Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/635

JAVA 607 population the inhabitants of Java consist of the Javanese proper, the Sundanese, and the Madurese. All three belong to the Malay stock. Between Javanese and Sundanese the distinction is mainly due to the influence of the Hindus on the former and the absence of this on the latter. Be tween Javanese and Madurese the distinction not so deeply wrought is rather to be ascribed to difference of natural environment. The Sundanese have best retained the Malay type, both in physique and fashion of life. They occupy the five residencies of Bantam, Batavia, Krawang, Cheribon, and the Preauger Ptegencies. The limits of the Madurese area are not so easily given. Be sides the island of Madura, the residencies to the east of Surabaya and Kediri are largely occupied by them. The residencies of Tagal, Pekalongan, Banyumas, Bagelen, Kadu, Samarang, Japara, Surakarta, Jokjokarta, Rem- bang, Madiun, Kediri, and Surabaya have an almost purely Javanese population. Professor Veth estimates the number of the Sundanese at about 4,000,000, the Madurese at 1,600,000, and the Javanese at 11,500,000. The Javanese are the most civilized of the three peoples. The colour of the skin iu all three cases presents various shades of yellowish-brown with a touch of olive-green ; and it is observed that, owing perhaps to the Hindu strain, the Javanese are generally darker than the Sundanese. The eyes are always brown or black, the hair of the head black, long, lank, and coarse. Neither breast nor limbs are provided with hair, and there is hardly even the suggestion of a beard. In stature the Malay is usually less than the European. The Sundanese is less than the Javanese proper, being seldom 5 feet in height ; at the same time he is more stoutly built. The Madurese is as tall as the Javanese, and as stout as the Sundanese. The eye is usually set straight in the head in the Javanese and Madurese ; afhong the Sundanese it is often oblique. The nose is generally flat and small, with wide nostrils ; but among the Javanese it not unfrequently becomes aquiline. The lips are thick but well formed ; the teeth are naturally white, but often filed and stained. The cheek bones are well developed, more particularly with the Madurese. In expressiveness of countenance the Javanese and Madurese are far in advance of the Sundauese. The women are not so well made as the men, and among the lower classes especially soon grow absolutely ugly. In the eyes of the Javanese a golden yellow complexion is the perfection of female beauty : " She shone bright even in the dark" is the highest compliment of poetic adulation (compare Raffles, Java, vol. i. p. 92). To judge by their early history, the Javanese must have been a warlike and vigorous people, with somewhat of ferocity to boot. At present they are peaceable, docile, sober, simple, and industrious. The practice of running amuck is of very rare occurrence among them. Religion. The Javanese are nominally Mahometans, as in former times they were Buddhists and Brahmans ; but in reality, not only such exceptional groups as the Kalaugs of Surakarta and Jokjokarta and the Baduwis or nomad tribes of Bantam, but the great mass of the people must be considered as believers rather in the primitive animism of their ancestors, and in the essence of their creed but little removed from their ruder brethren the Dayaks of Borneo and the Battaks of Sumatra. Into the original web indeed they have from time to time introduced frag ments from every religious system with which they have come into contact ; and no attempt has been made to rationalize into even superficial harmony the rudest of the resulting incongruities. The number of the spirits (Hyang or Yang, and with honorific prefix Sanghyang) worshipped by the Javanese is limitless. Every village has its patron spirit, whose presence was the indispensable condition of its foundation ; to his influence all the fortune, good or bad, of the village is ascribed. Under a great shadowy tree stands an altar on which the worshipper lays his offering of incense and flowers, uttering meanwhile in broken Arabic the alien formula " There is no God but God, and Mahomet is his prophet." To every field likewise belongs its special patron spirit, to whom due reverence must be shown. Nor is protection the only office of the