Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-26

by this guard, rode at the head in a SPLEEN
dld carriage drawn by four housekeeping.
fawn-colored, Javanese ponies. His coach
man was in livery, and his footmen stood
beside him carrying the great golden UNI
brellas which formed part of his state.
Behlnd came the assistant resident fine
looking Hollander, in coat OF gold braid.
but with more modest umbrellas. He had
also four horses. Further back were other
four-horse equipases, and then came the
more modest two-horse carriages each with
its swell coachmen and footmen, containing
the planters and visitors, and among them
myself
1 wish you could have seen the natives
dropping down to the earth and looking
up at us almost with reverence as we
dashed down the long avenue of wide
spreading trees which leads from the home
of the resident to the Kraton, or palace
city or his majesty. We went through a
great gate by crowd of native soldiers
and officials, who straightway squatted un-
til our procession was by. We drove across
great court inside the walls and finally
stopped before another gorgeous gateway
the entrance to the palace grounds proper.
Here there were officials wearing high
white and black sugarloaf caps not unlike
those worn by the Persians or Corean gen.
tlemen at home. Each cap was about
eight inches high without visor 1t was
the exact shape of sugarloaf with the top
chopped off, and was made of some trans
parent material which looked TO me like
paraffine wax. From the ears to the waist
the officials were perfectly bare, for ac-
cording to court etiquette no man must
wear a jacket or anything around the
upper part of his body while in the palace
of the sultan. Each official had a gor-
geous waistcloth belted about him falling
from his waist to his thighs and under this
pair of tight pantaloons. Each man
had great knife or kris with gorgeous
handle of silver or gold in his belt, and
the richly carved metal showed out against
the highly colored calico waistcloth. We
saw thousands of these men as We went
on inside the palace. They squatted i'm
salutation as we passed and later on squat
ted about in front of the great pavilion
where we We're entertained by the sultan.
The Sultan at Home.
This pavilion had vast roof. upheld by
many wooden pillars, beautifully carved
and decorated with red lacquer and gold
The sultan was sitting upon a throne with
in it as we came up, and the crown prince
stepped down from lower seat and came
out to the Dutch resident and shook hands
with him. AS the sultan saw the resident
he arose and stepped forward, the Dutch
resident moved toward him, and the two
of them shook hands and sat down side by
side. We merely bowed to his majesty.
and were then conducted to seats in the
rear of him, which gave us an excellent
view of the court.
The scene was curious one. In front of
the walls, was q sea of these half-naked
mobiles, each squatting on his launches
with his white cap on his head. To the
right, more in front of the sultan, was an
equally large collection of women. all bare
headed, bare-necked and bare-shouldered
and all squatting down on their heels. Each
mad gay Sarong wrapped tightly about
her bosom. just under the arms so that as
l looked L could see only the bare Shout
ders, neckS and heads Of the women the ef-
feet being that of sea of naked, yellow
beauties submerged to the armpits.
A Look at the Sultan.
The sultan sat within ten feet of me- He
is a tall, fine-looking old man, now slightly
stopped. He wore black sugarloaf cap
embroidered in gold, a black jacket which
blaZed with diamonds and medals, and a
gorgeous sarong, below which shone out
slippers of gold. He has fine features and
looks like thoroughbred He is said to be
well educated and to be man of ability
just behind him stood a number of female
slaves, each holding certain thing in case
he might need it. One had a betel box.
another cigar box and others articles of
the toilet. Near him sat the crown prince
who also had five slaves about him.
The crown prince wore a blue silk Jacket
and gorgeous sarong. He had on a black
cap, and his long hair hung down his back
He had great kris in his belt. and as he
came up to the pavilion his bare backed
servants carried an umbrella over him. /
81 ciosef view OF MIN gong out. he is
OF light yellow color, having very bright
black eyes. His teeth are jet black and
filed TO point, as are those of most of the
women and men in the palace.
AS we took our seats the suitan's band
played 1t was stationed at the back of
the court, and its musical instruments were
sounding boards, drums and bells peculiar
to Java.
Son of the Sultan.
Next the chief actor of the day appeared
This was the son of the sultan, who was
to be made full-iedged Mohammedan
through certain unmentionable ceremonies
which were performed by the Mohammedan
priests in little pavilions of white. silk in
front of the pavilion where we sat. The
boy was just fifteen years old. He came
into the court bowling low and sat down
cross-legged in front of the pavilion facing
his majesty. He was gorgeouSly dressed.
all in green and gold. He wore a jacket of
green silk, scoop shovel hat of green
satin and sarong of green and silver. He
spanked with diamonds. His arms were
bare and also his legs from the knees 10 the
feet, but his skin was busted with a yellow
powder which glistened like gold as the
rays OF the rising sun fell upon IL. After he
sat there a moment the sultan raised his
hand and the boy started to go to his ia
Their. He first took off his kris or sword
and laid it down upon the ground for no
one dare approach his majesty with arms
upon his person. Next he folded his hands ,
in an attitude of prayer and bowed low
before the sultan He then crawled for
ward few steps and again bowed as in
worship. He kept on crawling and bowling
until he at last reached his fathers
feet. Here he hnelt again in reverence and
then kissed the instep of the foot his ia
ther held out and then the knee After
this he crawled back to his old position.
never rising to his feet. This custom must
be observed by all natives who approach