + + + + +PENANG. + + +Poelo-Penang, _The Isle of the areca-nut_, separated by a narrow strait +from the Malay Peninsula, was ceded to England in 1785 by the Rajah of +Kedah, from whom the present Sultan of Johore is lineally descended. +The little territory, chiefly consisting of a mountain covered with +palm-forests, was then almost uninhabited, but the strategetic +importance of the position resulted in the establishment of an English +Presidency, until the phenomenal growth of Singapore made it the +eventual centre of local authority. "Sinhapura," "the City of Lions" +(or, more accurately, of tigers), founded by the Hinduized Malays, and +developed by Sir Stamford Raffles into the principal trading port of +the Eastern seas, of necessity drew off from Penang a large contingent +of the polyglot races which flocked thither from all parts, when the +British flag first waved above the newly-built fort, but at least +100,000 inhabitants still occupy the verdant island, where the graceful +areca palm attains unexampled perfection. Penang was merely regarded +as an unimportant appendage of ancient Malacca, captured in 1311 by +Albuquerque, and though the territory of the principal Sultan underwent +innumerable vicissitudes through the changing fortunes of war, the +royal line retained Johore at the foot of the Peninsula, up to the +present day, the last scion of the old-world dynasty now accepting the +suzerainty of England. + +A tribe of Klings (the Malay corruption of the word Telinga), sailing +from the Coromandel coast, were the first immigrants under British +rule. The half-breed Indian Malays, or _Jawi-Pekan_, followed, and the +Chinese, finding a new outlet for their commercial genius, soon secured +a firm footing on the fairy isle, a cone of emerald set in a sapphire +sea. As the rickshaw wheels away from the noisy wharves of busy +Georgetown into green aisles of areca and cocoanut, the spice-laden +breeze blowing from the heights, and mingled with the breath of a +thousand flowers, suggests Penang as "the mountain of myrrh, and hill +of frankincense," described in the Canticle of Canticles. Present +surroundings atone for the lack of life's amenities in the Dutch +dependencies. The ripple of the sea, and the rustle of swaying palms, +just stir the silence of the wave-washed terrace above the glassy +straits. The gloomy blue of the Kedah mountains on the peninsula of +Malacca, with black thunderclouds gathering round their serrated +crests, heightens the brilliant loveliness of immediate surroundings, +steeped in the ruby glow of the magical evening. Every road is an +over-arching avenue of gorgeous foliage--dark tunnels of interwoven +cocoa-palms, huge Amherstias alight as with lamps of fiery orange, +tremulous tamarinds, and, more wonderful than all, a wide highway +roofed by a continuous aisle of ansena-trees, the golden canopy of +blossom overhead rivalled by the thick carpet of yellow petals, which +deadens every sound, for the prodigal bounty of tropical Nature quickly +replaces the loss of falling flowers. Exquisite lanes, smothered in +glorious vegetation, surround the picturesque Racecourse, that +_sine-qûa-non_ of English occupation. Stately emperor palms, kitools +with crimped green tresses, fan and oil palms, with the slender areca +in countless thousands, vary the shadowy vistas branching out in every +direction, with huge-leaved creepers and glossy rattans garlanding the +gnarled trunks of forest-trees. The sculptured outlines of the splendid +traveller's palm adorn the green lawns of European bungalows, embowered +in torrents of trailing creepers, the scale of colour descending from +white and pink to royal purple and burning crimson. Snowy arums and +golden lilies choke the brooks, overflowing from the constant showers +combining with a vertical sun to foster the wealth of greenery, the +incandescent scarlet and yellow of hybiscus and allemanda glowing with +the transparent depth of hue, beside which the fragile fairness of +European flowers, is but a spectral reflection of those colour-drenched +blossoms fused into jewelled lustre by the solar fires. Night drops her +black curtain suddenly, with no intervening veil of twilight to temper +Earth's plunge into darkness. Great stars hang low in the sombre sky, +and the open interiors of Malay huts, aglow with lamp or torchlight, +produce Rembrandtesque effects, revealing brown inmates cooking or +eating their "evening rice." + +Georgetown, loyally named by British pioneers after a monarch eminently +incongruous with any ideas belonging to a tropical fairyland, possesses +neither architectural beauty nor salient character; wooden warehouses, +Malay shanties, and white-washed streets being merely attractive from +the ever-changing scheme of colour painted by varieties of race and +costume. Tamils of ebon blackness drive picturesque teams of humped +white oxen in red waggons laden with purple sugar-cane. Noble-looking +Sikhs, in spotless linen, stride past with kingly gait. Brown Siamese, +in many-coloured scarves and turbans gleaming with gold thread, chaffer +and bargain at open stalls with blue-robed Chinamen, and the bronze +figures of slim Malays, brightened by mere wisps of orange and scarlet +added to Nature's durable suit, slip through the crowds, pausing before +an emporium of polished brass-work, or a bamboo stall of teak wood +carving. The sloping black mitre of a stout Parsee merchant, +accompanied by a pretty daughter in white head-band and floating _sari_ +of cherry-coloured silk, varies the motley headgear of turban and fez, +straw hat and sun-helmet, worn by this cosmopolitan population, the +pink headkerchiefs, tinselled scarves, and jewelled buttons of the +beautiful Burmese dress, drawing attention to the energetic bargaining +of two astute customers for cooking utensils; these elegantly-attired +but mahogany-coloured dames, rivalling the Sumatran women in business +capacity, and equally determined on securing the _quid pro quo_. The +long esplanade between town and sea borders a series of green lawns, +where carriages draw up round a bandstand, and the youthful element of +European Penang plays tennis with laudable zeal in the atmosphere of a +stove-house. Chinese and Malay boyhood look on, and listen to the +regimental music. The pallid English occupants of the carriages, in +spite of diaphanous muslins and fluttering fans, appear too limp and +wilted to bestow more than a languid attention to their surroundings, +until the sea-breeze, springing up as the sun declines, revives their +flagging spirits. The smartest turnout and the finest horses generally +belong to John Chinaman, got up in irreproachable English costume, with +his pigtail showing beneath a straw hat, though considerably +attenuated, and lacking those adornments of silken braid and red +tassels, generally plaited into the imposing queue of the orthodox +Celestial. The indefatigable Chinese, frequently arriving on an alien +shore without a dollar in their pockets, continually prove potential +millionaires. Immune from climatic diseases, working early and late, +tolerant and unaggressive, the iron hand in the velvet glove +disentangles and grasps the threads of the most complicated commercial +enterprise, for the idle Malay, "the gentleman of the East," here as +elsewhere, cares for little beyond the sport of hunting and +fish-spearing, which satisfies the personal necessities of his indolent +existence. The wonderful solidarity of domestic life is an important +factor in the Chinese career, for centuries of ancestor-worship, in +spite of their arrestive tendency, have strengthened the bonds of +family union and filial obedience by insisting on the supreme sanctity +of blood-relationship. + +The luxuriant Botanical Garden, situated in a green cleft of an angle +formed by encircling hills, is a paradise of dreamland, though but a +miniature when compared with Buitenzorg for extent and variety. In the +restful charm of the Penang garden Art and Nature go hand in hand, +giving it an unique character among the horticultural pleasaunces of +the Eastern world. The rolling lawns of the exquisite valley, the song +of the waterfall which bounds the view as it leaps down the lofty +cliffs, the abundant shade of tamarind and palm, and the gorgeous +flowering shrubs, suggest nothing artificial or conventionalised in the +deep seclusion of the fairy glen. Tall bamboos mirror fluffy foliage +and white or golden stems in stream and pool. Orchids of the Brazils +festoon unknown trees with the rose and purple butterflies formed by +their brilliant blossoms, and colossal traveller's palms, so-called +from the draught of water obtained by incision of the stem, stud the +glades with stiffly-fluted fans. Lilac thunbergia wreaths over-arching +boughs, and passion-flower flings white and crimson garlands over turf +flushed with the pink blossoms of the sensitive plant. Gold mohur and +red poinsettia blaze with fiery splendour, and huge crotons, with +velvety leaves of pink, violet, and chocolate, grow to the height of +forest trees. The tangle of brilliant flowers, systematically arranged +by the concealed art of the Eastern horticulturist, shows many weird +botanical forms. Green spears, bristling on mossy banks, are starred +with crimson and barred with orange. Wine-coloured cacti twist +blue-green spikes and stems in grotesque contortions, and topaz or +ruby-tinted calladiums flame in thickets of hot colour outside cool +green dells, filled by a forest of tropical ferns, mosses, and +creepers. Lack of botanical knowledge constitutes a sore disadvantage +in this treasury of floral beauty, but happily we may "consider the +lilies," without cataloguing them, in this garden, "beautiful for +situation," and worthy to be a "joy of the whole earth." The sombre +jungle on the mountain side supplies the atmosphere of mystery which +enhances the ideal peace of the cloistered Paradise, wrapt in the +embrace of the haunted hills, and numbered among those visions of an +earlier Eden, only realised in the Asiatic birthplace of Humanity which +contained the typical Garden of the World, Divinely planted, where the +Voice from Heaven deepened the music of whispering leaves and sighing +breeze. + +A purple-red pat--for even the jasper-tinted tropical soil is +beautiful, climbs through the glorious woods to the chief Sanatorium of +the Malay Peninsula. A free fight among the coolies before starting +demands a lengthy exercise of that stolidity with which the Western +pilgrim must invest himself, as the invulnerable armour needed by the +conflict of daily life. As a mere matter of personal convenience, this +quality bears scant resemblance to the weapons enumerated by S. Paul in +the Christian panoply. The oppressive heat, the futility of argument in +an almost unknown tongue, and the general uncertainty of the subject in +dispute, gradually producing this spurious virtue as the external +decoration of sorely-exasperated souls. The exertion of the long ascent +in the steaming heat requires six coolies for every chair. The red road +mounts through enchanting vistas of palms and creepers, on the edge of +the dark jungle, each turning point bringing a whiff of cooler air, as +the evening gold flickers through the velvety fronds of tree-ferns, and +the green feathers of spreading bamboos. From the white hotel near the +summit, the blue Straits and the flats of Province Wellesley, the +English portion of the Malay Peninsula, stand out against the frowning +ridge of mountains, for black thunder-clouds continually brood over +Malacca. Monkeys caper and chatter in the teak-trees bordering a +circular terrace, and an ideal sylvan path leads to the Signal Station, +Hospital, and Post Office, on an opposite height, dotted with the +bungalows of summer visitors. A palm-shaded plateau beneath the hotel +offers an ideal resting-place, but the impenetrable jungle covering the +Penang Hills makes expeditions on foot or by chair, impracticable, and +the wild deluges of rain, with terrific thunder peals bursting in +uncontrolled fury on this exposed peak, minimise the delights of a +mountain sojourn. The invasion of an army of jungle rats, behind the +walls and above the ceiling of a room sodden and dripping with the +afternoon's flood, completes the disillusion, and compels a hasty +descent to the warmer damp of the lowlands, for the Equatorial climate, +and the general absence of bed-coverings, causes a rheumatic stiffness +on rising, which has to be steamed out by the atmospheric vapour-bath +of the tropical island. A long rickshaw ride to Tanjong Bungah +("Flowery Point") completes the day's cure in a sweltering heat, which +on the return journey at 8 a.m. causes even the Chinese coolies to stop +perpetually at wayside stalls, for the coloured syrups and sticky +sweetmeats on which they perform prodigies of endurance and speed. An +English planter, in his solitary cacao-garden on the edge of the sea, +hails his compatriots with delight, and leads the way through the rocky +ravines bordering his solitary bungalow. The glories of the tropics +seldom alleviate the sense of exile, and cloudy England, with her +"green fields and pastures dim," remains dearer than all the pageantry +of Nature elsewhere to most of her absent sons. + +The Buddhist temple of Ayer-Etam, built in ascending tiers on a steep +acclivity, varies the natural interests of Penang, with the marvels of +Chinese architecture elaborated in the deep seclusion of mountain and +forest. The dewy areca-palms throw a dark network of interlacing +shadows across the red road, winding for miles through the sylvan +scenery, the alchemy of the rising sun transmuting the myriad feathery +fronds into fountains of green fire. Only the creaking of a +bullock-waggon, or the thud of a falling cocoanut, breaks the hush of +the tropical daybreak, when the leaves only whisper in their dreams, +and the vernal earth, fresh as from her Creator's hand, renews her +strength for the heat and burden of the coming day. The colossal pile, +consisting of temple, monastery, and innumerable shrines, amid +fountains and fish-ponds, bridges and balconies, courts and terraces, +gleams whitely against the green gloom of the vast palm-forest on +either side, sloping sharply to the shimmering sea. The usual appalling +images of vermilion and gold guard every sculptured gateway, and +surmount the painted shrines encircled by parterres of votive flowers, +for the philosophic Buddhism of Ceylon and Siam gathers the moss and +weeds of many an incongruous accretion in countless ages of pilgrimage +through the Eastern world. The transcendental mysticism which spun the +finest cobwebs of human thought, crystallises into concrete form when +interpreted in the terms of China, where dim reminiscences of early +Nature worship, and the terrors which upheld the authority of many +obsolete creeds, have been incorporated into the vague ideals of Prince +Gautama's prophetic soul. Altars, strewn with fragrant champak-flowers, +stand beneath lace-carved alcoves of black teakwood, on the broad +plateaux which form welcome resting-places beside each flight of steps +on the marble stairway, the gilded pinnacles and aerial spires of the +white temple sparkling against the sea of rich foliage. A knot of +Burmese worshippers, with rose-coloured scarves and turbans, throw +their infinitesimal coins on the palm-leaf mats of a red-roofed shrine, +and tell the wooden beads of the Buddhist rosary, chanting the +perpetual refrain of "_Pain_, _Sorrow_, _Unreality_," as a warning +against the temptations of _Maya_, the world of illusion. The brown +faces raised imploringly to the presiding deity, a leering demon with +green face and yellow body, inspire the hope that the grotesque monster +may prove his own unreality by vanishing from the hearts of his +devotees into the limbo of nightmares from which he has emerged, for +the philosophic quietism of Buddhist creed offers no disguise to the +horrors of a hell far surpassing the terrific literalism of Dante's +Inferno. Rippling conduits edge pillared courts and cloistered arcades, +resplendent with frieze and cornice of blue and scarlet, a central +fountain falling in prismatic showers over a sacred pond of golden +carp. A white-robed monk smilingly conducts us across hump-backed +bridges and colonnaded galleries to a bench beneath a grey frangipanni +tree, starred with fragrant flowers, and brings welcome cups of tea, +before another struggle up the interminable steps, which symbolise the +mystic "path" leading to Nirvana's rest. Further hospitality meets us +at a yellow kiosk, higher up the sacred hill, where a dainty breakfast +of eggs, cakes, and honey stands on a white table-cloth, bearing a +steaming coffee-pot. The temple paraphernalia of Buddhist worship +strangely resembles Catholic imagery. Incense rises from open censers +on the dais, the blue cloud enveloping a gorgeous altar, encrusted with +gold. The central figure of Gautama Buddha, on the lotus leaf +expresses supernal calm, and the symbolic flower, in bud, blossom, or +foliage, forms the prevailing design of vase and amphora, within golden +lattice-work. Hanging lamps glow on rapt faces of attendant saints, or +on those supplementary local Buddhas which Chinese doctrine adds to the +comparative simplicity of the original system. The foreshadowing of +Christian truth culminates in the fact stated by a Buddhist priest, +that bread and wine of mystic meaning are reserved on the altars of +many among the forty subdivisions of Buddhism. The mountain Sanctuary, +though marred by debased decoration and heathenised by the lurid +figures of the guardian demons, inspires a reverent devotion, and +exercises a solemnising influence on many souls whose faith differs +from that of the white-clad monks, who seek to scale the dim heights of +perfection from this lofty peak. "The Light which lighteth every man" +must needs throw a faint and far-off ray even on an erroneous creed, +groping through the darkness for the outstretched Hands which embrace +all Humanity with boundless Love. + +Penang, as a little field of missionary enterprise, possesses many +privileges often denied to the further islands of Malaysia. The variety +of immigrant races, the constant intercourse with the Indian mainland, +and the needs of travellers belonging to every nation, keep the +settlement in touch with a multitude of spiritual needs. Christianity, +both in Anglican and Roman guise, sows diligently in fields gradually +whitening to harvest. The English Church, with reverent services and +kindly priest, remains a little centre of cherished associations. The +S. Francis Xavier Institute, which brings many Chinese boys into the +Christian fold, through the labours of another Communion, carries on +the work of the great mediæval missionary, who reached the farthest +East in his apostolate of love. The scarlet, yellow, and white veils of +Eastern converts, the crowd of Eurasian Christians in both churches, +and the presence of a devout Malay priest assisting at the English +service, add unfamiliar notes of colour among the snowy muslins and +flower-decked hats of English residents, but correctness of costume, +both in men and women, contrasts refreshingly with the slovenly +déshabille of the Netherlands India, the last and easily-snapped link +between civilisation and barbarism. + +An opportunity occurs for a visit to Taiping, the capital of the Native +Federated States, and situated in Province Wellesley. The launch +crosses to Prai, the rising port of Malacca, and the northern terminus +of the railway, sure to upset the passenger lists of the great steamers +by traversing the entire peninsula to Johore. Through a channel +bordered with weird mangroves, the boat enters a long, slow river, +flowing between boundless palm-forests. The "black but comely" captain +of the snorting boat escorts his European passengers to the station, +arranges tickets, and waits on the platform till the train starts; the +portly sailor in spotless linen, surmounted by his genial ebony face, +waving encouragement as long as we remain in sight. The perils and +dangers of the way are _nil_, and none of the threatened contingencies +arise, but to Eastern thought risks, however remote and improbable, add +to the value of a journey. Real drawbacks seem seldom mentioned, but +imaginary lions in the way offer unlimited scope to Oriental fancy, and +help to create a thrilling drama of destruction. Green paddi-fields, +tall sugar-canes, and a world of palms, rise from the alluvial flats of +Province Wellesley. The great rubber plantations, which form the chief +source of wealth in Malacca, follow in endless succession, but, as +usual, the astute Chinaman has obtained almost a monopoly of the +industry, from which the greatest fortunes of the tropics are now +derived. The bushy trees, with their black stems and ragged foliage, +are destitute of the beauty so lavishly bestowed even on the weeds of +this fertile soil. The tangled splendour of the wild jungle, which +presently borders the track, demonstrates the immense difficulty of +pioneering in a tropical forest, where the interlacing boughs of the +myriad trees, with their impenetrable screen of climbing parasites, +make perpetual walls of living green, defying human progress. Malay +villages, brown and palm-thatched in the immemorial style, stand on +piles above the swampy ground, which seems the approved site of +habitation. A barren district devastated by a forest fire, contains the +disused pits of ancient tin-mines, but these unsightly hollows have +been decorated by Nature's hand with a luxuriant growth of the frilled +pink lotus. Malay children, themselves unadorned, stand on wayside +platforms, every brown hand filled with the rosy chalices of the sacred +Buddhist emblem. Tradition says that the blossom, drawn up from the +mire by the rays of the morning sun, symbolised the earth-stained soul, +made pure and stainless by the attraction of that Divine Glory which +Buddhism, though in distorted form, strove to attain. + +At the end of the sixty-mile journey, the English station-master at +Taiping proved a veritable friend in need, arranging for a hot +breakfast at the station, chartering rickshaw coolies, and--greatest +blessing of all--directing the route, with a menacing pantomime +concerning any shirking of duty, which saved all further trouble. +Taiping is in an early stage of progress, and the open _tokos_ in +waringen-shaded streets, show nothing but the necessaries of life, with +terrible mementos of Birmingham in petroleum lamps, hideous oleographs, +and machine-made household goods. Pretty bungalows stand beyond the +interlacing avenues of dusky trees, and a framework toy of a church in +the green outskirts, contains numerous brass tablets recording English +lives laid down in this weary land. These pathetic memorials seem the +only permanent features of the frail edifice in the shadowy God's-acre +already filled with graves. The newly-planted park, with a lake fringed +by a vivid growth of allemanda and hybiscus, stands below the purple +heights of a long mountain chain, but Taiping offers few inducements to +a prolonged stay, and after a hurried glimpse of terrific beasts and +snakes of the jungle, preserved in the local museum, we return to the +station, the kindly chef-de-gare disturbing his wife from her siesta in +the adjacent bungalow, to feast us on tea and bananas. Darkness falls +before the train reaches Penang, but a Chinese gentleman acts as pilot +across some rocking boats, with only a faint flare from expiring +torches to light the way, and starts the cringing coolies, with true +politeness to the "foreign devils," but manifest wonder at their +eccentric customs. Chinese womanhood, painted, bedizened, and tottering +on the pink and gold hoofs which cause a sickening shudder to the +Western spectator, indicates the barrier of prejudice to be surmounted +before China can mould national ideals into harmony with modern +progress. + +The vicinity of Penang to the Equatorial junction of the maritime +world, widens local interests by the development of the Malay +Peninsula, partly governed through the instrumentality of native +Sultans under English guidance, but the abiding charm of the island +lies beyond the radius of the thriving port. Nature still reigns +supreme in this jewel of the Equator, where the amber swathes of Indian +laburnum, the golden-hearted whiteness of luscious frangipanni blossom, +and the red fire of the flamboyant tree, light up the endless aisles of +swaying palms, where temple-flower and tuberose mingle their fragrance +with the breath of clove and cinnamon, interpreting the imagery of the +Eastern monarch's bridal song, and luring each lover of Earth's +manifold beauty to "go down into her garden of spices and gather +lilies." + + + + +EPILOGUE. + + +The infinite variety of interests connected with the vast Malay +Archipelago, mainly dominated by European authority, can only be +inadequately mentioned in the simple record of a half-year's wandering +through scenes which stamp their unfading beauty indelibly on mind and +memory. Virgin fields of discovery still invite scientific exploration, +and the green sepulchre of Equatorial vegetation retains innumerable +secrets of Art and architecture. The geological mysteries of these +volcanic shores offer a host of unsolved problems, the surpassing +magnificence of flower and foliage makes every island a botanical +Paradise, and the varieties of race and language which moulded and +coloured the destinies of the Equatorial world, supply historian and +philologist with opportunities of unlimited research. The dim +chronicles of a distant past, inscribed in vague characters with faint +traces of the earliest Malay wanderers, link their shadowy pages with +historic records of falling dynasties and warring creeds, preceding +the eventful period of colonial enterprise, initiated by the wild +campaigns in quest of the precious spices. Although the Malay voyagers +remain veiled in the twilight which clouds the verge of authentic +history, the track of their keels may yet be followed through the +conflicting currents of that hitherto unknown ocean which they opened +to a future world. The forests and fishing grounds of every coast and +island still support the manifold divisions of the nomadic race which +forms the substratum of island life, and the star of hope which led +them onward, shone for many subsequent adventurers across those +Southern seas which aroused the energies and ambitions of later ages. +The symbolical stories of the world's infancy join the actual +experience of struggling humanity to the dreamland from whence it +emerged, as some syren song lured it into unknown regions. The +old-world legends of mankind "launching out into the deep, and letting +down the nets for a draught," repeat themselves from age to age, for +the human heart has ever sacrificed comfort and safety in order to set +sail upon some trackless ocean, on the chance of reaping that harvest +of life's sea for which man yearns with insatiable desire. The +wanderings of Odysseus, in the youth of the world, illustrate the +eternal pursuit of a visionary ideal, in those adventures which breathe +the undying romance of the sea. The resemblance between the traditions +of savage and civilised nations appears too strong to be fortuitous, +and indicates the underlying unity of feeling and purpose implanted in +the human race. Modern environment renders it impossible to calculate +the tremendous force of the mysterious impulse which swayed the onward +march of primeval tribes; even the later obstacles, overcome by bold +spirits who followed in their wake, can never be adequately realised +amid the artificial conditions of our present life. The charmed circle +of the "Equator's emerald zone," encloses a region of marvel and +mystery, where Imagination, the fairy with the magic mirror, helps to +interpret and reveal the secrets of Beauty and Truth, which transfigure +material form and colour with the halo of idealism. The tale of the +mysterious ages when "the threads of families" were first "woven into +the ropes of nations," still sways mind and fancy, but the romance of +the world continues, though the progress of Humanity varies the +pictured page. In the warm heart of the tropical Archipelago, Nature, +triumphing in eternal youth, seems to mock the transient phases of +aspiration and achievement, which vanish by turn into the misty past. +The great Mother chants her "Song of Songs" throughout the myriad +changes of Time, in terms so similar to the imagery of the Divine +Epithalamium that, from a human standpoint, it seems swept by the +spice-laden breezes of the Malayan Lotus-land, rather than by the +fainter fragrance wafted from the orchards and gardens of Palestine or +Egypt. Possibly the Syrian fleet, in search of ivory and peacocks, +touched at the enchanted shores where "all trees of frankincense" +perfumed the air, and produced those aromatic "powders of the +merchant," regarded as priceless treasures both in primitive and +mediæval days. The story might well capture the fancy of the royal +poet, and enrich the music of his verse with the luscious fragrance of +a more luxuriant land than even his own pastoral Canaan, flowing with +milk and honey. The hyperbole of Eastern thought often rests on a solid +foundation of fact, and the Hebrew love-song weaves tropical Nature's +lavish wealth of flower, fruit, and fragrance into a symbolic garland, +flung in passionate rapture at the feet of the beloved one. The +spiritual significance of the sacred lyric only transposes the mystic +melody into a higher key, and heaps the thurible of the sanctuary with +the frankincense of praise, to celebrate the typical bridal of Earth +and Heaven. + +The diadem of palms on the last outlying islet of the Malay +Archipelago, stands out in dark relief against the golden haze of the +afterglow, which floods the sky, and changes the purple waters into a +sea of fire. The pageant of sunset lingers for a moment, and then +vanishes beneath of the pall of the swiftly-falling night. The +fairyland of eternal summer sinks below the horizon, and realities melt +into the shadows of that mental subconsciousness which holds the +wraiths of departed joys. Memories of the golden hours spent in +threading the flowery maze of the vast Archipelago, seem a mere handful +of shells gathered on the surf-beaten shores, but if even the empty +shell can hold the sound of the waves, this brief record of a cruise in +sunny seas may also convey faint whispers of that syren voice which +echoed through the ages of the past, and still allures the spellbound +listener to the swaying palms and spice-scented bowers of Malaya's +Island Paradise. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + +The preference has been to retain inconsistencies and idiosyncracies in +spelling, especially of proper nouns, except in the case of obvious +typographical errors. Any corrections made are noted below. + +Many Javanese names use the "oe" group of vowels. In a few cases, the +original text uses "oe" ligatures. Since such usage is inconsistent, +even for the same name, and the number of instances are few, the "oe" +ligatures have not been retained. + +Inconsistencies in the hyphenation of words retained. (dream-like, +dreamlike; ear-rings, earrings; re-adjustment, readjustment; +sandal-wood, sandalwood; sub-consciousness, subconsciousness; +sub-divisions, subdivisions; thunder-clouds, thunderclouds; +waist-cloth, waistcloth; white-washed, whitewashed; wicker-work, +wickerwork) + +In the original text, the entire Table of Contents was printed in +italic typeface. For the plaintext version of this ebook, in order to +reduce clutter, the standard markup for italics has not been used for +text in the Table of Contents. + +Table of Contents, entry for "The Solo-Bessir Isles". The chapter +heading in the main text reads "THE SOELA-BESSIR ISLES." The original +wording has been retained in both cases. + +Pg. 34, "int oa" changed to "into a". (forest aisles into a) + +Pg. 35, "sanatorioum" changed to "sanatorium". (a favourite sanatorium +of the Dutch) + +Pg. 38, "possing" changed to "possessing". (possessing a notable) + +Pg. 79, unusual spelling "pourtrayed" retained. + +Pg. 89, "ominious" changed to "ominous". (played an ominous part) + +Pg. 94 and 202, "unmistakeable" is also spelled "unmistakable" on page +140. Original spellings retained in all cases. + +Pg. 114 and 115, "sulphureous" is also spelled "sulphurous" on page 44. +Original spellings retained in all cases. + +Pg. 118, "prisets" changed to "priests". (while the priests of Siva) + +Pg. 144, "elswhere" changed to "elsewhere". (here as elsewhere) + +Pg. 155, "benath" changed to "beneath". (beneath a hill covered) + +Pg. 156, "pentrate" changed to "penetrate". (of air can penetrate) + +Pg. 166, "smoulderng" changed to "smouldering". (which hides the +smouldering) + +Pg. 179, "he" changed to "the". (from the motionless waters) + +Pg. 187, "inagurated" changed to "inaugurated". (growth of foreign +vegetation was thus inaugurated) + +Pg. 189, "Calvanistic" changed to "Calvinistic". (grimness of +Calvinistic creed) + +Pg. 223, "violents" changed to "violent". (continuous roar of violent +explosions) + +Pg. 239, "Buddhim" changed to "Buddhism". (philosophic Buddhism of +Ceylon) + +Pg. 239, extraneous dot in between sentences: "through the Eastern +world. . The transcendental". It does not appear to be an ellipsis and +has thus been removed. + +Pg. 243, extraneous dot in between sentences: "derived. . The bushy +trees". It does not appear to be an ellipsis and has thus been removed. + +Pg. 247, "Archipegalo" changed to "Archipelago". (the vast Malay +Archipelago) + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Through the Malay Archipelago, by Emily Richings + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO *** + +***** This file should be named 27422-8.txt or 27422-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/4/2/27422/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Through the Malay Archipelago + +Author: Emily Richings + +Release Date: December 5, 2008 [EBook #27422] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO *** + + + + + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="cover" id="cover"></a> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="396" height="600" alt="Cover" /> +</div> + +<h1><small>Through the</small><br /> +Malay Archipelago.</h1> + + +<p class="title"><small>BY</small><br /> +EMILY RICHINGS.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="title"><small>Author of<br /> +"Sir Walter's Wife," "In Chaucer's Maytime," &c.</small></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="title"><small>LONDON:</small><br /> +HENRY J. DRANE, LIMITED,<br /> +<small><span class="smcap">Danegeld House, 82a, Farringdon Street, E.C.</span></small></p> + + +<p> </p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<div class="poem"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem O hundred Shores"> +<tr><td class="tdstanza"> +<span class="i0">O hundred shores of happy climes!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">How swiftly streamed ye by the bark!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At times the whole sea burned—at times<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With wakes of fire we tore the dark.<br /></span> +</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdstanza"> +<span class="i0">New stars all night above the brim<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of waters lightened into view;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They climbed as quickly, for the rim<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Changed every moment as we flew.<br /></span> +</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdstanza"> +<span class="i0">We came to warmer waves, and deep<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Across the boundless East we drove,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where those long swells of breaker sweep<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The nutmeg rocks, and isles of clove.<br /></span> +</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdstanza"> +<span class="i0">For one fair Vision ever fled<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Down the waste waters day and night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And still we followed where she led,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In hope to gain upon her flight.<br /></span> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + + +<h2><i>CONTENTS.</i></h2> +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<div class="toc"> +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_7">Prologue</a>.</p> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p class="division"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_13">JAVA</a>.</p> + +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_13">Batavia and +Weltevreden</a>—​<a class="toclink" href="#Page_27">Buitenzorg</a>—​<a class="toclink" href="#Page_35">Soekaboemi +and Sindanglaya</a>—​<a class="toclink" href="#Page_49">Garoet and her +Volcano</a>—​<a class="toclink" href="#Page_63">Djokjacarta</a>—​<a class="toclink" href="#Page_71">Boro-Boedoer</a>—​<a class="toclink" href="#Page_86">Brambanam</a>—​<a class="toclink" href="#Page_95">Sourakarta</a>—​<a class="toclink" href="#Page_106">Sourabaya +and the Tengger</a>.</p> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p class="division"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_123">CELEBES</a>.</p> + +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_123">Makassar and Western Celebes</a>—​<a class="toclink" href="#Page_136">The Minahasa</a>—​<a class="toclink" href="#Page_146">Gorontalo +and the Eastern Coast</a>.</p> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_153">A Glimpse of Borneo</a>.</p> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p class="division"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_159">THE MOLUCCAS</a>.</p> + +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_159">Ternate, Batjan, and Boeroe</a>.</p> + +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_173">Ambon</a>.</p> + +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_188">Banda</a>.</p> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_199">The Solo-Bessir Isles</a>.</p> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p class="division"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_207">SUMATRA</a>.</p> + +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_207">The Western Coast and the Highlands</a>.</p> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_221">A View of Krakatau</a>.</p> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p class="division"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_229">PENANG</a>.</p> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<p class="chapters"><a class="toclink" href="#Page_247">Epilogue</a>.</p> + +</div> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> +<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0.75em;">PROLOGUE.</h3> +<hr class="hr4" /> + +<p>The traveller who reaches those enchanted gates of +the Far East which swing open at the palm-girt +shores of Ceylon, enters upon a new range of thought +and feeling. The first sight of tropical scenery +generally awakens a passionate desire for further +experiences of the vast Archipelago in the Southern +Seas which girdles the Equator with an emerald +zone. Lured onward by the scented breeze in that +eternal search for perfection destined to remain +unsatisfied where every step marks a higher ideal +than the one already attained, the pilgrim pursues +his endless quest, for human aspiration has never +yet touched the goal of desires and dreams. The +cocoanut woods of Ceylon and her equatorial +vegetation lead fancy further afield, for the glassy +straits of Malacca beckon the wanderer down their +watery highways to mysterious Java, where vast +forests of waving palms, blue chains of volcanic +mountains, and mighty ruins of a vanished civilisation, +loom before the imagination and invest the +tropical paradise with ideal attractions. The +island, seven hundred miles long, and described +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>by Marianne North as "one magnificent garden +of tropical luxuriance," has not yet become +a popular resort of the average tourist, but +though lacking some of those comforts and +luxuries found under the British flag, it offers +many compensations in the wealth of beauty and +interest afforded by scenery, architecture, and +people. The two days' passage from Singapore lies +through a green chain of countless islets, once the +refuge of those pirates who thronged the Southern +seas until suppressed by European power. The cliffs +of Banka, honeycombed with tin quarries, and the +flat green shores of Eastern Sumatra, stretching +away to the purple mountains of the interior, flank +the silvery straits, populous with native <i>proas</i>, +coasting steamers, <i>sampans</i>, and the hollowed log or +"dug-out" which serves as the Malayan canoe. +Patched sails of scarlet and yellow, shaped like bats' +wings, suggest gigantic butterflies afloat upon the +tranquil sea. The red roofs of whitewashed towns, +and the tall shafts of white lighthouses emphasise +the rich verdure between the silvery azure of sky +and water. The little voyage ends at Tandjon +Priok, nine miles from Batavia, for a volcanic +eruption of Mount Salak in 1699 filled up the ancient +harbour, and necessitated the removal of shipping +to a deep bay, as the old city was landed high and +dry through the mass of mud, lava, and volcanic +sand, which dammed up the lower reaches of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>Tjiligong river, and destroyed connection with the +sea. The present model harbour, erected at +tremendous cost, permits ships of heavy burden to +discharge passengers and cargo with comfort and +safety at a long wharf, without that unpleasant +interlude of rocking <i>sampans</i> and reckless boatmen +common to Eastern travel. A background of blue +peaks and clustering palms rises beyond the long +line of quays and breakwaters flanked by the +railway, and a wealth of tropical scenery covers +a marshy plain with riotous luxuriance. No +Europeans live either in Tandjon Priok or Old +Batavia, and the locality was known for two +centuries as "the European graveyard." Flourishing +Arab and Chinese <i>campongs</i> or settlements +appear immune from the terrible Java fever +which haunts the morasses of the coast, and the +industrial Celestial who absorbs so much of Oriental +commerce, possesses an almost superhuman imperviousness +to climatic dangers.</p> + +<p>In the re-adjustment of power after the Fall of +Napoleon, Java, invaded by England in 1811, after +a five years' interval of British rule under the +enlightened policy of Sir Stamford Raffles, was +restored to the Throne of Holland. The supremacy +of the Dutch East India Company, who, after a +prolonged struggle, acquired authority in Java as +residuary legatee of the Mohammedan Emperor, +ended at the close of the eighteenth century.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +Perpetual warfare and rebellion, which broke out +in Central Java after the return of the island to the +Dutch, taxed the resources of Holland for five years. +Immense difficulties arrested and delayed the +development of the fertile territory, until the +"culture system" of forced labour within a certain +area relieved the financial pressure. One-fifth of +village acreage was compulsorily planted with sugar-cane, +and one day's work every week was demanded +by the Dutch Government from the native population. +The system was extended to tea and coffee; +and indigo was grown on waste land not needed for +the rice, which constitutes Java's staff of life. Spices +and cinchona were also diligently cultivated under +official supervision, and the lives of many explorers +were lost in search of the precious Kina-tree, +until Java, after years of strenuous toil, now +produces one-half of that quinine supply which +proves the indispensable safeguard of European +existence on tropic soil. The ruddy bark and scarlet +branches of the cinchona groves glow with autumnal +brightness amid the evergreen verdure of the +Javanese hills, and the "culture system," as a +financial experiment, proved, in spite of cavillers, +a source of incalculable benefit to the natives as +well as to the colonists of Java. As we travel +through the length and breadth of an island cultivated +even to the mountain tops with the perfection +of detail common to the Dutch, as the first +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>horticulturists of the world, we realise the far-reaching +wisdom, which in a few decades transformed +the face of the island, clearing vast tracks +of jungle, and pruning that riot of tropical nature +which destroys as rapidly as it creates. A lengthened +survey of Java's political economy and past history +would be out of place in a slight volume, written as +a "compagnon de voyage" to the wanderer who +adds a cruise in the Archipelago to his Eastern +itinerary, but the colonial features of Dutch rule +which have produced many beneficial results demand +recognition, for the varied characteristics of national +genius and racial expansion suggest the myriad +aspects of that creative power bestowed on humanity +made in the Divine Image, and fulfilling the great +destiny inspired by Heavenly Wisdom.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> +<h2>JAVA.</h2> +<hr class="hr4" style="width: 3em;" /> + +<h3>BATAVIA AND WELTEVREDEN.</h3> + + +<p>From the railway station at Batavia the comfortless +"dos-a-dos," colloquially known as the <i>sado</i>, a +vehicle resembling an elementary Irish car, and +drawn by a rat-like Timor pony transports us to +the fashionable suburb of Weltevreden, away from +the steamy port and fever-haunted commercial +capital. The march of modern improvement scarcely +affects old-world Java, where jolting <i>sado</i> and +ponderous <i>milord</i> remain unchanged since the +early days of colonisation, for time is a negligeable +quantity in this lotus-eating land, too apathetic even +to adopt those alleviations of tropical heat common +to British India. The Java of the ancient +world was considered "The Jewel of the East," +and possesses many claims to her immemorial title, +but the stolid Dutchman of to-day contents himself +with the domestic arrangements which sufficed for +his sturdy forefathers, scorning the mitigations of +swinging punkah or electric fan. The word Batavia +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>signifies "fair meadows," and these swampy fields +of rank vegetation, exhaling a deadly miasma, were +considered such an adequate defence against hostile +attack, that forts were deemed unnecessary in a +locality where 87,000 soldiers and sailors died in the +Government Hospital during the space of twenty +years. Batavia proper is a commonplace city of +featureless streets, brick-walled canals, and ramshackle +public buildings, but the residential town +of Weltevreden, suggesting a glorified Holland, +combines the quaint charm of the mother country +with the Oriental grace and splendour of the tropics. +The broad canals bordered by colossal cabbage-palms, +the white bridges gay with the many +coloured garb of the Malay population, the red-tiled +roofs embowered in a wealth of verdure, and the +pillared verandahs veiled with gorgeous creepers, +tumbling in sheets of purple and scarlet from cornice +to floor, compose a characteristic picture, wherein +Dutch individuality triumphs over incongruous +environment. Waving palms clash their fronds in +the sea-breeze; avenues of feathery tamarind and +bending waringen trees surround Weltevreden with +depths of green shadow; the scarlet hybiscus flames +amid tangled foliage, where the orange chalices +of the flowering Amherstia glisten from sombre +branches, and hang like fairy goblets from the +interwoven roofs of tropical tunnels, pierced by +broad red roads. On this Sunday afternoon of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>waning year which introduces us to Weltevreden, +family groups are gathered round tea tables +canopied with flowers and palms, in the white +porticos of the Dutch villas, and the startling +déshabille adopted by Holland in the Netherlands +India almost defies description. The ladies, with +stockingless feet thrust into heelless slippers, and +attired in the Malay <i>sarong</i> (two yards of painted +cotton cloth), supplemented by a white dressing-jacket, +display themselves in verandah, carriage, or +street, in a garb only fit for the bath-room; while +the men, lounging about in pyjamas, go barefoot +with the utmost <i>sangfroid</i>. The <i>sarong</i>, as worn +by the slender and graceful Malay, appears a modest +and appropriate garb, but the grotesque effect of +native attire on the broad-built Dutchwoman affords +conclusive proof that neither personal vanity nor a +sense of humour pertain to her stolid personality. +Dutch Puritanism certainly undergoes startling +transformations under the tropical skies, and the +Netherlands India produces a modification of +European ideas concerning what have been called +"the minor moralities of life," unequalled in +colonial experience. An identical exhibition fills +the open corridors of the Hotel Nederlanden, built +round a central court, and the general resort of the +guests during the hot hours of the January days. +Evening dress is reserved for State occasions, +and though <i>sarong</i> and <i>kabaja</i> be discarded at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>the nine o'clock dinner, the blouse and skirt of +morning wear in England suffices even at this late +hour for the fair Hollander, who also concedes so +far to the amenities of civilisation as sometimes to +put on her stockings. So much of life in Java is +spent in eating, sleeping, and bathing, that but a +small residuum can be spared for those outside +interests which easily drop away from the European +when exiled to a colony beyond the beaten track of +travel, and destitute of that external friction which +counteracts the enervating influence of the tropics. +Comfort is at a discount according to English ideas, +but the arrangements of the Hotel Nederlanden, +under a kindly and capable proprietor, render it an +exception to the prevailing rule. Each guest is +apportioned a little suite, consisting of bedroom, +sitting-room, and a section of the verandah, fitted +up with cane lounge, table, and rocking-chair. The +bathrooms, with porcelain tank and tiles, leave +nothing to be desired, and the "dipper-bath," +infinitely cooler than the familiar tub, becomes +an unfailing delight. Ominous prophecies have +emphasised the rashness of coming to Java in the +rainy season, but it has expended its force before +January arrives, and though daily showers cool the +air, and the sky is often overcast, no inconvenience +is experienced. Lizards and mosquitoes are few, +and in the marble-floored dining hall of cathedral +proportions the absence of a punkah is generally +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>unfelt, though the fact of a tropical climate is +realised at the slightest exertion. The day begins +at 6 a.m. with a cup of the Java coffee, which, at +first unpalatable, reveals by degrees the hidden +excellence of the beverage, brought cold in a +stoppered cruet, the potent essence requiring a +liberal admixture of boiling water. At 9 a.m. a +solid but monotonous breakfast of sausage, bacon, +eggs, and cheese is customary, with the accompaniment +of iced water, though tea and coffee are +provided for the foreign traveller, unused to the cold +comfort which commends itself to Dutch taste. The +mid-day <i>riz-tavel</i> from beginning to end of a +stay in Java, remains the terror of the English +visitor. Each plate is heaped with a mound of rice, +on which scraps of innumerable ingredients are +placed—meat, fish, fowl, duck, prawns, curry, fried +bananas, and nameless vegetables, together with +chilis and chutneys, sembals, spices, and grated +cocoanut, in bewildering profusion. The Dutch +digestion triumphantly survives this severe test at +the outset of the meal, and courageously proceeds +to the complementary courses of beefsteak, fritters +and cheese. Fortunately for those of less vigorous +appetite, mine host of the Nederlanden, far in +advance of his Javanese fraternity, kindly provides +a simple "tiffin" as an alternative to this +Gargantuan repast. Afternoon tea is served in the +verandah, and at eight o'clock the Dutch contingent, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>having slept off the effects of the rice table, prepares +with renewed energies to attack a heavy dinner. +New Year's Eve is celebrated by a very bombardment +of fireworks from the Chinese <i>campong</i>, and +crowds hasten to the fine Roman Catholic church +for Benediction, Te Deum, and an eloquent, though +to me incomprehensible, Dutch sermon. Crisp +muslins and uncovered heads for the women, and +white linen garb for the men, are the rule in church, +for the slatternly undress of <i>sarong</i> and pyjamas +is happily inadmissible within the walls of the +sanctuary, where the fair fresh faces and neat array +compose a pleasing picture which imagination would +fail to evolve from the burlesque ugliness of the +slovenly déshabille wherewith the Dutch colonist +disguises every claim to beauty or grace. On +alluding to the shock experienced by this grotesque +travesty of native garb, a Dutch officer asserts that +there are in reality but few Dutch ladies in Java of +pure racial stock, for one unhappy result of remoteness +from European influence is shown by the +gradual merging of the Dutch colonists into the +Malay race by intermarriage. Exile to Java was +made financially easy and attractive by the Dutch +Government, but it was for the most part a +permanent separation from the mother country, and +a long term of years necessarily elapsed before the +colonial planter could even return for a short visit +to his native land. The overwhelming force of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>public opinion against mixed marriages, and the +consequent degeneration of type, from a union which +lowers one of the contracting parties without raising +the other, beats but faintly against these remote +shores, cut off from associations which mould and +modify the crudities of individual thought in regions +swept by the full tide of contemporary life. The +idea of welding European and Asiatic elements into +one race, as a defence against external aggression, +possesses a superficial plausibility, but ages of +historical experiment only confirm the unalterable +truth of the poetic dictum that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">East is East, and West is West,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And never the two shall meet.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Until they stand on either hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">At God's great Judgment Seat!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sudden rise of an Oriental race to the position +of a great world-power, and the apprehensions of +coming struggles for supremacy in Eastern waters, +present many future complications concerning Java, +even if not weakened by the assimilation of her +European colonists to an inferior race.</p> + +<p>Neither landlord nor secretary of the Hotel +Nederlanden spare time or trouble in arranging the +programme of sight-seeing, and but for their kindly +help, only a partial success would be possible, owing +to the difficulties presented by the two unknown +tongues of Dutch and Malay. Ignorance of the +former involves separation from the world as revealed +by newspapers, and though a smattering of "coolie +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>Malay" is picked up with the aid of a handbook, +and the "hundred words" mastered, sanguinely +asserted to suffice for colloquial needs, there are +many occasions when even the practice of this +elementary language requires a more extensive +vocabulary. At a New Year's fête given by the +proprietor of the hotel to his numerous Malay +employés, we make our first acquaintance with +native music. Dancing girls, in mask and tinsel, +gyrate to the weird strains of the <i>Gamelon</i>, an +orchestra of tiny gongs, bamboo tubes, and metal +pipes. Actors perform old-world dramas in dumb +show, and conjurors in gaudy attire attract people +of all ages to those time-honoured feats of legerdemain +which once represented the sorcery of the +mystic East. The simple Malay has not yet adopted +the critical and unbelieving attitude which rubs the +gilt off the gingerbread or the bloom off the plum, +and his fervid faith in mythical heroes and necromantic +exploits gives him the key to that kingdom +of fancy often closed to a sadder if wiser world. +The electric tram provides an excellent method of +gaining a general idea of Batavia and Weltevreden; +the winding route skirting canals and palm groves, +<i>campongs</i> of basket-work huts, and gay <i>passers</i>, +the native markets, with their wealth of many-coloured +fruit. Stacks of golden bananas, olive-tinted +dukus, rambutans like green chestnut-shells +with scarlet prickles, amber star-fruit, brown +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>salak, the "forbidden apple," bread-fruit, and +durian offer an embarassing choice. Pineapples +touch perfection on Java soil; cherimoya and mango, +papaya and the various custard-fruits, the lovely but +tasteless rose-apple, and the dark green equatorial +orange of delicious flavour, afford a host of unfamiliar +experiences. The winter months are the season of +the peerless mangosteen, in beauty as well as in +savour the queen of tropical fruits. The rose-lined +purple globes, with the central ball of ivory +whiteness in each fairy cup, suggest fugitive +essences of strawberry and nectarine combined with +orange to produce this equatorial marvel, also +considered perfectly wholesome. The mangosteen, +ripening just north or south of the Equator, +according to the alternations of the wet and dry +seasons, cannot be preserved long enough to reach +the temperate zone, and though every year shows +fresh varieties of tropical fruit successfully transported +to European markets, the mangosteen remains +unknown outside the narrow radius of the equatorial +region to which the tree is indigenous. The flower +markets blaze with many-coloured roses, tons of +gardenias and a wealth of white heavy-scented +flowers, such as tuberoses and Arabian jasmine. All +the spices of the East, in fact, seem breathing from +these mounds of blossom, as well as from gums and +essences distilled from them in archaic fashion. +Transparent sachets, filled with the scented petals +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>of <i>ylang-ylang</i>, fill the air with intoxicating sweetness, +and outside the busy <i>passer</i>, a frangipanni-tree, +the native <i>sumboya</i> or "flower of the dead," +just opening a white crowd of golden-hearted +blossoms to the sun, adds another wave of perfume +to the floral incense, steaming from earth to sky with +prodigal exuberance.</p> + +<p>Batavia possesses few objects of interest. The +dismal green-shuttered Stadkirche, a relic of Dutch +Calvinism; the earliest warehouse of the Netherlands +Company, a commonplace lighthouse, and the gate +of Peter Elberfeld's dwelling (now his tomb), with +his spear-pierced skull above the lintel, as a reminder +of the sentence pronounced on traitors to the Dutch +Government, comprise the scanty catalogue. Antiquities +and archæological remains fill a white +museum of classical architecture on the Koenig's +Plein, a huge parade ground, flanked by the +Palace of the Governor-General. Gold and silver +ornaments, gifts from tributary princes, shield and +helmet, dagger, and <i>kris</i>, of varied stages in Malay +civilisation, abound in these spacious halls, where +every Javanese industry may be studied. Buddhist +and Hindu temples have yielded up a treasury of +images, censers, and accessories of worship, the +excavations of ruined cities in Central Java, long +overgrown with impenetrable jungle, opening a mine +of archæological wealth in musical instruments, +seals, coins, headgear, chairs and umbrellas of State.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +Golden pipes and betel-boxes show the perfection of +the goldsmith's art, and metal statues vie with those +of sculptured wood or stone. Here Captain Cook +left his treasure trove from the Southern seas, and +the Council Chamber of the Museum contains +portraits and souvenirs of the great navigators who +sailed into the uncharted ocean of geographical +discovery, and in various stages of their adventurous +careers anchored at Java, to display the wondrous +trophies of unknown lands in the island then +regarded as the farthest outpost of contemporary +civilisation.</p> + +<p>The <i>toelatingskaart</i>, or Javanese passport, formerly +indispensable for insular travel beyond the +radius of forty miles from Batavia, though not yet +obsolete, proves practically needless, and is never +once demanded during a six weeks' stay. The small +addition contributed to the rich revenue by this +useless official "permit," appears the sole reason +for retaining it, now that vexatious restrictions are +withdrawn. In the intervals of arranging an +up-country tour from monotonous Weltevreden, +destitute of any attraction beyond the white +colonnades and verdant groves flanking sleepy canals +and quaint bridges, the local industry of <i>sarong</i> +stippling affords a curious interest. Every city in +Java possesses a special type of this historic dress, +represented on the walls of temples dating before the +Christian era, and worn by the Malay races from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>time immemorial. This strip of cotton cloth, which +forms the attire both of men and women, is twisted +firmly round the body, and requires no girdle +to secure it. Palm-fronds, birds, and animals, +geometric patterns, religious emblems, fruits and +flowers, are represented in bewildering confusion. +The girls, with flower-decked hair and scanty garb, +occupy a long, low shed, filled with rude frames for +stretching the cloth, painted in soft-tinted dyes—brown, +blue, and amber for the most part—with +tapering funnels. These waxed cloths allow infinite +scope for native imagination, only a small panel of +formal design being obligatory, the remaining +surface fancifully coloured at will in harmonious +hues. No two <i>sarongs</i> are alike, and the painted +<i>battek</i>, notwithstanding the simplicity of the +cotton background, represents an amount of labour +and finish which makes the archaic garment a costly, +though almost indestructible production. The +graceful <i>slandang</i>, a crossed scarf of the same +material, only serves as a shoulder-strap, wherein +the brown Malay baby sits contentedly, for the ugly +white jacket of the Dutchwoman is now compulsory +on the native. Every variety of <i>battek</i>, basket-work, +mats, and quaint silver or brass ware, is +brought by native peddlers to the broad verandahs of +the hotel, the patient and gentle people content to +spend long hours on the marble steps, dozing +between their scanty bargains, or crimsoning their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>months with the stimulating morsel of betel-nut, +said to allay the hunger, thirst, and exhaustion of +the steaming tropics. The conquered race, cowed +by ages of tyranny under native princes, possesses +those mild and effeminate characteristics fostered by +a languid and enervating climate. That the salient +angles of the sturdy Dutch character, which +accomplished so many feats of endurance in the +earlier days of the colony, should undergo rapid +disintegration by intermarriage with the native +stock, must arouse regret in all who realise the +claims to respect possessed by the fighting forefathers +of Holland's tropical dependencies.</p> + +<p>Educational matters were for centuries in abeyance, +and until 1864 the Malays were forbidden to +learn the language of their European rulers. Many +dialects are found in Java's wide territory, but Low +Malay has been declared the official tongue, and +with the advance of public opinion, wider views +prevail concerning the rights of the subject race. +A good Roman Catholic priest, one of the most +enlightened and liberal Dutchmen encountered in +Java, asserts that in the schools of the Colonial +Government, the Malay boy possesses a mathematical +facility superior to that of the Dutch scholar, in +spite of the advantage accruing from hereditary +education.</p> + +<p>At the sunset hour, Batavian life awakens from +the long slumbers of the tropical afternoon, and as +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>the golden light filters through the waving palms, +the long Schul-Weg, beside the central canal, fills +with saunterers, enjoying the delights of that +brief spell, when peace and coolness fall on the +world before the sudden twilight drops veil after veil +of deepening gloom, merging into the "darkness +which may be felt," for the twelve hours of the +tropical night. Gathering clouds reveal but scanty +glimpses of the moon in these January weeks, but +through rifts in the sombre canopy, the Southern +stars hang low in the dome of heaven, and shine +like burning lamps, appearing almost within reach +of an outstretched hand.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> +<h3>BUITENZORG.</h3> + + +<p>The first destination of the up-country traveller in +Java is Buitenzorg, the Dutch "Sans Souci," +containing the Governor-General's rural Palace, the +houses of Court officials, and the superb Botanical +Garden, which ranks first among the horticultural +triumphs of the world. The two hours' journey by +the railway, which now traverses the whole of Java, +shows a succession of tropical landscapes, appearing +unreal in their fantastic and dream-like beauty. +The glowing green of rice-fields, the dense forests of +swaying palms, the porphyry tints of the teeming +soil, and the purple mountains, carved into the weird +contours peculiar to volcanic ranges, frame myriad +pictures of unfamiliar native life with dramatic +effect. Villages of woven basket-work cluster +beneath green curtains of banana and spreading +canopies of palm, the central mosque surmounting +the tiny huts with many-tiered roofs, and walls +inlaid with gleaming tiles of white and blue. Brown +figures, with gay <i>sarong</i> and turbaned headgear, +bring bamboo buckets to moss-grown wells, gray +water-buffaloes crop marshy herbage, a little bronze-hued +figure seated on each broad back, and busy +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>workers stand knee-deep in slush, to transplant +emerald blades of rice or to gather the yellow crops, +for seedtime and harvest go on together in this +fertile land. Our train halts at Depok, a Christian +village unique in Java, for the religious history of +the island shows little missionary enterprise among +a race strangely indifferent to the claims of faith, +and lightly casting away one creed after another, +with a carelessness which has ever proved a formidable +bar to spiritual progress. The Portuguese +Jesuits were expelled by the Dutch, and English +efforts at conversion were succeeded by a general +exclusion of foreign missionaries. Public opinion +eventually prevented the continuance of this despotic +rule, and at the present day a certain number of +Roman and Protestant clergy are supported by the +Government, but Roman zeal outstrips the niggardly +spiritual provision, and proves the appreciation in +which it is held by full churches and devout +worshippers. The Mohammedanism of the Malay +lacks the fiery fervour common to Islam, and his +slack hands are ever ready to forego all symbols of +faith. From the region of rice and tapioca, maize +and sugar-cane, we reach the great cacao plantations, +hung with chocolate-coloured pods, and the ruddy +kina-groves on the lower slopes of the mountain +chain. The palms are everywhere, clashing their +huge fronds, and undulating in waves of fiery green, +the light and shadow of the golden evening reflected +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>on the swaying foliage. Stately Palmyra, slender +areca, graceful pandang with a length of scarlet +crowning each smooth grey stem, the mighty royal +palm, king of the forest, spreading cocoanuts, and a +hundred unknown varieties, soaring among bread-fruit +and teak, nutmeg and waringen, reveal the +inexhaustible powers of tropical Nature. Buitenzorg +occupies an ideal position between the blue and +violet peaks of Gedeh and Salak, the guardian +mountains of the fairy spot, perennially green with +spring-like freshness, from the daily showers +sweeping across the valley from one or other +of the lofty crests, and possessing a delicious +climate at an altitude of eight hundred feet. +The Hotel Bellevue, where <i>back</i> rooms should +be secured on account of a superb prospect, +comprising river, mountain and forest, stands +near the great entrance of the world-famous +Gardens, and our balcony commands a profound +ravine, carved by a clear river, winding away +between forests of palm to the dark cone of Mount +Salak, the climax of the picture. The artist +destined to interpret the soul of Java is yet unborn, +or unable to grasp the character of her unique and +distinctive scenery, but a village of plaited palm-leaves, +accentuating this tropical Eden, brings it +down to the human level, where soft Malay voices, +glimpses of domestic life, and a canoe afloat on +the brimming stream, remind us that we are still +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>on <i>terra firma</i>, and not gazing at a dreamland +Paradise beyond earthly ken. Sleeping accommodation +in the hills suggests little comfort. A +hard mattress beneath a sheet is the sole furniture +of the huge four-poster, surrounded by thick muslin +curtains to exclude air and creeping things; pillows +are stuffed hard with cotton-down, and no coverings +are provided—an unalterable custom possessing +obvious disadvantages in a climate reeking with +damp, where the walls of a room closed for a day or +two become green with mould. Rheumatic stiffness +on waking is a matter of course in humid Java, for +the hour between darkness and dawn contains a +concentrated essence of dew, mist, and malaria, +which penetrates to the very marrow of unaccustomed +bones, even when it lacks the frequent +accompaniment of the violent cascade known as "a +tropical shower." The glorious Botanical Garden +is approached by a mighty avenue of colossal kanari-trees, +over a hundred feet high, with yellow light +filtering through the fretted roof of interlacing +boughs, which suggests a vast aisle in some primeval +forest. Stately columns and spreading roots garlanded +with stag-horn ferns, waving moss, white and purple +orchids, or broad-leaved creepers, falling in sheets +and torrents of shining foliage and knitting tree to +tree, attest the irrepressible growth of vegetation, +which flings a many-coloured veil of blossom and +leaf over root, branch, and stem. A fairy lake +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>glows with the pink and crimson blossoms of the +noble Victoria Regia, the huge leaves like green +tea-trays floating on the water, where a central +fountain adds prismatic radiance to the scenic effect +of the splendid lilies. Climbing palms and massive +creepers, splashed with orange, scarlet, and gold, +tumble in masses from lofty branches, and the +dazzling Bougainvillea flings curtains of roseate +purple over wall and gateway. A dense thicket +of frangipanni scents the air with the symbolic +blossoms, shining like stars from grey-green boughs +of sharp-cut leaves. A copse of splendid tree-ferns +flanks the forest-like plantation known as "The +Thousand Palms," and beneath dusky avenues of +waringen (a variety of the banyan species, which +strikes staff-like boughs into the earth and springs +up again in caverns of foliage), herds of deer are +wandering, snatching at drooping vines, or sheltering +from the fierce sun in depths of impenetrable shade. +Tufts of red-stemmed Banka palms cluster on the +green islets of lake and river, vista after vista opens +up, each mysterious aisle appearing more lovely than +the last, and luring the wanderer to the climax +formed by a terraced knoll, commanding a superb +view of Gedeh and Salak, the twin summits of +chiselled turquoise, gashed by the amethyst shadows +of deep ravines, with Gedeh's curl of volcanic smoke +staining the lustrous azure of the sky. Many-coloured +tree carnations, gorgeous cannas and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>calladiums, copses of snowy gardenia, and flowering +shrubs of rainbow hues, blaze with splendour, or +exhale their wealth of perfume on the languid air, +thronged with the invisible souls of the floral +multitude. Graceful rattans shoot up in tall ladders +of foliage-hidden cane, climbing to the topmost +fronds of the loftiest palm, and, unless ruthlessly cut +down, overthrowing the stately tree with their fatal +embrace. Sausage and candle trees, with strange +parodies of prosaic food and waxen tapers, climbing +palms, sometimes extending for five hundred feet, +and gigantic blossoms like crimson trumpets, or delicately-tinted +shells of ocean, comprise but a tithe +of Nature's wonders, crowned by the mighty +"Rafflesia," the largest flower in the world, with +each vast red chalice often measuring a circumference +of six feet. A hundred native gardeners are +employed in this park-like domain, and seventy men +work in the adjacent culture-garden of forty acres, +where experiments in grafting and acclimatizing +are carried on, as well as in the supplementary +garden of Tjibodas, beautifully situated on the lower +slopes of Mount Salak. The white palace of the +Governor-General faces the lake, fed by the lovely +river Tjiligong, winding in silver loops round verdant +lawn and palm-clad hill, or expanding into bamboo-fringed +lakes, and bringing perennial freshness into +the tropical Eden of sun-bathed Java.</p> + +<p>Beyond the fretted arches of the great kanari +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>avenue, the white tomb of Lady Raffles, who died +during her husband's term of office in the island, +forms a pathetic link with the past. When the +colony was restored to Holland, a clause in the treaty +concerning it, made the perpetual care of this +monument, to one deeply loved and mourned, +binding upon the Dutch Governor—a condition +loyally observed during the century since the +cessation of English rule. Cinnamon and clove +scent the breeze which whispers mysterious secrets +to the swaying plumes of the tall sago-palms, and +dies away in the delicate foliage of tamarind and +ironwood tree. A network of air roots makes a +grotesque circle round the spreading boughs of the +banyan grove, mahogany and sandal-wood, ebony +and cork, ginger-tree and cardamom, mingle their +varied foliage, the translucency of sun-smitten green +shading through deepening tones into the sombre +tints of ilex and pine with exquisite gradation. +Flamboyant trees flaunt fiery pyramids of blossom +high in the air, and the golden bouquets of the +salacca light up dusky avenues, where large-leaved +lianas rope themselves from tree to tree in cables of +vivid green. Bare stems, except in the palms, are +unknown in this richly-decorated temple of Nature; +climbing blade-plants with sword-like leaves of gold-striped +verdure, huge orchids like many-coloured +birds and butterflies fluttering in the wind, wreathe +trunk and branch with fantastic splendour, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>matted creepers weave curtains of dense foliage from +spreading boughs. The austere and scanty vegetation +of Northern climes, which gives a distinct +outline and value to every leaf and flower, has +nothing in common with the prodigal and passionate +beauty of the tropical landscape, where the wealth +of earth is flung broadcast at our feet in mad +profusion. Day by day the marvellous gardens of +Buitenzorg take deeper hold of mind and imagination. +The early dawn, when the dark silhouettes +of the palms stand etched against the rose-tinted +heavens, the hot noontide in the shadows of the +colossal kanari-trees, the sunset gold transfiguring +the foliage into emerald fire, and spilling pools of +liquid amber upon the mossy turf, or the white +moonlight which transmutes the forest aisles into a +fairy world of sable and silver, invest this vision of +Paradise with varied aspects of incomparable beauty. +The surrounding scenery, though full of interest, +seems but the setting of the priceless gem, and when +inexorable Time, the modern angel of the flaming +sword, at length bars the way, and banishes us from +our Javanese Eden, the exiled heart turns back +perpetually to the floral sanctuary, the antitype of +that Divinely-planted Garden on the dim borderland +of Time which revealed and fulfilled the primeval +beauty of earth's morning hours.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> +<h3>SOEKABOEMI AND SINDANGLAYA.</h3> + + +<p>Soekaboemi (Desire of the World), a favourite +sanatorium of the Dutch, is approached by an +exquisite railway, curving round the purple heights +of forest-girt Salak. The usual afternoon deluge +weeps itself away, palm plumes and cassava boughs, +overhanging the silvery Tjiligong, drop showers of +diamonds into the current, and giant bamboos creak +in the spicy wind, redolent of gardenia and clove. +The hills, scaled by green rice-terraces, each with +tiny rill and miniature cascade, are vocal with +murmuring waters. Lilac plumbago, red hybiscus, +and golden allemanda mingle with pink and purple +lantana, yellow daisies, and hedges of scarlet tassels, +enclosing wicker huts in patches of banana and +cocoanut. Brown girls, in blue and orange <i>sarongs</i>, +occupy the steps of a basket-work shrine, from +whence an unknown god, smeared with ochre, +extends a sceptred hand, for Hinduism left deep +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>traces on inland Java, dim with the dust of vanished +creeds. The expense and trouble of former travel +by the superb post-roads, made at terrible sacrifice +of life in earlier days, is now done away with, +though the noble avenues and picturesque shelters, +erected for protection from sun or rain, suggest a +pleasant mode of leisurely progress. No trains may +run at night, not only on account of native +incompetence, but from dangers caused by constant +geographical changes on this volcanic soil, where +rivers suddenly alter their course, and earthquakes +obstruct the way with yawning chasms or heaps of +debris. A paternal Government provides the +traveller with a half-way house, erecting a large +hotel at Maos, with uniform rates, entirely for the +benefit of the passenger by rail. Trains are built +on the American plan, stations are spacious and +airy, refreshments easily secured, and every halting-place +offers an <i>embarras de richesses</i> in the shape of +tropical fruits, wherewith to supplement or replace +the solidity of the Dutch commissariat. Coffee and +tea plantations in ordered neatness, contrast with +the untamed profusion of forest vegetation, clothing +sharp promontory and shelving terrace. Dusky +villages cling like birds' nests to ledges of rock, +screw-palms with airy roots frame mountain tarns, +and a Brazilian Emperor-palm, with smooth column +bulging into a pear-shaped base, accentuates the +sunset glory from a crag crowned by the black +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>canopy of colossal fronds. The Preanger Regency +was the heart of ancient Mataram, that historic +kingdom of old-world Java round which perpetual +warfare waged for centuries.</p> + +<p>Language and customs change as we cross the +saddle between the blue peaks of Salak and Gedeh; +gay crowds bring fruits to picturesque wayside +markets, bearing bamboo poles laden with golden +papaya and purple mangosteen, or plaited baskets +containing the conglomerate native cuisine. The +elastic and gracefully-modelled figures of the +Soendanese populace betoken a purer race than that +of the steamy Batavian lowlands, where foreign +elements deteriorate the native stock. The Hotel +Victoria at Soekaboemi consists of detached white +buildings round tree-filled courts, erected on the +"pavilion system." Every two visitors occupy a +tiny bungalow of two bedrooms, opening on a +spacious verandah divided by a screen, and each +section provided with lamp, rocking-chair, and +tea-table, the long public dining hall being +approached by a covered alley. The rain, swishing +down through the night in torrents and cataracts, +clears at sunrise, and though heavy clouds still veil +the heights of Salak, the transparent beauty of the +morning crystallises the atmosphere, and sharply +defines every feature of the landscape. The country +roads, shaded by towering palms and fruit-laden +mangos, glow with a continuous procession of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>brown figures, the women clad in the universal +<i>sarong</i>, but men and children often in Nature's garb, +with touches of orange or crimson in scarf and +turban. Water-oxen and buffaloes, goats and sheep, +vary the throng, but cattle fare badly in fertile Java, +where the all-pervading rice ousts the pasture-land. +Glorious bamboos form arches of feathery green +meeting across the road, and the busy China +<i>campong</i>, or <i>désar</i> in Preanger parlance, is +full of life and movement with the first streak of day, +for all trade in Java depends upon the indefatigable +industry of the Celestial. The idle gambling Malay, +though an expert hunter and fisher, takes no thought +for the morrow, and is protected by the Dutch +Government from ruin by an enforced demand of +rice for storage, according to the numbers of the +family. Every village contains the great Store Barn +of plaited palm leaves, so that, in case of need, the +confiscated rice can be doled out to the improvident +native, who thus contributes to the support of his +family in times of scarcity. This regulation relieves +want without pauperising, the common garner +merely serving as a compulsory savings bank. Many +salutary laws benefit the Malay, possessing a notable +share of tropical slackness, and the lack of initiative +partly due to a servile past under the sway of +tyrannical native princes. The little brown people +of Java, eminently gentle and tractable, are honest +enough for vendors of eatables to place a laden basket +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>at the roadside for the refreshment of the traveller, +who drops a small coin into a bamboo tube fastened +to a tree for this purpose. The customary payment +is never omitted, and at evening the owner of the +basket collects the money, and brings a fresh supply +of food for future wayfarers. Country districts +demonstrate the fact of Java being a creedless land. +This is Sunday, and the Feast of the Epiphany, +but the only honour paid to the day consists in a +gayer garb, and a band playing for an hour in the +palm-shaded garden. Work goes on in rice-field and +plantation, but no church bell rings from the closed +chapel outside the gates, and no sign of religion is +evident, whether from mosque, temple, or church. +Lovely lanes form alluring vistas. The pretty +<i>désas</i> of plaited palm and bamboo, hiding in +depths of tropical woodland, with blue thunbergia +clambering over every verandah, and the Preanger +girls, with their brilliant <i>slandangs</i> of orange and +scarlet, amber and purple, make vivid points of +colour in the foreground of blue mountain and dusky +forest. A copper-coloured boy carries on his head a +basket of gold-fish large as salmon, the westering +sun glittering on the ruddy scales.</p> + +<p>Traditional servility remains ingrained in +Preanger character, and the crouching obeisance +known as the <i>dodok</i>, formerly insisted upon, is +still observed by the native to his European masters, +the humble posture giving place to kneeling on a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>nearer approach. The kind proprietor of the +Soekaboemi Hotel offers every facility to those +guests anxious to penetrate below the surface of +Soendanese life, placing his carriage and himself at +the disposal of the visitor, and affording a mine of +information otherwise unattainable, for books on +Java are few and far between, and the work of Sir +Stamford Raffles continues the best authority on +island life and customs, though a century has elapsed +since it was written. Why, one asks in amazement, +did England part with this Eastern Paradise? rich +not only in vegetation, but containing unexplored +treasures of precious metal and the vast mineral +wealth peculiar to volcanic regions, where valuable +chemical products are precipitated by the subterranean +forces of Nature's mysterious laboratory. In +the far-off days when "the grand tour" of Europe +was the climax of the ordinary traveller's ambition, +beautiful Java was relinquished on the plea of being +an unknown and useless possession, too far from the +beaten track of British sailing ships to be of practical +value. The remonstrances of Sir Stamford Raffles, +and his representations of future colonial expansion, +were regarded as the dreams of a romantic +enthusiast, and the noble English Governor, in +advance of his age, while effecting during his brief +tenure of office results unattainable by a century of +ordinary labour, found his efforts wasted and his +work undone. Instead of returning home, he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>applied himself heroically to the developement of +Singapore, the eternal monument of patriotic +devotion and invincible courage.</p> + +<p>The line to Tjandjoer, the starting point +for Sindanglaya, traverses one of the exquisite +plains characteristic of Java. Mountain walls, +with palm-fringed base and violet crest, bound +a fertile expanse, where myriad brooks foam +through fairy arches of feathery bamboo and +long vistas of spreading palm fronds. Rice +in every stage of growth, from flaming green +to softest yellow, covers countless terraces, the +picturesque outlines of their varied contours +enhancing the beauty of the fantastic scene. A +<i>sado</i>, with a team of three tiny ponies, dashes up +the long avenue leading to the palm-fringed hills, +the mighty Amherstia trees forming aisles of dark +green foliage, brightened with the vivid glow of +orange red blossoms. The broad road is a kaleidoscope +of brilliant colour, for native costume vies with +the dazzling tints of tropical Nature as we advance +further into the Preangers. The gay headgear, +worn turbanwise, with two ends standing upright +above plaited folds, and magenta <i>kabajas</i>, with +<i>slandangs</i> of apple green, amber or purple, +make a blaze of colour against the forest background, +or glow amidst the dusky shadows of +palm-thatched sheds, where thirsty travellers imbibe +pink and yellow syrups, the favourite beverages of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>the Malay race. The ascending road commands +superb views of the mountain chain, and the +rambling two-storied hotel, widened by immense +verandahs, stands opposite cloud-crowned Gedeh, +half-veiled by the spreading column of volcanic +smoke. The misty blue of further hills leads the +eye to the three weird peaks of the Tangkoeban +Prahoe, the boat-shaped "Ark" regarded as the +Ararat of Java, for the universal tradition of the +great Deluge underlies the religious history welded +from Moslem, Buddhist, and Hindu elements. +Legendary lore clusters round the petrified "Ark" +in which the progenitors of the Malayan stock +escaped from the Noachian flood. The storm-tossed +and water-logged boat, lodged between jutting rocks, +was reversed that it might dry in the sun, but the +weary voyagers who traditionally peopled the Malay +Archipelago remained in the lotus-eating land, and +the disused "Ark" or <i>Prau</i>, fossilizing through +the ages, became a portion of the peaks whereon it +rested. The sacred mountain developed into a place +of pilgrimage and prayer, and the ruins of richly-carved +temples, together with four broken flights +of a thousand steps, denote the former importance +ascribed to the great Altar of Nature, and the power +of religion on the social life of the past. Generations +of later inhabitants, dwelling in flimsy huts of +bamboo and thatch, regarded the mysterious ruins +of the Tankahan Prahoe as the work of giants or +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>demons, and the haunted hill as a mysterious resort +of evil spirits. In lofty Sindanglaya, the swaying +palms of the lowlands yield to glorious tree-ferns, +shading road and ravine with feathery canopies of +velvet green. A lake of azure crystal mirrors a thick +fringe of the great fronds, and on every parapet of +the ruddy cliffs the living emerald of the lanceolated +foliage glows in vivid contrast with the splintered +crags. Sindanglaya is the refuge of fever-stricken +Europeans from malarial coast or inland swamp, but +the hotel is now empty of invalids. The kind +proprietor lavishes time and care on English guests, +and the attentive Malay "room-boys," squatting +on the verandah outside our doors, fear to lose sight +of their charges for a moment, lest some need of +native help should arise. They watch hand and eye +like faithful dogs, for their language is unintelligible +to us as ours to them, and the only attempt at +speech is "<i>Chow-chow, mister!