We are bound to add, that the ladies of Java have very bad noses, and very black teeth. The latter distinction, how ever, is regarded as beautiful; and teeth naturally as bright as pearls are disfigured thus by a gradual process. The women of the seraglio, with the exception of one silent and sad-looking girl of some twelve or thirteen years, seemed cheerful and contented. The privilege of unlimited finery reconciles them to their lot. With the exception of the fishing on the north coast, the industrial energies of the Javanese are mainly given to agri culture. The climate and the natural fertility of the soil offer peculiar facilities. There is a somewhat extensive tobacco culture, which has been prompted mainly by European enterprise. "The tobacco plant is cultivated in rows, two or three feet apart, on flat ground. When it has attained the height of from four to five feet, it is cut down and defoliated. The leaves are then tied up in bundles of fifteen, twenty, or thirty, and suspended from bamboo poles running across the interior of the shed, where they are left to dry for twenty days or more, according to the state of the atmosphere. When the leaves assume a yellow tinge, they are taken down, piled one over the other in bamboo frames, and left for a fortnight or three weeks to ferment. They are then examined, and, if found quite brown, are tightly pressed and packed up either in boxes or matting for exportation, or in the bark of the tree plantain for immediate sale." The natives are great consumers of tobacco; but their favorite mode of using it is not the pipe. The national taste is for chewing. They disfigure their under lip by a nasty habit of holding a large piece of tobacco on it for hours together, after having chewed it. This is even worse than the habit of the Malays, who keep the precious morsel under the upper lip, "giving the ignorant stranger the impression that some hard body, which only a surgical operation could extract, is embedded in it." The common cotton-tree, the native name for which is cuppoo, is found in great abundance. It grows to the height of fifty or sixty feet, with but few leaves on its branches, from which the pods, in length four inches, and one inch and a half in thickness, hang. The pods, when ripe, split from top to bottom, showing the cotton," which runs in parallel lines like rows of pearls." The natives have a superstitious regard for this tree. It is thought to be the abode of the Poontiana, or the spirit which destroys children, and which is supposed to possess a marvellous power of self-transmutation. Most frequently it appears in the guise of a female, but sometimes as a black dog, or as a human corpse, or as a cat. Many wonderful tales are told of the Poontiana, and almost every cotton-tree has a tuft of hair nailed to its bark, as a charm against the machinations of the evil spirit. Sugar, indigo, maize, and coffee are cultivated to a considerable extent. For the preparation of coffee and sugar the natives make use of the most recent mechanical contrivances. At Boedoeran, Mr. D'Almeida saw a sugar factory worked by steam, in which all the most useful inventions were to be found. He also saw the process of preparing coffee. "The fresh berries," he says, "when gathered, are thrown into a dentated cylinder, which is turned round by means of steam, and, as it revolves, grates the pulpy covering off the husk or shell in which the berry is contained. These fall into running rills or conduits, which convey them to reservoirs outside the factory, where, by means of rakes and brooms, they are washed clean. The reservoirs are then partially opened to allow the exuvia to escape into some neighboring ditch. The coffee is afterwards taken out and carted to some two and three storied sheds, where it is strewn upon the floors, and left until all moisture is gone. In a day or two it is taken out and spread upon receivers of wood or brick in the open air; and when the husk is found to be thoroughly dry and brittle, it is carried away into another building to be shelled." But the principal produce of Java is rice. In an average year the country will yield ten millions of quarters; and if there be an abundant supply of water, two rice crops may be secured in one year. The growth of rice requires a very copious and efficient irrigation; hence "sawahs, or rice reservoirs, are always to be these situations being preferred on account of seen in the valleys, or at the foot of hills; the greater facility they afford for keeping the fields under water. They are always so arranged as to follow one another consecutively, ones. with embankments of mud around each. Sit- | value is then put upon the license of each uated on a slope, they look from a distance- particular farm, and the bidding combefore the paddy has attained to any heightlike steps of shining mirrors; but a level view presents more the appearance of a marsh or swamp. The highest reservoir is fed from a spring by means of bamboo pipes, and at one corner of each embankment, there is a small opening to conduct the water from thence to the next reservoir, and so on to the lowest When the reservoirs are filled with water, the husbandman ploughs his several fields, and then selecting an ari slamat, or lucky day, he throws the paddy broad-cast over one or two fields, which we may call nurseries. After the lapse of a month, when the paddy has grown to the height of half a foot, he cuts it out in sods, and separating the roots, he plants them in sawahs, whose waters he has by this time lowered