In preparing these pages every effort has been made to avoid errors, and I invite other corrections, and acknowledge here with great appreciation those suggested by Dutch readers, and at once made in certain chapters that originally appeared in the “Century Magazine.” In the varied English, French, and Dutch spelling of many words, in drawing statistics from works in as many languages, and in accepting as facts things verbally communicated to me by seemingly responsible people, there were chances of error; but one can only beg to be set right. In this connection I hasten to state that under the liberal policy of recent years the Dutch government has withdrawn its prohibition of the pilgrimage to Mecca, and more than six thousand of its Mohammedan subjects have availed themselves of the privilege in one year. It should also be noted that the Ashantee prince has not availed himself of the privilege of living and dying under the British flag in South Africa, and the pathetic tale of that exile, as told by Britons, lacks that completing touch of fact. For these suggestions in particular, others concerning Sumatra, and still others which had been anticipated, I thank Mr. R. A. Van Sandick of Amsterdam, with appreciation of the spirit and the loyalty to his own people which prompted his making them. Myths and legends and fairy tales grow with tropic rankness in those far ends of earth even to-day, and gravitate inevitably to the stranger’s ear.
E. R. S.
Washington, D. C., October 1, 1897.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
| I. | Singapore and the Equator | [1] |
| II. | In “Java Major” | [17] |
| III. | Batavia, Queen of the East | [25] |
| IV. | The Kampongs | [37] |
| V. | To the Hills | [49] |
| VI. | A Dutch Sans Souci | [62] |
| VII. | In a Tropical Garden | [79] |
| VIII. | The “Culture System” | [94] |
| IX. | The “Culture System” (Continued) | [109] |
| X. | Sinagar | [126] |
| XI. | Plantation Life | [136] |
| XII. | Across the Preanger Regencies | [147] |
| XIII. | “To Tissak Malaya!” | [156] |
| XIV. | Prisoners of State at Boro Boedor | [167] |
| XV. | Boro Boedor | [182] |
| XVI. | Boro Boedor and Mendoet | [203] |
| XVII. | Brambanam | [216] |
| XVIII. | Solo: the City of the Susunhan | [240] |
| XIX. | The Land of Kris and Sarong | [253] |
| XX. | Djokjakarta | [265] |
| XXI. | Pakoe Alam: the “Axis of the Universe” | [283] |
| XXII. | “Tjilatjap,” “Chalachap,” “Chelachap” | [301] |
| XXIII. | Garoet and Papandayang | [312] |
| XXIV. | “Salamat!” | [324] |