</i>" when the dinner-bell +rings, the mystic words accompanied by a +realistic pantomime of mouth and fingers.</p> + +<p>The following morning dawns like an ideal day +of June, and we start in chairs, carried by four +coolies, for the beautiful Falls of Tjibereum. A +mountain road winds through rice-fields and tree-ferns +towards fold upon fold of lilac peaks, until we +reach the mountain garden of Tjibodas, the beautiful +supplement of incomparable Buitenzorg. A strange +sense of remoteness belongs to this lonely pleasaunce +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>of the upper world, on a sheltered slope of ever-burning +Gedeh, quiescent now save for the blue curl +of sulphurous smoke, which gives perpetual warning +of those smouldering forces ever ready to devastate +the surrounding country. Subterranean activity +increases during the rainy season, and tremors of +earthquake occasionally startle the equanimity of +those unused to the perils of existence on this thin +crust of Mother Earth, for Java's teeming soil and +population rest upon an ominous fissure of the +globe's surface, and twelve of the forty-five volcanos +on this island of terror and beauty are still +moderately active, sometimes displaying sudden +outbursts of energy. The green lawns and towering +camphor trees of Tjibodas suggest the spellbound +beauty of some enchanted spot, unprofaned by +human foot. A glassy lake mirrors the tall bamboos +and feathery tamarinds, their slender and sensitive +foliage motionless in the still air of the dewy dawn. +Huge coleas accentuate the spring verdure with +heavy masses of bronze and crimson, and magnolias +exhale intoxicating odours from snowy chalices. +Blue lilies and flaxen pampas grass grow in thickets +upon the emerald slopes, and the ordered loveliness +of the mountain Paradise, walled in by dense jungle +and savage precipice, brings the glamour of dreamland +into the stern environment of mysterious forest +and frowning peak. A rudely-paved and mossy +path, shadowed by the black foliage of stately +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>casuarinas, leads into the gloomy jungle. The forest +monarchs are curtained with tangled creepers and +roped together with serpent-like lianas, stag-horn +ferns, and green veils of filmy moss fluttering from +every bough. A swampy path through rank grass +and rough boulders pierces the dense thickets, +matted together with inextricable confusion, teak +and tamarind, acacia and bread-fruit, palm and tree-fern +losing their own characteristics and merging +themselves into concrete form. The appalling +stillness and solemnity of the dense jungle appears +emphasised by a solitary brown figure, with pipe and +betel-box, beneath a thatched shed at an angle of +the narrow track, where he presides over a little +stall of cocoanuts, bananas, and coloured syrups, for +the refreshment of coolies on their way from the +Tjibodas garden to villages across the heights of +Gedeh. No voice ever seems raised in these remote +recesses of the mountains, where even the children +of each brown hamlet play silently as figures in a +dream. Our bearers, swishing through wet grass +and splashing across brimming brooks, push with +renewed energies up a steep ascent to the heart of +the wild solitude, where three mighty waterfalls +dash in savage grandeur from a range of over +hanging cliffs into a churning river, descending by +continuous rapids over a stairway of brown-striped +trap-rock and swirling between lichen-clad banks, +to lose itself in the green gloom of the impenetrable +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>woods. One of these huge cascades would make the +fortune of a Swiss valley, and we need no further +efforts of our willing bearers in the cause of sight-seeing, +but as neither words nor gestures prove +intelligible to Western obtuseness, a brown coolie +seizes each arm, and rushes us up a grassy hill to a +huge cavern, hung with myriad bats, and containing +a pool of crystal water. The simple minds of these +kindly mountaineers shirk no trouble for the benefit +of the stranger, who, though regarded as a madman, +must be humoured as such, not only to the top of +his bent, but often beyond it. A descent through +rice-fields and <i>désas</i> skirts the serrated cliffs of +Gedeh's northward side, though tree-ferns growing +in thousands afford shelter from the daily showers. +The sudden passion of tropical rain dies away, +leaving an atmosphere of unearthly transparency. +Gedeh, carved in amethyst, leans against a primrose +sky, streaked by the puff of white smoke from the +crater. Villagers returning from work brighten the +road with patches of scarlet and yellow; children, +clad only in necklaces of red seeds and silver bangles, +running about amid groups of women in painted +<i>battek</i>, with brown babies carried in the orange +or crimson folds of the <i>slandang</i>, pause before +the doorways of woven basket-work huts, or carry +crates of yellow bananas and strings of purple +mangosteens, to supplement the "evening rice" of +their frugal meal. The Malay races have been called +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>"the flower of the East," noted for their soft voices +and courteous manners in the days of old, but +European intercourse obliterates native characteristics, +and the inhabitant of the sea-coast, or +of the larger towns, unpleasantly imitates the +brusquerie of his Dutch masters, and even exaggerates it. +The Soendanese of the Preanger hills, +less in contact with the external world, retains traces +of life's ancient simplicity, and though a keen +intelligence forms no part of his mental equipment, +his desire to please and satisfy his employer is of +pathetic intensity.</p> + +<p>The Governor-General of Java, whose stipend is +of double the amount received by the American +President, owns a country palace at Sindanglaya, +in addition to the splendid official residences at +Batavia and Buitenzorg. A lovely walk leads from +this flower-girt mansion to a pavilion on the Kasoer +hill, commanding a prospect of four mountain +ranges, outlined in tender hues of lavender and +turquoise against the cobalt sky. In the foreground +stretches a fertile plain, with bamboo and sugar-cane +varying the eternal rice in brilliant shades of green +and gold, always decorative, from the first emerald +blade to the amber-tinted straw, for the sacred +grain possesses a beauty far exceeding that of wheat, +barley, or rye.</p> + +<p>Undulating lines and ascending terraces break +the uniformity of the lovely plains with the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>fascination of weird contour and fanciful design, +intricate as the pattern traced on the native <i>sarong</i>. +The rice-culture of these fields and valleys is a +perfect survival of the primeval system, unchanged +since the days when "the gift of the gods" was +first bestowed on primitive man in this land of +plenty. The peasant, toiling in the flooded +<i>sawas</i>, and occupied from seedtime to harvest +in the arduous labour demanded by the rice-field, +combines with his agricultural work the idea of a +sacred duty to the divinities who gave him the +staple commodity whereon his life mainly depends. +Cocoanut and sugar-cane, maize and tapioca, banana +and cassava, supplement the rice, but it ranks above +all other products of the teeming soil, for sacramental +efficacy and supernatural origin have +hallowed the "grain of heaven" from the very +dawn of history, and the hereditary belief in the +efficacy of the sacred crop still remains mystically +rooted in the sub-consciousness of the Malay race.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> +<h3>GAROET AND HER VOLCANO.</h3> + + +<p>The occasional drawback of weeping skies is +counterbalanced by the gorgeous vegetation only +seen to perfection in the rainy season, and that +clouds should sometimes veil the burning blue to +mitigate Equatorial sunshine proves a source of +satisfaction to those who fail to appreciate the Rip +Van Winkle life of womankind in Java. The +journey to Garoet supplies a succession of vivid +pictures, illustrating the individuality of the insular +scenery. The weird outlines of volcanic ranges, +shading from palest azure to deepest plum-colour, +the dreamlike beauty of Elysian plains, and the +stately palm-forests extending league upon league, +with mighty vans clashing in the mountain breeze, +assume magical charm as we penetrate into the +heart of the alluring land. Two pyramidal peaks, +Haroeman and Kaleidon, rise sheer from the fair +plain of Lelés in colossal stairways of green rice-terraces. +Knots of palm shelter innumerable +villages which dot the mountain flanks, the woven +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>huts fragile as houses of cards, but built up on +identical sites through countless ages, recorded in +perennial characters of living green on these twin +trophies of primitive agriculture. Many travellers +have commented on the strange undertone of music, +echoing from a thousand silvery rills and tiny +cascades, which follow the verdant lines of terrace +or parapet, and make the shimmering air vocal with +melody, like the distant song of surf on a coral reef. +Variety of form belongs to all Javanese agriculture +as the result of handicraft, for the peasant +unconsciously puts his own personality into his toil. +The exquisite tints of the rice in different stages of +growth display a translucence indescribable except +in terms of light and fire. The amber gleam of +young shoots, the green flames of the springing +crop, the pulsating emerald of later growth, and the +golden sheen of ripened ears, invest the "gift of the +gods" with unearthly radiance. The Eastern mind +has ever responded to Nature's touch, for the great +Mother whispers her closest secrets to simple hearts, +and science now realises that civilisation has broken +many of the subtle links which in earlier days were +mystic bonds of union between man and the +universe.</p> + +<p>Malay idiosyncracy evidences the survival of +many primal influences forgotten or denied by races +of higher type and deeper culture. Very little is +known concerning the Malayan people who mingled +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>with almost every Oriental stock. Amphibious +tastes suggest picturesque traditions of prolonged +voyaging in search of fresh fishing grounds to supply +the needs of a rapidly multiplying population. A +strong Malay element exists even in far-off Japan, +and the wide ramifications of the nomadic stock can +be traced to broad rivers encountered on the southward +journey, and luring stragglers from the main +body by the mysterious glamour of winding water-ways +piercing the tangled forests, and pointing to +unknown realms of hope or promise. The Malay +retains many of the hereditary gifts bestowed on +the untaught children of Nature, and, in spreading +his language and customs far over the vast Pacific, +adopted few extraneous ideas from the world through +which he wandered. His primeval instincts still +sway his life under other conditions. Marvellous +skill in hunting, fishing, boat-building, and navigation +in tornado-swept waters, remains to him. The +deft weaving of palm-leaf hut and wall of defence +creates a village or destroys it at lightning speed. +Even now his basket-work home is never built on +dry land, if water can be found wherein to plant the +supporting poles of the fragile dwellings, suggesting +the impermanence of a nomadic race. The Malay +never travels on foot to any place which can possibly +be reached by water, his native element; winds +and tides have imbued him with something of their +own unstable and changing character, and the sea +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>which nurtured him is still the supreme factor in +his life. Feet vie with fingers in marvellous +capacity, and to see a native cocoanut gatherer run +up the polished stem of a swaying palm, with greater +ease and swiftness than anyone shows in mounting a +ladder, transports thought to the distant past, when +the ancestral stock, disembarking from the rude +canoes at nightfall, sought an evening meal on the +edge of the palm-forest, bowed beneath the weight +of green and yellow nuts a hundred feet overhead. +What wonder if in lands of perpetual summer the +syren song of some "long bright river" should lure +the storm-tossed mariners from the perilous seas +to the comparative security of inland life! The +stern environment of Northern poverty stands out +in terrible contrast with the teeming prodigality of +tropical Nature, offering all the richest fruits of +earth in full measure to these early wanderers +across the Southern seas.</p> + +<p>The mountain railway, curving round ridge +or precipice and spanning sombre gorge with +bridge and aqueduct, affords superb views of +the unrivalled plains. Waterfalls foam over +granite cliffs; a sinuous river flings a silver +chain round the symmetrical base of Kaleidon, and +from our lofty vantage point we gaze into the +luminous green of a million palms, where the warm +heart of a deep forest opens to display the lustre +and colour of molten emeralds. The Soendanese +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>quarter of the island gives place to the ancient +Javanese territory, and Malay characteristics, though +underlying and mingling with every insular stock, +are here modified by a strain of Hindu ancestry, +which gives refinement of feature and grace of +carriage. Well-modelled figures and delicate hands +and feet are attributed to the liberal admixture of +royal and noble blood with that of the peasantry, +for the ancient Rulers of Java respected no rights +but their own, and the domestic arrangements of +King Solomon prevailed in a kingdom of tyrants +and slaves. Hindu thraldom was intensified under +Arab priests, who, following in the train of piratical +Moormen, claimed the sovereignty of Java under +their protection. The gold-embroidered jacket of +civil or military rank, with the <i>kris</i> thrust into +a brilliant sash, here supplements the universal +<i>sarong</i>, itself of bolder design and glowing colour +in this old-world realm of Mataram, the centre of +Java's historic interest. The crooked blade of the +<i>kris</i> is still used in divination, light and shadow +playing over the wavy steel, ever suggesting +cabalistic signs inscribed by an invisible hand on +the azure surface. The <i>kris</i> is popularly endowed +with healing efficacy, and the availing touch of the +sacred talisman is an article of Javanese faith. A +hundred varieties of the weapon are found in +the Malay Archipelago, from the gold-hilted and +diamond-studded royal <i>kris</i> to the boat-handled +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>dagger of common use, permitted to all but peasants; +women of the higher class wear it in the girdle, and +though unrepresented in the sculpture of Javanese +temples, the <i>kris</i> is ascribed to the days of Panji, a +Hindu warrior whose feats form the libretto of +a popular drama, though his authenticity appears +uncertain. The changes in local costume and +character, as seen in wayside villages, enliven the +journey until we reach the mountain gateway of +Tjadas Pangeran, "the Royal Stone," flanked by +flashing waterfalls, and forming the entrance to the +region supreme in natural scenery, archaic art, and +literary interest. The black cone of Goentoer, "the +thunder peak," accentuates the red blaze of the +declining sun on the intricate rice-mosaic of green +and gold in the divinely beautiful plain revealed +through the rocky cleft. Amid the many glories of +Javanese landscape, the poetic glamour of these +palm-girt levels lingers longest in the memory, for +the world-famed picture known as "The Plains of +Heaven" might have been inspired by the haunting +loveliness of these rolling uplands. Our railway +carriage contains a native Regent, his principal wife, +and a pretty daughter. Javanese princes are made +ostensible rulers of native districts, but associated +with Dutch Residents as "Elder Brothers," who +may be more accurately termed compulsory advisers. +Without a measure of despotic authority exercised +by the fraternal partner, the spendthrift Malay +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>would cause perpetual hindrance to insular development +and commercial prosperity. The old Regent, +with embroidered military jacket glittering above his +elaborately-patterned <i>sarong</i>, looks a grim and forbidding +figure, and evidently regards his womenkind +as beneath notice. His head is tied up in a black +kerchief, and a brilliant Order conferred by the +Queen of Holland adorns his breast. Madame, in +magenta shawl and purple gown, travesties +European costume. Diamonds blaze incongruously +on arms and neck, a scarlet flower in oily black +braids completing her startling attire. The girl, in +yellow <i>sarong</i> and pink cotton jacket glorified with +rubies and pearls, shows her high breeding in +slender wrists, delicate hands, and bare feet of +exquisite modelling, a red stain of henna drawing +attention to their statuesque contour. She staggers +beneath a load of impedimenta belonging to her +princely father: bags, bundles, and a heavy cloak. +Javanese parents of exalted rank treat their +daughters with disdain, the approved discipline of +family life consisting in stamping an impression of +abject insignificance deeply on the plastic mind of +girlhood. Fertile plain and wooded slopes are alike +destitute of domestic animals. The sheep was +unknown to native races in this pastureless land, +and, though introduced by the earliest colonists, is +still spoken of as "the Dutch goat," no other term +existing for it in Malay parlance. Monkeys +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>chatter and rustle in forest trees, gorgeous birds flit +past on jewelled wings, and frogs in this rainy +season make a deep booming like the tuning of +numerous violoncellos. At length the little town of +Garoet appears in a green valley, encircled by a +diadem of peaks which suggest a tropical Engadine. +Volcanic mountains replace Alpine crests, but the +white battlements of Papandayang's smoking crater +give the effect of distant snow, and the dark pines +of the Swiss valley are merely translated into the +lustrous green of crowding palms. Brawling river, +rustic bridge, and brown hamlets foster the strange +illusion, and if it be true that somewhere in the +wide world every face finds a counterpart, natural +scenery may be subject to an identical law, and +various ice-bound landscapes be mirrored under +Southern skies in pictures wreathed with palm-fronds +and tropic flowers. The Hotel Rupert, +garlanded with creepers, the open lattices trellised +with ivy and roses, shows a more poetic aspect than +any hostelry of the distant Engadine. Our hostess +is the widow of a German physician, and her fair +young daughter, alert and capable as the typical +<i>Hausfrau</i> of her native land, has established a +reputation for supplying the guests with the home +comforts and restful atmosphere which make the +Hotel Rupert an ideal abiding-place in stagnant +Java, where as a rule the sole luxuries are out-of-doors, +and of Nature's providing. That the Dutchman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +flourishes on his diet of tinned meat, his +appalling rice-table, and the extraordinary sequence +of dishes which probably belonged to the early days +of colonisation, either proves herculean strength or +the triumph of mind over matter, but to those of +less heroic mould the unwonted amenities of a more +familiar civilisation are welcome as a green oasis in +a sandy desert. A cool and healthy mountain +climate gives unwonted zest for the lovely excursions +of which Garoet is the centre. From the little lake +Setoe Bajendit, a covered raft plies to a cupola-crowned +hill, facing a noble panorama of volcanic +peaks the Soendanese <i>désa</i> of basket-work huts, +through which we pass, presents a curious spectacle, +with the village street lined on either side by rows +of kneeling children, clad in Dame Nature's brown +suit alone; each little figure holding up a long-stemmed +flower—red hybiscus, creamy tuberose, or +snowy gardenia—the imploring faces raised in silent +entreaty to the white strangers for the infinitesimal +coins which suffice to purchase a sheaf of blossom. +Changing lights and shadows sweep across the +glancing emerald of the rice-filled vale, darken the +purple rifts of mountain gorges, or intensify the +luminous azure of soaring crests. Wayside fruit-stalls +make gay patches of colour among green piles +of banana leaves, and thin yellow strips of bamboo, +the approved paper and string of the tropics, in +which every parcel is packed. Tall sugar-cane and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>plumy maize surround each brown <i>désa</i> beneath +the knot of palms, and fields of tapioca vary the +prevailing rice-grounds with sharp-pointed leaves +and paler verdure. The entire tapioca crop of Java +belongs to Huntley and Palmer, for use in the +manufacture of the biscuits which make a valuable +supplement to the Javanese commissariat, for +unlimited rice seldom commends itself to English +tastes. Hot springs abound in this volcanic soil, +and in the "five waters" of Tjipanas, each of +different temperature, the native finds a panacea +wherein he can indulge to his heart's content, the +healing springs rushing into stone tanks set in sheds +of bamboo. The principal excursion from Garoet +is to the active crater of the Papandayang, a long +drive of twelve miles leading to the foot of the +volcano. From this point a chair carried by six +coolies is required for the steep road, formed by +hundreds of moss-grown steps. Plantations of +coffee, cinchona, and tapioca girdle the lower slopes +of the mountain, hedges and thickets of red and +purple coleas bordering the primeval jungle of +orchid-decked trees on the higher levels, the moss-grown +boughs wreathed with epiphytal plants, the +trunks covered with branching ferns, and the thick +ropes of matted lianas strangling the dense forest +in their green embrace. Wild oleander mingles rosy +blossoms with bushes of living gold like tall growths +of double buttercups, and at length the cooler regions +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>show the familiar ferns, violets, and primroses of +the temperate zone. The weird silence of the jungle +is emphasised by an occasional cry of a wild bird, +flitting among the tall tree tops, or the crash of a +bough, dragged down by the weight of some climbing +rattan. A walk up a boulder-strewn slope reaches +the old crater, or Solfatara, almost surrounded by +steep walls of rock. Boiling and wheezing springs, +fast-forming sulphur columns, and clouds of choking +steam, rise from the yellow and orange-powdered +earth. A deafening noise issues from the self-building +architecture of ruddy pillars, the bubbling +of boiling mud, and the shrill spouting of hot vapours +from narrow orifices in the trembling crust of the +fire-charged earth. Golden sulphur-pools shower +burning drops on every side, and from the +mysterious <i>kawa</i> or crater, echoes of subterranean +thunder sound at intervals, from the +traditional forge where native legends assert that +a chained giant is condemned to work eternally +in the service of the Evil One.</p> + +<p>At night the broad verandah of the Hotel Rupert +is transformed into a stage for a performance of +the <i>topeng</i> or national drama, chartered by an +American guest. The weird spectacle, accompanied +by the <i>gamelon</i> music, transports us to the days of +old-world Java, story and performance being of +ancient origin and religious signification. The +subjects of the <i>topeng</i> are derived from the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>Panji group of dramatic poems, the ancient +costumes, the curious masks, and the office of the +<i>dalang</i> or reciter, whose ventriloquial skill is +required for the entire wording of the <i>libretto</i>, +comprise a valuable memento of bygone days, +otherwise entirely forgotten. The <i>wayang-wayang</i> +or "shadow dance" of puppets, vies with the +<i>topeng</i> in popularity, but the latter ranks as +classic and lyrical drama. A graceful girl in pink, +with floating scarf, and gleaming <i>kris</i> in her +spangled sash, exhibits wonderful skill in the supple +play of wrist and fingers, through the process known +as devitalization, a form of drill which gives to +the arm a plastic power of detached movement, +fascinating but uncanny. The dusky garden is +filled with a native crowd, moved alternately to +tears and laughter by exploits unintelligible to the +European spectator, for the story of every national +hero is known to the poorest and most ignorant of +the people, from perpetual attendance on theatrical +performances. The <i>al fresco</i> entertainments +necessitated by the climate provide exceptional +opportunities of dramatic education in the legends +of Java's heroic age. The spacious verandahs +gleaming with the soft light of Chinese lanterns, +and set in depths of shadow, the scented gloom of +the tropical night veiling the dusky lawns, crowded +with mysterious figures drawn by the weird music +from every quarter, the brilliant robes and grotesque +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>masks of the actors, compose a picture of archaic +charm. Passers-by pause on their way to look, and +listen with unwearied interest to the oft-told tales, +for the stories of the world's childhood, like the fairy +lore of our own early days, deepen their significance +to the untaught mind by perpetual repetition. The +Hindu cloudland which veils the Javanese past +"was reached by a ladder of realities," for the +exploits of gods and mythical heroes were afterwards +attributed to native Rulers, until the medley of truth +and fiction, history and mythology, became an +inextricable tangle. The birds' beaks, and hooked +noses of the masks in the <i>topeng</i>, and of the +puppets in the shadow-play, were made compulsory +after the Arabic conquest, in order to reconcile the +national pastime with the creed of Islam, which +forbade the dramatic representation of the human +form. The reigning <i>Susunhan</i> evaded the decree +by distorting mask and puppet, but although +the outside world might no longer recognise the +heroes of the play, Javanese knowledge of national +tradition easily pierced the flimsy disguise, and +credited their deified heroes with a new power of +metamorphosis. The fantastic play lasts so far into +the night that the prolonged <i>libretto</i> is brought to a +summary conclusion by the hostess, since European +nature can stand no more, though the rapt attention +of the Malay would continue till morning. The +satiety of modern days has never touched these +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>simple minds, and an entire absence of that critical +element which disintegrates so many of life's simple +joys, ministers to the supreme satisfaction derived +from the crude ideals of native drama. Silently the +brown spectators slip away like shadows from the +dim and dewy garden, for the simple and untaught +Malay, though eagerly welcoming the privileges +permitted to him, never encroaches upon them, and +the conduct of these Eastern playgoers affords an +example of order and sobriety which shames many +an audience of higher education and social superiority +in distant Europe.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> +<h3>DJOKJACARTA.</h3> + + +<p>A long day's journey lies between Garoet and +Djokjacarta, which popular parlance abbreviates +into Djokja. From the blue Preanger hills and +palm-shadowed upland plains, the railway descends +by steep gradients to the dense jungle and fever-laden +swamp known as the Terra Ingrata. +Malarious mists steam from marsh and mere, pink +and purple lantana, yellow daisies, and the pallid +blossoms of strangling creepers emphasise the gloom +of the matted foliage, forming an impenetrable +screen on either side of the narrow embankment +across the dreary morass. The railway through the +hundred miles of this miasma-haunted region was +laid at immense sacrifice of human life, even the +native workmen being compelled to sleep in camps +far away from the scene of their daily toil. No white +man could even direct the work, and the ubiquitous +Chinaman, proof against every ill that flesh is heir +to in Java, was deputed to superintend the solution +of abstruse professional problems, between the short +and hasty visits of Dutch and English engineers. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>Quagmire and quicksand, stagnant pool and sluggish +stream, succeed in weary iteration. Bleached +skeletons of dead trees writhe in weird contortions +against the dark background of jungle, as though +some wizard's curse had blighted life and growth +amid the rank vegetation rising from this dismal +Slough of Despond. The brooding melancholy of +atmosphere and scenery penetrates mind and soul, +oppressed by an intangible weight, and escape +from the Dantesque horrors of this <i>selva oscura</i> is +accompanied by a sudden relief and buoyancy of +spirit which perceptibly heightens the interest of the +old-world city, once isolated by the woodland +fastness of Nature, and belonging to an ageless past, +surrounding the authentic origin of Djokjacarta +with thick clouds of fable and myth. The modern +name is derived from Arjudja, a city recorded in +Java's ancient annals as being established by Rama, +the incarnate Sun-God. Na-yud-ja, the first king +of this Divinely-founded capital, also memorialises +in his name the place which became the nucleus of +the ancient Hindu empire. Temples and palaces, +walls and watch-towers, ruined by earthquake, +buried in jungle, and blackened by smoke of war, +testify to the splendours of old Mataram. A bitter +resistance was offered by the invading hordes of +Islam, whether pirates or prophets, princes or +soldiers, and the Hindu territory remained independent +until the fierce conflict in the 18th century with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>usurping Mohammedans and Dutch colonists, when +family influence was undermined by political +intrigues. The Dutch, after many vicissitudes, +became absolute rulers of Java, though native +princes, as tributaries, were suffered to retain a +semblance of sovereignty. The shadowy paraphernalia +of vanished power is still accorded to the +Sultan of Djokjacarta, in melancholy travesty of +past authority, though every hereditary privilege +has been wrested from his grasp. A curious relic +of primitive days remains in the <i>al fresco</i> Throne of +Judgment, a block of stone beneath a rudely-tiled +canopy, moss-grown and hoary. Two ancient +waringen-trees, their aerial roots, drooping branches, +and colossal main trunks denoting an almost fabulous +age, flank the historic seat, where the turbaned +Ruler administered justice to the surging crowd +which thronged around him, the indigo garb of +the Soendanese contrasting with the gay <i>sarongs</i> of +Central Java, glowing in the hot sunlight as it +poured through the dark trellis of fluttering boughs. +The city in the course of ages moved away from +this ancient centre, and the rustic Throne is now +remote from the heart of civic life. The streets of +Djokjacarta, and the surrounding roads, consist of +shady avenues, where open <i>tokos</i> (the native +shops) vary the monotony of Dutch villas, their +white colonnades and porticos gleaming against the +background of stately trees, and rising from a mass +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>of tropical vegetation. The prevailing indigo of +Soendanese dress gives a dull aspect to the wide but +squalid streets, for in native capitals, though Dutch +cleanliness may enforce perpetual "tidying up," the +lacking sense of order produces a strange impermanence +in the conditions insisted upon. The inner +court of the Sultan's Kraton, or Royal Enclosure, +is now taboo to visitors, for the barbaric monarch, +on the plea of age and infirmity, has obtained the +privilege of privacy, and the Palace can only be seen +through a personal interview. The outer courts are +accessible to carriages, which make the square-mile +circuit of the spacious quadrangles. Massive gates +and crumbling machicolated walls command a green +plain, where immense waringen-trees, clipped into +the semblance of evergreen umbrellas, display the +Eastern symbol of sovereignty. Officials passing to +and fro show a continuous procession of these State +<i>pajongs</i>. The Sultan's august head is canopied +with gold, edged by an orange stripe, the Crown +Prince sporting an umbrella with a golden border. +Sultanas and royal children are known by white +<i>pajongs</i>, while the vast concourse of Court +officials, with umbrellas of pink, blue, red, black, +purple and green, show their status to the initiated +eye through the sequence of colour by which the +<i>pajongs</i> form a complete system of heraldry. +In the dusky angle of a mossy wall, four elephants, +used in State processions, feed upon bundles of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>bamboo and sugar-cane. Mud huts and bamboo +sheds prop themselves against tiled eaves and +windowless houses. Open doors afford glimpses of +squalid interiors, crowded with slatternly women +and dirty children, the hereditary retainers and +hangers-on of this effete and moribund royalty. +Private troupes of dancing <i>bedayas</i>, <i>gamelon</i> +players, actors, pipe, fan, and betel-box bearers, +pertain to the tumbledown Palace, and the patriarchal +system of ancient Java permits the presence +of whole families belonging to these indispensable +ministers of the royal pleasure. The people show +the same indifference to Mohammedanism as to the +perished faiths of olden time, and a large funeral +party encountered on leaving the Kraton displays +painful irreverence, though scattering rice and +lighting incense sticks before a white coffin borne +shoulder-high, and decked with a tracery of yellow +marigolds and rosettes of pink paper. No priest +accompanies the procession, and the laughter of the +white-scarved mourners, preceded by men carrying +ropes and planks, suggests an utter heartlessness +and barbarity. Gay <i>passers</i>, a busy <i>campong +Tchina</i>, a very hive of Celestial industry, and +innumerable drives beneath over-arching trees, with +distant views of purple peaks, comprise the interests +of old-world Djokja, with the one exception of the +famous Taman Sarie, or Water Castle, ruined by +earthquake, but remaining as a pathetic memorial +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>of bygone power and pride. Pavilions and baths, +grottoes and fish-ponds, set in the tangled verdure +of a neglected garden, surround the arcaded parapets +of a colossal tower. Green plumes of fern wave +from wall and battlement, velvet moss and orange +lichen tapestry the blackened stone, and matted +creepers sway their woven curtains in the evening +wind. A Dancing Hall, which formerly rang with +the weird music accompanying the "woven paces +and waving hands" of Court <i>bedayas</i>, in their +spangled pink robes, now echoes to the tread of +alien feet; the dim arcades teem with ghostly +memories, and the mournful desolation of the Taman +Sarie borrows fresh poignancy in the former scene +of mirth and music. A moss-grown and slippery +stairway leads to the green twilight of a subterranean +grotto, containing the richly-carved stone bedstead +of the Sultan, who sought this cool retreat from the +ardour of a tropical sun. A silvery curtain of +murmuring water fell before his sculptured couch, +and supplied this haunt of dreams with an ideal, +if rheumatic environment of poetic beauty and +lulling charm. Superstition clings to the deserted +resting-place, and to touch even the stone columns +of the royal couch is to invoke the powers of +evil, and the presence of Death. The <i>Sumoor +Gamelon</i>, or "Musical Spring," echoing with the +voice of flowing waters, flanks the ancient +banqueting hall, and cools a circle of vaulted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>grottoes, their shadowy depths bathed in the +emerald twilight, deepened by the veil of verdure +and the transparent foliage drooping over open +window spaces. The Sultan's oval bathing tank, +with stone galleries and spiral pavilions, occupies a +hollow tower, but a touch of young life dispels the +gloom, for a group of brown children swim and +dive in the cool depths, shouting and splashing with +a merriment unsubdued by the solemn sadness of +the deserted halls. A Portuguese architect designed +this fantastic retreat for an old-time Sultan, who +brought the idea of the Water Castle from a far-off +Indian home. The earthquake of 1867 rendered +the Taman Sarie uninhabitable, choked the lake in +which it stood, and destroyed the subaqueous +tunnel which ensured the absolute seclusion of +Sultan and harem. The famous Marshal Daendels, +weary of waiting for an interview with a dilatory +Sultan, yielded to natural impatience, and hearing +the sound of distant music from the watery depths, +dashed through the thicket of tamarinds which +concealed the entrance to the water pavilion, and, +dragging the Sultan from the place of dreams, +scattered <i>bedayas</i> and <i>gamelon</i> players in terror, +forcing the so-called "Regent of the World" and +"Shadow of the Almighty" to accompany him +to the Dutch headquarters. Rose garden and +shrubbery, palm grove and pleasaunce, are fast +relapsing into impenetrable jungle. Broken +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>fountains, and mouldering vases once filled with +orange-trees, outline the balustraded terraces; gilt +pavilions lift their upcurved eaves above a wild +growth of oleander, but the enchanted scene of old +romance is given up to bats and lizards, for the +crumbling Taman Sarie is now a fast-vanishing +monument of Java's buried past.</p> + +<p>The number of <i>rechas</i>, or sacred stone figures +of Brahmin and Buddhist origin, in the garden of +the Dutch Residency, shows the scant care bestowed +on the ancient temples, for years used as mere +quarries of broken statuary, and still receiving inadequate +recognition as historical remains, though Sir +Stamford Raffles a century ago realised the supreme +importance of Javanese sculpture as an indispensable +link in archæological science. Djokjacarta, +interesting in itself as the survival of an ancient +dynasty, borrows double attraction from the architectural +wonders which surround it, buried for ages +in the deep green grave of tropical vegetation, but +now laid bare as an open book, wherein we may read +those graven records which unveil the mysteries of +the past, and enable us to gaze down the long vista +of Time and Change.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> +<h3>BORO-BOEDOER.</h3> + + +<p>The archæological interest of Java culminates in +the mysterious temple known as Boro-Boedoer, +"the aged thing," with an actual history lost in +mist and shadow, though recorded in imperishable +characters on this spellbound sanctuary of a +departed faith. The little tramway from Djokjacarta +traverses fields of rice and sugar-cane, indigo and +pepper; a range of dreamlike mountains bounds the +view, crowned by the turquoise cone of Soemboeung, +the traditional centre of Java, a green knoll at the +base of the volcanic pyramid being regarded as the +"spike" which fastens the floating isle to some +solid rock in unfathomed depths of ocean. The +fitful fancy of a wandering race, ever drifting across +the changing seas, reflects itself in the legendary +lore of the Malay Archipelago, often represented by +weird traditions as though in perpetual motion. +The vicissitudes of volcanic action, whereby islands +were sometimes submerged or created, gives a +colouring of fact to the vague ideas entertained by +these nomads of the sea. Merbaboe, the "ash-ejecting," +and Merapi, the "fire-throwing," flank +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>the loftier crest, honeycombed with dim cave +temples, now deserted and forgotten, but formerly +sanctifying those watch-towers of Nature which +guard the hoary shrine of Boro-Boedoer. At +Matoelan we hear that the swift river separating +the great Temple from the secular world is in flood, +the bridge broken down, and the supplementary raft +impossible through the swirling current. This +untoward event involves a further expedition to +Magelang, a sordid town of continuous markets, the +Javanese population being of pronounced Hindu +type, silent and sad, according to the idiosyncracy +of their mysterious ancestors across the sea. The +conversational difficulties presented by the Dutch +and Malay languages, combined with the incapacity +of our brown driver, eventually land us at Mendoet, +on the wrong side of the turbid stream—the Jordan +which divides the weary traveller from his Land of +Promise. Evening draws on, the clear sky flushes +pink above the darkness of the palm-woods, and +hope sinks apace, for the surging flood shows no +sign of abatement. Suddenly the apathetic driver +rouses himself from what proves a profitable meditation, +and, with folded hands, breathes the magic +word <i>pasteur</i>, whipping up his sorry steeds to +fresh exertions. We draw up at a white bungalow +on the roadside, close to a rustic church, and find a +friend in an English-speaking Dutch priest, who, +after giving us tea on his verandah, suggests +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>inspection of Mendoet's little moated temple, on the +edge of the forest. An ever-growing tangle of lianas +and vines buried this ancient shrine through the +lapse of ages, until accident revealed the entombed +sanctuary about eighty years ago. A processional +terrace surrounds the walled pavement supporting +the grey edifice, and the sculptured bas-reliefs +denote the transitional stage of Buddhist faith, as it +materialised through Jainism into the Puranic +mythology of Hindu creed. The central chapel +contains the famous picture in stone known as "The +Tree of Knowledge," and represents the Buddha +beneath the sacred Bo-Tree of Gaya. A fluted +<i>pajong</i>, propped against the boughs, canopies +his head, one hand being raised in benediction +over kneeling converts, offering rice and incense. +Listening angels hover overhead, birds peep out +from nests among the leaves, and kids lean with +necks outstretched over fretted crags, magnetised by +the mystic attraction of the inspired Teacher. +Long-eared statues show Nepalese influence, even +the Buddhist images being girt with the sacred cord +of Brahma. A controversy exists as to their +identification with the Hindu Trinity, but as +Eastern cults frequently bestow Divine attributes +on mortals, the mysterious figures may possibly +represent the murdered wives of the Rajah who +founded the Mendoet temple in expiation of his +crime. Another legend suggests the petrification +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>of a princely family, as a punishment for marrying +within the forbidden degrees, but myth grows apace +in this haunted land, and every century offers fresh +variations of old-world stories, until original form +is lost beneath a weight of accretion, like the thick +moss blurring the chiselled outlines of some carven +monument. After careful scrutiny of the miniature +temple which suggests so many interpretations of +symbolic imagery, we return to the little presbytery +to hear of the subsiding river, and the good priest, +announcing that the raft can now be safely +negotiated, accompanies us to the tottering structure, +a straw matting laid over three crazy boats +punted across the turbulent stream. A half-hour's +stroll beneath the arching boughs of a kanari avenue, +ends at a picturesque Rest House, facing the temple-crowned +hill. Surely we have reached the peace +and silence of Nirvana at last! and the exquisite +beauty of the surrounding landscape, mountain and +forest, park-like valley and winding glen, transfigured +in the deepening gold of sunset, stamps an +ineffaceable impression of Boro-Boedoer in that +mystic gallery of imagination and memory which +retains earth's fairest scenes as eternal possessions +of mind and soul. A shadowy garden, fragrant and +dim, stretches up to the pyramidal pile which covers +the hill. A frangipanni grove scents the air, with +gold-starred blossoms gleaming whitely amid the +silvery green of lanceolated leaves, and a shaft of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>ruby light striking the stone Buddhas which guard +the portico, emphasises the inscrutable smile of the +tranquil faces. Like all stupendous monuments of Art +or Nature, Boro-Boedoer at first sight seems a disappointment, +simply because the mind fails to grasp +the immensity of the noblest Temple ever dedicated +to the gentle Sage whose renunciation typified the +greater Sacrifice offered by the Saviour of the World. +Who that reads the story of Sakya Munyi can doubt +that through the Prince who gave up kingdom, +throne, and earthly ties for the sake of downtrodden +humanity, a prophetic gleam of heavenly +light pierced the darkness of the future, and pointed +to the distant Cross? Twenty-five centuries have +rolled away since Prince Siddartha closed his unique +career, and twelve centuries later the wondrous sanctuary +of Boro-Boedoer was erected in honour of the +creed eternally dear to the heart of the mystic East. +The eight stately terraces which climb and encircle +the sacred hill rise from a spacious pavement of +blackened stone, and the walled processional paths +display a superb series of sculptured reliefs, which +would measure three miles in length if placed side +by side. The grey and black ruins, with their rich +incrustations of sacred and historic scenes, remain +in such splendid preservation that fancy easily +reconstructs the bygone glory of the golden age, +when this mighty Altar of Faith witnessed the +glittering pageantry of Oriental devotion; when +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>gaily-clad crowds flocked to the morning sacrifice of +flowers and music, while monarchs brought their +treasures from far-off lands to lay at the feet of the +mystic Sage, prophetically revealed as an incarnation +of purity and peace vouchsafed to a world of +oppression and sorrow. Life-size Buddhas, enthroned +on the sacred lotus, rise above the crumbling +altars of five hundred arcaded shrines, and stone +stairways ascend from every side, beneath sharply-curved +arches bordered with masks or gargoyles. +The last three terraces form sweeping circles, +flanked by bell-shaped <i>dagobas</i> resembling gigantic +lotus-buds. Each open lattice of hoary stone +reveals an enthroned Buddha, mysteriously enclosed +in his symbolical screen, for these triple terraces +typify the higher circles of Nirvana. Each dreamy +face turns towards the supreme Shrine of the +glorious sanctuary, a domed <i>dagoba</i> fifty feet high, +and once containing some authentic relic of the +Buddha's sacred person. Certain archæologists +recognise in this spire-tipped cupola a survival +of Nature-worship, incorporated with the later +Buddhism in a form derived from the tree temples +of primeval days, and built over a receptacle for the +cremated ashes of the Buddhist priesthood. A touch +of mysticism added by an unfinished statue in the +gloom of the shadowy vault, suggests the unknown +beauty of the soul which attains Nirvana's supremest +height, for the supernal exaltation of purified +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>humanity to Divine union may not be interpreted or +expressed by mortal hands, but must for ever remain +incommunicable and incomprehensible. From the +central <i>dagoba</i>, ascended by a winding stair, the +intricate design of the spacious sanctuary discloses +itself with mathematical precision, and the changing +glories of dawn, sunset, and moonlight idealize the +sacred hill, rising amid the palm-groves and rice-fields +of a matchless valley, sweeping away in green +undulations which break like emerald waves against +the deepening azure and amethyst of the mountain +heights. The solemn grandeur of Boro-Boedoer +blinds the casual observer to many details which +manifest the ravages of time, the ruthlessness of +war, and the decay of a discarded creed. Headless +and overthrown figures, broken <i>tees</i>, mutilated +carvings, and shattered chapels abound, but the vast +display of architectural features still intact conveys +an impression of permanence rather than of ruin.</p> + +<p>For six centuries, Boro-Boedoer was blotted from +the memory of the people, and the heavy pall of +tropical verdure which veiled the vast Temple +remained unlifted. Superincumbent masses of trees, +parasites, and strangling creepers wove their intricate +network of root, branch, and stem round the +monumental record of a dead faith and a buried +dynasty. The riotous luxuriance of tropical Nature +triumphed over the glories of Art, hewn with +incalculable toil and skill in the living rock. Seeds +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>borne on the wind, or sown by wandering birds, +filled every interstice of the closely-matted verdure; +stair and terrace, dome and spire, sank out of sight +into the forest depths, and when English engineers +arrived to excavate the monumental pile, the task +of clearing away the tangled masses of foliage +occupied two hundred coolies during six weeks of +arduous toil. The brief English occupation of the +island necessarily left the work unfinished, but +Dutch archæologists continued the labour, though +with slower methods and feebler grasp of the +situation. A transient cult sprang up among the +Javanese populace as the ancient sanctuary revealed +itself anew. The statues were invoked with +reverential awe, incense was offered; the saffron, +used as a personal decoration on festive occasions, +was smeared over the impassive faces, unchanged +in the eternal calm of a thousand years, and +fragrant flower petals were heaped on the myriad +altars. Vigils were kept on the summit, and the +sick were laid at the feet of favourite images. This +spurious devotion, hereditary or instinctive, sprang +up in responsive hearts with simultaneous fervour, +though the forgotten doctrines of Buddhism were +never reinstated. Sentiment survived dogma in the +subconscious soul, and the faint shadow cast by an +immemorial past indicates the depths plumbed by +the early creed in the abyss of Eastern personality. +The vague simulacrum quickly faded, like a flickering +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>flame in the wind which fanned it into life; but +simple souls, as they pass Boro-Boedoer in the brief +twilight, mutter incantations, and brown hands grasp +the silver amulets which ward off the powers of evil, +for the deserted temple is still regarded as the haunt +of unknown gods, who may perchance wreak +vengeance on the world which has forsaken them.</p> + +<p>The long scroll of ancient history, unrolled by +the sculptured terraces, represents the birth, growth, +and development of Buddhist faith. Queen Maya, +jewelled and flower-crowned, with the miraculous +Babe on her knee, sits among her maidens, the +earth breaking into blossom at the advent of +her star-born child. His education in the mental +and physical achievements imperative on Eastern +royalty, when the sword-pierced heart of the mother +who typified the Virgin Queen of Saints was translated +to Nirvana's rest, is contrasted with the sudden +realisation of life's vanity when brought face to face +with the world's threefold burden of sorrow, sickness +and death. The renunciation of power, wealth and +love follows, liberating the soul for the pilgrimage +along the mystic "path," pursued until "the dew-drop +fell into the shining sea" of Eternity. The +manifold details of the Buddha's traditional career +are vividly pourtrayed on the hoary walls of volcanic +trachyte in outline clear and sharp, as though the +sculptors of the eighth century had just laid down +burin and chisel. The indented leaves of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>Bo-Tree, beneath which the Sage meditates, are so +exquisitely carved that they almost seem to flutter +in the breeze. The scene of the deer-park wherein +he judges beasts and men, carefully weighing the +tiniest birds in the balance of the sanctuary, +suggests a prophetic vision of the greater Saviour, +Who declared that even the humble sparrow is +remembered by the Creator. Countless scriptural +truths throw their anticipatory shadows across the +life of the Eastern mystic who approached so closely +to the Christian ideal of a later age, for the Buddha's +spiritual experiences became the inspiration of +unnumbered hearts, and exercised a purifying +influence over every creed of the philosophic East. +The social life of ancient Java, comprising public +ceremonials, domestic occupations, architecture, +agriculture, navigation, drama and music, is +memorialised by succeeding terraces of the igneous +rock which sufficed for the old-world sculptor as the +medium of his Art. An unknown King and Queen, +the traditional founders of Boro-Boedoer, appear in +varied guise, throned and crowned, walking in +religious processions beneath State <i>pajongs</i>, +kneeling before Buddha with open caskets of +treasure, and receiving the homage of the people, +accompanied by bearers of smoking censers and +waving fans. Armed warriors guard the jewelled +thrones, and the popular attitude in every scene of +the royal progress evidences the semi-sacred character<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +awarded to Indian sovereignty. The eighth +century <small>A.D.</small> was the meridian of the Javanese +Empire, and in the subsequent changes of +nationality the facial type of the past has altered +beyond recognition, for in the ancient civilisation +depicted on these sculptured terraces, archæologists +assert that every physiognomy is either of Hindu or +Hellenic character. Ships of archaic form, with +banks of rowers; palm-thatched huts built on piles, +in the unchanging fashion of the Malay races; +graceful <i>bedayas</i>, the Nautch girls of Java, +performing the old-world dances still in vogue; +and women with <i>lotahs</i> on their heads, passing in +single file to palm-fringed tanks, might be represented +with equal truth in this twentieth century. +Seedtime and harvest, ploughing and reaping, +bullock-carts and water-buffaloes, fruit-laden wagons +and village <i>passers</i>, pass in turn before the +spectator in this wondrous gallery of native art. +Richly-caparisoned elephants suggest Indian accessories +of royal life and State ceremonial, an +occasional touch of humour enlivening the solemn +pageantry. In one grotesque relief a <i>bedaya</i> +and an elephant stand <i>vis-a-vis</i>, the ponderous +monster imitating the steps of the slim maiden in +floating veil and embroidered robes, her slender +limbs contrasting with the outflung feet of her +clumsy partner. Weird myths of the great fishes +which guided and propelled the coracle-like boats of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>the first Buddhist missionaries to the shores of Java +are perpetuated in stone, and the forest, sloping +down to the wave-beaten coast, shows the rich +vegetation which still clothes this island of eternal +summer. The <i>sumboya</i> or flower of the dead, +droops over stately tombs; bamboo and palm, +banana and bread-fruit, mingle their varied foliage; +mangosteen and pomegranate, mango and tamarind, +acacia and peepul, show themselves as indigenous +growths of the fertile soil; while palace and temple, +carven stairway, and flower-girt pavilion, suggest the +wealth and prosperity of the ancient empire. The +mighty Temple of Boro-Boedoer, built up through +successive ages, indicates the gradual change from +the simplicity of the early faith, at first supplanting, +and eventually becoming incorporated with, the +Brahminism which succeeded it in modified form, +as though rising from the ashes of the earlier Hindu +creed which Buddhism virtually destroyed. In the +higher terrace, the last addition to this stupendous +sanctuary, the images of Buddha represent the ninth +<i>Avatar</i> or Incarnation of the god Vishnu, though +he still sits upon the lotus cushion and holds +the sacred flower in one hand. This inclusion of +Sakya Munyi within the Puranic Pantheon was a +masterly feat of strategy accomplished by reviving +Brahminism, the heresy of the Jains supplying the +link between the rival creeds. All the sculptured +figures, leaning forward in veneration of the mystic +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>statue in the central cupola, are invested with the +sacred thread of the Vishnavite Brahmin. The +images of the highest circular terrace are carved in +four symbolical attitudes. The "teaching" +Buddha rests an open palm on one knee; in the +posture of "learning" his hands are outstretched +to receive the gift of knowledge. In "exposition," +one hand is raised towards Heaven, and in the act +of "demonstration," thumbs and index fingers are +joined. Ferguson points out that within the grey +lattice of each lotus-bell <i>dagoba</i>, the right palm +of the enthroned Buddha curves over the left hand. +This restful posture indicates the state of final +comprehension, when the aspiring soul, raised to the +different spheres of Nirvana by steps of ascending +sanctity, receives increasing peace and satisfaction +from gradual absorption into the Infinite. No creed +passes unaltered through any crucible of national +thought; Indian Buddhism borrowed both form and +colour from races which, in accepting the new faith, +retained their own individuality and modes of +assimilation. They gave as well as received, and +the value of the gift depended on the character of +the giver.</p> + +<p>No inscriptions exist on the stones of Boro-Boedoer. +The sculptured reliefs tell their own +story, which admits of diverse interpretations. The +relics of the world-renowned Mystic were dispersed +throughout Asia in the sudden impulse of missionary +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>enterprise three centuries after his death, and +every Buddhist temple received some infinitesimal +treasure. No record is found of the date when the +precious relic, probably a hair or an eyelash, was +deposited in the great <i>dagoba</i> of Boro-Boedoer, but +an Indian prince sailed with an imposing fleet to +found a Buddhist empire in Java at the opening of +the 7th century <small>A.D.</small>, and a subsequent inscription +discovered on the coast of Sumatra commemorates +the completion of a seven-storeyed <i>Vihara</i>, evidently +the colossal Temple of Boro-Boedoer, by the contemporary +King of "Greater Java," the ancient name +of Sumatra. In the tenth century, a reigning +monarch sent his sons to India for religious +education. They brought back in their train artists, +sculptors, monks, priests, and the gorgeous paraphernalia +then used in the ceremonial of Buddhist +worship, but the heart of the ancient faith was +atrophied by the indifference of the people, and the +zealous attempt to galvanise a moribund creed into +fresh life failed even to arrest the progress of decay. +National thought, fickle as the wind, had turned +from an impersonal philosophy to the materialistic +cult of Hindu deities, as the Israelites of old +hankered after the visible symbol of Isis and Osiris +in the Golden Calf. No definite creed succeeded in +gaining a permanent hold upon the wandering minds +and shallow feelings of a race whose deepest instincts +reveal the fleeting fancies and inconstant ideas +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>indigenous to a sea-faring stock, imbued with the +spirit of change and unrest. A magical charm broods +over the mysterious Temple, the materialised dream +of a mighty past rescued from the sylvan sepulchre +of equatorial vegetation, and restored to a vivid +reality beside which the paintings of Egyptian +tombs sink into comparative insignificance. The +seclusion of the memory-haunted pile enhances the +thrill of an unique experience. Vista after vista +opens into the world of long ago so graphically +depicted on the monumental tablets of the processional +paths, while type and symbol point also to +the infinite future intensely realised by Eastern +mysticism. Mortal life was but a fleeting mirage +besides this vision of the life beyond. For the words +"<i>Shadow</i>, <i>Unreality</i>, <i>Illusion</i>," perpetually repeated +by the yellow-robed monks on the beads of the +Buddhist Rosary were inscribed on the inmost heart +of the faithful disciple, who strove to attain that +detachment from the world of sense inculcated by +the creed expressed on the hoary stones of Boro-Boedoer.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> +<h3>BRAMBANAM.</h3> + + +<p>The ruined temples of Brambanam memorialise +that phase of Java's religious history, when the +altars of Buddha were finally deserted, and +Hinduism became the paramount creed of the fickle +populace. An archæological report sent to Sir +Stamford Raffles a century ago, describes the +remains of Brambanam as "stupendous monuments +of the science and taste belonging to a long-forgotten +age, crowded together in the former centre of Hindu +faith." A rough country road leads from the little +white railway station, perched on a desolate plain, +to these far-famed temples. A brown village, shaded +by the dark foliage of colossal kanari-trees, shows +the usual fragility of structure in basket-work walls +and roofs of plaited palm-leaves, but the humble +dwellings, destroyed and rebuilt myriad times on the +ancient site of Java's Hindu capital, have supplemented +native workmanship by a multitude of +carven stones, broken statues, and moss-grown +reliefs, for the ruins, theoretically guarded from the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>spoiler's hand, are still inadequately protected, and +the grey <i>recha</i> have been used as seats, landmarks, +or stepping-stones over muddy lane and +brimming water-course. The conversion of Java to +the materialistic creed for which she forsook the +subtleties of an impersonal Buddhism, though +shallow was complete, and the doctrine of impermanence, +inculcated by the discarded faith, +continued an essential factor in spiritual development, +for the inconstancy of the national mind only +found a temporary halting-place in each successive +creed which arrested it. The seed was sown, the +bud opened, and the flower faded, with incredible +rapidity, but the growth while it lasted, showed +phenomenal luxuriance. The erection of these +Hindu sanctuaries signalised the zenith of Javanese +power; their fame travelled across the seas, and +numerous expeditions sailed for this early El Dorado +of the Southern ocean. Kublai Khan came with his +Mongol fleet, but was repulsed with loss, and +branded as a felon. A second and stronger attempt +from the same quarter met with absolute defeat. +Marco Polo, compelled to wait through the rainy +season in Sumatra for a favourable wind, came +hither in the palmy days of mediæval Portugal, but +returned discomfited. Goths from the Northern +bounds of Thuringian pine forests followed in their +turn, but the power and prestige of Hindu Java +remained invincible until destroyed by the wayward +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>fickleness of her own children. Brahminism was +finally discarded for the specious promises of Arabian +invaders, and the lightly-held faith succumbed to +the creed of Islam. Mosques were built, Hindu +temples were forsaken, and Nature's veil of vegetation +was once more suffered to hide altar and statue, +wall and stairway, until every sculptured shrine +became a mere green mound of waving trees, +strangling creepers, and plumy ferns. The memory +of the past was entirely obliterated from the hearts of +the people, and every year buried the relics of the +former religion in a deeper grave.</p> + +<p>Siva the Destroyer, and also the Life-Giver, the +Third Person of the Hindu Trinity, together with +Parvati and Brahma, were worshipped here in their +original character, and an exquisite statue of Lora +Jonggran (Parvati in her Javanese guise) remains +enshrined in a richly-decorated chapel, surrounded +by dancing houris, inspired in their sacred measure +by the flute-playing of Krishna. A further instance +of the mode already mentioned by which sentiment +survives dogma in the Malay races, is shown by the +fact that Lora Jonggran still receives the homage +of Javanese women. Flowers are laid at her feet, +love affairs are confided to her advocacy, and as the +shadows deepen across the great quadrangle, a +weeping girl prostrates herself before the smiling +goddess, and, raising brown arms in earnest supplication, +kisses the stone slab at the feet of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>beautiful statue, popularly endowed with some occult +virtue which the loosely-held Mohammedanism of a +later day has failed to discredit or deny. The +temples of Brambanam were erected shortly after the +completion of that upper terrace in the great sanctuary +of Boro-Boedoer which marks the traditional +epoch between Buddhism and the later Hinduism, +including Sakya Munyi among the <i>avatars</i> of +Vishnu. The sacred trees and lions carved here on +the walls of the temple quadrangle, give place in +the galleries to scenes from the great Hindu epic of +the Ramayan. The familiar form of Ganesh, the +elephant-headed God of Wisdom, looms from the +shadows of a vaulted shrine; Nandi, the sacred bull, +stands beneath a carven canopy, and the great +memorial of a bygone faith contains the identical +galaxy of gods found in the Indian temples of the +present day, for the thin veil of Javanese thought +is a transparency rather than a disguise, softening +rather than hiding the clear-cut outlines of the +original idea. The "fatal beauty" of the graceful +waringen-tree has played an ominous part in the +destruction of the Brambanam temples, for the +interlacing roots, like a network of branching veins, +make their devious way through crevice and cranny, +splitting and uplifting the strongest slab, wherein +one tiny crack suffices for the string-like fibres to +gain foothold. Masks and arabesques, fruit and +flowers, fabulous monsters and sacred emblems, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>encrust the grey balustrades and bas-reliefs of the +noble stairways. Roof and column teem with +richest ornament, for Hindu art had reached the +climax of splendour when the great city, formerly +surrounding the monumental group of stately +temples, attained to her utmost power and fame. +The Greek influences which prevailed in Northern +Hindustan were translated to Brambanam in their +attributes of dignity and grace, for the flowing robes +and easy postures of the sculptured figures correct +and modify the grotesque and over-laden character +of original Hindu art. The great stone-paved court +once contained an imposing group of twenty pyramidal +shrines, but only three remain in the original +contour of the so-called "pagoda style," peculiar to +the Dravidian temples of Southern India, from +whence Java derived her special form of faith. The +ruins on the opposite side of the grey quadrangle +are mere cone-shaped piles of rubbish, dust, and +broken stone, but the tapering pyramids, with their +graceful galleries and processional terraces, richly +carved and adorned with images, enable us to +reconstruct in imagination the stately beauty of the +architectural panorama once displayed by the temple +courts. Scenes from the Ramayan and Mahabharata +adorn the great blocks of the boundary wall, +sculptured in high relief. The Vedic Powers of +Nature, with Indra as the god of storm and +hurricane, manifest the recognition of that earlier +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>belief which became submerged in the vast system +of Pantheistic mythology. The faith of further India +takes form and colour from the idiosyncracy of Java, +and the goddess Parvati, or Kali, worshipped under +these different names according to her attributes of +glory or terror, becomes Lora Jonggran, the benignant +goddess of Java, popularly known as "the +maiden of the beauteous form." Four lofty stairways +ascend to the hoary chapels within each +sculptured pyramid, every dusky vault containing +the broken image of the tutelary <i>Deva</i>.</p> + +<p>Only separated from Brambanam by a winding +path and a green belt of jungle, stands the great +Buddhist temple of Chandi Sewon, and the colossal +figures flanking the entrance gate indicate a decadent +phase of the ancient creed which Boro-Boedoer +illustrates in the purity of earlier developement. +Chandi Sewon, the "thousand temples," includes +in the number myriad unimportant shrines, ruined, +overthrown, or covered with a green network of +interlacing creepers. The great architectural pile, +built at a uniform level, surrounds the central +sanctuary with five great enclosures. All the +ancient faiths of the world contain foreshadowings +or reflections of Christian truth, and the cruciform +temple which forms the climax of this monumental +erection shows the mystic value attached to the +sacred Sign so frequently encountered in Buddhist +shrines, and known as the <i>Shvastika</i>. The +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>numerous chapels of Chandi Sewon contained the +galaxy of Tirthankas or Buddhist saints which the +materialism of the Jains added to the impersonal +subtleties of esoteric Buddhism. The blank emptiness +and desertion of this vast sanctuary produces +an impression of unutterable desolation. The weed-grown +courts, the ruined altars, and the moss-blackened +arches, encumbered with indistinguishable +heaps of shattered sculpture, lack all the reposeful +charm of Boro-Boedoer, still a sermon in stone which +he who runs may read. The degenerate creed +memorialised by Chandi Sewon, has failed to impress +itself on the colossal pile which bears melancholy +witness to the evanescent character of the heretical +offshoot from the parent stem. Jungle and palm-forest +in Central Java contain innumerable vestiges +of pyramidal temples, palaces, and shrines; vaults +hidden beneath the shrouding trees have yielded a +rich store of gold, silver, and bronze ornaments, +household utensils, and armour. For many years +the peasants of the region between Samarang and +Boro-Boedoer paid their taxes in gold melted from +the treasure trove turned up by the plough, or dug +from the precincts of some forgotten sanctuary, +buried beneath the rank vegetation of the teaming +soil. The discarded Hindu gods still haunt the +forest depths, and the superstitious native, as he +threads the dark recesses of the solemn woods, gazes +with apprehensive eyes on the trident of Siva, or +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>the elephant's trunk of Ganesh emerging from the +trailing wreaths and matted tapestry of liana and +creeper, veiling the blackened stone of each decaying +shrine. Nature has proved stronger than Art or +Creed, in the eternal growth beneath an equatorial +sun, of the kingdom over which she reigns in +immortal life. Silently and insidiously she undermines +man's handiwork, and realisation of his futile +conflict with her invincible power enters with +disastrous effect into the popular mind, lacking that +immutable force without which the spiritual temple +of faith rests on a foundation of shifting sand. +Kawi literature, popularised by translation, and +familiar through the medium of national drama, +interprets Javanese creeds and traditions. This +"utterance of poetry" derived from Sanskrit, fell +into disuse after the Mohammedan conquest, though +a few Arabic words became incorporated into the two-fold +language comprising <i>Krama</i>, the ceremonial +speech, and <i>Ngoko</i>, the speech of "thee and +thou," or colloquial form of address. The island of +Bali, and the slopes of the Tengger range, retain a +modification of Hinduism, and Bali treasures a Kawi +version of the Ramayan and Mahabharata epics. +Many inspiring thoughts and noble sentiments, +expressed in story and song, have become well-known +maxims identified with Javanese life. "Rob +no man of due credit, for the sun, by depriving the +moon of her light, adds no lustre to his own."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +"As the lotus floats in water, the heart rests in a +pure body." "Ye cannot take riches to the grave, +but he who succoureth the poor in this world shall +find a better wealth hereafter." A <i>babad</i> or +rhythmical ballad of semi-religious character belongs +to every province, but though many details of temple +worship—Buddhist, Hindu, and Mohammedan—may +be gathered from the lengthy scroll, heroic and +princely exploits, myths and traditions, encumber +the sacred text, which Eastern imagination transforms +into a fairy tale. Creeds lose their chiselled +outline, and crumble away in the disintegrating +medium of Javanese thought, which blends them +into each other with changing colour and borrowed +light. The inconstant soul of the Malay knows +nothing of that rigid adherence to some centralising +truth which often forms the heart of a living faith, +and his religious history is an age-long record of +failure, change, desertion, and oblivion, repeated in +varying cadences, and inscribed in unmistakeable +characters on the ruined sanctuaries of old Mataram.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> +<h3>SOURAKARTA.</h3> + + +<p>The imperial city of Sourakarta, commonly +abbreviated into "Solo," was the hereditary capital +of the Mohammedan emperors, now mere puppet-princes +held in the iron grasp of Holland. The +present Susunhan, descended from both Hindu and +Arab ancestry, maintains a brilliant simulacrum of +royal state, and his huge Kraton, far surpassing that +of Djokjacarta, contains 10,000 inhabitants. The +pronounced Hindu type, though debased and +degraded, remains noticeable even amid the all-pervading +environment of squalor and disorder, +which dims the gorgeous colour and brilliant +ceremonial, producing the effect of jewels flung in +the dust. A dense throng of brown humanity, clad +and unclad, walks to and fro beneath the dusky +avenues of feathery tamarinds which shield Solo +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>from the ardour of the tropical sun. Old crones, +with unkempt locks streaming over brown and bony +necks, pass by, their wide mouths distorted and +discoloured with sucking the scarlet lumps of +<i>Sarya</i>, from which the native derives unfailing +consolation, even the Javanese girl showing absolute +disregard of the disfigurement produced by this +favourite stimulant. Deep moats, lichen-stained +walls, and hoary forts, invest Solo with a feudal +aspect, and the grim tower of Vostenberg menaces +the Kraton with bristling cannon, reminding the +hereditary Ruler of his subserviency to modern +Holland, for only a melancholy illusion of past glory +remains to him. The dragon-carved eaves of +the Chinese quarter, the open <i>tokos</i> beneath +waringen boughs, the shadowy <i>passer</i> brightened +by mounds of richly-coloured fruits, and the stuccoed +palaces of Court dignitaries, framed in dark foliage, +give character and interest to the city, where the life +of the past lingers in a series of street pictures +remaining from bygone days of pomp and show. +Ministers of State walk beneath many-coloured +official umbrellas, held by obsequious attendants; +graceful <i>bedayas</i>, in glittering robes, execute +intricate dances, and <i>gamelon</i> players discourse +weird music on pipe and drum. Court ballet-girls, +known as <i>Serimpi</i>, are borne swiftly through the +crowd in gilded litters, and masked actors give +<i>al fresco</i> performances of the historic <i>Wayang-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>wayang</i>, +represented by living persons, for the actual +"shadow-play" is impossible in broad daylight. +The colour of the mask indicates the character +assumed by the actor. The golden mask signifies +Divinity, heroes wear white, and evil spirits black or +red. Here, as elsewhere, the profile of the grotesque +disguise invariably shows either the Greek, or the +hawk-nose strangely suggestive of Egyptian origin, +and which, as a variation on human physiognomy, +specially commended itself to Mohammedan thought +as a skilful evasion of an inconvenient dogma. +Elsewhere the spirit of concession to alien ideas is +almost unknown, even flower and leaf being conventionalised +on those architectural monuments of Islam +which form the supreme expression of Mussulman +genius. The suppression of national amusements +has ever proved a perilous step, and in the heart of +this ancient kingdom the original setting of Javanese +life remained in stereotyped form. The moving +panorama of the tree-shadowed streets possesses a +strange fascination, and the light of the past lingers +like a sunset glow over the human element of the +changed and modernised city. The twang of double-stringed +lutes, the tinkle of metal tubes, and the +elusive melody of silvery gongs, echo from the ages +whence dance and song descend as an unchanged +inheritance. An itinerant minstrel recites the +history of <i>Johar Mankain</i>, the Una of Java, who +shone like a jewel in the world which could not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>tarnish the purity and devotion of one whose heart +entertained no evil thought. In the intricate byways +of the crumbling Kraton, a professional story-teller +draws a squalid crowd of women from their dark +hovels and cellars, with the magic wand of enchantment +wielded by the reciter of heroic deeds from the +<i>Panji</i>, exaggerated out of all recognition by the +addition of fairies and giants, demons and dwarfs, to +the simple human element of the original story. +The apathy and decay of native life, lacking all the +scope and interest common to a strenuous age, +appears galvanised into some fleeting semblance of +vitality by the extravaganza presented to it, for the +language of hyperbole is the natural expression of +Eastern thought, and penetrates into mental recesses +unknown and unexplored by the relater of unvarnished +facts. The quick response of the native mind +to Nature's teaching, and the wealth of tradition +woven round flower and tree, mountain and stream, +foster the love of marvel and miracle in those whose +daily wants are supplied by the prodigality of a +tropical climate, for the innate poetry of the race has +never been crushed out by the weight of practical +necessities.</p> + +<p>A permit being obtained to view the interior +of the Susunhan's palace under a Dutch escort, +we present ourselves at the colonnaded portico, +where the Prince Probolingo, brother of the +Susunhan, receives his visitors with simple courtesy. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>This descendant of a hundred kings is simply attired +in a dark brown <i>sarong</i> and turban, the <i>kris</i> in his +belt of embroidered velvet ablaze with a huge boss +of diamonds. Attendants, holding State umbrellas +over the favoured guests, usher them through +marble-paved courts, in one of which a little prince +is seated, with furled golden umbrella behind him +to denote his rank, a group of royal children playing +round him, their lithe brown forms half-hidden in +the green shadows of a great tamarind tree. A +superb marble ball-room with crystal chandeliers, +forms an incongruous modern feature of the spacious +Palace, but helps to popularise the so-called "Nail of +the Universe" among the European inhabitants of +Solo, by the splendid entertainments continually +given at the imperial command. The porcelain and +glass rooms convey an idea of the boundless +hospitality bestowed; the thousands of wine-glasses +being especially noticeable, for 800 guests are often +invited at a time. Treasures of linen and costly +embroidery, silken hangings and velvet banners, +gorgeous carpets and mats of finest texture, are +displayed to our admiring eyes, but possession rather +than enjoyment is the keynote of Eastern character, +and the bales and bundles of priceless value, kept in +huge cabinets of fragrant cedar-wood, seldom see +the light of day. Long counting-houses are crowded +with native scribes, their brown bodies naked except +for <i>sarong</i> and <i>kris</i>, the perpetual rattle of the abacus +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>making a deafening din, for apparently the smallest +sum cannot be added up under Eastern skies without +the assistance of this wire frame with the ever-shifting +marbles. Cramped fingers move wearily +over the yellow parchments, with their long lists of +undecipherable hieroglyphics, and the turbaned +heads are scarcely raised until the entrance of the +Prince necessitates the time-honoured salute of +the <i>dodok</i>, the crouching posture assumed in the +presence of a superior. The needs and luxuries of +the immense royal household render the counting-house +a feature of the utmost importance. The +Prince Probolingo has himself forty wives, and a +Harem in proportion to their numbers, the +Susunhan's Imperial Harem far exceeding that of +his brother. Wonderful tales are told of the fairy-like +loveliness belonging to these inner palaces, with +their treasures of ivory and sandalwood, cedar and +ebony, but they are jealously guarded from intrusion, +and a glimpse of their fantastic glory seldom +permitted to Western eyes. After an exhibition of +gold-encrusted litters and painted coaches of State, +used in royal processions, the Prince, a clever-looking +man of forty, takes wine with his guests. +Each stand of solid silver contains six bottles, the +crouching attendants also carrying silver trays of +tumblers and wine-glasses, a gaily clad servitor with +a huge silver ice-bowl bringing up the rear. After +drinking the health of His Royal Highness in iced +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>Rhine wine, we make our adieux, and escape from +our splendid <i>pajongs</i> of rainbow hue on the +steps of the Great Entrance, conveying our thanks +through the medium of an interpreter. These +fainéant princes learn no tongue but their own, +greatly to the advantage of their Dutch masters. +The colossal incomes assigned to scions of the royal +stock only serve the double purpose of political +expediency and personal extravagance, for the +luxury of a licentious Court remains unchecked, and +the idea of educating or reforming tributary princes +is unknown in Java. Territorial rights were relinquished +for pecuniary gains, and the entire Court of +the Susunhan is in the pay of the Dutch, the wealth +amassed from the richest island in the world +affording ample compensation for the pensions +lavishly bestowed on the former owners of the +tropical Paradise. The Dutch Resident, in his +capacity of "Elder Brother" to the indigenous race, +claims the full privileges of his assumed position, +but the advancing tide of social reform has even +touched these distant shores, and the alien authority +tends on the whole to the welfare of the community. +Hygienic regulations are compulsory, and even here +the traditions of Holland enjoin an amount of +whitewashing and cleaning up unique in tropical +colonies. The green and vermilion panelled <i>sarongs</i> +of Solo are renowned for their elaborate designs, and +the painting of <i>battek</i>, or cotton cloth, remains +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>a flourishing industry of the ancient capital. The +intricate beauty of the hand-made patterns far +surpasses that of the woven fabrics wherewith new +mills and factories begin to supply the market. +Centuries of hereditary training, from the days when +royal Solo was a self-supporting city, contribute to +the amazing skill of the <i>battek</i> girls, but the +elaboration of native Art is doomed to decay, for +Time, hitherto a negligeable quantity in this +"summer isle of Eden," begins to reveal a value +unknown to the Javanese past, and as the poetry of +illumination vanished before the prose of the printing +press, so the painting of <i>battek</i> must inevitably give +way to the wholesale methods of Manchester in the +near future of Java, just awakening from her spellbound +sleep to the changed conditions of life and +labour. An exquisite plain, described by de Charnay +as unrivalled even in Java, surrounds Sourakarta +with belts of palm, avenues of waringen, and +picturesque rice-fields of flaming green and vivid +gold. Azure peaks frame the enchanting picture. +The storied heights are rich in traditions of gods and +heroes, with innumerable myths haunting the ruined +temples which cluster round the base of the +mountain range, and suggest themselves as relics of +an earlier creed than Buddhism or Brahminism. +Archaic sculptures, obelisks, and gateways, massive +and undecorated, recall the architecture of Egyptian +sanctuaries, but no record exists which throws any +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>light on the origin of the extensive monuments of a +forgotten past, though the triple pyramid of Mount +Lawu is still a place of sacrifice to Siva the +Destroyer. Pilgrims climb the steep ascent to lay +their marigold garlands and burn their incense-sticks +at the foot of the rude cairn erected in +propitiation of the Divine wrath, typified by the cloud +and tempest hovering round the jagged pinnacles of +the volcanic range, which frowns with perpetual +menace above the verdant loveliness of plain and +woodland. The instinctive worship seems one of +those hereditary relics of a perished faith so +frequently encountered in Java; a blind impulse for +which no reason can be ascribed by the devotee, +swayed by those mysterious forces of the subconscious +self which seem imperishable elements in +the brown races of the Malay Archipelago. The +native Court attracts myriad parasites, and the +wealthy Chinese half-castes, or <i>Paranaks</i> of Solo, +with their inborn commercial genius, surpass all +competitors in the pursuit of fortune. The three +centuries of mixed marriages have modified Chinese +conservatism, and though the <i>Paranak</i> is severely +taxed, and excluded from all political offices, he +remains supreme in the kingdom of finance, regarded +even by the Dutch as an indispensable factor in the +complicated affairs of the island.</p> + +<p>The great <i>passer</i> of Solo becomes an endless +delight, and the interminable corridors, where the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>fumes of incense mingle with the breath of flowers, +convey strange suggestions of antiquity. Simple +meals of rice and bananas progress round cooking-pots +of burnished copper. Pink pomelo and purple +mangosteen vary the repast; strips of green banana +leaf folded into cups fastened with an acanthus +thorn, or serving as plates for Dame Nature's +prodigality, provide the accessories of the feast as +well as the provisions. The Javanese populace, +wonderfully free from those household cares which +involve so much time and trouble in Northern +nations strenuously occupied in keeping the wolf +from the door, and left to carry out their own +inventions, have evolved numerous methods of +blending the different metals—steel and iron, brass +and silver. The veinings of the <i>kris</i>, beautiful as +those of any Toledo blade, are produced by the +welding of metals steeped in lime-juice and arsenic, +which destroy the iron and retain the ingrained +pattern. The chains of mingled brass and silver +show exquisite designs and a special charm of colour, +in the soft golden hue and subdued gleam of the +heavy links, with their richly-enamelled talismans +of ruby and turquoise enamel. Soft voices, tranquil +movements, and courteous manners are the age-long +heritage of Malay idiosyncracy, and even in the +crowded <i>passer</i>, with its horde of buyers and +sellers, noise and dispute are non-existent. It is a +market of dreamland, and though echoes of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>marching feet and music of native bands remind us +that we are in imperial Sourakarta, the busy hive +of the <i>passer</i> suggests a panoramic picture of +native life, rather than the pushing, jostling crowd +represented by the ordinary idea of a market in that +Western hemisphere which, in bestowing so many +priceless gifts on humanity, has taken from it the +old-world grace of repose.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> +<h3>SOURABAYA AND THE TENGGER.