Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/186

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168
LIFE IN JAVA.

otto of roses, and small vials of "Kohol's jetty dye."

Food of all kinds was provided in abundance for sale, and placed for show on economical stands formed of a plank resting on two stout poles. Wodonos and Mantries, with their small suite of followers, paraded up and down, gaily dressed, their burnished krisses glittering amid the folds of their batek sarong. Old men and women, who had come to pay their last respects to the shrine, moved feebly along. They watched with eyes of delight the frolics of their grandchildren, for there seemed no end of juveniles, from the screaming babe in arms to the romping child. All appeared bent on pleasure, and the Dasar, which, on our last visit, presented a barren aspect, solemn in its very solitude, was now as gay as a fair.

My servant, Drahman, who was a strict Mahomedan, shewed the light in which he regarded these devotees, by refusing an invitation to partake