Dutch Life in Town and Country Part 12

As to the life and customs of the natives, it is not necessary to describe all the different races, but the Malay villages deserve notice.

In Java and Sumatra these are not arranged in streets, but the houses are grouped under large trees, and are separated from the road by a bamboo fence, on the top of which notice boards are fixed at intervals bearing the names of the villages; these are necessary, because it is often difficult to see where one village ends and the next begins. In the open s.p.a.ces may be seen a few sacred 'waringin' trees, in which are hung wooden bells, used to sound an alarm or call the villagers together.

Before the house of a native Regent is an open square, with a 'Pandoppo,'

or roof on pillars in the centre, and here meetings are held, proclamations read, and distinguished visitors received. The houses are built of bamboo and roofed with palm-leaves; and sometimes they have floors of split bamboo, but often the hard clay soil serves as a floor.

There are usually two or more sleeping-places, called 'bale-bales,' also made of bamboo, split and plaited, and over these another floor, which forms a sort of loft or store-room. There is no fireplace, all the cooking being done outside. Such a house can be bought for about five s.h.i.+llings! It takes a few men two or three weeks to build one, but to take it down and remove it to a new site is a matter of only a few hours.

Near the houses are the stables, where the buffaloes and carts are kept, and here and there is a well, over which hangs a balancing-pole with a bucket at one end and a stone at the other.

The children play about naked until they are ten years old, when they dress like their elders, and consider themselves men and women. The costume of the Malay women consists of the 'sarong,' a cloth about 3 yards long and 1 wide, which is wound round the body and held by a belt and then rolled up just above the feet; over this a wide coat called a 'kabaya' is worn, and over all a 'slendang,' which is very like a 'sarong,' but is worn hanging over one shoulder, and in this is slung anything too large to be easily carried in the hands--even the baby. The men wear either 'sarongs' or trousers, or both, and a cotton jacket, and are always armed either with kreeses or chopping-knives, carried in their belts; the weapons are for cutting down cocoanuts and bamboo, and for protection against snakes and tigers. Both s.e.xes wear their hair long, the men with head-cloths and the women with flowers and herbs, and all go bare-footed. The men are very good hors.e.m.e.n, and ride, like the Zulus and other coloured men, with only their big toes in the stirrups.

In Bally and Lombok the inhabitants are of the same race as the people of Java and Sumatra, but differ in religion and habits, having never been wholly subjected by the Mohammedans. The difference is chiefly noticeable in the construction of their houses, which are of stone in many cases, and built in streets. Each house has three compartments and a fireplace, or altar, which stands in the middle, opposite the door, the floors are sometimes paved, and the roofs are often covered with tiles instead of leaves, and supported by carved pillars.

These Brahmins have numerous temples, which are quite different from anything in the neighbouring islands, being built of brick and divided into sections by low walls, but without roofs; walls and gates are painted red, white, and blue, and inside stand a number of altars, on which offerings are laid. Brahminism survives in some of the other islands, at some distance from the coast, and occasionally a religious festival ends in a riot between Brahmins and Mohammedans.

The staple food of the Malay races is rice, which is cooked very dry, with fried or dried fish or shrimps and vegetables, and flavoured with chilis, onions, and salt. Dried beef and venison are also used, and wild pig and chickens and ducks are plentiful; other articles of food being maize, sweet potatoes, and many kinds of fruit, such as cocoa-nuts, bananas, mangoes, mangusteens, and so on. In the Moluccos the staple crop is not rice, but sago, which is prepared from the sap of the sago-palm. To an inhabitant of Java or Sumatra the cocoa-nut tree is indispensable; when a child is born, a nut is planted, and later on, if the child asks how old he is, his mother shows him the young palm, and tells him that he is 'as old as that cocoa-nut tree.' The nuts are boiled for the oil, and the white flesh is eaten, cooked in various ways, generally with other food.

All kinds of provisions and other goods, from butcher's meat to needles and thread, are sold at the 'pa.s.sars,' or markets, which are attended by large crowds.

Mention has been made of the moral example set by some Europeans to the natives. Generally the relations between the white and coloured races are those of superiors and inferiors, but in the matter of matrimony there is a difference. Many white men in Netherlands India never dream of marrying; they take to themselves 'Njais,' or house-keepers. The same thing is done in other colonies, at least in provinces far removed from European society, when native customs allow it. The ancient customs of the Malays and Javanese did not prescribe any religious ceremony for marriages; they had their 'adat,' or customs, which were as strictly adhered to as if they had been religious, but there was nothing consecrating the marriage tie.

Moreover, their notions of hospitality, which are similar to those of most primitive races, no doubt encouraged the above-mentioned free marriages, or at least they explain how it was that the Malay women had no objection to becoming the 'Njais' of Europeans. Where such a woman was the daughter of a prince or chief, the European who took her was invariably some high official, whose position brought him into contact with n.o.ble Javanese families. These young women are remarkably graceful, even fascinating, and besides have received a good Javanese education, and it is not surprising that such 'marriages' were sometimes happy and permanent.

The sons were sent to Europe to be educated, being entrusted to the care of a guardian, uncle, or friend, and on their return to India soon found employment in the service of the Government; the girls stayed at home, and generally married well.

Such instances, however, are rare; more often the man regarded his 'Njai'

merely as a temporary helpmate, and if he saw a chance would marry some rich European girl, when the Indian wife would be set aside--'sent into the bush,' as the phrase was. That such behaviour should have roused the wrath and hatred of the discarded wives and their relatives was but natural. Often the European bride, sometimes the faithless husband too, fell by the hand of a murderer who could never be found, or was poisoned by a maidservant or cook who was bought over to a.s.sist in the work of vengeance. The cast-out children sometimes played a part in these tragedies; if not, they certainly retained a hatred of Europeans generally, and rumours of mutiny were the consequence.

How this state of things can be remedied is a question which has long occupied the attention of the Government. Gradually, however, the mixed population is becoming more educated, and can find employment in Government and mercantile offices, as all excel in beautiful handwriting.

A better feeling generally exists, and a keener sense of social duty is coming over the Europeans, so that a good many have really married the mothers of their children, a thing which fifty years ago was never heard of. There now exists a mixed race of Eurasians, children of the children of European fathers and Indian mothers, which at one time threatened to become a source of danger and insurrection, but all fear of trouble in that quarter is past. Of the 'inland children' many are now receiving a good education. In the Government schools they can learn enough to hold their own in point of knowledge against a large proportion of the Europeans in the colony, and they find employment in offices and shops, on the railway and post-office staffs, and on public works almost as quickly as pure whites.

The End