the non-commissioned officers being European, but Christianized natives and half-castes are classed with the whites. Many white soldiers marry Javanese women, and they are allowed to take their families with them wherever they go. The deck of a steamer bound for the seat of war presented a strong contrast to that of a British troopship in smartness and comfort, and the accommodation afforded to the European soldiers with their dusky helpmates and comrades was slender enough; but the gallant fellows did not seem to be dissatisfied, and the mixed battalions are apparently a success. When our own native army in India undergoes the reform which it so urgently requires, some useful hints may be taken from the Dutch, and they may in their turn learn from us how to dress European soldiers within the tropics.
The Mahometan religion is professed by the Javanese; but the spirit of Islam has failed to take possession of this race, and the stranger in Java is astonished at the absence of outward and visible signs to indicate the popular faith of the country. In the centre of every town or large village is the aloen-aloen, an extensive grassy lawn, shaded with lofty tamarind and waringi trees (Ficus benjamicus), and surrounded by the principal buildings, public and private, of the place. Among these is always conspicuous a pagoda-like edifice, which is the mosque; but few and far between are the worshippers there, while the public performance of devotional exercises, at fixed hours, irrespective of locality, a spectacle so familiar to the traveller in other Mahometan countries, is not practised by the Javanese. The only religious observance witnessed by us among the peasantry was the presentation of coins and flowers as offerings to certain Hindoo idols, relics of the ancient faith still occupying niches in the ruined temples of Brambanan. The Mussulman priest is an important functionary, and is recognized as such by the Dutch authorities, but less in a religious than in a civil capacity, as the learned expounder of Mahometan law. A certain number of pilgrims proceed from Java to Mecca (in 1875 there were thirty-four hundred and twenty-eight), and the white turban of a hadji may be seen here and there in the streets among the lacquered and gaily painted hats of Sunda or the peaked caps worn by the Javanese proper, but the probability is that it encircles the head of a Malay or an Arab. Some of the regents are said to be zealous followers of the prophet, and strong objections are entertained by them against the admittance of unbelievers into mosques; but it must be remembered that the conquerors who introduced Mahometanism into Java were of Malay race, and that many of the present chiefs are descended from those fierce and fanatical vikings of the equator. It is, however, in the treatment of women, especially those of high rank, that Javanese fashions are most at variance with those of continental Asia and with general Mahometan custom.
The degree of emancipation enjoyed by Javanese ladies was strikingly illustrated during an interview most politely granted to us by the sultan of Djokjokarta. Attired according to etiquette in full evening costume, although it was an early hour in the morning, we were conducted by the Dutch officer in command of the sultan's horse-guards into the inmost court of the far-spreading kraton, or palace enclosure, within which three thousand people reside. Except a few sentries, and one or two officials stripped to the waist in Javanese court fashion, not a man was visible in any of the squares through which we passed, and when we reached the audience chamber there sat his Highness, without courtiers or attendants; but, to our extreme amazement, six charming young ladies were seated in a row on his left hand. We scarcely ventured to look at them, unveiled as they were, but our Dutch friend, after introducing us to the sultan, with whom we shook hands, quietly remarked, "Now you must shake hands with the princesses, with all of them; they expect you to do so."
Fresh from Indian durbars, where a mere allusion to the invisible occupants of the zenana would be a breach of decorum, we could hardly trust our eyes and ears; but each young lady held out her hand with a pleasant smile, and we were afterwards seated between the sultan and his blooming family of daughters. Attendants, literally crawling upon the floor, now approached the august presence, bringing tea, which was dispensed to us by the royal damsels, almost as if we had been in an English drawing-room at five o'clock in the afternoon. Unfortunately our conversation was somewhat restricted, as the English idea could only reach the Javanese mind after undergoing four translations, either oral or mental, through the obliging Dutch captain, who interpreted in French and Malay. Meanwhile, the sound of music attracted our attention, and the sultan courteously suggested that we might like to see a little more of his palace. We