Hyang. Mentik causes a particular disease in the rice ; Sawan produces convulsions in children ; gout and rheumatism are ascribed to the influence of Dengen ; Ki or Kyai Belorong gives men wealth in exchange for their souls. Ratu Loro Kidul is princess of the southern sea, and has her seat among the caves and fiords of the | southern coast. Within the region of her sway the Javanese i will not speak loud lest he disturb the repose of her I subject spirits. Near Rongkob in Jokjokarta, one of the j places where edible nests are collected, the princess has a temple which none may enter save the priest alone ; and similar temples exist in similar localities. The whole life of the Javanese, indeed, is enveloped in a mesh of mystery ; not the stars only and the heavens rain influence, but from every object a spiritual emanation, invisible for the most part, but potent and exhaustless, flows forth to him for blessing or for curse. Even Mahometanism with its One God has done little more than increase the number of supersensual beings to whom he prays. To Joseph he presents offerings that he may obtain beautiful children, to Solomon for honour and rank, to Moses for bravery, to Jesus for learning. The ritual of his religion and his whole round of life is part of his religion is intricate almost beyond conception, and at the same . time rigid and precise. Everything must be done by rule and rubric ; the unwritten law handed down from father to son allows of no curtailment or modifica tion. Each individual class of offering must be prepared in its own peculiar way ; the rice, for example, which is one of the chief sacrificial substances, must now be white, now red, now hard, now soft. As we ascend in the social scale we find the name of Mahometan more and more applicable ; and consequently in spite of the paganism of the populace the influence of the Mahometan "priests" (this is their official title in Dutch) is widespread and real. Great prestige attaches to the name of Mecca pilgrim. In every considerable town there is a mosque. Compare INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, vol. xii. p. 819. For the Christianizing of the Javanese very little has been done. In East Java the chief mission stations are Modjo Warno (with a population of 2327 souls in 1879, inclusive of seven out-stations), Kediri (698), and Malang (700), maintained by the Netherlands Missionary Society, and Japara maintained by the Dutch Baptist Society. In West Java the Netherlands Mission Union has seven stations Tjandjur, Buitenzorg, Indramayu, Sukabumi, Sumedang, Madjalengka, and Cheribon. At Depok, 18 miles from Batavia, the Batavian Missionary Society established in 1878 a seminary for native preachers. The native church of Depok was originated by Cornells Chastelein, who left his estate to his slaves, whom he libe rated on condition of their embracing Christianity. Mr Bruckner of Samarang, appointed to Java in 1812 by the Netherlands So ciety, translated the New Testament into Javanese, but the work was confiscated by the Government. Gericke, an agent of the Netherlands Bible Society, was more fortunate ; his versions of both the Old and the New Testament, as well as his grammar and dictionary (edited by Roorda, Amst., 1843, 1847), have seen more than one edition. 1 Language and Literature. Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese are the three native languages of Java and Madura. To take the least important first, Sundanese is only spoken in its purity in the Preanger Regencies and the neighbouring parts of Bantam, Buitenzorg, Krawang, and Cheribon, and it is gradually losing ground. To Javanese it stands in the relation that Scotch stood to English about a century ago. 2 The main body of Madurese is distinctly different from both old and new Javanese ; but it has incor- 1 See Brumund, Evanyelisatle van Java, Amsterdam, 1854 ; H. C. Voorhoeve, De Evanyelische Zendiny op Oost. Java, Hague, 1864 ; and J. C. Neurdenburg, C. Poenson, &c., in Alcdedeelingan van wege het Nedcrl. Zendclinyyenootscliap, Rotterdam, 1880. 2 See Coolsma, Handleidiny tot de beoefeniny der. Soendaneescha taal ; Grashuis, Soendaneesche folk,, and Soend. lesboek ; Rigg, Dic tionary of Sundanese, Batavia, 1862; Blusse and Kartawinata, Hol- landsch-Sondaaschivoordenboek, Samarang, 1877; Costing, Soendascli- Nederlandsch icoordenboek, 1879.