Evening star., 1901-09-07

women, the various trades and goods being
classified. In one section l found nothing
but coal merchants, sooty faced girls
squatting on tables with piles of charcoal
about them. Each girl had a bundle of
banana leaves beside her. and her measure
of value seemed to be what one leaf would
hold The leaves were about as large as a
sheet of fooscap, and leaf full of coal
sold for two cents. The string was a strip
of rattan fiber.
Next to the coal sheds were the vegetable
merchants, and farther on sheds contain
ing fruits, bamboos. chickens and eggs. The
vegetables were sold in piles. / saw one
pile Of five potatoes each the size of wal
NUT and was told that / could have 1t for
cent of our money. The same merchant
had two piles of string beans little pile
of tea, which she was selling out by the
cupful. and altogether a stock worth not
more than % cents of our money.
The cheapest things Of all are the fruits.
which are of every tropical variety.
come home every day loaded with man.
gosteens, bananas, SO oranges & "a and pine,
water, which I buy Of the cocoanut
peddlers in the bazaars. There is sweet
little cocoanut seller in Djokia, who has
the freshest Of green cocoanuts always on
hand She sells them for cents apiece,
and will open them UP with n ceaver, so
that you can drink the sweet cocoanut
water fresh from the she'll. assure You 1t
is a drink for the gods.
pigeons " men " h1Stie.
I stopped in the chicken market, and
found that 1 could buy good pair Of broil-
ers for shilling, and then went to shed
where there were hundreds Of cages of
pigeons Of all colors. The cages were of
bamboo. each about as big around as
-four barrel and a foot or so high. Each
cage was filled with pigeons, which were
selling for cents and upwards apiece. The
woman who was peddling them out was
selling whistles with them, to be tied to the
tails Of the pigeons, so that they might
make a whistling noise as they flew
through the air. This is one of the customs
Of Java 1 saw the same thing done In
north China, the whistles being fastened to
the tails of the birds to scare off the hawks.
1 bought four little whistles for 10 cents.
and the Javanese maiden who sold them to
me took out one Of the birds ana fastened
bright red whistle to the roots Of it's tail
feathers to show me how they were used.
The whistle Is tied round ono or more
feathers so that it stands upright in the
tail, catching the wind as the bird flies,
and making shril, whistling noise.
Women Bankers.
In the Djokja markets the women act as
cashiers and bankers. In every bazaar 1
saw them squatting behind little tables.
with pennies and half-pennies and all sorts
Of silver and copper coins piled up before
them. The chief business Of these women
is making change. They charge I cent or
more for each gulden, so that the lowest
rate is 1 per cent. They are backed by the
Chinese who furnish the capital and pay
them so much a day for their work. The
Chinese as / shall show later, do a large
part of the retail business of Java. They
have nearly all of the stores which require
money to operate, and they are also the
pawnbrokers.
Women as POrters and LabOrers.
The Javanese women occupy a similar
hat Of ho Of Ian
You see them laboring in the fields, culti-
| waiting the rice, picking tea and coffee, and
working at every trade along with the men.
| In the markets they act as porters, going
about with baskets slung to their shoulders
and backs. They have a queer cry, sort
of a vel we! We! as they walk along with
their burdens: this is a warning to the peo-
ple to get out Of the road. They will carry
your marketing mile for couple of cents
and be glad of the job.
The women are the chief purchasers In
the markets and venture to say the wo-
| man keeps the purse Of the family.
Women Butchers.
1t seems odd to see women butchers but
there are scores of them In the Djokja
bazaars They squat cross-iegged on mats
behind tables foot high loaded with NUT
ton and beef in all sorts Of chunks and
slices. Each woman has long, sharp
point knife, with which she cuts accord
ing to order. The scales are seldom used.
and the meat is sold at so much slice,
little regard being paid to the part Of the
animal from where the meat comes.
There Is great deal Of fish In the mar
kets, and especially dried fish, which Is
used to cook In rice and other vegetable
stews. There are pieces of bullock skin
| sold crackings for the same purpose,
and in the rice markets there are hundreds
| of yellow-faced girls with plug earrings
who squat before piles of white rice and
measure 1t out in cocoanut shells at SO
| much shell.
A One-Cent Business.
The purchases are everywhere exceed
ingly small. A nickel will buy q meal
/ for a family. and a cent Is the cost of
many single articles. / stood one day and
watched a woman buy some dried fish of
| Chinese. The fish was cut up In pieces no
| larger than a postage stamp and about
| half an inch thick. The woman had picked
i out five of these pieces. examining them
carefully to see that they were good.
| She finally put her hand on them and
| offered the merchant q cent. The Chi
nese took up the fish and wrapped It
up in banana leaf. leaving out one
| Of the pieces. The woman refused TO
take 1t. and she fought for ten min
| utes In her efforts to get that extra
L ~