</h3> + + +<p>The port of Sourabaya, supreme in mercantile +importance, ranks as the second city of Java, as it +contains the military headquarters, the principal +dockyards, and the arsenal. Leagues of rice and +sugar-cane lie between Solo and Sourabaya, the landscape +varied by gloomy teak woods, feathery +tamarinds, and stately mango trees. White towns +nestle in rich vegetation, and the green common +known as the <i>aloon-aloon</i> marks each hybrid suburb, +Europeanized by Dutch canals, white bridges, +and red-tiled houses, planted amid a riotous wealth +of palm and banana. A broad river, brimming over +from the deluge of the previous night, flows through +burning Sourabaya; a canal, gay with painted +<i>praus</i> connecting it with the vast harbour, +where shipping of all nations lies at anchor, the +sheltered roads bristling with a forest of masts +and funnels. Bungalows, in gorgeous gardens, flank +dusky avenues of colossal trees, for even Sourabaya, +the hottest place in steaming Java, enjoys "a +boundless contiguity of shade." In the <i>sawa</i> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>fields broad-eaved huts, set on stilts above the +swamp, protect the brown boys who frighten birds +from the rice, for the clapping and shouting must be +carried on under shelter from the ardent sun. No +air blows from the rippling water, set with acres of +lotus-beds, the fringed chalices of rose and azure +swaying on their plate-like leaves of palest green. +The heterogeneous character of Sourabaya gives +unwonted interest to the streets, uniquely brilliant +in grouping and colour. Gilded eaves of Chinese +houses, many-tiered Arab mosques, encrusted with +polished tiles of blue and purple, white colonnades +of Dutch bungalows, and pointed huts of woven +basket-work within wicker gate and bamboo fence, +mingle in fantastic confusion to frame a series of +living pictures. Cream-coloured bullocks and +spirited Timor ponies, in creaking waggons and +ramshackle carriages, pass in endless procession. +Bronze-hued coolies balance heavy loads on the +swaying <i>pikolan</i>, a sloping pole of elastic bamboo, +and strolling players, rouged and tinselled, collect +crowds in every open space where a fluttering +tamarind-tree offers a welcome patch of shadow to +each turbaned audience, clad in the paradisaical garb +of the tropics. Graceful Malay women flit silently +past, in pleasing contrast to their burly Dutch +mistresses, clad in a caricature of native garb which +the appalling heat of Sourabaya renders a more +slatternly disguise than even colonial <i>sans géne</i> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>accomplishes elsewhere. Orchids spread broad +spathes of scented bloom from grey trunks of courtyard +trees, and cascades of crimson and purple +creepers tumble over arch and wall. Insinuating +Chinamen untie bundles of <i>sarongs</i>, scarves, and +delicate embroideries on the marble steps of hotel +porticoes, where the prolonged "shopping" of the +drowsy East is catered for by the industrious +Celestial, when <i>tokos</i> are closed, and the tradesman +sleeps on the floor amid his piled-up wares, for +the slumber of Java is too deep to be lightly +disturbed, and the solemnity of the long siesta seems +regarded almost as a religious function. In this +far-off land of dreams it seems "always afternoon," +and the complacency wherewith the entire population +places itself "hors de combat" becomes a perpetual +irritation to the traveller, anxious to seize a golden +opportunity of fresh experience. The sun sinks out +of sight before the sultry atmosphere begins to cool. +The weird "gecko," a large lizard which foretells +rain, screams "Becky! Becky!" in the garden +shadows, and a cry of "Toko! Toko!" echoes from +another unseen speaker of a mysterious language, +while wraith-like forms of his tiny brethren make +moving patterns on the white columns, as the +hungry little reptiles hunt ceaselessly for the +mosquitos which form their staple diet. Lashing +rain and deafening thunder at length cool the fiery +furnace, blue lightning flares on the solid blackness +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>of heaven, and the storm only dies away when we +start at dawn for Tosari, the mountain sanatorium +of the Tengger. The flat and flooded land glows +with the vivid green of springing rice, tremulous +tamarind and blossoming teak bordering a road gay +with pilgrim crowds, for the great volcano of the +Tengger remains one of Nature's mystic altars, +dedicated to prayer and sacrifice. Moslem girls in +yellow veils jostle brown men with white prayer-marks +and clanking bangles. The <i>sari</i> of India +replaces the <i>sarong</i> of Java, with fluttering folds of +red and purple; children, clad only in silver chains +and medals, or strings of blue beads, dart through the +crowd, from whence the familiar types of Malay and +Javanese personality are absent. We change carts +in a busy roadside <i>passer</i>, which drives a roaring +trade in rice-cakes and fruit, syrups and stews, to +mount through changing zones of vegetation, where +palms give place to tree ferns, and luscious frangipanni +or gardenia yields to rose and chrysanthemum. +From the half-way house of Poespo, a forest road +ascends to Tosari. Sombre casuarina, most mournful +of the pine tribe, mingles with teak and +mahogany in dense woods falling away on either +side from the shadowy path. Innumerable monkeys +swing from bough to bough, eating wild fruits, and +breaking off twigs to pelt the intruders on their +domains. At length the sylvan scenery gives place +to endless fields of cabbage, potatoes, maize, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>onions, for the cool heights of the Tengger range +serve the prosaic purpose of market-garden to +Eastern Java, and all European vegetables may be +cultivated here with success. A patchwork counterpane +of green, brown, and yellow, clothes these steep +slopes, but the extent of the mountain chain, and +the phantasmal outlines of volcanic peaks, absorb +the incongruities grafted upon them. Valerian and +violet border the track between swarthy pines +with grey mosses hanging down like silver beards +from forked branches, and sudden mists shroud the +landscape in vaporous folds, torn to shreds by +gusts of wind, to melt away into the blue sky, +suddenly unveiled in dazzling glimpses between the +surging clouds. A long flight of mossy steps ascends +to the plateau occupied by the Sanatorium, with +wide verandahs and a poetic garden, like some old +Italian pleasaunce, with fountain and sundial, espaliered +orange boughs, and ancient rose-trees overhanging +paved walks, gay parterres, and avenues of +myrtle or heliotrope. Flowers are perennial even +on these airy heights, and dense hedges of datura, +with long white bells drooping in myriads over the +pointed foliage, transform each narrow lane into a +vista of enchantment. Eastern Java spreads map-like +beneath the overhanging precipice, the blue +strait of Madoera curving between fretted peak and +palm-clad isle. The velvety plum-colour of nearer +ranges fades through tints of violet and mauve into +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>the ethereal lilac of distant summits. The lowlands +gleam with brimming fish-ponds and flooded +<i>sawas</i>, as though the sea penetrated through +creek and inlet to the heart of the green country, +the vague glitter of this watery world investing the +scene with dream-like unreality. Brown <i>campongs</i> +cling to mountain crest and precipitous ledge. +These almost inaccessible fastnesses were colonised +after the Moslem conquest by a Hindu tribe which +refused to relinquish Brahminism. Driven from +place to place by the fanatical hordes of Islam on +the downfall of the Hindu empire, the persecuted +race, a notable exception to native inconstancy and +indifference, retreated by degrees to this mountain +stronghold, where they successfully retained their +religious independence, and defended themselves +from Mohammedan hostility. Brahminism through +centuries of isolation, has assimilated many +extraneous heathen rites, and wild superstitions have +overlaid the original creed. The worship of the +Tenggerese is now mainly directed to the ever-active +crater of the awe-inspiring Bromo, always faced by +the longer side of the windowless communal houses, +built to contain the several generations of the +families which in patriarchal fashion inhabit these +spacious dwellings. Huge clouds of smoke from the +majestic volcano curl perpetually above the surrounding +peaks, and float slowly westward, the thunderous +roar of the colossal crater echoing in eternal menace +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>through the rarefied air, and regarded as the voice of +the god who inhabits the fiery Inferno. These lonely +hills, ravaged by tempest and haunted by beasts of +prey, are the hiding-places of fear and the cradles of +ever-deepening superstition. Wild fancies sway the +untaught mountaineers, responsive to Nature's +wonders, though powerless to interpret their signification. +The constant struggle for existence +produces a character utterly opposed to that of the +suave and facile Malay. The graces of life are +unknown, but the strenuous temperament of the +Tenggerese is shown by indefatigable industry in the +difficult agriculture of the mountain region, and the +careful cultivation of the vegetables for which the +district is renowned. Day by day, the Tenggerese +women—gaunt, scantily-clad, and almost unsexed +by incessant toil in the teeth of wind and weather—carry +down their burdens to the plain, their backs +bent under the weight of the huge crates, while the +brown and wizened children are prematurely aged +and deformed by their share in the family toil. +The more prosperous inhabitant carries his vegetables +on a mountain pony, trained to wonderful +feats in the art of sliding up and climbing down walls +of rock almost devoid of foothold, for the riding of +Tenggerese youth and maiden rivals that of the +Sioux Indian. Misdirected zeal strips the hills of +forest growth; the scanty pines of the higher zone +serving as fuel, and the ruthless destruction of timber +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>brings the dire result of decreasing rainfall. Only +bamboo remains wherewith to build the communal +houses, formerly constructed of tastefully blended +woods, and the flimsy substitute, unfitted to resist +drenching rain and raging wind, is dragged with the +utmost difficulty from cleft and gorge along rude +tracks hewn out in the mountain side. Rice, elsewhere +the mainstay of life in Java, has never been +cultivated by the Tenggerese, the sowing and +planting of the precious crop being forbidden to them +during the era of gradual retreat before the +Mohammedan army centuries ago, and the innate +conservatism of the secluded tribe, in spite of life's +altered environment, clings to the dead letter of an +obsolete law. The tigers, once numerous round +Tosari, have retreated into the jungle clothing the +lower hills, and seldom issue from their forest lairs +unless stress of weather drives them upward for a +nightly prowl round byre and pen. The destruction +of covert renders Tosari immune from this past peril, +and the tragic tiger stories related round the hearthstone +of the communal house are becoming oral +traditions of a forgotten day, gathering round themselves +the moss and lichen of fable and myth.</p> + +<p>The main interest of Tosari centres round the +stupendous Bromo, possessing the largest crater in +the world, a fathomless cavity three miles in +diameter, veiled in Stygian darkness, and suggesting +the yawning mouth of hell. This bottomless pit, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>bubbling like a boiling cauldron, pouring out black +volumes of sulphureous smoke, and clamouring with +unceasing thunder, was for ages a blood-stained altar +of human sacrifice. Every year the fairest maiden +of the Tengger was the chosen victim offered to Siva, +who, in his attribute of a Consuming Fire, occupied +the volcanic abyss. The worship of the Divine +Destroyer has ever been a fruitful source of crime +and cruelty, and a tangible atmosphere of evil lingers +round those hoary temples of India dedicated to the +Avenging Deity, whose fanatical followers are +reckoned by millions. Through the inversion of +creed peculiar to Hindu Pantheism, the propitiation +of Divine wrath has become the fundamental principle +of religion, and pathetic appeals for mercy +continually ascend from darkened hearts to those +unseen powers vividly present to Hindu thought, +which, amid countless errors and degradations, has +never ceased to grasp the central fact of Eternity. +The impalpable air teems with Divinity. Watchful +eyes and clutching hands surround the pilgrim's +path, and unseen spirits dog faltering footsteps as +they stumble through the snares and pitfalls of +earthly life. In the rude tribes of the Tengger, +hereditary faith reflects the uncompromising features +of local environment. The lotus-eating races of the +tropical lowlands, with their feeble grasp on the +sterner aspects of creed and character, have nothing +in common with this Indian tribe, remaining on the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>outskirts of an alien civilisation. The creed for +which the early Tenggerese fought and conquered, +has cooled from white heat to a shapeless petrifaction, +and weird influences throng the ruined temple +of a moribund faith, but the shadows which loom +darkly above the mouldering altars still command the +old allegiance, and a thousand hereditary ties bind +heart and soul to the past.</p> + +<p>The expedition to the Bromo, by horse or litter, +affords the supreme experience of Javanese volcanoes. +The broken track, knee-deep in mud and +rent by landslips, traverses fields of Indian corn, +rocky clefts, and rugged water-courses. The familiar +flora of Northern Europe fringes babbling brooks, +their banks enamelled with wild strawberries and +reddening brambles. Curtains of ghostly mist lift +at intervals to disclose the magical pink and blue of +the mountain distance, as sunrise throws a shaft of +scarlet over the grim cliff's of the Moengal Pass. A +chasm in the stony wall reveals the famous Sand +Sea below the abrupt precipice, a yellow expanse of +arid desert encircling three fantastic volcanoes. The +pyramidal Batok, the cloud-capped Bromo, and the +serrated Widodaren, set in the wild solitude of this +desolate Sahara, form a startling picture, suggesting +a sudden revelation of Nature's mysterious laboratories. +The deep roar of subterranean thunder, and +the fleecy clouds of sulphureous smoke ever rising +from the vast furnaces of the Bromo, emphasise the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>solemnity of the marvellous scene. Native ideas +recognise this terror-haunted landscape as the point +where Times touches Eternity, and natural forces +blend with occult influences. Tjewara Lawang, +"the gate of the spirits," traditionally haunted by +the countless <i>Devas</i> of Hindu Pantheism, bounds +the ribbed and tumbled Sand Sea with a black +bridge of fretted crags, from whence the invisible +host keeps watch and ward over the regions of +eternal fire.</p> + +<p>By a fortunate coincidence, the annual festival +of the Bromo is celebrated to-day, when Siva, the +Third Person of the Hindu Triad, is propitiated by a +living sacrifice. Goats and buffaloes were flung +into the flaming crater long after the offering of +human victims was discontinued, but, alas for the +chicanery of a degenerate age! even the terrified +animals thrown into the air by the sacrificing priest +never reach the mystic under-world, their downward +progress being arrested by a skilled accomplice, who +catches them at a lower level, and risks great Siva's +wrath by preserving them for more prosaic uses. +The silence of the Sand Sea is broken to-day by the +bustle of a gay market on the brink of the yellow +plain. The terrific descent through a gash in the +precipice, carved by falling boulders, landslips, and +torrential rains, lands the battered pilgrim in the +midst of a lively throng in festal array. Girls in +rose and orange <i>saris</i>, with silver pins in sleek dark +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>hair plaited with skeins of scarlet wool, dismount +from rough ponies for refreshment, or gallop across +the Sand Sea to the mountain of sacrifice. The +turbaned men in rough garb of indigo and brown +show less zeal than their womenkind, and betel-chewing, +smoking, or the consumption of syrups +and sweetmeats, prove more attractive than the +religious service, for modern materialism extends +even to these remote shores, and the Avenging God +is often worshipped by proxy.</p> + +<p>The Sand Sea was originally the base of the +Tengger volcano, split from head to foot by an +appalling eruption, which forced mud, sand, and lava +from the enclosing walls into the surrounding valley. +Fresh craters formed in the vast depths of sand and +molten metal; the three new volcanoes—Bromo, +Battok, and Widodaren—casting themselves up +from the blazing crucibles hidden beneath the fire-charged +earth. We stand on the thin and +crumbling crust of the globe's most friable surface, +a mere veil concealing fountains of eternal fire, +foaming solfataras, and smoking fumaroles. Circle +after circle, the great belt of volcanic peaks rises +around us, visible outlets of incalculable forces, ever +menacing the world with ruin and havoc.</p> + +<p>On the steep descent, a few devout pilgrims offer +preliminary sacrifices of food, or flowers, to the +<i>Devas</i> of the mountains, laying the little treasures +in oval vaults dug by human hands, before entering +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>the inner courts of the fiery sanctuary. The yellow +Sand Sea, swept by a moaning wind, sends up +whirling eddies, and the dusky haze shimmers in +fantastic outlines, which probably originated the +idea of spiritual presences hovering round the +scene. Grey heather and clumps of cypress-grass +dot the wild Sahara with their dry and colourless +monotony, but give place on the southern side to +patches of fern and turf, the scanty pasture of the +mountain ponies, herding together until sickness or +accident breaks the ranks, when the hapless +sufferer, deserted by his kind, falls an easy prey to +the wild dogs of the Tengger ranges. A heap of +bleaching bones points to some past tragedy, and +terrifies the swerving horses of the native pilgrims. +The ascent of the Bromo is negotiated from the +eastern side to the lip of the gigantic crater. +Slanting precipices of lava, their grey flanks scored +with black gullies below the volcanic ash which +covers the upper slopes, rise to the jagged pinnacles +bordering the black gulf of eternal mystery and +night. A rickety ladder of bamboo, approached +through a chaos of boulders, mounts to the edge of +the profound abyss. The ladder has been renewed +for this Day of Atonement, and worshippers clad in +rainbow hues crowd round the base of the volcano, +while the priests of Siva, in motley robes of brilliant +patchwork, adorned with cabalistic tracery in white, +ascend the swaying rungs, bearing their struggling +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>victims, bleating, crowing, and clucking in mortal +terror. Stalwart arms toss the black goat with +accurate aim to an assistant priest, who passes on +his clever "catch" to a third expert in the task +of hoodwinking Siva and depriving him of his lawful +prey. Sundry cocks and hens, evidently toothsome +morsels, are then thrown from one priest to another, +and saved for the cooking-pot, but a tough-looking +chanticleer of the Cochin China persuasion is finally +selected, and cast into the seething pit to propitiate +the terrible wrath of the Avenging Deity at the +smallest expense and loss to the astute priesthood. +At the close of the sacerdotal is sacreligious performance, +we mount the shaking ladder to a thatched +shed on the rim of the crater. From hence, +between the dense volumes of smoke, the huge +cavity is visible to a depth of 600 feet. Sallow +clouds of sulphur emerge from a pandemonium of +tumultuous clamour; red-hot stones shoot upward, +but fall back into the chasm before they reach us; +burning ashes strike the smooth walls with a weird +scream, and then whirl back into the darkness; +yellow solfataras rise in foaming jets, with the fierce +hiss of unseen serpents, and bellowing thunders +shake the earth. The superb spectacle of nature's +power in her armoury of terror is unique among the +volcanos of Java, for unless the Bromo blazes in the +throes of a violent eruption, when the ascent to the +crater becomes impossible, no danger exists in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>gazing down into the mysterious abyss. At every +gust which rages round this laboratory of Nature, +the vast clouds—black, yellow, and blue—floating +away into space, assume grotesque forms suggesting +primeval monsters or menacing giants, darkening +the skies with their ghostly presence. Driving rain +and a rising gale hasten a rapid descent to the Sand +Sea, but the sudden storm dies away into sunlit +mists. The climb to the Moenggal Pass is complicated +by a series of pools and cascades; the horses +pick their own perilous way, but the management +of the chairs by the noisy coolies demands superhuman +strength and security of hand and foot, +the crazy and battered <i>doolie</i> escaping falls and +collisions by a continuous miracle.</p> + +<p>The expedition to Ngandwona, in the heart of +the hills, skirts green precipices and traverses +brown <i>campongs</i> forlorn and neglected, like this +stranded Hindu race, incapable of adjustment to +life's law of change, and retaining the form without +the spirit of the past. The glens lie veiled in cloud, +but the peaks bask in sunshine. Waterfalls dash +through thickets of crimson foxglove, and daturas +swing their fragrant bells over the dancing water. +A little goatherd, leading his bleating flock, plays +on a reed flute to summon a straggler from a distant +crag. The brown figure, in linen waistcloth and +yellow turban, suggests that Indian personality +which has survived ages of exile on these lonely +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>heights. The route to Ngandwona discloses the +Tengger in a different aspect; the volcanos are far +away, and this central region is rich in pastoral +pictures full of lulling charm. The voice of the +Bromo still breaks the silence of the deep valley +with a mysterious undertone, but only benignant +<i>Devas</i> haunt this flower-filled hollow, remote +alike from the terrors of Nature and the influences +of the external world.</p> + +<p>The following day varies the character of the +range, exposed to every vicissitude of temperature +and climate. White billows of fog beat upon the +mountain tops like a silent sea, and blot out the +landscape with an impenetrable veil. Thunder +echoes through the rocky caves with incessant +reverberations, and rain settles down in a drenching +flood. The chill of the wooden Hotel penetrates to +the bone; enthusiasm wanes below zero, and even +scorching Sourabaya appears preferable to this wet +and windy refuge on the storm-swept heights. The +hurricane proves brief in proportion to the violence +displayed, and the walk to Poespo at dawn, behind +the baggage-coolie, is a vision of delight. Violet +mountains lean against the pale blue of a rain-washed +sky, tjewara and teak glisten with jewelled +lustre, and the Tengger, bathed in amethystine +light, lifts itself above the world as the realm of +purity and peace, ever revealed and prophesied by +the glory of mountain scenery.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> +<h2>CELEBES.</h2> +<hr class="hr4" /> + +<h3>MAKASSAR AND WESTERN CELEBES.</h3> + + +<p>Each island of the great Archipelago offers +distinctive interests, for many alien races grafted +themselves on the original stock, after those age-long +wanderings across the Southern seas which +probably coincided with the westward march from +Central Asia, whereby primeval man fulfilled the +decrees of destiny.</p> + +<p>A long pull in a rickety <i>sampan</i> across the +harbour of Sourabaya involves numerous collisions +with fruit-boats, canoes, and rafts, before reaching +the steamer in the offing. Intervals of comparative +safety permit cursory observation of the gorgeously-painted +<i>praus</i> with upturned stern, curving bamboo +masts, and striped sails, the outline of the +gaudy boats accentuated by a black line, and +producing the effect of huge shells tossing on the +tide. The green isle of Madoera, and the level +morasses of Eastern Java, bound the wide harbour, +the blue cloud of the distant Tengger soaring +abruptly on the horizon. The ship becomes our +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>home for a month, and affords a welcome relief from +divers struggles on land, involved by a dual language, +official red tape, and native incompetence. A +brilliant sunset flames across the heavens, and we +glide across a golden sea as a fitting prelude to +unknown realms of enchantment. The dreamful calm +of the two days' passage obliterates the memory of +bygone difficulties and perturbations, the interval +between past and future experiences falling like +refreshing dew on the weary spirit, and increasing +the receptive capacity required for the assimilation +of new impressions. The vast extent of the Malay +Archipelago, and the stupendous size of the +principal islands, comes as a fresh revelation to +travellers whose ideas have been limited by vague +recollections of schoolroom geography. The seven +hundred miles of Java's length, Sumatra's vast +extent of fourteen hundred miles, the area of Borneo +equalling that of France and Germany combined, +and the fact of Celebes, for which we are bound, +exceeding the dimensions of Norway and Sweden, +convey startling suggestions of the limitless space +occupied by the great Equatorial group. The palms +and flowers of myriad smaller isles break the blue +monotony of these summer seas traversed by the +Malay wanderers of olden days, striving to sail +beyond the sunset, and to overtake that visionary +ideal flitting ever before them, and luring them on +with the fairy gold of unfulfilled desires.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>At length the high blue peaks of central Celebes +pierce the silver mists of a roseate dawn, and beyond +a cluster of coral islets, the white town of Makassar +gleams against a green background of palms. Miles +of brown <i>campongs</i> fringe the shore, but the gay +scene on the wooden wharves at first occupies +undivided attention. <i>Sarongs</i> of crimson, orange, +purple, or boldly-contrasting plaids, enhance the +deep bronze of native complexion, the ample folds +of the wide skirts drawn up above the knees. High +turbans of white or red cambric, elaborately twisted, +add dignity to the stately figures, deeply-cut features +and hawk noses denoting Arab origin, for the +Makassarese is a lineal descendant of the Moslem +pirates, once the terror of these island-studded seas. +Proud, courageous, and passionately addicted to +adventurous travel in far-off lands, these sturdy +islanders have little in common with the inert +races of Java. The normal Malay element appears +extinguished by the fiery superstructure of Arab +nature, retaining the vindictive and fanatical traits +of ancestral character. The women, in rainbow +garb, use their floating <i>slandangs</i> as improvised +<i>yashmaks</i>, holding the red and yellow folds before +their faces in approved Moslem fashion, when +passing a man. Makassar, formerly ruled by a line +of powerful princes as an independent fief, but now +subject to a Dutch Governor, has become the capital +of Celebes, and occupies an important commercial +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>position. The wharves are filled with bales of +<i>copra</i>, mother-of-pearl shells, plumage of native +birds, dried fish, bundles of rattan, and precious +woods from the primeval forests of the interior. +The boom of the fisherman's drum echoes across the +water in constant reverberations, a secularised relic +of the religious past, originally serving the purpose +of the Mohammedan call to prayer, but now +fulfilling the prosaic office of signalling the arrival +or departure of boats, though the devout mariner +still appeals by drum to the Heavenly Powers for +fair weather and a good haul of fish. The official +buildings of Makassar, including the Dutch Governor's +palace, face a green <i>aloon-aloon</i>, flanked by +superb avenues of kanari and tamarind trees. The +hoary fort, scarcely distinguishable from the solid +rock which supports it, was captured from the King +of Goa by a Dutch admiral, who thrust his sword +through an adjacent cocoanut palm, to symbolise +his intention of piercing the hearts of all who +resisted the Treaty afterwards drawn up. The +sword and cocoanut now form part of the heraldic +arms belonging to Makassar.</p> + +<p>Local costume affords a continuous feast of +colour, and streets and avenues appear like moving +tulip beds, the broad blue sky and dazzling sunshine +of this tropical land intensifying every glowing tint +of robe, fruit, and flower. In the umber shadows of +dusky <i>tokos</i>, gold-beaters fashion those red-gold +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>ornaments rich in barbaric beauty, for which +Makassar has ever been renowned. Portuguese art +glorifies native workmanship, and the Dutch carry +on the traditions of the past, merely simplifying the +old methods by introducing modern tools to lighten +the labour of production. Silken scarves, and +elaborately-painted <i>battek</i>, woven with gold and +silver thread, swing from the black rafters of dim +corridors, and countless treasures of the deep, in +shells and coral of rich and delicate colouring, +manifest the infinite variety of Nature's handiwork. +From the crowded lanes, with their busy markets +and hybrid population, we drive through the long +line of <i>campongs</i> bordering the palm-fringed coast. +The bamboo walls of the fragile houses, standing +on stilts or rocking on poles in the rippling sea, +show a multitude of fantastic designs, the broad +roofs of thatched grass or plaited palm-leaves +extending in penthouse eaves above carven panels +let into the gables. A riot of glorious vegetation +frames and overshadows the clustering huts of +deftly-woven cane. Dark faces peer through the +narrow slits of bamboo window-spaces, but Makassar +pride contains the elements of self-respect, and +though the stranger attracts a certain amount of +interest, no discourtesy mars the pleasure of +exploration. A red road beneath towering palms, +skirts rice-fields and bamboo thickets to the beautiful +ford of the Tello, a broad river flowing between vast +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>woods of cocoanut and bread-fruit trees, with only a +tiny dug-out, steered by a brown boy in a scarlet +turban, to dispel the loneliness of the scene. The +vicinity of Makassar offers no special characteristics +beyond those of a tropical garden, but the changing +aspects of native life provide subjects of unceasing +interest. To-day a great Chinese festa takes place, +which attracts all the inhabitants of town and +<i>campong</i>, for amusements are scarce on these distant +shores, and no questions of race or faith complicate +the determination to secure a share in the pleasures +of the ceremony. When the usual burst of squibs +and crackers, lighting of bonfires, and tossing of +joss-papers into the air, marks the commencement of +the holiday, spectators line the roads, climb the +trees, and crowd the fiat roofs of Portuguese houses. +The afternoon is the children's portion of the +festival, and the little bedizened figures, with rouged +faces, tinsel crowns, and spangled robes, bestride +grotesque wooden dragons, fishes, and birds, +brilliantly painted, and drawn on wheels by masked +men in robes of pink and green. A crowd of high-class +babies, also bedizened and spangled, follows +in perambulators wreathed with flowers, and pushed +by their Chinese nurses. Hideous gods in glittering +robes, and appalling demons painted in black and +scarlet, bring up the rear of the long procession, +which traverses every street and lane of the Chinese +<i>campong</i>, the open houses displaying the lighted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>altars and tutelary gods of Buddhist and Taoist +creed, for the mystic philosophy of the Eastern sages +materialises into grossest realism by passing through +the crucible of Chinese thought.</p> + +<p>A visit to the so-called "Kingdom of Goa" fills +up our last day in Makassar. The Palace of the +tributary Sultan, ten miles from the capital, consists +of steep-roofed houses built upon huge trunks of +forest trees, and connected by carved galleries and +crumbling stairs with the Harem at the back of the +main edifice. Squalid women in blue yashmaks loll +on the crazy verandah, whence a native secretary +marshals us through the dusty and ruinous building. +The Sultan, taking to the hills as a necessary +precaution after inciting his subjects to rebellion +against the Dutch, has just been captured, but, +whether by accident or design, fell over a cliff, and +until his dead body is brought back to receive the +Mohammedan rites of burial, the royal residence +remains in charge of the police. The grass-grown +road to the decaying Palace intersects the rambling +and sordid village of Goa, the feudal appanage of +the sorry chieftain, a perpetual thorn in the side of +the Dutch Government. The surrounding country +appears almost a solitude, the silence stirred by the +song of the distant surf, the chirping of myriad +grasshoppers, and the ceaseless clash of waving +palms in the breeze which steals up from the sea. +A quaint water-castle, shaped like a Chinese junk, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>stands on a rock in a fish-pond reflecting the rosy +sky, and the fretted marble of a beautiful Arabian +tomb gleams from a clump of white-starred +<i>sumboya</i> exhaling incense on the air. As the +magic and mystery of night shroud Makassar in a +mantle of gloom, the surrounding sea becomes a +vision of phosphorescent flame to the furthest +horizon. The sheet-lightning of the tropical sky +repeats the wonders of the deep, the glamour of +romance gilds the prose of reality, and we apprehend +that spirit of wondering awe which breathes through +the records of old-world voyagers across uncharted +oceans, when witnessing the phenomena of Nature +in the sanctuary of her power, before Science had +torn the veil from the mystic shrine.</p> + +<p>The steamer's course follows the bold and +mountainous coast; steep cliffs alternate with forest-clad +ravines, the purple ranges of the foreground +melting into the azure crests of soaring peaks. +Skilful navigation is required in threading the blue +water-lanes of the Spermunde group, the scores of +palm-clad islets like bouquets of verdure thrown on +the tranquil sea. The wicker-work <i>campongs</i> of the +fishing population form a ring round each white +beach of sparkling coral sand. The black bow of the +"Bromo," a ship which broke her back on a reef +twenty years ago, stands high above the treacherous +rocks, and accentuates the vivid colouring of water +and foliage. At Paré-Paré, a native <i>campong</i> in a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>deep bay at the edge of a forest, the steamer stops +to discharge cargo, and affords an opportunity of +landing. A gay crowd lines the shore of the +picturesque village, the houses of palm-thatched +bamboo adorned with carved ladders and upcurving +eaves of white wood. One of the numerous military +expeditions to turbulent Celebes has lately been +successful, and the <i>campong</i>, where every hut was +closed for a year in consequence of the local Rajah +forcing his people to join in his insurrection, has at +last been re-opened, though under a guard of Dutch +and Malay troops. A brown bodyguard of native +children, mainly clad in silver chains and medals, +escorts the strangers with intense delight to a shabby +little mosque, where a Dervish, in the orange turban +rewarding a pilgrim to Mecca, beats a big drum in +the stone court. The little savages encountered at +Mandja on the following day seem equally free from +clothes and cares, but Europeans, though possessing +the charm of novelty, are regarded with awe; a +sudden stop, a word, or even a lifted hand, sufficing +to make the whole juvenile population take to their +heels, and hide among the palms and bananas until +a sudden impulse of fresh curiosity banishes fear. +Clothing is at a discount, but ornaments of brass, +silver, and coloured beads, are evidently indispensable. +Natural flowers, like immense red fuchsias +with long white bells, serve as ear-rings, and scarlet +caps adorn the sleek black heads of the elder girls. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>An <i>al fresco</i> picnic party from the hills occupies a +green mound, and boils a kettle on sticks of flaming +bamboo, though a stray spark might easily burn +down the entire <i>campong</i>. A great part of Celebes +is uninhabited and uncultivated, but the tribes of the +interior, warlike and treacherous, have never been +completely subjugated. The slave trade flourishes +among these lonely hills, murder and violence are +rife; the methods of warfare, comprising poisoned +arrows, and bullets containing splinters of glass, +denote absolute barbarism, and the enormous island, +which ought to be a field of emigration for some of +Java's twenty-seven millions, except for the coast +<i>campongs</i> and the rice-grounds of the far interior, +remains one of the waste places of the earth, in spite +of a perfect climate and a teeming soil.</p> + +<p>Day by day the scenery becomes more wild and +dreary; the forests disappear, and the sun-baked +hills encroach on the low brushwood beyond the +white beaches of coves and inlets, without any sign +of habitation. An atmosphere of crystalline purity +discloses the highest range of the interior, a long +chain of azure peaks. Our course traverses league +upon league of melancholy solitude, emphasised +rather than relieved by the brilliant sunlight and +balmy breezes playing over this realm of neglected +possibilities, where the wants of countless sufferers +might be abundantly supplied. Anchoring for an +hour in the deep blue bay of Tontoli, we come once +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>more into the haunts of men, and two picturesque +<i>campongs</i> buried in cocoa-palms beneath the wooded +mountains of Tomini are pointed out as exclusively +peopled by descendants of the pirates who infested +this western coast of Celebes. From this point the +interest of the cruise increases. Pretty <i>campongs</i> +line the shore of every sheltered creek. Boats of +quaint form and colour push off to meet the steamer, +quickly surrounded by <i>sampans</i>, <i>blotos</i> (the native +canoes), or carved and painted skiffs, all manned by +an amphibious race in Nature's suit of brown, which +renders the wearers indifferent to overturned boats, +water-logged <i>blotos</i>, and collapsing rafts, though +the encouraging statements of our Malay crew as +to the warmth and shallowness of the water in case +of any contretemps, is less reassuring to the +travellers who venture shoreward on the risky craft. +The loan of the captain's boat makes the visit to +Dongalla an experience of unalloyed pleasure, but +the people appear morose and sullen. A dignified +youth, in purple turban and checked <i>sarong</i>, +attempts to do the honours of his native place, but +his comrades, oppressed by vague suspicions, close +the heavy doors of their wooden houses, and peep +through the interstices of the bamboo shutters as +we thread the narrow alleys, escorted by the deck +steward. A more genial crowd welcomes us to the +palm-groves of Palehle, where a light-hearted bodyguard +of children shows us every nook and corner +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>of the brown <i>campong</i>, with smiling faces and +merry laughter. The heart-whole mirth of these +little savages might brighten the saddest soul. +Living in the present, with no artificial wants to +create dissatisfaction, and free from the pains or +penalties of poverty, as experienced in Northern +climes, the simple life close to the heart of Nature +suggests ideas of Eden's unshadowed joy. Amid +the treasures of memory garnered during the +winter's wanderings through the Malay Archipelago, +the unclouded merriment which endows these +children of Nature remains as the deepest impression +stamped on the memory of the Western pilgrim. +European childhood, at the best and brightest, +but faintly approaches this spontaneous gaiety, the +special attribute of untutored souls in a world of +primal innocence.</p> + +<p>At Soemalata the steep declivities of wooded +mountains enclose the harbour, and a narrow pass +leads to the gold mines, where the process of +smelting and separating the ore takes place in a +primitive series of conduits, sluices, mills, and +pounding machines. The gold concession granted +by the local Rajah prospers in European hands, but +the barbaric chieftain adheres to the ancient custom +of having the gold washed from the river sand by +his own slaves. The English engineer of the mines +hails a compatriot with delight, and his explanation +of the complicated machinery ends with a welcome +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>invitation to tea in his pretty bungalow. A solitary +Englishman is frequently found stationed in the +remotest outposts of civilisation throughout the +Malay Archipelago, enduring a life of unexampled +loneliness with the tenacity and determination +inherent in national character. The oft-receding +vision of a successful future inspires the dauntless +heart less than a sense of present duty, and these +exiles from the social ties of nation and kindred +possess special claims on sympathy and remembrance. +Lovely lanes of palm and banana, +brightened by trees of crimson poinsettia, wind +upward to the hills, and a cluster of green islets +gems the blue waters; the scarlet-stemmed Banka +palm offering a glowing contrast to the sweeping +emerald of the feathery fronds. The little +settlement of Kwandang, with a gold <i>fabrik</i> +occupying a wooded islet, completes the circuit of +the western coast, for the North-Eastern Cape comprises +a distinctive province, requiring a separate +chapter. Intervening mountains, with jagged cliffs +and towering summits, rise like Titanic fortresses +from the creaming surf which washes the yellow +bastions, leaving no space for the wicker <i>campongs</i>, +impermanent as a child's house of cards, but +perpetually rebuilt in identical fashion, and never +developing into substantial dwellings, or adjusted +on the new lines required by varieties of environment.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> +<h3>THE MINAHASA.</h3> + + +<p>Steaming slowly through the phosphorescent seas of +the starlit night, we anchor at dawn in the forest-lined +bay of Amoerang, the principal harbour of +the Minahasa. The picturesque Northern Cape of +Celebes contains a population differing in origin and +character from all other races of the vast island, and +conveys the idea of a distinctive country. The +mountain panorama of shelving ridges and fretted +promontories, breaking the outlines of the rocky +coast with infinite variety, culminates in the +chiselled contours of volcanic peaks, cutting sharply +into the silvery blue of a stainless sky. Amoerang, +half-buried in sago-palms, on the green rim of the +secluded haven, shows slight resemblance to the +<i>campongs</i> generally encountered on the western +coast. Wooden cottages, though built on piles of +wood or stone, and thatched with <i>atap</i> (plaited +palm leaves) possess many features in common with +the screened and balconied dwellings of Japan. +The people, in aspect and feature, also convey +suggestions of the Japanese origin ascribed to them, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>for ancient traditions assert that the Minahasa was +colonised by an Asiatic tribe, driven out of Formosa +by native savages, in one of those wild raids upon +the peaceful maritime population which drove them +to face the perils of an unknown sea, rather than +fall into the ruthless hands of the bloodthirsty +aborigines who inhabited the forests and mountains +of the interior. Many of the hapless exiles perished +through hunger, thirst, storm, and shipwreck of +their slightly-built craft, during the long wanderings +which ended as though by chance for the survivors, +in the distant Minahasa. The Malay element in +those Japanese refugees, displayed the usual characteristics +of skill in boat-building and navigation, +together with that accurate observation of natural +phenomena which alone could compensate for the +lack of scientific knowledge. The women, with +oblique eyes and oval faces, wear the gay <i>sarong</i> and +white <i>kabaja</i> customary in Eastern Java. The +men, in shapeless gowns and wide trousers, with +broad hats of battered straw on their close-cropped +hair, afford a sorry spectacle of unbecoming and +disorderly attire, conveying grotesque hints of +Japanese ideas beneath the squalid ugliness overlaying +them. The fishermen, conveniently unclad +for the necessities of their calling, wear only a yellow +or scarlet waist-cloth, the bright touch of colour +emphasising the deep bronze of their slight but +athletic forms. The people of the Minahasa, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>Christianised after the Calvinistic methods of Dutch +and German missionaries a century ago, have always +been specially favoured by the Government of +Holland, and large sums are annually expended in +improving the status of this distant colony. The +making of roads, the building of schools and +churches, and the improvement of social conditions, +are liberally catered for, not only for the advantage +of the Minahasa, but that no excuse may exist for +any rebellion against such paternal rule. Tribal +insurrections continually recur in the great Archipelago, +where a storm in a teacup often swells into +dangerous proportions, and the peaceful adherence +of the Minahasa to the powers that be becomes an +important factor in turbulent Celebes. The race, +so strangely amalgamated with alien interests, shows +the apathy of a temperament incapable of developement +on foreign lines, though unable to resist the +pressure imposed upon it. The pretty <i>campong</i> +seems silent as the grave. No native <i>warongs</i>, +or restaurants, enliven the straight roads with their +merry crowds or cheerful gossip, and sellers of +food and drink, whose cries echo through the streets +of Makassar, are unknown in this northern port, +where even the arrival of the fortnightly steamer +fails to excite much interest in the public mind.</p> + +<p>A rash determination to drive across the Minahasa, +and pick up the boat at Menado, involves +unimagined difficulties. Heavy waggons drawn by +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>brown <i>sappies</i> (<i>i.e.</i>, bullocks), which travel at +the rate of two miles an hour, suffice for native use +in remote Amoerang, but at length a dilapidated +gig, with two sorry steeds harnessed in tandem +fashion by sundry bits of old rope, is produced. +Having frequently experienced the pace accomplished +by many a Timor pony of emaciated +and dejected aspect, faith accepts even this +unpromising team for the long drive of thirty miles. +Quaint <i>campongs</i>, with bamboo fences and curiously +arched gateways, flank the woodland road. Each +little garden flames with red poinsettia, purple +convolvulus, and yellow daisies. The latticed +screens pushed back from open verandahs, show +Japanese-looking rooms, furnished with the European +lamps, chairs, and tables, exported by +thousands to the Minahasa, but the same atmosphere +of stagnation broods over these quiet villages, and +even the children, returning from a bamboo schoolhouse +on the edge of the forest, show the staid and +solemn demeanour of their elders. For a few miles +all goes well, with the trifling exception of +occasional breakages in the countless knots of the +rope harness. The last whistle of the steamer floats +upward as she leaves her anchorage, and refusing to +yield to a faint misgiving as to the success of the +present enterprise, eyes and thoughts concentrate +themselves on the increasing beauty of the mountain +road, the living emerald of the rice-fields, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>the picturesque mills for husking the grain, which +give special character to this unique district of +Celebes. Suddenly the rickety conveyance comes +to a full stop, and a kicking match begins, the +plunging ponies refusing to budge an inch. The +incapable Jehu implores his fare's consent to an +immediate return, but meets with an inexorable +refusal, the halting Malay sentences eked out with +an unmistakable pantomime of threats and warnings. +The driver's whip, supplemented by an +English umbrella, produces no effect on the obtuse +animals, which have to be led, or rather hauled, on +their unwilling way. One obstreperous steed +becomes so unmanageable that it becomes necessary +to hitch him to the back of the cart, at the imminent +risk of overturning it, in his determination to thwart +his companion's enforced progress. Mile after mile +the wearisome struggle continues. Even a lumbering +bullock waggon passes us again and again, in +the numerous stoppages required for fresh conflict. +The endless hours of the weary day drag on like a +terrible nightmare, but a descent into a profound +ravine of these mountain solitudes at length enables +the driver to start the team at a rate which makes +it impossible for them to stop, and he vaults lightly +into his place as we spin merrily downhill. Our +troubles are not over, for on the next upward grade +the old game of rearing, backing, and futile attempts +at buck-jumping, begins again. Despairing eyes +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>rest on a thatched booth at the roadside, containing +a row of bottles hung up by a string, with the +bamboo tube for coins. Holding the ropes, and +currying favour with the ponies by leading them to a +patch of grass, it becomes possible for the boy to +leave them for a sorely-needed drink of the sago-wine. +The fiendish animals try to upset the cart, +and the fight recommences for the fiftieth time, but +the brown huts of a <i>campong</i> in a cactus thicket +inspire hope, and after a furious battle in the street, +to the intense delight of the Japanese-looking people, +a man comes to the rescue with a stout pony. The +boy mounts one battered steed, the other is left +behind in a hospitable stable, and we trot briskly on +through lovely scenery of forest and mountain to +Kanas, at the head of the beautiful lake of Tondano, +hitherto seen in glimpses at an immense depth +between encircling peaks. Wearied almost to +stupefaction by eleven hours of a combat, after +which victory seems scarcely less ghastly than +defeat, we would gladly remain for the night at the +little Rest House of Kanas, but prudence compels +us to push on to Tondano, at the other end of the +lake, while a capable pony remains at disposal. The +lake road is a vista of entrancing loveliness, overhung +by arching bamboos and great sago-palms, the +vanguard of the forest which clothes the lower spurs +of the purple mountain ranges, shutting off the long +blue lake from the outside world. A rudely-built +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span><i>bloto</i>, merely the hollowed trunk of a tree, +crosses the water, with a torch flickering at the +prow, for the sun has set, and the crimson afterglow +begins to fade from the serrated crests of the +opposite heights. The ripple of the water in the +reeds at the edge of the road, and the sigh of the +evening breeze, fluttering the leaves and creaking +the yellow canes of the great bamboos, alone stir the +silence, which comes as a welcome relief after the +toil and excitement of the day; but alas! we have +all forgotten the perils of the road at nightfall, and +in the sudden darkness, deepened by the shadowy +trees, a false step might precipitate cart and +passengers into the deep water. Any advance +becomes dangerous on the winding way, which +follows every curve of the irregular shore, so a halt +is called, while the boy rides on towards some +twinkling lights denoting a lakeside <i>campong</i>. After +a long wait, he returns in triumph with three +matches and a piece of flaming tow in a bottle. By +observing due precaution, we can now follow his +guidance, while he holds out the flaring light +with extended arm. As we turn round the foot of +the lake into a raised causeway above fields of +ripening rice, the full moon comes up behind the +sombre hills, and transfigures the night with a +sparkling flood of silver glory. We reach the white +Dutch town of Tondano as the clock strikes ten, +but everyone is in bed at this dissipated hour, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>difficulty is experienced even in getting admission to +the little Hotel, though the delight of finding an +English-speaking landlord atones for a somewhat +ungracious reception after a long and painful +pilgrimage, which should serve as a solemn warning +against the rash attempt to penetrate the wilds of +the Minahasa under native guidance.</p> + +<p>Tondano, with houses and verandahs gleaming +in spotless whiteness among green spaces and +luxuriant trees, appears a typical Dutch town, +incongruous but picturesque. The absolute purity +and transparency of the atmosphere give value and +intensity to every shade of colour, and the scarlet +hybiscus flowers show the incandescent glow belonging +rather to lamps than to blossoms. The river +Tondano forms a series of lovely cascades below the +town, situated four miles from the lake at the present +time, for the marshy flats have been reclaimed as +rice-grounds, thus somewhat diminishing the stretch +of water. The steep drive down to Menado offers a +succession of lovely views. The little port, in a nest +of verdure, encircles the azure bay, where our +steamer, merely a white speck in the distance, lies +at anchor. A turn of the road discloses a glimpse +of the mountain lake, a sheet of sapphire sparkling +in the morning sun, but retrospective thoughts in +this instance convey pain as well as pleasure, for +"mounting ambition" has for once "o'erleapt +itself," and failure counterbalances success. Menado, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>divided by the river, is inhabited by two distinct +tribes of the mysterious colonists who came from +the farthest East to these unknown shores. The +ubiquitous Chinaman has found a firm footing in the +northerly port of Celebes, and the splendidly-carved +dragons of a stately temple, rich in ornaments of +green jade, blue porcelain, and elaborate brass-work, +denote the important status of the wealthy +community. A busy <i>passer</i> supplies the usual +pictures of native life, but the people of the Minahasa, +here as elsewhere, lack both the gay insouciance +of the South, and the strenuous energy of the +Northern mind, the residuum of apathetic dullness, +deprived of all the salient characteristics which +constitute charm and interest. European houses of +Dutch officials stand in ideal gardens of brilliant +flowers and richest foliage. The little Hotel +Wilhelmina is a paradise of exotic blossoms, but +Menado, apart from a lovely situation, and the usual +riot of glorious verdure which makes every tropical +weed a thing of beauty, offers little inducement for +a prolonged stay. The bay, exposed to contrary +winds and chafed by conflicting currents, tosses in +perpetual turmoil, though a long jetty diminishes the +former difficulties of the stormy passage between +ship and shore. In the amber light of sunset, the +dark mountain ranges stand out with unearthly +clearness. The jagged peaks of Klabat and Soedara +in the background, bringing into prominence the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>grey cliffs and purple ravines of the smoking Lokon. +The wonderful scenery of the Malay Archipelago +seldom lacks that element of terror which enhances +the radiant loveliness of Nature by painting it on a +tragic background of storm and cloud, the +vague suggestion of evanescence intensifying the +mysterious charm with poetic significance. The +receding coast discloses a striking panorama of the +mountain heights piled one upon another, the grey +towers and bastions guarding this narrowing Cape +of the Minahasa, a veritable outpost of Nature, +eternally washed by the restless seas. As the +steamer rounds the savage promontories, and threads +the blue straits formed by two rocky islets at +the northern extremity, the weird and desolate +landscape conveys a strange sense of separation +even from the alien humanity which peoples the far-reaching +peninsula of the Minahasa, and this +northern extremity appears a limitless waste. +Chaotic masses of imperishable granite, splintered +reefs thrusting black spikes through the creaming +surge, and wind-swept cliffs of fantastic form, +characterise the solemn headland, unpainted and +unsung, although the sea-girt sanctuary of Nature +demands interpretation through the terms of Art +and Poetry.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> +<h3>GORONTALO AND THE EASTERN COAST.</h3> + + +<p>The steamer's first halt on the wild eastern coast of +Celebes is the gold-mining settlement of Todok, +where the Company's rustic offices of palm-thatched +bamboo border an enchanting bay, with a string of +green islets studding the shoaling blue and purple of +the gleaming depths. Two passengers disembark +for the ebony plantations on the slopes of a volcanic +range, declaring itself by a slight earthquake rocking +the <i>atap</i> shanty, where the ship's officer who +tallies the cargo, offers hospitality until the fierce +heat modifies sufficiently for a stroll.</p> + +<p>A dusty and shadeless road leads up into the +wooded hills which bound the prospect, but the +<i>campong</i>, largely consisting of recently-constructed +dwellings, occupied by alien employés in the service +of the Gold Syndicate, offers no inducements for +exploration, and until the launch returns, a shadowy +palm-grove by the wayside makes a welcome retreat +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>from the dust and glare, the creaking of innumerable +bullock-waggons, and the shouts of crew and coolies, +disputing over the loading of a raft.</p> + +<p>The arrival at Gorontalo in the radiant dawn +provides a more interesting experience. The river +which forms the beautiful harbour, rushes through a +profound ravine of the forest-clad mountains, which +descend sharply to the water's edge. The scene +resembles a Norwegian fiord, translated into tropical +terms of climate and vegetation. A narrow track +climbs the ledges of a cliff behind the brown fishing +<i>campong</i> of Liato, but a rude wharf on the opposite +side affords a less picturesque though safer landing, +for the swirling currents of the swift stream require +more careful navigation than the amphibious boatman, +unembarrassed by clothing, is wont to bestow +on craft or passenger. The spirit of enterprise is +also in abeyance, scotched if not killed by the +struggles of the memorable pilgrimage through the +Minahasa. The quiet haven in the shadow of the +guardian hills looks an ideal haunt of peace. A +Dutch battleship lies at anchor, and the red sails of +a wide-winged <i>prau</i> make broken reflections in +the rippling clearness of the green water. A wooden +bridge crosses the river at the narrow end of the +funnel-shaped harbour, connecting it with the town +in the steaming valley, the usual medley of open +<i>tokos</i> and <i>atap</i> huts, supplemented by two +dubious hotels, a green <i>aloon-aloon</i>, and a few +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>stone houses denoting the presence of the European +element. The original inhabitants of Gorontalo are +of Alfoer race—dark, glum, and forbidding. How +this ancient stock, indigenous to some of the +southern islands in the Malay Archipelago, wandered +from thence to distant Celebes has not been satisfactorily +accounted for. The records of savage +tribes depend on oral tradition, but the outlines of +an oft-told tale become blurred and dim during the +lapse of ages, when the mental calibre of the racial +type lacks normal acumen. The graces of life are +ignored by the Alfoer woman, her mouth invariably +distorted by the red lump of betel-nut, accommodated +with difficulty, and rendering silence +imperative. Her bowed shoulders become deformed +with the heavy loads perpetually borne, for the rising +trade of Gorontalo supplies the men with more +congenial employment than the field work, which +frequently becomes the woman's province. A +straight road between crowding palms crosses a wide +rice-plain, opening out of the cleft carved by the +mountain river, and leads to the curious Lake of +Limbotto, a green mass of luxuriant water-weeds, +the dense vegetation solidifying into floating islands +of verdure, intersected by narrow channels, only +navigable to a native <i>bloto</i> skilfully handled, for +Nature alternately builds up and disperses these +flowery oases, blocking up old water-ways and +opening new ones with bewildering confusion. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>Buffaloes wallow between the tangled clumps of pink +lotus and purple iris, and wild ducks nest in the +waving sedges, or darken the air in a sudden flight +down the long lake. A noisy market flanks the +water, and bronze figures, in red turbans row gaily-clad +women, laden with purchases, to some distant +<i>campong</i>, reached through the mazes of verdure. +The country <i>passer</i>, a shifting scene of gaudy +colouring, contains greater elements of interest +than commercial Gorontalo, where the native +<i>campong</i> loses individuality in gaining the prosaic +adjuncts of a trading centre. The lovely harbour +dreams in the moonlight as we steam slowly out of +the widening estuary to pick up cargo in the great +bay of Tomini, which sweeps in a mighty curve +round half the Eastern coast of Celebes. The +conical island of Oena-Oena rises sheer from the +waves, the red peak of a lofty volcano composing +the apex of a green pyramid, formed by a forest of +palms. Until six years ago no anchorage for ships +was possible at this forest-clad isle, but a volcanic +eruption deepened the bay, and a thriving trade in +<i>copra</i> was initiated, for the whole surface of +Oena-Oena is clothed with a dense mass of drooping +cocoanut trees. Scattered dwellings nestle in the +thick woods, but no regular <i>campong</i> exists in this +thinly-peopled spot, a vernal Eden set in the +purple sea. The heat of the day, though intense, is +everywhere tempered by the interlacing canopies of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>the feathery fronds, until sunset fuses them into the +vivid transparency of green fire, and a fluttering +zephyr stirs the whispering foliage. The shy brown +people, who at first hide in their <i>atap</i> huts at the +approach of strangers, venture out to see the last of +the departing steamer, which forms the sole link +between barbarism and civilisation, and a month +must elapse before any contact with the outside +world can vary the seclusion of this lonely spot, a +dreamland vision of repose. At Posso, the next port +on Celebes, we land a Dutch officer, bound for the +important barracks on a hill above the straggling +<i>campong</i>, after a successful expedition against the +tree-dwellers, cannibals, and slave-traders of the +interior, still sunk in barbarism. An olive-green +river, infested with crocodiles, flows sluggishly +through rank vegetation into the sea below the +dilapidated huts of the depressing native town. This +forlorn outpost of military duty involves exile from +civilisation, and the risk of occasional raids from the +wild tribes of the surrounding hills.</p> + +<p>At Parigi, canopied by spreading palms, the +<i>atap</i> houses, with bamboo rafters strengthening the +fragile walls, stand in neglected gardens, overgrown +with a tangle of flower and foliage. The low tide +makes the dangerous <i>bloto</i> a necessity, though +the hollowed tree, top heavy and water-logged, is in +imminent peril of capsizing every minute of the long +course between ship and shore. Objections to a boat +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>upsetting in shallow water being beyond Malay +comprehension, the only way of accomplishing the +transit in safety is by a summary command that two +brown boys should immediately jump overboard to +lighten the rocking craft. Nothing loth, they swim +to shore in our wake, rolling over in the sand to +dry themselves like Newfoundland dogs, and with +less embarrassment on the score of clothing. A +native Queen or Maharanee rules Parigi from her +bamboo palace in the deepest recesses of the adjacent +palm-forest, but she is invisible to her subjects, and +dwells in the seclusion of <i>purdah</i>, possibly a relic +of Indian origin. Her nominal authority proves +insufficient to keep the peace between the native +population and the Dutch, for Parigi has been for +months in a state of insurrection and unrest. Only +a year ago a raid was made on the Eurasian +merchant's office wherein I take shelter from the +noonday sun, and two white men were attacked by +a band who rushed down from the mountains and +cut off their heads. The ringleader of the assassins +is now imprisoned for life in the gaol of Batavia, no +capital punishment being permitted in the Netherlands +India. An immense cargo of <i>copra</i> and +rattan fills a fleet of boats and rafts. The great +stacks of cane cause no annoyance, but the sickening +smell of <i>copra</i> (the dried and shredded cocoanut +used for oil) pervades the ship, and an occasional +cockroach of crab-like dimensions clatters across the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>deck in his coat of mail from a hiding place in the +unsavoury cargo. The philosophic Hollander accepts +these horrors of the tropics with undisturbed composure, +but happily for the peace of the English +passenger, the Malay "room-boy" welcomes a new +idea, and becomes gradually inspired with the +ardour of the chase. Ominous clouds darken over +the Bay of Tomini as we embark once more on the +rolling waters, having completed the circuit of the +vast island, possessing a coast-line of 2,500 miles. +Blue peaks and waving palms recede into the mists +of falling night. We are once more afloat on a +sleeping sea, the restful monotony of wind and +wave enabling indelible impressions of each varying +scene to sink deeply into mind and memory, and +preventing the too rapid succession of travelling +experiences.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> +<h3>A GLIMPSE OF BORNEO.</h3> + + +<p>An element of uncertainty attends the cruise among +the Malayan islands, through sudden orders to +include strange ports of call in the programme of +the route. During the stay at Makassar, a cable +from Batavia necessitates a flying visit to Borneo, +and though the détour was made from the western +coast of Celebes, the great sister island demands a +special notice. In steaming thither through the +radiant glory of an Equatorial sunset, strange +atmospheric effects denote fresh variations of climate +and temperature. The rounded horizon, which +suggests the rim of the terrestrial globe, seems +within a stone's throw of the ship, and as the +crimson sun sinks below the sharply-defined curve +outlined by the sea, a glowing hearth of smouldering +embers appears burning on the edge of the water. +The eastern sky blooms into vivid pink from the +reflection of this fiery incandescence, which fades +only to give place to the leaping brightness of +phosphorescent waves, and the nightly pageant of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>tropical skies ablaze with lambent flames of summer +lightning. Morning reveals the dark forests of +mysterious Borneo, rolling back to the misty blue of +a mountain background. The pathless jungles of +teak and iron wood, inextricably tangled by ropes of +liana or ladders of rattan, latticed with creepers +and wreathed with clambering fern, make an +impenetrable barrier between the settlements of the +coast and the unknown interior, where barbarism +still reigns triumphant, and "head-hunting" +remains the traditional sport. Insurmountable +difficulties of transit and progress are reported, even +by the few enthusiastic botanists, who merely +penetrate the outworks of Nature's stronghold in +search of rare orchids, worth more than a king's +ransom if we take into account the sacrifice of life, +and the hardships suffered in wresting these floral +gems from their forest casket. Any complete +exploration of these tropical wilds seems at present +beyond human means and capacities, but even a few +months of the soil and climate of Borneo can transform +a forest clearing into a wilderness of riotous +vegetation, more impassable than that woodland +maze of a century's growth encircling the palace of +the Sleeping Beauty in the loveliest of old-world +fairy tales. Our present quest has no connection +with the mysteries of the interior, and only concerns +itself with the prosaic task of taking in a cargo of +oil, used as the ship's fuel. We steam into a wooded +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>bay, beneath a hill covered with the brown <i>atap</i> +bungalows of European colonists. Colossal oil-tanks, +painted red, disfigure the shore. Each tank +holds 4,000 tons of oil, 30,000 tons per month being +the usual export. Kerosene taints the air, but is +considered to be innocuous, and to drive away the +curse of mosquitos. The unimaginable and +ferocious heat makes every step a terror, during a +snail's progress up a wooded road. Sun-hat and +white umbrella scarcely mitigate the scorching rays +on this perilous promenade, but there is only a day +at disposal, and it cannot be wasted. Towards +noon a breeze springs up, and exploration +of the long line of <i>tokos</i> beyond the wharves is +simplified by the spreading eaves of palm-leaf +thatch. A row of workmen's dwellings forms a +prosaic continuation of the <i>campong</i>, inhabited by +a mixed population, chiefly imported to Balik-Papan +in the interests of the oil trade. A chance rencontre +with the Scotch doctor of the European settlement +affords an opportunity of visiting the Oil Refinery, +with the varied distillations, culminating in the great +tank of benzine, a concentration of natural forces +like a liquid dynamite, capable of wrecking the whole +settlement in a moment. Endless precautions and +vigilant care alone secure the safety of Balik-Papan +from the perils incidental to the vast stores of +explosive material. The raw petroleum brought +from the mines of Samarinda, farther down the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>coast, by a fleet of <i>hoppers</i> (the local steamers +which ply round the indented shore), is extracted +by boring a stratum of coal known as "antichine," +and always containing indications of mineral oil. +Dutch and English Companies work this valuable +product; fortunes are quickly made, and the +industrious inhabitants, absorbed in dreams of a +golden future, appear untroubled by any consciousness +of metaphorically sleeping on the brink of a +volcano. Iced soda-water, and a brief siesta, revive +drooping spirits after the broiling exertions of the +morning, and as the shadows of the palm-trees +lengthen on the edge of the jungle, it becomes +possible to mount the hill behind the wharf to the +picturesque bungalow of another kindly Scot, who +invites me to tea. The pretty tropical dwelling of +plaited <i>atap</i>, through which every precious breath +of air can penetrate, stands in the midst of a +gorgeous thicket, composed of scarlet hybiscus and +yellow Allemanda, the splendid blossoms growing in +wild luxuriance on this sandy soil. The glare of the +sun still requires the <i>atap</i> screens to be closed on +the broad-eaved verandah, but the freshness of the +evening breeze steals into the twilight of the pretty +drawing-room, the simple but refined appointments +of a restful home intensely refreshing after weeks of +ship and hotel existence. The fragrant tea, with +dainty cups and saucers, and the home-made cakes, +seem almost forgotten luxuries, for the amenities of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>British civilisation stop short at Singapore. A cheery +party assembles round the table, and these exiles on +a foreign shore extend the warmest of welcomes to +the stray bird of passage, who will soon leave behind +only the shadowy "remembrance of a guest who +tarrieth but a day." The idea so familiar to the +self-seeking spirit, that "it is not worth while" to +trouble about a passing acquaintance, finds no echo +in this hospitable coterie. To the visitor, the bright +hours of that afternoon, ten thousand miles away +from England, remain as an evergreen memory of +genuine human sympathy, the true "touch of +Nature" linking hearts and lives. A long walk +through the encroaching jungle fills up the day. The +narrow track skirts dark depths of matted foliage, +with strange bird-calls echoing through the gloom. +The phenomenal growth of vegetation in Borneo is +so rapid that a month's neglect in cutting back +branches, and rooting up masses of strangling +creeper, would entirely obliterate the path. In six +months a tree, supposed to be cut down beyond +possibility of resurrection, lately shot up to the +height of seventeen feet, with a girth of several +inches in diameter, so tenacious is the exuberant life +of this irrepressible vegetation, eternally renewing +itself in immortal strength and primeval freshness. +From the edge of the sombre jungle the azure bay, +set in the dark frame of forest and gilded with sunset +light, resembles a Scotch loch at midsummer, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>the poignant counterpart brings a sigh to the lips of +my companion, exiled for years from his Highland +home. A long slow river, navigable for native +craft, widens into an estuary as it approaches the sea, +through the shadowy and impenetrable mazes of +the virgin woods traversed by the winding waterway. +The Dyaks and other wild aborigines of +Borneo still haunt the forest depths, though the +fringe of civilisation drives them further inland, and +some of the local Sultans begin to fraternise with +the settlers, who alone can develope the riches of +the extensive island. At present the northern +territory of Sarawak, successfully governed by an +alien race, finds no adequate counterpart on the +island, though coast towns, springing up at wide +intervals, open small districts to the enterprise of +the European world. Balik-Papan, rising tier above +tier on the dark hillside, and brilliant with a +multitude of flashing lights, looks picturesque as +Naples itself, when we steam away in the gathering +gloom, and the dazzling illumination, reflected in the +tranquil sea, appears a miraculous transfiguration. +Oil tanks and warehouses, refineries and factories, +vanish under the veil of night, and only a fairy +vision of unearthly brightness remains as a final +recollection of our brief visit to Borneo.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE MOLUCCAS.</h2> +<hr class="hr4" /> + +<h3>TERNATE, BATJAN, AND BOEROE.</h3> + + +<p>The Birds of Paradise (known by the Malay as +<i>Manuk Devata</i>, "birds of God") were traditionally +represented as lured from their celestial home by the +spicy perfume of these enchanted isles, from whence +perpetual incense steals across the sea, and rises +heavenward with intoxicating fragrance. A Dutch +naturalist in 1598 says, "These birds of the sun live +in air, and never alight until they die, having neither +feet nor wings, but fall senseless with the fragrance +of the nutmeg." Linnaeus asserts that "they feed +on the nectar of flowers, and show an equal variety of +colour, blue and yellow, orange and green, red and +violet." Portuguese naturalists also represent the +<i>passaros de sol</i> as footless, their mode of flight +concealing the extremities. Birds of Paradise were +articles of tribute from native chiefs, and a sacred +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>character belonged to the feathered tribe, wheeling +between earth and sky above the spicy groves of the +alluring Moluccas. This island group, for ages the +coveted prize of European nations, exercised an +irresistible attraction on Arabia and Persia. Various +expeditions were organised, and in the ninth century +Arab sages discovered the healing virtues of nutmeg +and mace, as anodynes, embrocations, and condiments. +A record remains of a certain Ibn Amram, +an Arabian physician, whose uncontrolled passion for +the <i>nux moschata</i> overthrew his reason. The +story, continually quoted as a warning to subsequent +explorers of the Spice Islands, has apparently kept +his memory green, for no previous details of his +career have come down to us. Eastern spices were +favourite medicines in Persia during the tenth +century, and fifty years later the <i>karoun aromatikon</i> +was added to the Pharmacopeia of Europe. +In <small>A.D.</small> 1400, Genoa and Barcelona became the +principal spice markets, though the attention of +Northern Europe had been directed to the Moluccas +by those voyages of Marco Polo which, especially in +lands of fog and snow, fired popular imagination with +myriad visions of realised romance. Camöens, in +the Lusiad, chanted the praises of the <i>verde noz</i> +in those poetic groves, which he regarded as a new +garden of Hesperides, when the magic lure of an +untravelled distance, and the dreamful wonder of an +untracked horizon, wove their spells over the mind +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>of an awakening world. Powers of observation and +comparison were still untrained and untried; superstition +was rife, and a necromantic origin was +frequently ascribed to the unfamiliar products of the +mystic East. Portugal, in the zenith of her +maritime power, became the first European trader +in the Southern Seas, and in <small>A.D.</small> 1511 Albuquerque +reached the Moluccas, but was quickly followed by +the Spaniards under their great Emperor Charles V. +Incessant war continued for the possession of "the +gold-bearing trees," until Spain and Portugal, united +by a common danger, combined their forces to +exclude the northern nations from any share in the +coveted spoil. The rage for spices spread throughout +Europe, and kindled a fire of international +animosity which lasted for centuries. In <small>A.D.</small> 1595 +the unwieldy Dutch ships started on a perilous +voyage round the Cape, to trace the unknown path +to the mysterious Moluccas, described as "odorous +with trees of notemuge, sending of their fragrance +across the sea on the softe breath of the south +winde," and Holland, at the climax of her power, +eventually secured the monopoly of spices. The +islands so fiercely contested were twice owned by +England, but finally relinquished in that readjustment +of power necessitated by the fall of Napoleon. +Although the Moluccas were declared open to the flag +of every friendly nation in 1853, it was not until +twenty years later that every vestige of monopoly +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>disappeared, and the Spice Islands were liberated +from the political chicanery of rival Powers. Peace +brooded at last over the sea-girt Elysium, where +"Nature tries her finest touch," and in the green +shades of these "ultimate islands," the tumult of +the world died away into silence. Old German and +Flemish ballads borrow quaint anachronisms from +that sylvan sanctuary of incense-laden sweetness, +which coloured the thoughts and dreams of contemporary +poets, and added exotic traits to their +descriptions of northern scenery. "The nutmeg +boughs in the Garden of Love," droop over the fair-haired +Teutonic maiden in her home amid German +pine-forests, and she gathers "the scented fruit of +gold," as a worthy <i>gage d'amour</i> for her stalwart +Saxon lover, with that picturesque incongruity of +poetical license permitted to mediæval versifiers. +The canvas of many an early painter depicts the +sacred figures of Madonna and Child on an incongruous +background of German or Italian landscape, +and the mediæval poet seldom hesitates to enrich his +verse with whimsical allusions, full of fantastical +inaccuracy, but valuable as revelations of current +thoughts and ideas. Only a slight sketch of the +prolonged conflict waged for centuries round the +nutmeg groves of the remote Moluccas is possible in +this little record, but even the briefest account of the +Spice Islands demands mention of evidence proving +the value attached to the precious "fruit of gold," +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>then outweighing every other product of tropical +climes in popular estimation.</p> + +<p>Three volcanic peaks tower up before us on +reaching Ternate, the first of the Molucca group. +This mountain chain includes types representing +every period of volcanic agency. The smoking cone +of Ternate slopes in sweeping contours to the blue +strait unbroken by bay or creek, and smaller +satellites flank the central height, grooved by wooded +gorges. The serrated ridge of Tidore, the opposite +island, culminates in the red pinnacle formed by a +fresh pyramid of lava above the ruined wall of a +broken crater, the gap creating a sheltered inlet, +where a fishing boat with yellow sails skims like a +huge butterfly across the shimmering purple of the +flowing tide. The fretted turquoise of the further +range rises on the great island of Halmaheira, +inhabited by an Alfoer population of Papuan origin, +but beyond the scope of the present cruise. The +port of Ternate, on the southern slope of the volcano, +shows the pointed gables of palm-thatched dwellings +rising from masses of glorious greenery, brightened +by purple torrents of bougainvillea, or golden-flowered +ansena trees, wreathed and roped with a +gorgeous tangle of many-coloured creepers. The +breath of heavily-scented flowers mingles with the +pungent sweetness of clove and nutmeg. An +avenue of dadap trees skirts the shore, with varied +foliage of amber and carmine. The dark figures +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>sauntering in the shade, and clad in rose-colour, +azure, or orange, add deeper notes to the symphony +of colour, only marred by the white-washed Dutch +conventicle, like an emphatic protest against Nature's +response to her Creator. Ruined arches and pillars +of white Portuguese houses, standing in a wilderness +of verdure amid tumbled heaps of stone and concrete, +testify to the earthquakes which have continually +wrecked the little port. The mixed population +includes Chinese, Arabs, and Malays. The original +native race also contains Malay, Dutch, and +Portuguese elements, European descent resulting +here as elsewhere in darkening the native brown of +the pure-blooded Ternatian to ebony blackness in the +second and succeeding generations.</p> + +<p>The discovery of an English-speaking schoolmistress +simplifies the day's itinerary, which +begins with the thatched palace or <i>kedaton</i> +of the Sultan. The tiered roofs of the royal +<i>Messighit</i> rise above the <i>atap</i> dwellings of the +rustic Court, still professing a slack Mohammedanism. +The Dutch territory includes the +Chinese and Oriental <i>campongs</i> divided by Fort +Orange, but though the palmy days of Ternate's +hereditary Ruler have long since passed away, he +retains a shadowy authority over a limited area. Sir +Francis Drake, on one of his romantic voyages, +touched at Ternate in the early days of the 16th +century, and in graphic words records his amazement +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>at "the fair and princely show" of this barbaric +potentate, who sat robed in cloth of gold, beneath a +gold-embroidered canopy, and wore "a crown of +plaited golden links." Chains of diamonds and +emeralds clasped his swarthy neck, and on the royal +right hand "there shone a big and perfect blue +turky." This regal splendour was attained by +monopoly of the Spice Trade, the incalculable profits +inducing Europeans to exchange fortunes of gold and +jewels with native magnates. The Dutch, when +seizing the islands, often compelled the local Sultans +to destroy acres of spice-bearing trees, in order to +concentrate the focus of commerce. The thriving +industries of <i>copra</i>, rattan, and <i>damar</i> (the gum used +in making varnish) were increased tenfold by the +abolition of private spice-trading, and by emancipation +of the slaves in 1861, when the Dutch +Government placed the liberated population under +police surveillance, compelling each individual to +prove honest acquirement of the slender means +necessary for subsistence. Contact with the world +begins to sharpen native intelligence, already +heightened by the fusion of European blood with the +island race, and external cleanliness being enforced +systematically in Dutch territory, the concrete cottages +which alternate with the thatched dwellings are +dazzlingly white, the diligent sweeping and watering +at fixed hours helping to energise the indolent +people of the Moluccas. The warm air, redolent of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>spices and flowers, the riotous profusion of richest +foliage, and the depth of colour in sea and sky, imbue +Ternate with the glow and glamour of fairyland. +Bright faces and gay songs manifest that physical +<i>joie de vivre</i> of which Northern nations know so +little. The grass screens hanging before the open +houses are drawn to keep off the burning sun, but +the twang of lutes (a relic of the Portuguese +occupation), and the sound of laughter echo +from the dusky interiors. A forest of mangos, +mangosteens, bread-fruit, and cocoa-palms, extends +between the town and Fort Teloko, the first +Portuguese stronghold, and now a rocky outpost of +Fort Orange, the headquarters of the Dutch troops. +Beyond shadowy nutmeg groves lies the Laguna, a +volcanic lake between mountain and sea. In the +poetic Moluccas one draws closer to the warm heart +of Nature than in any other part of the vast Archipelago, +for the great Mother seems calling her +children to rest, as she raises the veil from her +inmost shrine and discloses her altar of peace. The +presence of the smoking volcano which dominates the +landscape, supplies that poignant note which, like a +minor chord, accentuates the sweetness of the +melody. "Gather ye roses while ye may," sounds +Nature's admonition to humanity amid the lavish +loveliness of blossom and foliage, clothing the +mysterious height which hides the smouldering +fountains of eternal fire beneath the vivid splendours +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>of tropical vegetation. The population of Ternate—native, +Malay, Dutch, and half-caste—throngs the +wharf; the pretty schoolmistress, in spotless muslin, +waves a smiling farewell. Though we are to each +other but as "ships that pass in the night," the +memory of cheery words and gracious deeds throws +rays of light across the surging seas, and the +golden cord of kindness anchors heart to heart. +Passengers are few from these remote parts. A +Dutch officer, with a half-caste wife and two unruly +children, whose violent outbreaks would even give +points to the juvenile English of British India, are +returning from a three years' exile at Ternate. The +incompetence of Malay nurses is equalled by the +maternal indifference to kicking and squealing, +which threatens pandemonium for the remainder of +the voyage. At the last moment the native Sultan +of Batjan embarks for his island home, after commercial +negotiations in Ternate, for this native +prince, a keen-faced man in European dress and +scarlet turban, trades largely in <i>damar</i>, the basis of +his wealth. When at anchor next morning in the +wooded bay of Batjan, the green State Barge of his +Highness, with drums beating and banners flying, +flashes through the water, the blades of the large +green oars shaped like lotus-leaves. A horse's head +carved at the prow, and a line of floating pennants—red, +black, and white—above the gilded roof of the +deck-house, enhance the barbaric effect of the gaudy +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>boat, the brown rowers clad in white, with gay +scarves and turbans.</p> + +<p>Although our ship possesses a launch, various +modes of landing are required by the vagaries +of the tide, the outlying reefs, and the position +of the ports. A wobbling erection of crossed +oars, a plank insecurely poised on the shoulders of +two men, a rocking <i>bloto</i>, and an occasional wade to +shore, with shoes and stockings in hand, vary the +monotony of the proceedings. Landing at Batjan is +accomplished in a chair, borne aloft on two woolly +black heads, but the shore, being cut off by a crowd +of fishing craft, can only be reached by sundry +scrambles over intermediate boats. The Sultan's +modest mansion stands in the midst of the palm-thatched +<i>campong</i>, ostensibly guarded by a grey fort, +among rustling bamboos and tall sugar-canes. A +friendly native offers me a palm-leaf basket, filled +with nutmeg sprays of glossy leaves and yellow fruit +from a roadside plantation, and a tribe of children, +dancing along through the delicious shade of a palm-grove, +leads the way to a point of view on a green +knoll, with merry laughter and eager gesticulation. +Blue mountain crests soar above dark realms of +virgin forest, where the sombre conifers exude the +precious <i>damar</i>, which glues itself to the red trunks +in shining lumps often of twenty pounds' weight, +or sinks deeply into the soft soil, from whence the +solidified gum needs excavation. The <i>damar</i>, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>pounded and poured into palm-leaf tubes, serves for +the torches of the fishermen, and for the lighting of +the dusky native houses. Batjan—rich in gold, +copper, and coal—awaits full development of the +mineral treasures hidden in the mountains of the +interior. The island was colonised in early days by +a band of wandering Malays, who exchanged the +perils of the sea for the tropical abundance of this +unknown anchorage, sheltered within the reefs of +the lagoon-like bay. If an aboriginal element +existed in Batjan, it probably died out or mingled +with the immigrant race, which broke off from the +main body of the nomadic Malays, and formed one +of the numerous sub-divisions of the stock eventually +planted on almost every island and continent of the +vast Pacific. The weaving of a bark cloth, stained +with the red juice of water-plants, suggests an +industry of these early days. The native cuisine +still includes the unfamiliar Malay delicacy of +flying fox cooked in spice, and the hereditary skill +in hunting finds endless satisfaction in forests +abounding with deer, wild pig, and edible birds. A +touch of barbarism lends a charm to mysterious +Batjan, and the marked individuality which belongs +to every portion of the Molucca group is nowhere +more apparent than in this island, which lies on the +borderland of civilisation without losing the distinctive +character stamped upon it by the influences of +an immemorial past.