Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/51

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JAVANESE DANCER.
33

which a large solid-looking pin, like a silver skewer, was thrust; whilst a few flowers of the bunga-molor—a sweet-scented white flower—were inserted between the knot and the head. The skirt she wore, called by the natives sarong, was fastened to the waist by a pindeng, or ceinture of silver. A long cabaya, or kind of loose coat, with sleeves to the wrist, formed her upper garment, and reached below the knee, being fastened together in front by two croçangs, or brooches of silver, so as to leave a small portion of the chest exposed. Beneath this, and attached to the sarong by the pindeng, were no fewer than fourteen handkerchiefs of different colours, folded corner-wise and placed one above the other. Her movements had some degree of natural grace. In one hand she held a Chinese fan, which in the dance she coquetted with as well as a Spanish donna might have done; whilst in some stages of the performance she concealed her face beneath a