Volume 1 — CHAPTER VII. (continued 2)

The exposure of criminals in combat with tigers was formerly practised, and it is said to have been common on the first establishment of the Matárem empire; but of late years, such a method of deriving amusement from the infliction of judicial punishment had almost become obsolete, and is now, as well as mutilation and torture, altogether abolished by treaty. Several instances are said to have occurred during the reign of the sultan of Yúgya-kérta who was deposed by the British Government in 1812. In an exhibition of this kind, which took place about ten years ago, two criminals were exposed for having set fire to a dwelling. They were provided each with a krís, which was long, but broken off or blunted at the point, and the tiger was let in upon them separately in a large cage constructed for the purpose. The first was soon destroyed, but the second, after a combat of nearly two hours, succeeded in killing the tiger, by repeated cuts about the head and under the ears and eyes. On this a smaller tiger, or rather leopard, was let in upon him, and the criminal being equally successful in this combat was released. His success, as in the judicial ordeals of the dark ages, was taken for a manifestation by heaven of his innocence, and not only secured his pardon, but procured for him the rank of a Mántri, as a recompense for the danger to which he was exposed in its vindication. Although this barbarous practice appears so recently to have been resorted to, it is not to be inferred that, as a spectacle, it is held in any estimation by the Javans in general. It seems to have been of comparatively late introduction, and adopted only in the policy of a known and avowed tyrant. The concourse of spectators to witness the combat can no more stamp the general character of the people with barbarity, than the crowds which are always present at public executions in Europe. The bare relation of the fact excites feelings of horror in the mind of the ordinary chief.

Bull-fighting is common on Madúra and in the eastern parts of the island; but it is perfectly different from any species of sport derived from the courage or ferocity of that animal in Europe. Here, neither dogs are employed as in England, nor men and horses as in Spain, but the bulls themselves are directed against each other. The population form an extensive ring round the álun álun, within which the animals are first led up to a cow, until they are sufficiently excited, when the cow being withdrawn they are set at liberty and contend with each other, until one of them gives way, and is driven from within the ring by the victor. The small well formed bulls of Súmenáp afford considerable amusement in this way, while considerable bets are laid on the result of the combat.

The combat between the ram and wild hog, which generally terminates by several dogs being let in to complete the destruction of the latter, is an exhibition which furnishes frequent amusement; a small stand is raised for the ram, to which he can retreat when in danger, and from whence he can take advantage of a favourable moment of attack upon his antagonist.

Quail-fighting (áduh gemár) and cock-fighting (áduh jágu) were formerly very prevalent, the latter particularly, among the common people, but by no means to the same extent as practised in the other islands of the Archipelago, in many parts of which, particularly among the Maláyus, it forms almost the whole source of diversion and interest. On the establishment of the British power, cock-fighting and gaming, which had formerly proved a productive source of revenue to the European government, were prohibited, and are now in consequence rarely resorted to. The Javans were not in the habit of fixing spurs to their cocks: this practice, they say, belongs to the Maláyus[118]. The common people still amuse themselves with betting upon the issue of a fight between two crickets (ádhu jangkrik), which are daily exposed in the markets for that purpose. The little animals being confined in small bámbus partially opened, are said to afford an amusement of considerable interest.

Among the games of skill may be reckoned those of chess, drafts, and several minor games played with pieces or balls, on boards of a somewhat similar construction.

In chess (chátur) the pieces are named, the rátu, or king; the pateh, or minister, corresponding with the queen; two práhu, or vessels, corresponding with castles; two mántri, corresponding with bishops; two járan, or horses, corresponding with knights; the bídak, or pawns; and are arranged as in the English game, except that the kings are placed on the left hand of the queens, and opposite to the adversary's queen. The moves are also the same; except that the king, if he has not been checked, may move two squares the first time, either as a knight or otherwise; and that the pawn may move two squares the first move, even though it should pass the check of an adversary's pawn. When a pawn reach the adversary's first line, it must retrograde three moves diagonally before it can become a queen, except it has reached the castle's square, in which case it is a queen at once. There maybe any number of queens on the board at once.

The king cannot castle after having been checked. Castling is performed by two moves; the castle must first be brought up to the king, after which the king may pass over the castle at any future move, provided he shall not have been checked, or that no piece has occupied the square he would move into. A piece or pawn must remain on the board till the last; if the king is left alone it is considered as stale mate, and he wins.

This game was formerly more general than at present.

