FOOTNOTES:
[97] The same is assumed by the European Governor, or his representative.
[98] The titles at present assumed by the Susúnan are Susuhúnan Páku Buána Sena-páti heng Alága Abdul Ráhmen Sáyedin Pánatagáma.
[99] Form of a Piágam, or Patent of Javan Nobility.
Let it be observed, this is the writing of me, the Sultan, &c. &c. &c.
Be it known to the Nayáka (high officers of the palace), Bopátis (the class of Tumung'gungs or Regents), and Mantris (the petty noblesse) of Yúgya-kérta and Mánchanagára, that I have invested ... with this letter, to raise him from the earth, and permit him to bear the title of ..., and wear the dress appointed for the ..., bestowing upon him for his subsistence lands to the amount of eleven hundred cháchas, the labour of eleven hundred men (families).
These are the names of the land bestowed. * * *
Translation of a Nawála for the Mánchanagára, or distant Districts.
Let all persons observe this, the royal letter of us, the exalted Sultan, &c., which we give in charge to....
Be it known to you, our servants, chiefs of Yúgya-kerta Adiníngrat, whether Bopátis or Mántris, and to you our Bopátis and Mántris, chiefs of Mánchanagára, that our royal letter is given in charge to ..., in order to exalt him. Moreover we prefer our servant to the rank of a Bopáti, to be chief of the Bopátis of Mánchanagára, bearing as heretofore the name of ... We also entitle him to wear such dress as is appointed for the Widána of Mánchanagára, and we give for his estate (seat), our own royal lands ..., amounting to two thousand chachas: ... thousand productive (living), of which last ... thousand are assigned for a maintenance and ... thousand are charged with rents, to the amount of ... dollars annually, payable twice a year, viz. at the festival Mulud ... and at the festival of Puasa ..., each dollar to consist of thirty wangs, and the whole to be subject to an office fee of one wang in each dollar. Moreover we direct, that each year an account be rendered to us of the increase or decrease of the sáwah (rice lands). The date of giving the royal order is the....
[100] "Thereupon Klána Jáyang Sári (another name for Pánji Kérta Páti), called his sister, and the Princesses of Báli and Balem-báng'an, and directed them to proceed to the Prince of Dahá, and to present to him a handsome present, composed of the most beautiful and rich ornaments and articles of dress for adorning a princess, placing the same in a kendága (or box), in order that if the prince was pleased to allow it to be delivered to his daughter Déwi Chándra Kirána, it might be a proof that he confirmed the contract with Klána Jáyang Sári, and that his daughter, Déwi Chándra Kirána, would be accepted by Klána Jáyang Sári, in which case he was ready to attack the enemies of the prince."—See the Adventures of the celebrated Pánji.
[101] Fortune was so much considered in the making of these matches among the Romans, that the augurs were always called along with the witnesses to a marriage contract, to pronounce upon the happy results of the settlement which the latter attested:
"Veniet cum signatoribus Auspex."—Juvenal.
[102] The Jews marry in nearly the same way, the husband delivering a sum of money as a pledge. The Greeks were in the habit of presenting gifts on similar occasions.
[103] A description of this instrument, on account of the importance attached to it among the Javans, the constancy with which it is worn, and the care with which it is preserved through different generations, will be found in another place.
[104] "Non consulum sed maritorum numero annos suos computant." Seneca, de Benef.—But this is short of Juvenal's account: "Fiunt octo mariti, quinque per autumnos."
[105] The Romans likewise were in the habit of washing the dead body several times before interment with water, which in their case was warm.
"Pars calidos latices et ahena undantia flammis
Expediunt: corpusque lavant frigentis et ungunt."
Virgil: Æneidos, lib. vi. lin. 218.
By referring to the Old and New Testament, the same practice will be found to have prevailed among the Jews: indeed, it seems to have been very general.
[106] During the two latter quarters of the moon she is considered as appearing in the form of a Rasáksa, and is then more properly called Dúrga.
[107] A custom somewhat similar to this is said to be practiced in South America.
"They lighted a great number of torches, and the midwife taking up the child carried it through the yard of the house, and placed it upon a heap of leaves of sword-grass, close by a basin of water, which was prepared in the middle of the yard, and then undressing it said, 'my child! the gods Ometeuctti and Omicihautl, Lords of Heaven, have sent thee to this dismal and calamitous world: receive this water, which is to give thee life:' and after wetting its mouth, head, and breast, with forms similar to the first bathing, she bathed its whole body, and rubbing every one of its limbs said, 'where art thou, ill fortune? in what limb art thou hid? go far from this child!'"—History of Mexico by Clavigero, translated by Cullen, vol. i.
[108] It is curious to observe how exactly this corresponds with the patriarchal history of Scripture, and the early accounts of the manners of ancient nations. The daughter was always considered the property of the parent, the wife as the purchase of the husband, and the marriage contract as the deed of transfer.
[109] One of the names of Pángi.
[110] The prevalence of this practice must strike every one.
[111] See Astronomy
[112] See Historical Chapters.
[113] These prayers will be found at length in the Transactions of the Batavian Society, vol. ix. The word hong! used by the Javans at the commencement of their invocations to the deity, is doubtless the mystical om! of the Hindus.
