Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

•invading-J108 AUSTRALASIA.and to some extent even the grammar. Intermediate between the two is theMadyo, current amongst intimate friends.The dialect of the island of Madura differs sufficiently from Javanese to beregarded as a distinct idiom. It is spoken not only in Madura, but also in theeastern parts of Java, where it is even encroaching on the Javanese, just as thelatter is upon the Sundanese.the Indian Devanagari.All three are written with characters derived fromPhysically the Javanese are noted for their graceful forms and delicatefeatures. They are rather below the average height, but always of sHm andsupple figure, and even better proportioned than other Malays. The complexionvaries from a pale yellow to a deep olive, according to occupation, diet, andlocality. The nose, without being flat, is but slightly prominent, the mouth firm,the eyes broad and well opened, the face round, with a kindly courteous expression,often sad, plaintive, or resigned.Princes wear a moustache in the Hindu style.Altogether the Javanese are an extremely mild race, although by some accusedof being fanatical, faithless, spitefid, and revengeful. Inhabiting a land wellsuited for tillage, they early became agriculturists, and long raised sufficient tosupply the local demand. However rapidly the population increased, the producewas always superabundant in a region where a few hours' labour sufficed to procurethree daily meals of rice with fish and a little buffalo meat, and where the climateenabled the natives to dispense with clothes, fuel, and even houses. Hence theJavanese naturally acquired the peaceful habits of the peasant, and a communallife became highly developed in the rice-growing districts where collective labourwas required.On the other hand, a certain timidity of character was fostered by thetremendous energy of the natural forces by which they were surrounded—terrificthunderstorms, yearly fatal to hundreds and destructive to houses and villagesvolcanoes belching forth torrents of scoriae, molten lavas, and dense volumes ofsmoke and ashes turning day into night; igneous outbursts, by which wholepopulations with their dwellings and crops were at times swept away in a fewhours ; inundations spreading havoc far and wide, and all these horrors increasedby the wild beasts prowling about the habitations of man.But from man himself came still worse perils and plagues. The early historyof the country following the stone age is wrapped in obscurity, but we know thatfor the last twenty centuries, the inhabitants of the island have always had foreignrulers or oppressors. The highland tribes may here and there have maintainedtheir independence, protected by their rocky fastnesses, dense forests, ruggedheights, or even the crater mouths themselves. But the agricultural lowlanders,scattered over a region with scarcely any natural bulwarks, were at all timesexposed to foreign invasion, and had everywhere to bend the neck to the yoke ofservitude. The very form of the island, a long parallelogram disposed intransverse avenues by volcanic ranges, prevented the development of a compactnation with a certain political cohesion and capable of presenting a firm front tohosts.