INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

The wife of Santánu, king of Astína, dying on giving birth to Détect Bráta (Bísma). Santánu asked Pulásara, the Prábu-Anom (or younger prince), of Wiráta, and brother-in-law of Mángsah Páti, prince of that country, to allow his wife Ambarsári, who at that time had a child (Abiása) at the breast, to suckle and so save the life of his infant boy Déwa Bráta.

Pulasára, offended at the proposal, went to war with Santánu, but was afterwards persuaded by the Déwa Sang yang Naráda to comply, on condition of Santánu resigning his kingdom to him; to which Santánu agreed. Pulasára, when his son Abiása was grown up, gave him the kingdom of Astína, and turning hermit went and passed the rest of his days on the mountains.

By his wife Ambalíka (the old maiden daughter of Baliétma, a hermit of Gúnung Chámaragándi, whom he was forced to marry against his inclination) Abiása had three sons, viz.

1. Drestaráta, who was blind.

2. Pándu, whose head was inclined to one side.

3. Aria Widúra, who was lame.

Pándu, the least exceptionable of the three sons, being raised to the throne, Abiása turned hermit, and went and passed the remainder of his days among the mountains.

On the death of Panda, Drestaráta persuaded his father Abiása to allow him to rule the country during the minority of the Pandáwa (or five children dren of Pándu).

Situation of the Island

The Country known to Europeans under the name of Java, or Java Major, and to the Natives under those of Tána (the land) Jáwa, or Núsa (the island) Jáwa, is one of the largest of what modern geographers call the Sunda Islands. It is sometimes considered one of the Malayan Islands, and forms a part of that division of the Oriental Archipelago which it has been lately proposed to designate as the Asiatic Isles. It extends eastward, with a slight deviation to the south, from 105° 11′ to 114° 33′ of longitude east of Greenwich, and lies between the latitudes 5° 52′ and 8° 46′ south. On the south and west it is washed by the Indian Ocean; on the north-west by a channel called the Straits of Súnda, which separates it from Sumatra, at a distance in one point of only fourteen miles; and on the south-east by the Straits of Báli, only two miles wide, which divide it from the island of that name. These islands, and others stretching eastward, form with Java a gentle curve of more than two thousand geographical miles, which with less regularity is continued from Acheen to Pegu on one side, and from Tímor to Papúa, or New Guinea, on the other: they constitute on the west and south, as do Bánka, Bíliton, the great islands of Borneo and Celebes, and the Moluccas on the north, the barriers of the Javan Seas and the Malayan Archipelago.

Value of the Dutch East-Indies

From the importance which the Dutch, in the days of their greatness, attached to their East-India commerce, of which Batavia was the emporium, and the importance which this commerce conferred upon them, from the desire excited in the other nations to obtain a share in its advantages, and the crimes committed to maintain its undivided monopoly, some idea may be formed of its magnitude and value. When the French troops, in the summer of 1672, under Louis XIV, had overrun the territory of Holland, with the rapidity and irresistible force of the sea after bursting the dykes, the Republic formed the magnanimous resolution of transporting its wealth, its enterprise, and its subjects, to another hemisphere, rather than submit to the terms of the conqueror, and fixed upon Batavia, already the seat of its eastern commerce, as the capital of its new empire.

Having, in the preceding Chapter, endeavoured to pourtray the natural and moral character of the people of Java, and to convey to the reader a general idea of the nature and principles of the government to which they have been subjected, I shall now proceed to detail some of the usages and customs which prevail among them.

Ceremonies of the Court

Deference paid to superior Rank

Of these the ceremonies of the court are the most obvious, and a stranger cannot fail to be struck with the extreme deference and respect towards their superiors, by which the Javans are characterized. Respect for rank, for experience, for parents and old age, have been already noticed among the features of their character; but the excess to which deference to rank is carried by the political institutions of the country, deserves more particular remark, whether we consider it as illustrative of the nature of the government and the quiet and orderly disposition of the people, or endeavour to trace in the early periods of their history, the causes which may have contributed to the existing constitution of society among them.