[114] The following are the only traditions respecting these people which are current in the eastern provinces. "The people of the Teng'ger mountains say, that they received that name from a person from Matáram, of an inquisitive and travelling turn (wong malána), who having ascended the highest of them, and being struck with astonishment at the view of all around, gave them the above-mentioned name of Teng'ger, from the Javan word angeng'ger, which signifies wonder or astonishment.
"Before Gúnung Bràma had received that name, or had become a volcano, there lived a man called Kiai Géde Dádap Pútih, who had no children. He petitioned of his deity to grant that he might have children, to the number of twenty-five, promising, in that event, that he would cast away one of them into the sea. In the course of a short time children began to be born unto him. As soon as he had the number he had prayed for, the people of Teng'ger were inflicted with a pestilence, so dreadful in its effects, that those who were attacked by it in the morning never failed to die before the evening. Dádap Pùtih was so distressed and afflicted at the lamentable situation of the Teng'ger people, that he loathed his food and neglected his rest, till it was communicated to him in a vision, that the pestilence had been sent in consequence of his having omitted to perform his vow, of casting into the sea one of the twenty-five children whom the deity had granted him. Dádap Pútih then assembled all his children, and inquired which of them was willing to be sacrificed, in order to appease the angry deity. All of them signified their unwillingness to become the victim except the youngest child, who voluntarily came forward and agreed to suffer, in which ever way its father thought proper. Dádap Pútih, however, reflecting that the sea was at a very great distance, carried this child only to that extensive sand plain at the foot of Gúnung Bráma, which bears the name of Sagára wédi or Lout Pásir, and there abandoned it. No sooner had he done so, than Gúnung Bráma began to send forth hollow sounds, and immediately burst forth into a volcano. Sagára wédi is so called from the resemblance of its sandy surface, to a sea when surveyed from Bráma's heights: its original name is Dassar.
"Bima being asked by Kresna if he was able, in the course of one night, to make an inland sea below the Teng'ger mountains, and having answered in the affirmative, Kresna challenged him to do it, telling him at the same time, that it must be done before the cocks were heard to crow, or the people of the villages began to weave or beat out rice. By three o'clock in the morning his work was so far advanced, as to convince Kresna that it would be completed in the prescribed time. To prevent this, therefore, Kresna immediately went, and rousing all the cocks and people of the villages, caused the former to crow and the latter to begin to weave and beat out rice. By this manœuvre, Bima was obliged to leave off the work, which otherwise would have been completed within the fixed time; and so incensed was he against the people, who had so untimely began to weave and beat our their rice (whereby he failed to perform the task which was given to him to prove his power) that he cursed them, and swore that they should never again perform either the one act or the other, and to this day the Teng'ger people neither weave cotton nor beat out rice."
[115] See History.
[116] It has already been noticed that the island is plentifully supplied with a fine breed of small horses. Almost every petty chief and public officer is mounted, and those who possess the means pride themselves upon a respectable establishment. They have an aversion to some colours, and there are particular marks, the possession of which renders a horse valuable to the natives; if a few hairs on the neck curl, or have the appearance of a star, the horse is highly prized. Previously to the cession of Kedú to the European government in 1812, the native princes maintained a very respectable stud in that province. Horses are never shod on Java, nor are they secured in the stable, as is usual in Europe and Western India. A separate enclosure is appropriated for each horse, within which the animal is allowed to move and turn at pleasure, being otherwise unconfined. These enclosures are erected at a short distance from each other, and with separate roofs. They are generally raised above the ground, and have a boarded floor.
The Javans use an extremely severe bit, and in consequence have the horse always under command. The saddle, bridle, &c. are extremely heavy, and disproportioned to the size of the animal.
[117] "The fruit of a species of contorta, called kálak kámbing, has a deadly effect on tigers. It is prepared by the admixture of other vegetables, and exposed on a piece of rag at the places frequented by them. In some districts their number has been sensibly diminished by this poison."—Horsfield.
[118] The cocks reared for this purpose are of the large game breed. The cock which we improperly call the Bantam, is not found on Java, except as a curiosity: it comes from Japan.
[119] A peculiar feature in the state of society in the Eastern Islands is the law between debtor and creditor. Throughout the Archipelago, where the European government has not interfered, confinement for debt is unknown. The creditor universally has a right to the effects of the debtor, to the amount of the debt, on proving it before the proper authority, and if the effects are not sufficient to satisfy the demand, he has a right to the personal services of his debtor, and of his debtor's wife and children if necessary. Hence arises that extensive class of people commonly called slave debtors, or more correctly bondsmen. In Java they are termed bédol. In the provinces of Java subject to the European authority, this practice has for some time been checked; and during the administration of Marshal Daendels, in 1810, when it was usual for the common Javans to lend themselves in pawn for a certain sum of money, it was declared illegal. As an ancient institution of the country, it will perhaps be better explained hereafter, in detailing the existing practice on Báli, which may be considered to assimilate, in a great measure, with what the practice once was on Java.
[120] See Appendix D.
[121] See Javan History.