Evening star., 1923-12-18
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
JAVA AND THE EAST INDIES.
Frank G. Carpenter. Doubleday,

JAVA AND THE EAST INDIES.
Frank G. Carpenter. Doubleday,
Page & Co.
The eif-imposed task Of Frank G.
Carpenter Is that Of rediscovering the
; world. region by region, for the sake OF
purveying 1t to the great majority VINO
must take their journeys and make
their acquaintance with the far corners
of the earth by way Of print and pic
. ture. And the task has with this trav-
eler ripened to a profession at whose
peak he now stands, to a fine art of
which he is now the master. Mr.. Car
penter has learned his business, root
and branch. Long ago he left behind
those moments of excited self-infiation
and grandiloquent gesture so natural to
every new traveller, SO hard for even
the way-wise ones to lay aside. His
travel fairgrounds are invariably filled,
not with himself, but instead with the
facts and significances that he desires
! to deliver. =.
| AS invariably, he himself stands In
| the background, a light that shines
/ through characteristic scene and native
custom, through revealing incident and
superimposed activity, giving to all Of
| these clear outline and definite content,
color and Implication. The superficial
effect of this relative position is that Of
! pleasing modesty on the part of the
! writer. Its real aim, however, is
properly proportioned and unobstruCted
view of the matter in hand. Mr.. Car
penter has, besides, developed his own
peculiar method Of TRANSMISSION. Quite
! in touch with that basic mental law
which permits the mind to receive ade-
quate images only through the medium
| of personal experience, he makes free
/ and abundant use of comparisons and
illustrations founded upon familiar
| facts. 1t is along these beaten mental
paths that he moves remote and alien
| places into the near neighborhood OF
leady comprehension. And to keep this
channel Of Communication as wide open
| and free as possible he Is more than
| likely to seize first upon those home
needs and interests to which the dis
| tant point of his exploration at any
/ given time contributes in some general
and substantial manner. Great traveller.
this man. Most communicable, too,
and, therefore, great teacher as well.
| * *
! The last time we followed the trail
! Of this traveller 1t led down the west
coast of South America, around the
| Horn and up the east side of the conti-
nent. Here, bent upon the same pur-
suit. we slip across the world to that
region where a submerged continent
! lifts above the surface of the sea only
| Its noun lain submits in great islands
! Java, Sumatra, Borueo-and thou
sand lesser ones reaching away to
Austria Ia and New Zealand A region
| this, through which the equator runs
and over which tangies of tropical
greenery spread A region of ancient
peoples and forgotten history where
! Buddhist and Mohammedan, Chris
/ tian and heathen and savage have, in
turn, left the footprints of their pass
| ing.
! 1t Is in large part, however, with
the present of the East Indies that
Mr.. Carpenter concerns himself for
the benefit of western readers. Yet
to give true setting to this modern
outlook of life uron the islands. he
describes the country itself and the
| natives in their racial bent and sur
| viving customs. And he gathers up.
| besides, in the ruins of ancient shrine
and temple the fragments OF a lost
and forgotten time-these a part Of
] the setting, too.
| y n
!
| before the world conspicuous as a
model of colonial government and de-
velopment. This the author sets out
! In its beginnings. it's growth, it's ele-
| ments of success, it's effects upon the
| social and Industrial life of the peo-
! pie. Within the limits set for its
I treatment, it is difficult to conceive a
! clearer or more adequate view Of this
political experiment than the one pre-
| sented here. 1t serves, as a matter of
| fact, as key to a large share Of the
East Indian situation. AS such Mr..
| Carpenter considers II and from 1t as
| a center he moves out along many a
line OF radiating information. BY way
/ dustrial life of the region. BY way
| of it we are permitted to come into
touch with the tea and coffee culture,
with the production Of sugar and the
/ we get most interesting view of CO.
| lonial life in the Dutch East Indies
and with the means by which a proud
native population adjusts itself with
| out hostility to foreign domination
! a domination so cloaked as to look
| like Difference II not actual submission.
! One becomes impressed anew with the
| keen knowledge of human nature
that directs Holland in its colonial
policy In the east.
| + u y
Mr.. Carpenter invites the woman
folks Of the west to come along with
him for look at the women OF Java.
Sharp traders, these women of Java,
doing most of the buying and selling
"The only women like them are those
of Burma. who look and act much the
| same" Something for the advanced
woman" of the western world to pause
at In her most prideful moments. In
the markets the women act as CASH
iers and bankers. Woman butchers.
too, out in the east, and tailors and
I, druggists and what not.
| ~ X II
In ready change from the modern
aspects of this region to which all Of
the west Is now turning, as a matter
of course for rubber and tin and oil,
Mr.. Carpenter projects living pic
lures of ancient sites and waymarks
temple and shrine. The greatest of
these is the marvellous Boro Budur.
Shrine Of the Many Buddhas." At to
stand abreast with the historic seven
wonders of the world. And again. in
the company of this traveller and
guide, we are hidden to the palace
ceremonial initiating one of the ma
tive princes into a rite Of the Mo-
! hammedan religion "a pageant Of
| such splendor as to make Haroun al
Raschid turn uneasy at this chal-
lenge to the hitherto unrivaled glory
Of old Bagdad and Cairo.
| y X X