The respect shewn to superior rank on Java is such, that no individual, whatever his condition, can stand in the presence of a superior; neither can he address him in the same language in which he is spoken to. Not even the heir apparent, or the members of the royal family, can stand in the presence of the sovereign; and the same restriction applies to the family of each subordinate chief.

Origin of the natives

The inhabitants of Java seem to owe their origin to the same stock, from which most of the islands lying to the south of the eastern peninsula of Asia appear to have been first peopled. This stock is evidently Tartar, and has, by its numerous and wide spreading branches, not only extended itself over the Indian Archipelago, but over the neighbouring continent. “To judge “from external appearance, that is to say, from shape, size, and feature,” observes Dr. Francis Buchanan, in his Notices on the Birman Empire, “there is one very extensive nation that inhabits the east of Asia. It “includes the eastern and western Tartars of the Chinese authors, the “Calmucs, the Chinese, the Japanese, and other tribes inhabiting what is “called the Peninsula of India beyond the Ganges, and the islands to “the south and east of this, as far at least as New Guinea.”—“This “nation, “adds the same author, “may be distinguished by a short, squat, “robust, fleshy stature, and by features highly different from those of an “European. The face is somewhat in shape of a lozenge, the forehead “and chin being sharpened, whilst at the cheek bones it is very broad. “The eyebrows, or superciliary ridges, in this nation, project very little, “and the eyes are very narrow, and placed rather obliquely in the head, the “external angles being the highest.

General considerations

It is here proposed to state the progress made by the Javans in a few of the common arts and handicrafts, and in one or two of the more extensive manufactures; their docility in working under European direction, and some other observations, which could not be so appropriately placed in any other part of this work. I have already had occasion to notice the limited skill and simple contrivances with which they carry on the labours of agriculture, and prepare the produce of the soil for consumption, in the various ways that their taste or their habits require. In a country like Java, where the structure of society is simple, and the wants of the people are few; where there is no accumulation of capital and little division of professions, it cannot be expected, that manufacturing skill should be acquired, or manufacturing enterprize encouraged, to any great extent. The family of a Javan peasant is almost independent of any labour, but that of its own members. The furniture, the clothing, and almost every article required for a family, being prepared within its own precincts, no extensive market of manufactured commodities is necessary for the supply of the island itself; and for foreign trade, the produce of their soil is more in demand than the fruits of their skill or industry.

Importance of agriculture to Java

The island of Java is a great agricultural country; its soil is the grand source of its wealth. In its cultivation the inhabitants exert their chief industry, and upon its produce they rely, not only for their subsistence, but the few articles of foreign luxury or convenience which they purchase. The Javans are a nation of husbandmen, and exhibit that simple structure of society incident to such a stage of its progress. To the crop the mechanic looks immediately for his wages, the soldier for his pay, the magistrate for his salary, the priest for his stipend (or jákat), and the government for its tribute. The wealth of a province or village is measured, by the extent and fertility of its land, its facilities for rice irrigation, and the number of its buffaloes.

When government wishes to raise supplies from particular districts, it does not enquire how many rupees or dollars it can yield in taxes, but what contribution of rice or maize it can furnish, and the impost is assessed accordingly: the officer of revenue becomes a surveyor of land or a measurer of produce, and the fruits of the harvest are brought immediately into the ways and means of the treasury. When a chief gives his assistance in the police or the magistracy, he is paid by so much village land, or the rent of so much land realized in produce; and a native prince has no other means of pensioning a favourite or rewarding a useful servant.

Language

The extensive prevalence of the Javan language, and its connexion with the languages of continental India, were not overlooked by those intelligent Europeans who visited these islands at an early period; for we find Valentyn quoting the authority of Flaccourt, who published in 1661, and of the Portuguese Jan de Barros, for conclusions with regard to the extent of Javan commerce in remote ages, drawn from the resemblance then traced between the languages of Java and those of Madagascar and Ambon (Amboina). “The Javans,” observes this author, “must doubtless have visited Coro“mandel and Malabar, for the high or court language is, in three parts out “of four, derived from the Sanscrit or Brahminical language. Many Malabar “words also enter into the composition, and it is besides composed in a “great measure from the Dekan, which is the ancient language of India, “in the same manner as the Sanscrit is the sacred language.”