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> +<p>Crescent-shaped Boeroe, where difficulties in +landing involve launch, <i>bloto</i>, and paddling through +a long reach of shallow water to a black swamp, +possesses a commercial rather than an artistic value, +being the only place in the Archipelago which +exports eucalyptus oil, locally known as <i>kajopoetah</i>. +A fleet of <i>praus</i>, with graceful masts +of bending bamboo, surrounds the steamer, the +aromatic cargo packed in long bamboo cases. The +head-man of the <i>campong</i>, lightly attired in his +native brown, with a few touches of contrasting +colour in scarf and turban, acts as escort through a +maze of weedy paths, and across bamboo bridges in +various stages of dilapidation to a couple of dreary +villages. The religious interests of Boeroe are +represented by two ruinous <i>Messighits</i>, and a deplorable +Dutch conventicle. Some Hindu element +underlies native idiosyncracy, for nearly every +forehead bears a white prayer-mark, but the +unchanging conservatism of localities almost untouched +by the lapse of Time, often retains symbolic +forms when their original meaning is entirely +forgotten, and the lack of missionary or educational +enterprise among the Dutch exercises a paralysing +effect on the small communities of distant islands. +Only a relative poverty belongs to a clime where the +shaking of a sago-palm provides a large family with +rations for three months, but the physical energies +of Boeroe have ebbed to a point where "desire +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>fails," and the unsatisfactory conditions of life meet +for the most part with apathetic acceptance. The +marshy coast abounds with harmless snakes, but +these gruesome inmates of the tropical morass +seldom leave their hiding-places before sunset. The +presence of the steamer awakens a faint simulacrum +of life and interest in sleepy Boeroe, and a native +woman, in the rusty black calico wherewith Dutch +Calvinism counteracts the Eastern love of glowing +colours, brings a rickety chair from her dingy hut, +and sets the precious possession under a shadowy +nutmeg-tree in the village street. A little crowd +assembles, for local excitements are few, and the +Malay phrase-book, an inseparable companion, aids +in carrying on a halting conversation, eked out with +signs and facial contortions. No school is found on +Boeroe, and the simple people assert with submissive +sadness that nothing is done for them. The +tone of regret suggests an underlying consciousness +of the hopeless ignorance inevitable under the conditions +of their narrow lot. The watery plain, +covered with tangled verdure, extends to the foot of +the twin peaks which merge into a low range of +wooded hills, their lower slopes glistening with the +grey-green foliage of the great <i>kajopoetah</i> trees. +The writhing roots of screw-palms rise above the +green marshes, and patches of tobacco alternate +with ripening millet, but every crop seems allowed +to degenerate into unpruned disorder, and the feeble +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>attempts at cultivation soon lapse into the surrounding +wilderness. The ruddy trunk of the candelabra-tree +towers above the ferns and oil-palms of the tall +undergrowth, the glossy sword-like leaves, often ten +feet long, being woven into the <i>cocoyas</i>, or +sleeping mats, peculiar to Boeroe. The whistle of +the steamer proves a welcome summons from this +melancholy island, a solitary exception to the divine +beauty and irresistible witchery of the Molucca +group.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> +<h3>AMBON.</h3> + + +<p>The fiord-like Bay of Ambon flows into the heart of +the fragrant Clove Island, between the peninsulas of +Heitor and Léitemor, which gradually ascend from +the harbour's mouth until their heights of glowing +green merge into wooded mountains, behind the +white town of Amboyna. This old European +settlement ranks as the tiny capital of the Molucca +group. <i>Praus</i> and fishing smacks dot the blue +inlet with tawny sails and curving masts, the local +craft varied by a fantastic barque from the barbarous +Ké isles, with pointed yellow beak and plume of +crimson feathers at the prow, suggesting some +tropical bird afloat upon the tide. The glossy +darkness of the clove plantations enhances the paler +tints of the prevailing foliage, and the virginal tints +of the sylvan scenery indicate a climate of perpetual +spring. Thatched roofs, and walls of plaited palm-leaf, +stand among white-washed cottages of coral +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>concrete, for low houses, or slight material, afford +comparative security against collapse by earthquake. +The brown population throngs the pier, and a little +fleet of <i>dug-outs</i> escorts the steamer through the +bay with gay songs and merry laughter, for the +lively Ambonese value every link that binds them +to the outside world, and this is their gala day. +Bold, eager, craving for foreign intercourse, and +possessing the quickened intelligence due to the +mixture of Dutch and Portuguese blood with the +native strain, a roving spirit of adventure counteracts +the lazy independence of a life where daily +needs are supplied without exertion. The sea +swarms with fish, the woods teem with sago, and +cultivation of the clove procures extra wages when +any special purpose requires them. The Portuguese +who colonised Ambon, in the zenith of their +maritime power, were of vigorous stock, and the +mental heritage of the island was permanently +enriched by elements derived from a foreign source.</p> + +<p>The Ambonese soldiers of the Netherlands India +manifest a courageous and warlike character; their +rate of payment equals that of their European +brothers-in-arms, and in the raids or skirmishes +frequent throughout the wild districts of Celebes and +Sumatra they play a spirited part. The burghers of +Ambon show more of the Dutch element in their +composition. The island, Christianised in the dreary +mode of Calvinistic Holland, accepts in half-hearted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>fashion the creed so incongruous with tropical +Nature. Dutch missionaries, waging aimless war +against brightness and colour, arrayed their brown +converts in funereal gloom. The Sunday attire of +the men consists of black calico coats down to the +heels, and flopping black trousers. The women +wear a shapeless gown of the same shabby and shiny +material, with a white scarf dangling from the left +arm. These blots on the brilliancy of the scene +produce a curious impression when approaching the +wharf, where the native bronze of children and +coolies, the blue robes of Chinamen, and the gay +turbans of Mohammedans, blend harmoniously with +the scheme of colour in flower and foliage. The +<i>praus</i> which follow in our wake make ready the +rustic Malay anchor, a forked branch of stout +timber, strengthened by twisted rattan, which also +secures the stone cross-piece. This relic of a +distant past can scarcely have changed since the +days when the wandering tribe first launched upon +the blue waters of the Pacific, in that mysterious +voyage which moulded the destinies of the Malay +race. A rudimental feeling for art co-exists with +imperfect civilisation, and elaborate carving adorns +rude skiffs, floats of fishing lines, and even wooden +beaters of the clay used in native pottery. A +dervish, in turban of flaming orange and garb +of green and white, beats a huge drum in +the pillared court of a large mosque, for the followers +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>of the Prophet are numerous, and though the usual +deadly conventicle occupies a conspicuous place, it +produces no effect on the Arab element. The son of +the Dutch pastor who, after his grim fashion, +Christianised the former generation, proves better +than his condemnatory creed, and acts as personal +conductor to the sights of Amboyna. After a rest in +the flower-wreathed verandah of his home, and a +chat with his kindly half-caste wife, we visit +the gilded and dragon-carved mansion of a +leading Chinese merchant, friendly, hospitable, and +delighted to exhibit his household gods, both in +literal and figurative form. A visit to the Joss +Temple follows, liberally supported by this smiling +Celestial, whose zeal and charity may perchance +plead for him in that purer sanctuary not made with +hands, and as yet unrevealed to his spiritual sight. +The appalling green and vermilion deities who +guard the temple courts, indicate fear as the chosen +handmaid of faith in this grotesque travesty of +religion, but the costly tiling of violet and azure, +the rich gilding of the curling eaves terminating +in scarlet dragons, and the deeply-chiselled ebony, +falling like a veil of thick black lace before the jade +and porphyry shrines, prove that even the despised +Chinaman offers of his best to the Divinity dimly +apprehended by his darkened soul.</p> + +<p>The large Malay School of Amboyna manifests +an educational position in advance of the smaller +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>islands, and knowledge of the wider world beyond +the Archipelago stimulates the spirit of enterprise +inherited in different degrees and varying conditions, +both from Malay and Portuguese ancestry.</p> + +<p>A dilapidated carriage is chartered with difficulty, +as only three vehicles belong to the island, and the +driver evidently expects his skeleton steed to collapse +at any pace quicker than a walk. The green lanes, +with their hedges of scarlet hybiscus overhung by +the feathery foliage of tamarind and bamboo, wind +along the shore, and penetrate into the depths of +the hills. Rustling sago-palms sway their tall +plumes on the mountain side, and shadow luxuriant +clove gardens, their pungent aroma mingling with +nutmeg and cinnamon to steep the soft sea-wind +in a wealth of perfume. European houses of white +stone nestle among palm and tamarind, the broad +seats flanking the central door, and the bulging balconies +of old Dutch style recalling the 16th century +dwellings on the canal banks of distant Holland, +but the crow-stepped gable here gives place to the +flat roof. Every green garden contains a refuge of +interwoven <i>gaba-gaba</i> stalks, as a retreat during +earthquakes, when the overthrow of the flimsy +arbour would entail no injury, though it serves as a +shelter from the torrential rains which often accompany +volcanic disturbances. A wayside stall of +palm-thatched bamboo provides <i>sageroe</i> for thirsty +pilgrims. This fermented beverage often excites +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>the Ambonese nature to frenzy, though only made +from the juice of the <i>arên</i> or sugar palm. The +brown dame who presides over the bamboo buckets, +in her eagerness to honour a white customer, wipes +an incredibly dirty tumbler on her gruesome calico +skirt before dipping the precious glass into the +foaming pail, and tastes the draught by way of +encouragement. With some difficulty she is induced +to wash the tumbler, and to omit the last reassuring +ceremony. The <i>sageroe</i>, sweet and refreshing, +gains tonic properties from an infusion of quassia, +which sharpens the flavour and strengthens the +compound, packed in bamboo cases or plaited palm-leaf +bags for transport to the neighbouring islands. +A grey fort, and weather-worn Government +offices, flank the green <i>aloon-aloon</i> of Amboyna, +surrounded by tamarind avenues. The Dutch +Resident finds ample employment, owing to the +mania for litigation among the Ambonese. The +honour of appearing before a Court of Justice is +eagerly sought, and imaginary claims or grievances +are constantly invented in order to satisfy the +ambition for publicity. A modest and retiring +temperament forms no part of native equipment, +and the slight veneer of Christianity, in the crudest +phase of Dutch Protestantism, increases the +aggressive tendency. The missionary agencies of +Calvinistic Holland seem incapable of practical +sympathy with the island people; but half a loaf is +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>better than no bread, and in any form of Christian +faith the Heavenly Husbandman scatters grains of +wheat among the tares, that all His wandering +children may reap a share of harvest gold even from +a stubborn and sterile soil.</p> + +<p>Amboyna shows signs of commercial prosperity +in the crowded <i>passer</i> and the busy Chinese +<i>campong</i>, for the enterprising Celestial forms an +important element of the mercantile community in +the Clove Island. Three memorial tablets erected +in front of the hoary fort, the bare Dutch church, +and the crumbling guard-house, record the worthy +name of Padrugge, a Dutch Governor who restored +Amboyna after complete destruction by a violent +earthquake, that ever-haunting terror within the +great volcanic chain of the Malay Archipelago. +The steep acclivity behind the palm-shaded park of +the Residency contains a stalactite grotto, infested +by a multitude of bats, which cling to the sparkling +pendants of the fretted roof, unless disturbed by the +Ambonese coolies, who regard them as culinary +delicacies, and catch them in this ancient breeding-place, +with a noise which brings down the terrified +creatures into unwelcome proximity, cutting short +any attempts at exploration, and causing rash +intruders to beat a hasty retreat.</p> + +<p>In the hush of dawn, when the intensity +of calm steals colour as well as sound from +the motionless waters, we embark on an expedition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +to the <i>Zeetuinen</i>, or Sea Gardens, the fairy +world of the coral reefs, revealed through the +magic mirror of the watery depths. As we +gaze steadily through the silvery blue of the +glassy sea, a misty vision of vague outline and +shifting colour materialises into an enchanted +forest, and appears rising towards the surface. +Coral trees, pink and white, gold and green, orange +and red, wave interlacing branches of lace-like +texture and varying form, above the blue water-ways +which divide the tremulous masses of rainbow-tinted +foliage. The sinuous channels expand at +intervals into quiet pools, bordered with azure and +purple sea-stars, or studded with clumps of yellow +lilies, spotted and striped with carmine. A circle +of rock, enclosing a miniature lake, blazes with rose +and scarlet anemones, and the boat, floating over the +wilderness of marine vegetation, pauses above a coral +growth, varied in form as any tropical woodland. +Majestic trees, of amber and emerald hue, stand +with roots muffled in fading fern, or sunk in +perforated carpets of white sponge, and huge +vegetable growths or giant weeds, lustrous with +metallic tints of green and violet, fill clefts and +ravines of coral rock. A grove of sea-palms mimics +the features of the upper world, as though Nature +obeyed some mysterious law of form, lying behind +her operations, to regulate expression and bring +order out of chaos. Giant bunches of black and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>mauve grapes, like the pictured spoils of the +Promised Land, lie on soft beds of feathery moss, +but the familiar greens of the velvety carpet shade +into orange and pink. A weird marine plant shoves +long black stems, crowned with a circle of azure +blue eyes, which convey an uncanny sensation of +being regarded with sleepless vigilance by mysterious +sentinels, transformed and spellbound in ocean +depths. Tree-fern and hart's-tongue show verdant +fronds, flushed with autumnal red or gold, and a +dense growth of starry flowers suggests a bed of +many-coloured tulips. Dazzling fish dart through +the crystal depths. A shoal of scarlet and green +parrot-fish pursue a tribe striped with blue and +orange. Gold-fish flash like meteors between uplifted +spears of blood-red coral, and the glittering +scales of myriads, splashed with ruby, or flecked +with amethyst, reflect the colours of the gorgeously-frilled +and rosetted anemones in parterres between +red coral crags. Tresses of filmy green floating +from the mouth of a cavern, suggest a mermaid's +hair, and her visible presence would scarcely add to +the wonders in this under-world of glamour and +mystery. Shells, pink and pearly, brown and lilac, +scarlet and cobalt, strew the flower-decked floor with +infinite variety, concave and spiral, ribbed and +fluted, fretted and jagged—the satin smoothness of +convoluted forms lying amid rugged shapes bristling +with spines and needles. We gaze almost with awe +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>at the lovely vision of a dainty Nautilus, sailing his +fairy boat down a blue channel fringed with purple +and salmon-coloured anemones, beneath a hedge of +rosy coral. The shimmering sail and carven hull +of iridescent pearl skim the water with incredible +swiftness, and tack skilfully at every bend of the +devious course, not even slackening speed to avoid +collision with a lumbering star-fish encountered on +the way. These submarine Gardens contain the +greatest natural collection of anemones, coral +beds, shells, and fish, discovered in the ocean +world. The richest treasures of Davy Jones's +Locker lie open to view, as the boat glides through +the ever-changing scenery mirrored in the transparent +sea. Opalescent berries resemble heaps of +pearls, and the lemon stalks of marine sedge gleam +like wedges of gold in the crystalline depths. The +long oars detach pinnacles of coral like tongues of +flame, and a cargo of seaweed, shells, and anemones, +fills the boat as each enchanted grotto contributes a +quota of treasure trove, but the vivid colouring fades +apace when the sea-born flora leaves the native +element, and the deep blue eyes, gazing from their +dark stems with weird human effect, lose their +radiance in the upper world.</p> + +<p>We land at the pretty valley of Halong, where a +rippling brook traverses a wood of sago-palms, and +falls in a white cascade over the rocks of a sheltered +bathing-pool, screened by green curtains of banana +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>and tall mangosteens, laden with purple fruit. +Makassar-trees rain their yellow blossoms into the +water, cloves fill the air with pungent fragrance, +and lychees droop over the clear current. A melancholy +Malay song floats up from the sea, but the sad +sweet notes only accentuate the haunted silence of +the fairy glen, with an echo from that distant +past which breathes undying music round these +enchanted isles. Woodland shadows and wayside +palms disclose the sweeping horse-shoe curves +of numerous Chinese tombs, the white stone +elaborately carved and covered with hieroglyphics. +Plumy cocoanut and tremulous tamarind wave over +the last resting-places of these exiles from the Holy +Land of the Celestial Empire, for the second +generation established on an alien soil is forbidden +to seek burial in China. The so-called <i>Paranak</i> +of the Malay Archipelago frequently marries a native +wife, and, as purity of race becomes destroyed, +ancestral obligations lose their power even over the +mind of the most conservative people in the world.</p> + +<p>The woods of Ambon teem with the abundant +bird-life peculiar to the Moluccas. An exquisite +kingfisher, with golden plumage and emerald throat, +darts across the stream, and the scarlet crests of +green parrots resemble tropical flowers, glowing +amidst the verdant foliage hardly distinguishable +from the fluttering wings of the feathered tribe, +which includes twenty-two species indigenous to the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>islands. The megapodius or mound-maker, an ash-coloured +bird about the size of a small fowl, grasps +sand or soil in the hollow of a powerful claw, and +throws it backwards into mounds six feet high, +wherein the eggs are deposited, to be hatched by this +natural incubator, through the heat of the vegetable +matter contained in the rubbish heap. The young +birds work their way through the mound, and run +off at once into the forest, where they start on an +independent career. They emerge from their birthplace +covered with thick down and provided with +fully-developed wings. The maternal instinct of +the megapodius ceases with the laying of eggs, and, +having supplied a safe cradle for the rising +generation, she takes no further thought for her +precocious progeny, capable of securing a livelihood +in the unknown world from the moment of their +first appearance in public.</p> + +<p>A merry group, half-hidden in the shadows +of clustering sago-palms, gathers the harvest of +precious grain, the pith of a large tree producing +thirty bundles, each of thirty pounds +weight. The baking of the sago-cakes made +from this lavish store occupies two women for five +days, and the housekeeping cares of the largest +family only need quarterly consideration in this +island of plenty, where the struggle for the necessaries +of existence is unknown and unimaginable. +Leisure and liberty, those priceless gifts which can +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>only be attained where the pressure of poverty is +unfelt, serve valuable purposes in Ambonese hands, +for the European energies fused into the native race +prevent mental stagnation, and spur tropical +indolence to manifold activities. A variety of +thriving industries belong to this far-off colony. +Mother-of-pearl shells, and <i>bêche-de-mer</i> (the sea-slug +of Chinese cuisine) supplement the important +export of the cloves, the speciality of Ambon, chosen +by the East India Company as the sole place of +cultivation for this spice-bearing tree, when the +system of monopoly extirpated the clove gardens of +the other islands. Vases, mats, and miniature +boats, of fringed and threaded cloves, are offered as +fantastic souvenirs of Amboyna, and the spirit of the +place seems imprisoned in these tiny curios which +revive so many haunting memories of the romantic +island.</p> + +<p>Nominal adherence to Dutch Calvinism fails to +repress the natural instincts of a gay and pleasure-loving +race. The national dance known as <i>Menari</i>, +and often performed on the shore in honour of the +outgoing steamer, no longer satisfies Ambonese +requirements, with the slow gyrations and studied +postures of Oriental tradition. The eager and +passionate temperament finds truer expression in +the walzes and galops of European origin, known +as <i>dansi-dansi</i>, enthusiastically practised on those +festive occasions, when the full dress of funereal +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>black and white seems specially inappropriate to +the wild abandon of the merry-making populace. +In sunny Amboyna the cowl does not make +the friar, and the last recollection of the little +Moluccan capital is a vision of whirling figures and +twanging lutes at the water's edge, while the +receding steamer furrows the milky azure of the +land-locked bay. The vivid green of one palm-clad +shore burns in the gold of sunset, but the eastern +side lies veiled in shadow, and as the sheltered inlet +gives place to the open sea, the luminous phosphorescence +of the Southern ocean bathes the rocky +bastions of enchanted Ambon in waves of liquid fire. +A strange history belongs to the physical conformation +of volcanic shores, alternately raised and +depressed by the agitation of earth and sea. The +coast-line has varied from time to time; straits have +become lakes, islands have severed or united, +occasionally rising suddenly from the waves, or +vanishing in the bosom of the deep. Geologists +assert that the Malay Archipelago was originally +thrown off by volcanic action from Asia and +Australia, and that an interchange of animal and +vegetable life has frequently taken place. Hurricanes +have uprooted forest trees, and floods have +borne them out to sea, the tide eventually washing +them up on the shores of distant islands. A fresh +growth of foreign vegetation was thus inaugurated, +as these sylvan colonists struck their saplings into +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>an alien soil. Insects, preserved by the bark, +propagated themselves in new surroundings, and +seeds drifting on the waves, or clinging to roots and +fibres, wreathed unfamiliar shores with exotic +flowers. Animal migration has frequently been +caused by natural catastrophes, and to birds +directing their swift flight by faculties now +attributed to keen observation rather than to +unreasoning instinct, the change of locality was +infinitely simplified. In the Moluccas we may read +a compendium of the wide-spread history which +applies to the vast regions comprised in the mighty +Archipelago. The doctrine of earthly changes and +chances, too often accepted as a mere figure of +speech, is here recognised as a stern reality; the +tragedies of destruction repeat themselves through +the ages, the laboratories of Nature eternally forge +fresh thunderbolts, and the fate of humanity +trembles in the balance. Meanwhile a profusion of +flowers wreathes the sacrificial altars, the fairest +fruits ripen above the thin veil which hides the +fountains of volcanic fire, and the sweetest spices +of the world breathe incense on the air. The +uncertain tenure of earthly joys gives them +redoubled zest and poignancy, the passionate love of +life becomes intensified by the looming shadows of +Death, and the light glows with clearer radiance +against the blackness of the menacing thunder-cloud.</p> + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> +<h3>BANDA.</h3> + + +<p>The exquisite islands of Banda, dominated by the +stately volcano of Goenoeng Api (the mountain of +fire), form the climax of the enchanting Moluccas. +Contour and colour reach their utmost grace and +softest refinement in this ideal spot, a priceless jewel +resting on the heart of the Malay Archipelago.</p> + +<p>The mists of dawn have scarcely lifted their +gossamer veils from the dreaming sea, when the +pinnacled rocks of Rum and Aye, the outposts of the +Banda group, pierce the swathing vapours. The +creamy cliffs of Swangi (the Ghost Island), traditionally +haunted by the spirits of the departed, show +their spectral outlines on the northern horizon, and +the sun-flushed "wings of the morning" span the +sapphire arch of heaven as we enter the sheltered +gulf of the Zonnegat, fringed by luxuriant woods +clothing a mountain side, and brushing the water +with a green fringe of trailing branches. Gliding +between Cape Lantaka and two isolated crags, the +steamer enters a glassy lake, encircled by sylvan +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>heights, with the menacing cone of the Goenoeng +Api rising sheer from the water's edge. A white +town climbs in irregular tiers up the shelving +terraces of a fairy island, the central hill crowned +by the crenellated battlements of a grey citadel. +The largest ship can anchor close to shore, for the +rugged boundaries of Banda descend by steep +gradients into the crystalline depths. Chinese and +Arab <i>campongs</i> border European streets of concrete +houses, long and low, with flat roofs and external +galleries.</p> + +<p>The southern shore of Banda Neira faces the +forest-clad heights of Great Banda, clothed from +base to summit with nutmeg trees, shadowed by +huge kanaris, their interlacing canopies protecting +the precious spice plantations from the sun. A +slender rowing boat, known as a <i>belang</i>, makes a +brilliant point of colour on the blue strait between +the sister islands. Red and yellow flags and +pennants flutter above the green deck; the clash of +gongs and cymbals echoes across the water, and a +weird chant accompanies the rhythmic plash of +the short oars, as the brown rowers toss them high +in air, and bring them down with a sharp splash. +A splendid avenue of kanari-trees extends along the +shore, the usual Dutch church symbolises the +uncompromising grimness of Calvinistic creed, and +the crumbling fort of Orange-Nassau, the scene of +many stirring incidents in the island past, adjoins +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>the beautiful thatched bungalow of the Resident, +the broad eaves emerging from depths of richest +foliage. A subterranean passage connects the +deserted stronghold on the shore with Fort Belgica, +the citadel now used as barracks, but formerly for +the preservation of the nutmegs from the fierce +raids of foreign powers, when the new-born passion +for spices intoxicated the mind of the world, and +kindled the fires of war between East and West. +The lofty peak of the Goenoeng Api still smoulders, +although the main crater is supposed to be +extinct. The lower slopes, where not planted with +vegetables by enterprising invaders from the island +of Boeton, abound with delicate ferns and rare +orchids, for the fertility of the volcanic soil, rich in +metallic ingredients, creates a luxuriant growth. +Sulphureous vapours rise continually from a plateau +beneath the summit, where tumbled boulders of +blackened lava lie sunken in deep layers of volcanic +ash. Banda Neira evidently rose from the sea in +some long-past eruption of the larger island, now +the long ridge of a ruined crater which collapsed +in a fierce outburst, and threw off the fragments of +rock which compose the outer group. A curious +fatalism characterises the inhabitants of volcanic +districts, and the incalculable value of Banda in +the middle ages outweighed all risks of eruption and +earthquake. The history of island colonisation by +Portugal, Spain, and Holland, forms a continuous +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>record of battle, loot, and persecution, in which the +native population was decimated, and even now the +inhabitants would be quite insufficient to cultivate +and gather the "golden fruit," without the aid of +innumerable emigrants from Java. Hard measures +were dealt out in order to maintain the monopoly of +spices, and the injury to the native races, by +destroying the nutmeg trees of the other islands, +crippled the trade which had found a natural outlet +in Asia. All the nutmegs were sent to Europe, but +one-fifth of the yearly produce was diverted by +smuggling into forbidden channels, though severe +punishment was inflicted upon offenders. Economic +administration was unknown in the 17th and 18th +centuries, but the holocaust of spices burnt in the +market-place of Amsterdam, and the extermination +of the nutmeg trees in Moluccan islands, sent a +thrill of horror through the European world, which +placed such an exaggerated value on the possession +of spices that the wars waged to secure them breathe +the romantic fanaticism of a wild crusade. Monopoly +and slavery were at length definitely abolished, +and in 1873 the Dutch Government, realising the +necessity of Free Trade, sanctioned the independence +of the nutmeg planters. The far-seeing views +of Sir Stamford Raffles during the second brief +English occupation of the Moluccas, from 1810 to +1816, were disregarded in England (knowing little, +and caring less, about the remote Spice Islands), +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>though his counsels were eventually adopted by the +Dutch Government as the only means of ensuring +an increased profit. A high-prowed native boat, +known as an <i>orembai</i>, plies across the narrow +strait which separates the islands of Banda Neira +and Banda Lonthar, or Great Banda. The long +range of hills covered with a dense forest of the +precious nutmeg trees, attains an ideal of sylvan +scenery surpassing even the glorious palm-woods of +Java. These may be described in terms of comparative +accuracy, and their beauty painted in +realistic language, but none can translate into words +the irresistible charm and glamour of the nutmeg +aisles, the exquisite foliage and contours of the spice-bearing +trees, the wealth of delicate blossom and +peach-like fruit, and the flickering emerald light +from hues shading through the whole gamut of +colour, from the tender verdure of spring to the +glossy darkness of winter evergreen. Colossal +kanari-trees, veritable monarchs of the forest, tower +over the nutmegs, and form an unbroken roof of +interlacing boughs, for the nutmeg, needing shelter +to bring the fruit to perfection, is not suffered to +attain a height of more than seventy feet. The +columnar trunks of the majestic kanaris wreathe +their huge girth with lace-like fern and broad-leaved +epiphytal plants, and the symmetrical beauty of the +conical nutmeg-trees in these forest aisles suggests +a vast sanctuary of Nature, enshrining the mystic +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>presence of Divinity. Here, as amid the shades of +unfallen Eden, we can imagine a trysting-place of +God and man in the perennial "cool of the day," +which breathes through the green twilight of these +solemn groves, redolent with the incense from +myriad sprays of creamy blossom and ripened nuts +in shells of pink-flushed amber, for flower and fruit +deck the "gold-bearing tree" without intermission, +and every day produces a fresh harvest of nutmegs. +The brown kernel of the opening fruit, contained in +a network of scarlet mace, falls to the ground in +twenty-four hours, and unremitting care is needed in +gathering and handling the nutmegs with the +<i>gaai-gaai</i>, a long stick ending with a prong, to +break off the ripe fruit into the woven basket +accurately poised beneath the wooden fork. Only +the female trees yield the precious crop, and the +highest point of production, attained at the twentieth +year, continues undiminished through four subsequent +decades, after which the strength of the +average tree declines, although it often lives for a +century. The cooing of the nutmeg pigeon, which +feeds on the abundant fruit, echoes through the +shadowy glades with soothing monotony. Yellow +canaries flit through the vivid green of the pointed +foliage, and the scarlet crests of parrots glow +through the dark canopies of the giant kanari-trees. +The voices of children at play, the distant songs of +the nutmeg-gatherers, the plash of the waves on the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>coral reef, and the scented breeze whispering in the +green crowns of a million trees, blend in harmonious +concord to fill the sylvan temple of tropical Nature +with mysterious music. At wide intervals the white +houses of the planters gleam amid the drooping +boughs, the prevailing green of the spacious woods +relieved by the rosy purple of Bougainvillea mantling +a pillared verandah, or by great vases of crimson and +yellow flowers, bordering broad flights of stone steps. +Life on a great nutmeg plantation retains patriarchal +character and archaic charm; the multitude of +dependents calls forth, in the present day at any +rate, much of kindly solicitude, and though the +unvarying sameness of existence sometimes proves +the serpent which destroys the peace of the idyllic +Eden in young and eager hearts, the ramifications +of the large family party, gathered under one roof, +mitigate the monotony of daily tasks, and supply the +necessary mental friction. Work in the nutmeg-woods +begin at 5 a.m., when a pealing bell summons +the labourers to each plantation for their different +duties of gathering the nuts, drying the mace, or +sorting and liming the fruit. The beautiful forest +constitutes the world of the nutmeg-gatherer, both +for labour and recreation. In these dusky avenues +youth and maiden tell each other Love's eternal +story, wandering away into the dreamland shadows, +vocal with sweeter melody than that of bird or +breeze. The musical call of the nutmeg-pigeon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +serves as a danger-signal, uttered by sympathising +friends, when love must yield to life's stern realities +in the person of the overseer. An ardent courtship +often contributes to the rapid filling of the nutmeg-basket +in the hand of a rustic beauty, whose admirers +strive to secure for her the premium awarded for +special diligence, and a judicious official learns on +occasion to be conveniently deaf to the feigned voice +of the <i>manoek faloer</i>. If the chivalrous zeal of +the brown lover is apt to overleap frontiers, and to +fill the baskets of one plantation with the produce of +the other, the ethics of Banda demonstrate the +identity of human nature when swayed by the +passion which, according to circumstances, wrecks +Troy or raids a nutmeg orchard. A story is told of +a planter who, in consequence of engaging a bevy of +attractive maidens for the year's work, was rewarded +by a phenomenal harvest of nutmegs, though the +adjacent estates were barren of fruit. Evening +shadows darken apace in the woodland world, and +work ceases at three in the afternoon, when the +store of gathered fruit is brought to the <i>pagger</i>, +where drying and liming sheds surround the central +warehouse. The nutmeg-pickers sort the ripe nuts +in an open gallery before taking them to the +drying-shed, where they are spread on a platform +of split bamboo, twelve feet above a smouldering fire. +The process continues for six weeks, the nuts being +repeatedly turned until they begin to rattle. Only a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>slow method of drying prevents the escape of the +essential oil, necessary to the flavour of the fruit, +which must afterwards be dipped in slaked lime to +preserve it from insects. The coral-like mace +contains a rich supply of aromatic balm, and when +loosened from the nutmeg can be dried in the sun. +The delicate scarlet branches, spread on wickerwork +frames in open spaces of the woods, contrast vividly +with the shaded verdure of the beautiful trees. The +mace, trodden flat for facility in packing, resembles +a dainty growth of finest seaweed, and in the 16th +century shared popularity with the nutmeg which +produced it. Even in the present day a pewter +spice box is an indispensable present on that sixth +anniversary of a Dutch marriage still known as +"the pewter wedding," and a nutmeg-box, with a +grater, remains as a favourite bridal gift, the fashion +originating when the passion for spices first pervaded +mediæval Europe. Trade, as well as Science, +wrote many chapters of romantic adventure in the +long history of the world's social development, and +modern thought but dimly realises the magnetic +spell of the days when the veil was first lifted +between East and West, and the wonders of +untrodden shores disclosed to the pioneer. Heine, +in his <i>Lieder</i>, chants of the mystic nutmeg-tree as +the ideal growth of the tropical forest, for every +stage of life and growth reveals some fresh beauty +in delicate bloom, glistening foliage, and fruit of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>roseate gold. The spreading boughs, with their +perfect contour and emerald depths of light and +shadow, suggest a typical picture of that unfading +Tree of Life in the midst of the earthly Paradise, +round which the passing ages weave innumerable +dreams, while faith transplants it to a fairer Garden +than that of Eden. Where the winding woodland +roads lead along the shore, colossal screw-palms +and silver-flowered Barringtonias border the rocks, +the sparkling azure of the sea visible through the +fantastic boughs, and the eternal song of the surf +vibrating through the still air with mysterious +undertones. The brown <i>campong</i> of Banda Lonthar +stands at the foot of the mossy steps which lead to +the summit of the wooded range, and command a +superb view of the island group. A further flight of +stairs descends to the outside coast or Achterval, but +wherever we go, to quote the words of a modern +traveller, "we may imagine ourselves transported +to the holy groves whereof ancient poets sing." +From the rich carpet of velvety moss and plumy fern +to the green vault of the leafy roof, the eye for once +seems "satisfied with seeing," for no hint of +imperfection breaks the fairy spell of enchantment +in this poetic nutmeg-forest. Among serpentine +kanari roots, which stream across the mossy turf as +though poured out in liquid form and then petrified, +we come across brown babies sleeping in the shade, +and cradled softly in the tender lap of earth, while +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>the mother, crooning a low song, pursues her work +among the rustling leaves. Terrace after terrace, +the green aisles mount to the summit of the great +ridge, and the ruined forts on each wooded promontory +recall the long-past days when the "fruit of +gold" demanded the increasing vigilance of military +power to defeat the onslaught of merchantman or +privateer, willing to run every risk in order to +capture a cargo of spices, and secure fabulous gains +by appeasing the frantic thirst of Europe for the +novel luxury of the aromatic spoils. The mediæval +craze has died away, and the pungent spices of the +Orient have taken a permanent position of reasonable +proportion in the culinary art of modern times, +but the glamour of the past, like the amber haze of +a tropical sunset, still environs the poetic tree in the +island home where, amid evergreen foliage and +waxen flowers, the famous "fruit of gold" still +opens each coral-lined censer to exhale a wealth of +undying fragrance on the balmy air.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> +<h3>THE SOELA-BESSIR ISLES.</h3> + + +<p>Outside the fairy circle of the exquisite Moluccas, a +tiny cluster of palm-clad islets gems the wide blue +spaces of the lonely sea, unbroken for many leagues +by any foothold possible for human habitation. The +Dutch steamer only calls thrice a year at the remote +Soela-Bessir group, in quest of rattan, a plentiful +product of these fertile isles, where the leafy ladders +of the aspiring parasite climb to the green crowns of +the tallest palms, wrapping them in the fatal +embrace which eventually levels the strongest +monarch of the tropical forest to the earth. The +thick mantle of glossy foliage often hides the multitude +of hooks, loops, and nooses which the pliant +cane flings round branch and stem, gripped by long +ropes of flexible fibre, hardening into thick coils, +rigid and unyielding as iron. The immense export +of rattan for chairs, couches, and innumerable +domestic purposes, indirectly results in the preservation +of myriad palm-trees, by releasing them from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>the deadly grasp of the tenacious creepers. The +waving cocoanut trees of Senana, the principal +island of the Soela-Bessir group, kiss the blue water +with sombre plumes, bowed down by the wealth of +heavy fruit lying in green and golden clusters +between frond and stem. The steamer anchors far +from the shore, and the launch proving unable to +cross the shallow bay, the landing of passengers can +only be accomplished by two crossed oars, carried +and steadied by four of the crew. The mode of progression +is wobbling and risky, but the improbability +of revisiting Senana supplied a mental argument +of unfailing force in balancing pros and cons. The +secluded island, so slightly influenced by the outside +world, changes but little with the lapse of time, and +the triple-tiered roofs of numerous thatched +<i>Messighits</i> rising above the palm-leaf huts of +the brown <i>campong</i>, assert the hereditary creed. +The green banner of Islam was planted here +centuries ago by a fanatical horde of Arab pirates, +who added religious enthusiasm to love of plunder +and thirst of conquest. Their fiery zeal, though not +according to knowledge, ensured a vigorous growth +of the foreign offshoot from the questionable faith of +these Arab corsairs, who left indelible traces on +the whole of the Malay Archipelago. The +<i>Messighits</i> of Senana are now only the ruined +shrines of a decadent creed, but the simple islanders +remain nominal adherents to the Monotheism of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>past. Canoes and <i>blotos</i>, rowed by lithe brown +figures, come out to welcome the steamer, and a +fantastic boat, with carven prow, darts from beneath +a green bower of tangled foliage, laden with golden +bananas. Merry-faced little savages line the shore, +eagerly awaiting the arrival of the white strangers, +who supply them with the amusement afforded by a +travelling circus to the more sophisticated children +of the West. An eager desire to please and gratify +the extraordinary visitors, mingles with the uncontrollable +delight, manifested in capering, dancing, +and gay laughter, as they beckon us to follow them +through the narrow lanes of the long <i>campong</i>. +Naked brown forms dash into their native huts at +sundry points of the route, to summon friends and +kinsfolk, until the procession swells into formidable +proportions, for the whole <i>campong</i> is eventually in +tow, with the exception of the men and boys +occupied in lading cargo. Through the dappled +sunlight and shadows of the sweeping palms which +flank the glassy bay, we are personally conducted +to the principal <i>Messighit</i>, a bare, whitewashed +building, without any decoration beyond the blue +and white tiles outlining the horse-shoe arch of the +<i>Mihrab</i> looking towards Mecca. The exterior +with three roofs of mossy thatch supported on +bamboo poles, offers a shelter from the sun on a +flight of crumbling steps, overshadowed by the +spreading eaves. A big cocoanut frond serves as an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>improvised broom in a dusky hand, and the central +step is carefully swept before the stranger, with +respectful salaams and gesticulations, is invited to +sit down. A turbaned <i>Imaum</i>, the custodian of +the decaying sanctuary, comes forth from his dilapidated +hut among the palms behind the shrine, at +the unwonted excitement breaking the silence and +solitude of the ancient mosque, but he evidently +belongs to the dreamland of the past, and retires +quickly from the disturbing present to meditations +or slumbers in his obscure dwelling, closing the +bamboo door against all intruders. This day's +incident of the cruise in the Malay Archipelago +seems absolutely cut off from ordinary experience—a +solitary Englishwoman, resting in the shadow of +the rustic mosque, and surrounded by a half-barbaric +tribe of unfamiliar aspect, the dark woolly hair, flat +noses, wide mouths, and dazzling teeth suggesting +a liberal admixture of negro or Papuan blood. +Native intelligence simplifies a halting conversation, +carried on by means of the indispensable Malayan +phrase-book. Wistful eyes rest on the stranger +whose lot is cast under happier auspices, and +unmistakeable characteristics manifest the Soela-Bessir +islanders as a gentle and teachable race. +Alas! the Dutch Government plants neither schools +nor missions in distant Senana, too far from the +beaten track to commend itself to the religious or +educational care of a nation apparently indifferent to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>the claims of small communities, in the vast Archipelago +subject to Holland. Only the quarterly call +of the Dutch steamer stirs the stagnation of ages on +the Soela-Bessir isles, but although the young, +sharing in that wondrous heritage of mirth and +gladness peculiar to the joyous early life of the +tropics, recognise no limitations in their lot, the +mothers sadly repeat the complaint heard elsewhere +that no chance of improvement is given to them. +The steamer, frequently bringing hither the inhabitants +of more favoured islands in the interests of +trade, already begins to stir feelings of unrest, and +vague longings for the better things as yet withheld. +A chieftain's daughter joins the throng round +the old <i>messighit</i>. A red-cotton drapery, thrown +over bronze limbs, is her only garment, but a +diamond glistening on her dark hand looks +incongruous with the scanty clothing. The gem +seems a talisman or heirloom, but a request to +examine it terrifies the owner, and she rushes away +into the woods to safeguard the precious possession +from perils suggested by the presence of the white +pilgrim from across the seas. The delicious breeze +which always spring up after ten o'clock in these +latitudes renders walking a delight, the two following +hours being invariably cooler than the trying time +between eight and ten, when the fierce sun, on a +level with the face, creates an atmosphere of +blistering glare. The brown procession forms an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>orderly escort to the lading shed beneath a clump of +tall cocoa-palms, and the kindly merchant who +negotiates the commerce of the Soela-Bessir isles +for the Dutch Government, sends a native boy up +the smooth stem of a colossal tree in search of a +fresh cocoanut, which fills two tumblers with +refreshing sap. The thatched <i>campong</i> stands +against a background of green hills and dense +woods, rich in tropical verdure, but lacking the +loveliness of the Moluccas. The return to the ship +involves a <i>bloto</i> across the bay, with many +misgivings as to the seaworthy capacities of the +clumsy craft, but four bamboo safety-poles, fastened +by forked sticks to the sides of the hollowed log, +suffice to steady it enough to avoid capsizal. In the +Soela-Bessir Isles, as in many other far-off and +forgotten regions, the genius of commerce begins to +awaken the desire of civilisation in untutored hearts, +for Trade sharing in the romance no longer regarded +as the exclusive attribute of Art or Science, now +helps to fuse opposing elements into unity and order. +The simple inhabitants of distant Senana seem only +waiting for an outstretched hand to lift them to a +higher level of creed and culture, for the modern +pioneers of missionary enterprise raise the superstructure +of Christianity with unexampled success +on the substratum of truth contained even in +imperfect and erroneous creeds. That solid foundation +stone of belief in the One Eternal God, laid by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +Arab pirates centuries ago, amid the lust of rapine +and the smoke of war, which ever heralded the +onward march of conquering Islam, should serve as +a firm basis for building up these simple children of +Nature into the mystical sanctuary of the Christian +Church. The lapse of time obliterates countless +landmarks of Moslem creed in localities removed +from external contact, but amid the dust of disintegrating +forces and forgotten forms, the central +Truth remains imbedded, like a wedge of gold +trodden in the mire, but retaining intrinsic value +and untarnishable purity.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> +<h2>SUMATRA.</h2> +<hr class="hr4" /> + +<h3>THE WESTERN COAST AND THE HIGHLANDS.</h3> + + +<p>Passing through the straits of Saleir, between a +cliff-bound island and the south-eastern Cape of +Celebes, the returning steamer in due time reaches +her moorings in Sourabaya, and a rapid railway +journey through Java connects with the outgoing +boat from Batavia to Padang, a three days' voyage +through a chain of green islands breaking the force +of the monsoon on a desolate and harbourless shore. +The forest-clad ranges of Sumatra draw nearer at +Benkoelen, buried in cocoa-palms on the rim of a +quiet bay, within a terrific reef which makes landing +impossible in stormy weather. Fort and Residency, +villas and gardens, manifest Benkoelen as an oasis +of civilisation, the steeply-tiled roofs remaining as +relics of the English occupation a century ago. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>Beyond the little military settlement, the Sumatran +mountains tower in majestic gloom beyond a broken +line of bristling crags, like granite outworks guarding +the eleven hundred miles of coast-line facing the +Indian Ocean. The rugged backbone of mysterious +Sumatra, descending sharply to the western sea, +overlooks a vast alluvial plain on the eastern side, +where rice and sugar-cane, coffee and tobacco, +flourish between the wide deltas of sluggish rivers, +though rushing streams and wild cascades characterise +the opposite shore. Ridges and bastions of +rock, above profound valleys, culminate in cloud-capped +Indrapura, at a height of 12,000 feet. +Geologists affirm the vast age of Sumatra, indicated +by the Silurian rock, the bastions of granite, the +extraordinary vegetation fossilised in the huge coal-beds, +and the sandstone formation, often a thousand +feet thick, carved by time and weather into fantastic +ravines. Inexhaustible mineral wealth lies hidden +in these weird ranges, together with the costly +chemical products of a volcanic soil, but the rich +treasures of the virgin rocks are for the most part +unknown and unexplored. Columns of smoke rise +continually from numerous active volcanos, and the +beautiful mountain lakes fill extinct craters. The +great island, lying north-west and south-east, +possesses a glorious climate, and the superb vegetation +shows a distinctive character from that of Java. +The Dutch, though supreme on the coast, have never +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>yet subdued the interior, and unconquerable Acheen +remains a perpetual centre of unrest. The flower of +the Malay race belongs to Sumatra, and the wild +Battek tribes of alien origin are fast merging themselves +into the dominant stock, though the +Redjanger clan, retaining curious customs of a +remote past, and possessing a written character, cut +with a <i>kris</i> on strips of bamboo, is slow to assimilate +itself to the Malayan element. The Sumatran +language shows traces of Indian and Arabic +influence, and that the early civilisation of the huge +island was of Hindu origin is evidenced by innumerable +Sanskrit words, and by the fact that the +consecrated pipal tree, the "Ficus Religiosa" of +India, remains to this day the sacred tree of the +Batteks. Native chronicles record the descent of +Sumatran princes from Alexander the Great, but +though the pages of Javanese history are comparatively +legible, those of Sumatra, designated in early +days as "the older Java," resemble a dim +palimpsest, marred by erasure or hiatus, and barely +decipherable beneath the lettering on the surface of +the age-worn parchment.</p> + +<p>Little <i>campongs</i> of palm-thatched huts stand +on piles at the water's edge, and skirt the over-shadowing +forest; fairy islands, encircled with red-stemmed +<i>arén</i>-palms, lie like green garlands on the +indigo sea, dotted with the yellow sails of native +<i>proas</i>, and the little train which conveys us to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>Padang, the western capital, seems an incongruous +feature in a scene suggestive of primeval peace and +solitude. A sylvan charm belongs even to this +Sumatran township, for the wooden houses, with +pointed roofs of dried palm-leaves, and broad eaves +forming shady verandahs, stand far apart in flowery +gardens, aflame with orange or scarlet cannas, and +fragrant with golden-hearted frangipanni. The +sweeping boughs of giant cocoanut trees make a +green twilight beneath their interwoven fronds, +Bougainvillea drapes crumbling wall and forest tree +with curtains of roseate purple, and thatched stalls +of tropical fruits and glowing flowers brighten +the dusky avenues with patches of vivid colour. +The determined aspect of the Sumatran people +denotes the superior calibre of the ancestral stock +which colonised the Archipelago, for foreign intercourse, +which elsewhere modified national character, +scarcely affected the Sumatran Malays, independent +of the servile yoke imposed by the mighty +princes of Java. The forty <i>Soekoes</i>, or clans, of +Sumatra, are sub-divided into branches consisting of +numerous families, all descended from a common +stock in the female line. This curiously constituted +pedigree is known as the Matriarchate, an ancient +social system only retained in Western Sumatra, +and among certain South American tribes. +The resolute mien and dignified carriage of the +Sumatran woman denote clear consciousness of her +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>supreme importance. The cringing submission so +painfully characteristic of Oriental womanhood is +wholly unknown, and though nominally of Mohammedan +faith, the humble position prescribed by the +Korán to the female sex is a forgotten article of +Sumatra's hereditary creed. After marriage (forbidden +between members of the same clan) both man +and woman remain in their own family circle. The +husband is only an occasional visitor, and the wife +is regarded as the head of the house. Her children +remain under her exclusive care, and inherit her +property, together with the half of what their father +and mother earn together. The other half goes to +the brothers and sisters of the husband, whose titles +descend to his own brothers and sisters. Sumatra is +veritably El Dorado to the Eastern wife and mother, +conversant with every detail respecting the management +of land or money, and jealously guarding the +time-honoured rights and privileges of her exalted +position.</p> + +<p>The hereditary chieftains of Sumatran clans +exercise a patriarchal rule of uncompromising +severity, and combine in every district to form the +<i>Laras</i> or local Council, the distance separating +forest and mountain <i>campongs</i> often necessitating +sub-division into a village assembly. The +<i>Laras</i>, and those rural chieftains nominated by +popular consent, possess a seat on the Supreme +Council of the Dutch Government, thus forming the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>transitional element between Asiatic and European +rule. There is no Sumatran nobility, and although +the hereditary chief of a clan is invested with official +authority, the stringent regulations of the Matriarchate +acknowledge no superiority of social status +as an appanage of his power.</p> + +<p>The hothouse atmosphere of Padang is gladly +exchanged for the freshness of the mountain +heights, approached by a cog-wheel railway, +and affording truer pictures of Sumatran life +than the hybrid port of the steaming Lowlands. +The luxuriant verdure of the swampy +plain basks in the sunshine of a blazing March day, +and children in gaudy <i>sarongs</i> drive a brisk trade +at palm-thatched wayside stations, with bamboo +trays of sliced pineapple sprinkled with capsicum, +the approved "pick-me-up" of Sumatra. The little +train burrows through a forest-lined pass, and skirts +the chafing waters of the Anei river, foaming over +swarthy boulders. The turbulent stream, now +deeply sunk between granite cliffs, rises with terrific +violence when lashed by the wild mountain wind +known as the <i>bandjir</i>, and rushes up the rocky +walls, overthrowing bridges, and dragging along +immense crags with resistless impetus. The shrill +laughter of the black bush-apes echoes from sombre +masses of matted foliage, as the train ascends the +lofty range, and curves round the basin of a +sparkling waterfall, dashing from a fern-draped +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>height. Granite cliffs soar above tropical jungle +and solemn forest; the narrow gap of the Anei +widens into a luxuriant valley; sago-palms rustle in +the breeze, and tree-ferns spread their green canopies +over the brawling river. The splendid scenery is +viewed to advantage from a platform of the foremost +railway carriage, the train being pushed up the +mountains by an engine in the rear. Beyond the +climbing forests, a bare plateau affords a glimpse of +ever-burning Merapi, with wooded flanks and lava-strewn +summit, from whence a grey cloud of smoke +mounts in a spiral curl to the azure sky. Beyond +this point of view lies the green plain of beautiful +Fort de Kock, the gem of the Sumatran Highlands, +to be numbered henceforth among those ideal scenes +which remain permanently photographed on mind +and memory. The crystalline atmosphere seems the +very breath of life after a long sojourn in the +steaming tropics, and Fort de Kock, under the +shadow of mysterious Merapi, an Elysium of health +and repose. The little Hotel Jansen offers clean and +comfortable accommodation, the kindly German +hostess proving a model landlady. As a Residency +and the headquarters of a Dutch garrison. Fort de +Kock provides all the necessaries of life, and the +broad military roads of the vicinity simplify +exploration. The little white settlement beneath +the wooded volcano possesses a bright and cheery +character, in keeping with the exhilarating climate, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>and the beautiful Sturm Park, from palm-crowned +hill and flowery terrace, commands an exquisite +prospect of the blue peaks belonging to the borderland +of those Native States extending to the Dutch +possessions on the Eastern coast. The curious +houses of the Sumatran Highlands, with their +adjacent rice-barns, form distinctive features of this +unique island. The ridge of the steep thatch rises +in sharp horns, interlaced with black fibres of <i>arén</i> +palm, or covered with glittering tin. These tapering +points are considered talismans of good fortune, a +fresh horn being added on every occasion of +marriage, for the married daughters, under the +provisions of the Matriarchate, remain in the home +of their childhood, and portions of the central +division belonging to the house are reserved for their +use. Manifold horns frequently bristle above the +lofty roof, and the front of the main building is the +common living room for unmarried members of the +large household. Houses and rice-barns stand on +high poles, after the Malay fashion, which originated +in the malarious districts of the Lowlands. The +typical rice-barns are lavishly decorated with gilding, +carving, and colour, inlaid with glass mosaic, and +edged with balls of red and blue crystal, the upward +sweep of the slender horns sharply silhouetted +against the glowing cobalt of heaven. In every +<i>kota</i> (the Sumatran word signifying a fortified +place, or village), the beauty of the picturesque +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>roofs culminates in <i>Messighit</i> and <i>Balei</i>, respectively +the Mosque and Hall of Consultation for the +Village Council. The roofs of the Mosque rise on +thatched tiers, mounted on slender pine-stems, and +the long <i>Balei</i>, with mossy thatch prolonged into +an open verandah on either side, shows a multitude +of curving horns pointing to Heaven, and +symbolically invoking celestial aid for the solemn +assembly gathered beneath them, when the full +moon floods upland Sumatra with molten silver. +Primitive hospitality provides a <i>roemah negari</i>, +or "House of Strangers," in every village rich +enough to erect this refuge for the toil-worn +wanderer, but where no special resting-place for +pilgrims can be offered, lodging can always be had in +the open <i>Balei</i>, on application to any member of +the Village Council. The primitive simplicity of +Sumatran life remains practically unchanged in +these remote hamlets of the Western Highlands, and +though Fort de Kock poses as the nucleus of +modern progress, European influences glance off the +indurated surface of native character like water +poured over a granite slab.</p> + +<p>Across the rice-plain of Agam, dotted with brown +<i>kotas</i>, crowned by myriads of interweaving +horns, we reach the scattered village of Paja-Kombo, +shadowed by dense woods of cocoanut +palms, and famed for one of the most picturesque +native markets in the East. The women of Paja-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>Kombo +are noted for their beauty, enhanced by the +splendour of many-coloured <i>sarongs</i>, gleaming with +gold and silver thread. Gay turbans swathe the +stately heads, and the golden filagree of barbaric +breastplates, heavy earrings, and broad armlets, +lights up the shadowy gloom of stone galleries and +<i>al fresco</i> stalls, beneath the drooping boughs of +ancient waringen-trees. The Sumatran Malays are +energetic traders, and the dignified personality of +the Sumatran woman is perpetually in evidence. +Keen, thrifty, economical, and thoroughly versed in +all the details of commerce, she shows herself the +predominant partner in domestic life, and to her all +decisions on financial matters are referred, in accordance +with the laws of the Matriarchate, which +protects her independence. The husbands and +fathers in attendance on their womankind at the +great Market, submissively defer to the gentler sex, +which in Sumatra has ever held the reins of social +and domestic management, exercising authority +wisely and well within the wide area deputed to +feminine sway. The Fair of Paja-Kombo is a +treasury of native Art in most delicate filigree, +silver-threaded cloth, baskets or fans of scented +grass, and the heavy jewellery of burnished brass +which copies the designs of the many golden heirlooms +treasured by Sumatran womanhood. Streets +of palm-thatched stalls, alleys of eating-houses, and +the wide enclosure of a Mule-Fair, cover an open +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>meadow, fringed by great sago-palms, the central +grain and rice Market crowded with picturesque +figures in striped <i>sarong</i> and gold-flecked turban. +The feast of colour provided by Paja-Kombo is +scarcely surpassed even by the famous Fair of +Darjeeling, the remoteness of the little settlement +in the Sumatran Highlands preserving the unfaded +charm of an immemorial past. The wonderful Gap +of Harau may be reached by cart from Paja-Kombo; +the palm-shaded road narrows at the mighty gorge, +where vermilion cliffs, grooved and ribbed as though +by some convulsion of Nature, tower up in colossal +majesty on either side. Splendid waterfalls flash +down in foam and thunder, scoring deep channels in +the perpendicular heights, and bathing thickets +of tree-fern and maidenhair in pearly spray. +A wild river swirls through the deep ravine, opening +towards the ethereal blue of clustering peaks, which +lie fold upon fold in the hazy distance of the +Native States, and disclose a mystic pathway into +dreamland.</p> + +<p>Another deep gully of yellow tufa-rock behind +Fort de Kock, forms the first stage of the romantic +route to Lake Manindjoe. Crossing the twin rivers +which have carved their winding gorge in the bosom +of the hills, the rude track through the mountains +ascends to smooth plateaux forming a flight of +gigantic stairs, supported by rocky girders like +natural cross-beams. In early days of Dutch +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>colonisation these successive points of vantage, +occupied by hostile tribes, were stormed in vain by +the invading army, and eventually only captured by +surprise. The beauty of upland Sumatra culminates +at this mountain lake, lying within the foundered +crater of the Danau. The volcanic walls rise +fourteen hundred feet above the dark blue mere, +a glitting sheet of <i>lapis lazuli</i> set within the black +cleft of the profound chasm. Brown and purple +rocks enamelled with orange lichen, and garlanded +with waving verdure, open to display a mysterious +vision of the glistening sea, with one white sail like +a butterfly's wing, crossing the distant waves. The +flushing rose-tints of a tropical sunset glorify the +landscape into transcendent beauty; the rude +sculpture of the river crags, the black shadows of +primeval forest, and the far-off gleam of the Indian +Ocean, composing an ideal picture, enhanced by +vague impressions of Infinity and Eternity.</p> + +<p>The great Lake of Sinkarah, flanked by volcanic +ridges, and by the dense foliage of palm forests and +coffee plantations, also presents a succession of +entrancing landscapes. White and purple orchids +wreathe the forest trees, troops of red monkeys +chatter among the boughs, and woodland vistas +reveal leagues of emerald rice and golden millet. +Beyond Sinkarah lies the famous coal district of the +island, where Chinamen, convicts, and Hindu +coolies, in perpetual bustle and commotion, manifest +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>an activity unique in the thinly-populated interior of +Sumatra, dependent on the labour of alien races. +Javanese act as woodmen, gardeners, and road-makers; +the Klings serve as cowherds and drivers +of ox-waggons; the Bengalese prove efficient policemen, +and the Boyans skilful carpenters; the clearing +of the forest pertaining to Malays and Batteks, also +responsible for the building of the marvellous rice-barns, +the apotheosis of Sumatran architecture. +The ordinary tourist omits Sumatra from his +itinerary. Occasional elephant-hunters penetrate +the dense forests of the interior, and engineers or +tobacco-planters flock to the monotonous levels of +the eastern coast, but the glorious Western +Highlands, the Sumatran <i>Bovenland</i>, is seldom +visited. Warlike Acheen, for ever at feud with +the Dutch Government, is forbidden ground +to the European traveller. The unconquerable +independence of the Achinese, fiercely resenting +the sovereignty of Holland, proves an insoluble +problem to the Dutch methods of subjugation. +The bold and lawless character of this +rebellious clan defies military discipline. The spirit +of insurrection animates every man, woman, and +child of the brave but treacherous race, and Acheen +remains the dark centre of countless tragedies, due +to the spurious patriotism which counts a stab in +the dark, a poisoned arrow, or a cruel betrayal, as +heroic and laudable modes of resistance to the hated +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>invader of Sumatra's ancient liberties. The forest-clad +interior of the vast island remains an unknown +wilderness. Cannibals still lurk in the black depths +of the pathless jungle; weird tribal customs linger +unchanged in barbarous <i>campongs</i>, where strange +gods are worshipped with the immemorial rites of +an ageless past, rude carvings and weird symbols +showing the personification of those natural phenomena +deified by primeval tribes. Sumatra, with +her wealth of mines and forests and her important +geographical position, remains as yet an almost +undiscovered country, and though her undeveloped +resources excite the cupidity and arouse the envy of +European nations, political greed and private enterprise +have proved powerless to open up the hidden +treasures of the vast island, apparently intended by +Nature to become the key of the Southern Seas.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> +<h3>A VIEW OF KRAKATAU.</h3> + + +<p>Emma-Haven, the little port of Padang, twenty +minutes by train from the palm-girt Sumatran +capital, scarcely mars the beauty of the secluded +inlet with the red and white warehouses standing +against the sylvan verdure which fringes the blue arc +of the deep bay. Cloud upon cloud, the spectral +vision of distant mountains gleams through the +vanishing veil of mist melting in the sunrise, and +the departing steamer, hugging the shore, but +halting for cargo at sundry barbaric <i>campongs</i>, +affords numerous glimpses of native life. Passengers +are forbidden to land at these rural ports of call, for +a herd of twenty frolicsome elephants battered down +one brown village of palm-thatched bamboo only a +week ago, and although the ruined architecture +possesses the advantage of being as easily restored +as destroyed, the unpleasant proximity of the dark +jungle suggests the need of prudence. At another +point of the little voyage, we anchor for a cargo of +rattan before a thatched shed on a shell-strewn +beach, but even here a solitary elephant, disturbed in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>bathing, has lately attacked a woman, rescued with +difficulty from formidable tusks and lashing trunk. +A tribe of coolies come on board from the pepper +plantation on a terraced hill, covered with the +vivid green of the festooning creeper, twined round +long poles, and resembling hop-vines in growth and +foliage. The landing of this contingent involves a +call at Anjer, the northern extremity of Java, +distinguished by the white column of the colossal +Pharos on the green headland. A halt at nightfall +outside a bristling reef, in consequence of a Malay +lighthouse-keeper omitting to trim his lamp, after +the fashion of his unthinking kind, secures the +compensation of steaming within sight of world-famous +Krakatau, the volcanic cone, which in 1883 +was split in half by the stupendous eruption affecting +in various degrees the whole of the world. The +successive waves of atmospherical disturbance, +travelling with the velocity of sound, were traced +three times completely round the globe. Krakatau, +though uninhabited, was the occasional resort of +fishermen who plied their calling in the Sunda +Straits. A Dutch record exists of a violent eruption +in 1680, but the Krakatau volcano was afterwards +considered extinct, and until the spring of 1883 no +signs of activity occurred. At this date, smoke, +pumice, and cinders, fell without intermission. For +eight weeks Krakatau blazed and thundered, the +explosions being audible at Batavia, eighty miles +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>off. As the fatal dawn of an August morning +broke with lurid light, the culminating shock of an +appalling detonation, described as "the very crack +and crash of doom," echoed across the ocean, and +was heard even in India and Australia, two thousand +miles away. Gigantic tidal waves swept the +Sundanese shores, destroying the adjacent villages, +36,000 people being either washed away or buried +under the boiling rain of mud, fire, and ashes. The +Royal Society estimated the altitude of the vast +black and crimson column of flame and smoke, +mounting from the volcano, at seventeen miles. +The ashes fell at Singapore and on the Cocos Isles, +respectively five and eight hundred miles away, the +ejection of volcanic matter being computed at more +than four cubic miles in extent. Krakatau, reduced +from thirteen to six square miles, from the northern +portion of the symmetrical pyramid being completely +blown away by the volcanic fires, retains the conical +peak of Mount Radaka, nearly three thousand feet +high. Some of the contiguous islands sank beneath +the waves, others changed their shape, and the +formation of various banks and shoals added fresh +difficulties to the intricate navigation of reef-bound +seas. Thrilling stories are told of the enveloping pall +of smoke and ashes, which shrouded Java in +midnight gloom, amid the continuous roar of +violent explosions which led up to the awful +climax of the final catastrophe. Red-hot stones +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>and burning cinders fired the ships, the weight +of pumice sinking <i>praus</i> and fishing smacks as it +fell into the hissing sea, and a 600-ton schooner, +thrown by the force of the world-shaking concussion +into a mountain cleft of the opposite coast, still lies +wedged between the black walls of rock. The +floating pumice, which filled the harbour of Batavia +with layers so deep that planks resting upon it made +a safe bridge over a mile in length, drifted even to +Zanzibar and Madagascar. The fine dust, expelled +into the upper air, painted the sunset heavens with +these translucent green and violet tints which +enhanced the pageantry of cloudland throughout the +world for many months after the fiery forces had +expended themselves. Smoke still issues from +Krakatau, though the vast rent in the cloven +pyramid must materially diminish the power of any +future eruption, and Nature's busy hand already +covers the torn side of the precipitous cone with +a green veil of sparse vegetation. A curious marine +growth of weed and moss rooted itself on Krakatau +three years after the phenomenal eruption, from +seeds floating on the tide or carried by the wind. +The thin soil formed by these decaying plants, and +enriched by the chemical ingredients of disintegrating +volcanic ash, in time produced a more luxuriant +verdure, and in the interval elapsing since the +threefold ravages of fire, flood, and earthquake, +caused by Krakatau, convulsed the East with terror, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>the dread mountain has become wreathed with flower +and fruit, for orchards and gardens, tended by the +Malays from the surrounding islands, now flourish +at the foot of the quiescent peak. Javanese colonists, +who experienced the terrors of the overwhelming +catastrophe, assert that no similes drawn from the +most appalling thunderstorm, or from the roar of +the heaviest artillery, could convey an adequate idea +of the stupendous detonation which seemed to +shatter earth and sky, as the pent-up fires burst +forth in the final explosion, which tore the mountain +asunder and poured forth the devastating forces of +the abysmal depths over land and sea. Crimson +lava-flood and burning hail, blackened heaven and +rocking earth, roaring sea and clamouring volcano, +represented an Apocalyptic vision of Divine wrath, +but probably no survivor remained to record +the actual sight of the unprecedented phenomenon, +transcending every terrestrial convulsion recorded in +the chronicles of scientists. Only a slender feather +of grey steam now issues from the lofty crater. +Leaves and grasses flutter in the soft breeze, and a +shower of white petals drifts upon the iron boulders, +once incandescent amid the red torrents of rushing +fire. A sheer precipice remained as the severed half +of the shattered cone, when the rent cliffs shivered +into fragments, and toppled over into the sea. +Nature again breathes "peace and safety," as she +did before "the sudden destruction" gave the lie +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>to her mocking voice, and as the ruined pyramid of +terrible Krakatau sinks below the horizon, and the +good ship speeds on her way, a weight of awe seems +lifted from the mind, oppressed by imagination +and association with the ghastly tragedy of +those untameable forces which defy calculation or +comprehension.</p> + +<p>History has often proved the truth of the +assertion that Time turns memories into dreams, but +in the presence of Krakatau's smoking crater, the +memories looming over the haunted volcano translate +themselves into a nightmare of horror, for the +shadows of doom still cling to the monumental +pyramid, a menacing witness to the existence of +those occult laws which baffle human investigation +with their insoluble problems, and compel the +defeated scientist to acknowledge himself a mere +chronicler of inexplicable mysteries. The extent +of the volcanic zone encircling the Malay Archipelago +minimises the risk of catastrophe by +numerous safety valves for the imprisoned forces of +Earth's fiery abyss. In isolated Krakatau only one +outlet existed for the vast accumulations of destructive +agencies, gathering irresistible impetus through +the protracted period of condensation and suppression +which heated this mighty furnace of +Nature's subterranean laboratory with sevenfold +power. A generation has grown up since the hell of +devouring fire swept across land and sea from this +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>solitary mountain peak; villages have been rebuilt +on their ancient sites, and the activities of life go +on from year to year undisturbed. The story of +Krakatau, told under the drooping boughs of dusky +waringen-trees in the evening hour of leisure, seems +veiled in the mists of legendary lore to youth and +maiden, listening to the oft-told tale. Poverty +clings to familiar soil, and in the deep groove of a +narrow existence the popular mind takes little +thought for the future. The realities of life are +bounded by the daily needs, and the shadow of +Krakatau fails to destroy the present peace of the +simple folk, who, like children gathering flowers on +the edge of a precipice, heed none of the grim +possibilities of a perilous environment.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> +<h3>PENANG.</h3> + + +<p>Poelo-Penang, <i>The Isle of the areca-nut</i>, separated +by a narrow strait from the Malay Peninsula, +was ceded to England in 1785 by the Rajah +of Kedah, from whom the present Sultan of +Johore is lineally descended. The little territory, +chiefly consisting of a mountain covered with palm-forests, +was then almost uninhabited, but the +strategetic importance of the position resulted in the +establishment of an English Presidency, until the +phenomenal growth of Singapore made it the +eventual centre of local authority. "Sinhapura," +"the City of Lions" (or, more accurately, of tigers), +founded by the Hinduized Malays, and developed by +Sir Stamford Raffles into the principal trading port +of the Eastern seas, of necessity drew off from +Penang a large contingent of the polyglot races +which flocked thither from all parts, when the +British flag first waved above the newly-built fort, +but at least 100,000 inhabitants still occupy the +verdant island, where the graceful areca palm attains +unexampled perfection. Penang was merely +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>regarded as an unimportant appendage of ancient +Malacca, captured in 1311 by Albuquerque, and +though the territory of the principal Sultan underwent +innumerable vicissitudes through the changing +fortunes of war, the royal line retained Johore at +the foot of the Peninsula, up to the present day, the +last scion of the old-world dynasty now accepting +the suzerainty of England.</p> + +<p>A tribe of Klings (the Malay corruption of the +word Telinga), sailing from the Coromandel coast, +were the first immigrants under British rule. +The half-breed Indian Malays, or <i>Jawi-Pekan</i>, +followed, and the Chinese, finding a new outlet for +their commercial genius, soon secured a firm footing +on the fairy isle, a cone of emerald set in a sapphire +sea. As the rickshaw wheels away from the noisy +wharves of busy Georgetown into green aisles of +areca and cocoanut, the spice-laden breeze blowing +from the heights, and mingled with the breath of a +thousand flowers, suggests Penang as "the mountain +of myrrh, and hill of frankincense," described +in the Canticle of Canticles. Present surroundings +atone for the lack of life's amenities in the Dutch +dependencies. The ripple of the sea, and the rustle +of swaying palms, just stir the silence of the wave-washed +terrace above the glassy straits. The +gloomy blue of the Kedah mountains on the peninsula +of Malacca, with black thunderclouds gathering +round their serrated crests, heightens the brilliant +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>loveliness of immediate surroundings, steeped in the +ruby glow of the magical evening. Every road is +an over-arching avenue of gorgeous foliage—dark +tunnels of interwoven cocoa-palms, huge Amherstias +alight as with lamps of fiery orange, tremulous +tamarinds, and, more wonderful than all, a wide +highway roofed by a continuous aisle of ansena-trees, +the golden canopy of blossom overhead rivalled +by the thick carpet of yellow petals, which deadens +every sound, for the prodigal bounty of tropical +Nature quickly replaces the loss of falling flowers. +Exquisite lanes, smothered in glorious vegetation, +surround the picturesque Racecourse, that <i>sine-qûa-non</i> +of English occupation. Stately emperor palms, +kitools with crimped green tresses, fan and oil palms, +with the slender areca in countless thousands, vary +the shadowy vistas branching out in every direction, +with huge-leaved creepers and glossy rattans garlanding +the gnarled trunks of forest-trees. The +sculptured outlines of the splendid traveller's palm +adorn the green lawns of European bungalows, +embowered in torrents of trailing creepers, the scale +of colour descending from white and pink to royal +purple and burning crimson. Snowy arums and +golden lilies choke the brooks, overflowing from the +constant showers combining with a vertical sun to +foster the wealth of greenery, the incandescent +scarlet and yellow of hybiscus and allemanda +glowing with the transparent depth of hue, beside +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>which the fragile fairness of European flowers, is but +a spectral reflection of those colour-drenched blossoms +fused into jewelled lustre by the solar fires. Night +drops her black curtain suddenly, with no intervening +veil of twilight to temper Earth's plunge into +darkness. Great stars hang low in the sombre sky, +and the open interiors of Malay huts, aglow with +lamp or torchlight, produce Rembrandtesque effects, +revealing brown inmates cooking or eating their +"evening rice."</p> + +<p>Georgetown, loyally named by British pioneers +after a monarch eminently incongruous with any +ideas belonging to a tropical fairyland, possesses +neither architectural beauty nor salient character; +wooden warehouses, Malay shanties, and white-washed +streets being merely attractive from the +ever-changing scheme of colour painted by varieties +of race and costume. Tamils of ebon blackness +drive picturesque teams of humped white oxen in +red waggons laden with purple sugar-cane. Noble-looking +Sikhs, in spotless linen, stride past with +kingly gait. Brown Siamese, in many-coloured +scarves and turbans gleaming with gold thread, +chaffer and bargain at open stalls with blue-robed +Chinamen, and the bronze figures of slim Malays, +brightened by mere wisps of orange and scarlet +added to Nature's durable suit, slip through the +crowds, pausing before an emporium of polished +brass-work, or a bamboo stall of teak wood carving. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>The sloping black mitre of a stout Parsee merchant, +accompanied by a pretty daughter in white head-band +and floating <i>sari</i> of cherry-coloured silk, varies +the motley headgear of turban and fez, straw hat and +sun-helmet, worn by this cosmopolitan population, +the pink headkerchiefs, tinselled scarves, and +jewelled buttons of the beautiful Burmese dress, +drawing attention to the energetic bargaining of +two astute customers for cooking utensils; these +elegantly-attired but mahogany-coloured dames, +rivalling the Sumatran women in business capacity, +and equally determined on securing the <i>quid pro quo</i>. +The long esplanade between town and sea borders a +series of green lawns, where carriages draw up +round a bandstand, and the youthful element of +European Penang plays tennis with laudable zeal +in the atmosphere of a stove-house. Chinese and +Malay boyhood look on, and listen to the regimental +music. The pallid English occupants of the +carriages, in spite of diaphanous muslins and +fluttering fans, appear too limp and wilted to bestow +more than a languid attention to their surroundings, +until the sea-breeze, springing up as the sun +declines, revives their flagging spirits. The +smartest turnout and the finest horses generally +belong to John Chinaman, got up in irreproachable +English costume, with his pigtail showing beneath a +straw hat, though considerably attenuated, and +lacking those adornments of silken braid and red +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>tassels, generally plaited into the imposing queue +of the orthodox Celestial. The indefatigable +Chinese, frequently arriving on an alien shore without +a dollar in their pockets, continually prove +potential millionaires. Immune from climatic +diseases, working early and late, tolerant and +unaggressive, the iron hand in the velvet glove +disentangles and grasps the threads of the most +complicated commercial enterprise, for the idle +Malay, "the gentleman of the East," here as elsewhere, +cares for little beyond the sport of hunting +and fish-spearing, which satisfies the personal +necessities of his indolent existence. The wonderful +solidarity of domestic life is an important factor in +the Chinese career, for centuries of ancestor-worship, +in spite of their arrestive tendency, have +strengthened the bonds of family union and filial +obedience by insisting on the supreme sanctity of +blood-relationship.