considerably, leaving only such quantities as will prevent the ground from becoming hard and dry. For the two ensuing months, he has no other occupation, until he is summoned to gather the rich yellow harvest by which his labor is rewarded." The cultivation of opium is strictly prohibited throughout the island; but as the demand for it is great, and the revenue from its sale considerable, large quantities are imported from India and Turkey. It is due to the Dutch government to say that though the traffic in opium pours vast sums into their exchequer, they discountenance its use by almost all possible means. Venders of it are bound "not to sell above a given measure when it has to be taken beyond the precincts of their shops," and licenses for its sale are granted to localities which are chosen yearly-a fresh selection of places being made each year. The idea of this arrangement is that as the places selected one year may be twenty or thirty miles from those chosen the next, the poorer natives, who cannot afford to travel that distance frequently, for the purchase of the fascinating but deleterious drug, are compelled to do without it. Still further to check the trade, the licenses for the sale of it are rated at such prices, that none but the wealthiest merchants can afford to buy them. The day of the opium auction is one of the most exciting in the year. The auction takes place in the house of the regent, and the proceedings are opened by the secretary, who reads out the names of the towns and villages in the residency at which opium may be sold that year. A certain mences. At an auction at which Mr. D'Almeida was present, the sum of one hundred and eighty thousand rupees was bid for the privilege of selling opium for one year in the town of Ngwaie. The purchaser was a Chinese merchant-the Javanese are rarely rich enough to engage in large speculations. The Chinese generally assist their calculations, at these sales, by the use of a sort of ready reckoner, which "consists of an oblong frame of wood, divided lengthwise into two unequal compartments, with parallel wires fixed across, leaving equal spaces between each. On these wires are arranged balls, which can be shifted up and down, two being in each small division, and five in the larger one." On the day of sale referred to, the government made no less than a million of rupees. The native manufacturers are not on a level with the progress of the people in agriculture. Their mechanical skill is very inferior. All their agricultural implements are rude. Their weaving of cotton and silk fabrics is indifferent. They make a coarse, unglazed, and unartistic pottery. But they are excellent boat-builders, and are clever in particular departments of metal working. The celebrated kriss, or native dagger, which everybody wears, ladies and little boys as well as men, is often of very exquisite design and workmanship, and commands a high price in the market. The paper made in Java from a sort of papyrus is very poor. Their architecture, too, is mean in the extreme. Nothing has been attempted in the way of buildings since the conversion of the Javanese to the Mohammedan faith. In many places are found the ruins of once beautiful structures, and yet beautiful even in their decay; but they all betray their relation to Hinduism, a religion far more poetical, and therefore more inspiring, than that of Mohammed. The temples of Java are unimposing and rude, partly because the people are not naturally inclined to their creed, and partly because there is nothing in it to call forth artistic taste. The Javanese are very musical. Their music is always extemporary, but singularly sweet. The principal instrument used in their orchestras is the gamalan, which consists of several gongs of vari ous sizes, fixed on a wooden frame with four legs. Sometimes these gongs are of enormous size, and might be used comfortably for a bath. When heard close at hand, their tone is noisy and deafening, but at a distance it is sweet and lulling. They are struck "according to the fancy of the player, each producing a different tone." Another instrument is something like a rude violoncello, "about four feet long, with an oval back -the finger-board, tail-piece, and pegs being of ivory." Two wires compose the strings, which on being tightly drawn produce sounds far from pleasing. The drum is essential to a native orchestra; it is oblong in shape, and played with the hands instead of drum-sticks, the player sitting cross-legged on the ground, with the instrument on his lap. There is also a sort of hybrid fiddle, which the natives call rabup, the sounds of which are so faint, that when Mr. D'Almeida stood near and watched the fiddler attentively, as he bent his head "to the motions of the fiddlestick, apparently rapt in enchantment," he could not catch a single note, harmonious or otherwise. However much the Javanese fail in fiddles, they are the first nation in the world for gongs, the tone of which has been pronounced by one of the most eminent English musicians peculiarly sweet and deep. when falling or rolling." They are also very fond of a more cruel sport, that of "deadly combats between wild animals." The sensational scene on such occasions is the fight between the tiger and the buffalo. Their hunting is of a very cowardly order. "The sportsmen are perched up in little huts, secured to the upper part of the trunk of some large tree, where they wait in readiness to pull the trigger on the appearance of any bird or beast, frightened to the spot by a large number of the