The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-08-24

State Of Illinois, has Il population Of
about 21 100000. OF this number there
are more than is, 900 GOO natives, 325,-
600 Chinese, 5000 Arabs and 10000
Europeans. The location Of the island
is only about s Or 6 degrees south Of the
equator, yet the climate is delightful,
the average temperature being 80 de-
grees at noon and 70 degrees at hight.
The island has 600 miles Of railroad,
an efficient telegraph system ard q
standing army of $4,000 men. IT is the
most prosperous and fertile tropical
island in the world. It is purely agri-
cultural and, besides supporting its owe
dense population, raises a surplus foF
export Of $4O,O00,0OO worth a year.
The drama, strictly speaking, has no
home in Java, but the art initiative app
pears to be well established. Among
the most popular entertainments Of the
Javanese is a kind of pantomime;
wherein some story of the exploit of
the gods, demigods and heroes of the
Hindu and Javan mythology are repre-
scented with the attributes and in the
situations described In their popular
poems. At one style of such exhibi-
tons the characters, are: represented by
real. persons, richly dressed as de-
scrlbed in the poem; at another by
shadows on alscreen, produced by the:
use OF leather figures from eighteen to
twenty inches high, each made to rep
resent character in the story. At an-
| other, the figures are more properly
puppets than Shadows; they are made
Of wood and are about ten or twelve
inches high. They are operated from
beneath and are made to'perform their
parts without the intervention Of
screen. 1868 -.s.@ ~.,.-.-.
In each Of these different STYLES of
entertainment the manager Of the
theater rehearses the story, which he
illustrates by the pantOmime work. Of
the persons employed to represent the
characters by the shadows, or by the
manipulated puppets. At intervals the
orchestra engaged by the theater per-
forms selections. The instruments, as;
well as the music, are peculiar and
novel. Several are required TO CON-
pose a "gamalan" or band, the most
conspicuous Of which is the gong It
is regarded by the Javanese as the
most musical of all monotonous instru-
ments, and it certainly is powerful in,
its effect. In addition there are steel
and wooden bars arranged on sounding;
boards, covering diatonic scale of two
OctaveS; an instrument somewhat re-
sembling the violin and reed instru-
mentS.
Dancing-that is, stage dancing
the Javans, as with Asiatics in general,
consists in graceful attitudes of the
body and in the slow movement Of the
arms and legs particularly the former
The hands and fingers, even, express
their poetic ideas. Javanese women
in general do not appear in any kind Of
public performances. The dancing
girls Of Java form a class by them
| selves; some belong to the household
of the native sovereign and hereditary
prince. When these dignitaries enter
tain Europeans the dancing girls are
| brought to the hall with great care and
under guard in a large palanquin
borne on mems shoulders There are
bands Of dancing girls to be. found in
the principal towns who hire them
selves to perform on particular occa-
sions for the general public entertain
ment, but these are generally less at
tractive and as rule are prodigate
characters.