</p> + +<p>The luxuriant Botanical Garden, situated in a +green cleft of an angle formed by encircling hills, +is a paradise of dreamland, though but a miniature +when compared with Buitenzorg for extent and +variety. In the restful charm of the Penang garden +Art and Nature go hand in hand, giving it an unique +character among the horticultural pleasaunces of the +Eastern world. The rolling lawns of the exquisite +valley, the song of the waterfall which bounds the +view as it leaps down the lofty cliffs, the abundant +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>shade of tamarind and palm, and the gorgeous +flowering shrubs, suggest nothing artificial or conventionalised +in the deep seclusion of the fairy glen. +Tall bamboos mirror fluffy foliage and white or +golden stems in stream and pool. Orchids of the +Brazils festoon unknown trees with the rose and +purple butterflies formed by their brilliant blossoms, +and colossal traveller's palms, so-called from the +draught of water obtained by incision of the +stem, stud the glades with stiffly-fluted fans. Lilac +thunbergia wreaths over-arching boughs, and +passion-flower flings white and crimson garlands +over turf flushed with the pink blossoms of the +sensitive plant. Gold mohur and red poinsettia +blaze with fiery splendour, and huge crotons, with +velvety leaves of pink, violet, and chocolate, grow +to the height of forest trees. The tangle of brilliant +flowers, systematically arranged by the concealed +art of the Eastern horticulturist, shows many weird +botanical forms. Green spears, bristling on mossy +banks, are starred with crimson and barred with +orange. Wine-coloured cacti twist blue-green +spikes and stems in grotesque contortions, and topaz +or ruby-tinted calladiums flame in thickets of hot +colour outside cool green dells, filled by a forest of +tropical ferns, mosses, and creepers. Lack of +botanical knowledge constitutes a sore disadvantage +in this treasury of floral beauty, but happily we may +"consider the lilies," without cataloguing them, in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>this garden, "beautiful for situation," and worthy +to be a "joy of the whole earth." The sombre +jungle on the mountain side supplies the atmosphere +of mystery which enhances the ideal peace of the +cloistered Paradise, wrapt in the embrace of the +haunted hills, and numbered among those visions of +an earlier Eden, only realised in the Asiatic birthplace +of Humanity which contained the typical +Garden of the World, Divinely planted, where the +Voice from Heaven deepened the music of whispering +leaves and sighing breeze.</p> + +<p>A purple-red pat—for even the jasper-tinted +tropical soil is beautiful, climbs through the glorious +woods to the chief Sanatorium of the Malay Peninsula. +A free fight among the coolies before starting +demands a lengthy exercise of that stolidity with +which the Western pilgrim must invest himself, as +the invulnerable armour needed by the conflict of +daily life. As a mere matter of personal convenience, +this quality bears scant resemblance to the weapons +enumerated by S. Paul in the Christian panoply. +The oppressive heat, the futility of argument in an +almost unknown tongue, and the general uncertainty +of the subject in dispute, gradually producing this +spurious virtue as the external decoration of sorely-exasperated +souls. The exertion of the long ascent +in the steaming heat requires six coolies for every +chair. The red road mounts through enchanting +vistas of palms and creepers, on the edge of the dark +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>jungle, each turning point bringing a whiff of cooler +air, as the evening gold flickers through the velvety +fronds of tree-ferns, and the green feathers of +spreading bamboos. From the white hotel near the +summit, the blue Straits and the flats of Province +Wellesley, the English portion of the Malay Peninsula, +stand out against the frowning ridge of +mountains, for black thunder-clouds continually +brood over Malacca. Monkeys caper and chatter in +the teak-trees bordering a circular terrace, and an +ideal sylvan path leads to the Signal Station, +Hospital, and Post Office, on an opposite height, +dotted with the bungalows of summer visitors. A +palm-shaded plateau beneath the hotel offers an ideal +resting-place, but the impenetrable jungle covering +the Penang Hills makes expeditions on foot or by +chair, impracticable, and the wild deluges of rain, +with terrific thunder peals bursting in uncontrolled +fury on this exposed peak, minimise the delights of +a mountain sojourn. The invasion of an army of +jungle rats, behind the walls and above the ceiling +of a room sodden and dripping with the afternoon's +flood, completes the disillusion, and compels a hasty +descent to the warmer damp of the lowlands, for the +Equatorial climate, and the general absence of bed-coverings, +causes a rheumatic stiffness on rising, +which has to be steamed out by the atmospheric +vapour-bath of the tropical island. A long rickshaw +ride to Tanjong Bungah ("Flowery Point") <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>completes +the day's cure in a sweltering heat, which on +the return journey at 8 a.m. causes even the Chinese +coolies to stop perpetually at wayside stalls, for the +coloured syrups and sticky sweetmeats on which +they perform prodigies of endurance and speed. An +English planter, in his solitary cacao-garden on the +edge of the sea, hails his compatriots with delight, +and leads the way through the rocky ravines +bordering his solitary bungalow. The glories of the +tropics seldom alleviate the sense of exile, and +cloudy England, with her "green fields and pastures +dim," remains dearer than all the pageantry of +Nature elsewhere to most of her absent sons.</p> + +<p>The Buddhist temple of Ayer-Etam, built in +ascending tiers on a steep acclivity, varies the +natural interests of Penang, with the marvels of +Chinese architecture elaborated in the deep seclusion +of mountain and forest. The dewy areca-palms +throw a dark network of interlacing shadows across +the red road, winding for miles through the sylvan +scenery, the alchemy of the rising sun transmuting +the myriad feathery fronds into fountains of green +fire. Only the creaking of a bullock-waggon, or the +thud of a falling cocoanut, breaks the hush of the +tropical daybreak, when the leaves only whisper in +their dreams, and the vernal earth, fresh as from +her Creator's hand, renews her strength for the heat +and burden of the coming day. The colossal pile, +consisting of temple, monastery, and innumerable +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>shrines, amid fountains and fish-ponds, bridges and +balconies, courts and terraces, gleams whitely +against the green gloom of the vast palm-forest on +either side, sloping sharply to the shimmering sea. +The usual appalling images of vermilion and gold +guard every sculptured gateway, and surmount the +painted shrines encircled by parterres of votive +flowers, for the philosophic Buddhism of Ceylon and +Siam gathers the moss and weeds of many an +incongruous accretion in countless ages of pilgrimage +through the Eastern world. The transcendental +mysticism which spun the finest cobwebs of human +thought, crystallises into concrete form when +interpreted in the terms of China, where dim +reminiscences of early Nature worship, and the +terrors which upheld the authority of many obsolete +creeds, have been incorporated into the vague ideals +of Prince Gautama's prophetic soul. Altars, strewn +with fragrant champak-flowers, stand beneath lace-carved +alcoves of black teakwood, on the broad +plateaux which form welcome resting-places beside +each flight of steps on the marble stairway, the +gilded pinnacles and aerial spires of the white +temple sparkling against the sea of rich foliage. A +knot of Burmese worshippers, with rose-coloured +scarves and turbans, throw their infinitesimal coins +on the palm-leaf mats of a red-roofed shrine, and +tell the wooden beads of the Buddhist rosary, +chanting the perpetual refrain of "<i>Pain</i>, <i>Sorrow</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +<i>Unreality</i>," as a warning against the temptations of +<i>Maya</i>, the world of illusion. The brown faces +raised imploringly to the presiding deity, a leering +demon with green face and yellow body, inspire +the hope that the grotesque monster may prove his +own unreality by vanishing from the hearts of his +devotees into the limbo of nightmares from which he +has emerged, for the philosophic quietism of Buddhist +creed offers no disguise to the horrors of a hell far +surpassing the terrific literalism of Dante's Inferno. +Rippling conduits edge pillared courts and cloistered +arcades, resplendent with frieze and cornice of blue +and scarlet, a central fountain falling in prismatic +showers over a sacred pond of golden carp. A +white-robed monk smilingly conducts us across +hump-backed bridges and colonnaded galleries to a +bench beneath a grey frangipanni tree, starred with +fragrant flowers, and brings welcome cups of tea, +before another struggle up the interminable steps, +which symbolise the mystic "path" leading to +Nirvana's rest. Further hospitality meets us at a +yellow kiosk, higher up the sacred hill, where a +dainty breakfast of eggs, cakes, and honey stands on +a white table-cloth, bearing a steaming coffee-pot. +The temple paraphernalia of Buddhist worship +strangely resembles Catholic imagery. Incense rises +from open censers on the dais, the blue cloud +enveloping a gorgeous altar, encrusted with gold. +The central figure of Gautama Buddha, on the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>lotus leaf expresses supernal calm, and the symbolic +flower, in bud, blossom, or foliage, forms the prevailing +design of vase and amphora, within golden +lattice-work. Hanging lamps glow on rapt faces of +attendant saints, or on those supplementary local +Buddhas which Chinese doctrine adds to the comparative +simplicity of the original system. The +foreshadowing of Christian truth culminates in the +fact stated by a Buddhist priest, that bread and wine +of mystic meaning are reserved on the altars of many +among the forty subdivisions of Buddhism. The +mountain Sanctuary, though marred by debased +decoration and heathenised by the lurid figures of the +guardian demons, inspires a reverent devotion, and +exercises a solemnising influence on many souls +whose faith differs from that of the white-clad +monks, who seek to scale the dim heights of +perfection from this lofty peak. "The Light which +lighteth every man" must needs throw a faint and +far-off ray even on an erroneous creed, groping +through the darkness for the outstretched Hands +which embrace all Humanity with boundless Love.</p> + +<p>Penang, as a little field of missionary enterprise, +possesses many privileges often denied to the further +islands of Malaysia. The variety of immigrant +races, the constant intercourse with the Indian mainland, +and the needs of travellers belonging to every +nation, keep the settlement in touch with a +multitude of spiritual needs. Christianity, both in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>Anglican and Roman guise, sows diligently in fields +gradually whitening to harvest. The English +Church, with reverent services and kindly priest, +remains a little centre of cherished associations. +The S. Francis Xavier Institute, which brings many +Chinese boys into the Christian fold, through the +labours of another Communion, carries on the work +of the great mediæval missionary, who reached the +farthest East in his apostolate of love. The scarlet, +yellow, and white veils of Eastern converts, the +crowd of Eurasian Christians in both churches, and +the presence of a devout Malay priest assisting at +the English service, add unfamiliar notes of colour +among the snowy muslins and flower-decked hats +of English residents, but correctness of costume, +both in men and women, contrasts refreshingly with +the slovenly déshabille of the Netherlands India, the +last and easily-snapped link between civilisation and +barbarism.</p> + +<p>An opportunity occurs for a visit to Taiping, the +capital of the Native Federated States, and situated +in Province Wellesley. The launch crosses to Prai, +the rising port of Malacca, and the northern +terminus of the railway, sure to upset the passenger +lists of the great steamers by traversing the entire +peninsula to Johore. Through a channel bordered +with weird mangroves, the boat enters a long, slow +river, flowing between boundless palm-forests. The +"black but comely" captain of the snorting boat +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>escorts his European passengers to the station, +arranges tickets, and waits on the platform till the +train starts; the portly sailor in spotless linen, +surmounted by his genial ebony face, waving +encouragement as long as we remain in sight. The +perils and dangers of the way are <i>nil</i>, and none of +the threatened contingencies arise, but to Eastern +thought risks, however remote and improbable, add +to the value of a journey. Real drawbacks seem +seldom mentioned, but imaginary lions in the way +offer unlimited scope to Oriental fancy, and help to +create a thrilling drama of destruction. Green +paddi-fields, tall sugar-canes, and a world of palms, +rise from the alluvial flats of Province Wellesley. +The great rubber plantations, which form the chief +source of wealth in Malacca, follow in endless +succession, but, as usual, the astute Chinaman has +obtained almost a monopoly of the industry, from +which the greatest fortunes of the tropics are now +derived. The bushy trees, with their black stems +and ragged foliage, are destitute of the beauty so +lavishly bestowed even on the weeds of this fertile +soil. The tangled splendour of the wild jungle, +which presently borders the track, demonstrates the +immense difficulty of pioneering in a tropical forest, +where the interlacing boughs of the myriad trees, +with their impenetrable screen of climbing parasites, +make perpetual walls of living green, defying human +progress. Malay villages, brown and palm-thatched +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>in the immemorial style, stand on piles above the +swampy ground, which seems the approved site of +habitation. A barren district devastated by a forest +fire, contains the disused pits of ancient tin-mines, +but these unsightly hollows have been decorated by +Nature's hand with a luxuriant growth of the frilled +pink lotus. Malay children, themselves unadorned, +stand on wayside platforms, every brown hand filled +with the rosy chalices of the sacred Buddhist +emblem. Tradition says that the blossom, drawn +up from the mire by the rays of the morning sun, +symbolised the earth-stained soul, made pure and +stainless by the attraction of that Divine Glory +which Buddhism, though in distorted form, strove to +attain.</p> + +<p>At the end of the sixty-mile journey, the English +station-master at Taiping proved a veritable friend +in need, arranging for a hot breakfast at the +station, chartering rickshaw coolies, and—greatest +blessing of all—directing the route, with a menacing +pantomime concerning any shirking of duty, which +saved all further trouble. Taiping is in an early +stage of progress, and the open <i>tokos</i> in +waringen-shaded streets, show nothing but the +necessaries of life, with terrible mementos of +Birmingham in petroleum lamps, hideous oleographs, +and machine-made household goods. Pretty bungalows +stand beyond the interlacing avenues of dusky +trees, and a framework toy of a church in the green +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>outskirts, contains numerous brass tablets recording +English lives laid down in this weary land. These +pathetic memorials seem the only permanent +features of the frail edifice in the shadowy God's-acre +already filled with graves. The newly-planted +park, with a lake fringed by a vivid growth of allemanda +and hybiscus, stands below the purple heights +of a long mountain chain, but Taiping offers few +inducements to a prolonged stay, and after a hurried +glimpse of terrific beasts and snakes of the jungle, +preserved in the local museum, we return to the +station, the kindly chef-de-gare disturbing his wife +from her siesta in the adjacent bungalow, to feast us +on tea and bananas. Darkness falls before the train +reaches Penang, but a Chinese gentleman acts as +pilot across some rocking boats, with only a faint +flare from expiring torches to light the way, and +starts the cringing coolies, with true politeness to +the "foreign devils," but manifest wonder at their +eccentric customs. Chinese womanhood, painted, +bedizened, and tottering on the pink and gold hoofs +which cause a sickening shudder to the Western +spectator, indicates the barrier of prejudice to be +surmounted before China can mould national ideals +into harmony with modern progress.</p> + +<p>The vicinity of Penang to the Equatorial junction +of the maritime world, widens local interests by +the development of the Malay Peninsula, partly +governed through the instrumentality of native +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>Sultans under English guidance, but the abiding +charm of the island lies beyond the radius of the +thriving port. Nature still reigns supreme in this +jewel of the Equator, where the amber swathes of +Indian laburnum, the golden-hearted whiteness of +luscious frangipanni blossom, and the red fire of the +flamboyant tree, light up the endless aisles of +swaying palms, where temple-flower and tuberose +mingle their fragrance with the breath of clove and +cinnamon, interpreting the imagery of the Eastern +monarch's bridal song, and luring each lover of +Earth's manifold beauty to "go down into her +garden of spices and gather lilies."</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> +<h3>EPILOGUE.</h3> + + +<p>The infinite variety of interests connected with +the vast Malay Archipelago, mainly dominated by +European authority, can only be inadequately +mentioned in the simple record of a half-year's +wandering through scenes which stamp their unfading +beauty indelibly on mind and memory. +Virgin fields of discovery still invite scientific +exploration, and the green sepulchre of Equatorial +vegetation retains innumerable secrets of Art and +architecture. The geological mysteries of these +volcanic shores offer a host of unsolved problems, the +surpassing magnificence of flower and foliage makes +every island a botanical Paradise, and the varieties +of race and language which moulded and coloured +the destinies of the Equatorial world, supply +historian and philologist with opportunities of +unlimited research. The dim chronicles of a distant +past, inscribed in vague characters with faint traces +of the earliest Malay wanderers, link their shadowy +pages with historic records of falling dynasties and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>warring creeds, preceding the eventful period of +colonial enterprise, initiated by the wild campaigns +in quest of the precious spices. Although the Malay +voyagers remain veiled in the twilight which clouds +the verge of authentic history, the track of their +keels may yet be followed through the conflicting +currents of that hitherto unknown ocean which they +opened to a future world. The forests and fishing +grounds of every coast and island still support the +manifold divisions of the nomadic race which forms +the substratum of island life, and the star of +hope which led them onward, shone for many +subsequent adventurers across those Southern seas +which aroused the energies and ambitions of later +ages. The symbolical stories of the world's infancy +join the actual experience of struggling humanity to +the dreamland from whence it emerged, as some +syren song lured it into unknown regions. The +old-world legends of mankind "launching out into +the deep, and letting down the nets for a draught," +repeat themselves from age to age, for the human +heart has ever sacrificed comfort and safety in order +to set sail upon some trackless ocean, on the chance +of reaping that harvest of life's sea for which man +yearns with insatiable desire. The wanderings of +Odysseus, in the youth of the world, illustrate the +eternal pursuit of a visionary ideal, in those adventures +which breathe the undying romance of the sea. +The resemblance between the traditions of savage +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>and civilised nations appears too strong to be +fortuitous, and indicates the underlying unity of +feeling and purpose implanted in the human race. +Modern environment renders it impossible to calculate +the tremendous force of the mysterious impulse +which swayed the onward march of primeval tribes; +even the later obstacles, overcome by bold spirits +who followed in their wake, can never be adequately +realised amid the artificial conditions of our present +life. The charmed circle of the "Equator's +emerald zone," encloses a region of marvel and +mystery, where Imagination, the fairy with the +magic mirror, helps to interpret and reveal the +secrets of Beauty and Truth, which transfigure +material form and colour with the halo of idealism. +The tale of the mysterious ages when "the threads +of families" were first "woven into the ropes of +nations," still sways mind and fancy, but the +romance of the world continues, though the progress +of Humanity varies the pictured page. In the warm +heart of the tropical Archipelago, Nature, triumphing +in eternal youth, seems to mock the transient phases +of aspiration and achievement, which vanish by turn +into the misty past. The great Mother chants her +"Song of Songs" throughout the myriad changes +of Time, in terms so similar to the imagery of the +Divine Epithalamium that, from a human standpoint, +it seems swept by the spice-laden breezes of +the Malayan Lotus-land, rather than by the fainter +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>fragrance wafted from the orchards and gardens of +Palestine or Egypt. Possibly the Syrian fleet, in +search of ivory and peacocks, touched at the +enchanted shores where "all trees of frankincense" +perfumed the air, and produced those aromatic +"powders of the merchant," regarded as priceless +treasures both in primitive and mediæval days. The +story might well capture the fancy of the royal poet, +and enrich the music of his verse with the luscious +fragrance of a more luxuriant land than even his own +pastoral Canaan, flowing with milk and honey. The +hyperbole of Eastern thought often rests on a solid +foundation of fact, and the Hebrew love-song weaves +tropical Nature's lavish wealth of flower, fruit, +and fragrance into a symbolic garland, flung in +passionate rapture at the feet of the beloved one. +The spiritual significance of the sacred lyric only +transposes the mystic melody into a higher key, and +heaps the thurible of the sanctuary with the frankincense +of praise, to celebrate the typical bridal of +Earth and Heaven.</p> + +<p>The diadem of palms on the last outlying islet of +the Malay Archipelago, stands out in dark relief +against the golden haze of the afterglow, which +floods the sky, and changes the purple waters into +a sea of fire. The pageant of sunset lingers for +a moment, and then vanishes beneath of the pall of +the swiftly-falling night. The fairyland of eternal +summer sinks below the horizon, and realities melt +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>into the shadows of that mental subconsciousness +which holds the wraiths of departed joys. Memories +of the golden hours spent in threading the flowery +maze of the vast Archipelago, seem a mere handful +of shells gathered on the surf-beaten shores, but if +even the empty shell can hold the sound of the +waves, this brief record of a cruise in sunny seas may +also convey faint whispers of that syren voice which +echoed through the ages of the past, and still allures +the spellbound listener to the swaying palms and +spice-scented bowers of Malaya's Island Paradise.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="tnote"> + +<p class="center"><b>Transcriber's Notes:</b></p> + +<p>The preference has been to retain inconsistencies and idiosyncracies in +spelling, especially of proper nouns, except in the case of obvious +typographical errors. Any corrections made are noted below.</p> + +<p>Many Javanese names use the "oe" group of vowels. In a few cases, the +original text uses "oe" ligatures. Since such usage is inconsistent, +even for the same name, and the number of instances are few, the "oe" +ligatures have not been retained.</p> + +<p>Inconsistencies in the hyphenation of words retained. (dream-like, +dreamlike; ear-rings, earrings; re-adjustment, readjustment; +sandal-wood, sandalwood; sub-consciousness, subconsciousness; +sub-divisions, subdivisions; thunder-clouds, thunderclouds; +waist-cloth, waistcloth; white-washed, whitewashed; wicker-work, +wickerwork)</p> + +<p>Table of Contents, entry for "The Solo-Bessir Isles". The chapter +heading in the main text reads "THE SOELA-BESSIR ISLES." The original +wording has been retained in both cases.</p> + +<p>Pg. 34, "int oa" changed to "into a". (forest aisles into a)</p> + +<p>Pg. 35, "sanatorioum" changed to "sanatorium". (a favourite sanatorium +of the Dutch)</p> + +<p>Pg. 38, "possing" changed to "possessing". (possessing a notable)</p> + +<p>Pg. 79, unusual spelling "pourtrayed" retained.</p> + +<p>Pg. 89, "ominious" changed to "ominous". (played an ominous part)</p> + +<p>Pg. 94 and 202, "unmistakeable" is also spelled "unmistakable" on page +140. Original spellings retained in all cases.</p> + +<p>Pg. 114 and 115, "sulphureous" is also spelled "sulphurous" on page 44. +Original spellings retained in all cases.</p> + +<p>Pg. 118, "prisets" changed to "priests". (while the priests of Siva)</p> + +<p>Pg. 144, "elswhere" changed to "elsewhere". (here as elsewhere)</p> + +<p>Pg. 155, "benath" changed to "beneath". (beneath a hill covered)</p> + +<p>Pg. 156, "pentrate" changed to "penetrate". (of air can penetrate)</p> + +<p>Pg. 166, "smoulderng" changed to "smouldering". (which hides the +smouldering)</p> + +<p>Pg. 179, "he" changed to "the". (from the motionless waters)</p> + +<p>Pg. 187, "inagurated" changed to "inaugurated". (growth of foreign +vegetation was thus inaugurated)</p> + +<p>Pg. 189, "Calvanistic" changed to "Calvinistic". (grimness of +Calvinistic creed)</p> + +<p>Pg. 223, "violents" changed to "violent". (continuous roar of violent +explosions)</p> + +<p>Pg. 239, "Buddhim" changed to "Buddhism". (philosophic Buddhism of +Ceylon)</p> + +<p>Pg. 239, extraneous dot in between sentences: "through the Eastern +world. . The transcendental". It does not appear to be an ellipsis and +has thus been removed.</p> + +<p>Pg. 243, extraneous dot in between sentences: "derived. . The bushy +trees". It does not appear to be an ellipsis and has thus been removed.</p> + +<p>Pg. 247, "Archipegalo" changed to "Archipelago". (the vast Malay +Archipelago)</p> + +<p>Page number anchors have not been inserted for pages 12, 122, 206, and 228 as these were blank +pages in the original text.</p> + +</div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Through the Malay Archipelago, by Emily Richings + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO *** + +***** This file should be named 27422-h.htm or 27422-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/4/2/27422/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Through the Malay Archipelago + +Author: Emily Richings + +Release Date: December 5, 2008 [EBook #27422] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Through the + Malay Archipelago. + + + BY + EMILY RICHINGS. + + Author of + "Sir Walter's Wife," "In Chaucer's Maytime," &c. + + + LONDON: + HENRY J. DRANE, LIMITED, + DANEGELD HOUSE, 82A, FARRINGDON STREET, E.C. + + + + + O hundred shores of happy climes! + How swiftly streamed ye by the bark! + At times the whole sea burned--at times + With wakes of fire we tore the dark. + + New stars all night above the brim + Of waters lightened into view; + They climbed as quickly, for the rim + Changed every moment as we flew. + + We came to warmer waves, and deep + Across the boundless East we drove, + Where those long swells of breaker sweep + The nutmeg rocks, and isles of clove. + + For one fair Vision ever fled + Down the waste waters day and night, + And still we followed where she led, + In hope to gain upon her flight. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + Prologue. + + + JAVA. + + Batavia and Weltevreden--Buitenzorg--Soekaboemi + and Sindanglaya--Garoet and her Volcano-- + Djokjacarta--Boro-Boedoer--Brambanam-- + Sourakarta--Sourabaya and the Tengger. + + + CELEBES. + + Makassar and Western Celebes--The Minahasa-- + Gorontalo and the Eastern Coast. + + + A Glimpse of Borneo. + + + THE MOLUCCAS. + + Ternate, Batjan, and Boeroe. + + Ambon. + + Banda. + + + The Solo-Bessir Isles. + + + SUMATRA. + + The Western Coast and the Highlands. + + + A View of Krakatau. + + + PENANG. + + + Epilogue. + + + + +PROLOGUE. + + +The traveller who reaches those enchanted gates of the Far East which +swing open at the palm-girt shores of Ceylon, enters upon a new range +of thought and feeling. The first sight of tropical scenery generally +awakens a passionate desire for further experiences of the vast +Archipelago in the Southern Seas which girdles the Equator with an +emerald zone. Lured onward by the scented breeze in that eternal search +for perfection destined to remain unsatisfied where every step marks a +higher ideal than the one already attained, the pilgrim pursues his +endless quest, for human aspiration has never yet touched the goal of +desires and dreams. The cocoanut woods of Ceylon and her equatorial +vegetation lead fancy further afield, for the glassy straits of Malacca +beckon the wanderer down their watery highways to mysterious Java, +where vast forests of waving palms, blue chains of volcanic mountains, +and mighty ruins of a vanished civilisation, loom before the +imagination and invest the tropical paradise with ideal attractions. +The island, seven hundred miles long, and described by Marianne North +as "one magnificent garden of tropical luxuriance," has not yet become +a popular resort of the average tourist, but though lacking some of +those comforts and luxuries found under the British flag, it offers +many compensations in the wealth of beauty and interest afforded by +scenery, architecture, and people. The two days' passage from Singapore +lies through a green chain of countless islets, once the refuge of +those pirates who thronged the Southern seas until suppressed by +European power. The cliffs of Banka, honeycombed with tin quarries, and +the flat green shores of Eastern Sumatra, stretching away to the purple +mountains of the interior, flank the silvery straits, populous with +native _proas_, coasting steamers, _sampans_, and the hollowed log or +"dug-out" which serves as the Malayan canoe. Patched sails of scarlet +and yellow, shaped like bats' wings, suggest gigantic butterflies +afloat upon the tranquil sea. The red roofs of whitewashed towns, and +the tall shafts of white lighthouses emphasise the rich verdure between +the silvery azure of sky and water. The little voyage ends at Tandjon +Priok, nine miles from Batavia, for a volcanic eruption of Mount Salak +in 1699 filled up the ancient harbour, and necessitated the removal of +shipping to a deep bay, as the old city was landed high and dry through +the mass of mud, lava, and volcanic sand, which dammed up the lower +reaches of the Tjiligong river, and destroyed connection with the sea. +The present model harbour, erected at tremendous cost, permits ships of +heavy burden to discharge passengers and cargo with comfort and safety +at a long wharf, without that unpleasant interlude of rocking _sampans_ +and reckless boatmen common to Eastern travel. A background of blue +peaks and clustering palms rises beyond the long line of quays and +breakwaters flanked by the railway, and a wealth of tropical scenery +covers a marshy plain with riotous luxuriance. No Europeans live either +in Tandjon Priok or Old Batavia, and the locality was known for two +centuries as "the European graveyard." Flourishing Arab and Chinese +_campongs_ or settlements appear immune from the terrible Java fever +which haunts the morasses of the coast, and the industrial Celestial +who absorbs so much of Oriental commerce, possesses an almost +superhuman imperviousness to climatic dangers. + +In the re-adjustment of power after the Fall of Napoleon, Java, invaded +by England in 1811, after a five years' interval of British rule under +the enlightened policy of Sir Stamford Raffles, was restored to the +Throne of Holland. The supremacy of the Dutch East India Company, who, +after a prolonged struggle, acquired authority in Java as residuary +legatee of the Mohammedan Emperor, ended at the close of the eighteenth +century. Perpetual warfare and rebellion, which broke out in Central +Java after the return of the island to the Dutch, taxed the resources +of Holland for five years. Immense difficulties arrested and delayed +the development of the fertile territory, until the "culture system" of +forced labour within a certain area relieved the financial pressure. +One-fifth of village acreage was compulsorily planted with sugar-cane, +and one day's work every week was demanded by the Dutch Government from +the native population. The system was extended to tea and coffee; and +indigo was grown on waste land not needed for the rice, which +constitutes Java's staff of life. Spices and cinchona were also +diligently cultivated under official supervision, and the lives of many +explorers were lost in search of the precious Kina-tree, until Java, +after years of strenuous toil, now produces one-half of that quinine +supply which proves the indispensable safeguard of European existence +on tropic soil. The ruddy bark and scarlet branches of the cinchona +groves glow with autumnal brightness amid the evergreen verdure of the +Javanese hills, and the "culture system," as a financial experiment, +proved, in spite of cavillers, a source of incalculable benefit to the +natives as well as to the colonists of Java. As we travel through the +length and breadth of an island cultivated even to the mountain tops +with the perfection of detail common to the Dutch, as the first +horticulturists of the world, we realise the far-reaching wisdom, +which in a few decades transformed the face of the island, clearing +vast tracks of jungle, and pruning that riot of tropical nature which +destroys as rapidly as it creates. A lengthened survey of Java's +political economy and past history would be out of place in a slight +volume, written as a "compagnon de voyage" to the wanderer who adds a +cruise in the Archipelago to his Eastern itinerary, but the colonial +features of Dutch rule which have produced many beneficial results +demand recognition, for the varied characteristics of national genius +and racial expansion suggest the myriad aspects of that creative power +bestowed on humanity made in the Divine Image, and fulfilling the great +destiny inspired by Heavenly Wisdom. + + + + +JAVA. + + + + +BATAVIA AND WELTEVREDEN. + + +From the railway station at Batavia the comfortless "dos-a-dos," +colloquially known as the _sado_, a vehicle resembling an elementary +Irish car, and drawn by a rat-like Timor pony transports us to the +fashionable suburb of Weltevreden, away from the steamy port and +fever-haunted commercial capital. The march of modern improvement +scarcely affects old-world Java, where jolting _sado_ and ponderous +_milord_ remain unchanged since the early days of colonisation, for +time is a negligeable quantity in this lotus-eating land, too apathetic +even to adopt those alleviations of tropical heat common to British +India. The Java of the ancient world was considered "The Jewel of the +East," and possesses many claims to her immemorial title, but the +stolid Dutchman of to-day contents himself with the domestic +arrangements which sufficed for his sturdy forefathers, scorning the +mitigations of swinging punkah or electric fan. The word Batavia +signifies "fair meadows," and these swampy fields of rank vegetation, +exhaling a deadly miasma, were considered such an adequate defence +against hostile attack, that forts were deemed unnecessary in a +locality where 87,000 soldiers and sailors died in the Government +Hospital during the space of twenty years. Batavia proper is a +commonplace city of featureless streets, brick-walled canals, and +ramshackle public buildings, but the residential town of Weltevreden, +suggesting a glorified Holland, combines the quaint charm of the mother +country with the Oriental grace and splendour of the tropics. The broad +canals bordered by colossal cabbage-palms, the white bridges gay with +the many coloured garb of the Malay population, the red-tiled roofs +embowered in a wealth of verdure, and the pillared verandahs veiled +with gorgeous creepers, tumbling in sheets of purple and scarlet from +cornice to floor, compose a characteristic picture, wherein Dutch +individuality triumphs over incongruous environment. Waving palms clash +their fronds in the sea-breeze; avenues of feathery tamarind and +bending waringen trees surround Weltevreden with depths of green +shadow; the scarlet hybiscus flames amid tangled foliage, where the +orange chalices of the flowering Amherstia glisten from sombre +branches, and hang like fairy goblets from the interwoven roofs of +tropical tunnels, pierced by broad red roads. On this Sunday afternoon +of the waning year which introduces us to Weltevreden, family groups +are gathered round tea tables canopied with flowers and palms, in the +white porticos of the Dutch villas, and the startling deshabille +adopted by Holland in the Netherlands India almost defies description. +The ladies, with stockingless feet thrust into heelless slippers, and +attired in the Malay _sarong_ (two yards of painted cotton cloth), +supplemented by a white dressing-jacket, display themselves in +verandah, carriage, or street, in a garb only fit for the bath-room; +while the men, lounging about in pyjamas, go barefoot with the utmost +_sangfroid_. The _sarong_, as worn by the slender and graceful Malay, +appears a modest and appropriate garb, but the grotesque effect of +native attire on the broad-built Dutchwoman affords conclusive proof +that neither personal vanity nor a sense of humour pertain to her +stolid personality. Dutch Puritanism certainly undergoes startling +transformations under the tropical skies, and the Netherlands India +produces a modification of European ideas concerning what have been +called "the minor moralities of life," unequalled in colonial +experience. An identical exhibition fills the open corridors of the +Hotel Nederlanden, built round a central court, and the general resort +of the guests during the hot hours of the January days. Evening dress +is reserved for State occasions, and though _sarong_ and _kabaja_ be +discarded at the nine o'clock dinner, the blouse and skirt of morning +wear in England suffices even at this late hour for the fair Hollander, +who also concedes so far to the amenities of civilisation as sometimes +to put on her stockings. So much of life in Java is spent in eating, +sleeping, and bathing, that but a small residuum can be spared for +those outside interests which easily drop away from the European when +exiled to a colony beyond the beaten track of travel, and destitute of +that external friction which counteracts the enervating influence of +the tropics. Comfort is at a discount according to English ideas, but +the arrangements of the Hotel Nederlanden, under a kindly and capable +proprietor, render it an exception to the prevailing rule. Each guest +is apportioned a little suite, consisting of bedroom, sitting-room, and +a section of the verandah, fitted up with cane lounge, table, and +rocking-chair. The bathrooms, with porcelain tank and tiles, leave +nothing to be desired, and the "dipper-bath," infinitely cooler than +the familiar tub, becomes an unfailing delight. Ominous prophecies have +emphasised the rashness of coming to Java in the rainy season, but it +has expended its force before January arrives, and though daily showers +cool the air, and the sky is often overcast, no inconvenience is +experienced. Lizards and mosquitoes are few, and in the marble-floored +dining hall of cathedral proportions the absence of a punkah is +generally unfelt, though the fact of a tropical climate is realised at +the slightest exertion. The day begins at 6 a.m. with a cup of the Java +coffee, which, at first unpalatable, reveals by degrees the hidden +excellence of the beverage, brought cold in a stoppered cruet, the +potent essence requiring a liberal admixture of boiling water. At 9 +a.m. a solid but monotonous breakfast of sausage, bacon, eggs, and +cheese is customary, with the accompaniment of iced water, though tea +and coffee are provided for the foreign traveller, unused to the cold +comfort which commends itself to Dutch taste. The mid-day _riz-tavel_ +from beginning to end of a stay in Java, remains the terror of the +English visitor. Each plate is heaped with a mound of rice, on which +scraps of innumerable ingredients are placed--meat, fish, fowl, duck, +prawns, curry, fried bananas, and nameless vegetables, together with +chilis and chutneys, sembals, spices, and grated cocoanut, in +bewildering profusion. The Dutch digestion triumphantly survives this +severe test at the outset of the meal, and courageously proceeds to the +complementary courses of beefsteak, fritters and cheese. Fortunately +for those of less vigorous appetite, mine host of the Nederlanden, far +in advance of his Javanese fraternity, kindly provides a simple +"tiffin" as an alternative to this Gargantuan repast. Afternoon tea is +served in the verandah, and at eight o'clock the Dutch contingent, +having slept off the effects of the rice table, prepares with renewed +energies to attack a heavy dinner. New Year's Eve is celebrated by a +very bombardment of fireworks from the Chinese _campong_, and crowds +hasten to the fine Roman Catholic church for Benediction, Te Deum, and +an eloquent, though to me incomprehensible, Dutch sermon. Crisp muslins +and uncovered heads for the women, and white linen garb for the men, +are the rule in church, for the slatternly undress of _sarong_ and +pyjamas is happily inadmissible within the walls of the sanctuary, +where the fair fresh faces and neat array compose a pleasing picture +which imagination would fail to evolve from the burlesque ugliness of +the slovenly deshabille wherewith the Dutch colonist disguises every +claim to beauty or grace. On alluding to the shock experienced by this +grotesque travesty of native garb, a Dutch officer asserts that there +are in reality but few Dutch ladies in Java of pure racial stock, for +one unhappy result of remoteness from European influence is shown by +the gradual merging of the Dutch colonists into the Malay race by +intermarriage. Exile to Java was made financially easy and attractive +by the Dutch Government, but it was for the most part a permanent +separation from the mother country, and a long term of years +necessarily elapsed before the colonial planter could even return for a +short visit to his native land. The overwhelming force of public +opinion against mixed marriages, and the consequent degeneration of +type, from a union which lowers one of the contracting parties without +raising the other, beats but faintly against these remote shores, cut +off from associations which mould and modify the crudities of +individual thought in regions swept by the full tide of contemporary +life. The idea of welding European and Asiatic elements into one race, +as a defence against external aggression, possesses a superficial +plausibility, but ages of historical experiment only confirm the +unalterable truth of the poetic dictum that + + East is East, and West is West, + And never the two shall meet. + Until they stand on either hand, + At God's great Judgment Seat! + +The sudden rise of an Oriental race to the position of a great +world-power, and the apprehensions of coming struggles for supremacy in +Eastern waters, present many future complications concerning Java, even +if not weakened by the assimilation of her European colonists to an +inferior race. + +Neither landlord nor secretary of the Hotel Nederlanden spare time or +trouble in arranging the programme of sight-seeing, and but for their +kindly help, only a partial success would be possible, owing to the +difficulties presented by the two unknown tongues of Dutch and Malay. +Ignorance of the former involves separation from the world as revealed +by newspapers, and though a smattering of "coolie Malay" is picked up +with the aid of a handbook, and the "hundred words" mastered, +sanguinely asserted to suffice for colloquial needs, there are many +occasions when even the practice of this elementary language requires a +more extensive vocabulary. At a New Year's fete given by the proprietor +of the hotel to his numerous Malay employes, we make our first +acquaintance with native music. Dancing girls, in mask and tinsel, +gyrate to the weird strains of the _Gamelon_, an orchestra of tiny +gongs, bamboo tubes, and metal pipes. Actors perform old-world dramas +in dumb show, and conjurors in gaudy attire attract people of all ages +to those time-honoured feats of legerdemain which once represented the +sorcery of the mystic East. The simple Malay has not yet adopted the +critical and unbelieving attitude which rubs the gilt off the +gingerbread or the bloom off the plum, and his fervid faith in mythical +heroes and necromantic exploits gives him the key to that kingdom of +fancy often closed to a sadder if wiser world. The electric tram +provides an excellent method of gaining a general idea of Batavia and +Weltevreden; the winding route skirting canals and palm groves, +_campongs_ of basket-work huts, and gay _passers_, the native markets, +with their wealth of many-coloured fruit. Stacks of golden bananas, +olive-tinted dukus, rambutans like green chestnut-shells with scarlet +prickles, amber star-fruit, brown salak, the "forbidden apple," +bread-fruit, and durian offer an embarassing choice. Pineapples touch +perfection on Java soil; cherimoya and mango, papaya and the various +custard-fruits, the lovely but tasteless rose-apple, and the dark green +equatorial orange of delicious flavour, afford a host of unfamiliar +experiences. The winter months are the season of the peerless +mangosteen, in beauty as well as in savour the queen of tropical +fruits. The rose-lined purple globes, with the central ball of ivory +whiteness in each fairy cup, suggest fugitive essences of strawberry +and nectarine combined with orange to produce this equatorial marvel, +also considered perfectly wholesome. The mangosteen, ripening just +north or south of the Equator, according to the alternations of the wet +and dry seasons, cannot be preserved long enough to reach the temperate +zone, and though every year shows fresh varieties of tropical fruit +successfully transported to European markets, the mangosteen remains +unknown outside the narrow radius of the equatorial region to which the +tree is indigenous. The flower markets blaze with many-coloured roses, +tons of gardenias and a wealth of white heavy-scented flowers, such as +tuberoses and Arabian jasmine. All the spices of the East, in fact, +seem breathing from these mounds of blossom, as well as from gums and +essences distilled from them in archaic fashion. Transparent sachets, +filled with the scented petals of _ylang-ylang_, fill the air with +intoxicating sweetness, and outside the busy _passer_, a +frangipanni-tree, the native _sumboya_ or "flower of the dead," just +opening a white crowd of golden-hearted blossoms to the sun, adds +another wave of perfume to the floral incense, steaming from earth to +sky with prodigal exuberance. + +Batavia possesses few objects of interest. The dismal green-shuttered +Stadkirche, a relic of Dutch Calvinism; the earliest warehouse of the +Netherlands Company, a commonplace lighthouse, and the gate of Peter +Elberfeld's dwelling (now his tomb), with his spear-pierced skull above +the lintel, as a reminder of the sentence pronounced on traitors to the +Dutch Government, comprise the scanty catalogue. Antiquities and +archaeological remains fill a white museum of classical architecture on +the Koenig's Plein, a huge parade ground, flanked by the Palace of the +Governor-General. Gold and silver ornaments, gifts from tributary +princes, shield and helmet, dagger, and _kris_, of varied stages in +Malay civilisation, abound in these spacious halls, where every +Javanese industry may be studied. Buddhist and Hindu temples have +yielded up a treasury of images, censers, and accessories of worship, +the excavations of ruined cities in Central Java, long overgrown with +impenetrable jungle, opening a mine of archaeological wealth in musical +instruments, seals, coins, headgear, chairs and umbrellas of State. +Golden pipes and betel-boxes show the perfection of the goldsmith's +art, and metal statues vie with those of sculptured wood or stone. Here +Captain Cook left his treasure trove from the Southern seas, and the +Council Chamber of the Museum contains portraits and souvenirs of the +great navigators who sailed into the uncharted ocean of geographical +discovery, and in various stages of their adventurous careers anchored +at Java, to display the wondrous trophies of unknown lands in the +island then regarded as the farthest outpost of contemporary +civilisation. + +The _toelatingskaart_, or Javanese passport, formerly indispensable for +insular travel beyond the radius of forty miles from Batavia, though +not yet obsolete, proves practically needless, and is never once +demanded during a six weeks' stay. The small addition contributed to +the rich revenue by this useless official "permit," appears the sole +reason for retaining it, now that vexatious restrictions are withdrawn. +In the intervals of arranging an up-country tour from monotonous +Weltevreden, destitute of any attraction beyond the white colonnades +and verdant groves flanking sleepy canals and quaint bridges, the local +industry of _sarong_ stippling affords a curious interest. Every city +in Java possesses a special type of this historic dress, represented on +the walls of temples dating before the Christian era, and worn by the +Malay races from time immemorial. This strip of cotton cloth, which +forms the attire both of men and women, is twisted firmly round the +body, and requires no girdle to secure it. Palm-fronds, birds, and +animals, geometric patterns, religious emblems, fruits and flowers, are +represented in bewildering confusion. The girls, with flower-decked +hair and scanty garb, occupy a long, low shed, filled with rude frames +for stretching the cloth, painted in soft-tinted dyes--brown, blue, and +amber for the most part--with tapering funnels. These waxed cloths +allow infinite scope for native imagination, only a small panel of +formal design being obligatory, the remaining surface fancifully +coloured at will in harmonious hues. No two _sarongs_ are alike, and +the painted _battek_, notwithstanding the simplicity of the cotton +background, represents an amount of labour and finish which makes the +archaic garment a costly, though almost indestructible production. The +graceful _slandang_, a crossed scarf of the same material, only serves +as a shoulder-strap, wherein the brown Malay baby sits contentedly, for +the ugly white jacket of the Dutchwoman is now compulsory on the +native. Every variety of _battek_, basket-work, mats, and quaint silver +or brass ware, is brought by native peddlers to the broad verandahs of +the hotel, the patient and gentle people content to spend long hours on +the marble steps, dozing between their scanty bargains, or crimsoning +their months with the stimulating morsel of betel-nut, said to allay +the hunger, thirst, and exhaustion of the steaming tropics. The +conquered race, cowed by ages of tyranny under native princes, +possesses those mild and effeminate characteristics fostered by a +languid and enervating climate. That the salient angles of the sturdy +Dutch character, which accomplished so many feats of endurance in the +earlier days of the colony, should undergo rapid disintegration by +intermarriage with the native stock, must arouse regret in all who +realise the claims to respect possessed by the fighting forefathers of +Holland's tropical dependencies. + +Educational matters were for centuries in abeyance, and until 1864 the +Malays were forbidden to learn the language of their European rulers. +Many dialects are found in Java's wide territory, but Low Malay has +been declared the official tongue, and with the advance of public +opinion, wider views prevail concerning the rights of the subject race. +A good Roman Catholic priest, one of the most enlightened and liberal +Dutchmen encountered in Java, asserts that in the schools of the +Colonial Government, the Malay boy possesses a mathematical facility +superior to that of the Dutch scholar, in spite of the advantage +accruing from hereditary education. + +At the sunset hour, Batavian life awakens from the long slumbers of the +tropical afternoon, and as the golden light filters through the waving +palms, the long Schul-Weg, beside the central canal, fills with +saunterers, enjoying the delights of that brief spell, when peace and +coolness fall on the world before the sudden twilight drops veil after +veil of deepening gloom, merging into the "darkness which may be felt," +for the twelve hours of the tropical night. Gathering clouds reveal but +scanty glimpses of the moon in these January weeks, but through rifts +in the sombre canopy, the Southern stars hang low in the dome of +heaven, and shine like burning lamps, appearing almost within reach of +an outstretched hand. + + + + +BUITENZORG. + + +The first destination of the up-country traveller in Java is +Buitenzorg, the Dutch "Sans Souci," containing the Governor-General's +rural Palace, the houses of Court officials, and the superb Botanical +Garden, which ranks first among the horticultural triumphs of the +world. The two hours' journey by the railway, which now traverses the +whole of Java, shows a succession of tropical landscapes, appearing +unreal in their fantastic and dream-like beauty. The glowing green of +rice-fields, the dense forests of swaying palms, the porphyry tints of +the teeming soil, and the purple mountains, carved into the weird +contours peculiar to volcanic ranges, frame myriad pictures of +unfamiliar native life with dramatic effect. Villages of woven +basket-work cluster beneath green curtains of banana and spreading +canopies of palm, the central mosque surmounting the tiny huts with +many-tiered roofs, and walls inlaid with gleaming tiles of white and +blue. Brown figures, with gay _sarong_ and turbaned headgear, bring +bamboo buckets to moss-grown wells, gray water-buffaloes crop marshy +herbage, a little bronze-hued figure seated on each broad back, and +busy workers stand knee-deep in slush, to transplant emerald blades of +rice or to gather the yellow crops, for seedtime and harvest go on +together in this fertile land. Our train halts at Depok, a Christian +village unique in Java, for the religious history of the island shows +little missionary enterprise among a race strangely indifferent to the +claims of faith, and lightly casting away one creed after another, with +a carelessness which has ever proved a formidable bar to spiritual +progress. The Portuguese Jesuits were expelled by the Dutch, and +English efforts at conversion were succeeded by a general exclusion of +foreign missionaries. Public opinion eventually prevented the +continuance of this despotic rule, and at the present day a certain +number of Roman and Protestant clergy are supported by the Government, +but Roman zeal outstrips the niggardly spiritual provision, and proves +the appreciation in which it is held by full churches and devout +worshippers. The Mohammedanism of the Malay lacks the fiery fervour +common to Islam, and his slack hands are ever ready to forego all +symbols of faith. From the region of rice and tapioca, maize and +sugar-cane, we reach the great cacao plantations, hung with +chocolate-coloured pods, and the ruddy kina-groves on the lower slopes +of the mountain chain. The palms are everywhere, clashing their huge +fronds, and undulating in waves of fiery green, the light and shadow of +the golden evening reflected on the swaying foliage. Stately Palmyra, +slender areca, graceful pandang with a length of scarlet crowning each +smooth grey stem, the mighty royal palm, king of the forest, spreading +cocoanuts, and a hundred unknown varieties, soaring among bread-fruit +and teak, nutmeg and waringen, reveal the inexhaustible powers of +tropical Nature. Buitenzorg occupies an ideal position between the blue +and violet peaks of Gedeh and Salak, the guardian mountains of the +fairy spot, perennially green with spring-like freshness, from the +daily showers sweeping across the valley from one or other of the lofty +crests, and possessing a delicious climate at an altitude of eight +hundred feet. The Hotel Bellevue, where _back_ rooms should be secured +on account of a superb prospect, comprising river, mountain and forest, +stands near the great entrance of the world-famous Gardens, and our +balcony commands a profound ravine, carved by a clear river, winding +away between forests of palm to the dark cone of Mount Salak, the +climax of the picture. The artist destined to interpret the soul of +Java is yet unborn, or unable to grasp the character of her unique and +distinctive scenery, but a village of plaited palm-leaves, accentuating +this tropical Eden, brings it down to the human level, where soft Malay +voices, glimpses of domestic life, and a canoe afloat on the brimming +stream, remind us that we are still on _terra firma_, and not gazing +at a dreamland Paradise beyond earthly ken. Sleeping accommodation in +the hills suggests little comfort. A hard mattress beneath a sheet is +the sole furniture of the huge four-poster, surrounded by thick muslin +curtains to exclude air and creeping things; pillows are stuffed hard +with cotton-down, and no coverings are provided--an unalterable custom +possessing obvious disadvantages in a climate reeking with damp, where +the walls of a room closed for a day or two become green with mould. +Rheumatic stiffness on waking is a matter of course in humid Java, for +the hour between darkness and dawn contains a concentrated essence of +dew, mist, and malaria, which penetrates to the very marrow of +unaccustomed bones, even when it lacks the frequent accompaniment of +the violent cascade known as "a tropical shower." The glorious +Botanical Garden is approached by a mighty avenue of colossal +kanari-trees, over a hundred feet high, with yellow light filtering +through the fretted roof of interlacing boughs, which suggests a vast +aisle in some primeval forest. Stately columns and spreading roots +garlanded with stag-horn ferns, waving moss, white and purple orchids, +or broad-leaved creepers, falling in sheets and torrents of shining +foliage and knitting tree to tree, attest the irrepressible growth of +vegetation, which flings a many-coloured veil of blossom and leaf over +root, branch, and stem. A fairy lake glows with the pink and crimson +blossoms of the noble Victoria Regia, the huge leaves like green +tea-trays floating on the water, where a central fountain adds +prismatic radiance to the scenic effect of the splendid lilies. +Climbing palms and massive creepers, splashed with orange, scarlet, and +gold, tumble in masses from lofty branches, and the dazzling +Bougainvillea flings curtains of roseate purple over wall and gateway. +A dense thicket of frangipanni scents the air with the symbolic +blossoms, shining like stars from grey-green boughs of sharp-cut +leaves. A copse of splendid tree-ferns flanks the forest-like +plantation known as "The Thousand Palms," and beneath dusky avenues of +waringen (a variety of the banyan species, which strikes staff-like +boughs into the earth and springs up again in caverns of foliage), +herds of deer are wandering, snatching at drooping vines, or sheltering +from the fierce sun in depths of impenetrable shade. Tufts of +red-stemmed Banka palms cluster on the green islets of lake and river, +vista after vista opens up, each mysterious aisle appearing more lovely +than the last, and luring the wanderer to the climax formed by a +terraced knoll, commanding a superb view of Gedeh and Salak, the twin +summits of chiselled turquoise, gashed by the amethyst shadows of deep +ravines, with Gedeh's curl of volcanic smoke staining the lustrous +azure of the sky. Many-coloured tree carnations, gorgeous cannas and +calladiums, copses of snowy gardenia, and flowering shrubs of rainbow +hues, blaze with splendour, or exhale their wealth of perfume on the +languid air, thronged with the invisible souls of the floral multitude. +Graceful rattans shoot up in tall ladders of foliage-hidden cane, +climbing to the topmost fronds of the loftiest palm, and, unless +ruthlessly cut down, overthrowing the stately tree with their fatal +embrace. Sausage and candle trees, with strange parodies of prosaic +food and waxen tapers, climbing palms, sometimes extending for five +hundred feet, and gigantic blossoms like crimson trumpets, or +delicately-tinted shells of ocean, comprise but a tithe of Nature's +wonders, crowned by the mighty "Rafflesia," the largest flower in the +world, with each vast red chalice often measuring a circumference of +six feet. A hundred native gardeners are employed in this park-like +domain, and seventy men work in the adjacent culture-garden of forty +acres, where experiments in grafting and acclimatizing are carried on, +as well as in the supplementary garden of Tjibodas, beautifully +situated on the lower slopes of Mount Salak. The white palace of the +Governor-General faces the lake, fed by the lovely river Tjiligong, +winding in silver loops round verdant lawn and palm-clad hill, or +expanding into bamboo-fringed lakes, and bringing perennial freshness +into the tropical Eden of sun-bathed Java. + +Beyond the fretted arches of the great kanari avenue, the white tomb +of Lady Raffles, who died during her husband's term of office in the +island, forms a pathetic link with the past. When the colony was +restored to Holland, a clause in the treaty concerning it, made the +perpetual care of this monument, to one deeply loved and mourned, +binding upon the Dutch Governor--a condition loyally observed during +the century since the cessation of English rule. Cinnamon and clove +scent the breeze which whispers mysterious secrets to the swaying +plumes of the tall sago-palms, and dies away in the delicate foliage of +tamarind and ironwood tree. A network of air roots makes a grotesque +circle round the spreading boughs of the banyan grove, mahogany and +sandal-wood, ebony and cork, ginger-tree and cardamom, mingle their +varied foliage, the translucency of sun-smitten green shading through +deepening tones into the sombre tints of ilex and pine with exquisite +gradation. Flamboyant trees flaunt fiery pyramids of blossom high in +the air, and the golden bouquets of the salacca light up dusky avenues, +where large-leaved lianas rope themselves from tree to tree in cables +of vivid green. Bare stems, except in the palms, are unknown in this +richly-decorated temple of Nature; climbing blade-plants with +sword-like leaves of gold-striped verdure, huge orchids like +many-coloured birds and butterflies fluttering in the wind, wreathe +trunk and branch with fantastic splendour, and matted creepers weave +curtains of dense foliage from spreading boughs. The austere and scanty +vegetation of Northern climes, which gives a distinct outline and value +to every leaf and flower, has nothing in common with the prodigal and +passionate beauty of the tropical landscape, where the wealth of earth +is flung broadcast at our feet in mad profusion. Day by day the +marvellous gardens of Buitenzorg take deeper hold of mind and +imagination. The early dawn, when the dark silhouettes of the palms +stand etched against the rose-tinted heavens, the hot noontide in the +shadows of the colossal kanari-trees, the sunset gold transfiguring the +foliage into emerald fire, and spilling pools of liquid amber upon the +mossy turf, or the white moonlight which transmutes the forest aisles +into a fairy world of sable and silver, invest this vision of Paradise +with varied aspects of incomparable beauty. The surrounding scenery, +though full of interest, seems but the setting of the priceless gem, +and when inexorable Time, the modern angel of the flaming sword, at +length bars the way, and banishes us from our Javanese Eden, the exiled +heart turns back perpetually to the floral sanctuary, the antitype of +that Divinely-planted Garden on the dim borderland of Time which +revealed and fulfilled the primeval beauty of earth's morning hours. + + + + +SOEKABOEMI AND SINDANGLAYA. + + +Soekaboemi (Desire of the World), a favourite sanatorioum of the Dutch, +is approached by an exquisite railway, curving round the purple heights +of forest-girt Salak. The usual afternoon deluge weeps itself away, +palm plumes and cassava boughs, overhanging the silvery Tjiligong, drop +showers of diamonds into the current, and giant bamboos creak in the +spicy wind, redolent of gardenia and clove. The hills, scaled by green +rice-terraces, each with tiny rill and miniature cascade, are vocal +with murmuring waters. Lilac plumbago, red hybiscus, and golden +allemanda mingle with pink and purple lantana, yellow daisies, and +hedges of scarlet tassels, enclosing wicker huts in patches of banana +and cocoanut. Brown girls, in blue and orange _sarongs_, occupy the +steps of a basket-work shrine, from whence an unknown god, smeared with +ochre, extends a sceptred hand, for Hinduism left deep traces on +inland Java, dim with the dust of vanished creeds. The expense and +trouble of former travel by the superb post-roads, made at terrible +sacrifice of life in earlier days, is now done away with, though the +noble avenues and picturesque shelters, erected for protection from sun +or rain, suggest a pleasant mode of leisurely progress. No trains may +run at night, not only on account of native incompetence, but from +dangers caused by constant geographical changes on this volcanic soil, +where rivers suddenly alter their course, and earthquakes obstruct the +way with yawning chasms or heaps of debris. A paternal Government +provides the traveller with a half-way house, erecting a large hotel at +Maos, with uniform rates, entirely for the benefit of the passenger by +rail. Trains are built on the American plan, stations are spacious and +airy, refreshments easily secured, and every halting-place offers an +_embarras de richesses_ in the shape of tropical fruits, wherewith to +supplement or replace the solidity of the Dutch commissariat. Coffee +and tea plantations in ordered neatness, contrast with the untamed +profusion of forest vegetation, clothing sharp promontory and shelving +terrace. Dusky villages cling like birds' nests to ledges of rock, +screw-palms with airy roots frame mountain tarns, and a Brazilian +Emperor-palm, with smooth column bulging into a pear-shaped base, +accentuates the sunset glory from a crag crowned by the black canopy +of colossal fronds. The Preanger Regency was the heart of ancient +Mataram, that historic kingdom of old-world Java round which perpetual +warfare waged for centuries. + +Language and customs change as we cross the saddle between the blue +peaks of Salak and Gedeh; gay crowds bring fruits to picturesque +wayside markets, bearing bamboo poles laden with golden papaya and +purple mangosteen, or plaited baskets containing the conglomerate +native cuisine. The elastic and gracefully-modelled figures of the +Soendanese populace betoken a purer race than that of the steamy +Batavian lowlands, where foreign elements deteriorate the native stock. +The Hotel Victoria at Soekaboemi consists of detached white buildings +round tree-filled courts, erected on the "pavilion system." Every two +visitors occupy a tiny bungalow of two bedrooms, opening on a spacious +verandah divided by a screen, and each section provided with lamp, +rocking-chair, and tea-table, the long public dining hall being +approached by a covered alley. The rain, swishing down through the +night in torrents and cataracts, clears at sunrise, and though heavy +clouds still veil the heights of Salak, the transparent beauty of the +morning crystallises the atmosphere, and sharply defines every feature +of the landscape. The country roads, shaded by towering palms and +fruit-laden mangos, glow with a continuous procession of brown +figures, the women clad in the universal _sarong_, but men and children +often in Nature's garb, with touches of orange or crimson in scarf and +turban. Water-oxen and buffaloes, goats and sheep, vary the throng, but +cattle fare badly in fertile Java, where the all-pervading rice ousts +the pasture-land. Glorious bamboos form arches of feathery green +meeting across the road, and the busy China _campong_, or _desar_ in +Preanger parlance, is full of life and movement with the first streak +of day, for all trade in Java depends upon the indefatigable industry +of the Celestial. The idle gambling Malay, though an expert hunter and +fisher, takes no thought for the morrow, and is protected by the Dutch +Government from ruin by an enforced demand of rice for storage, +according to the numbers of the family. Every village contains the +great Store Barn of plaited palm leaves, so that, in case of need, the +confiscated rice can be doled out to the improvident native, who thus +contributes to the support of his family in times of scarcity. This +regulation relieves want without pauperising, the common garner merely +serving as a compulsory savings bank. Many salutary laws benefit the +Malay, possessing a notable share of tropical slackness, and the lack +of initiative partly due to a servile past under the sway of tyrannical +native princes. The little brown people of Java, eminently gentle and +tractable, are honest enough for vendors of eatables to place a laden +basket at the roadside for the refreshment of the traveller, who drops +a small coin into a bamboo tube fastened to a tree for this purpose. +The customary payment is never omitted, and at evening the owner of the +basket collects the money, and brings a fresh supply of food for future +wayfarers. Country districts demonstrate the fact of Java being a +creedless land. This is Sunday, and the Feast of the Epiphany, but the +only honour paid to the day consists in a gayer garb, and a band +playing for an hour in the palm-shaded garden. Work goes on in +rice-field and plantation, but no church bell rings from the closed +chapel outside the gates, and no sign of religion is evident, whether +from mosque, temple, or church. Lovely lanes form alluring vistas. The +pretty _desas_ of plaited palm and bamboo, hiding in depths of tropical +woodland, with blue thunbergia clambering over every verandah, and the +Preanger girls, with their brilliant _slandangs_ of orange and scarlet, +amber and purple, make vivid points of colour in the foreground of blue +mountain and dusky forest. A copper-coloured boy carries on his head a +basket of gold-fish large as salmon, the westering sun glittering on +the ruddy scales. + +Traditional servility remains ingrained in Preanger character, and the +crouching obeisance known as the _dodok_, formerly insisted upon, is +still observed by the native to his European masters, the humble +posture giving place to kneeling on a nearer approach. The kind +proprietor of the Soekaboemi Hotel offers every facility to those +guests anxious to penetrate below the surface of Soendanese life, +placing his carriage and himself at the disposal of the visitor, and +affording a mine of information otherwise unattainable, for books on +Java are few and far between, and the work of Sir Stamford Raffles +continues the best authority on island life and customs, though a +century has elapsed since it was written. Why, one asks in amazement, +did England part with this Eastern Paradise? rich not only in +vegetation, but containing unexplored treasures of precious metal and +the vast mineral wealth peculiar to volcanic regions, where valuable +chemical products are precipitated by the subterranean forces of +Nature's mysterious laboratory. In the far-off days when "the grand +tour" of Europe was the climax of the ordinary traveller's ambition, +beautiful Java was relinquished on the plea of being an unknown and +useless possession, too far from the beaten track of British sailing +ships to be of practical value. The remonstrances of Sir Stamford +Raffles, and his representations of future colonial expansion, were +regarded as the dreams of a romantic enthusiast, and the noble English +Governor, in advance of his age, while effecting during his brief +tenure of office results unattainable by a century of ordinary labour, +found his efforts wasted and his work undone. Instead of returning +home, he applied himself heroically to the developement of Singapore, +the eternal monument of patriotic devotion and invincible courage. + +The line to Tjandjoer, the starting point for Sindanglaya, traverses +one of the exquisite plains characteristic of Java. Mountain walls, +with palm-fringed base and violet crest, bound a fertile expanse, where +myriad brooks foam through fairy arches of feathery bamboo and long +vistas of spreading palm fronds. Rice in every stage of growth, from +flaming green to softest yellow, covers countless terraces, the +picturesque outlines of their varied contours enhancing the beauty of +the fantastic scene. A _sado_, with a team of three tiny ponies, dashes +up the long avenue leading to the palm-fringed hills, the mighty +Amherstia trees forming aisles of dark green foliage, brightened with +the vivid glow of orange red blossoms. The broad road is a kaleidoscope +of brilliant colour, for native costume vies with the dazzling tints of +tropical Nature as we advance further into the Preangers. The gay +headgear, worn turbanwise, with two ends standing upright above plaited +folds, and magenta _kabajas_, with _slandangs_ of apple green, amber or +purple, make a blaze of colour against the forest background, or glow +amidst the dusky shadows of palm-thatched sheds, where thirsty +travellers imbibe pink and yellow syrups, the favourite beverages of +the Malay race. The ascending road commands superb views of the +mountain chain, and the rambling two-storied hotel, widened by immense +verandahs, stands opposite cloud-crowned Gedeh, half-veiled by the +spreading column of volcanic smoke. The misty blue of further hills +leads the eye to the three weird peaks of the Tangkoeban Prahoe, the +boat-shaped "Ark" regarded as the Ararat of Java, for the universal +tradition of the great Deluge underlies the religious history welded +from Moslem, Buddhist, and Hindu elements. Legendary lore clusters +round the petrified "Ark" in which the progenitors of the Malayan stock +escaped from the Noachian flood. The storm-tossed and water-logged +boat, lodged between jutting rocks, was reversed that it might dry in +the sun, but the weary voyagers who traditionally peopled the Malay +Archipelago remained in the lotus-eating land, and the disused "Ark" or +_Prau_, fossilizing through the ages, became a portion of the peaks +whereon it rested. The sacred mountain developed into a place of +pilgrimage and prayer, and the ruins of richly-carved temples, together +with four broken flights of a thousand steps, denote the former +importance ascribed to the great Altar of Nature, and the power of +religion on the social life of the past. Generations of later +inhabitants, dwelling in flimsy huts of bamboo and thatch, regarded the +mysterious ruins of the Tankahan Prahoe as the work of giants or +demons, and the haunted hill as a mysterious resort of evil spirits. +In lofty Sindanglaya, the swaying palms of the lowlands yield to +glorious tree-ferns, shading road and ravine with feathery canopies of +velvet green. A lake of azure crystal mirrors a thick fringe of the +great fronds, and on every parapet of the ruddy cliffs the living +emerald of the lanceolated foliage glows in vivid contrast with the +splintered crags. Sindanglaya is the refuge of fever-stricken Europeans +from malarial coast or inland swamp, but the hotel is now empty of +invalids. The kind proprietor lavishes time and care on English guests, +and the attentive Malay "room-boys," squatting on the verandah outside +our doors, fear to lose sight of their charges for a moment, lest some +need of native help should arise. They watch hand and eye like faithful +dogs, for their language is unintelligible to us as ours to them, and +the only attempt at speech is "_Chow-chow, mister!