regent's men, who surround the forest, and by their loud shouts, yells, and cries, startle the animals from their lairs, compelling them to run, in a state of excitement and distraction, into the very teeth of danger." The Javanese are very polite. Their etiquette is strict and elaborate. Whenever a stranger approaches a native who happens to be riding on horseback, the latter immediately dismounts, and waits until the traveller has passed by, bowing continually. Peasants leading horses, on catching sight of strangers, "suddenly check their animals, lead them off the main road, and, with hat in hand, stand uncovered" until the travellers have passed. Their respect for office is unbounded; it amounts to positive devotion. "A young chief, son of the regent, was following close upon a deer, when a huntsman, in the act of plunging his kriss They are exceedingly fond of dancing into the animal, accidentally inflicted a spectacles. Whenever a company of slight wound in the leg of the young dancers appears, a crowd is sure to man. As the only alternative left, in be attracted. A danseuse, whom Mr. order to expiate what in the eyes of the D'Almeida saw, exhibited some natural natives is regarded as a dreadful crime, grace in her movements. "In one hand the huntsman immediately withdrew and she held a Chinese fan, which in the committed suicide; thus averting, as they dance she coquetted with as well as a believe, the vengeance of Allah from the Spanish donna might have done; whilst heads of his family and relatives." They in some stages of the performance she have a system of social visiting which concealed her face beneath a frightful more than atones for many of their namask, removing it occasionally with the tional eccentricities. Visits are always unemployed hand." The performance paid in an evening; and if the inmates does not seem to have captivated Mr. of any house wish to avoid seeing callers, D'Almeida, though it was evidently ap-"the front verandah or reception-room preciated by the natives, who clapped is not lighted, in which case the visit of their hands, and gave utterance to hearty cheers. In more athletic sports the Javanese are very far behind the natives of India. The game of football, however, is a national sport, which the natives enter into with great enthusiasm. "The ball is made of basket-work, with many apertures, so that it may be easily caught NEW SERIES-VOL. I., No. 1. any but the most intimate friends would be considered an intrusion." This custom, however, applies mainly to the Dutch colonists; and it might be imitated with great advantage in the homes of Europe. As in all eastern lands, the marriage ceremony is protracted and imposing. 3 numerous; she has not only to superintend the bride's toilet, so as to make her attractive to the bridegroom and guests, but to overlook the arrangements of the entire wedding, and, above all, to see that the bride gets plenty of betel nut. The bridegroom has also his waksie, who is a boy dressed generally like himself. The language of the Javanese has three dialects, the vulgar, the polite, and the learned. The structure of each is simple. Their literature is abundant, and is generally metrical in its form. It is made up mainly of traditions and romances, but possesses little of the spirit of poetry. There is little originative power in the Javanese mind. Intellectually the people are below the oriental level, as, indeed, the Mohammedans generally are. There is a curious story connected with the Javanese alphabet, which may have some foundation in fact, but which seems to have been devised "to impress the letters on the minds of juvenile pupils." A priest, walking through a forest, lost his kriss. Feeling too fatigued to return for it, he dispatched a woodman to seek it for him, while he and his servant sat down to refresh themselves. As the woodman did not return, the priest sent his servant in quest of him. He soon found him, and the two quarrelled so violently that both were killed. Mr. D'Almeida took advantage of an opportunity that was offered him of witnessing a wedding in one of the native villages. His presence was welcomed by the family as a lucky omen. In the reception room, sitting cross-legged upon white mats, were the elders of the village, priests, relations, and acquaintances.' Cups of tea, à la Chinoise, betel nuts, and various native delicacies, were served up to the guests. In another room, which contained a low bed, with curtains "of white calico, ornamented with lace, gold, silver, beads, and colored bits of silk," there was a platform raised at the foot of the bed, on which were spread several bronze trays laden with cakes. On the arrival of the bride, the attendants poured water upon her feet, and an elderly man, a relative, "carried her in his arms to the inner room, and placed her on the platform," at the left hand of the bridegroom. Her dress was simple, consisting only of a long sarong, which, passing under both arms, covered her chest, and reached nearly to her ankles, being confined round the waist by a silver pinding. Her face, neck, shoulders, and arms were dyed yellow-a disfigurement which concealed her blushes, but did not enhance her beauty. A coronet of beads and flowers completed her costume. The bridegroom was also yellow-washed, and naked to the waist. Round his waist his sarong was fastened "by a bright silk scarf, through the folds of which glittered the gilt hilt of a kriss." On the top of his head, from which his hair fell in long thick masses upon his back, was a conical-shaped