Besides chess, there are a variety of games played upon checkers; and next to it in estimation may be considered the games of chúki and dákon. In chúki, the board has one hundred and twenty angular points, formed by cross lines on a checkered board, and the same is played with sixty white and sixty black pieces. The object here is to clear the board of the adversary's pieces, and the victor is he who does so first. The parties toss up who shall take off the first piece or break the board. The moves are in all directions, and the person who commences goes on as long as he can take one, three, or five of his adversary's pieces. When he cannot do either, he stops, and the other goes on in the same way. Dákon is played with fourteen or eighteen balls on an oblong board with holes, and is much practised by women.

Dandáman, or drafts, is not very unlike the Indian game, but has more pieces.

Machánan, is a game in which two chief pieces represent tigers, one conducted by each party, and twenty-three pieces representing cows: the tiger who destroys the most wins the game. Máling'an is played on squares with eighteen pieces, and the object is to surround your adversary's pieces.

Of games of chance there are many. That denominated telága tári is accounted the most ancient: it consists in guessing the number of beans enclosed within the hand. Three or four people commonly join in it. One of the party having dried beans in his lap, take a certain number in his hand, requiring each of the others to fix by guess upon a number; if there are three persons, upon a number from one to four, and the two numbers left fall to the share of the person who holds the beans. If the number in his hand exceeds four, every four beans are thrown aside, and the residue, until they are reduced to that number or below it, only counted.

Dadu, or dice, as well as cards, are borrowed from the Chinese, and not included among the national games. The most common species of gaming, and that which is practised by the numerous and dissolute class of báturs, or porters, in the central districts, is a kind of pitch and toss, denominated képlek. Four farthings, whitened or marked on one side, are tossed into the air; if the whole or three of them fall on the side that is marked, or on the reverse, the party who tossed them wins; if only two he loses the stake.

Bets are frequently laid on the hardness or otherwise of a particular nut, known among the Maláyus by the term búa kras and called áduh gemíri. Bets also frequently depend on the flying of kites (layáng'an).

I shall conclude this chapter by referring to some peculiarities, which, although partially explained elsewhere, and falling perhaps more correctly under other heads, may not be improperly noticed in an account of the national usages and customs.

The practice of filing and dying the teeth black, and that of lengthening the lobe of the ear to an enormous size, both of which have been already noticed, appear to have extended over the whole of the eastern peninsula of India, as far as China, and throughout the islands of the Archipelago, as far at least as Papua or New Guinea.

The practice of covering the face, body, and limbs with yellow powder on state occasions, and the use of yellow silk or satin for the envelope of letters between princes, evinces the same esteem for this colour which prevails in the other islands, as well as in Ava, Siam, and China.

The kríses worn by the Javans are only varieties of that which is found in the islands, and on what is termed the Malayan peninsula. The Javans have a tradition that it was first introduced by one of their early Hindu sovereigns, Sakú-tram (others call him Sa Pútram), who is said to have come into the world with the krís by his side. This krís is supposed to have been of the kind called pasopáti, which is consequently considered as the most honourable at the present day. In the chapter on History will be found an account of the krís deposited in the tomb of the Susúnan Gíri, and of the virtues attributed to it by the superstitions of the country. There is a tradition, that the inhabitants of all those countries in which the krís is now worn, once acknowledged the authority of the Javans, and derived that custom from them. Another tradition attributes the introduction of this weapon among the islanders to the celebrated Pánji. The practice of poisoning the blade of the krís seems to have been attributed to the Javans and their neighbours without any foundation. In order to bring out the damasking, it is usual to immerse the blade in lime juice and a solution of arsenic, which, by eating away and corroding the iron, may probably render the wound more angry and inflamed, and consequently more difficult to cure, but it has never been considered that death is the consequence. After this application of the acid and arsenic, the blade is carefully smeared with some fragrant oil, to prevent it from rusting, and this is all that is ever done to it.

It has been usual to condemn these people as blood-thirsty, prone to immediate revenge, because they invariably use the deadly krís; but however frequent the appeals to this weapon may be in some of the more wild and uncivilized of the Malayan states, experience has proved to us, that on Java it may be universally worn without danger. I have elsewhere remarked, that the custom of wearing the krís among these islanders has, in its effects upon the manners of the people, proved in many respects an effectual substitute for duelling among Europeans. In these countries, where there is very little justice to be obtained from regularly established courts, and where an individual considers himself justified in taking the law into his own hands accordingly, the Maláyu is always prepared to avenge with his krís the slightest insult on the spot; but the knowledge that such an immediate appeal is always at hand, prevents the necessity of its often being resorted to, an habitual politeness ensues, and it has often been said, that if the Maláyus are savages, they are by far the most polite savages that we know of. If this effect is produced on the wilder and less civilized Maláyu, and has equal force with the more adventurous and warm-hearted Búgis, it may be easily conceived the Javans have not escaped it. The krís, among them, has for a long period been more exclusively a personal ornament, than a rapier was in Europe fifty years ago, being among the higher classes even seldomer resorted to, as a weapon of defence or offence, than the latter.