_" when the +dinner-bell rings, the mystic words accompanied by a realistic +pantomime of mouth and fingers. + +The following morning dawns like an ideal day of June, and we start in +chairs, carried by four coolies, for the beautiful Falls of Tjibereum. +A mountain road winds through rice-fields and tree-ferns towards fold +upon fold of lilac peaks, until we reach the mountain garden of +Tjibodas, the beautiful supplement of incomparable Buitenzorg. A +strange sense of remoteness belongs to this lonely pleasaunce of the +upper world, on a sheltered slope of ever-burning Gedeh, quiescent now +save for the blue curl of sulphurous smoke, which gives perpetual +warning of those smouldering forces ever ready to devastate the +surrounding country. Subterranean activity increases during the rainy +season, and tremors of earthquake occasionally startle the equanimity +of those unused to the perils of existence on this thin crust of Mother +Earth, for Java's teeming soil and population rest upon an ominous +fissure of the globe's surface, and twelve of the forty-five volcanos +on this island of terror and beauty are still moderately active, +sometimes displaying sudden outbursts of energy. The green lawns and +towering camphor trees of Tjibodas suggest the spellbound beauty of +some enchanted spot, unprofaned by human foot. A glassy lake mirrors +the tall bamboos and feathery tamarinds, their slender and sensitive +foliage motionless in the still air of the dewy dawn. Huge coleas +accentuate the spring verdure with heavy masses of bronze and crimson, +and magnolias exhale intoxicating odours from snowy chalices. Blue +lilies and flaxen pampas grass grow in thickets upon the emerald +slopes, and the ordered loveliness of the mountain Paradise, walled in +by dense jungle and savage precipice, brings the glamour of dreamland +into the stern environment of mysterious forest and frowning peak. A +rudely-paved and mossy path, shadowed by the black foliage of stately +casuarinas, leads into the gloomy jungle. The forest monarchs are +curtained with tangled creepers and roped together with serpent-like +lianas, stag-horn ferns, and green veils of filmy moss fluttering from +every bough. A swampy path through rank grass and rough boulders +pierces the dense thickets, matted together with inextricable +confusion, teak and tamarind, acacia and bread-fruit, palm and +tree-fern losing their own characteristics and merging themselves into +concrete form. The appalling stillness and solemnity of the dense +jungle appears emphasised by a solitary brown figure, with pipe and +betel-box, beneath a thatched shed at an angle of the narrow track, +where he presides over a little stall of cocoanuts, bananas, and +coloured syrups, for the refreshment of coolies on their way from the +Tjibodas garden to villages across the heights of Gedeh. No voice ever +seems raised in these remote recesses of the mountains, where even the +children of each brown hamlet play silently as figures in a dream. Our +bearers, swishing through wet grass and splashing across brimming +brooks, push with renewed energies up a steep ascent to the heart of +the wild solitude, where three mighty waterfalls dash in savage +grandeur from a range of over hanging cliffs into a churning river, +descending by continuous rapids over a stairway of brown-striped +trap-rock and swirling between lichen-clad banks, to lose itself in the +green gloom of the impenetrable woods. One of these huge cascades +would make the fortune of a Swiss valley, and we need no further +efforts of our willing bearers in the cause of sight-seeing, but as +neither words nor gestures prove intelligible to Western obtuseness, a +brown coolie seizes each arm, and rushes us up a grassy hill to a huge +cavern, hung with myriad bats, and containing a pool of crystal water. +The simple minds of these kindly mountaineers shirk no trouble for the +benefit of the stranger, who, though regarded as a madman, must be +humoured as such, not only to the top of his bent, but often beyond it. +A descent through rice-fields and _desas_ skirts the serrated cliffs of +Gedeh's northward side, though tree-ferns growing in thousands afford +shelter from the daily showers. The sudden passion of tropical rain +dies away, leaving an atmosphere of unearthly transparency. Gedeh, +carved in amethyst, leans against a primrose sky, streaked by the puff +of white smoke from the crater. Villagers returning from work brighten +the road with patches of scarlet and yellow; children, clad only in +necklaces of red seeds and silver bangles, running about amid groups of +women in painted _battek_, with brown babies carried in the orange or +crimson folds of the _slandang_, pause before the doorways of woven +basket-work huts, or carry crates of yellow bananas and strings of +purple mangosteens, to supplement the "evening rice" of their frugal +meal. The Malay races have been called "the flower of the East," noted +for their soft voices and courteous manners in the days of old, but +European intercourse obliterates native characteristics, and the +inhabitant of the sea-coast, or of the larger towns, unpleasantly +imitates the brusquerie of his Dutch masters, and even exaggerates it. +The Soendanese of the Preanger hills, less in contact with the external +world, retains traces of life's ancient simplicity, and though a keen +intelligence forms no part of his mental equipment, his desire to +please and satisfy his employer is of pathetic intensity. + +The Governor-General of Java, whose stipend is of double the amount +received by the American President, owns a country palace at +Sindanglaya, in addition to the splendid official residences at Batavia +and Buitenzorg. A lovely walk leads from this flower-girt mansion to a +pavilion on the Kasoer hill, commanding a prospect of four mountain +ranges, outlined in tender hues of lavender and turquoise against the +cobalt sky. In the foreground stretches a fertile plain, with bamboo +and sugar-cane varying the eternal rice in brilliant shades of green +and gold, always decorative, from the first emerald blade to the +amber-tinted straw, for the sacred grain possesses a beauty far +exceeding that of wheat, barley, or rye. + +Undulating lines and ascending terraces break the uniformity of the +lovely plains with the fascination of weird contour and fanciful +design, intricate as the pattern traced on the native _sarong_. The +rice-culture of these fields and valleys is a perfect survival of the +primeval system, unchanged since the days when "the gift of the gods" +was first bestowed on primitive man in this land of plenty. The +peasant, toiling in the flooded _sawas_, and occupied from seedtime to +harvest in the arduous labour demanded by the rice-field, combines with +his agricultural work the idea of a sacred duty to the divinities who +gave him the staple commodity whereon his life mainly depends. Cocoanut +and sugar-cane, maize and tapioca, banana and cassava, supplement the +rice, but it ranks above all other products of the teeming soil, for +sacramental efficacy and supernatural origin have hallowed the "grain +of heaven" from the very dawn of history, and the hereditary belief in +the efficacy of the sacred crop still remains mystically rooted in the +sub-consciousness of the Malay race. + + + + +GAROET AND HER VOLCANO. + + +The occasional drawback of weeping skies is counterbalanced by the +gorgeous vegetation only seen to perfection in the rainy season, and +that clouds should sometimes veil the burning blue to mitigate +Equatorial sunshine proves a source of satisfaction to those who fail +to appreciate the Rip Van Winkle life of womankind in Java. The journey +to Garoet supplies a succession of vivid pictures, illustrating the +individuality of the insular scenery. The weird outlines of volcanic +ranges, shading from palest azure to deepest plum-colour, the dreamlike +beauty of Elysian plains, and the stately palm-forests extending league +upon league, with mighty vans clashing in the mountain breeze, assume +magical charm as we penetrate into the heart of the alluring land. Two +pyramidal peaks, Haroeman and Kaleidon, rise sheer from the fair plain +of Leles in colossal stairways of green rice-terraces. Knots of palm +shelter innumerable villages which dot the mountain flanks, the woven +huts fragile as houses of cards, but built up on identical sites +through countless ages, recorded in perennial characters of living +green on these twin trophies of primitive agriculture. Many travellers +have commented on the strange undertone of music, echoing from a +thousand silvery rills and tiny cascades, which follow the verdant +lines of terrace or parapet, and make the shimmering air vocal with +melody, like the distant song of surf on a coral reef. Variety of form +belongs to all Javanese agriculture as the result of handicraft, for +the peasant unconsciously puts his own personality into his toil. The +exquisite tints of the rice in different stages of growth display a +translucence indescribable except in terms of light and fire. The amber +gleam of young shoots, the green flames of the springing crop, the +pulsating emerald of later growth, and the golden sheen of ripened +ears, invest the "gift of the gods" with unearthly radiance. The +Eastern mind has ever responded to Nature's touch, for the great Mother +whispers her closest secrets to simple hearts, and science now realises +that civilisation has broken many of the subtle links which in earlier +days were mystic bonds of union between man and the universe. + +Malay idiosyncracy evidences the survival of many primal influences +forgotten or denied by races of higher type and deeper culture. Very +little is known concerning the Malayan people who mingled with almost +every Oriental stock. Amphibious tastes suggest picturesque traditions +of prolonged voyaging in search of fresh fishing grounds to supply the +needs of a rapidly multiplying population. A strong Malay element +exists even in far-off Japan, and the wide ramifications of the nomadic +stock can be traced to broad rivers encountered on the southward +journey, and luring stragglers from the main body by the mysterious +glamour of winding water-ways piercing the tangled forests, and +pointing to unknown realms of hope or promise. The Malay retains many +of the hereditary gifts bestowed on the untaught children of Nature, +and, in spreading his language and customs far over the vast Pacific, +adopted few extraneous ideas from the world through which he wandered. +His primeval instincts still sway his life under other conditions. +Marvellous skill in hunting, fishing, boat-building, and navigation in +tornado-swept waters, remains to him. The deft weaving of palm-leaf hut +and wall of defence creates a village or destroys it at lightning +speed. Even now his basket-work home is never built on dry land, if +water can be found wherein to plant the supporting poles of the fragile +dwellings, suggesting the impermanence of a nomadic race. The Malay +never travels on foot to any place which can possibly be reached by +water, his native element; winds and tides have imbued him with +something of their own unstable and changing character, and the sea +which nurtured him is still the supreme factor in his life. Feet vie +with fingers in marvellous capacity, and to see a native cocoanut +gatherer run up the polished stem of a swaying palm, with greater ease +and swiftness than anyone shows in mounting a ladder, transports +thought to the distant past, when the ancestral stock, disembarking +from the rude canoes at nightfall, sought an evening meal on the edge +of the palm-forest, bowed beneath the weight of green and yellow nuts a +hundred feet overhead. What wonder if in lands of perpetual summer the +syren song of some "long bright river" should lure the storm-tossed +mariners from the perilous seas to the comparative security of inland +life! The stern environment of Northern poverty stands out in terrible +contrast with the teeming prodigality of tropical Nature, offering all +the richest fruits of earth in full measure to these early wanderers +across the Southern seas. + +The mountain railway, curving round ridge or precipice and spanning +sombre gorge with bridge and aqueduct, affords superb views of the +unrivalled plains. Waterfalls foam over granite cliffs; a sinuous river +flings a silver chain round the symmetrical base of Kaleidon, and from +our lofty vantage point we gaze into the luminous green of a million +palms, where the warm heart of a deep forest opens to display the +lustre and colour of molten emeralds. The Soendanese quarter of the +island gives place to the ancient Javanese territory, and Malay +characteristics, though underlying and mingling with every insular +stock, are here modified by a strain of Hindu ancestry, which gives +refinement of feature and grace of carriage. Well-modelled figures and +delicate hands and feet are attributed to the liberal admixture of +royal and noble blood with that of the peasantry, for the ancient +Rulers of Java respected no rights but their own, and the domestic +arrangements of King Solomon prevailed in a kingdom of tyrants and +slaves. Hindu thraldom was intensified under Arab priests, who, +following in the train of piratical Moormen, claimed the sovereignty of +Java under their protection. The gold-embroidered jacket of civil or +military rank, with the _kris_ thrust into a brilliant sash, here +supplements the universal _sarong_, itself of bolder design and glowing +colour in this old-world realm of Mataram, the centre of Java's +historic interest. The crooked blade of the _kris_ is still used in +divination, light and shadow playing over the wavy steel, ever +suggesting cabalistic signs inscribed by an invisible hand on the azure +surface. The _kris_ is popularly endowed with healing efficacy, and the +availing touch of the sacred talisman is an article of Javanese faith. +A hundred varieties of the weapon are found in the Malay Archipelago, +from the gold-hilted and diamond-studded royal _kris_ to the +boat-handled dagger of common use, permitted to all but peasants; +women of the higher class wear it in the girdle, and though +unrepresented in the sculpture of Javanese temples, the _kris_ is +ascribed to the days of Panji, a Hindu warrior whose feats form the +libretto of a popular drama, though his authenticity appears uncertain. +The changes in local costume and character, as seen in wayside +villages, enliven the journey until we reach the mountain gateway of +Tjadas Pangeran, "the Royal Stone," flanked by flashing waterfalls, and +forming the entrance to the region supreme in natural scenery, archaic +art, and literary interest. The black cone of Goentoer, "the thunder +peak," accentuates the red blaze of the declining sun on the intricate +rice-mosaic of green and gold in the divinely beautiful plain revealed +through the rocky cleft. Amid the many glories of Javanese landscape, +the poetic glamour of these palm-girt levels lingers longest in the +memory, for the world-famed picture known as "The Plains of Heaven" +might have been inspired by the haunting loveliness of these rolling +uplands. Our railway carriage contains a native Regent, his principal +wife, and a pretty daughter. Javanese princes are made ostensible +rulers of native districts, but associated with Dutch Residents as +"Elder Brothers," who may be more accurately termed compulsory +advisers. Without a measure of despotic authority exercised by the +fraternal partner, the spendthrift Malay would cause perpetual +hindrance to insular development and commercial prosperity. The old +Regent, with embroidered military jacket glittering above his +elaborately-patterned _sarong_, looks a grim and forbidding figure, and +evidently regards his womenkind as beneath notice. His head is tied up +in a black kerchief, and a brilliant Order conferred by the Queen of +Holland adorns his breast. Madame, in magenta shawl and purple gown, +travesties European costume. Diamonds blaze incongruously on arms and +neck, a scarlet flower in oily black braids completing her startling +attire. The girl, in yellow _sarong_ and pink cotton jacket glorified +with rubies and pearls, shows her high breeding in slender wrists, +delicate hands, and bare feet of exquisite modelling, a red stain of +henna drawing attention to their statuesque contour. She staggers +beneath a load of impedimenta belonging to her princely father: bags, +bundles, and a heavy cloak. Javanese parents of exalted rank treat +their daughters with disdain, the approved discipline of family life +consisting in stamping an impression of abject insignificance deeply on +the plastic mind of girlhood. Fertile plain and wooded slopes are alike +destitute of domestic animals. The sheep was unknown to native races in +this pastureless land, and, though introduced by the earliest +colonists, is still spoken of as "the Dutch goat," no other term +existing for it in Malay parlance. Monkeys chatter and rustle in +forest trees, gorgeous birds flit past on jewelled wings, and frogs in +this rainy season make a deep booming like the tuning of numerous +violoncellos. At length the little town of Garoet appears in a green +valley, encircled by a diadem of peaks which suggest a tropical +Engadine. Volcanic mountains replace Alpine crests, but the white +battlements of Papandayang's smoking crater give the effect of distant +snow, and the dark pines of the Swiss valley are merely translated into +the lustrous green of crowding palms. Brawling river, rustic bridge, +and brown hamlets foster the strange illusion, and if it be true that +somewhere in the wide world every face finds a counterpart, natural +scenery may be subject to an identical law, and various ice-bound +landscapes be mirrored under Southern skies in pictures wreathed with +palm-fronds and tropic flowers. The Hotel Rupert, garlanded with +creepers, the open lattices trellised with ivy and roses, shows a more +poetic aspect than any hostelry of the distant Engadine. Our hostess is +the widow of a German physician, and her fair young daughter, alert and +capable as the typical _Hausfrau_ of her native land, has established a +reputation for supplying the guests with the home comforts and restful +atmosphere which make the Hotel Rupert an ideal abiding-place in +stagnant Java, where as a rule the sole luxuries are out-of-doors, and +of Nature's providing. That the Dutchman flourishes on his diet of +tinned meat, his appalling rice-table, and the extraordinary sequence +of dishes which probably belonged to the early days of colonisation, +either proves herculean strength or the triumph of mind over matter, +but to those of less heroic mould the unwonted amenities of a more +familiar civilisation are welcome as a green oasis in a sandy desert. A +cool and healthy mountain climate gives unwonted zest for the lovely +excursions of which Garoet is the centre. From the little lake Setoe +Bajendit, a covered raft plies to a cupola-crowned hill, facing a noble +panorama of volcanic peaks the Soendanese _desa_ of basket-work huts, +through which we pass, presents a curious spectacle, with the village +street lined on either side by rows of kneeling children, clad in Dame +Nature's brown suit alone; each little figure holding up a long-stemmed +flower--red hybiscus, creamy tuberose, or snowy gardenia--the imploring +faces raised in silent entreaty to the white strangers for the +infinitesimal coins which suffice to purchase a sheaf of blossom. +Changing lights and shadows sweep across the glancing emerald of the +rice-filled vale, darken the purple rifts of mountain gorges, or +intensify the luminous azure of soaring crests. Wayside fruit-stalls +make gay patches of colour among green piles of banana leaves, and thin +yellow strips of bamboo, the approved paper and string of the tropics, +in which every parcel is packed. Tall sugar-cane and plumy maize +surround each brown _desa_ beneath the knot of palms, and fields of +tapioca vary the prevailing rice-grounds with sharp-pointed leaves and +paler verdure. The entire tapioca crop of Java belongs to Huntley and +Palmer, for use in the manufacture of the biscuits which make a +valuable supplement to the Javanese commissariat, for unlimited rice +seldom commends itself to English tastes. Hot springs abound in this +volcanic soil, and in the "five waters" of Tjipanas, each of different +temperature, the native finds a panacea wherein he can indulge to his +heart's content, the healing springs rushing into stone tanks set in +sheds of bamboo. The principal excursion from Garoet is to the active +crater of the Papandayang, a long drive of twelve miles leading to the +foot of the volcano. From this point a chair carried by six coolies is +required for the steep road, formed by hundreds of moss-grown steps. +Plantations of coffee, cinchona, and tapioca girdle the lower slopes of +the mountain, hedges and thickets of red and purple coleas bordering +the primeval jungle of orchid-decked trees on the higher levels, the +moss-grown boughs wreathed with epiphytal plants, the trunks covered +with branching ferns, and the thick ropes of matted lianas strangling +the dense forest in their green embrace. Wild oleander mingles rosy +blossoms with bushes of living gold like tall growths of double +buttercups, and at length the cooler regions show the familiar ferns, +violets, and primroses of the temperate zone. The weird silence of the +jungle is emphasised by an occasional cry of a wild bird, flitting +among the tall tree tops, or the crash of a bough, dragged down by the +weight of some climbing rattan. A walk up a boulder-strewn slope +reaches the old crater, or Solfatara, almost surrounded by steep walls +of rock. Boiling and wheezing springs, fast-forming sulphur columns, +and clouds of choking steam, rise from the yellow and orange-powdered +earth. A deafening noise issues from the self-building architecture of +ruddy pillars, the bubbling of boiling mud, and the shrill spouting of +hot vapours from narrow orifices in the trembling crust of the +fire-charged earth. Golden sulphur-pools shower burning drops on every +side, and from the mysterious _kawa_ or crater, echoes of subterranean +thunder sound at intervals, from the traditional forge where native +legends assert that a chained giant is condemned to work eternally in +the service of the Evil One. + +At night the broad verandah of the Hotel Rupert is transformed into a +stage for a performance of the _topeng_ or national drama, chartered by +an American guest. The weird spectacle, accompanied by the _gamelon_ +music, transports us to the days of old-world Java, story and +performance being of ancient origin and religious signification. The +subjects of the _topeng_ are derived from the Panji group of dramatic +poems, the ancient costumes, the curious masks, and the office of the +_dalang_ or reciter, whose ventriloquial skill is required for the +entire wording of the _libretto_, comprise a valuable memento of bygone +days, otherwise entirely forgotten. The _wayang-wayang_ or "shadow +dance" of puppets, vies with the _topeng_ in popularity, but the latter +ranks as classic and lyrical drama. A graceful girl in pink, with +floating scarf, and gleaming _kris_ in her spangled sash, exhibits +wonderful skill in the supple play of wrist and fingers, through the +process known as devitalization, a form of drill which gives to the arm +a plastic power of detached movement, fascinating but uncanny. The +dusky garden is filled with a native crowd, moved alternately to tears +and laughter by exploits unintelligible to the European spectator, for +the story of every national hero is known to the poorest and most +ignorant of the people, from perpetual attendance on theatrical +performances. The _al fresco_ entertainments necessitated by the +climate provide exceptional opportunities of dramatic education in the +legends of Java's heroic age. The spacious verandahs gleaming with the +soft light of Chinese lanterns, and set in depths of shadow, the +scented gloom of the tropical night veiling the dusky lawns, crowded +with mysterious figures drawn by the weird music from every quarter, +the brilliant robes and grotesque masks of the actors, compose a +picture of archaic charm. Passers-by pause on their way to look, and +listen with unwearied interest to the oft-told tales, for the stories +of the world's childhood, like the fairy lore of our own early days, +deepen their significance to the untaught mind by perpetual repetition. +The Hindu cloudland which veils the Javanese past "was reached by a +ladder of realities," for the exploits of gods and mythical heroes were +afterwards attributed to native Rulers, until the medley of truth and +fiction, history and mythology, became an inextricable tangle. The +birds' beaks, and hooked noses of the masks in the _topeng_, and of the +puppets in the shadow-play, were made compulsory after the Arabic +conquest, in order to reconcile the national pastime with the creed of +Islam, which forbade the dramatic representation of the human form. The +reigning _Susunhan_ evaded the decree by distorting mask and puppet, +but although the outside world might no longer recognise the heroes of +the play, Javanese knowledge of national tradition easily pierced the +flimsy disguise, and credited their deified heroes with a new power of +metamorphosis. The fantastic play lasts so far into the night that the +prolonged _libretto_ is brought to a summary conclusion by the hostess, +since European nature can stand no more, though the rapt attention of +the Malay would continue till morning. The satiety of modern days has +never touched these simple minds, and an entire absence of that +critical element which disintegrates so many of life's simple joys, +ministers to the supreme satisfaction derived from the crude ideals of +native drama. Silently the brown spectators slip away like shadows from +the dim and dewy garden, for the simple and untaught Malay, though +eagerly welcoming the privileges permitted to him, never encroaches +upon them, and the conduct of these Eastern playgoers affords an +example of order and sobriety which shames many an audience of higher +education and social superiority in distant Europe. + + + + +DJOKJACARTA. + + +A long day's journey lies between Garoet and Djokjacarta, which popular +parlance abbreviates into Djokja. From the blue Preanger hills and +palm-shadowed upland plains, the railway descends by steep gradients to +the dense jungle and fever-laden swamp known as the Terra Ingrata. +Malarious mists steam from marsh and mere, pink and purple lantana, +yellow daisies, and the pallid blossoms of strangling creepers +emphasise the gloom of the matted foliage, forming an impenetrable +screen on either side of the narrow embankment across the dreary +morass. The railway through the hundred miles of this miasma-haunted +region was laid at immense sacrifice of human life, even the native +workmen being compelled to sleep in camps far away from the scene of +their daily toil. No white man could even direct the work, and the +ubiquitous Chinaman, proof against every ill that flesh is heir to in +Java, was deputed to superintend the solution of abstruse professional +problems, between the short and hasty visits of Dutch and English +engineers. Quagmire and quicksand, stagnant pool and sluggish stream, +succeed in weary iteration. Bleached skeletons of dead trees writhe in +weird contortions against the dark background of jungle, as though some +wizard's curse had blighted life and growth amid the rank vegetation +rising from this dismal Slough of Despond. The brooding melancholy of +atmosphere and scenery penetrates mind and soul, oppressed by an +intangible weight, and escape from the Dantesque horrors of this _selva +oscura_ is accompanied by a sudden relief and buoyancy of spirit which +perceptibly heightens the interest of the old-world city, once isolated +by the woodland fastness of Nature, and belonging to an ageless past, +surrounding the authentic origin of Djokjacarta with thick clouds of +fable and myth. The modern name is derived from Arjudja, a city +recorded in Java's ancient annals as being established by Rama, the +incarnate Sun-God. Na-yud-ja, the first king of this Divinely-founded +capital, also memorialises in his name the place which became the +nucleus of the ancient Hindu empire. Temples and palaces, walls and +watch-towers, ruined by earthquake, buried in jungle, and blackened by +smoke of war, testify to the splendours of old Mataram. A bitter +resistance was offered by the invading hordes of Islam, whether pirates +or prophets, princes or soldiers, and the Hindu territory remained +independent until the fierce conflict in the 18th century with +usurping Mohammedans and Dutch colonists, when family influence was +undermined by political intrigues. The Dutch, after many vicissitudes, +became absolute rulers of Java, though native princes, as tributaries, +were suffered to retain a semblance of sovereignty. The shadowy +paraphernalia of vanished power is still accorded to the Sultan of +Djokjacarta, in melancholy travesty of past authority, though every +hereditary privilege has been wrested from his grasp. A curious relic +of primitive days remains in the _al fresco_ Throne of Judgment, a +block of stone beneath a rudely-tiled canopy, moss-grown and hoary. Two +ancient waringen-trees, their aerial roots, drooping branches, and +colossal main trunks denoting an almost fabulous age, flank the +historic seat, where the turbaned Ruler administered justice to the +surging crowd which thronged around him, the indigo garb of the +Soendanese contrasting with the gay _sarongs_ of Central Java, glowing +in the hot sunlight as it poured through the dark trellis of fluttering +boughs. The city in the course of ages moved away from this ancient +centre, and the rustic Throne is now remote from the heart of civic +life. The streets of Djokjacarta, and the surrounding roads, consist of +shady avenues, where open _tokos_ (the native shops) vary the monotony +of Dutch villas, their white colonnades and porticos gleaming against +the background of stately trees, and rising from a mass of tropical +vegetation. The prevailing indigo of Soendanese dress gives a dull +aspect to the wide but squalid streets, for in native capitals, though +Dutch cleanliness may enforce perpetual "tidying up," the lacking sense +of order produces a strange impermanence in the conditions insisted +upon. The inner court of the Sultan's Kraton, or Royal Enclosure, is +now taboo to visitors, for the barbaric monarch, on the plea of age and +infirmity, has obtained the privilege of privacy, and the Palace can +only be seen through a personal interview. The outer courts are +accessible to carriages, which make the square-mile circuit of the +spacious quadrangles. Massive gates and crumbling machicolated walls +command a green plain, where immense waringen-trees, clipped into the +semblance of evergreen umbrellas, display the Eastern symbol of +sovereignty. Officials passing to and fro show a continuous procession +of these State _pajongs_. The Sultan's august head is canopied with +gold, edged by an orange stripe, the Crown Prince sporting an umbrella +with a golden border. Sultanas and royal children are known by white +_pajongs_, while the vast concourse of Court officials, with umbrellas +of pink, blue, red, black, purple and green, show their status to the +initiated eye through the sequence of colour by which the _pajongs_ +form a complete system of heraldry. In the dusky angle of a mossy wall, +four elephants, used in State processions, feed upon bundles of bamboo +and sugar-cane. Mud huts and bamboo sheds prop themselves against tiled +eaves and windowless houses. Open doors afford glimpses of squalid +interiors, crowded with slatternly women and dirty children, the +hereditary retainers and hangers-on of this effete and moribund +royalty. Private troupes of dancing _bedayas_, _gamelon_ players, +actors, pipe, fan, and betel-box bearers, pertain to the tumbledown +Palace, and the patriarchal system of ancient Java permits the presence +of whole families belonging to these indispensable ministers of the +royal pleasure. The people show the same indifference to Mohammedanism +as to the perished faiths of olden time, and a large funeral party +encountered on leaving the Kraton displays painful irreverence, though +scattering rice and lighting incense sticks before a white coffin borne +shoulder-high, and decked with a tracery of yellow marigolds and +rosettes of pink paper. No priest accompanies the procession, and the +laughter of the white-scarved mourners, preceded by men carrying ropes +and planks, suggests an utter heartlessness and barbarity. Gay +_passers_, a busy _campong Tchina_, a very hive of Celestial industry, +and innumerable drives beneath over-arching trees, with distant views +of purple peaks, comprise the interests of old-world Djokja, with the +one exception of the famous Taman Sarie, or Water Castle, ruined by +earthquake, but remaining as a pathetic memorial of bygone power and +pride. Pavilions and baths, grottoes and fish-ponds, set in the tangled +verdure of a neglected garden, surround the arcaded parapets of a +colossal tower. Green plumes of fern wave from wall and battlement, +velvet moss and orange lichen tapestry the blackened stone, and matted +creepers sway their woven curtains in the evening wind. A Dancing Hall, +which formerly rang with the weird music accompanying the "woven paces +and waving hands" of Court _bedayas_, in their spangled pink robes, now +echoes to the tread of alien feet; the dim arcades teem with ghostly +memories, and the mournful desolation of the Taman Sarie borrows fresh +poignancy in the former scene of mirth and music. A moss-grown and +slippery stairway leads to the green twilight of a subterranean grotto, +containing the richly-carved stone bedstead of the Sultan, who sought +this cool retreat from the ardour of a tropical sun. A silvery curtain +of murmuring water fell before his sculptured couch, and supplied this +haunt of dreams with an ideal, if rheumatic environment of poetic +beauty and lulling charm. Superstition clings to the deserted +resting-place, and to touch even the stone columns of the royal couch +is to invoke the powers of evil, and the presence of Death. The _Sumoor +Gamelon_, or "Musical Spring," echoing with the voice of flowing +waters, flanks the ancient banqueting hall, and cools a circle of +vaulted grottoes, their shadowy depths bathed in the emerald twilight, +deepened by the veil of verdure and the transparent foliage drooping +over open window spaces. The Sultan's oval bathing tank, with stone +galleries and spiral pavilions, occupies a hollow tower, but a touch of +young life dispels the gloom, for a group of brown children swim and +dive in the cool depths, shouting and splashing with a merriment +unsubdued by the solemn sadness of the deserted halls. A Portuguese +architect designed this fantastic retreat for an old-time Sultan, who +brought the idea of the Water Castle from a far-off Indian home. The +earthquake of 1867 rendered the Taman Sarie uninhabitable, choked the +lake in which it stood, and destroyed the subaqueous tunnel which +ensured the absolute seclusion of Sultan and harem. The famous Marshal +Daendels, weary of waiting for an interview with a dilatory Sultan, +yielded to natural impatience, and hearing the sound of distant music +from the watery depths, dashed through the thicket of tamarinds which +concealed the entrance to the water pavilion, and, dragging the Sultan +from the place of dreams, scattered _bedayas_ and _gamelon_ players in +terror, forcing the so-called "Regent of the World" and "Shadow of the +Almighty" to accompany him to the Dutch headquarters. Rose garden and +shrubbery, palm grove and pleasaunce, are fast relapsing into +impenetrable jungle. Broken fountains, and mouldering vases once +filled with orange-trees, outline the balustraded terraces; gilt +pavilions lift their upcurved eaves above a wild growth of oleander, +but the enchanted scene of old romance is given up to bats and lizards, +for the crumbling Taman Sarie is now a fast-vanishing monument of +Java's buried past. + +The number of _rechas_, or sacred stone figures of Brahmin and Buddhist +origin, in the garden of the Dutch Residency, shows the scant care +bestowed on the ancient temples, for years used as mere quarries of +broken statuary, and still receiving inadequate recognition as +historical remains, though Sir Stamford Raffles a century ago realised +the supreme importance of Javanese sculpture as an indispensable link +in archaeological science. Djokjacarta, interesting in itself as the +survival of an ancient dynasty, borrows double attraction from the +architectural wonders which surround it, buried for ages in the deep +green grave of tropical vegetation, but now laid bare as an open book, +wherein we may read those graven records which unveil the mysteries of +the past, and enable us to gaze down the long vista of Time and Change. + + + + +BORO-BOEDOER. + + +The archaeological interest of Java culminates in the mysterious temple +known as Boro-Boedoer, "the aged thing," with an actual history lost in +mist and shadow, though recorded in imperishable characters on this +spellbound sanctuary of a departed faith. The little tramway from +Djokjacarta traverses fields of rice and sugar-cane, indigo and pepper; +a range of dreamlike mountains bounds the view, crowned by the +turquoise cone of Soemboeung, the traditional centre of Java, a green +knoll at the base of the volcanic pyramid being regarded as the "spike" +which fastens the floating isle to some solid rock in unfathomed depths +of ocean. The fitful fancy of a wandering race, ever drifting across +the changing seas, reflects itself in the legendary lore of the Malay +Archipelago, often represented by weird traditions as though in +perpetual motion. The vicissitudes of volcanic action, whereby islands +were sometimes submerged or created, gives a colouring of fact to the +vague ideas entertained by these nomads of the sea. Merbaboe, the +"ash-ejecting," and Merapi, the "fire-throwing," flank the loftier +crest, honeycombed with dim cave temples, now deserted and forgotten, +but formerly sanctifying those watch-towers of Nature which guard the +hoary shrine of Boro-Boedoer. At Matoelan we hear that the swift river +separating the great Temple from the secular world is in flood, the +bridge broken down, and the supplementary raft impossible through the +swirling current. This untoward event involves a further expedition to +Magelang, a sordid town of continuous markets, the Javanese population +being of pronounced Hindu type, silent and sad, according to the +idiosyncracy of their mysterious ancestors across the sea. The +conversational difficulties presented by the Dutch and Malay languages, +combined with the incapacity of our brown driver, eventually land us at +Mendoet, on the wrong side of the turbid stream--the Jordan which +divides the weary traveller from his Land of Promise. Evening draws on, +the clear sky flushes pink above the darkness of the palm-woods, and +hope sinks apace, for the surging flood shows no sign of abatement. +Suddenly the apathetic driver rouses himself from what proves a +profitable meditation, and, with folded hands, breathes the magic word +_pasteur_, whipping up his sorry steeds to fresh exertions. We draw up +at a white bungalow on the roadside, close to a rustic church, and find +a friend in an English-speaking Dutch priest, who, after giving us tea +on his verandah, suggests inspection of Mendoet's little moated +temple, on the edge of the forest. An ever-growing tangle of lianas and +vines buried this ancient shrine through the lapse of ages, until +accident revealed the entombed sanctuary about eighty years ago. A +processional terrace surrounds the walled pavement supporting the grey +edifice, and the sculptured bas-reliefs denote the transitional stage +of Buddhist faith, as it materialised through Jainism into the Puranic +mythology of Hindu creed. The central chapel contains the famous +picture in stone known as "The Tree of Knowledge," and represents the +Buddha beneath the sacred Bo-Tree of Gaya. A fluted _pajong_, propped +against the boughs, canopies his head, one hand being raised in +benediction over kneeling converts, offering rice and incense. +Listening angels hover overhead, birds peep out from nests among the +leaves, and kids lean with necks outstretched over fretted crags, +magnetised by the mystic attraction of the inspired Teacher. Long-eared +statues show Nepalese influence, even the Buddhist images being girt +with the sacred cord of Brahma. A controversy exists as to their +identification with the Hindu Trinity, but as Eastern cults frequently +bestow Divine attributes on mortals, the mysterious figures may +possibly represent the murdered wives of the Rajah who founded the +Mendoet temple in expiation of his crime. Another legend suggests the +petrification of a princely family, as a punishment for marrying +within the forbidden degrees, but myth grows apace in this haunted +land, and every century offers fresh variations of old-world stories, +until original form is lost beneath a weight of accretion, like the +thick moss blurring the chiselled outlines of some carven monument. +After careful scrutiny of the miniature temple which suggests so many +interpretations of symbolic imagery, we return to the little presbytery +to hear of the subsiding river, and the good priest, announcing that +the raft can now be safely negotiated, accompanies us to the tottering +structure, a straw matting laid over three crazy boats punted across +the turbulent stream. A half-hour's stroll beneath the arching boughs +of a kanari avenue, ends at a picturesque Rest House, facing the +temple-crowned hill. Surely we have reached the peace and silence of +Nirvana at last! and the exquisite beauty of the surrounding landscape, +mountain and forest, park-like valley and winding glen, transfigured in +the deepening gold of sunset, stamps an ineffaceable impression of +Boro-Boedoer in that mystic gallery of imagination and memory which +retains earth's fairest scenes as eternal possessions of mind and soul. +A shadowy garden, fragrant and dim, stretches up to the pyramidal pile +which covers the hill. A frangipanni grove scents the air, with +gold-starred blossoms gleaming whitely amid the silvery green of +lanceolated leaves, and a shaft of ruby light striking the stone +Buddhas which guard the portico, emphasises the inscrutable smile of +the tranquil faces. Like all stupendous monuments of Art or Nature, +Boro-Boedoer at first sight seems a disappointment, simply because the +mind fails to grasp the immensity of the noblest Temple ever dedicated +to the gentle Sage whose renunciation typified the greater Sacrifice +offered by the Saviour of the World. Who that reads the story of Sakya +Munyi can doubt that through the Prince who gave up kingdom, throne, +and earthly ties for the sake of downtrodden humanity, a prophetic +gleam of heavenly light pierced the darkness of the future, and pointed +to the distant Cross? Twenty-five centuries have rolled away since +Prince Siddartha closed his unique career, and twelve centuries later +the wondrous sanctuary of Boro-Boedoer was erected in honour of the +creed eternally dear to the heart of the mystic East. The eight stately +terraces which climb and encircle the sacred hill rise from a spacious +pavement of blackened stone, and the walled processional paths display +a superb series of sculptured reliefs, which would measure three miles +in length if placed side by side. The grey and black ruins, with their +rich incrustations of sacred and historic scenes, remain in such +splendid preservation that fancy easily reconstructs the bygone glory +of the golden age, when this mighty Altar of Faith witnessed the +glittering pageantry of Oriental devotion; when gaily-clad crowds +flocked to the morning sacrifice of flowers and music, while monarchs +brought their treasures from far-off lands to lay at the feet of the +mystic Sage, prophetically revealed as an incarnation of purity and +peace vouchsafed to a world of oppression and sorrow. Life-size +Buddhas, enthroned on the sacred lotus, rise above the crumbling altars +of five hundred arcaded shrines, and stone stairways ascend from every +side, beneath sharply-curved arches bordered with masks or gargoyles. +The last three terraces form sweeping circles, flanked by bell-shaped +_dagobas_ resembling gigantic lotus-buds. Each open lattice of hoary +stone reveals an enthroned Buddha, mysteriously enclosed in his +symbolical screen, for these triple terraces typify the higher circles +of Nirvana. Each dreamy face turns towards the supreme Shrine of the +glorious sanctuary, a domed _dagoba_ fifty feet high, and once +containing some authentic relic of the Buddha's sacred person. Certain +archaeologists recognise in this spire-tipped cupola a survival of +Nature-worship, incorporated with the later Buddhism in a form derived +from the tree temples of primeval days, and built over a receptacle for +the cremated ashes of the Buddhist priesthood. A touch of mysticism +added by an unfinished statue in the gloom of the shadowy vault, +suggests the unknown beauty of the soul which attains Nirvana's +supremest height, for the supernal exaltation of purified humanity to +Divine union may not be interpreted or expressed by mortal hands, but +must for ever remain incommunicable and incomprehensible. From the +central _dagoba_, ascended by a winding stair, the intricate design of +the spacious sanctuary discloses itself with mathematical precision, +and the changing glories of dawn, sunset, and moonlight idealize the +sacred hill, rising amid the palm-groves and rice-fields of a matchless +valley, sweeping away in green undulations which break like emerald +waves against the deepening azure and amethyst of the mountain heights. +The solemn grandeur of Boro-Boedoer blinds the casual observer to many +details which manifest the ravages of time, the ruthlessness of war, +and the decay of a discarded creed. Headless and overthrown figures, +broken _tees_, mutilated carvings, and shattered chapels abound, but +the vast display of architectural features still intact conveys an +impression of permanence rather than of ruin. + +For six centuries, Boro-Boedoer was blotted from the memory of the +people, and the heavy pall of tropical verdure which veiled the vast +Temple remained unlifted. Superincumbent masses of trees, parasites, +and strangling creepers wove their intricate network of root, branch, +and stem round the monumental record of a dead faith and a buried +dynasty. The riotous luxuriance of tropical Nature triumphed over the +glories of Art, hewn with incalculable toil and skill in the living +rock. Seeds borne on the wind, or sown by wandering birds, filled +every interstice of the closely-matted verdure; stair and terrace, dome +and spire, sank out of sight into the forest depths, and when English +engineers arrived to excavate the monumental pile, the task of clearing +away the tangled masses of foliage occupied two hundred coolies during +six weeks of arduous toil. The brief English occupation of the island +necessarily left the work unfinished, but Dutch archaeologists continued +the labour, though with slower methods and feebler grasp of the +situation. A transient cult sprang up among the Javanese populace as +the ancient sanctuary revealed itself anew. The statues were invoked +with reverential awe, incense was offered; the saffron, used as a +personal decoration on festive occasions, was smeared over the +impassive faces, unchanged in the eternal calm of a thousand years, and +fragrant flower petals were heaped on the myriad altars. Vigils were +kept on the summit, and the sick were laid at the feet of favourite +images. This spurious devotion, hereditary or instinctive, sprang up in +responsive hearts with simultaneous fervour, though the forgotten +doctrines of Buddhism were never reinstated. Sentiment survived dogma +in the subconscious soul, and the faint shadow cast by an immemorial +past indicates the depths plumbed by the early creed in the abyss of +Eastern personality. The vague simulacrum quickly faded, like a +flickering flame in the wind which fanned it into life; but simple +souls, as they pass Boro-Boedoer in the brief twilight, mutter +incantations, and brown hands grasp the silver amulets which ward off +the powers of evil, for the deserted temple is still regarded as the +haunt of unknown gods, who may perchance wreak vengeance on the world +which has forsaken them. + +The long scroll of ancient history, unrolled by the sculptured +terraces, represents the birth, growth, and development of Buddhist +faith. Queen Maya, jewelled and flower-crowned, with the miraculous +Babe on her knee, sits among her maidens, the earth breaking into +blossom at the advent of her star-born child. His education in the +mental and physical achievements imperative on Eastern royalty, when +the sword-pierced heart of the mother who typified the Virgin Queen of +Saints was translated to Nirvana's rest, is contrasted with the sudden +realisation of life's vanity when brought face to face with the world's +threefold burden of sorrow, sickness and death. The renunciation of +power, wealth and love follows, liberating the soul for the pilgrimage +along the mystic "path," pursued until "the dew-drop fell into the +shining sea" of Eternity. The manifold details of the Buddha's +traditional career are vividly pourtrayed on the hoary walls of +volcanic trachyte in outline clear and sharp, as though the sculptors +of the eighth century had just laid down burin and chisel. The indented +leaves of the Bo-Tree, beneath which the Sage meditates, are so +exquisitely carved that they almost seem to flutter in the breeze. The +scene of the deer-park wherein he judges beasts and men, carefully +weighing the tiniest birds in the balance of the sanctuary, suggests a +prophetic vision of the greater Saviour, Who declared that even the +humble sparrow is remembered by the Creator. Countless scriptural +truths throw their anticipatory shadows across the life of the Eastern +mystic who approached so closely to the Christian ideal of a later age, +for the Buddha's spiritual experiences became the inspiration of +unnumbered hearts, and exercised a purifying influence over every creed +of the philosophic East. The social life of ancient Java, comprising +public ceremonials, domestic occupations, architecture, agriculture, +navigation, drama and music, is memorialised by succeeding terraces of +the igneous rock which sufficed for the old-world sculptor as the +medium of his Art. An unknown King and Queen, the traditional founders +of Boro-Boedoer, appear in varied guise, throned and crowned, walking +in religious processions beneath State _pajongs_, kneeling before +Buddha with open caskets of treasure, and receiving the homage of the +people, accompanied by bearers of smoking censers and waving fans. +Armed warriors guard the jewelled thrones, and the popular attitude in +every scene of the royal progress evidences the semi-sacred character +awarded to Indian sovereignty. The eighth century A.D. was the meridian +of the Javanese Empire, and in the subsequent changes of nationality +the facial type of the past has altered beyond recognition, for in the +ancient civilisation depicted on these sculptured terraces, +archaeologists assert that every physiognomy is either of Hindu or +Hellenic character. Ships of archaic form, with banks of rowers; +palm-thatched huts built on piles, in the unchanging fashion of the +Malay races; graceful _bedayas_, the Nautch girls of Java, performing +the old-world dances still in vogue; and women with _lotahs_ on their +heads, passing in single file to palm-fringed tanks, might be +represented with equal truth in this twentieth century. Seedtime and +harvest, ploughing and reaping, bullock-carts and water-buffaloes, +fruit-laden wagons and village _passers_, pass in turn before the +spectator in this wondrous gallery of native art. Richly-caparisoned +elephants suggest Indian accessories of royal life and State +ceremonial, an occasional touch of humour enlivening the solemn +pageantry. In one grotesque relief a _bedaya_ and an elephant stand +_vis-a-vis_, the ponderous monster imitating the steps of the slim +maiden in floating veil and embroidered robes, her slender limbs +contrasting with the outflung feet of her clumsy partner. Weird myths +of the great fishes which guided and propelled the coracle-like boats +of the first Buddhist missionaries to the shores of Java are +perpetuated in stone, and the forest, sloping down to the wave-beaten +coast, shows the rich vegetation which still clothes this island of +eternal summer. The _sumboya_ or flower of the dead, droops over +stately tombs; bamboo and palm, banana and bread-fruit, mingle their +varied foliage; mangosteen and pomegranate, mango and tamarind, acacia +and peepul, show themselves as indigenous growths of the fertile soil; +while palace and temple, carven stairway, and flower-girt pavilion, +suggest the wealth and prosperity of the ancient empire. The mighty +Temple of Boro-Boedoer, built up through successive ages, indicates the +gradual change from the simplicity of the early faith, at first +supplanting, and eventually becoming incorporated with, the Brahminism +which succeeded it in modified form, as though rising from the ashes of +the earlier Hindu creed which Buddhism virtually destroyed. In the +higher terrace, the last addition to this stupendous sanctuary, the +images of Buddha represent the ninth _Avatar_ or Incarnation of the god +Vishnu, though he still sits upon the lotus cushion and holds the +sacred flower in one hand. This inclusion of Sakya Munyi within the +Puranic Pantheon was a masterly feat of strategy accomplished by +reviving Brahminism, the heresy of the Jains supplying the link between +the rival creeds. All the sculptured figures, leaning forward in +veneration of the mystic statue in the central cupola, are invested +with the sacred thread of the Vishnavite Brahmin. The images of the +highest circular terrace are carved in four symbolical attitudes. The +"teaching" Buddha rests an open palm on one knee; in the posture of +"learning" his hands are outstretched to receive the gift of knowledge. +In "exposition," one hand is raised towards Heaven, and in the act of +"demonstration," thumbs and index fingers are joined. Ferguson points +out that within the grey lattice of each lotus-bell _dagoba_, the right +palm of the enthroned Buddha curves over the left hand. This restful +posture indicates the state of final comprehension, when the aspiring +soul, raised to the different spheres of Nirvana by steps of ascending +sanctity, receives increasing peace and satisfaction from gradual +absorption into the Infinite. No creed passes unaltered through any +crucible of national thought; Indian Buddhism borrowed both form and +colour from races which, in accepting the new faith, retained their own +individuality and modes of assimilation. They gave as well as received, +and the value of the gift depended on the character of the giver. + +No inscriptions exist on the stones of Boro-Boedoer. The sculptured +reliefs tell their own story, which admits of diverse interpretations. +The relics of the world-renowned Mystic were dispersed throughout Asia +in the sudden impulse of missionary enterprise three centuries after +his death, and every Buddhist temple received some infinitesimal +treasure. No record is found of the date when the precious relic, +probably a hair or an eyelash, was deposited in the great _dagoba_ of +Boro-Boedoer, but an Indian prince sailed with an imposing fleet to +found a Buddhist empire in Java at the opening of the 7th century A.D., +and a subsequent inscription discovered on the coast of Sumatra +commemorates the completion of a seven-storeyed _Vihara_, evidently the +colossal Temple of Boro-Boedoer, by the contemporary King of "Greater +Java," the ancient name of Sumatra. In the tenth century, a reigning +monarch sent his sons to India for religious education. They brought +back in their train artists, sculptors, monks, priests, and the +gorgeous paraphernalia then used in the ceremonial of Buddhist worship, +but the heart of the ancient faith was atrophied by the indifference of +the people, and the zealous attempt to galvanise a moribund creed into +fresh life failed even to arrest the progress of decay. National +thought, fickle as the wind, had turned from an impersonal philosophy +to the materialistic cult of Hindu deities, as the Israelites of old +hankered after the visible symbol of Isis and Osiris in the Golden +Calf. No definite creed succeeded in gaining a permanent hold upon the +wandering minds and shallow feelings of a race whose deepest instincts +reveal the fleeting fancies and inconstant ideas indigenous to a +sea-faring stock, imbued with the spirit of change and unrest. A +magical charm broods over the mysterious Temple, the materialised dream +of a mighty past rescued from the sylvan sepulchre of equatorial +vegetation, and restored to a vivid reality beside which the paintings +of Egyptian tombs sink into comparative insignificance. The seclusion +of the memory-haunted pile enhances the thrill of an unique experience. +Vista after vista opens into the world of long ago so graphically +depicted on the monumental tablets of the processional paths, while +type and symbol point also to the infinite future intensely realised by +Eastern mysticism. Mortal life was but a fleeting mirage besides this +vision of the life beyond. For the words "_Shadow_, _Unreality_, +_Illusion_," perpetually repeated by the yellow-robed monks on the +beads of the Buddhist Rosary were inscribed on the inmost heart of the +faithful disciple, who strove to attain that detachment from the world +of sense inculcated by the creed expressed on the hoary stones of +Boro-Boedoer. + + + + +BRAMBANAM. + + +The ruined temples of Brambanam memorialise that phase of Java's +religious history, when the altars of Buddha were finally deserted, and +Hinduism became the paramount creed of the fickle populace. An +archaeological report sent to Sir Stamford Raffles a century ago, +describes the remains of Brambanam as "stupendous monuments of the +science and taste belonging to a long-forgotten age, crowded together +in the former centre of Hindu faith." A rough country road leads from +the little white railway station, perched on a desolate plain, to these +far-famed temples. A brown village, shaded by the dark foliage of +colossal kanari-trees, shows the usual fragility of structure in +basket-work walls and roofs of plaited palm-leaves, but the humble +dwellings, destroyed and rebuilt myriad times on the ancient site of +Java's Hindu capital, have supplemented native workmanship by a +multitude of carven stones, broken statues, and moss-grown reliefs, for +the ruins, theoretically guarded from the spoiler's hand, are still +inadequately protected, and the grey _recha_ have been used as seats, +landmarks, or stepping-stones over muddy lane and brimming +water-course. The conversion of Java to the materialistic creed for +which she forsook the subtleties of an impersonal Buddhism, though +shallow was complete, and the doctrine of impermanence, inculcated by +the discarded faith, continued an essential factor in spiritual +development, for the inconstancy of the national mind only found a +temporary halting-place in each successive creed which arrested it. The +seed was sown, the bud opened, and the flower faded, with incredible +rapidity, but the growth while it lasted, showed phenomenal luxuriance. +The erection of these Hindu sanctuaries signalised the zenith of +Javanese power; their fame travelled across the seas, and numerous +expeditions sailed for this early El Dorado of the Southern ocean. +Kublai Khan came with his Mongol fleet, but was repulsed with loss, and +branded as a felon. A second and stronger attempt from the same quarter +met with absolute defeat. Marco Polo, compelled to wait through the +rainy season in Sumatra for a favourable wind, came hither in the palmy +days of mediaeval Portugal, but returned discomfited. Goths from the +Northern bounds of Thuringian pine forests followed in their turn, but +the power and prestige of Hindu Java remained invincible until +destroyed by the wayward fickleness of her own children. Brahminism +was finally discarded for the specious promises of Arabian invaders, +and the lightly-held faith succumbed to the creed of Islam. Mosques +were built, Hindu temples were forsaken, and Nature's veil of +vegetation was once more suffered to hide altar and statue, wall and +stairway, until every sculptured shrine became a mere green mound of +waving trees, strangling creepers, and plumy ferns. The memory of the +past was entirely obliterated from the hearts of the people, and every +year buried the relics of the former religion in a deeper grave. + +Siva the Destroyer, and also the Life-Giver, the Third Person of the +Hindu Trinity, together with Parvati and Brahma, were worshipped here +in their original character, and an exquisite statue of Lora Jonggran +(Parvati in her Javanese guise) remains enshrined in a richly-decorated +chapel, surrounded by dancing houris, inspired in their sacred measure +by the flute-playing of Krishna. A further instance of the mode already +mentioned by which sentiment survives dogma in the Malay races, is +shown by the fact that Lora Jonggran still receives the homage of +Javanese women. Flowers are laid at her feet, love affairs are confided +to her advocacy, and as the shadows deepen across the great quadrangle, +a weeping girl prostrates herself before the smiling goddess, and, +raising brown arms in earnest supplication, kisses the stone slab at +the feet of the beautiful statue, popularly endowed with some occult +virtue which the loosely-held Mohammedanism of a later day has failed +to discredit or deny. The temples of Brambanam were erected shortly +after the completion of that upper terrace in the great sanctuary of +Boro-Boedoer which marks the traditional epoch between Buddhism and the +later Hinduism, including Sakya Munyi among the _avatars_ of Vishnu. +The sacred trees and lions carved here on the walls of the temple +quadrangle, give place in the galleries to scenes from the great Hindu +epic of the Ramayan. The familiar form of Ganesh, the elephant-headed +God of Wisdom, looms from the shadows of a vaulted shrine; Nandi, the +sacred bull, stands beneath a carven canopy, and the great memorial of +a bygone faith contains the identical galaxy of gods found in the +Indian temples of the present day, for the thin veil of Javanese +thought is a transparency rather than a disguise, softening rather than +hiding the clear-cut outlines of the original idea. The "fatal beauty" +of the graceful waringen-tree has played an ominous part in the +destruction of the Brambanam temples, for the interlacing roots, like a +network of branching veins, make their devious way through crevice and +cranny, splitting and uplifting the strongest slab, wherein one tiny +crack suffices for the string-like fibres to gain foothold. Masks and +arabesques, fruit and flowers, fabulous monsters and sacred emblems, +encrust the grey balustrades and bas-reliefs of the noble stairways. +Roof and column teem with richest ornament, for Hindu art had reached +the climax of splendour when the great city, formerly surrounding the +monumental group of stately temples, attained to her utmost power and +fame. The Greek influences which prevailed in Northern Hindustan were +translated to Brambanam in their attributes of dignity and grace, for +the flowing robes and easy postures of the sculptured figures correct +and modify the grotesque and over-laden character of original Hindu +art. The great stone-paved court once contained an imposing group of +twenty pyramidal shrines, but only three remain in the original contour +of the so-called "pagoda style," peculiar to the Dravidian temples of +Southern India, from whence Java derived her special form of faith. The +ruins on the opposite side of the grey quadrangle are mere cone-shaped +piles of rubbish, dust, and broken stone, but the tapering pyramids, +with their graceful galleries and processional terraces, richly carved +and adorned with images, enable us to reconstruct in imagination the +stately beauty of the architectural panorama once displayed by the +temple courts. Scenes from the Ramayan and Mahabharata adorn the great +blocks of the boundary wall, sculptured in high relief. The Vedic +Powers of Nature, with Indra as the god of storm and hurricane, +manifest the recognition of that earlier belief which became submerged +in the vast system of Pantheistic mythology. The faith of further India +takes form and colour from the idiosyncracy of Java, and the goddess +Parvati, or Kali, worshipped under these different names according to +her attributes of glory or terror, becomes Lora Jonggran, the benignant +goddess of Java, popularly known as "the maiden of the beauteous form." +Four lofty stairways ascend to the hoary chapels within each sculptured +pyramid, every dusky vault containing the broken image of the tutelary +_Deva_. + +Only separated from Brambanam by a winding path and a green belt of +jungle, stands the great Buddhist temple of Chandi Sewon, and the +colossal figures flanking the entrance gate indicate a decadent phase +of the ancient creed which Boro-Boedoer illustrates in the purity of +earlier developement. Chandi Sewon, the "thousand temples," includes in +the number myriad unimportant shrines, ruined, overthrown, or covered +with a green network of interlacing creepers. The great architectural +pile, built at a uniform level, surrounds the central sanctuary with +five great enclosures. All the ancient faiths of the world contain +foreshadowings or reflections of Christian truth, and the cruciform +temple which forms the climax of this monumental erection shows the +mystic value attached to the sacred Sign so frequently encountered in +Buddhist shrines, and known as the _Shvastika_. The numerous chapels +of Chandi Sewon contained the galaxy of Tirthankas or Buddhist saints +which the materialism of the Jains added to the impersonal subtleties +of esoteric Buddhism. The blank emptiness and desertion of this vast +sanctuary produces an impression of unutterable desolation. The +weed-grown courts, the ruined altars, and the moss-blackened arches, +encumbered with indistinguishable heaps of shattered sculpture, lack +all the reposeful charm of Boro-Boedoer, still a sermon in stone which +he who runs may read. The degenerate creed memorialised by Chandi +Sewon, has failed to impress itself on the colossal pile which bears +melancholy witness to the evanescent character of the heretical +offshoot from the parent stem. Jungle and palm-forest in Central Java +contain innumerable vestiges of pyramidal temples, palaces, and +shrines; vaults hidden beneath the shrouding trees have yielded a rich +store of gold, silver, and bronze ornaments, household utensils, and +armour. For many years the peasants of the region between Samarang and +Boro-Boedoer paid their taxes in gold melted from the treasure trove +turned up by the plough, or dug from the precincts of some forgotten +sanctuary, buried beneath the rank vegetation of the teaming soil. The +discarded Hindu gods still haunt the forest depths, and the +superstitious native, as he threads the dark recesses of the solemn +woods, gazes with apprehensive eyes on the trident of Siva, or the +elephant's trunk of Ganesh emerging from the trailing wreaths and +matted tapestry of liana and creeper, veiling the blackened stone of +each decaying shrine. Nature has proved stronger than Art or Creed, in +the eternal growth beneath an equatorial sun, of the kingdom over which +she reigns in immortal life. Silently and insidiously she undermines +man's handiwork, and realisation of his futile conflict with her +invincible power enters with disastrous effect into the popular mind, +lacking that immutable force without which the spiritual temple of +faith rests on a foundation of shifting sand. Kawi literature, +popularised by translation, and familiar through the medium of national +drama, interprets Javanese creeds and traditions. This "utterance of +poetry" derived from Sanskrit, fell into disuse after the Mohammedan +conquest, though a few Arabic words became incorporated into the +two-fold language comprising _Krama_, the ceremonial speech, and +_Ngoko_, the speech of "thee and thou," or colloquial form of address. +The island of Bali, and the slopes of the Tengger range, retain a +modification of Hinduism, and Bali treasures a Kawi version of the +Ramayan and Mahabharata epics. Many inspiring thoughts and noble +sentiments, expressed in story and song, have become well-known maxims +identified with Javanese life. "Rob no man of due credit, for the sun, +by depriving the moon of her light, adds no lustre to his own." "As +the lotus floats in water, the heart rests in a pure body." "Ye cannot +take riches to the grave, but he who succoureth the poor in this world +shall find a better wealth hereafter." A _babad_ or rhythmical ballad +of semi-religious character belongs to every province, but though many +details of temple worship--Buddhist, Hindu, and Mohammedan--may be +gathered from the lengthy scroll, heroic and princely exploits, myths +and traditions, encumber the sacred text, which Eastern imagination +transforms into a fairy tale. Creeds lose their chiselled outline, and +crumble away in the disintegrating medium of Javanese thought, which +blends them into each other with changing colour and borrowed light. +The inconstant soul of the Malay knows nothing of that rigid adherence +to some centralising truth which often forms the heart of a living +faith, and his religious history is an age-long record of failure, +change, desertion, and oblivion, repeated in varying cadences, and +inscribed in unmistakeable characters on the ruined sanctuaries of old +Mataram. + + + + +SOURAKARTA. + + +The imperial city of Sourakarta, commonly abbreviated into "Solo," was +the hereditary capital of the Mohammedan emperors, now mere +puppet-princes held in the iron grasp of Holland. The present Susunhan, +descended from both Hindu and Arab ancestry, maintains a brilliant +simulacrum of royal state, and his huge Kraton, far surpassing that of +Djokjacarta, contains 10,000 inhabitants. The pronounced Hindu type, +though debased and degraded, remains noticeable even amid the +all-pervading environment of squalor and disorder, which dims the +gorgeous colour and brilliant ceremonial, producing the effect of +jewels flung in the dust. A dense throng of brown humanity, clad and +unclad, walks to and fro beneath the dusky avenues of feathery +tamarinds which shield Solo from the ardour of the tropical sun. Old +crones, with unkempt locks streaming over brown and bony necks, pass +by, their wide mouths distorted and discoloured with sucking the +scarlet lumps of _Sarya_, from which the native derives unfailing +consolation, even the Javanese girl showing absolute disregard of the +disfigurement produced by this favourite stimulant. Deep moats, +lichen-stained walls, and hoary forts, invest Solo with a feudal +aspect, and the grim tower of Vostenberg menaces the Kraton with +bristling cannon, reminding the hereditary Ruler of his subserviency to +modern Holland, for only a melancholy illusion of past glory remains to +him. The dragon-carved eaves of the Chinese quarter, the open _tokos_ +beneath waringen boughs, the shadowy _passer_ brightened by mounds of +richly-coloured fruits, and the stuccoed palaces of Court dignitaries, +framed in dark foliage, give character and interest to the city, where +the life of the past lingers in a series of street pictures remaining +from bygone days of pomp and show. Ministers of State walk beneath +many-coloured official umbrellas, held by obsequious attendants; +graceful _bedayas_, in glittering robes, execute intricate dances, and +_gamelon_ players discourse weird music on pipe and drum. Court +ballet-girls, known as _Serimpi_, are borne swiftly through the crowd +in gilded litters, and masked actors give _al fresco_ performances of +the historic _Wayang-wayang_, represented by living persons, for the +actual "shadow-play" is impossible in broad daylight. The colour of the +mask indicates the character assumed by the actor. The golden mask +signifies Divinity, heroes wear white, and evil spirits black or red. +Here, as elsewhere, the profile of the grotesque disguise invariably +shows either the Greek, or the hawk-nose strangely suggestive of +Egyptian origin, and which, as a variation on human physiognomy, +specially commended itself to Mohammedan thought as a skilful evasion +of an inconvenient dogma. Elsewhere the spirit of concession to alien +ideas is almost unknown, even flower and leaf being conventionalised on +those architectural monuments of Islam which form the supreme +expression of Mussulman genius. The suppression of national amusements +has ever proved a perilous step, and in the heart of this ancient +kingdom the original setting of Javanese life remained in stereotyped +form. The moving panorama of the tree-shadowed streets possesses a +strange fascination, and the light of the past lingers like a sunset +glow over the human element of the changed and modernised city. The +twang of double-stringed lutes, the tinkle of metal tubes, and the +elusive melody of silvery gongs, echo from the ages whence dance and +song descend as an unchanged inheritance. An itinerant minstrel recites +the history of _Johar Mankain_, the Una of Java, who shone like a jewel +in the world which could not tarnish the purity and devotion of one +whose heart entertained no evil thought. In the intricate byways of the +crumbling Kraton, a professional story-teller draws a squalid crowd of +women from their dark hovels and cellars, with the magic wand of +enchantment wielded by the reciter of heroic deeds from the _Panji_, +exaggerated out of all recognition by the addition of fairies and +giants, demons and dwarfs, to the simple human element of the original +story. The apathy and decay of native life, lacking all the scope and +interest common to a strenuous age, appears galvanised into some +fleeting semblance of vitality by the extravaganza presented to it, for +the language of hyperbole is the natural expression of Eastern thought, +and penetrates into mental recesses unknown and unexplored by the +relater of unvarnished facts. The quick response of the native mind to +Nature's teaching, and the wealth of tradition woven round flower and +tree, mountain and stream, foster the love of marvel and miracle in +those whose daily wants are supplied by the prodigality of a tropical +climate, for the innate poetry of the race has never been crushed out +by the weight of practical necessities. + +A permit being obtained to view the interior of the Susunhan's palace +under a Dutch escort, we present ourselves at the colonnaded portico, +where the Prince Probolingo, brother of the Susunhan, receives his +visitors with simple courtesy. This descendant of a hundred kings is +simply attired in a dark brown _sarong_ and turban, the _kris_ in his +belt of embroidered velvet ablaze with a huge boss of diamonds. +Attendants, holding State umbrellas over the favoured guests, usher +them through marble-paved courts, in one of which a little prince is +seated, with furled golden umbrella behind him to denote his rank, a +group of royal children playing round him, their lithe brown forms +half-hidden in the green shadows of a great tamarind tree. A superb +marble ball-room with crystal chandeliers, forms an incongruous modern +feature of the spacious Palace, but helps to popularise the so-called +"Nail of the Universe" among the European inhabitants of Solo, by the +splendid entertainments continually given at the imperial command. The +porcelain and glass rooms convey an idea of the boundless hospitality +bestowed; the thousands of wine-glasses being especially noticeable, +for 800 guests are often invited at a time. Treasures of linen and +costly embroidery, silken hangings and velvet banners, gorgeous carpets +and mats of finest texture, are displayed to our admiring eyes, but +possession rather than enjoyment is the keynote of Eastern character, +and the bales and bundles of priceless value, kept in huge cabinets of +fragrant cedar-wood, seldom see the light of day. Long counting-houses +are crowded with native scribes, their brown bodies naked except for +_sarong_ and _kris_, the perpetual rattle of the abacus making a +deafening din, for apparently the smallest sum cannot be added up under +Eastern skies without the assistance of this wire frame with the +ever-shifting marbles. Cramped fingers move wearily over the yellow +parchments, with their long lists of undecipherable hieroglyphics, and +the turbaned heads are scarcely raised until the entrance of the Prince +necessitates the time-honoured salute of the _dodok_, the crouching +posture assumed in the presence of a superior. The needs and luxuries +of the immense royal household render the counting-house a feature of +the utmost importance. The Prince Probolingo has himself forty wives, +and a Harem in proportion to their numbers, the Susunhan's Imperial +Harem far exceeding that of his brother. Wonderful tales are told of +the fairy-like loveliness belonging to these inner palaces, with their +treasures of ivory and sandalwood, cedar and ebony, but they are +jealously guarded from intrusion, and a glimpse of their fantastic +glory seldom permitted to Western eyes. After an exhibition of +gold-encrusted litters and painted coaches of State, used in royal +processions, the Prince, a clever-looking man of forty, takes wine with +his guests. Each stand of solid silver contains six bottles, the +crouching attendants also carrying silver trays of tumblers and +wine-glasses, a gaily clad servitor with a huge silver ice-bowl +bringing up the rear. After drinking the health of His Royal Highness +in iced Rhine wine, we make our adieux, and escape from our splendid +_pajongs_ of rainbow hue on the steps of the Great Entrance, conveying +our thanks through the medium of an interpreter. These faineant princes +learn no tongue but their own, greatly to the advantage of their Dutch +masters. The colossal incomes assigned to scions of the royal stock +only serve the double purpose of political expediency and personal +extravagance, for the luxury of a licentious Court remains unchecked, +and the idea of educating or reforming tributary princes is unknown in +Java. Territorial rights were relinquished for pecuniary gains, and the +entire Court of the Susunhan is in the pay of the Dutch, the wealth +amassed from the richest island in the world affording ample +compensation for the pensions lavishly bestowed on the former owners of +the tropical Paradise. The Dutch Resident, in his capacity of "Elder +Brother" to the indigenous race, claims the full privileges of his +assumed position, but the advancing tide of social reform has even +touched these distant shores, and the alien authority tends on the +whole to the welfare of the community. Hygienic regulations are +compulsory, and even here the traditions of Holland enjoin an amount of +whitewashing and cleaning up unique in tropical colonies. The green and +vermilion panelled _sarongs_ of Solo are renowned for their elaborate +designs, and the painting of _battek_, or cotton cloth, remains a +flourishing industry of the ancient capital. The intricate beauty of +the hand-made patterns far surpasses that of the woven fabrics +wherewith new mills and factories begin to supply the market. Centuries +of hereditary training, from the days when royal Solo was a +self-supporting city, contribute to the amazing skill of the _battek_ +girls, but the elaboration of native Art is doomed to decay, for Time, +hitherto a negligeable quantity in this "summer isle of Eden," begins +to reveal a value unknown to the Javanese past, and as the poetry of +illumination vanished before the prose of the printing press, so the +painting of _battek_ must inevitably give way to the wholesale methods +of Manchester in the near future of Java, just awakening from her +spellbound sleep to the changed conditions of life and labour. An +exquisite plain, described by de Charnay as unrivalled even in Java, +surrounds Sourakarta with belts of palm, avenues of waringen, and +picturesque rice-fields of flaming green and vivid gold. Azure peaks +frame the enchanting picture. The storied heights are rich in +traditions of gods and heroes, with innumerable myths haunting the +ruined temples which cluster round the base of the mountain range, and +suggest themselves as relics of an earlier creed than Buddhism or +Brahminism. Archaic sculptures, obelisks, and gateways, massive and +undecorated, recall the architecture of Egyptian sanctuaries, but no +record exists which throws any light on the origin of the extensive +monuments of a forgotten past, though the triple pyramid of Mount Lawu +is still a place of sacrifice to Siva the Destroyer. Pilgrims climb the +steep ascent to lay their marigold garlands and burn their +incense-sticks at the foot of the rude cairn erected in propitiation of +the Divine wrath, typified by the cloud and tempest hovering round the +jagged pinnacles of the volcanic range, which frowns with perpetual +menace above the verdant loveliness of plain and woodland. The +instinctive worship seems one of those hereditary relics of a perished +faith so frequently encountered in Java; a blind impulse for which no +reason can be ascribed by the devotee, swayed by those mysterious +forces of the subconscious self which seem imperishable elements in the +brown races of the Malay Archipelago. The native Court attracts myriad +parasites, and the wealthy Chinese half-castes, or _Paranaks_ of Solo, +with their inborn commercial genius, surpass all competitors in the +pursuit of fortune. The three centuries of mixed marriages have +modified Chinese conservatism, and though the _Paranak_ is severely +taxed, and excluded from all political offices, he remains supreme in +the kingdom of finance, regarded even by the Dutch as an indispensable +factor in the complicated affairs of the island. + +The great _passer_ of Solo becomes an endless delight, and the +interminable corridors, where the fumes of incense mingle with the +breath of flowers, convey strange suggestions of antiquity. Simple +meals of rice and bananas progress round cooking-pots of burnished +copper. Pink pomelo and purple mangosteen vary the repast; strips of +green banana leaf folded into cups fastened with an acanthus thorn, or +serving as plates for Dame Nature's prodigality, provide the +accessories of the feast as well as the provisions. The Javanese +populace, wonderfully free from those household cares which involve so +much time and trouble in Northern nations strenuously occupied in +keeping the wolf from the door, and left to carry out their own +inventions, have evolved numerous methods of blending the different +metals--steel and iron, brass and silver. The veinings of the _kris_, +beautiful as those of any Toledo blade, are produced by the welding of +metals steeped in lime-juice and arsenic, which destroy the iron and +retain the ingrained pattern. The chains of mingled brass and silver +show exquisite designs and a special charm of colour, in the soft +golden hue and subdued gleam of the heavy links, with their +richly-enamelled talismans of ruby and turquoise enamel. Soft voices, +tranquil movements, and courteous manners are the age-long heritage of +Malay idiosyncracy, and even in the crowded _passer_, with its horde of +buyers and sellers, noise and dispute are non-existent. It is a market +of dreamland, and though echoes of marching feet and music of native +bands remind us that we are in imperial Sourakarta, the busy hive of +the _passer_ suggests a panoramic picture of native life, rather than +the pushing, jostling crowd represented by the ordinary idea of a +market in that Western hemisphere which, in bestowing so many priceless +gifts on humanity, has taken from it the old-world grace of repose. + + + + +SOURABAYA AND THE TENGGER. + + +The port of Sourabaya, supreme in mercantile importance, ranks as the +second city of Java, as it contains the military headquarters, the +principal dockyards, and the arsenal. Leagues of rice and sugar-cane +lie between Solo and Sourabaya, the landscape varied by gloomy teak +woods, feathery tamarinds, and stately mango trees. White towns nestle +in rich vegetation, and the green common known as the _aloon-aloon_ +marks each hybrid suburb, Europeanized by Dutch canals, white bridges, +and red-tiled houses, planted amid a riotous wealth of palm and banana. +A broad river, brimming over from the deluge of the previous night, +flows through burning Sourabaya; a canal, gay with painted _praus_ +connecting it with the vast harbour, where shipping of all nations lies +at anchor, the sheltered roads bristling with a forest of masts and +funnels. Bungalows, in gorgeous gardens, flank dusky avenues of +colossal trees, for even Sourabaya, the hottest place in steaming Java, +enjoys "a boundless contiguity of shade." In the _sawa_ fields +broad-eaved huts, set on stilts above the swamp, protect the brown boys +who frighten birds from the rice, for the clapping and shouting must be +carried on under shelter from the ardent sun. No air blows from the +rippling water, set with acres of lotus-beds, the fringed chalices of +rose and azure swaying on their plate-like leaves of palest green. The +heterogeneous character of Sourabaya gives unwonted interest to the +streets, uniquely brilliant in grouping and colour. Gilded eaves of +Chinese houses, many-tiered Arab mosques, encrusted with polished tiles +of blue and purple, white colonnades of Dutch bungalows, and pointed +huts of woven basket-work within wicker gate and bamboo fence, mingle +in fantastic confusion to frame a series of living pictures. +Cream-coloured bullocks and spirited Timor ponies, in creaking waggons +and ramshackle carriages, pass in endless procession. Bronze-hued +coolies balance heavy loads on the swaying _pikolan_, a sloping pole of +elastic bamboo, and strolling players, rouged and tinselled, collect +crowds in every open space where a fluttering tamarind-tree offers a +welcome patch of shadow to each turbaned audience, clad in the +paradisaical garb of the tropics. Graceful Malay women flit silently +past, in pleasing contrast to their burly Dutch mistresses, clad in a +caricature of native garb which the appalling heat of Sourabaya renders +a more slatternly disguise than even colonial _sans gene_ accomplishes +elsewhere. Orchids spread broad spathes of scented bloom from grey +trunks of courtyard trees, and cascades of crimson and purple creepers +tumble over arch and wall. Insinuating Chinamen untie bundles of +_sarongs_, scarves, and delicate embroideries on the marble steps of +hotel porticoes, where the prolonged "shopping" of the drowsy East is +catered for by the industrious Celestial, when _tokos_ are closed, and +the tradesman sleeps on the floor amid his piled-up wares, for the +slumber of Java is too deep to be lightly disturbed, and the solemnity +of the long siesta seems regarded almost as a religious function. In +this far-off land of dreams it seems "always afternoon," and the +complacency wherewith the entire population places itself "hors de +combat" becomes a perpetual irritation to the traveller, anxious to +seize a golden opportunity of fresh experience. The sun sinks out of +sight before the sultry atmosphere begins to cool. The weird "gecko," a +large lizard which foretells rain, screams "Becky! Becky!" in the +garden shadows, and a cry of "Toko! Toko!" echoes from another unseen +speaker of a mysterious language, while wraith-like forms of his tiny +brethren make moving patterns on the white columns, as the hungry +little reptiles hunt ceaselessly for the mosquitos which form their +staple diet. Lashing rain and deafening thunder at length cool the +fiery furnace, blue lightning flares on the solid blackness of heaven, +and the storm only dies away when we start at dawn for Tosari, the +mountain sanatorium of the Tengger. The flat and flooded land glows +with the vivid green of springing rice, tremulous tamarind and +blossoming teak bordering a road gay with pilgrim crowds, for the great +volcano of the Tengger remains one of Nature's mystic altars, dedicated +to prayer and sacrifice. Moslem girls in yellow veils jostle brown men +with white prayer-marks and clanking bangles. The _sari_ of India +replaces the _sarong_ of Java, with fluttering folds of red and purple; +children, clad only in silver chains and medals, or strings of blue +beads, dart through the crowd, from whence the familiar types of Malay +and Javanese personality are absent. We change carts in a busy roadside +_passer_, which drives a roaring trade in rice-cakes and fruit, syrups +and stews, to mount through changing zones of vegetation, where palms +give place to tree ferns, and luscious frangipanni or gardenia yields +to rose and chrysanthemum. From the half-way house of Poespo, a forest +road ascends to Tosari. Sombre casuarina, most mournful of the pine +tribe, mingles with teak and mahogany in dense woods falling away on +either side from the shadowy path. Innumerable monkeys swing from bough +to bough, eating wild fruits, and breaking off twigs to pelt the +intruders on their domains. At length the sylvan scenery gives place to +endless fields of cabbage, potatoes, maize, and onions, for the cool +heights of the Tengger range serve the prosaic purpose of market-garden +to Eastern Java, and all European vegetables may be cultivated here +with success. A patchwork counterpane of green, brown, and yellow, +clothes these steep slopes, but the extent of the mountain chain, and +the phantasmal outlines of volcanic peaks, absorb the incongruities +grafted upon them. Valerian and violet border the track between swarthy +pines with grey mosses hanging down like silver beards from forked +branches, and sudden mists shroud the landscape in vaporous folds, torn +to shreds by gusts of wind, to melt away into the blue sky, suddenly +unveiled in dazzling glimpses between the surging clouds. A long flight +of mossy steps ascends to the plateau occupied by the Sanatorium, with +wide verandahs and a poetic garden, like some old Italian pleasaunce, +with fountain and sundial, espaliered orange boughs, and ancient +rose-trees overhanging paved walks, gay parterres, and avenues of +myrtle or heliotrope. Flowers are perennial even on these airy heights, +and dense hedges of datura, with long white bells drooping in myriads +over the pointed foliage, transform each narrow lane into a vista of +enchantment. Eastern Java spreads map-like beneath the overhanging +precipice, the blue strait of Madoera curving between fretted peak and +palm-clad isle. The velvety plum-colour of nearer ranges fades through +tints of violet and mauve into the ethereal lilac of distant summits. +The lowlands gleam with brimming fish-ponds and flooded _sawas_, as +though the sea penetrated through creek and inlet to the heart of the +green country, the vague glitter of this watery world investing the +scene with dream-like unreality. Brown _campongs_ cling to mountain +crest and precipitous ledge. These almost inaccessible fastnesses were +colonised after the Moslem conquest by a Hindu tribe which refused to +relinquish Brahminism. Driven from place to place by the fanatical +hordes of Islam on the downfall of the Hindu empire, the persecuted +race, a notable exception to native inconstancy and indifference, +retreated by degrees to this mountain stronghold, where they +successfully retained their religious independence, and defended +themselves from Mohammedan hostility. Brahminism through centuries of +isolation, has assimilated many extraneous heathen rites, and wild +superstitions have overlaid the original creed. The worship of the +Tenggerese is now mainly directed to the ever-active crater of the +awe-inspiring Bromo, always faced by the longer side of the windowless +communal houses, built to contain the several generations of the +families which in patriarchal fashion inhabit these spacious dwellings. +Huge clouds of smoke from the majestic volcano curl perpetually above +the surrounding peaks, and float slowly westward, the thunderous roar +of the colossal crater echoing in eternal menace through the rarefied +air, and regarded as the voice of the god who inhabits the fiery +Inferno. These lonely hills, ravaged by tempest and haunted by beasts +of prey, are the hiding-places of fear and the cradles of +ever-deepening superstition. Wild fancies sway the untaught +mountaineers, responsive to Nature's wonders, though powerless to +interpret their signification. The constant struggle for existence +produces a character utterly opposed to that of the suave and facile +Malay. The graces of life are unknown, but the strenuous temperament of +the Tenggerese is shown by indefatigable industry in the difficult +agriculture of the mountain region, and the careful cultivation of the +vegetables for which the district is renowned. Day by day, the +Tenggerese women--gaunt, scantily-clad, and almost unsexed by incessant +toil in the teeth of wind and weather--carry down their burdens to the +plain, their backs bent under the weight of the huge crates, while the +brown and wizened children are prematurely aged and deformed by their +share in the family toil. The more prosperous inhabitant carries his +vegetables on a mountain pony, trained to wonderful feats in the art of +sliding up and climbing down walls of rock almost devoid of foothold, +for the riding of Tenggerese youth and maiden rivals that of the Sioux +Indian. Misdirected zeal strips the hills of forest growth; the scanty +pines of the higher zone serving as fuel, and the ruthless destruction +of timber brings the dire result of decreasing rainfall. Only bamboo +remains wherewith to build the communal houses, formerly constructed of +tastefully blended woods, and the flimsy substitute, unfitted to resist +drenching rain and raging wind, is dragged with the utmost difficulty +from cleft and gorge along rude tracks hewn out in the mountain side. +Rice, elsewhere the mainstay of life in Java, has never been cultivated +by the Tenggerese, the sowing and planting of the precious crop being +forbidden to them during the era of gradual retreat before the +Mohammedan army centuries ago, and the innate conservatism of the +secluded tribe, in spite of life's altered environment, clings to the +dead letter of an obsolete law. The tigers, once numerous round Tosari, +have retreated into the jungle clothing the lower hills, and seldom +issue from their forest lairs unless stress of weather drives them +upward for a nightly prowl round byre and pen. The destruction of +covert renders Tosari immune from this past peril, and the tragic tiger +stories related round the hearthstone of the communal house are +becoming oral traditions of a forgotten day, gathering round themselves +the moss and lichen of fable and myth. + +The main interest of Tosari centres round the stupendous Bromo, +possessing the largest crater in the world, a fathomless cavity three +miles in diameter, veiled in Stygian darkness, and suggesting the +yawning mouth of hell. This bottomless pit, bubbling like a boiling +cauldron, pouring out black volumes of sulphureous smoke, and +clamouring with unceasing thunder, was for ages a blood-stained altar +of human sacrifice. Every year the fairest maiden of the Tengger was +the chosen victim offered to Siva, who, in his attribute of a Consuming +Fire, occupied the volcanic abyss. The worship of the Divine Destroyer +has ever been a fruitful source of crime and cruelty, and a tangible +atmosphere of evil lingers round those hoary temples of India dedicated +to the Avenging Deity, whose fanatical followers are reckoned by +millions. Through the inversion of creed peculiar to Hindu Pantheism, +the propitiation of Divine wrath has become the fundamental principle +of religion, and pathetic appeals for mercy continually ascend from +darkened hearts to those unseen powers vividly present to Hindu +thought, which, amid countless errors and degradations, has never +ceased to grasp the central fact of Eternity. The impalpable air teems +with Divinity. Watchful eyes and clutching hands surround the pilgrim's +path, and unseen spirits dog faltering footsteps as they stumble +through the snares and pitfalls of earthly life. In the rude tribes of +the Tengger, hereditary faith reflects the uncompromising features of +local environment. The lotus-eating races of the tropical lowlands, +with their feeble grasp on the sterner aspects of creed and character, +have nothing in common with this Indian tribe, remaining on the +outskirts of an alien civilisation. The creed for which the early +Tenggerese fought and conquered, has cooled from white heat to a +shapeless petrifaction, and weird influences throng the ruined temple +of a moribund faith, but the shadows which loom darkly above the +mouldering altars still command the old allegiance, and a thousand +hereditary ties bind heart and soul to the past. + +The expedition to the Bromo, by horse or litter, affords the supreme +experience of Javanese volcanoes. The broken track, knee-deep in mud +and rent by landslips, traverses fields of Indian corn, rocky clefts, +and rugged water-courses. The familiar flora of Northern Europe fringes +babbling brooks, their banks enamelled with wild strawberries and +reddening brambles. Curtains of ghostly mist lift at intervals to +disclose the magical pink and blue of the mountain distance, as sunrise +throws a shaft of scarlet over the grim cliff's of the Moengal Pass. A +chasm in the stony wall reveals the famous Sand Sea below the abrupt +precipice, a yellow expanse of arid desert encircling three fantastic +volcanoes. The pyramidal Batok, the cloud-capped Bromo, and the +serrated Widodaren, set in the wild solitude of this desolate Sahara, +form a startling picture, suggesting a sudden revelation of Nature's +mysterious laboratories. The deep roar of subterranean thunder, and the +fleecy clouds of sulphureous smoke ever rising from the vast furnaces +of the Bromo, emphasise the solemnity of the marvellous scene. Native +ideas recognise this terror-haunted landscape as the point where Times +touches Eternity, and natural forces blend with occult influences. +Tjewara Lawang, "the gate of the spirits," traditionally haunted by the +countless _Devas_ of Hindu Pantheism, bounds the ribbed and tumbled +Sand Sea with a black bridge of fretted crags, from whence the +invisible host keeps watch and ward over the regions of eternal fire. + +By a fortunate coincidence, the annual festival of the Bromo is +celebrated to-day, when Siva, the Third Person of the Hindu Triad, is +propitiated by a living sacrifice. Goats and buffaloes were flung into +the flaming crater long after the offering of human victims was +discontinued, but, alas for the chicanery of a degenerate age! even the +terrified animals thrown into the air by the sacrificing priest never +reach the mystic under-world, their downward progress being arrested by +a skilled accomplice, who catches them at a lower level, and risks +great Siva's wrath by preserving them for more prosaic uses. The +silence of the Sand Sea is broken to-day by the bustle of a gay market +on the brink of the yellow plain. The terrific descent through a gash +in the precipice, carved by falling boulders, landslips, and torrential +rains, lands the battered pilgrim in the midst of a lively throng in +festal array. Girls in rose and orange _saris_, with silver pins in +sleek dark hair plaited with skeins of scarlet wool, dismount from +rough ponies for refreshment, or gallop across the Sand Sea to the +mountain of sacrifice. The turbaned men in rough garb of indigo and +brown show less zeal than their womenkind, and betel-chewing, smoking, +or the consumption of syrups and sweetmeats, prove more attractive than +the religious service, for modern materialism extends even to these +remote shores, and the Avenging God is often worshipped by proxy. + +The Sand Sea was originally the base of the Tengger volcano, split from +head to foot by an appalling eruption, which forced mud, sand, and lava +from the enclosing walls into the surrounding valley. Fresh craters +formed in the vast depths of sand and molten metal; the three new +volcanoes--Bromo, Battok, and Widodaren--casting themselves up from the +blazing crucibles hidden beneath the fire-charged earth. We stand on +the thin and crumbling crust of the globe's most friable surface, a +mere veil concealing fountains of eternal fire, foaming solfataras, and +smoking fumaroles. Circle after circle, the great belt of volcanic +peaks rises around us, visible outlets of incalculable forces, ever +menacing the world with ruin and havoc. + +On the steep descent, a few devout pilgrims offer preliminary +sacrifices of food, or flowers, to the _Devas_ of the mountains, laying +the little treasures in oval vaults dug by human hands, before entering +the inner courts of the fiery sanctuary. The yellow Sand Sea, swept by +a moaning wind, sends up whirling eddies, and the dusky haze shimmers +in fantastic outlines, which probably originated the idea of spiritual +presences hovering round the scene. Grey heather and clumps of +cypress-grass dot the wild Sahara with their dry and colourless +monotony, but give place on the southern side to patches of fern and +turf, the scanty pasture of the mountain ponies, herding together until +sickness or accident breaks the ranks, when the hapless sufferer, +deserted by his kind, falls an easy prey to the wild dogs of the +Tengger ranges. A heap of bleaching bones points to some past tragedy, +and terrifies the swerving horses of the native pilgrims. The ascent of +the Bromo is negotiated from the eastern side to the lip of the +gigantic crater. Slanting precipices of lava, their grey flanks scored +with black gullies below the volcanic ash which covers the upper +slopes, rise to the jagged pinnacles bordering the black gulf of +eternal mystery and night. A rickety ladder of bamboo, approached +through a chaos of boulders, mounts to the edge