CHAPTER VI.
Character of the inhabitants of Java—Difference between the Súndas and the Javans—The Lower Orders—The Chiefs—Nature of the Native Government—Different Officers of the State—Judicial Establishments and Institutions—Laws, and how administered—Police Institutions and Regulations—Military Establishments—Revenue.
Having, in the foregoing pages, attempted to introduce the inhabitants of Java to the reader, by an account of their person, their manners, and employment in the principal departments of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, I shall now endeavour to make him, in some degree, acquainted with their intellectual and moral character, their institutions, government, and such other particulars as may contribute to enable him to form some estimate of their relative rank in the scale of civilized society.
From what has been stated of their progress in the manufacturing and agricultural arts, their general advancement in knowledge may be easily estimated. There are no establishments for teaching the sciences, and there is little spirit of scientific research among them. The common people have little leisure or inclination for improving their minds or acquiring information, but they are far from being deficient in natural sagacity or docility. Their organs are acute and delicate, their observation is ready, and their judgment of character is generally correct. Like most Eastern nations, they are enthusiastic admirers of poetry, and possess a delicate ear for music. Though deficient in energy, and excited to action with difficulty, the effect probably of an enervating climate and a still more enervating government, they are capable of great occasional exertion, and sometimes display a remarkable perseverance in surmounting obstacles or enduring labours. Though ignorant and unimproved, they are far from wanting intelligence in the general objects of their pursuit, and frequently astonish Europeans by the ingenuity of their expedients, and the facility with which they accomplish difficult operations by apparently inadequate means.
People in a rude state of society are not always prepared to admit their inferiority, or inclined to adopt manifest improvements: what is much beyond their skill or their power, may excite their wonder, but does not always tempt their imitation. This is more peculiarly the case, where national pride or religious prejudice stand in the way; and the contempt of unbelievers, with which the Mahomedan system inspires its votaries, leads them usually to undervalue the arts in which others excel, or the instruction which they communicate. The Javans, though far from deficient in national pride, and though Mahomedans, are free from this senseless and pernicious prejudice, and are ready to acknowledge the superiority of the Europeans, as well as disposed to imitate their arts and to obey their direction. No people can be more tractable; and although their external appearance indicates listlessness and sometimes stupidity, none possess a quicker apprehension of what is clearly stated, or attain a more rapid proficiency in what they have a desire to learn. The restraints under which conversation labours by the necessity of using different dialects in addressing different orders of society, as well as the respect paid to superiority of rank, prevents them from such a frequent intercourse of thought and opinion as might otherwise be expected, and often renders them, to appearance, reserved and taciturn, although in fact, they are social, cheerful, and good humoured.
An uninstructed people are often credulous, and the Javans are remarkable for their unsuspecting and almost infantine credulity. Susceptible of every impression that artifice may attempt to make upon them, and liable to every delusion propagated by the prejudiced or the designing, they not inaptly compare themselves to a piece of pure white cloth, on which any dye or shade of colour may be laid. They lend an easy credence to omens, to prognostics, to prophets, and to quacks. They easily become the dupes of any religious fanatic, and credit, without scruple or examination, his claim to supernatural powers. Their profession of Mahomedanism has not relieved them from the superstitious prejudices and observances of an anterior worship: they are thus open to the accumulated delusion of two religious systems.
They are great observers of lucky or unlucky days, or natural phenomena, and undertake no journey or enterprize without attending to them. It is unlucky to go any where on the day that you hear of the death of a friend: the sight of two crows fighting in the air is unlucky: two small birds (called prenjak) fighting near a house, afford a prognostic of the arrival of a friend from a distance. Explosions or noises heard from the mountains not only excite terror for their immediate consequences, but are thought to forebode some great calamity, unconnected with the convulsions of nature, of which they are the symptoms, such as a sanguinary war, a general famine, or an epidemic sickness. The eclipses of the sun and moon powerfully excite this superstitious spirit, and induce many absurd notions and observations. Earthquakes furnish certain prognostics, according to the day of the month on which they happen. In none of their superstitions, however, is there any thing of that gloomy, dark, or malignant cast, which distinguishes those of less favoured climates or of more savage tribes.
Although, on many occasions, listless and unenterprising, their religious enthusiasm is no sooner excited, than they become at once adventurous and persevering, esteeming no labour arduous, no result impossible, and no privation painful. We witnessed an instance, both of their simplicity and of their energy, connected with this part of their character, which excited our astonishment. The population of some of the districts of Bányumás contributed their voluntary labour, in 1814, to the construction of a broad high road, from the base to the summit of one of the loftiest mountains on the island (the mountain Súmbing), and this extraordinary public work was almost completed, before intelligence of its commencement reached the government. It was in consequence examined, and found to be a work of immense labour and care, but without the least appearance of object or utility. Upon enquiring into the motive of such a singular undertaking, it was learnt that a general belief prevailed, that there was a very holy man at the top of the mountain, who would not come down till there should be a good road made for him. The Madúrese are said to believe, that the spirits of the dead revisit the earth; but this does not appear to be a Javan superstition.
Their prejudices are neither very numerous nor unyielding, and seem generally to have originated in some laudable feeling or amiable weakness. Their nationality, which is very strong, although it delights in the traditionary narratives of ancient Javan exploits, and supports a hope of future independence, which they are not backward to express, does not lead them to despise the character, or to undervalue the acts of strangers. They have a contempt for trade, and those of higher rank esteem it disgraceful to be engaged in it; but the common people are ever ready to engage in the labours of agriculture, and the chiefs to honour and encourage agricultural industry. Those of the highest rank and greatest authority, generally attend at the opening of new sáwah fields, performing part of the work with their own hands, and leading their inferiors or dependents, as they express it, to pay respect to the earth, in whose honour they also observe annually the sedéka búmi, or feast to the earth. It is in the same spirit that the buffalo, as the chief assistant of the husbandman, is viewed with such peculiar regard, that in some of the interior districts, new-born infants are sometimes carried to be breathed upon by them, from a superstitious belief that such a ceremony will render them fortunate.
Notwithstanding the despotic nature of their government, and the feudal principles on which it rests, the Javan must be considered as a patriarchial people, still retaining many of the virtues, and all the simplicity, which distinguish that state of society. Their village settlements constitute detached societies, under their local chief and priest, and the same internal concord prevails in these little associations which characterises patriarchial tribes. Vicinity and daily intercourse afford opportunities of conferring real assistance and acts of kindness: injustice and even violence may sometimes be committed against the inhabitants of other villages, but very seldom by the inhabitants of the same village against each other. The patriarchial spirit of the Javans may be further traced, in the veneration which they pay to age, the respect and acquiescence with which they receive the maxims or the counsels of experience, the ready contented submission which they shew to the commands of their immediate superiors, the warmth of their domestic attachments, and the affectionate reverence with which they regard and protect the tombs and the ashes of their fathers. To the same description of feelings may be referred that consideration for ancestry, that attention to the line of descent, and that regard to the history and merits of distant kindred, which in the meanest people appears often to assume the character of family pride.