Little known to Europeans

The alphabet has been exhibited, though imperfectly, by Valentyn, LeBrun, and Reland, and an Alphabetum Bantemense is said to have been found amongst the posthumous papers of the learned Hyde; but the language does not appear to have been regularly cultivated by Europeans until within the last very few years.

Having, in the foregoing pages, attempted to introduce the inhabitants of Java to the reader, by an account of their person, their manners, and employment in the principal departments of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, I shall now endeavour to make him, in some degree, acquainted with their intellectual and moral character, their institutions, government, and such other particulars as may contribute to enable him to form some estimate of their relative rank in the scale of civilized society.

Intellectual character

From what has been stated of their progress in the manufacturing and agricultural arts, their general advancement in knowledge may be easily estimated. There are no establishments for teaching the sciences, and there is little spirit of scientific research among them. The common people have little leisure or inclination for improving their minds or acquiring information, but they are far from being deficient in natural sagacity or docility. Their organs are acute and delicate, their observation is ready, and their judgment of character is generally correct. Like most eastern nations, they are enthusiastic admirers of poetry, and possess a delicate ear for music. Though deficient in energy, and excited to action with difficulty, the effect probably of an enervating climate and a still more enervating government, they are capable of great occasional exertion, and sometimes display a remarkable perseverance in surmounting obstacles or enduring labours.

The first arrival of the Portuguese in the Eastern Islands was in the year 1510, when Alphonzo de Albuquerque first visited Sumatra. In the following year, Albuquerque conquered the city of Malacca, and sent to announce that event to those countries and islands which had traded thither, inviting them to continue their intercourse, and promising them protection and encouragement. To Java and the Moluccas he sent Antonio de Abrew, having, however, previously prepared the way by a Moor or Mahometan, of the name of Nakoda Ismael, who was trading in a merchant vessel. Antonio de Abrew sailed on his mission with three vessels, and took with him several Javans and Malayus who had been accustomed to trade with Malacca. The first port on Java at which he arrived was the city of Agacai, and from thence he sailed to Amboina, one of the Moluccas, where he set up his padroes, or pillars of discovery and possession, as he had done at every port at which he had touched. One of the vessels was lost in a storm, but the people were saved and carried by Abrew to a port in Banda to which vessels then resorted for trade, and whither it was that the Javan vessels used to go for cloves, nutmegs, and mace, which were carried to that port by the natives of the Moluccas in their own vessels.

Nakoda Ismael returning from the Moluccas with a cargo of nutmegs, his vessel was wrecked on the coast of Java, near Tuban.

The principles of Orthography, recommended by Sir William Jones, and adopted by the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, have been adopted in this work, with some slight modifications. The consonants preserve the same sounds generally as the same letters in the English alphabet: the vowels are used as in Italian. To avoid confusion, the emphatic syllables are alone accented, and the inherent vowel a has invariably been adopted.

As it is possible that, in the many severe strictures passed, in the course of this work, upon the Dutch Administration in Java, some of the observations may, for want of a careful restriction in the words employed, appear to extend to the Dutch nation and character generally, I think it proper explicitly to declare, that such observations are intended exclusively to apply to the Colonial Government and its Officers. The orders of the Dutch Government in Holland to the Authorities at Batavia, as far as my information extends, breathe a spirit of liberality and benevolence; and I have reason to believe, that the tyranny and rapacity of its colonial officers, created no less indignation in Holland than in other countries of Europe.

For such, and all other inaccuracies, as well as for the defects of style and arrangement which may appear in this work, an apology is necessary; and in the circumstances under which it has been prepared, it is hoped, that an admissable one will be found. While in the active discharge of the severe and responsible duties of an extensive government, it was not in my power to devote much time to the subject: the most that I could do, was to encourage the exertions of others, and to collect in a crude state such new or interesting matter as fell under my personal observation.