of the profound abyss. +The ladder has been renewed for this Day of Atonement, and worshippers +clad in rainbow hues crowd round the base of the volcano, while the +priests of Siva, in motley robes of brilliant patchwork, adorned with +cabalistic tracery in white, ascend the swaying rungs, bearing their +struggling victims, bleating, crowing, and clucking in mortal terror. +Stalwart arms toss the black goat with accurate aim to an assistant +priest, who passes on his clever "catch" to a third expert in the task +of hoodwinking Siva and depriving him of his lawful prey. Sundry cocks +and hens, evidently toothsome morsels, are then thrown from one priest +to another, and saved for the cooking-pot, but a tough-looking +chanticleer of the Cochin China persuasion is finally selected, and +cast into the seething pit to propitiate the terrible wrath of the +Avenging Deity at the smallest expense and loss to the astute +priesthood. At the close of the sacerdotal is sacreligious performance, +we mount the shaking ladder to a thatched shed on the rim of the +crater. From hence, between the dense volumes of smoke, the huge cavity +is visible to a depth of 600 feet. Sallow clouds of sulphur emerge from +a pandemonium of tumultuous clamour; red-hot stones shoot upward, but +fall back into the chasm before they reach us; burning ashes strike the +smooth walls with a weird scream, and then whirl back into the +darkness; yellow solfataras rise in foaming jets, with the fierce hiss +of unseen serpents, and bellowing thunders shake the earth. The superb +spectacle of nature's power in her armoury of terror is unique among +the volcanos of Java, for unless the Bromo blazes in the throes of a +violent eruption, when the ascent to the crater becomes impossible, no +danger exists in gazing down into the mysterious abyss. At every gust +which rages round this laboratory of Nature, the vast clouds--black, +yellow, and blue--floating away into space, assume grotesque forms +suggesting primeval monsters or menacing giants, darkening the skies +with their ghostly presence. Driving rain and a rising gale hasten a +rapid descent to the Sand Sea, but the sudden storm dies away into +sunlit mists. The climb to the Moenggal Pass is complicated by a series +of pools and cascades; the horses pick their own perilous way, but the +management of the chairs by the noisy coolies demands superhuman +strength and security of hand and foot, the crazy and battered _doolie_ +escaping falls and collisions by a continuous miracle. + +The expedition to Ngandwona, in the heart of the hills, skirts green +precipices and traverses brown _campongs_ forlorn and neglected, like +this stranded Hindu race, incapable of adjustment to life's law of +change, and retaining the form without the spirit of the past. The +glens lie veiled in cloud, but the peaks bask in sunshine. Waterfalls +dash through thickets of crimson foxglove, and daturas swing their +fragrant bells over the dancing water. A little goatherd, leading his +bleating flock, plays on a reed flute to summon a straggler from a +distant crag. The brown figure, in linen waistcloth and yellow turban, +suggests that Indian personality which has survived ages of exile on +these lonely heights. The route to Ngandwona discloses the Tengger in +a different aspect; the volcanos are far away, and this central region +is rich in pastoral pictures full of lulling charm. The voice of the +Bromo still breaks the silence of the deep valley with a mysterious +undertone, but only benignant _Devas_ haunt this flower-filled hollow, +remote alike from the terrors of Nature and the influences of the +external world. + +The following day varies the character of the range, exposed to every +vicissitude of temperature and climate. White billows of fog beat upon +the mountain tops like a silent sea, and blot out the landscape with an +impenetrable veil. Thunder echoes through the rocky caves with +incessant reverberations, and rain settles down in a drenching flood. +The chill of the wooden Hotel penetrates to the bone; enthusiasm wanes +below zero, and even scorching Sourabaya appears preferable to this wet +and windy refuge on the storm-swept heights. The hurricane proves brief +in proportion to the violence displayed, and the walk to Poespo at +dawn, behind the baggage-coolie, is a vision of delight. Violet +mountains lean against the pale blue of a rain-washed sky, tjewara and +teak glisten with jewelled lustre, and the Tengger, bathed in +amethystine light, lifts itself above the world as the realm of purity +and peace, ever revealed and prophesied by the glory of mountain +scenery. + + + + +CELEBES. + + + + +MAKASSAR AND WESTERN CELEBES. + + +Each island of the great Archipelago offers distinctive interests, for +many alien races grafted themselves on the original stock, after those +age-long wanderings across the Southern seas which probably coincided +with the westward march from Central Asia, whereby primeval man +fulfilled the decrees of destiny. + +A long pull in a rickety _sampan_ across the harbour of Sourabaya +involves numerous collisions with fruit-boats, canoes, and rafts, +before reaching the steamer in the offing. Intervals of comparative +safety permit cursory observation of the gorgeously-painted _praus_ +with upturned stern, curving bamboo masts, and striped sails, the +outline of the gaudy boats accentuated by a black line, and producing +the effect of huge shells tossing on the tide. The green isle of +Madoera, and the level morasses of Eastern Java, bound the wide +harbour, the blue cloud of the distant Tengger soaring abruptly on the +horizon. The ship becomes our home for a month, and affords a welcome +relief from divers struggles on land, involved by a dual language, +official red tape, and native incompetence. A brilliant sunset flames +across the heavens, and we glide across a golden sea as a fitting +prelude to unknown realms of enchantment. The dreamful calm of the two +days' passage obliterates the memory of bygone difficulties and +perturbations, the interval between past and future experiences falling +like refreshing dew on the weary spirit, and increasing the receptive +capacity required for the assimilation of new impressions. The vast +extent of the Malay Archipelago, and the stupendous size of the +principal islands, comes as a fresh revelation to travellers whose +ideas have been limited by vague recollections of schoolroom geography. +The seven hundred miles of Java's length, Sumatra's vast extent of +fourteen hundred miles, the area of Borneo equalling that of France and +Germany combined, and the fact of Celebes, for which we are bound, +exceeding the dimensions of Norway and Sweden, convey startling +suggestions of the limitless space occupied by the great Equatorial +group. The palms and flowers of myriad smaller isles break the blue +monotony of these summer seas traversed by the Malay wanderers of olden +days, striving to sail beyond the sunset, and to overtake that +visionary ideal flitting ever before them, and luring them on with the +fairy gold of unfulfilled desires. + +At length the high blue peaks of central Celebes pierce the silver +mists of a roseate dawn, and beyond a cluster of coral islets, the +white town of Makassar gleams against a green background of palms. +Miles of brown _campongs_ fringe the shore, but the gay scene on the +wooden wharves at first occupies undivided attention. _Sarongs_ of +crimson, orange, purple, or boldly-contrasting plaids, enhance the deep +bronze of native complexion, the ample folds of the wide skirts drawn +up above the knees. High turbans of white or red cambric, elaborately +twisted, add dignity to the stately figures, deeply-cut features and +hawk noses denoting Arab origin, for the Makassarese is a lineal +descendant of the Moslem pirates, once the terror of these +island-studded seas. Proud, courageous, and passionately addicted to +adventurous travel in far-off lands, these sturdy islanders have little +in common with the inert races of Java. The normal Malay element +appears extinguished by the fiery superstructure of Arab nature, +retaining the vindictive and fanatical traits of ancestral character. +The women, in rainbow garb, use their floating _slandangs_ as +improvised _yashmaks_, holding the red and yellow folds before their +faces in approved Moslem fashion, when passing a man. Makassar, +formerly ruled by a line of powerful princes as an independent fief, +but now subject to a Dutch Governor, has become the capital of Celebes, +and occupies an important commercial position. The wharves are filled +with bales of _copra_, mother-of-pearl shells, plumage of native birds, +dried fish, bundles of rattan, and precious woods from the primeval +forests of the interior. The boom of the fisherman's drum echoes across +the water in constant reverberations, a secularised relic of the +religious past, originally serving the purpose of the Mohammedan call +to prayer, but now fulfilling the prosaic office of signalling the +arrival or departure of boats, though the devout mariner still appeals +by drum to the Heavenly Powers for fair weather and a good haul of +fish. The official buildings of Makassar, including the Dutch +Governor's palace, face a green _aloon-aloon_, flanked by superb +avenues of kanari and tamarind trees. The hoary fort, scarcely +distinguishable from the solid rock which supports it, was captured +from the King of Goa by a Dutch admiral, who thrust his sword through +an adjacent cocoanut palm, to symbolise his intention of piercing the +hearts of all who resisted the Treaty afterwards drawn up. The sword +and cocoanut now form part of the heraldic arms belonging to Makassar. + +Local costume affords a continuous feast of colour, and streets and +avenues appear like moving tulip beds, the broad blue sky and dazzling +sunshine of this tropical land intensifying every glowing tint of robe, +fruit, and flower. In the umber shadows of dusky _tokos_, gold-beaters +fashion those red-gold ornaments rich in barbaric beauty, for which +Makassar has ever been renowned. Portuguese art glorifies native +workmanship, and the Dutch carry on the traditions of the past, merely +simplifying the old methods by introducing modern tools to lighten the +labour of production. Silken scarves, and elaborately-painted _battek_, +woven with gold and silver thread, swing from the black rafters of dim +corridors, and countless treasures of the deep, in shells and coral of +rich and delicate colouring, manifest the infinite variety of Nature's +handiwork. From the crowded lanes, with their busy markets and hybrid +population, we drive through the long line of _campongs_ bordering the +palm-fringed coast. The bamboo walls of the fragile houses, standing on +stilts or rocking on poles in the rippling sea, show a multitude of +fantastic designs, the broad roofs of thatched grass or plaited +palm-leaves extending in penthouse eaves above carven panels let into +the gables. A riot of glorious vegetation frames and overshadows the +clustering huts of deftly-woven cane. Dark faces peer through the +narrow slits of bamboo window-spaces, but Makassar pride contains the +elements of self-respect, and though the stranger attracts a certain +amount of interest, no discourtesy mars the pleasure of exploration. A +red road beneath towering palms, skirts rice-fields and bamboo thickets +to the beautiful ford of the Tello, a broad river flowing between vast +woods of cocoanut and bread-fruit trees, with only a tiny dug-out, +steered by a brown boy in a scarlet turban, to dispel the loneliness of +the scene. The vicinity of Makassar offers no special characteristics +beyond those of a tropical garden, but the changing aspects of native +life provide subjects of unceasing interest. To-day a great Chinese +festa takes place, which attracts all the inhabitants of town and +_campong_, for amusements are scarce on these distant shores, and no +questions of race or faith complicate the determination to secure a +share in the pleasures of the ceremony. When the usual burst of squibs +and crackers, lighting of bonfires, and tossing of joss-papers into the +air, marks the commencement of the holiday, spectators line the roads, +climb the trees, and crowd the fiat roofs of Portuguese houses. The +afternoon is the children's portion of the festival, and the little +bedizened figures, with rouged faces, tinsel crowns, and spangled +robes, bestride grotesque wooden dragons, fishes, and birds, +brilliantly painted, and drawn on wheels by masked men in robes of pink +and green. A crowd of high-class babies, also bedizened and spangled, +follows in perambulators wreathed with flowers, and pushed by their +Chinese nurses. Hideous gods in glittering robes, and appalling demons +painted in black and scarlet, bring up the rear of the long procession, +which traverses every street and lane of the Chinese _campong_, the +open houses displaying the lighted altars and tutelary gods of +Buddhist and Taoist creed, for the mystic philosophy of the Eastern +sages materialises into grossest realism by passing through the +crucible of Chinese thought. + +A visit to the so-called "Kingdom of Goa" fills up our last day in +Makassar. The Palace of the tributary Sultan, ten miles from the +capital, consists of steep-roofed houses built upon huge trunks of +forest trees, and connected by carved galleries and crumbling stairs +with the Harem at the back of the main edifice. Squalid women in blue +yashmaks loll on the crazy verandah, whence a native secretary marshals +us through the dusty and ruinous building. The Sultan, taking to the +hills as a necessary precaution after inciting his subjects to +rebellion against the Dutch, has just been captured, but, whether by +accident or design, fell over a cliff, and until his dead body is +brought back to receive the Mohammedan rites of burial, the royal +residence remains in charge of the police. The grass-grown road to the +decaying Palace intersects the rambling and sordid village of Goa, the +feudal appanage of the sorry chieftain, a perpetual thorn in the side +of the Dutch Government. The surrounding country appears almost a +solitude, the silence stirred by the song of the distant surf, the +chirping of myriad grasshoppers, and the ceaseless clash of waving +palms in the breeze which steals up from the sea. A quaint +water-castle, shaped like a Chinese junk, stands on a rock in a +fish-pond reflecting the rosy sky, and the fretted marble of a +beautiful Arabian tomb gleams from a clump of white-starred _sumboya_ +exhaling incense on the air. As the magic and mystery of night shroud +Makassar in a mantle of gloom, the surrounding sea becomes a vision of +phosphorescent flame to the furthest horizon. The sheet-lightning of +the tropical sky repeats the wonders of the deep, the glamour of +romance gilds the prose of reality, and we apprehend that spirit of +wondering awe which breathes through the records of old-world voyagers +across uncharted oceans, when witnessing the phenomena of Nature in the +sanctuary of her power, before Science had torn the veil from the +mystic shrine. + +The steamer's course follows the bold and mountainous coast; steep +cliffs alternate with forest-clad ravines, the purple ranges of the +foreground melting into the azure crests of soaring peaks. Skilful +navigation is required in threading the blue water-lanes of the +Spermunde group, the scores of palm-clad islets like bouquets of +verdure thrown on the tranquil sea. The wicker-work _campongs_ of the +fishing population form a ring round each white beach of sparkling +coral sand. The black bow of the "Bromo," a ship which broke her back +on a reef twenty years ago, stands high above the treacherous rocks, +and accentuates the vivid colouring of water and foliage. At Pare-Pare, +a native _campong_ in a deep bay at the edge of a forest, the steamer +stops to discharge cargo, and affords an opportunity of landing. A gay +crowd lines the shore of the picturesque village, the houses of +palm-thatched bamboo adorned with carved ladders and upcurving eaves of +white wood. One of the numerous military expeditions to turbulent +Celebes has lately been successful, and the _campong_, where every hut +was closed for a year in consequence of the local Rajah forcing his +people to join in his insurrection, has at last been re-opened, though +under a guard of Dutch and Malay troops. A brown bodyguard of native +children, mainly clad in silver chains and medals, escorts the +strangers with intense delight to a shabby little mosque, where a +Dervish, in the orange turban rewarding a pilgrim to Mecca, beats a big +drum in the stone court. The little savages encountered at Mandja on +the following day seem equally free from clothes and cares, but +Europeans, though possessing the charm of novelty, are regarded with +awe; a sudden stop, a word, or even a lifted hand, sufficing to make +the whole juvenile population take to their heels, and hide among the +palms and bananas until a sudden impulse of fresh curiosity banishes +fear. Clothing is at a discount, but ornaments of brass, silver, and +coloured beads, are evidently indispensable. Natural flowers, like +immense red fuchsias with long white bells, serve as ear-rings, and +scarlet caps adorn the sleek black heads of the elder girls. An _al +fresco_ picnic party from the hills occupies a green mound, and boils a +kettle on sticks of flaming bamboo, though a stray spark might easily +burn down the entire _campong_. A great part of Celebes is uninhabited +and uncultivated, but the tribes of the interior, warlike and +treacherous, have never been completely subjugated. The slave trade +flourishes among these lonely hills, murder and violence are rife; the +methods of warfare, comprising poisoned arrows, and bullets containing +splinters of glass, denote absolute barbarism, and the enormous island, +which ought to be a field of emigration for some of Java's twenty-seven +millions, except for the coast _campongs_ and the rice-grounds of the +far interior, remains one of the waste places of the earth, in spite of +a perfect climate and a teeming soil. + +Day by day the scenery becomes more wild and dreary; the forests +disappear, and the sun-baked hills encroach on the low brushwood beyond +the white beaches of coves and inlets, without any sign of habitation. +An atmosphere of crystalline purity discloses the highest range of the +interior, a long chain of azure peaks. Our course traverses league upon +league of melancholy solitude, emphasised rather than relieved by the +brilliant sunlight and balmy breezes playing over this realm of +neglected possibilities, where the wants of countless sufferers might +be abundantly supplied. Anchoring for an hour in the deep blue bay of +Tontoli, we come once more into the haunts of men, and two picturesque +_campongs_ buried in cocoa-palms beneath the wooded mountains of Tomini +are pointed out as exclusively peopled by descendants of the pirates +who infested this western coast of Celebes. From this point the +interest of the cruise increases. Pretty _campongs_ line the shore of +every sheltered creek. Boats of quaint form and colour push off to meet +the steamer, quickly surrounded by _sampans_, _blotos_ (the native +canoes), or carved and painted skiffs, all manned by an amphibious race +in Nature's suit of brown, which renders the wearers indifferent to +overturned boats, water-logged _blotos_, and collapsing rafts, though +the encouraging statements of our Malay crew as to the warmth and +shallowness of the water in case of any contretemps, is less reassuring +to the travellers who venture shoreward on the risky craft. The loan of +the captain's boat makes the visit to Dongalla an experience of +unalloyed pleasure, but the people appear morose and sullen. A +dignified youth, in purple turban and checked _sarong_, attempts to do +the honours of his native place, but his comrades, oppressed by vague +suspicions, close the heavy doors of their wooden houses, and peep +through the interstices of the bamboo shutters as we thread the narrow +alleys, escorted by the deck steward. A more genial crowd welcomes us +to the palm-groves of Palehle, where a light-hearted bodyguard of +children shows us every nook and corner of the brown _campong_, with +smiling faces and merry laughter. The heart-whole mirth of these little +savages might brighten the saddest soul. Living in the present, with no +artificial wants to create dissatisfaction, and free from the pains or +penalties of poverty, as experienced in Northern climes, the simple +life close to the heart of Nature suggests ideas of Eden's unshadowed +joy. Amid the treasures of memory garnered during the winter's +wanderings through the Malay Archipelago, the unclouded merriment which +endows these children of Nature remains as the deepest impression +stamped on the memory of the Western pilgrim. European childhood, at +the best and brightest, but faintly approaches this spontaneous gaiety, +the special attribute of untutored souls in a world of primal +innocence. + +At Soemalata the steep declivities of wooded mountains enclose the +harbour, and a narrow pass leads to the gold mines, where the process +of smelting and separating the ore takes place in a primitive series of +conduits, sluices, mills, and pounding machines. The gold concession +granted by the local Rajah prospers in European hands, but the barbaric +chieftain adheres to the ancient custom of having the gold washed from +the river sand by his own slaves. The English engineer of the mines +hails a compatriot with delight, and his explanation of the complicated +machinery ends with a welcome invitation to tea in his pretty +bungalow. A solitary Englishman is frequently found stationed in the +remotest outposts of civilisation throughout the Malay Archipelago, +enduring a life of unexampled loneliness with the tenacity and +determination inherent in national character. The oft-receding vision +of a successful future inspires the dauntless heart less than a sense +of present duty, and these exiles from the social ties of nation and +kindred possess special claims on sympathy and remembrance. Lovely +lanes of palm and banana, brightened by trees of crimson poinsettia, +wind upward to the hills, and a cluster of green islets gems the blue +waters; the scarlet-stemmed Banka palm offering a glowing contrast to +the sweeping emerald of the feathery fronds. The little settlement of +Kwandang, with a gold _fabrik_ occupying a wooded islet, completes the +circuit of the western coast, for the North-Eastern Cape comprises a +distinctive province, requiring a separate chapter. Intervening +mountains, with jagged cliffs and towering summits, rise like Titanic +fortresses from the creaming surf which washes the yellow bastions, +leaving no space for the wicker _campongs_, impermanent as a child's +house of cards, but perpetually rebuilt in identical fashion, and never +developing into substantial dwellings, or adjusted on the new lines +required by varieties of environment. + + + + +THE MINAHASA. + + +Steaming slowly through the phosphorescent seas of the starlit night, +we anchor at dawn in the forest-lined bay of Amoerang, the principal +harbour of the Minahasa. The picturesque Northern Cape of Celebes +contains a population differing in origin and character from all other +races of the vast island, and conveys the idea of a distinctive +country. The mountain panorama of shelving ridges and fretted +promontories, breaking the outlines of the rocky coast with infinite +variety, culminates in the chiselled contours of volcanic peaks, +cutting sharply into the silvery blue of a stainless sky. Amoerang, +half-buried in sago-palms, on the green rim of the secluded haven, +shows slight resemblance to the _campongs_ generally encountered on the +western coast. Wooden cottages, though built on piles of wood or stone, +and thatched with _atap_ (plaited palm leaves) possess many features in +common with the screened and balconied dwellings of Japan. The people, +in aspect and feature, also convey suggestions of the Japanese origin +ascribed to them, for ancient traditions assert that the Minahasa was +colonised by an Asiatic tribe, driven out of Formosa by native savages, +in one of those wild raids upon the peaceful maritime population which +drove them to face the perils of an unknown sea, rather than fall into +the ruthless hands of the bloodthirsty aborigines who inhabited the +forests and mountains of the interior. Many of the hapless exiles +perished through hunger, thirst, storm, and shipwreck of their +slightly-built craft, during the long wanderings which ended as though +by chance for the survivors, in the distant Minahasa. The Malay element +in those Japanese refugees, displayed the usual characteristics of +skill in boat-building and navigation, together with that accurate +observation of natural phenomena which alone could compensate for the +lack of scientific knowledge. The women, with oblique eyes and oval +faces, wear the gay _sarong_ and white _kabaja_ customary in Eastern +Java. The men, in shapeless gowns and wide trousers, with broad hats of +battered straw on their close-cropped hair, afford a sorry spectacle of +unbecoming and disorderly attire, conveying grotesque hints of Japanese +ideas beneath the squalid ugliness overlaying them. The fishermen, +conveniently unclad for the necessities of their calling, wear only a +yellow or scarlet waist-cloth, the bright touch of colour emphasising +the deep bronze of their slight but athletic forms. The people of the +Minahasa, Christianised after the Calvinistic methods of Dutch and +German missionaries a century ago, have always been specially favoured +by the Government of Holland, and large sums are annually expended in +improving the status of this distant colony. The making of roads, the +building of schools and churches, and the improvement of social +conditions, are liberally catered for, not only for the advantage of +the Minahasa, but that no excuse may exist for any rebellion against +such paternal rule. Tribal insurrections continually recur in the great +Archipelago, where a storm in a teacup often swells into dangerous +proportions, and the peaceful adherence of the Minahasa to the powers +that be becomes an important factor in turbulent Celebes. The race, so +strangely amalgamated with alien interests, shows the apathy of a +temperament incapable of developement on foreign lines, though unable +to resist the pressure imposed upon it. The pretty _campong_ seems +silent as the grave. No native _warongs_, or restaurants, enliven the +straight roads with their merry crowds or cheerful gossip, and sellers +of food and drink, whose cries echo through the streets of Makassar, +are unknown in this northern port, where even the arrival of the +fortnightly steamer fails to excite much interest in the public mind. + +A rash determination to drive across the Minahasa, and pick up the boat +at Menado, involves unimagined difficulties. Heavy waggons drawn by +brown _sappies_ (_i.e._, bullocks), which travel at the rate of two +miles an hour, suffice for native use in remote Amoerang, but at length +a dilapidated gig, with two sorry steeds harnessed in tandem fashion by +sundry bits of old rope, is produced. Having frequently experienced the +pace accomplished by many a Timor pony of emaciated and dejected +aspect, faith accepts even this unpromising team for the long drive of +thirty miles. Quaint _campongs_, with bamboo fences and curiously +arched gateways, flank the woodland road. Each little garden flames +with red poinsettia, purple convolvulus, and yellow daisies. The +latticed screens pushed back from open verandahs, show Japanese-looking +rooms, furnished with the European lamps, chairs, and tables, exported +by thousands to the Minahasa, but the same atmosphere of stagnation +broods over these quiet villages, and even the children, returning from +a bamboo schoolhouse on the edge of the forest, show the staid and +solemn demeanour of their elders. For a few miles all goes well, with +the trifling exception of occasional breakages in the countless knots +of the rope harness. The last whistle of the steamer floats upward as +she leaves her anchorage, and refusing to yield to a faint misgiving as +to the success of the present enterprise, eyes and thoughts concentrate +themselves on the increasing beauty of the mountain road, the living +emerald of the rice-fields, and the picturesque mills for husking the +grain, which give special character to this unique district of Celebes. +Suddenly the rickety conveyance comes to a full stop, and a kicking +match begins, the plunging ponies refusing to budge an inch. The +incapable Jehu implores his fare's consent to an immediate return, but +meets with an inexorable refusal, the halting Malay sentences eked out +with an unmistakable pantomime of threats and warnings. The driver's +whip, supplemented by an English umbrella, produces no effect on the +obtuse animals, which have to be led, or rather hauled, on their +unwilling way. One obstreperous steed becomes so unmanageable that it +becomes necessary to hitch him to the back of the cart, at the imminent +risk of overturning it, in his determination to thwart his companion's +enforced progress. Mile after mile the wearisome struggle continues. +Even a lumbering bullock waggon passes us again and again, in the +numerous stoppages required for fresh conflict. The endless hours of +the weary day drag on like a terrible nightmare, but a descent into a +profound ravine of these mountain solitudes at length enables the +driver to start the team at a rate which makes it impossible for them +to stop, and he vaults lightly into his place as we spin merrily +downhill. Our troubles are not over, for on the next upward grade the +old game of rearing, backing, and futile attempts at buck-jumping, +begins again. Despairing eyes rest on a thatched booth at the +roadside, containing a row of bottles hung up by a string, with the +bamboo tube for coins. Holding the ropes, and currying favour with the +ponies by leading them to a patch of grass, it becomes possible for the +boy to leave them for a sorely-needed drink of the sago-wine. The +fiendish animals try to upset the cart, and the fight recommences for +the fiftieth time, but the brown huts of a _campong_ in a cactus +thicket inspire hope, and after a furious battle in the street, to the +intense delight of the Japanese-looking people, a man comes to the +rescue with a stout pony. The boy mounts one battered steed, the other +is left behind in a hospitable stable, and we trot briskly on through +lovely scenery of forest and mountain to Kanas, at the head of the +beautiful lake of Tondano, hitherto seen in glimpses at an immense +depth between encircling peaks. Wearied almost to stupefaction by +eleven hours of a combat, after which victory seems scarcely less +ghastly than defeat, we would gladly remain for the night at the little +Rest House of Kanas, but prudence compels us to push on to Tondano, at +the other end of the lake, while a capable pony remains at disposal. +The lake road is a vista of entrancing loveliness, overhung by arching +bamboos and great sago-palms, the vanguard of the forest which clothes +the lower spurs of the purple mountain ranges, shutting off the long +blue lake from the outside world. A rudely-built _bloto_, merely the +hollowed trunk of a tree, crosses the water, with a torch flickering at +the prow, for the sun has set, and the crimson afterglow begins to fade +from the serrated crests of the opposite heights. The ripple of the +water in the reeds at the edge of the road, and the sigh of the evening +breeze, fluttering the leaves and creaking the yellow canes of the +great bamboos, alone stir the silence, which comes as a welcome relief +after the toil and excitement of the day; but alas! we have all +forgotten the perils of the road at nightfall, and in the sudden +darkness, deepened by the shadowy trees, a false step might precipitate +cart and passengers into the deep water. Any advance becomes dangerous +on the winding way, which follows every curve of the irregular shore, +so a halt is called, while the boy rides on towards some twinkling +lights denoting a lakeside _campong_. After a long wait, he returns in +triumph with three matches and a piece of flaming tow in a bottle. By +observing due precaution, we can now follow his guidance, while he +holds out the flaring light with extended arm. As we turn round the +foot of the lake into a raised causeway above fields of ripening rice, +the full moon comes up behind the sombre hills, and transfigures the +night with a sparkling flood of silver glory. We reach the white Dutch +town of Tondano as the clock strikes ten, but everyone is in bed at +this dissipated hour, and difficulty is experienced even in getting +admission to the little Hotel, though the delight of finding an +English-speaking landlord atones for a somewhat ungracious reception +after a long and painful pilgrimage, which should serve as a solemn +warning against the rash attempt to penetrate the wilds of the Minahasa +under native guidance. + +Tondano, with houses and verandahs gleaming in spotless whiteness among +green spaces and luxuriant trees, appears a typical Dutch town, +incongruous but picturesque. The absolute purity and transparency of +the atmosphere give value and intensity to every shade of colour, and +the scarlet hybiscus flowers show the incandescent glow belonging +rather to lamps than to blossoms. The river Tondano forms a series of +lovely cascades below the town, situated four miles from the lake at +the present time, for the marshy flats have been reclaimed as +rice-grounds, thus somewhat diminishing the stretch of water. The steep +drive down to Menado offers a succession of lovely views. The little +port, in a nest of verdure, encircles the azure bay, where our steamer, +merely a white speck in the distance, lies at anchor. A turn of the +road discloses a glimpse of the mountain lake, a sheet of sapphire +sparkling in the morning sun, but retrospective thoughts in this +instance convey pain as well as pleasure, for "mounting ambition" has +for once "o'erleapt itself," and failure counterbalances success. +Menado, divided by the river, is inhabited by two distinct tribes of +the mysterious colonists who came from the farthest East to these +unknown shores. The ubiquitous Chinaman has found a firm footing in the +northerly port of Celebes, and the splendidly-carved dragons of a +stately temple, rich in ornaments of green jade, blue porcelain, and +elaborate brass-work, denote the important status of the wealthy +community. A busy _passer_ supplies the usual pictures of native life, +but the people of the Minahasa, here as elsewhere, lack both the gay +insouciance of the South, and the strenuous energy of the Northern +mind, the residuum of apathetic dullness, deprived of all the salient +characteristics which constitute charm and interest. European houses of +Dutch officials stand in ideal gardens of brilliant flowers and richest +foliage. The little Hotel Wilhelmina is a paradise of exotic blossoms, +but Menado, apart from a lovely situation, and the usual riot of +glorious verdure which makes every tropical weed a thing of beauty, +offers little inducement for a prolonged stay. The bay, exposed to +contrary winds and chafed by conflicting currents, tosses in perpetual +turmoil, though a long jetty diminishes the former difficulties of the +stormy passage between ship and shore. In the amber light of sunset, +the dark mountain ranges stand out with unearthly clearness. The jagged +peaks of Klabat and Soedara in the background, bringing into prominence +the grey cliffs and purple ravines of the smoking Lokon. The wonderful +scenery of the Malay Archipelago seldom lacks that element of terror +which enhances the radiant loveliness of Nature by painting it on a +tragic background of storm and cloud, the vague suggestion of +evanescence intensifying the mysterious charm with poetic significance. +The receding coast discloses a striking panorama of the mountain +heights piled one upon another, the grey towers and bastions guarding +this narrowing Cape of the Minahasa, a veritable outpost of Nature, +eternally washed by the restless seas. As the steamer rounds the savage +promontories, and threads the blue straits formed by two rocky islets +at the northern extremity, the weird and desolate landscape conveys a +strange sense of separation even from the alien humanity which peoples +the far-reaching peninsula of the Minahasa, and this northern extremity +appears a limitless waste. Chaotic masses of imperishable granite, +splintered reefs thrusting black spikes through the creaming surge, and +wind-swept cliffs of fantastic form, characterise the solemn headland, +unpainted and unsung, although the sea-girt sanctuary of Nature demands +interpretation through the terms of Art and Poetry. + + + + +GORONTALO AND THE EASTERN COAST. + + +The steamer's first halt on the wild eastern coast of Celebes is the +gold-mining settlement of Todok, where the Company's rustic offices of +palm-thatched bamboo border an enchanting bay, with a string of green +islets studding the shoaling blue and purple of the gleaming depths. +Two passengers disembark for the ebony plantations on the slopes of a +volcanic range, declaring itself by a slight earthquake rocking the +_atap_ shanty, where the ship's officer who tallies the cargo, offers +hospitality until the fierce heat modifies sufficiently for a stroll. + +A dusty and shadeless road leads up into the wooded hills which +bound the prospect, but the _campong_, largely consisting of +recently-constructed dwellings, occupied by alien employes in the +service of the Gold Syndicate, offers no inducements for exploration, +and until the launch returns, a shadowy palm-grove by the wayside makes +a welcome retreat from the dust and glare, the creaking of innumerable +bullock-waggons, and the shouts of crew and coolies, disputing over the +loading of a raft. + +The arrival at Gorontalo in the radiant dawn provides a more +interesting experience. The river which forms the beautiful harbour, +rushes through a profound ravine of the forest-clad mountains, which +descend sharply to the water's edge. The scene resembles a Norwegian +fiord, translated into tropical terms of climate and vegetation. A +narrow track climbs the ledges of a cliff behind the brown fishing +_campong_ of Liato, but a rude wharf on the opposite side affords a +less picturesque though safer landing, for the swirling currents of the +swift stream require more careful navigation than the amphibious +boatman, unembarrassed by clothing, is wont to bestow on craft or +passenger. The spirit of enterprise is also in abeyance, scotched if +not killed by the struggles of the memorable pilgrimage through the +Minahasa. The quiet haven in the shadow of the guardian hills looks an +ideal haunt of peace. A Dutch battleship lies at anchor, and the red +sails of a wide-winged _prau_ make broken reflections in the rippling +clearness of the green water. A wooden bridge crosses the river at the +narrow end of the funnel-shaped harbour, connecting it with the town in +the steaming valley, the usual medley of open _tokos_ and _atap_ huts, +supplemented by two dubious hotels, a green _aloon-aloon_, and a few +stone houses denoting the presence of the European element. The +original inhabitants of Gorontalo are of Alfoer race--dark, glum, and +forbidding. How this ancient stock, indigenous to some of the southern +islands in the Malay Archipelago, wandered from thence to distant +Celebes has not been satisfactorily accounted for. The records of +savage tribes depend on oral tradition, but the outlines of an oft-told +tale become blurred and dim during the lapse of ages, when the mental +calibre of the racial type lacks normal acumen. The graces of life are +ignored by the Alfoer woman, her mouth invariably distorted by the red +lump of betel-nut, accommodated with difficulty, and rendering silence +imperative. Her bowed shoulders become deformed with the heavy loads +perpetually borne, for the rising trade of Gorontalo supplies the men +with more congenial employment than the field work, which frequently +becomes the woman's province. A straight road between crowding palms +crosses a wide rice-plain, opening out of the cleft carved by the +mountain river, and leads to the curious Lake of Limbotto, a green mass +of luxuriant water-weeds, the dense vegetation solidifying into +floating islands of verdure, intersected by narrow channels, only +navigable to a native _bloto_ skilfully handled, for Nature alternately +builds up and disperses these flowery oases, blocking up old water-ways +and opening new ones with bewildering confusion. Buffaloes wallow +between the tangled clumps of pink lotus and purple iris, and wild +ducks nest in the waving sedges, or darken the air in a sudden flight +down the long lake. A noisy market flanks the water, and bronze +figures, in red turbans row gaily-clad women, laden with purchases, to +some distant _campong_, reached through the mazes of verdure. The +country _passer_, a shifting scene of gaudy colouring, contains greater +elements of interest than commercial Gorontalo, where the native +_campong_ loses individuality in gaining the prosaic adjuncts of a +trading centre. The lovely harbour dreams in the moonlight as we steam +slowly out of the widening estuary to pick up cargo in the great bay of +Tomini, which sweeps in a mighty curve round half the Eastern coast of +Celebes. The conical island of Oena-Oena rises sheer from the waves, +the red peak of a lofty volcano composing the apex of a green pyramid, +formed by a forest of palms. Until six years ago no anchorage for ships +was possible at this forest-clad isle, but a volcanic eruption deepened +the bay, and a thriving trade in _copra_ was initiated, for the whole +surface of Oena-Oena is clothed with a dense mass of drooping cocoanut +trees. Scattered dwellings nestle in the thick woods, but no regular +_campong_ exists in this thinly-peopled spot, a vernal Eden set in the +purple sea. The heat of the day, though intense, is everywhere tempered +by the interlacing canopies of the feathery fronds, until sunset fuses +them into the vivid transparency of green fire, and a fluttering zephyr +stirs the whispering foliage. The shy brown people, who at first hide +in their _atap_ huts at the approach of strangers, venture out to see +the last of the departing steamer, which forms the sole link between +barbarism and civilisation, and a month must elapse before any contact +with the outside world can vary the seclusion of this lonely spot, a +dreamland vision of repose. At Posso, the next port on Celebes, we land +a Dutch officer, bound for the important barracks on a hill above the +straggling _campong_, after a successful expedition against the +tree-dwellers, cannibals, and slave-traders of the interior, still sunk +in barbarism. An olive-green river, infested with crocodiles, flows +sluggishly through rank vegetation into the sea below the dilapidated +huts of the depressing native town. This forlorn outpost of military +duty involves exile from civilisation, and the risk of occasional raids +from the wild tribes of the surrounding hills. + +At Parigi, canopied by spreading palms, the _atap_ houses, with bamboo +rafters strengthening the fragile walls, stand in neglected gardens, +overgrown with a tangle of flower and foliage. The low tide makes the +dangerous _bloto_ a necessity, though the hollowed tree, top heavy and +water-logged, is in imminent peril of capsizing every minute of the +long course between ship and shore. Objections to a boat upsetting in +shallow water being beyond Malay comprehension, the only way of +accomplishing the transit in safety is by a summary command that two +brown boys should immediately jump overboard to lighten the rocking +craft. Nothing loth, they swim to shore in our wake, rolling over in +the sand to dry themselves like Newfoundland dogs, and with less +embarrassment on the score of clothing. A native Queen or Maharanee +rules Parigi from her bamboo palace in the deepest recesses of the +adjacent palm-forest, but she is invisible to her subjects, and dwells +in the seclusion of _purdah_, possibly a relic of Indian origin. Her +nominal authority proves insufficient to keep the peace between the +native population and the Dutch, for Parigi has been for months in a +state of insurrection and unrest. Only a year ago a raid was made on +the Eurasian merchant's office wherein I take shelter from the noonday +sun, and two white men were attacked by a band who rushed down from the +mountains and cut off their heads. The ringleader of the assassins is +now imprisoned for life in the gaol of Batavia, no capital punishment +being permitted in the Netherlands India. An immense cargo of _copra_ +and rattan fills a fleet of boats and rafts. The great stacks of cane +cause no annoyance, but the sickening smell of _copra_ (the dried and +shredded cocoanut used for oil) pervades the ship, and an occasional +cockroach of crab-like dimensions clatters across the deck in his coat +of mail from a hiding place in the unsavoury cargo. The philosophic +Hollander accepts these horrors of the tropics with undisturbed +composure, but happily for the peace of the English passenger, the +Malay "room-boy" welcomes a new idea, and becomes gradually inspired +with the ardour of the chase. Ominous clouds darken over the Bay of +Tomini as we embark once more on the rolling waters, having completed +the circuit of the vast island, possessing a coast-line of 2,500 miles. +Blue peaks and waving palms recede into the mists of falling night. We +are once more afloat on a sleeping sea, the restful monotony of wind +and wave enabling indelible impressions of each varying scene to sink +deeply into mind and memory, and preventing the too rapid succession of +travelling experiences. + + + + +A GLIMPSE OF BORNEO. + + +An element of uncertainty attends the cruise among the Malayan islands, +through sudden orders to include strange ports of call in the programme +of the route. During the stay at Makassar, a cable from Batavia +necessitates a flying visit to Borneo, and though the detour was made +from the western coast of Celebes, the great sister island demands a +special notice. In steaming thither through the radiant glory of an +Equatorial sunset, strange atmospheric effects denote fresh variations +of climate and temperature. The rounded horizon, which suggests the rim +of the terrestrial globe, seems within a stone's throw of the ship, and +as the crimson sun sinks below the sharply-defined curve outlined by +the sea, a glowing hearth of smouldering embers appears burning on the +edge of the water. The eastern sky blooms into vivid pink from the +reflection of this fiery incandescence, which fades only to give place +to the leaping brightness of phosphorescent waves, and the nightly +pageant of tropical skies ablaze with lambent flames of summer +lightning. Morning reveals the dark forests of mysterious Borneo, +rolling back to the misty blue of a mountain background. The pathless +jungles of teak and iron wood, inextricably tangled by ropes of liana +or ladders of rattan, latticed with creepers and wreathed with +clambering fern, make an impenetrable barrier between the settlements +of the coast and the unknown interior, where barbarism still reigns +triumphant, and "head-hunting" remains the traditional sport. +Insurmountable difficulties of transit and progress are reported, even +by the few enthusiastic botanists, who merely penetrate the outworks of +Nature's stronghold in search of rare orchids, worth more than a king's +ransom if we take into account the sacrifice of life, and the hardships +suffered in wresting these floral gems from their forest casket. Any +complete exploration of these tropical wilds seems at present beyond +human means and capacities, but even a few months of the soil and +climate of Borneo can transform a forest clearing into a wilderness of +riotous vegetation, more impassable than that woodland maze of a +century's growth encircling the palace of the Sleeping Beauty in the +loveliest of old-world fairy tales. Our present quest has no connection +with the mysteries of the interior, and only concerns itself with the +prosaic task of taking in a cargo of oil, used as the ship's fuel. We +steam into a wooded bay, beneath a hill covered with the brown _atap_ +bungalows of European colonists. Colossal oil-tanks, painted red, +disfigure the shore. Each tank holds 4,000 tons of oil, 30,000 tons per +month being the usual export. Kerosene taints the air, but is +considered to be innocuous, and to drive away the curse of mosquitos. +The unimaginable and ferocious heat makes every step a terror, during a +snail's progress up a wooded road. Sun-hat and white umbrella scarcely +mitigate the scorching rays on this perilous promenade, but there is +only a day at disposal, and it cannot be wasted. Towards noon a breeze +springs up, and exploration of the long line of _tokos_ beyond the +wharves is simplified by the spreading eaves of palm-leaf thatch. A row +of workmen's dwellings forms a prosaic continuation of the _campong_, +inhabited by a mixed population, chiefly imported to Balik-Papan in the +interests of the oil trade. A chance rencontre with the Scotch doctor +of the European settlement affords an opportunity of visiting the Oil +Refinery, with the varied distillations, culminating in the great tank +of benzine, a concentration of natural forces like a liquid dynamite, +capable of wrecking the whole settlement in a moment. Endless +precautions and vigilant care alone secure the safety of Balik-Papan +from the perils incidental to the vast stores of explosive material. +The raw petroleum brought from the mines of Samarinda, farther down the +coast, by a fleet of _hoppers_ (the local steamers which ply round the +indented shore), is extracted by boring a stratum of coal known as +"antichine," and always containing indications of mineral oil. Dutch +and English Companies work this valuable product; fortunes are quickly +made, and the industrious inhabitants, absorbed in dreams of a golden +future, appear untroubled by any consciousness of metaphorically +sleeping on the brink of a volcano. Iced soda-water, and a brief +siesta, revive drooping spirits after the broiling exertions of the +morning, and as the shadows of the palm-trees lengthen on the edge of +the jungle, it becomes possible to mount the hill behind the wharf to +the picturesque bungalow of another kindly Scot, who invites me to tea. +The pretty tropical dwelling of plaited _atap_, through which every +precious breath of air can penetrate, stands in the midst of a gorgeous +thicket, composed of scarlet hybiscus and yellow Allemanda, the +splendid blossoms growing in wild luxuriance on this sandy soil. The +glare of the sun still requires the _atap_ screens to be closed on the +broad-eaved verandah, but the freshness of the evening breeze steals +into the twilight of the pretty drawing-room, the simple but refined +appointments of a restful home intensely refreshing after weeks of ship +and hotel existence. The fragrant tea, with dainty cups and saucers, +and the home-made cakes, seem almost forgotten luxuries, for the +amenities of British civilisation stop short at Singapore. A cheery +party assembles round the table, and these exiles on a foreign shore +extend the warmest of welcomes to the stray bird of passage, who will +soon leave behind only the shadowy "remembrance of a guest who tarrieth +but a day." The idea so familiar to the self-seeking spirit, that "it +is not worth while" to trouble about a passing acquaintance, finds no +echo in this hospitable coterie. To the visitor, the bright hours of +that afternoon, ten thousand miles away from England, remain as an +evergreen memory of genuine human sympathy, the true "touch of Nature" +linking hearts and lives. A long walk through the encroaching jungle +fills up the day. The narrow track skirts dark depths of matted +foliage, with strange bird-calls echoing through the gloom. The +phenomenal growth of vegetation in Borneo is so rapid that a month's +neglect in cutting back branches, and rooting up masses of strangling +creeper, would entirely obliterate the path. In six months a tree, +supposed to be cut down beyond possibility of resurrection, lately shot +up to the height of seventeen feet, with a girth of several inches in +diameter, so tenacious is the exuberant life of this irrepressible +vegetation, eternally renewing itself in immortal strength and primeval +freshness. From the edge of the sombre jungle the azure bay, set in the +dark frame of forest and gilded with sunset light, resembles a Scotch +loch at midsummer, and the poignant counterpart brings a sigh to the +lips of my companion, exiled for years from his Highland home. A long +slow river, navigable for native craft, widens into an estuary as it +approaches the sea, through the shadowy and impenetrable mazes of the +virgin woods traversed by the winding waterway. The Dyaks and other +wild aborigines of Borneo still haunt the forest depths, though the +fringe of civilisation drives them further inland, and some of the +local Sultans begin to fraternise with the settlers, who alone can +develope the riches of the extensive island. At present the northern +territory of Sarawak, successfully governed by an alien race, finds no +adequate counterpart on the island, though coast towns, springing up at +wide intervals, open small districts to the enterprise of the European +world. Balik-Papan, rising tier above tier on the dark hillside, and +brilliant with a multitude of flashing lights, looks picturesque as +Naples itself, when we steam away in the gathering gloom, and the +dazzling illumination, reflected in the tranquil sea, appears a +miraculous transfiguration. Oil tanks and warehouses, refineries and +factories, vanish under the veil of night, and only a fairy vision of +unearthly brightness remains as a final recollection of our brief visit +to Borneo. + + + + +THE MOLUCCAS. + + + + +TERNATE, BATJAN, AND BOEROE. + + +The Birds of Paradise (known by the Malay as _Manuk Devata_, "birds of +God") were traditionally represented as lured from their celestial home +by the spicy perfume of these enchanted isles, from whence perpetual +incense steals across the sea, and rises heavenward with intoxicating +fragrance. A Dutch naturalist in 1598 says, "These birds of the sun +live in air, and never alight until they die, having neither feet nor +wings, but fall senseless with the fragrance of the nutmeg." Linnaeus +asserts that "they feed on the nectar of flowers, and show an equal +variety of colour, blue and yellow, orange and green, red and violet." +Portuguese naturalists also represent the _passaros de sol_ as +footless, their mode of flight concealing the extremities. Birds of +Paradise were articles of tribute from native chiefs, and a sacred +character belonged to the feathered tribe, wheeling between earth and +sky above the spicy groves of the alluring Moluccas. This island group, +for ages the coveted prize of European nations, exercised an +irresistible attraction on Arabia and Persia. Various expeditions were +organised, and in the ninth century Arab sages discovered the healing +virtues of nutmeg and mace, as anodynes, embrocations, and condiments. +A record remains of a certain Ibn Amram, an Arabian physician, whose +uncontrolled passion for the _nux moschata_ overthrew his reason. The +story, continually quoted as a warning to subsequent explorers of the +Spice Islands, has apparently kept his memory green, for no previous +details of his career have come down to us. Eastern spices were +favourite medicines in Persia during the tenth century, and fifty years +later the _karoun aromatikon_ was added to the Pharmacopeia of Europe. +In A.D. 1400, Genoa and Barcelona became the principal spice markets, +though the attention of Northern Europe had been directed to the +Moluccas by those voyages of Marco Polo which, especially in lands of +fog and snow, fired popular imagination with myriad visions of realised +romance. Camoens, in the Lusiad, chanted the praises of the _verde noz_ +in those poetic groves, which he regarded as a new garden of +Hesperides, when the magic lure of an untravelled distance, and the +dreamful wonder of an untracked horizon, wove their spells over the +mind of an awakening world. Powers of observation and comparison were +still untrained and untried; superstition was rife, and a necromantic +origin was frequently ascribed to the unfamiliar products of the mystic +East. Portugal, in the zenith of her maritime power, became the first +European trader in the Southern Seas, and in A.D. 1511 Albuquerque +reached the Moluccas, but was quickly followed by the Spaniards under +their great Emperor Charles V. Incessant war continued for the +possession of "the gold-bearing trees," until Spain and Portugal, +united by a common danger, combined their forces to exclude the +northern nations from any share in the coveted spoil. The rage for +spices spread throughout Europe, and kindled a fire of international +animosity which lasted for centuries. In A.D. 1595 the unwieldy Dutch +ships started on a perilous voyage round the Cape, to trace the unknown +path to the mysterious Moluccas, described as "odorous with trees of +notemuge, sending of their fragrance across the sea on the softe breath +of the south winde," and Holland, at the climax of her power, +eventually secured the monopoly of spices. The islands so fiercely +contested were twice owned by England, but finally relinquished in that +readjustment of power necessitated by the fall of Napoleon. Although +the Moluccas were declared open to the flag of every friendly nation in +1853, it was not until twenty years later that every vestige of +monopoly disappeared, and the Spice Islands were liberated from the +political chicanery of rival Powers. Peace brooded at last over the +sea-girt Elysium, where "Nature tries her finest touch," and in the +green shades of these "ultimate islands," the tumult of the world died +away into silence. Old German and Flemish ballads borrow quaint +anachronisms from that sylvan sanctuary of incense-laden sweetness, +which coloured the thoughts and dreams of contemporary poets, and added +exotic traits to their descriptions of northern scenery. "The nutmeg +boughs in the Garden of Love," droop over the fair-haired Teutonic +maiden in her home amid German pine-forests, and she gathers "the +scented fruit of gold," as a worthy _gage d'amour_ for her stalwart +Saxon lover, with that picturesque incongruity of poetical license +permitted to mediaeval versifiers. The canvas of many an early painter +depicts the sacred figures of Madonna and Child on an incongruous +background of German or Italian landscape, and the mediaeval poet seldom +hesitates to enrich his verse with whimsical allusions, full of +fantastical inaccuracy, but valuable as revelations of current thoughts +and ideas. Only a slight sketch of the prolonged conflict waged for +centuries round the nutmeg groves of the remote Moluccas is possible in +this little record, but even the briefest account of the Spice Islands +demands mention of evidence proving the value attached to the precious +"fruit of gold," then outweighing every other product of tropical +climes in popular estimation. + +Three volcanic peaks tower up before us on reaching Ternate, the first +of the Molucca group. This mountain chain includes types representing +every period of volcanic agency. The smoking cone of Ternate slopes in +sweeping contours to the blue strait unbroken by bay or creek, and +smaller satellites flank the central height, grooved by wooded gorges. +The serrated ridge of Tidore, the opposite island, culminates in the +red pinnacle formed by a fresh pyramid of lava above the ruined wall of +a broken crater, the gap creating a sheltered inlet, where a fishing +boat with yellow sails skims like a huge butterfly across the +shimmering purple of the flowing tide. The fretted turquoise of the +further range rises on the great island of Halmaheira, inhabited by an +Alfoer population of Papuan origin, but beyond the scope of the present +cruise. The port of Ternate, on the southern slope of the volcano, +shows the pointed gables of palm-thatched dwellings rising from masses +of glorious greenery, brightened by purple torrents of bougainvillea, +or golden-flowered ansena trees, wreathed and roped with a gorgeous +tangle of many-coloured creepers. The breath of heavily-scented flowers +mingles with the pungent sweetness of clove and nutmeg. An avenue of +dadap trees skirts the shore, with varied foliage of amber and carmine. +The dark figures sauntering in the shade, and clad in rose-colour, +azure, or orange, add deeper notes to the symphony of colour, only +marred by the white-washed Dutch conventicle, like an emphatic protest +against Nature's response to her Creator. Ruined arches and pillars of +white Portuguese houses, standing in a wilderness of verdure amid +tumbled heaps of stone and concrete, testify to the earthquakes which +have continually wrecked the little port. The mixed population includes +Chinese, Arabs, and Malays. The original native race also contains +Malay, Dutch, and Portuguese elements, European descent resulting here +as elsewhere in darkening the native brown of the pure-blooded +Ternatian to ebony blackness in the second and succeeding generations. + +The discovery of an English-speaking schoolmistress simplifies the +day's itinerary, which begins with the thatched palace or _kedaton_ of +the Sultan. The tiered roofs of the royal _Messighit_ rise above the +_atap_ dwellings of the rustic Court, still professing a slack +Mohammedanism. The Dutch territory includes the Chinese and Oriental +_campongs_ divided by Fort Orange, but though the palmy days of +Ternate's hereditary Ruler have long since passed away, he retains a +shadowy authority over a limited area. Sir Francis Drake, on one of his +romantic voyages, touched at Ternate in the early days of the 16th +century, and in graphic words records his amazement at "the fair and +princely show" of this barbaric potentate, who sat robed in cloth of +gold, beneath a gold-embroidered canopy, and wore "a crown of plaited +golden links." Chains of diamonds and emeralds clasped his swarthy +neck, and on the royal right hand "there shone a big and perfect blue +turky." This regal splendour was attained by monopoly of the Spice +Trade, the incalculable profits inducing Europeans to exchange fortunes +of gold and jewels with native magnates. The Dutch, when seizing the +islands, often compelled the local Sultans to destroy acres of +spice-bearing trees, in order to concentrate the focus of commerce. The +thriving industries of _copra_, rattan, and _damar_ (the gum used in +making varnish) were increased tenfold by the abolition of private +spice-trading, and by emancipation of the slaves in 1861, when the +Dutch Government placed the liberated population under police +surveillance, compelling each individual to prove honest acquirement of +the slender means necessary for subsistence. Contact with the world +begins to sharpen native intelligence, already heightened by the fusion +of European blood with the island race, and external cleanliness being +enforced systematically in Dutch territory, the concrete cottages which +alternate with the thatched dwellings are dazzlingly white, the +diligent sweeping and watering at fixed hours helping to energise the +indolent people of the Moluccas. The warm air, redolent of spices and +flowers, the riotous profusion of richest foliage, and the depth of +colour in sea and sky, imbue Ternate with the glow and glamour of +fairyland. Bright faces and gay songs manifest that physical _joie de +vivre_ of which Northern nations know so little. The grass screens +hanging before the open houses are drawn to keep off the burning sun, +but the twang of lutes (a relic of the Portuguese occupation), and the +sound of laughter echo from the dusky interiors. A forest of mangos, +mangosteens, bread-fruit, and cocoa-palms, extends between the town and +Fort Teloko, the first Portuguese stronghold, and now a rocky outpost +of Fort Orange, the headquarters of the Dutch troops. Beyond shadowy +nutmeg groves lies the Laguna, a volcanic lake between mountain and +sea. In the poetic Moluccas one draws closer to the warm heart of +Nature than in any other part of the vast Archipelago, for the great +Mother seems calling her children to rest, as she raises the veil from +her inmost shrine and discloses her altar of peace. The presence of the +smoking volcano which dominates the landscape, supplies that poignant +note which, like a minor chord, accentuates the sweetness of the +melody. "Gather ye roses while ye may," sounds Nature's admonition to +humanity amid the lavish loveliness of blossom and foliage, clothing +the mysterious height which hides the smouldering fountains of eternal +fire beneath the vivid splendours of tropical vegetation. The +population of Ternate--native, Malay, Dutch, and half-caste--throngs +the wharf; the pretty schoolmistress, in spotless muslin, waves a +smiling farewell. Though we are to each other but as "ships that pass +in the night," the memory of cheery words and gracious deeds throws +rays of light across the surging seas, and the golden cord of kindness +anchors heart to heart. Passengers are few from these remote parts. A +Dutch officer, with a half-caste wife and two unruly children, whose +violent outbreaks would even give points to the juvenile English of +British India, are returning from a three years' exile at Ternate. The +incompetence of Malay nurses is equalled by the maternal indifference +to kicking and squealing, which threatens pandemonium for the remainder +of the voyage. At the last moment the native Sultan of Batjan embarks +for his island home, after commercial negotiations in Ternate, for this +native prince, a keen-faced man in European dress and scarlet turban, +trades largely in _damar_, the basis of his wealth. When at anchor next +morning in the wooded bay of Batjan, the green State Barge of his +Highness, with drums beating and banners flying, flashes through the +water, the blades of the large green oars shaped like lotus-leaves. A +horse's head carved at the prow, and a line of floating pennants--red, +black, and white--above the gilded roof of the deck-house, enhance the +barbaric effect of the gaudy boat, the brown rowers clad in white, +with gay scarves and turbans. + +Although our ship possesses a launch, various modes of landing are +required by the vagaries of the tide, the outlying reefs, and the +position of the ports. A wobbling erection of crossed oars, a plank +insecurely poised on the shoulders of two men, a rocking _bloto_, and +an occasional wade to shore, with shoes and stockings in hand, vary the +monotony of the proceedings. Landing at Batjan is accomplished in a +chair, borne aloft on two woolly black heads, but the shore, being cut +off by a crowd of fishing craft, can only be reached by sundry +scrambles over intermediate boats. The Sultan's modest mansion stands +in the midst of the palm-thatched _campong_, ostensibly guarded by a +grey fort, among rustling bamboos and tall sugar-canes. A friendly +native offers me a palm-leaf basket, filled with nutmeg sprays of +glossy leaves and yellow fruit from a roadside plantation, and a tribe +of children, dancing along through the delicious shade of a palm-grove, +leads the way to a point of view on a green knoll, with merry laughter +and eager gesticulation. Blue mountain crests soar above dark realms of +virgin forest, where the sombre conifers exude the precious _damar_, +which glues itself to the red trunks in shining lumps often of twenty +pounds' weight, or sinks deeply into the soft soil, from whence the +solidified gum needs excavation. The _damar_, pounded and poured into +palm-leaf tubes, serves for the torches of the fishermen, and for the +lighting of the dusky native houses. Batjan--rich in gold, copper, and +coal--awaits full development of the mineral treasures hidden in the +mountains of the interior. The island was colonised in early days by a +band of wandering Malays, who exchanged the perils of the sea for the +tropical abundance of this unknown anchorage, sheltered within the +reefs of the lagoon-like bay. If an aboriginal element existed in +Batjan, it probably died out or mingled with the immigrant race, which +broke off from the main body of the nomadic Malays, and formed one of +the numerous sub-divisions of the stock eventually planted on almost +every island and continent of the vast Pacific. The weaving of a bark +cloth, stained with the red juice of water-plants, suggests an industry +of these early days. The native cuisine still includes the unfamiliar +Malay delicacy of flying fox cooked in spice, and the hereditary skill +in hunting finds endless satisfaction in forests abounding with deer, +wild pig, and edible birds. A touch of barbarism lends a charm to +mysterious Batjan, and the marked individuality which belongs to every +portion of the Molucca group is nowhere more apparent than in this +island, which lies on the borderland of civilisation without losing the +distinctive character stamped upon it by the influences of an +immemorial past. + +Crescent-shaped Boeroe, where difficulties in landing involve launch, +_bloto_, and paddling through a long reach of shallow water to a black +swamp, possesses a commercial rather than an artistic value, being the +only place in the Archipelago which exports eucalyptus oil, locally +known as _kajopoetah_. A fleet of _praus_, with graceful masts of +bending bamboo, surrounds the steamer, the aromatic cargo packed in +long bamboo cases. The head-man of the _campong_, lightly attired in +his native brown, with a few touches of contrasting colour in scarf and +turban, acts as escort through a maze of weedy paths, and across bamboo +bridges in various stages of dilapidation to a couple of dreary +villages. The religious interests of Boeroe are represented by two +ruinous _Messighits_, and a deplorable Dutch conventicle. Some Hindu +element underlies native idiosyncracy, for nearly every forehead bears +a white prayer-mark, but the unchanging conservatism of localities +almost untouched by the lapse of Time, often retains symbolic forms +when their original meaning is entirely forgotten, and the lack of +missionary or educational enterprise among the Dutch exercises a +paralysing effect on the small communities of distant islands. Only a +relative poverty belongs to a clime where the shaking of a sago-palm +provides a large family with rations for three months, but the physical +energies of Boeroe have ebbed to a point where "desire fails," and the +unsatisfactory conditions of life meet for the most part with apathetic +acceptance. The marshy coast abounds with harmless snakes, but these +gruesome inmates of the tropical morass seldom leave their +hiding-places before sunset. The presence of the steamer awakens a +faint simulacrum of life and interest in sleepy Boeroe, and a native +woman, in the rusty black calico wherewith Dutch Calvinism counteracts +the Eastern love of glowing colours, brings a rickety chair from her +dingy hut, and sets the precious possession under a shadowy nutmeg-tree +in the village street. A little crowd assembles, for local excitements +are few, and the Malay phrase-book, an inseparable companion, aids in +carrying on a halting conversation, eked out with signs and facial +contortions. No school is found on Boeroe, and the simple people assert +with submissive sadness that nothing is done for them. The tone of +regret suggests an underlying consciousness of the hopeless ignorance +inevitable under the conditions of their narrow lot. The watery plain, +covered with tangled verdure, extends to the foot of the twin peaks +which merge into a low range of wooded hills, their lower slopes +glistening with the grey-green foliage of the great _kajopoetah_ trees. +The writhing roots of screw-palms rise above the green marshes, and +patches of tobacco alternate with ripening millet, but every crop seems +allowed to degenerate into unpruned disorder, and the feeble attempts +at cultivation soon lapse into the surrounding wilderness. The ruddy +trunk of the candelabra-tree towers above the ferns and oil-palms of +the tall undergrowth, the glossy sword-like leaves, often ten feet +long, being woven into the _cocoyas_, or sleeping mats, peculiar to +Boeroe. The whistle of the steamer proves a welcome summons from this +melancholy island, a solitary exception to the divine beauty and +irresistible witchery of the Molucca group. + + + + +AMBON. + + +The fiord-like Bay of Ambon flows into the heart of the fragrant Clove +Island, between the peninsulas of Heitor and Leitemor, which gradually +ascend from the harbour's mouth until their heights of glowing green +merge into wooded mountains, behind the white town of Amboyna. This old +European settlement ranks as the tiny capital of the Molucca group. +_Praus_ and fishing smacks dot the blue inlet with tawny sails and +curving masts, the local craft varied by a fantastic barque from the +barbarous Ke isles, with pointed yellow beak and plume of crimson +feathers at the prow, suggesting some tropical bird afloat upon the +tide. The glossy darkness of the clove plantations enhances the paler +tints of the prevailing foliage, and the virginal tints of the sylvan +scenery indicate a climate of perpetual spring. Thatched roofs, and +walls of plaited palm-leaf, stand among white-washed cottages of coral +concrete, for low houses, or slight material, afford comparative +security against collapse by earthquake. The brown population throngs +the pier, and a little fleet of _dug-outs_ escorts the steamer through +the bay with gay songs and merry laughter, for the lively Ambonese +value every link that binds them to the outside world, and this is +their gala day. Bold, eager, craving for foreign intercourse, and +possessing the quickened intelligence due to the mixture of Dutch and +Portuguese blood with the native strain, a roving spirit of adventure +counteracts the lazy independence of a life where daily needs are +supplied without exertion. The sea swarms with fish, the woods teem +with sago, and cultivation of the clove procures extra wages when any +special purpose requires them. The Portuguese who colonised Ambon, in +the zenith of their maritime power, were of vigorous stock, and the +mental heritage of the island was permanently enriched by elements +derived from a foreign source. + +The Ambonese soldiers of the Netherlands India manifest a courageous +and warlike character; their rate of payment equals that of their +European brothers-in-arms, and in the raids or skirmishes frequent +throughout the wild districts of Celebes and Sumatra they play a +spirited part. The burghers of Ambon show more of the Dutch element in +their composition. The island, Christianised in the dreary mode of +Calvinistic Holland, accepts in half-hearted fashion the creed so +incongruous with tropical Nature. Dutch missionaries, waging aimless +war against brightness and colour, arrayed their brown converts in +funereal gloom. The Sunday attire of the men consists of black calico +coats down to the heels, and flopping black trousers. The women wear a +shapeless gown of the same shabby and shiny material, with a white +scarf dangling from the left arm. These blots on the brilliancy of the +scene produce a curious impression when approaching the wharf, where +the native bronze of children and coolies, the blue robes of Chinamen, +and the gay turbans of Mohammedans, blend harmoniously with the scheme +of colour in flower and foliage. The _praus_ which follow in our wake +make ready the rustic Malay anchor, a forked branch of stout timber, +strengthened by twisted rattan, which also secures the stone +cross-piece. This relic of a distant past can scarcely have changed +since the days when the wandering tribe first launched upon the blue +waters of the Pacific, in that mysterious voyage which moulded the +destinies of the Malay race. A rudimental feeling for art co-exists +with imperfect civilisation, and elaborate carving adorns rude skiffs, +floats of fishing lines, and even wooden beaters of the clay used in +native pottery. A dervish, in turban of flaming orange and garb of +green and white, beats a huge drum in the pillared court of a large +mosque, for the followers of the Prophet are numerous, and though the +usual deadly conventicle occupies a conspicuous place, it produces no +effect on the Arab element. The son of the Dutch pastor who, after his +grim fashion, Christianised the former generation, proves better than +his condemnatory creed, and acts as personal conductor to the sights of +Amboyna. After a rest in the flower-wreathed verandah of his home, and +a chat with his kindly half-caste wife, we visit the gilded and +dragon-carved mansion of a leading Chinese merchant, friendly, +hospitable, and delighted to exhibit his household gods, both in +literal and figurative form. A visit to the Joss Temple follows, +liberally supported by this smiling Celestial, whose zeal and charity +may perchance plead for him in that purer sanctuary not made with +hands, and as yet unrevealed to his spiritual sight. The appalling +green and vermilion deities who guard the temple courts, indicate fear +as the chosen handmaid of faith in this grotesque travesty of religion, +but the costly tiling of violet and azure, the rich gilding of the +curling eaves terminating in scarlet dragons, and the deeply-chiselled +ebony, falling like a veil of thick black lace before the jade and +porphyry shrines, prove that even the despised Chinaman offers of his +best to the Divinity dimly apprehended by his darkened soul. + +The large Malay School of Amboyna manifests an educational position in +advance of the smaller islands, and knowledge of the wider world +beyond the Archipelago stimulates the spirit of enterprise inherited in +different degrees and varying conditions, both from Malay and +Portuguese ancestry. + +A dilapidated carriage is chartered with difficulty, as only three +vehicles belong to the island, and the driver evidently expects his +skeleton steed to collapse at any pace quicker than a walk. The green +lanes, with their hedges of scarlet hybiscus overhung by the feathery +foliage of tamarind and bamboo, wind along the shore, and penetrate +into the depths of the hills. Rustling sago-palms sway their tall +plumes on the mountain side, and shadow luxuriant clove gardens, their +pungent aroma mingling with nutmeg and cinnamon to steep the soft +sea-wind in a wealth of perfume. European houses of white stone nestle +among palm and tamarind, the broad seats flanking the central door, and +the bulging balconies of old Dutch style recalling the 16th century +dwellings on the canal banks of distant Holland, but the crow-stepped +gable here gives place to the flat roof. Every green garden contains a +refuge of interwoven _gaba-gaba_ stalks, as a retreat during +earthquakes, when the overthrow of the flimsy arbour would entail no +injury, though it serves as a shelter from the torrential rains which +often accompany volcanic disturbances. A wayside stall of palm-thatched +bamboo provides _sageroe_ for thirsty pilgrims. This fermented beverage +often excites the Ambonese nature to frenzy, though only made from the +juice of the _aren_ or sugar palm. The brown dame who presides over the +bamboo buckets, in her eagerness to honour a white customer, wipes an +incredibly dirty tumbler on her gruesome calico skirt before dipping +the precious glass into the foaming pail, and tastes the draught by way +of encouragement. With some difficulty she is induced to wash the +tumbler, and to omit the last reassuring ceremony. The _sageroe_, sweet +and refreshing, gains tonic properties from an infusion of quassia, +which sharpens the flavour and strengthens the compound, packed in +bamboo cases or plaited palm-leaf bags for transport to the +neighbouring islands. A grey fort, and weather-worn Government offices, +flank the green _aloon-aloon_ of Amboyna, surrounded by tamarind +avenues. The Dutch Resident finds ample employment, owing to the mania +for litigation among the Ambonese. The honour of appearing before a +Court of Justice is eagerly sought, and imaginary claims or grievances +are constantly invented in order to satisfy the ambition for publicity. +A modest and retiring temperament forms no part of native equipment, +and the slight veneer of Christianity, in the crudest phase of Dutch +Protestantism, increases the aggressive tendency. The missionary +agencies of Calvinistic Holland seem incapable of practical sympathy +with the island people; but half a loaf is better than no bread, and +in any form of Christian faith the Heavenly Husbandman scatters grains +of wheat among the tares, that all His wandering children may reap a +share of harvest gold even from a stubborn and sterile soil. + +Amboyna shows signs of commercial prosperity in the crowded _passer_ +and the busy Chinese _campong_, for the enterprising Celestial forms an +important element of the mercantile community in the Clove Island. +Three memorial tablets erected in front of the hoary fort, the bare +Dutch church, and the crumbling guard-house, record the worthy name of +Padrugge, a Dutch Governor who restored Amboyna after complete +destruction by a violent earthquake, that ever-haunting terror within +the great volcanic chain of the Malay Archipelago. The steep acclivity +behind the palm-shaded park of the Residency contains a stalactite +grotto, infested by a multitude of bats, which cling to the sparkling +pendants of the fretted roof, unless disturbed by the Ambonese coolies, +who regard them as culinary delicacies, and catch them in this ancient +breeding-place, with a noise which brings down the terrified creatures +into unwelcome proximity, cutting short any attempts at exploration, +and causing rash intruders to beat a hasty retreat. + +In the hush of dawn, when the intensity of calm steals colour as well +as sound from the motionless waters, we embark on an expedition to the +_Zeetuinen_, or Sea Gardens, the fairy world of the coral reefs, +revealed through the magic mirror of the watery depths. As we gaze +steadily through the silvery blue of the glassy sea, a misty vision of +vague outline and shifting colour materialises into an enchanted +forest, and appears rising towards the surface. Coral trees, pink and +white, gold and green, orange and red, wave interlacing branches of +lace-like texture and varying form, above the blue water-ways which +divide the tremulous masses of rainbow-tinted foliage. The sinuous +channels expand at intervals into quiet pools, bordered with azure and +purple sea-stars, or studded with clumps of yellow lilies, spotted and +striped with carmine. A circle of rock, enclosing a miniature lake, +blazes with rose and scarlet anemones, and the boat, floating over the +wilderness of marine vegetation, pauses above a coral growth, varied in +form as any tropical woodland. Majestic trees, of amber and emerald +hue, stand with roots muffled in fading fern, or sunk in perforated +carpets of white sponge, and huge vegetable growths or giant weeds, +lustrous with metallic tints of green and violet, fill clefts and +ravines of coral rock. A grove of sea-palms mimics the features of the +upper world, as though Nature obeyed some mysterious law of form, lying +behind her operations, to regulate expression and bring order out of +chaos. Giant bunches of black and mauve grapes, like the pictured +spoils of the Promised Land, lie on soft beds of feathery moss, but the +familiar greens of the velvety carpet shade into orange and pink. A +weird marine plant shoves long black stems, crowned with a circle of +azure blue eyes, which convey an uncanny sensation of being regarded +with sleepless vigilance by mysterious sentinels, transformed and +spellbound in ocean depths. Tree-fern and hart's-tongue show verdant +fronds, flushed with autumnal red or gold, and a dense growth of starry +flowers suggests a bed of many-coloured tulips. Dazzling fish dart +through the crystal depths. A shoal of scarlet and green parrot-fish +pursue a tribe striped with blue and orange. Gold-fish flash like +meteors between uplifted spears of blood-red coral, and the glittering +scales of myriads, splashed with ruby, or flecked with amethyst, +reflect the colours of the gorgeously-frilled and rosetted anemones in +parterres between red coral crags. Tresses of filmy green floating from +the mouth of a cavern, suggest a mermaid's hair, and her visible +presence would scarcely add to the wonders in this under-world of +glamour and mystery. Shells, pink and pearly, brown and lilac, scarlet +and cobalt, strew the flower-decked floor with infinite variety, +concave and spiral, ribbed and fluted, fretted and jagged--the satin +smoothness of convoluted forms lying amid rugged shapes bristling with +spines and needles. We gaze almost with awe at the lovely vision of a +dainty Nautilus, sailing his fairy boat down a blue channel fringed +with purple and salmon-coloured anemones, beneath a hedge of rosy +coral. The shimmering sail and carven hull of iridescent pearl skim the +water with incredible swiftness, and tack skilfully at every bend of +the devious course, not even slackening speed to avoid collision with a +lumbering star-fish encountered on the way. These submarine Gardens +contain the greatest natural collection of anemones, coral beds, +shells, and fish, discovered in the ocean world. The richest treasures +of Davy Jones's Locker lie open to view, as the boat glides through the +ever-changing scenery mirrored in the transparent sea. Opalescent +berries resemble heaps of pearls, and the lemon stalks of marine sedge +gleam like wedges of gold in the crystalline depths. The long oars +detach pinnacles of coral like tongues of flame, and a cargo of +seaweed, shells, and anemones, fills the boat as each enchanted grotto +contributes a quota of treasure trove, but the vivid colouring fades +apace when the sea-born flora leaves the native element, and the deep +blue eyes, gazing from their dark stems with weird human effect, lose +their radiance in the upper world. + +We land at the pretty valley of Halong, where a rippling brook +traverses a wood of sago-palms, and falls in a white cascade over the +rocks of a sheltered bathing-pool, screened by green curtains of banana +and tall mangosteens, laden with purple fruit. Makassar-trees rain +their yellow blossoms into the water, cloves fill the air with pungent +fragrance, and lychees droop over the clear current. A melancholy Malay +song floats up from the sea, but the sad sweet notes only accentuate +the haunted silence of the fairy glen, with an echo from that distant +past which breathes undying music round these enchanted isles. Woodland +shadows and wayside palms disclose the sweeping horse-shoe curves of +numerous Chinese tombs, the white stone elaborately carved and covered +with hieroglyphics. Plumy cocoanut and tremulous tamarind wave over the +last resting-places of these exiles from the Holy Land of the Celestial +Empire, for the second generation established on an alien soil is +forbidden to seek burial in China. The so-called _Paranak_ of the Malay +Archipelago frequently marries a native wife, and, as purity of race +becomes destroyed, ancestral obligations lose their power even over the +mind of the most conservative people in the world. + +The woods of Ambon teem with the abundant bird-life peculiar to the +Moluccas. An exquisite kingfisher, with golden plumage and emerald +throat, darts across the stream, and the scarlet crests of green +parrots resemble tropical flowers, glowing amidst the verdant foliage +hardly distinguishable from the fluttering wings of the feathered +tribe, which includes twenty-two species indigenous to the islands. +The megapodius or mound-maker, an ash-coloured bird about the size of a +small fowl, grasps sand or soil in the hollow of a powerful claw, and +throws it backwards into mounds six feet high, wherein the eggs are +deposited, to be hatched by this natural incubator, through the heat of +the vegetable matter contained in the rubbish heap. The young birds +work their way through the mound, and run off at once into the forest, +where they start on an independent career. They emerge from their +birthplace covered with thick down and provided with fully-developed +wings. The maternal instinct of the megapodius ceases with the laying +of eggs, and, having supplied a safe cradle for the rising generation, +she takes no further thought for her precocious progeny, capable of +securing a livelihood in the unknown world from the moment of their +first appearance in public. + +A merry group, half-hidden in the shadows of clustering sago-palms, +gathers the harvest of precious grain, the pith of a large tree +producing thirty bundles, each of thirty pounds weight. The baking of +the sago-cakes made from this lavish store occupies two women for five +days, and the housekeeping cares of the largest family only need +quarterly consideration in this island of plenty, where the struggle +for the necessaries of existence is unknown and unimaginable. Leisure +and liberty, those priceless gifts which can only be attained where +the pressure of poverty is unfelt, serve valuable purposes in Ambonese +hands, for the European energies fused into the native race prevent +mental stagnation, and spur tropical indolence to manifold activities. +A variety of thriving industries belong to this far-off colony. +Mother-of-pearl shells, and _beche-de-mer_ (the sea-slug