The condition of absolute slavery, as understood by Europeans, seems to have been unknown to the ancient constitution of society in these islands, and throughout all the fragments of their history, of their laws, usages, and customs, no trace is to be found of its ever having existed among the Javans[119].

Throughout the more ancient laws and institutions of the country, a property of the subject in the land is clearly recognized, and it is probable that it continued to subsist till the subversion of the Hindu government. From various definitions and enactments respecting property, some of which may be seen in the Súria Alem[120], it is obvious, that money transactions took place formerly, to a greater extent than they do at present. The change is probably attributable to the European policy of the last two centuries. Four per cent. per month when a valuable pledge is deposited, and double that amount otherwise, is the common rate of interest in small transactions between the natives and Chinese of the present day.

In the transaction of money concerns, the women are universally considered superior to the men, and from the common labourer to the chief of a province, it is usual for the husband to entrust his pecuniary affairs entirely to his wife. The women alone attend the markets, and conduct all the business of buying and selling. It is proverbial to say the Javan men are fools in money concerns.

When speaking of their fondness for show and state, I noticed that the Javans were at the same time distinguished by neatness and cleanliness, qualities not often combined with the former. That they are in most respects remarkable for their neatness cannot be denied: to their personal cleanliness there are exceptions. This is however chiefly true of the higher classes, and especially those who mix with Europeans; but the common Javan, though more cleanly than the Chinese and even the European, would suffer by a comparison in that particular with the natives of Western India.

The common people generally bathe once a day, others once only in two or three days. None of any rank anoint the body with grease, as is the case with the natives of Western India; but they abundantly oil their hair, which among the common people, on account of its length, is too often filthy in the extreme. They are accustomed to arrange the hair with a coarse comb, but the use of the small-toothed comb is unknown, its office being invariably performed by the hands of women. Near Batavia, and some of the low capitals on the coast, it is not unusual to see on the road side women thus employed for the benefit of passengers, at a certain rate per head, who submit to it as naturally as an English labourer goes into a barber's shop to be shaved for a penny. The Maláyus accuse the Javans of eating what they find on these occasions: "ítu órang Jáwa," say they, "mákan kútut." This, however, appears to be a calumny: the Javans confess to biting, but deny the swallowing. The practice of the women cleaning the men's hair is referred to by the Javans as of very ancient date. It was from this practice that the mother of Wátu Gúnung, in the very earliest period of Javan traditionary story, discovered her lost son[121].

Passing from this disgusting particular, and referring the reader to the details of the native history for the leading features of the political character of the Javan, and to the other divisions of this work, which may afford him information how to estimate their former and present state of civilization, I cannot but regret, that I am compelled to reserve, until a future occasion, a more detailed account of the constitution, usages, and customs of the village societies. It is by these that the private virtues and vices of the people are perhaps best illustrated, and an account of the municipal regulations by which the little property and happiness of each individual is protected, of the internal precautions of police, and of the mode of adjusting disputes, could not fail to be interesting, on account of their simplicity, their equity, and efficacy. Independently of the degree of rational independence and importance which the existence of these societies insures to the common people, and of the protection which, under all circumstances of greater political revolutions, they have afforded to them, it is hoped that their influence in maintaining the police and tranquillity of the country, will ever prevent the European authority from interfering in their constitution or internal arrangements.

It has long been the opinion of the Dutch authorities, that a system of European police, and the employment of European officers of police are necessary; but under the British government the contrary has been satisfactorily proved. Let the higher departments of justice be scrupulously superintended and watched by Europeans of character; let the administration of justice be pure, prompt, and steady; let what is bad in the native practice of police be gradually removed, but let the system, in its application to the common people, be supported. It is one which has grown with them, one which they are accustomed to and understand. Under the native system, the rice block of the village is used as the alarm; and according to the manner in which it is beaten, the inhabitants know whether it is to announce a single thief or a banditti, a tiger or a fire, and arm themselves suitably. As it is usual for a thief to have but little covering on his body, and to oil himself all over, that he may slip from the hands of any one who may seize him, the Javans make use of a long wooden pole, with branches of brambles inverted within a fork at the end, and by means of this simple contrivance they avoid the risk of being wounded, and effectually secure the offender, who cannot escape without tearing his skin. These, and other simple expedients, adopted from immemorial custom and according to the circumstances of the country, are certainly preferable to the watchmen's rattles and constables' staves which Europeans would wish to introduce.

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