Island-India

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Foreword and glossary

THE crescent-shaped group of islands constituting the Netherlands East Indies is in poetical style called ‘Insulind,’ which name the present writer has ventured to translate as ‘Island-India.’

The population, which amounts to about forty millions, consists of Malays of various tribes, those of the eastern part of the Archipelago being mixed with Papoo elements. Several degrees of civilization are represented, from the ancient Hindoo culture, overlaid with Mahometanism, of Java and parts of Sumatra, down to the semi-savagery of the eastern islets and the coast of New Guinea. The small island of Bali, separated from Java only by a narrow strait, is remarkable as the last refuge of Hindoo culture. In the rest of the Archipelago, so far as it is civilized, Mahometanism prevails. The confession of El Islam, however - and this holds equally true of the Hindoo religion of the Bali folk - is no more than a thin veneer over the original animism of the Malay tribes, as it may still be observed in its unadulterated forms in the whole of the eastern part of the Archipelago and in New Guinea. The principal means of subsistence is agriculture, which in Java, Sumatra, and parts of Borneo and Celebes takes the form of the growing of rice, whilst on the eastern islets maize is grown, together with several kinds of plants having edible roots; and in the parts least civilized sago is the chief food - the marrow of the sago-palm tree, which grows there wild.

From a colonial point of view Java (which also is by far the most densely populated of the islands, having about thirty millions of inhabitants) is the most important part of the Archipelago, being one of the world-centres of sugar production. Sumatra comes next. Comparatively neglected and unknown up to the last quarter of the nineteenth century, it has since come to the front, owing to the new tobacco industry of Deli and to the discovery of great mineral riches - petrol on the east coast, coal, silver, and gold in the interior. Both the mining districts and the plantations have attracted international capital and, as a consequence, an international contingent of colonists. The Moluccas,

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which were the most important part of the colony in the times of the East India Company and the spice trade, have since sunk into insignificance. The coast of New Guinea is practically a recent acquisition.

The proportion of non-natives to natives is about two per cent.

Of these two per cent the large majority are ‘alien Orientals’; i.e., Chinese, Japanese, Arabs, Bengalese, et cetera.

Hollanders and other Europeans of various nationalities represent only one third of one per cent of the population.

The system of Dutch colonial government originated and developed in Java and was determined in its growth by the characteristics of this environment. It is based upon the alliance of the ruling race with the upper classes of the native population - the landed, the moneyed, and the educated.

The close of the last century was marked by a policy which stabilized the authority of government, practically nominal up to that date, in several of the more outlying parts.

The changes initiated by the World War throughout the Orient have likewise affected the Malay Archipelago, more especially Java and the east coast of Sumatra.

The impressions and experiences contained in this book were gathered previous to that date.

Glossary

Adat	ancient custom having the force of a law.
akar-wangi	plant having fragrant roots, used for perfumery.
alang-alang	a species of grass growing to a height of eight to ten feet.
angkloong	musical instrument consisting of a graduated series of bamboo tubes, which, when shaken to and fro, produces a sound like the clucking of water.
badjoo	man's jacket.
bandjir	sudden flood.
batik	a technique of painting on cotton or silk: the pattern being overlaid with a thin layer of molten wax, which the batikker pours from a small goblet-shaped ladle the size of an acorn, the tissue is immersed in the dye which is to form the ground-colour. Then, for each single colour of the design, the wax is removed from the corresponding parts, and, the ground-colour being

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	overlaid with wax, the tissue is immersed in the new dye. Thus, with alternate laying bare and covering up again, every part of the design is impregnated with the colour required. The effect is extremely beautiful. Within the last few years European art schools have been endeavouring to adapt batik designs and technique to the requirements of Western art, in many cases with marked success.
dalang	conductor of the gamelan orchestra, and at the same time a performer on the principal instrument, a graduated series of bronze or copper gongs. Also, the conductor of the wayang (the puppet-theatre), who recites the drama represented by the puppets. Generally these dramas are ancient epics; but sometimes the dalang recites verses of his own making, in the manner of an improvisatore.
djati	teak-tree.
djelootong	rubber gathered from a species of ficus-tree frequent in the marsh-forests of Borneo.
dookoon	midwife: medicine man.
gamelan	orchestra, the principal instrument of which is a graduated series of gongs.
Gandaroowah	a mythical being, half man, half bird, the Steed of Shiwa.
Hadji	title given to those who have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca.
kabayah	woman's jacket.
Kandjeng	Lord.
kraton	palace.
mandoor	overseer.
modin	official of the mosque.
pamor	a white alloy of silver and other metals.
pasanggrahan	small hotel maintained by the Government for the convenience of civil servants on official journeys; it may also be made use of by any traveller.
passar	market, held once in five days.
pantoon	rhyming couplets.
Patih	native official.
pisang	banana.
Priaji	title of lesser nobility.
rebab	the Persian violin.
Radhèn	title of nobility. Radhèn-Ayoo: the corresponding female title.
Regent	Native Chief of a Province. The office exists solely in Java. It

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	is conferred almost exclusively on members of noble families, in which it is practically hereditary. A Regency is a province having a Regent at the head.
Resident	Dutch Chief of Province. The Regent is officially styled ‘the Resident's Younger Brother.’
sarong	skirt-like garment, worn by both men and women.
sawah	irrigated rice-field. The hillsides of the islands of the western part of the Archipelago are fashioned into sawahs, flights of terraced fields, irrigated from top to bottom by running water, which forms small ponds within the dikes surrounding the fields, and descends in little cascades from one to another. The water is turned on after the rice-seedlings have been transferred from the sowing-plot to the sawahs. The young plants grow up in the water. The rice of the dry fields, the tegal, is far inferior to the rice grown upon the sawah, both in quality and in quantity.
slendang	a long scarf worn by women, draped diagonally from shoulder to hip. The everyday slendang is used for carrying burdens. A mother carries her young child in the slendang. Slendangs made of fine silk and ornamented with batik work are the array of the rich.
Tooan	Sir, Lord. The title is, in some places, also given to women. Tooan Besar: Great Lord; properly, the Governor General, but customarily the local chief authority is spoken of as the Tooan Besar; and in many places the director of a sugar-mill or a plantation is addressed thus by natives.
tookang	artisan. Tookang pantoon, reciter of verses, who often accompanies his recital with music, half singing to the instrument in a sort of monotonous recitative.
warong	primitive restaurant by the roadside.
wayang	the Javanese puppet-theatre. The puppets, whether sculptured in wood or cut out in leather - in which latter case a severely conventional style is maintained, with sharp contours and angles resembling those of lengthening shadows - are manoeuvred by the dalang against a screen of white canvas, whilst he recites the drama, generally taken from some ancient epic. There is a kind of wayang, however, the Wayang Wong, in which actors take the place of the puppets. Wayang performances often last for twenty-four hours and even longer. According to tradition the men should sit on that side of the screen where the puppets, the

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	women on that side where the shadows on the transparent screen, are seen. This tradition, however, is often disregarded.
Wedana	official of a rank below that of Patih.

‘To eat earth.’ The eating of earth is the solemn confirmation of a vow.