The Sun.
London, England, 1812-02-18 00:00:00

11'A.

. As this iiland has recently been added to the tri-
pmph4 of British valour, the following sketch of its
inhabitants, for which we are indebted to the last
number of The Quarterl.4 - Review, will doubtless be
eeceptable to our readers.

" The native Javanese are nominally governed by
Sovereigns who are the descendants of those Arabs
who carried their arms, their commerce, and their
.religion, into the East, long bekre any Europeans
made their appearance in that quarter. The isla-
mism which pi evalls, however, is debased by Hin-
doo superstitions, and the dogmata of the setti of
Vishnu, from whom they affect to be descended.—
The Javaneseeof the interior still profess the religion
of their ancestors, wear the Hindoo mark in the
forehead, and the women of the better cast burn
themselves on the' funeral - pile of their deceased
husbands. Their Alphabet, however, has no resem-
blance to the Devanagari either in the form of the
letters or in the rdel e sounds. It consists of
twenty characters, varied and modified by means of
four vowel sounds. Flom an inscription mentioned
by Thunberg, it would appear that the ancient Ja-
vanese wrote from. the right hand to the left. There
can be title doubt, however, that antecedent to the
invasion of the ,island by the Malays, they had re-
ceived colonies from Hindostan ; and that both Ma-
lays and llhrdoos mingled With the native islanders,
who, there are many reasons to suppose, were of
the srme race as ih se of the South Sea islands.
Throughout all P lyneSia there is a mixture of the
Hindoo features, colour, and language, with those
of tee natives of the Pacific; and South Sea islands.
Many words are cot-ninon to both ; but by far the
greater hart of the language is Sanscrit.
'rite Javanese are in gerferal well made, with
features ptetty regular, the face tallier broad across
the forehead, and the nose a little flattened, their
complexion a light brown, their hair universally
black, which they smear with a profusion of cecoa-
nut oil ; the women twist- it into a knot on the top
of the head, where it is fixed with gold or slver pins
and decorated with sweet smelling flowers. They
live in mean huts of bamboo, plastered with clay,
ar.d thatched with leaves, and their food consists of
holed rice, fruits, vegetables, and water. Theirs is
a life of unvarying indolence. They: inhabit 'an
island so fertile, and'so abundant in every species of
grain and fruit for the sustenance of man, th'at no-
thing but force or necessity compels a Javanese to
'labour. This apathy ought not to be considered as
a constitutional disease, or the effet of the- heat of
the climate. The Chinese and the Malays are free
from it. -It affects the Javanese only. To what
. then can it be ascribed but to that hopeless state of
penury to which they are clobniedhy the unrelenting
despotism of their rulers, and Which affords them no
security 'fur, no- enjoyment of, any little property
which their labour might accumulate ? The Dutch
demanded so much produce to be delivered to them
at such a price. They had a resident at the coast of
each of the sovereigns of Java to -enforce those de-
-mands, and generally a' fort which commanded the
palace of the Prince.
" The country was divided into distriBs, 'over
each of which was a chief or' governor, called To-
magon. It was the duty of these Tornagons to take
care that the tull share of the peasants produce was
delivered for the use of the smereign, the DutCh,
and themselves. What that share was, has not, to
our knowledge, any where been stated, but there
'can be no question of its amounting to whatever
quantity the uncontrouled despot might find it ex-
pedient to impose.
" A'Javanese prince dreams away his existence.
The clay is consumed in' Smoking his hookar wit h
the Most placid indifference, while a troop of dancing
men and women are supposed toAtford him amuse-
ment. At other times the females of his zenana
relate their long traditionary stories, to amuse the
despot with the lotes of the deities, the faithful ser-
vices of the genii, and the feats and adventures of the
ancient heroes and del-M.:gods contained. in 'their
Cheritras or sacred books, which are said to bear a
very strong resemblance to the E-linded" Puranas.—
Sometimes, however, he takes the diversion of ex-.
ercising his guard in throwing the javelin. But his
. "greatest delight is that of witnessing the fight of a
tiger and a buffalo. These wild animals are kept in
cages for this purpose, and (heir keepers in turning
• them loose exhibit no small degree of courage and
dexterity, for the tiger at least is much more dispos-
cd to attack the man than• the buffalo. The latter
requires to be irritated before he has any inclination
to fall upon either. This is done by lashing bun
with bunches of the urtica stimulans, or buffalo leaf.
Another source of amusement is the combat of a
tiger and a condemned criminal, 'armed with no
other weapon thansa kris of eight or nine inches in
length. Nothing can be more cruel ; for should
the man have the good fottune to vanquish his ad-
versary, a second is brought for Ward,, and a third,
until his strength is exhausted) and he is finally de-
stroyed.
" The Javanese women are generally marriageable
. at eleven or twelve years of„ age, till which time
they go nearly naked, wearing only a belt round the
waist with a metal plate in front, rings round the
wrist, chains about the neck, and flowers in their
black hair,
ikhining with cocoa-nut oil. Not only
all the Dutcti inhabitants of Batavia, from the Go-
vernor-General downwards, but every description of
persons on the whole Island, ate firmly persuaded
that many of these women, besides a knowledge °V
herbs of wondetful virtues and efficacy -in the cure
of-diseases, possess great skill in philtres and fasci,
nation. If empiricism is found to thrive in the
midst of regular and well-educated practitioners, we
cannot wonder that it should succeed where Cis-
eases are frequent and dangerous, and physicians ig-
norant and few. Men of sound uneerstanding, to
other respects, are the dupes of 'Javanese fascina-
tion. Mr. Titsiegh is a person wiMse name has
been brought forward by Sir William Jones and
others in the records of literature ; he long ago'an-
, trounced to the world. his intention of publishing a
, History of Japan, where for many years he was
1 chief of the factory; he was subsequently Direc-
, for General of the Dutch possessions in the East,
and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
to ti e Emperor of China.
(To be continued.)