of Chinese +cuisine) supplement the important export of the cloves, the speciality +of Ambon, chosen by the East India Company as the sole place of +cultivation for this spice-bearing tree, when the system of monopoly +extirpated the clove gardens of the other islands. Vases, mats, and +miniature boats, of fringed and threaded cloves, are offered as +fantastic souvenirs of Amboyna, and the spirit of the place seems +imprisoned in these tiny curios which revive so many haunting memories +of the romantic island. + +Nominal adherence to Dutch Calvinism fails to repress the natural +instincts of a gay and pleasure-loving race. The national dance known +as _Menari_, and often performed on the shore in honour of the outgoing +steamer, no longer satisfies Ambonese requirements, with the slow +gyrations and studied postures of Oriental tradition. The eager and +passionate temperament finds truer expression in the walzes and galops +of European origin, known as _dansi-dansi_, enthusiastically practised +on those festive occasions, when the full dress of funereal black and +white seems specially inappropriate to the wild abandon of the +merry-making populace. In sunny Amboyna the cowl does not make the +friar, and the last recollection of the little Moluccan capital is a +vision of whirling figures and twanging lutes at the water's edge, +while the receding steamer furrows the milky azure of the land-locked +bay. The vivid green of one palm-clad shore burns in the gold of +sunset, but the eastern side lies veiled in shadow, and as the +sheltered inlet gives place to the open sea, the luminous +phosphorescence of the Southern ocean bathes the rocky bastions of +enchanted Ambon in waves of liquid fire. A strange history belongs to +the physical conformation of volcanic shores, alternately raised and +depressed by the agitation of earth and sea. The coast-line has varied +from time to time; straits have become lakes, islands have severed or +united, occasionally rising suddenly from the waves, or vanishing in +the bosom of the deep. Geologists assert that the Malay Archipelago was +originally thrown off by volcanic action from Asia and Australia, and +that an interchange of animal and vegetable life has frequently taken +place. Hurricanes have uprooted forest trees, and floods have borne +them out to sea, the tide eventually washing them up on the shores of +distant islands. A fresh growth of foreign vegetation was thus +inaugurated, as these sylvan colonists struck their saplings into an +alien soil. Insects, preserved by the bark, propagated themselves in +new surroundings, and seeds drifting on the waves, or clinging to roots +and fibres, wreathed unfamiliar shores with exotic flowers. Animal +migration has frequently been caused by natural catastrophes, and to +birds directing their swift flight by faculties now attributed to keen +observation rather than to unreasoning instinct, the change of locality +was infinitely simplified. In the Moluccas we may read a compendium of +the wide-spread history which applies to the vast regions comprised in +the mighty Archipelago. The doctrine of earthly changes and chances, +too often accepted as a mere figure of speech, is here recognised as a +stern reality; the tragedies of destruction repeat themselves through +the ages, the laboratories of Nature eternally forge fresh +thunderbolts, and the fate of humanity trembles in the balance. +Meanwhile a profusion of flowers wreathes the sacrificial altars, the +fairest fruits ripen above the thin veil which hides the fountains of +volcanic fire, and the sweetest spices of the world breathe incense on +the air. The uncertain tenure of earthly joys gives them redoubled zest +and poignancy, the passionate love of life becomes intensified by the +looming shadows of Death, and the light glows with clearer radiance +against the blackness of the menacing thunder-cloud. + + + + +BANDA. + + +The exquisite islands of Banda, dominated by the stately volcano of +Goenoeng Api (the mountain of fire), form the climax of the enchanting +Moluccas. Contour and colour reach their utmost grace and softest +refinement in this ideal spot, a priceless jewel resting on the heart +of the Malay Archipelago. + +The mists of dawn have scarcely lifted their gossamer veils from the +dreaming sea, when the pinnacled rocks of Rum and Aye, the outposts of +the Banda group, pierce the swathing vapours. The creamy cliffs of +Swangi (the Ghost Island), traditionally haunted by the spirits of the +departed, show their spectral outlines on the northern horizon, and the +sun-flushed "wings of the morning" span the sapphire arch of heaven as +we enter the sheltered gulf of the Zonnegat, fringed by luxuriant woods +clothing a mountain side, and brushing the water with a green fringe of +trailing branches. Gliding between Cape Lantaka and two isolated crags, +the steamer enters a glassy lake, encircled by sylvan heights, with +the menacing cone of the Goenoeng Api rising sheer from the water's +edge. A white town climbs in irregular tiers up the shelving terraces +of a fairy island, the central hill crowned by the crenellated +battlements of a grey citadel. The largest ship can anchor close to +shore, for the rugged boundaries of Banda descend by steep gradients +into the crystalline depths. Chinese and Arab _campongs_ border +European streets of concrete houses, long and low, with flat roofs and +external galleries. + +The southern shore of Banda Neira faces the forest-clad heights of +Great Banda, clothed from base to summit with nutmeg trees, shadowed by +huge kanaris, their interlacing canopies protecting the precious spice +plantations from the sun. A slender rowing boat, known as a _belang_, +makes a brilliant point of colour on the blue strait between the sister +islands. Red and yellow flags and pennants flutter above the green +deck; the clash of gongs and cymbals echoes across the water, and a +weird chant accompanies the rhythmic plash of the short oars, as the +brown rowers toss them high in air, and bring them down with a sharp +splash. A splendid avenue of kanari-trees extends along the shore, the +usual Dutch church symbolises the uncompromising grimness of +Calvinistic creed, and the crumbling fort of Orange-Nassau, the scene +of many stirring incidents in the island past, adjoins the beautiful +thatched bungalow of the Resident, the broad eaves emerging from depths +of richest foliage. A subterranean passage connects the deserted +stronghold on the shore with Fort Belgica, the citadel now used as +barracks, but formerly for the preservation of the nutmegs from the +fierce raids of foreign powers, when the new-born passion for spices +intoxicated the mind of the world, and kindled the fires of war between +East and West. The lofty peak of the Goenoeng Api still smoulders, +although the main crater is supposed to be extinct. The lower slopes, +where not planted with vegetables by enterprising invaders from the +island of Boeton, abound with delicate ferns and rare orchids, for the +fertility of the volcanic soil, rich in metallic ingredients, creates a +luxuriant growth. Sulphureous vapours rise continually from a plateau +beneath the summit, where tumbled boulders of blackened lava lie sunken +in deep layers of volcanic ash. Banda Neira evidently rose from the sea +in some long-past eruption of the larger island, now the long ridge of +a ruined crater which collapsed in a fierce outburst, and threw off the +fragments of rock which compose the outer group. A curious fatalism +characterises the inhabitants of volcanic districts, and the +incalculable value of Banda in the middle ages outweighed all risks of +eruption and earthquake. The history of island colonisation by +Portugal, Spain, and Holland, forms a continuous record of battle, +loot, and persecution, in which the native population was decimated, +and even now the inhabitants would be quite insufficient to cultivate +and gather the "golden fruit," without the aid of innumerable emigrants +from Java. Hard measures were dealt out in order to maintain the +monopoly of spices, and the injury to the native races, by destroying +the nutmeg trees of the other islands, crippled the trade which had +found a natural outlet in Asia. All the nutmegs were sent to Europe, +but one-fifth of the yearly produce was diverted by smuggling into +forbidden channels, though severe punishment was inflicted upon +offenders. Economic administration was unknown in the 17th and 18th +centuries, but the holocaust of spices burnt in the market-place of +Amsterdam, and the extermination of the nutmeg trees in Moluccan +islands, sent a thrill of horror through the European world, which +placed such an exaggerated value on the possession of spices that the +wars waged to secure them breathe the romantic fanaticism of a wild +crusade. Monopoly and slavery were at length definitely abolished, and +in 1873 the Dutch Government, realising the necessity of Free Trade, +sanctioned the independence of the nutmeg planters. The far-seeing +views of Sir Stamford Raffles during the second brief English +occupation of the Moluccas, from 1810 to 1816, were disregarded in +England (knowing little, and caring less, about the remote Spice +Islands), though his counsels were eventually adopted by the Dutch +Government as the only means of ensuring an increased profit. A +high-prowed native boat, known as an _orembai_, plies across the +narrow strait which separates the islands of Banda Neira and Banda +Lonthar, or Great Banda. The long range of hills covered with a dense +forest of the precious nutmeg trees, attains an ideal of sylvan scenery +surpassing even the glorious palm-woods of Java. These may be described +in terms of comparative accuracy, and their beauty painted in realistic +language, but none can translate into words the irresistible charm and +glamour of the nutmeg aisles, the exquisite foliage and contours of the +spice-bearing trees, the wealth of delicate blossom and peach-like +fruit, and the flickering emerald light from hues shading through the +whole gamut of colour, from the tender verdure of spring to the glossy +darkness of winter evergreen. Colossal kanari-trees, veritable monarchs +of the forest, tower over the nutmegs, and form an unbroken roof of +interlacing boughs, for the nutmeg, needing shelter to bring the fruit +to perfection, is not suffered to attain a height of more than seventy +feet. The columnar trunks of the majestic kanaris wreathe their huge +girth with lace-like fern and broad-leaved epiphytal plants, and the +symmetrical beauty of the conical nutmeg-trees in these forest aisles +suggests a vast sanctuary of Nature, enshrining the mystic presence of +Divinity. Here, as amid the shades of unfallen Eden, we can imagine a +trysting-place of God and man in the perennial "cool of the day," which +breathes through the green twilight of these solemn groves, redolent +with the incense from myriad sprays of creamy blossom and ripened nuts +in shells of pink-flushed amber, for flower and fruit deck the +"gold-bearing tree" without intermission, and every day produces a +fresh harvest of nutmegs. The brown kernel of the opening fruit, +contained in a network of scarlet mace, falls to the ground in +twenty-four hours, and unremitting care is needed in gathering and +handling the nutmegs with the _gaai-gaai_, a long stick ending with a +prong, to break off the ripe fruit into the woven basket accurately +poised beneath the wooden fork. Only the female trees yield the +precious crop, and the highest point of production, attained at the +twentieth year, continues undiminished through four subsequent decades, +after which the strength of the average tree declines, although it +often lives for a century. The cooing of the nutmeg pigeon, which feeds +on the abundant fruit, echoes through the shadowy glades with soothing +monotony. Yellow canaries flit through the vivid green of the pointed +foliage, and the scarlet crests of parrots glow through the dark +canopies of the giant kanari-trees. The voices of children at play, the +distant songs of the nutmeg-gatherers, the plash of the waves on the +coral reef, and the scented breeze whispering in the green crowns of a +million trees, blend in harmonious concord to fill the sylvan temple of +tropical Nature with mysterious music. At wide intervals the white +houses of the planters gleam amid the drooping boughs, the prevailing +green of the spacious woods relieved by the rosy purple of +Bougainvillea mantling a pillared verandah, or by great vases of +crimson and yellow flowers, bordering broad flights of stone steps. +Life on a great nutmeg plantation retains patriarchal character and +archaic charm; the multitude of dependents calls forth, in the present +day at any rate, much of kindly solicitude, and though the unvarying +sameness of existence sometimes proves the serpent which destroys the +peace of the idyllic Eden in young and eager hearts, the ramifications +of the large family party, gathered under one roof, mitigate the +monotony of daily tasks, and supply the necessary mental friction. Work +in the nutmeg-woods begin at 5 a.m., when a pealing bell summons the +labourers to each plantation for their different duties of gathering +the nuts, drying the mace, or sorting and liming the fruit. The +beautiful forest constitutes the world of the nutmeg-gatherer, both for +labour and recreation. In these dusky avenues youth and maiden tell +each other Love's eternal story, wandering away into the dreamland +shadows, vocal with sweeter melody than that of bird or breeze. The +musical call of the nutmeg-pigeon serves as a danger-signal, uttered +by sympathising friends, when love must yield to life's stern realities +in the person of the overseer. An ardent courtship often contributes to +the rapid filling of the nutmeg-basket in the hand of a rustic beauty, +whose admirers strive to secure for her the premium awarded for special +diligence, and a judicious official learns on occasion to be +conveniently deaf to the feigned voice of the _manoek faloer_. If the +chivalrous zeal of the brown lover is apt to overleap frontiers, and to +fill the baskets of one plantation with the produce of the other, the +ethics of Banda demonstrate the identity of human nature when swayed by +the passion which, according to circumstances, wrecks Troy or raids a +nutmeg orchard. A story is told of a planter who, in consequence of +engaging a bevy of attractive maidens for the year's work, was rewarded +by a phenomenal harvest of nutmegs, though the adjacent estates were +barren of fruit. Evening shadows darken apace in the woodland world, +and work ceases at three in the afternoon, when the store of gathered +fruit is brought to the _pagger_, where drying and liming sheds +surround the central warehouse. The nutmeg-pickers sort the ripe nuts +in an open gallery before taking them to the drying-shed, where they +are spread on a platform of split bamboo, twelve feet above a +smouldering fire. The process continues for six weeks, the nuts being +repeatedly turned until they begin to rattle. Only a slow method of +drying prevents the escape of the essential oil, necessary to the +flavour of the fruit, which must afterwards be dipped in slaked lime to +preserve it from insects. The coral-like mace contains a rich supply of +aromatic balm, and when loosened from the nutmeg can be dried in the +sun. The delicate scarlet branches, spread on wickerwork frames in open +spaces of the woods, contrast vividly with the shaded verdure of the +beautiful trees. The mace, trodden flat for facility in packing, +resembles a dainty growth of finest seaweed, and in the 16th century +shared popularity with the nutmeg which produced it. Even in the +present day a pewter spice box is an indispensable present on that +sixth anniversary of a Dutch marriage still known as "the pewter +wedding," and a nutmeg-box, with a grater, remains as a favourite +bridal gift, the fashion originating when the passion for spices first +pervaded mediaeval Europe. Trade, as well as Science, wrote many +chapters of romantic adventure in the long history of the world's +social development, and modern thought but dimly realises the magnetic +spell of the days when the veil was first lifted between East and West, +and the wonders of untrodden shores disclosed to the pioneer. Heine, in +his _Lieder_, chants of the mystic nutmeg-tree as the ideal growth of +the tropical forest, for every stage of life and growth reveals some +fresh beauty in delicate bloom, glistening foliage, and fruit of +roseate gold. The spreading boughs, with their perfect contour and +emerald depths of light and shadow, suggest a typical picture of that +unfading Tree of Life in the midst of the earthly Paradise, round which +the passing ages weave innumerable dreams, while faith transplants it +to a fairer Garden than that of Eden. Where the winding woodland roads +lead along the shore, colossal screw-palms and silver-flowered +Barringtonias border the rocks, the sparkling azure of the sea visible +through the fantastic boughs, and the eternal song of the surf +vibrating through the still air with mysterious undertones. The brown +_campong_ of Banda Lonthar stands at the foot of the mossy steps which +lead to the summit of the wooded range, and command a superb view of +the island group. A further flight of stairs descends to the outside +coast or Achterval, but wherever we go, to quote the words of a modern +traveller, "we may imagine ourselves transported to the holy groves +whereof ancient poets sing." From the rich carpet of velvety moss and +plumy fern to the green vault of the leafy roof, the eye for once seems +"satisfied with seeing," for no hint of imperfection breaks the fairy +spell of enchantment in this poetic nutmeg-forest. Among serpentine +kanari roots, which stream across the mossy turf as though poured out +in liquid form and then petrified, we come across brown babies sleeping +in the shade, and cradled softly in the tender lap of earth, while the +mother, crooning a low song, pursues her work among the rustling +leaves. Terrace after terrace, the green aisles mount to the summit of +the great ridge, and the ruined forts on each wooded promontory recall +the long-past days when the "fruit of gold" demanded the increasing +vigilance of military power to defeat the onslaught of merchantman or +privateer, willing to run every risk in order to capture a cargo of +spices, and secure fabulous gains by appeasing the frantic thirst of +Europe for the novel luxury of the aromatic spoils. The mediaeval craze +has died away, and the pungent spices of the Orient have taken a +permanent position of reasonable proportion in the culinary art of +modern times, but the glamour of the past, like the amber haze of a +tropical sunset, still environs the poetic tree in the island home +where, amid evergreen foliage and waxen flowers, the famous "fruit of +gold" still opens each coral-lined censer to exhale a wealth of undying +fragrance on the balmy air. + + + + +THE SOELA-BESSIR ISLES. + + +Outside the fairy circle of the exquisite Moluccas, a tiny cluster of +palm-clad islets gems the wide blue spaces of the lonely sea, unbroken +for many leagues by any foothold possible for human habitation. The +Dutch steamer only calls thrice a year at the remote Soela-Bessir +group, in quest of rattan, a plentiful product of these fertile isles, +where the leafy ladders of the aspiring parasite climb to the green +crowns of the tallest palms, wrapping them in the fatal embrace which +eventually levels the strongest monarch of the tropical forest to the +earth. The thick mantle of glossy foliage often hides the multitude of +hooks, loops, and nooses which the pliant cane flings round branch and +stem, gripped by long ropes of flexible fibre, hardening into thick +coils, rigid and unyielding as iron. The immense export of rattan for +chairs, couches, and innumerable domestic purposes, indirectly results +in the preservation of myriad palm-trees, by releasing them from the +deadly grasp of the tenacious creepers. The waving cocoanut trees of +Senana, the principal island of the Soela-Bessir group, kiss the blue +water with sombre plumes, bowed down by the wealth of heavy fruit lying +in green and golden clusters between frond and stem. The steamer +anchors far from the shore, and the launch proving unable to cross the +shallow bay, the landing of passengers can only be accomplished by two +crossed oars, carried and steadied by four of the crew. The mode of +progression is wobbling and risky, but the improbability of revisiting +Senana supplied a mental argument of unfailing force in balancing pros +and cons. The secluded island, so slightly influenced by the outside +world, changes but little with the lapse of time, and the triple-tiered +roofs of numerous thatched _Messighits_ rising above the palm-leaf huts +of the brown _campong_, assert the hereditary creed. The green banner +of Islam was planted here centuries ago by a fanatical horde of Arab +pirates, who added religious enthusiasm to love of plunder and thirst +of conquest. Their fiery zeal, though not according to knowledge, +ensured a vigorous growth of the foreign offshoot from the questionable +faith of these Arab corsairs, who left indelible traces on the whole of +the Malay Archipelago. The _Messighits_ of Senana are now only the +ruined shrines of a decadent creed, but the simple islanders remain +nominal adherents to the Monotheism of the past. Canoes and _blotos_, +rowed by lithe brown figures, come out to welcome the steamer, and a +fantastic boat, with carven prow, darts from beneath a green bower of +tangled foliage, laden with golden bananas. Merry-faced little savages +line the shore, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the white strangers, +who supply them with the amusement afforded by a travelling circus to +the more sophisticated children of the West. An eager desire to please +and gratify the extraordinary visitors, mingles with the uncontrollable +delight, manifested in capering, dancing, and gay laughter, as they +beckon us to follow them through the narrow lanes of the long +_campong_. Naked brown forms dash into their native huts at sundry +points of the route, to summon friends and kinsfolk, until the +procession swells into formidable proportions, for the whole _campong_ +is eventually in tow, with the exception of the men and boys occupied +in lading cargo. Through the dappled sunlight and shadows of the +sweeping palms which flank the glassy bay, we are personally conducted +to the principal _Messighit_, a bare, whitewashed building, without any +decoration beyond the blue and white tiles outlining the horse-shoe +arch of the _Mihrab_ looking towards Mecca. The exterior with three +roofs of mossy thatch supported on bamboo poles, offers a shelter from +the sun on a flight of crumbling steps, overshadowed by the spreading +eaves. A big cocoanut frond serves as an improvised broom in a dusky +hand, and the central step is carefully swept before the stranger, with +respectful salaams and gesticulations, is invited to sit down. A +turbaned _Imaum_, the custodian of the decaying sanctuary, comes forth +from his dilapidated hut among the palms behind the shrine, at the +unwonted excitement breaking the silence and solitude of the ancient +mosque, but he evidently belongs to the dreamland of the past, and +retires quickly from the disturbing present to meditations or slumbers +in his obscure dwelling, closing the bamboo door against all intruders. +This day's incident of the cruise in the Malay Archipelago seems +absolutely cut off from ordinary experience--a solitary Englishwoman, +resting in the shadow of the rustic mosque, and surrounded by a +half-barbaric tribe of unfamiliar aspect, the dark woolly hair, flat +noses, wide mouths, and dazzling teeth suggesting a liberal admixture +of negro or Papuan blood. Native intelligence simplifies a halting +conversation, carried on by means of the indispensable Malayan +phrase-book. Wistful eyes rest on the stranger whose lot is cast under +happier auspices, and unmistakeable characteristics manifest the +Soela-Bessir islanders as a gentle and teachable race. Alas! the Dutch +Government plants neither schools nor missions in distant Senana, too +far from the beaten track to commend itself to the religious or +educational care of a nation apparently indifferent to the claims of +small communities, in the vast Archipelago subject to Holland. Only the +quarterly call of the Dutch steamer stirs the stagnation of ages on the +Soela-Bessir isles, but although the young, sharing in that wondrous +heritage of mirth and gladness peculiar to the joyous early life of the +tropics, recognise no limitations in their lot, the mothers sadly +repeat the complaint heard elsewhere that no chance of improvement is +given to them. The steamer, frequently bringing hither the inhabitants +of more favoured islands in the interests of trade, already begins to +stir feelings of unrest, and vague longings for the better things as +yet withheld. A chieftain's daughter joins the throng round the old +_messighit_. A red-cotton drapery, thrown over bronze limbs, is her +only garment, but a diamond glistening on her dark hand looks +incongruous with the scanty clothing. The gem seems a talisman or +heirloom, but a request to examine it terrifies the owner, and she +rushes away into the woods to safeguard the precious possession from +perils suggested by the presence of the white pilgrim from across the +seas. The delicious breeze which always spring up after ten o'clock in +these latitudes renders walking a delight, the two following hours +being invariably cooler than the trying time between eight and ten, +when the fierce sun, on a level with the face, creates an atmosphere of +blistering glare. The brown procession forms an orderly escort to the +lading shed beneath a clump of tall cocoa-palms, and the kindly +merchant who negotiates the commerce of the Soela-Bessir isles for the +Dutch Government, sends a native boy up the smooth stem of a colossal +tree in search of a fresh cocoanut, which fills two tumblers with +refreshing sap. The thatched _campong_ stands against a background of +green hills and dense woods, rich in tropical verdure, but lacking the +loveliness of the Moluccas. The return to the ship involves a _bloto_ +across the bay, with many misgivings as to the seaworthy capacities of +the clumsy craft, but four bamboo safety-poles, fastened by forked +sticks to the sides of the hollowed log, suffice to steady it enough to +avoid capsizal. In the Soela-Bessir Isles, as in many other far-off and +forgotten regions, the genius of commerce begins to awaken the desire +of civilisation in untutored hearts, for Trade sharing in the romance +no longer regarded as the exclusive attribute of Art or Science, now +helps to fuse opposing elements into unity and order. The simple +inhabitants of distant Senana seem only waiting for an outstretched +hand to lift them to a higher level of creed and culture, for the +modern pioneers of missionary enterprise raise the superstructure of +Christianity with unexampled success on the substratum of truth +contained even in imperfect and erroneous creeds. That solid foundation +stone of belief in the One Eternal God, laid by Arab pirates centuries +ago, amid the lust of rapine and the smoke of war, which ever heralded +the onward march of conquering Islam, should serve as a firm basis for +building up these simple children of Nature into the mystical sanctuary +of the Christian Church. The lapse of time obliterates countless +landmarks of Moslem creed in localities removed from external contact, +but amid the dust of disintegrating forces and forgotten forms, the +central Truth remains imbedded, like a wedge of gold trodden in the +mire, but retaining intrinsic value and untarnishable purity. + + + + +SUMATRA. + + + + +THE WESTERN COAST AND THE HIGHLANDS. + + +Passing through the straits of Saleir, between a cliff-bound island and +the south-eastern Cape of Celebes, the returning steamer in due time +reaches her moorings in Sourabaya, and a rapid railway journey through +Java connects with the outgoing boat from Batavia to Padang, a three +days' voyage through a chain of green islands breaking the force of the +monsoon on a desolate and harbourless shore. The forest-clad ranges of +Sumatra draw nearer at Benkoelen, buried in cocoa-palms on the rim of a +quiet bay, within a terrific reef which makes landing impossible in +stormy weather. Fort and Residency, villas and gardens, manifest +Benkoelen as an oasis of civilisation, the steeply-tiled roofs +remaining as relics of the English occupation a century ago. Beyond +the little military settlement, the Sumatran mountains tower in +majestic gloom beyond a broken line of bristling crags, like granite +outworks guarding the eleven hundred miles of coast-line facing the +Indian Ocean. The rugged backbone of mysterious Sumatra, descending +sharply to the western sea, overlooks a vast alluvial plain on the +eastern side, where rice and sugar-cane, coffee and tobacco, flourish +between the wide deltas of sluggish rivers, though rushing streams and +wild cascades characterise the opposite shore. Ridges and bastions of +rock, above profound valleys, culminate in cloud-capped Indrapura, at a +height of 12,000 feet. Geologists affirm the vast age of Sumatra, +indicated by the Silurian rock, the bastions of granite, the +extraordinary vegetation fossilised in the huge coal-beds, and the +sandstone formation, often a thousand feet thick, carved by time and +weather into fantastic ravines. Inexhaustible mineral wealth lies +hidden in these weird ranges, together with the costly chemical +products of a volcanic soil, but the rich treasures of the virgin rocks +are for the most part unknown and unexplored. Columns of smoke rise +continually from numerous active volcanos, and the beautiful mountain +lakes fill extinct craters. The great island, lying north-west and +south-east, possesses a glorious climate, and the superb vegetation +shows a distinctive character from that of Java. The Dutch, though +supreme on the coast, have never yet subdued the interior, and +unconquerable Acheen remains a perpetual centre of unrest. The flower +of the Malay race belongs to Sumatra, and the wild Battek tribes of +alien origin are fast merging themselves into the dominant stock, +though the Redjanger clan, retaining curious customs of a remote past, +and possessing a written character, cut with a _kris_ on strips of +bamboo, is slow to assimilate itself to the Malayan element. The +Sumatran language shows traces of Indian and Arabic influence, and that +the early civilisation of the huge island was of Hindu origin is +evidenced by innumerable Sanskrit words, and by the fact that the +consecrated pipal tree, the "Ficus Religiosa" of India, remains to this +day the sacred tree of the Batteks. Native chronicles record the +descent of Sumatran princes from Alexander the Great, but though the +pages of Javanese history are comparatively legible, those of Sumatra, +designated in early days as "the older Java," resemble a dim +palimpsest, marred by erasure or hiatus, and barely decipherable +beneath the lettering on the surface of the age-worn parchment. + +Little _campongs_ of palm-thatched huts stand on piles at the water's +edge, and skirt the over-shadowing forest; fairy islands, encircled +with red-stemmed _aren_-palms, lie like green garlands on the indigo +sea, dotted with the yellow sails of native _proas_, and the little +train which conveys us to Padang, the western capital, seems an +incongruous feature in a scene suggestive of primeval peace and +solitude. A sylvan charm belongs even to this Sumatran township, for +the wooden houses, with pointed roofs of dried palm-leaves, and broad +eaves forming shady verandahs, stand far apart in flowery gardens, +aflame with orange or scarlet cannas, and fragrant with golden-hearted +frangipanni. The sweeping boughs of giant cocoanut trees make a green +twilight beneath their interwoven fronds, Bougainvillea drapes +crumbling wall and forest tree with curtains of roseate purple, and +thatched stalls of tropical fruits and glowing flowers brighten the +dusky avenues with patches of vivid colour. The determined aspect of +the Sumatran people denotes the superior calibre of the ancestral stock +which colonised the Archipelago, for foreign intercourse, which +elsewhere modified national character, scarcely affected the Sumatran +Malays, independent of the servile yoke imposed by the mighty princes +of Java. The forty _Soekoes_, or clans, of Sumatra, are sub-divided +into branches consisting of numerous families, all descended from a +common stock in the female line. This curiously constituted pedigree is +known as the Matriarchate, an ancient social system only retained in +Western Sumatra, and among certain South American tribes. The resolute +mien and dignified carriage of the Sumatran woman denote clear +consciousness of her supreme importance. The cringing submission so +painfully characteristic of Oriental womanhood is wholly unknown, and +though nominally of Mohammedan faith, the humble position prescribed by +the Koran to the female sex is a forgotten article of Sumatra's +hereditary creed. After marriage (forbidden between members of the same +clan) both man and woman remain in their own family circle. The husband +is only an occasional visitor, and the wife is regarded as the head of +the house. Her children remain under her exclusive care, and inherit +her property, together with the half of what their father and mother +earn together. The other half goes to the brothers and sisters of the +husband, whose titles descend to his own brothers and sisters. Sumatra +is veritably El Dorado to the Eastern wife and mother, conversant with +every detail respecting the management of land or money, and jealously +guarding the time-honoured rights and privileges of her exalted +position. + +The hereditary chieftains of Sumatran clans exercise a patriarchal rule +of uncompromising severity, and combine in every district to form the +_Laras_ or local Council, the distance separating forest and mountain +_campongs_ often necessitating sub-division into a village assembly. +The _Laras_, and those rural chieftains nominated by popular consent, +possess a seat on the Supreme Council of the Dutch Government, thus +forming the transitional element between Asiatic and European rule. +There is no Sumatran nobility, and although the hereditary chief of a +clan is invested with official authority, the stringent regulations of +the Matriarchate acknowledge no superiority of social status as an +appanage of his power. + +The hothouse atmosphere of Padang is gladly exchanged for the freshness +of the mountain heights, approached by a cog-wheel railway, and +affording truer pictures of Sumatran life than the hybrid port of the +steaming Lowlands. The luxuriant verdure of the swampy plain basks in +the sunshine of a blazing March day, and children in gaudy _sarongs_ +drive a brisk trade at palm-thatched wayside stations, with bamboo +trays of sliced pineapple sprinkled with capsicum, the approved +"pick-me-up" of Sumatra. The little train burrows through a +forest-lined pass, and skirts the chafing waters of the Anei river, +foaming over swarthy boulders. The turbulent stream, now deeply sunk +between granite cliffs, rises with terrific violence when lashed by the +wild mountain wind known as the _bandjir_, and rushes up the rocky +walls, overthrowing bridges, and dragging along immense crags with +resistless impetus. The shrill laughter of the black bush-apes echoes +from sombre masses of matted foliage, as the train ascends the lofty +range, and curves round the basin of a sparkling waterfall, dashing +from a fern-draped height. Granite cliffs soar above tropical jungle +and solemn forest; the narrow gap of the Anei widens into a luxuriant +valley; sago-palms rustle in the breeze, and tree-ferns spread their +green canopies over the brawling river. The splendid scenery is viewed +to advantage from a platform of the foremost railway carriage, the +train being pushed up the mountains by an engine in the rear. Beyond +the climbing forests, a bare plateau affords a glimpse of ever-burning +Merapi, with wooded flanks and lava-strewn summit, from whence a grey +cloud of smoke mounts in a spiral curl to the azure sky. Beyond this +point of view lies the green plain of beautiful Fort de Kock, the gem +of the Sumatran Highlands, to be numbered henceforth among those ideal +scenes which remain permanently photographed on mind and memory. The +crystalline atmosphere seems the very breath of life after a long +sojourn in the steaming tropics, and Fort de Kock, under the shadow of +mysterious Merapi, an Elysium of health and repose. The little Hotel +Jansen offers clean and comfortable accommodation, the kindly German +hostess proving a model landlady. As a Residency and the headquarters +of a Dutch garrison. Fort de Kock provides all the necessaries of life, +and the broad military roads of the vicinity simplify exploration. The +little white settlement beneath the wooded volcano possesses a bright +and cheery character, in keeping with the exhilarating climate, and +the beautiful Sturm Park, from palm-crowned hill and flowery terrace, +commands an exquisite prospect of the blue peaks belonging to the +borderland of those Native States extending to the Dutch possessions on +the Eastern coast. The curious houses of the Sumatran Highlands, with +their adjacent rice-barns, form distinctive features of this unique +island. The ridge of the steep thatch rises in sharp horns, interlaced +with black fibres of _aren_ palm, or covered with glittering tin. These +tapering points are considered talismans of good fortune, a fresh horn +being added on every occasion of marriage, for the married daughters, +under the provisions of the Matriarchate, remain in the home of their +childhood, and portions of the central division belonging to the house +are reserved for their use. Manifold horns frequently bristle above the +lofty roof, and the front of the main building is the common living +room for unmarried members of the large household. Houses and +rice-barns stand on high poles, after the Malay fashion, which +originated in the malarious districts of the Lowlands. The typical +rice-barns are lavishly decorated with gilding, carving, and colour, +inlaid with glass mosaic, and edged with balls of red and blue crystal, +the upward sweep of the slender horns sharply silhouetted against the +glowing cobalt of heaven. In every _kota_ (the Sumatran word signifying +a fortified place, or village), the beauty of the picturesque roofs +culminates in _Messighit_ and _Balei_, respectively the Mosque and Hall +of Consultation for the Village Council. The roofs of the Mosque rise +on thatched tiers, mounted on slender pine-stems, and the long _Balei_, +with mossy thatch prolonged into an open verandah on either side, shows +a multitude of curving horns pointing to Heaven, and symbolically +invoking celestial aid for the solemn assembly gathered beneath them, +when the full moon floods upland Sumatra with molten silver. Primitive +hospitality provides a _roemah negari_, or "House of Strangers," in +every village rich enough to erect this refuge for the toil-worn +wanderer, but where no special resting-place for pilgrims can be +offered, lodging can always be had in the open _Balei_, on application +to any member of the Village Council. The primitive simplicity of +Sumatran life remains practically unchanged in these remote hamlets of +the Western Highlands, and though Fort de Kock poses as the nucleus of +modern progress, European influences glance off the indurated surface +of native character like water poured over a granite slab. + +Across the rice-plain of Agam, dotted with brown _kotas_, crowned by +myriads of interweaving horns, we reach the scattered village of +Paja-Kombo, shadowed by dense woods of cocoanut palms, and famed for +one of the most picturesque native markets in the East. The women of +Paja-Kombo are noted for their beauty, enhanced by the splendour of +many-coloured _sarongs_, gleaming with gold and silver thread. Gay +turbans swathe the stately heads, and the golden filagree of barbaric +breastplates, heavy earrings, and broad armlets, lights up the shadowy +gloom of stone galleries and _al fresco_ stalls, beneath the drooping +boughs of ancient waringen-trees. The Sumatran Malays are energetic +traders, and the dignified personality of the Sumatran woman is +perpetually in evidence. Keen, thrifty, economical, and thoroughly +versed in all the details of commerce, she shows herself the +predominant partner in domestic life, and to her all decisions on +financial matters are referred, in accordance with the laws of the +Matriarchate, which protects her independence. The husbands and fathers +in attendance on their womankind at the great Market, submissively +defer to the gentler sex, which in Sumatra has ever held the reins of +social and domestic management, exercising authority wisely and well +within the wide area deputed to feminine sway. The Fair of Paja-Kombo +is a treasury of native Art in most delicate filigree, silver-threaded +cloth, baskets or fans of scented grass, and the heavy jewellery of +burnished brass which copies the designs of the many golden heirlooms +treasured by Sumatran womanhood. Streets of palm-thatched stalls, +alleys of eating-houses, and the wide enclosure of a Mule-Fair, cover +an open meadow, fringed by great sago-palms, the central grain and +rice Market crowded with picturesque figures in striped _sarong_ and +gold-flecked turban. The feast of colour provided by Paja-Kombo is +scarcely surpassed even by the famous Fair of Darjeeling, the +remoteness of the little settlement in the Sumatran Highlands +preserving the unfaded charm of an immemorial past. The wonderful Gap +of Harau may be reached by cart from Paja-Kombo; the palm-shaded road +narrows at the mighty gorge, where vermilion cliffs, grooved and ribbed +as though by some convulsion of Nature, tower up in colossal majesty on +either side. Splendid waterfalls flash down in foam and thunder, +scoring deep channels in the perpendicular heights, and bathing +thickets of tree-fern and maidenhair in pearly spray. A wild river +swirls through the deep ravine, opening towards the ethereal blue of +clustering peaks, which lie fold upon fold in the hazy distance of the +Native States, and disclose a mystic pathway into dreamland. + +Another deep gully of yellow tufa-rock behind Fort de Kock, forms the +first stage of the romantic route to Lake Manindjoe. Crossing the twin +rivers which have carved their winding gorge in the bosom of the hills, +the rude track through the mountains ascends to smooth plateaux forming +a flight of gigantic stairs, supported by rocky girders like natural +cross-beams. In early days of Dutch colonisation these successive +points of vantage, occupied by hostile tribes, were stormed in vain by +the invading army, and eventually only captured by surprise. The beauty +of upland Sumatra culminates at this mountain lake, lying within the +foundered crater of the Danau. The volcanic walls rise fourteen hundred +feet above the dark blue mere, a glitting sheet of _lapis lazuli_ set +within the black cleft of the profound chasm. Brown and purple rocks +enamelled with orange lichen, and garlanded with waving verdure, open +to display a mysterious vision of the glistening sea, with one white +sail like a butterfly's wing, crossing the distant waves. The flushing +rose-tints of a tropical sunset glorify the landscape into transcendent +beauty; the rude sculpture of the river crags, the black shadows of +primeval forest, and the far-off gleam of the Indian Ocean, composing +an ideal picture, enhanced by vague impressions of Infinity and +Eternity. + +The great Lake of Sinkarah, flanked by volcanic ridges, and by the +dense foliage of palm forests and coffee plantations, also presents a +succession of entrancing landscapes. White and purple orchids wreathe +the forest trees, troops of red monkeys chatter among the boughs, and +woodland vistas reveal leagues of emerald rice and golden millet. +Beyond Sinkarah lies the famous coal district of the island, where +Chinamen, convicts, and Hindu coolies, in perpetual bustle and +commotion, manifest an activity unique in the thinly-populated +interior of Sumatra, dependent on the labour of alien races. Javanese +act as woodmen, gardeners, and road-makers; the Klings serve as +cowherds and drivers of ox-waggons; the Bengalese prove efficient +policemen, and the Boyans skilful carpenters; the clearing of the +forest pertaining to Malays and Batteks, also responsible for the +building of the marvellous rice-barns, the apotheosis of Sumatran +architecture. The ordinary tourist omits Sumatra from his itinerary. +Occasional elephant-hunters penetrate the dense forests of the +interior, and engineers or tobacco-planters flock to the monotonous +levels of the eastern coast, but the glorious Western Highlands, the +Sumatran _Bovenland_, is seldom visited. Warlike Acheen, for ever at +feud with the Dutch Government, is forbidden ground to the European +traveller. The unconquerable independence of the Achinese, fiercely +resenting the sovereignty of Holland, proves an insoluble problem to +the Dutch methods of subjugation. The bold and lawless character of +this rebellious clan defies military discipline. The spirit of +insurrection animates every man, woman, and child of the brave but +treacherous race, and Acheen remains the dark centre of countless +tragedies, due to the spurious patriotism which counts a stab in the +dark, a poisoned arrow, or a cruel betrayal, as heroic and laudable +modes of resistance to the hated invader of Sumatra's ancient +liberties. The forest-clad interior of the vast island remains an +unknown wilderness. Cannibals still lurk in the black depths of the +pathless jungle; weird tribal customs linger unchanged in barbarous +_campongs_, where strange gods are worshipped with the immemorial rites +of an ageless past, rude carvings and weird symbols showing the +personification of those natural phenomena deified by primeval tribes. +Sumatra, with her wealth of mines and forests and her important +geographical position, remains as yet an almost undiscovered country, +and though her undeveloped resources excite the cupidity and arouse the +envy of European nations, political greed and private enterprise have +proved powerless to open up the hidden treasures of the vast island, +apparently intended by Nature to become the key of the Southern Seas. + + + + +A VIEW OF KRAKATAU. + + +Emma-Haven, the little port of Padang, twenty minutes by train from the +palm-girt Sumatran capital, scarcely mars the beauty of the secluded +inlet with the red and white warehouses standing against the sylvan +verdure which fringes the blue arc of the deep bay. Cloud upon cloud, +the spectral vision of distant mountains gleams through the vanishing +veil of mist melting in the sunrise, and the departing steamer, hugging +the shore, but halting for cargo at sundry barbaric _campongs_, affords +numerous glimpses of native life. Passengers are forbidden to land at +these rural ports of call, for a herd of twenty frolicsome elephants +battered down one brown village of palm-thatched bamboo only a week +ago, and although the ruined architecture possesses the advantage of +being as easily restored as destroyed, the unpleasant proximity of the +dark jungle suggests the need of prudence. At another point of the +little voyage, we anchor for a cargo of rattan before a thatched shed +on a shell-strewn beach, but even here a solitary elephant, disturbed +in bathing, has lately attacked a woman, rescued with difficulty from +formidable tusks and lashing trunk. A tribe of coolies come on board +from the pepper plantation on a terraced hill, covered with the vivid +green of the festooning creeper, twined round long poles, and +resembling hop-vines in growth and foliage. The landing of this +contingent involves a call at Anjer, the northern extremity of Java, +distinguished by the white column of the colossal Pharos on the green +headland. A halt at nightfall outside a bristling reef, in consequence +of a Malay lighthouse-keeper omitting to trim his lamp, after the +fashion of his unthinking kind, secures the compensation of steaming +within sight of world-famous Krakatau, the volcanic cone, which in 1883 +was split in half by the stupendous eruption affecting in various +degrees the whole of the world. The successive waves of atmospherical +disturbance, travelling with the velocity of sound, were traced three +times completely round the globe. Krakatau, though uninhabited, was the +occasional resort of fishermen who plied their calling in the Sunda +Straits. A Dutch record exists of a violent eruption in 1680, but the +Krakatau volcano was afterwards considered extinct, and until the +spring of 1883 no signs of activity occurred. At this date, smoke, +pumice, and cinders, fell without intermission. For eight weeks +Krakatau blazed and thundered, the explosions being audible at Batavia, +eighty miles off. As the fatal dawn of an August morning broke with +lurid light, the culminating shock of an appalling detonation, +described as "the very crack and crash of doom," echoed across the +ocean, and was heard even in India and Australia, two thousand miles +away. Gigantic tidal waves swept the Sundanese shores, destroying the +adjacent villages, 36,000 people being either washed away or buried +under the boiling rain of mud, fire, and ashes. The Royal Society +estimated the altitude of the vast black and crimson column of flame +and smoke, mounting from the volcano, at seventeen miles. The ashes +fell at Singapore and on the Cocos Isles, respectively five and eight +hundred miles away, the ejection of volcanic matter being computed at +more than four cubic miles in extent. Krakatau, reduced from thirteen +to six square miles, from the northern portion of the symmetrical +pyramid being completely blown away by the volcanic fires, retains the +conical peak of Mount Radaka, nearly three thousand feet high. Some of +the contiguous islands sank beneath the waves, others changed their +shape, and the formation of various banks and shoals added fresh +difficulties to the intricate navigation of reef-bound seas. Thrilling +stories are told of the enveloping pall of smoke and ashes, which +shrouded Java in midnight gloom, amid the continuous roar of violent +explosions which led up to the awful climax of the final catastrophe. +Red-hot stones and burning cinders fired the ships, the weight of +pumice sinking _praus_ and fishing smacks as it fell into the hissing +sea, and a 600-ton schooner, thrown by the force of the world-shaking +concussion into a mountain cleft of the opposite coast, still lies +wedged between the black walls of rock. The floating pumice, which +filled the harbour of Batavia with layers so deep that planks resting +upon it made a safe bridge over a mile in length, drifted even to +Zanzibar and Madagascar. The fine dust, expelled into the upper air, +painted the sunset heavens with these translucent green and violet +tints which enhanced the pageantry of cloudland throughout the world +for many months after the fiery forces had expended themselves. Smoke +still issues from Krakatau, though the vast rent in the cloven pyramid +must materially diminish the power of any future eruption, and Nature's +busy hand already covers the torn side of the precipitous cone with a +green veil of sparse vegetation. A curious marine growth of weed and +moss rooted itself on Krakatau three years after the phenomenal +eruption, from seeds floating on the tide or carried by the wind. The +thin soil formed by these decaying plants, and enriched by the chemical +ingredients of disintegrating volcanic ash, in time produced a more +luxuriant verdure, and in the interval elapsing since the threefold +ravages of fire, flood, and earthquake, caused by Krakatau, convulsed +the East with terror, the dread mountain has become wreathed with +flower and fruit, for orchards and gardens, tended by the Malays from +the surrounding islands, now flourish at the foot of the quiescent +peak. Javanese colonists, who experienced the terrors of the +overwhelming catastrophe, assert that no similes drawn from the most +appalling thunderstorm, or from the roar of the heaviest artillery, +could convey an adequate idea of the stupendous detonation which seemed +to shatter earth and sky, as the pent-up fires burst forth in the final +explosion, which tore the mountain asunder and poured forth the +devastating forces of the abysmal depths over land and sea. Crimson +lava-flood and burning hail, blackened heaven and rocking earth, +roaring sea and clamouring volcano, represented an Apocalyptic vision +of Divine wrath, but probably no survivor remained to record the actual +sight of the unprecedented phenomenon, transcending every terrestrial +convulsion recorded in the chronicles of scientists. Only a slender +feather of grey steam now issues from the lofty crater. Leaves and +grasses flutter in the soft breeze, and a shower of white petals drifts +upon the iron boulders, once incandescent amid the red torrents of +rushing fire. A sheer precipice remained as the severed half of the +shattered cone, when the rent cliffs shivered into fragments, and +toppled over into the sea. Nature again breathes "peace and safety," as +she did before "the sudden destruction" gave the lie to her mocking +voice, and as the ruined pyramid of terrible Krakatau sinks below the +horizon, and the good ship speeds on her way, a weight of awe seems +lifted from the mind, oppressed by imagination and association with the +ghastly tragedy of those untameable forces which defy calculation or +comprehension. + +History has often proved the truth of the assertion that Time turns +memories into dreams, but in the presence of Krakatau's smoking crater, +the memories looming over the haunted volcano translate themselves into +a nightmare of horror, for the shadows of doom still cling to the +monumental pyramid, a menacing witness to the existence of those occult +laws which baffle human investigation with their insoluble problems, +and compel the defeated scientist to acknowledge himself a mere +chronicler of inexplicable mysteries. The extent of the volcanic zone +encircling the Malay Archipelago minimises the risk of catastrophe by +numerous safety valves for the imprisoned forces of Earth's fiery +abyss. In isolated Krakatau only one outlet existed for the vast +accumulations of destructive agencies, gathering irresistible impetus +through the protracted period of condensation and suppression which +heated this mighty furnace of Nature's subterranean laboratory with +sevenfold power. A generation has grown up since the hell of devouring +fire swept across land and sea from this solitary mountain peak; +villages have been rebuilt on their ancient sites, and the activities +of life go on from year to year undisturbed. The story of Krakatau, +told under the drooping boughs of dusky waringen-trees in the evening +hour of leisure, seems veiled in the mists of legendary lore to youth +and maiden, listening to the oft-told tale. Poverty clings to familiar +soil, and in the deep groove of a narrow existence the popular mind +takes little thought for the future. The realities of life are bounded +by the daily needs, and the shadow of Krakatau fails to destroy the +present peace of the simple folk, who, like children gathering flowers +on the edge of a precipice, heed none of the grim possibilities of a +perilous environment. + + + + +PENANG. + + +Poelo-Penang, _The Isle of the areca-nut_, separated by a narrow strait +from the Malay Peninsula, was ceded to England in 1785 by the Rajah of +Kedah, from whom the present Sultan of Johore is lineally descended. +The little territory, chiefly consisting of a mountain covered with +palm-forests, was then almost uninhabited, but the strategetic +importance of the position resulted in the establishment of an English +Presidency, until the phenomenal growth of Singapore made it the +eventual centre of local authority. "Sinhapura," "the City of Lions" +(or, more accurately, of tigers), founded by the Hinduized Malays, and +developed by Sir Stamford Raffles into the principal trading port of +the Eastern seas, of necessity drew off from Penang a large contingent +of the polyglot races which flocked thither from all parts, when the +British flag first waved above the newly-built fort, but at least +100,000 inhabitants still occupy the verdant island, where the graceful +areca palm attains unexampled perfection. Penang was merely regarded +as an unimportant appendage of ancient Malacca, captured in 1311 by +Albuquerque, and though the territory of the principal Sultan underwent +innumerable vicissitudes through the changing fortunes of war, the +royal line retained Johore at the foot of the Peninsula, up to the +present day, the last scion of the old-world dynasty now accepting the +suzerainty of England. + +A tribe of Klings (the Malay corruption of the word Telinga), sailing +from the Coromandel coast, were the first immigrants under British +rule. The half-breed Indian Malays, or _Jawi-Pekan_, followed, and the +Chinese, finding a new outlet for their commercial genius, soon secured +a firm footing on the fairy isle, a cone of emerald set in a sapphire +sea. As the rickshaw wheels away from the noisy wharves of busy +Georgetown into green aisles of areca and cocoanut, the spice-laden +breeze blowing from the heights, and mingled with the breath of a +thousand flowers, suggests Penang as "the mountain of myrrh, and hill +of frankincense," described in the Canticle of Canticles. Present +surroundings atone for the lack of life's amenities in the Dutch +dependencies. The ripple of the sea, and the rustle of swaying palms, +just stir the silence of the wave-washed terrace above the glassy +straits. The gloomy blue of the Kedah mountains on the peninsula of +Malacca, with black thunderclouds gathering round their serrated +crests, heightens the brilliant loveliness of immediate surroundings, +steeped in the ruby glow of the magical evening. Every road is an +over-arching avenue of gorgeous foliage--dark tunnels of interwoven +cocoa-palms, huge Amherstias alight as with lamps of fiery orange, +tremulous tamarinds, and, more wonderful than all, a wide highway +roofed by a continuous aisle of ansena-trees, the golden canopy of +blossom overhead rivalled by the thick carpet of yellow petals, which +deadens every sound, for the prodigal bounty of tropical Nature quickly +replaces the loss of falling flowers. Exquisite lanes, smothered in +glorious vegetation, surround the picturesque Racecourse, that +_sine-qua-non_ of English occupation. Stately emperor palms, kitools +with crimped green tresses, fan and oil palms, with the slender areca +in countless thousands, vary the shadowy vistas branching out in every +direction, with huge-leaved creepers and glossy rattans garlanding the +gnarled trunks of forest-trees. The sculptured outlines of the splendid +traveller's palm adorn the green lawns of European bungalows, embowered +in torrents of trailing creepers, the scale of colour descending from +white and pink to royal purple and burning crimson. Snowy arums and +golden lilies choke the brooks, overflowing from the constant showers +combining with a vertical sun to foster the wealth of greenery, the +incandescent scarlet and yellow of hybiscus and allemanda glowing with +the transparent depth of hue, beside which the fragile fairness of +European flowers, is but a spectral reflection of those colour-drenched +blossoms fused into jewelled lustre by the solar fires. Night drops her +black curtain suddenly, with no intervening veil of twilight to temper +Earth's plunge into darkness. Great stars hang low in the sombre sky, +and the open interiors of Malay huts, aglow with lamp or torchlight, +produce Rembrandtesque effects, revealing brown inmates cooking or +eating their "evening rice." + +Georgetown, loyally named by British pioneers after a monarch eminently +incongruous with any ideas belonging to a tropical fairyland, possesses +neither architectural beauty nor salient character; wooden warehouses, +Malay shanties, and white-washed streets being merely attractive from +the ever-changing scheme of colour painted by varieties of race and +costume. Tamils of ebon blackness drive picturesque teams of humped +white oxen in red waggons laden with purple sugar-cane. Noble-looking +Sikhs, in spotless linen, stride past with kingly gait. Brown Siamese, +in many-coloured scarves and turbans gleaming with gold thread, chaffer +and bargain at open stalls with blue-robed Chinamen, and the bronze +figures of slim Malays, brightened by mere wisps of orange and scarlet +added to Nature's durable suit, slip through the crowds, pausing before +an emporium of polished brass-work, or a bamboo stall of teak wood +carving. The sloping black mitre of a stout Parsee merchant, +accompanied by a pretty daughter in white head-band and floating _sari_ +of cherry-coloured silk, varies the motley headgear of turban and fez, +straw hat and sun-helmet, worn by this cosmopolitan population, the +pink headkerchiefs, tinselled scarves, and jewelled buttons of the +beautiful Burmese dress, drawing attention to the energetic bargaining +of two astute customers for cooking utensils; these elegantly-attired +but mahogany-coloured dames, rivalling the Sumatran women in business +capacity, and equally determined on securing the _quid pro quo_. The +long esplanade between town and sea borders a series of green lawns, +where carriages draw up round a bandstand, and the youthful element of +European Penang plays tennis with laudable zeal in the atmosphere of a +stove-house. Chinese and Malay boyhood look on, and listen to the +regimental music. The pallid English occupants of the carriages, in +spite of diaphanous muslins and fluttering fans, appear too limp and +wilted to bestow more than a languid attention to their surroundings, +until the sea-breeze, springing up as the sun declines, revives their +flagging spirits. The smartest turnout and the finest horses generally +belong to John Chinaman, got up in irreproachable English costume, with +his pigtail showing beneath a straw hat, though considerably +attenuated, and lacking those adornments of silken braid and red +tassels, generally plaited into the imposing queue of the orthodox +Celestial. The indefatigable Chinese, frequently arriving on an alien +shore without a dollar in their pockets, continually prove potential +millionaires. Immune from climatic diseases, working early and late, +tolerant and unaggressive, the iron hand in the velvet glove +disentangles and grasps the threads of the most complicated commercial +enterprise, for the idle Malay, "the gentleman of the East," here as +elsewhere, cares for little beyond the sport of hunting and +fish-spearing, which satisfies the personal necessities of his indolent +existence. The wonderful solidarity of domestic life is an important +factor in the Chinese career, for centuries of ancestor-worship, in +spite of their arrestive tendency, have strengthened the bonds of +family union and filial obedience by insisting on the supreme sanctity +of blood-relationship. + +The luxuriant Botanical Garden, situated in a green cleft of an angle +formed by encircling hills, is a paradise of dreamland, though but a +miniature when compared with Buitenzorg for extent and variety. In the +restful charm of the Penang garden Art and Nature go hand in hand, +giving it an unique character among the horticultural pleasaunces of +the Eastern world. The rolling lawns of the exquisite valley, the song +of the waterfall which bounds the view as it leaps down the lofty +cliffs, the abundant shade of tamarind and palm, and the gorgeous +flowering shrubs, suggest nothing artificial or conventionalised in the +deep seclusion of the fairy glen. Tall bamboos mirror fluffy foliage +and white or golden stems in stream and pool. Orchids of the Brazils +festoon unknown trees with the rose and purple butterflies formed by +their brilliant blossoms, and colossal traveller's palms, so-called +from the draught of water obtained by incision of the stem, stud the +glades with stiffly-fluted fans. Lilac thunbergia wreaths over-arching +boughs, and passion-flower flings white and crimson garlands over turf +flushed with the pink blossoms of the sensitive plant. Gold mohur and +red poinsettia blaze with fiery splendour, and huge crotons, with +velvety leaves of pink, violet, and chocolate, grow to the height of +forest trees. The tangle of brilliant flowers, systematically arranged +by the concealed art of the Eastern horticulturist, shows many weird +botanical forms. Green spears, bristling on mossy banks, are starred +with crimson and barred with orange. Wine-coloured cacti twist +blue-green spikes and stems in grotesque contortions, and topaz or +ruby-tinted calladiums flame in thickets of hot colour outside cool +green dells, filled by a forest of tropical ferns, mosses, and +creepers. Lack of botanical knowledge constitutes a sore disadvantage +in this treasury of floral beauty, but happily we may "consider the +lilies," without cataloguing them, in this garden, "beautiful for +situation," and worthy to be a "joy of the whole earth." The sombre +jungle on the mountain side supplies the atmosphere of mystery which +enhances the ideal peace of the cloistered Paradise, wrapt in the +embrace of the haunted hills, and numbered among those visions of an +earlier Eden, only realised in the Asiatic birthplace of Humanity which +contained the typical Garden of the World, Divinely planted, where the +Voice from Heaven deepened the music of whispering leaves and sighing +breeze. + +A purple-red pat--for even the jasper-tinted tropical soil is +beautiful, climbs through the glorious woods to the chief Sanatorium of +the Malay Peninsula. A free fight among the coolies before starting +demands a lengthy exercise of that stolidity with which the Western +pilgrim must invest himself, as the invulnerable armour needed by the +conflict of daily life. As a mere matter of personal convenience, this +quality bears scant resemblance to the weapons enumerated by S. Paul in +the Christian panoply. The oppressive heat, the futility of argument in +an almost unknown tongue, and the general uncertainty of the subject in +dispute, gradually producing this spurious virtue as the external +decoration of sorely-exasperated souls. The exertion of the long ascent +in the steaming heat requires six coolies for every chair. The red road +mounts through enchanting vistas of palms and creepers, on the edge of +the dark jungle, each turning point bringing a whiff of cooler air, as +the evening gold flickers through the velvety fronds of tree-ferns, and +the green feathers of spreading bamboos. From the white hotel near the +summit, the blue Straits and the flats of Province Wellesley, the +English portion of the Malay Peninsula, stand out against the frowning +ridge of mountains, for black thunder-clouds continually brood over +Malacca. Monkeys caper and chatter in the teak-trees bordering a +circular terrace, and an ideal sylvan path leads to the Signal Station, +Hospital, and Post Office, on an opposite height, dotted with the +bungalows of summer visitors. A palm-shaded plateau beneath the hotel +offers an ideal resting-place, but the impenetrable jungle covering the +Penang Hills makes expeditions on foot or by chair, impracticable, and +the wild deluges of rain, with terrific thunder peals bursting in +uncontrolled fury on this exposed peak, minimise the delights of a +mountain sojourn. The invasion of an army of jungle rats, behind the +walls and above the ceiling of a room sodden and dripping with the +afternoon's flood, completes the disillusion, and compels a hasty +descent to the warmer damp of the lowlands, for the Equatorial climate, +and the general absence of bed-coverings, causes a rheumatic stiffness +on rising, which has to be steamed out by the atmospheric vapour-bath +of the tropical island. A long rickshaw ride to Tanjong Bungah +("Flowery Point") completes the day's cure in a sweltering heat, which +on the return journey at 8 a.m. causes even the Chinese coolies to stop +perpetually at wayside stalls, for the coloured syrups and sticky +sweetmeats on which they perform prodigies of endurance and speed. An +English planter, in his solitary cacao-garden on the edge of the sea, +hails his compatriots with delight, and leads the way through the rocky +ravines bordering his solitary bungalow. The glories of the tropics +seldom alleviate the sense of exile, and cloudy England, with her +"green fields and pastures dim," remains dearer than all the pageantry +of Nature elsewhere to most of her absent sons. + +The Buddhist temple of Ayer-Etam, built in ascending tiers on a steep +acclivity, varies the natural interests of Penang, with the marvels of +Chinese architecture elaborated in the deep seclusion of mountain and +forest. The dewy areca-palms throw a dark network of interlacing +shadows across the red road, winding for miles through the sylvan +scenery, the alchemy of the rising sun transmuting the myriad feathery +fronds into fountains of green fire. Only the creaking of a +bullock-waggon, or the thud of a falling cocoanut, breaks the hush of +the tropical daybreak, when the leaves only whisper in their dreams, +and the vernal earth, fresh as from her Creator's hand, renews her +strength for the heat and burden of the coming day. The colossal pile, +consisting of temple, monastery, and innumerable shrines, amid +fountains and fish-ponds, bridges and balconies, courts and terraces, +gleams whitely against the green gloom of the vast palm-forest on +either side, sloping sharply to the shimmering sea. The usual appalling +images of vermilion and gold guard every sculptured gateway, and +surmount the painted shrines encircled by parterres of votive flowers, +for the philosophic Buddhism of Ceylon and Siam gathers the moss and +weeds of many an incongruous accretion in countless ages of pilgrimage +through the Eastern world. The transcendental mysticism which spun the +finest cobwebs of human thought, crystallises into concrete form when +interpreted in the terms of China, where dim reminiscences of early +Nature worship, and the terrors which upheld the authority of many +obsolete creeds, have been incorporated into the vague ideals of Prince +Gautama's prophetic soul. Altars, strewn with fragrant champak-flowers, +stand beneath lace-carved alcoves of black teakwood, on the broad +plateaux which form welcome resting-places beside each flight of steps +on the marble stairway, the gilded pinnacles and aerial spires of the +white temple sparkling against the sea of rich foliage. A knot of +Burmese worshippers, with rose-coloured scarves and turbans, throw +their infinitesimal coins on the palm-leaf mats of a red-roofed shrine, +and tell the wooden beads of the Buddhist rosary, chanting the +perpetual refrain of "_Pain_, _Sorrow_, _Unreality_," as a warning +against the temptations of _Maya_, the world of illusion. The brown +faces raised imploringly to the presiding deity, a leering demon with +green face and yellow body, inspire the hope that the grotesque monster +may prove his own unreality by vanishing from the hearts of his +devotees into the limbo of nightmares from which he has emerged, for +the philosophic quietism of Buddhist creed offers no disguise to the +horrors of a hell far surpassing the terrific literalism of Dante's +Inferno. Rippling conduits edge pillared courts and cloistered arcades, +resplendent with frieze and cornice of blue and scarlet, a central +fountain falling in prismatic showers over a sacred pond of golden +carp. A white-robed monk smilingly conducts us across hump-backed +bridges and colonnaded galleries to a bench beneath a grey frangipanni +tree, starred with fragrant flowers, and brings welcome cups of tea, +before another struggle up the interminable steps, which symbolise the +mystic "path" leading to Nirvana's rest. Further hospitality meets us +at a yellow kiosk, higher up the sacred hill, where a dainty breakfast +of eggs, cakes, and honey stands on a white table-cloth, bearing a +steaming coffee-pot. The temple paraphernalia of Buddhist worship +strangely resembles Catholic imagery. Incense rises from open censers +on the dais, the blue cloud enveloping a gorgeous altar, encrusted with +gold. The central figure of Gautama Buddha, on the lotus leaf +expresses supernal calm, and the symbolic flower, in bud, blossom, or +foliage, forms the prevailing design of vase and amphora, within golden +lattice-work. Hanging lamps glow on rapt faces of attendant saints, or +on those supplementary local Buddhas which Chinese doctrine adds to the +comparative simplicity of the original system. The foreshadowing of +Christian truth culminates in the fact stated by a Buddhist priest, +that bread and wine of mystic meaning are reserved on the altars of +many among the forty subdivisions of Buddhism. The mountain Sanctuary, +though marred by debased decoration and heathenised by the lurid +figures of the guardian demons, inspires a reverent devotion, and +exercises a solemnising influence on many souls whose faith differs +from that of the white-clad monks, who seek to scale the dim heights of +perfection from this lofty peak. "The Light which lighteth every man" +must needs throw a faint and far-off ray even on an erroneous creed, +groping through the darkness for the outstretched Hands which embrace +all Humanity with boundless Love. + +Penang, as a little field of missionary enterprise, possesses many +privileges often denied to the further islands of Malaysia. The variety +of immigrant races, the constant intercourse with the Indian mainland, +and the needs of travellers belonging to every nation, keep the +settlement in touch with a multitude of spiritual needs. Christianity, +both in Anglican and Roman guise, sows diligently in fields gradually +whitening to harvest. The English Church, with reverent services and +kindly priest, remains a little centre of cherished associations. The +S. Francis Xavier Institute, which brings many Chinese boys into the +Christian fold, through the labours of another Communion, carries on +the work of the great mediaeval missionary, who reached the farthest +East in his apostolate of love. The scarlet, yellow, and white veils of +Eastern converts, the crowd of Eurasian Christians in both churches, +and the presence of a devout Malay priest assisting at the English +service, add unfamiliar notes of colour among the snowy muslins and +flower-decked hats of English residents, but correctness of costume, +both in men and women, contrasts refreshingly with the slovenly +deshabille of the Netherlands India, the last and easily-snapped link +between civilisation and barbarism. + +An opportunity occurs for a visit to Taiping, the capital of the Native +Federated States, and situated in Province Wellesley. The launch +crosses to Prai, the rising port of Malacca, and the northern terminus +of the railway, sure to upset the passenger lists of the great steamers +by traversing the entire peninsula to Johore. Through a channel +bordered with weird mangroves, the boat enters a long, slow river, +flowing between boundless palm-forests. The "black but comely" captain +of the snorting boat escorts his European passengers to the station, +arranges tickets, and waits on the platform till the train starts; the +portly sailor in spotless linen, surmounted by his genial ebony face, +waving encouragement as long as we remain in sight. The perils and +dangers of the way are _nil_, and none of the threatened contingencies +arise, but to Eastern thought risks, however remote and improbable, add +to the value of a journey. Real drawbacks seem seldom mentioned, but +imaginary lions in the way offer unlimited scope to Oriental fancy, and +help to create a thrilling drama of destruction. Green paddi-fields, +tall sugar-canes, and a world of palms, rise from the alluvial flats of +Province Wellesley. The great rubber plantations, which form the chief +source of wealth in Malacca, follow in endless succession, but, as +usual, the astute Chinaman has obtained almost a monopoly of the +industry, from which the greatest fortunes of the tropics are now +derived. The bushy trees, with their black stems and ragged foliage, +are destitute of the beauty so lavishly bestowed even on the weeds of +this fertile soil. The tangled splendour of the wild jungle, which +presently borders the track, demonstrates the immense difficulty of +pioneering in a tropical forest, where the interlacing boughs of the +myriad trees, with their impenetrable screen of climbing parasites, +make perpetual walls of living green, defying human progress. Malay +villages, brown and palm-thatched in the immemorial style, stand on +piles above the swampy ground, which seems the approved site of +habitation. A barren district devastated by a forest fire, contains the +disused pits of ancient tin-mines, but these unsightly hollows have +been decorated by Nature's hand with a luxuriant growth of the frilled +pink lotus. Malay children, themselves unadorned, stand on wayside +platforms, every brown hand filled with the rosy chalices of the sacred +Buddhist emblem. Tradition says that the blossom, drawn up from the +mire by the rays of the morning sun, symbolised the earth-stained soul, +made pure and stainless by the attraction of that Divine Glory which +Buddhism, though in distorted form, strove to attain. + +At the end of the sixty-mile journey, the English station-master at +Taiping proved a veritable friend in need, arranging for a hot +breakfast at the station, chartering rickshaw coolies, and--greatest +blessing of all--directing the route, with a menacing pantomime +concerning any shirking of duty, which saved all further trouble. +Taiping is in an early stage of progress, and the open _tokos_ in +waringen-shaded streets, show nothing but the necessaries of life, with +terrible mementos of Birmingham in petroleum lamps, hideous oleographs, +and machine-made household goods. Pretty bungalows stand beyond the +interlacing avenues of dusky trees, and a framework toy of a church in +the green outskirts, contains numerous brass tablets recording English +lives laid down in this weary land. These pathetic memorials seem the +only permanent features of the frail edifice in the shadowy God's-acre +already filled with graves. The newly-planted park, with a lake fringed +by a vivid growth of allemanda and hybiscus, stands below the purple +heights of a long mountain chain, but Taiping offers few inducements to +a prolonged stay, and after a hurried glimpse of terrific beasts and +snakes of the jungle, preserved in the local museum, we return to the +station, the kindly chef-de-gare disturbing his wife from her siesta in +the adjacent bungalow, to feast us on tea and bananas. Darkness falls +before the train reaches Penang, but a Chinese gentleman acts as pilot +across some rocking boats, with only a faint flare from expiring +torches to light the way, and starts the cringing coolies, with true +politeness to the "foreign devils," but manifest wonder at their +eccentric customs. Chinese womanhood, painted, bedizened, and tottering +on the pink and gold hoofs which cause a sickening shudder to the +Western spectator, indicates the barrier of prejudice to be surmounted +before China can mould national ideals into harmony with modern +progress. + +The vicinity of Penang to the Equatorial junction of the maritime +world, widens local interests by the development of the Malay +Peninsula, partly governed through the instrumentality of native +Sultans under English guidance, but the abiding charm of the island +lies beyond the radius of the thriving port. Nature still reigns +supreme in this jewel of the Equator, where the amber swathes of Indian +laburnum, the golden-hearted whiteness of luscious frangipanni blossom, +and the red fire of the flamboyant tree, light up the endless aisles of +swaying palms, where temple-flower and tuberose mingle their fragrance +with the breath of clove and cinnamon, interpreting the imagery of the +Eastern monarch's bridal song, and luring each lover of Earth's +manifold beauty to "go down into her garden of spices and gather +lilies." + + + + +EPILOGUE. + + +The infinite variety of interests connected with the vast Malay +Archipelago, mainly dominated by European authority, can only be +inadequately mentioned in the simple record of a half-year's wandering +through scenes which stamp their unfading beauty indelibly on mind and +memory. Virgin fields of discovery still invite scientific exploration, +and the green sepulchre of Equatorial vegetation retains innumerable +secrets of Art and architecture. The geological mysteries of these +volcanic shores offer a host of unsolved problems, the surpassing +magnificence of flower and foliage makes every island a botanical +Paradise, and the varieties of race and language which moulded and +coloured the destinies of the Equatorial world, supply historian and +philologist with opportunities of unlimited research. The dim +chronicles of a distant past, inscribed in vague characters with faint +traces of the earliest Malay wanderers, link their shadowy pages with +historic records of falling dynasties and warring creeds, preceding +the eventful period of colonial enterprise, initiated by the wild +campaigns in quest of the precious spices. Although the Malay voyagers +remain veiled in the twilight which clouds the verge of authentic +history, the track of their keels may yet be followed through the +conflicting currents of that hitherto unknown ocean which they opened +to a future world. The forests and fishing grounds of every coast and +island still support the manifold divisions of the nomadic race which +forms the substratum of island life, and the star of hope which led +them onward, shone for many subsequent adventurers across those +Southern seas which aroused the energies and ambitions of later ages. +The symbolical stories of the world's infancy join the actual +experience of struggling humanity to the dreamland from whence it +emerged, as some syren song lured it into unknown regions. The +old-world legends of mankind "launching out into the deep, and letting +down the nets for a draught," repeat themselves from age to age, for +the human heart has ever sacrificed comfort and safety in order to set +sail upon some trackless ocean, on the chance of reaping that harvest +of life's sea for which man yearns with insatiable desire. The +wanderings of Odysseus, in the youth of the world, illustrate the +eternal pursuit of a visionary ideal, in those adventures which breathe +the undying romance of the sea. The resemblance between the traditions +of savage and civilised nations appears too strong to be fortuitous, +and indicates the underlying unity of feeling and purpose implanted in +the human race. Modern environment renders it impossible to calculate +the tremendous force of the mysterious impulse which swayed the onward +march of primeval tribes; even the later obstacles, overcome by bold +spirits who followed in their wake, can never be adequately realised +amid the artificial conditions of our present life. The charmed circle +of the "Equator's emerald zone," encloses a region of marvel and +mystery, where Imagination, the fairy with the magic mirror, helps to +interpret and reveal the secrets of Beauty and Truth, which transfigure +material form and colour with the halo of idealism. The tale of the +mysterious ages when "the threads of families" were first "woven into +the ropes of nations," still sways mind and fancy, but the romance of +the world continues, though the progress of Humanity varies the +pictured page. In the warm heart of the tropical Archipelago, Nature, +triumphing in eternal youth, seems to mock the transient phases of +aspiration and achievement, which vanish by turn into the misty past. +The great Mother chants her "Song of Songs" throughout the myriad +changes of Time, in terms so similar to the imagery of the Divine +Epithalamium that, from a human standpoint, it seems swept by the +spice-laden breezes of the Malayan Lotus-land, rather than by the +fainter fragrance wafted from the orchards and gardens of Palestine or +Egypt. Possibly the Syrian fleet, in search of ivory and peacocks, +touched at the enchanted shores where "all trees of frankincense" +perfumed the air, and produced those aromatic "powders of the +merchant," regarded as priceless treasures both in primitive and +mediaeval days. The story might well capture the fancy of the royal +poet, and enrich the music of his verse with the luscious fragrance of +a more luxuriant land than even his own pastoral Canaan, flowing with +milk and honey. The hyperbole of Eastern thought often rests on a solid +foundation of fact, and the Hebrew love-song weaves tropical Nature's +lavish wealth of flower, fruit, and fragrance into a symbolic garland, +flung in passionate rapture at the feet of the beloved one. The +spiritual significance of the sacred lyric only transposes the mystic +melody into a higher key, and heaps the thurible of the sanctuary with +the frankincense of praise, to celebrate the typical bridal of Earth +and Heaven. + +The diadem of palms on the last outlying islet of the Malay +Archipelago, stands out in dark relief against the golden haze of the +afterglow, which floods the sky, and changes the purple waters into a +sea of fire. The pageant of sunset lingers for a moment, and then +vanishes beneath of the pall of the swiftly-falling night. The +fairyland of eternal summer sinks below the horizon, and realities melt +into the shadows of that mental subconsciousness which holds the +wraiths of departed joys. Memories of the golden hours spent in +threading the flowery maze of the vast Archipelago, seem a mere handful +of shells gathered on the surf-beaten shores, but if even the empty +shell can hold the sound of the waves, this brief record of a cruise in +sunny seas may also convey faint whispers of that syren voice which +echoed through the ages of the past, and still allures the spellbound +listener to the swaying palms and spice-scented bowers of Malaya's +Island Paradise. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + +The preference has been to retain inconsistencies and idiosyncracies in +spelling, especially of proper nouns, except in the case of obvious +typographical errors. Any corrections made are noted below. + +Many Javanese names use the "oe" group of vowels. In a few cases, the +original text uses "oe" ligatures. Since such usage is inconsistent, +even for the same name, and the number of instances are few, the "oe" +ligatures have not been retained. + +Inconsistencies in the hyphenation of words retained. (dream-like, +dreamlike; ear-rings, earrings; re-adjustment, readjustment; +sandal-wood, sandalwood; sub-consciousness, subconsciousness; +sub-divisions, subdivisions; thunder-clouds, thunderclouds; +waist-cloth, waistcloth; white-washed, whitewashed; wicker-work, +wickerwork) + +In the original text, the entire Table of Contents was printed in +italic typeface. For the plaintext version of this ebook, in order to +reduce clutter, the standard markup for italics has not been used for +text in the Table of Contents. + +Table of Contents, entry for "The Solo-Bessir Isles". The chapter +heading in the main text reads "THE SOELA-BESSIR ISLES." The original +wording has been retained in both cases. + +Pg. 34, "int oa" changed to "into a". (forest aisles into a) + +Pg. 35, "sanatorioum" changed to "sanatorium". (a favourite sanatorium +of the Dutch) + +Pg. 38, "possing" changed to "possessing". (possessing a notable) + +Pg. 79, unusual spelling "pourtrayed" retained. + +Pg. 89, "ominious" changed to "ominous". (played an ominous part) + +Pg. 94 and 202, "unmistakeable" is also spelled "unmistakable" on page +140. Original spellings retained in all cases. + +Pg. 114 and 115, "sulphureous" is also spelled "sulphurous" on page 44. +Original spellings retained in all cases. + +Pg. 118, "prisets" changed to "priests". (while the priests of Siva) + +Pg. 144, "elswhere" changed to "elsewhere". (here as elsewhere) + +Pg. 155, "benath" changed to "beneath". (beneath a hill covered) + +Pg. 156, "pentrate" changed to "penetrate". (of air can penetrate) + +Pg. 166, "smoulderng" changed to "smouldering". (which hides the +smouldering) + +Pg. 179, "he" changed to "the". (from the motionless waters) + +Pg. 187, "inagurated" changed to "inaugurated". (growth of foreign +vegetation was thus inaugurated) + +Pg. 189, "Calvanistic" changed to "Calvinistic". (grimness of +Calvinistic creed) + +Pg. 223, "violents" changed to "violent". (continuous roar of violent +explosions) + +Pg. 239, "Buddhim" changed to "Buddhism". (philosophic Buddhism of +Ceylon) + +Pg. 239, extraneous dot in between sentences: "through the Eastern +world. . The transcendental". It does not appear to be an ellipsis and +has thus been removed. + +Pg. 243, extraneous dot in between sentences: "derived. . The bushy +trees". It does not appear to be an ellipsis and has thus been removed. + +Pg. 247, "Archipegalo" changed to "Archipelago". (the vast Malay +Archipelago) + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Through the Malay Archipelago, by Emily Richings + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO *** + +***** This file should be named 27422.txt or 27422.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/4/2/27422/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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