hat, "made of some material resembling patent leather." The picture of the bridesmaid is not fascinating: "On the left side of the We have not space to go into the quesgirl sat an old haggard-looking woman, tion of the relation of Java to the kingthe waksie, or bridesmaid, on whose dom of Holland. The Dutch have only shoulders, according to the wedding eti- acquired their possession by prolonged quette of the Javanese, rests no small struggles and a vast outlay. They have share of responsibility. Before the mar-yet to reap the harvest. Java provides riage is arranged, she acts as a go-between, to settle matters for all parties, though it does not always follow that she becomes the bridesmaid on the occasion; but as the natives have a superstitious belief that ill-luck will surely fall upon the young pair, unless everything is done with becoming propriety, a woman of this profession is very frequently select ed to act as waksie." Her functions are This story serves as a sort of mnemonic aid to the young Javanese learning their letters: Ho no tjo ro ko-He sent them both. geous. Mo go bo tho ngo-Both were killed.” them with little but the glory of conquest, and an outlet for mercantile enterprise. The country is capable of improvement, but it is too densely popula ted to hold out the prospect of large remuneration. The temporary occupation of the island by the British between 1811 and 1816 was of incalculable advantage to it. The policy of Sir Stamford Raffles led to many improvements in labor and trade, though his scheme of taxation is open to objection. The rule of the Dutch has been in the main enlightened and salutary. They have a vast responsibility, and one. to which they are equal. With the immense resources at their disposal, and with their natural industry, the Javanese ought to rise to the level of European civilization; and with the many facilities which it offers, Java ought to become one of the most fertile fields of travel, and of mercantile labor. As the sphere of a yet grander toil, it should command the holiest sympathies of the church. The true secret of its future prosperity and glory lies in the raising, through the length and breadth of the land, of the standard of the Cross. Cornhill Magazine. THE PRIVATE LIFE OF KANT. KANT lived in a modest, and retired house, in a quiet street behind the old palace. Every morning, winter and summer, the old soldier who was his servant came into his bedroom at five, and said, "It is time." The philosopher rose in stantly, dressed with wonderful rapidity, and by five was seated at his breakfasttable, where he drank one or two cups of tea-nothing more-smoked a pipe, and collected his ideas for the work of the day. At seven he went out for his lectures, and on returning set to work till a quarter to one. Precisely at the quarter he dressed for dinner, took a glass of wine to incite his appetite, and was ready for the guests whom he had invited. He never dined alone, and always breakfasted alone. Dinner was the time when he liked to receive his friends. At his breakfast he was so much accustomed to solitude that when once a friend dropped in at that hour and asked to share his meal, Kant was embarrassed, and ended by asking his friend to sit where he could not see him, saying that for more than half a century he had never seep a soul near him while he drank his tea in the morning. But at dinner he could not bear to be left to himself. He always took care to invite some of his His friends beforehand; and one day, when none of them could come, he sent his servant into the street to pick up the first passer-by and bring him in to dinner. He could not bear to be kept waiting. For this reason he detested ceremony at table, and his most agreeable guest was the one who took a dish without offering it to others, so that the turn of the host came the more quickly. It must be remembered that Kant had eaten nothing all the morning, and had been working steadily. Dinner lasted two hours or more, and was a very pleasant meal, the great metaphysician talking in a simple and popular style on all subjects of the day, especially on politics, of which he was a diligent reader. passion for them was such that he sometimes flung himself eagerly on the newspapers in the morning, which one would have thought a profanation. For his study was a sanctuary, sacred to intellectual labors, and nothing mundane was ever heard in it. Not till the guests had quitted the study and entered the diningroom did Kant relax his philosophic gravity. After dinner he took his regular walk up and down a small alley of limes, which is called the Philosopher's Alley. His walk was always solitary, except on rainy and threatening days, when his servant followed him " with an umbrella under his arm, and with a restless and vigilant look, an exact image of Providence." Kant had two reasons for walking alone; he wanted to think, and he did not want to open his mouth. He thought that by breathing through his nose the air would be admitted gradually to his lungs, and that he had less risk of taking cold. On coming home he read the papers. In the evening he made notes for lectures the next day, or for his writings, read, and meditated on what he read, writing down any ideas that struck him. At ten he went to bed; a quarter of an hour before retiring he suspended all occupations, and cleared his mind of all thoughts that might prevent him sleeping. His bedroom was never heated; its windows were always kept shut, summer and winter, and the light was as carefully excluded as the air. |