The state of the mechanic arts among the Javanese is far below that of their
agriculture, but still in advance of that of the other nations of the Archipelago ; and
with the exception of textile fabrics, not below that of the Hindus. In this respect,
the Javanese are probably on a par with our Saxon forefathers a thousand years ago.
About thirty different crafts may be enumerated as practised among them. We
cannot be sure, however, how many of these have been immemorially practised; for
by prefixing words (tukang or juru) equivalent to our own terms, smith, wright, workman,
or artificer, to the object on which the calling is exercised, any craft may be
created at pleasure. The most important, however, and these have specific names,
are the blacksmith or cutler, the carpenter, the kris-sheathmaker, the coppersmith,
the goldsmith, and the potter.
The manufacture of bricks, bata, and of tiles, g&nding, is certainly a native art.
Both bricks and tiles are, at present, largely made ; and excellent bricks are found in
the remains of many ancient temples, proving that the art of manufacturing them
has been known for many ages. Coarse unglazed pottery, similar to that of Hindustan,
is also made ; and the names of the different sorts, all belong to the vernacular
language. The potter is one of the artisans distinguished by a specific name,
kundi; and we conclude, therefore, that the art is an ancient and indigenous one.
Beyond the manufacture of this coarse article, the Javanese have not advanced,—all
their better pottery having been for ages received from China. In this, however,
they are no worse than the Hindus.
The chief exercise of the skill of the Javanese in carpentry, is displayed in house
and boat building; in the fabrication of agricultural implements; and in that of the
hilts, shafts, and scabbards of warlike weapons. The ordinary dwellings of the
peasantry consist of a rough frame of timber, thatched on the coast with the leaves
of the nipa palm, and in the interior with grass; having walls and partitions of split,
flattened, and plaited bamboo work. They are always built on the ground, as are those
of the people of Bali and Lomboc, which distinguishes them from the dwellings of the
Malays, and other maritime tribes, always erected on tall piles, to suit the low
and often marshy situations which they usually occupy. The dwellings of the
upper classes differ, chiefly, in their greater size, with the exception of the palaces of
the princes and higher nobility.
Boat building is an art extensively practised all along the northern coast of Java ;
and there are vessels of this description of all sizes and many forms, from mere
fishing canoes to those of fifty tons, which navigate the principal rivers. In Javanese
there are no fewer than four generic names for a ship or vessel : prau, jong, baita,
and palwa,—all native words. The first of these terms has been almost naturalised
in the European languages. The second is that most generally applied by the
Javanese to their larger vessels, which the Portuguese not improperly translated,
“ ships.” They wrote the word as junca, and this is the term which, in the shape of
junk, we apply to the large vessels of the Chinese, but which the Javanese and others
denominate wangkang. The building of ships is, at present, conducted only under
European direction, the workmen, however, being all Javanese. When Europeans
became first acquainted with the Javanese, and found them engaged in the spice
trade, they were possessed' of vessels of large size, well entitled to the name of ships.
Barbosa gives a curious, and to all appearance, a very accurate account of these vessels
and their import' cargoes. “ There arrive here from Java,” says he, “ many vessels
which have four masts, and are very different from ours. They are built of large
timber, and when they become old they Eire covered with new planking, and sometimes
there will lie three or four coatings of this description, one over the other.
The sails are made of osiers (ratans), and the ropes of the same. These vessels bring
great quantities of rice, flesh of oxen, hogs, and deer,” (the dendong and balur of
the Malays and Javanese, or jerk beef,) “ common fowls, garlic, and onions. Also,
they bring many arms for sale, such as lances, swords, shields with daggers, with hilts
wrought in marquetry, and blades of the finest steel. Finally, they bring cubebas,”
(cubeb pepper,) “ and a yellow colouring matter which they call casuba,” (kasumba,
“ saSlower,”) “ and gold. Among the mariners there are some whose wives and
children never land, for in their vessels they are bom, live, and die.”—Itamusio,
Vol. i., p. 317.
We have an example of the extent to which these vessels could be fitted out by
the Javanese, in an expedition which they prepared against Malacca, before its conquest
by the Portuguese, and in which they persevered even after that event.
De Barros informs us that it was fitted out by the lord of Japara, a man who had
“ enriched himself by piracy; ” and the same who afterwsirds became king of Sunda,
that is, of Jacatra, or the modern Batavia. By the Portuguese, his name is written
Pate Unus, the first part of which is Javanese from the Sanscrit for “ lord,” but the
second, probably Arabic, is not intelligible. The force consisted of “ 12,000 men
conveyed in juncas (junks correctly jungs) and smaller vessels, with much artillery;”
the total number of the vessels of all kinds having been, according to Castaghnoda,
300. The expedition reached Malacca in 1513, two years after its conquest by the
Portuguese, and was defeated and dispersed by a small Portuguese squadron, and
a small garrison. In the neighbourhood of Japara where this fleet was equipped, it
may be remarked, are situated the finest teak forests of Java.
The agricultural implements of the Javanese are like those of nearly all other
Asiatic people, simple and rude. The plough, “ waluku,” consists of a single handle,
a beam, a soc tipped with iron, and a mould board, in which last particular it is more
perfect than the usual Hindu plough. I t has no coulter, or cutting instrument,—no
iron indeed in its construction, except the tip of the soc. It is drawn with a yoke, and
always by one pair of oxen, or of buffalos, and no more. The harrow is only a great
rake, with a single row of wooden teeth. The spade and shovel are unknown; and
the universal substitute for them is the hoe, “ paehul.” These simple implements
are not, however, so inadequate to their purpose as might, at first sight, be supposed;
for the greatest and best part of the land is tilled when the soil, by flooding, is
reduced to the condition of a soft mud.
The Javanese of the present day have no architecture that deserves the name,
and apart from the temples of their ancient worship, most probably never had, for
no relics remain of any kind of domestic architecture, of bridges, of reservoirs, or of
embankments of rivers, such as are found in the country of the Hindus. The remains
of the remarkable architecture connected with the Hindu religion are, as is well
known, abundant; but it is singular that an improved architecture ceased with that
religion, and that no Mahommedan structure of solid materials or beauty has been
constructed since the adoption of the Mahommedan religion in the long period
which has elapsed since the end of the 15th century.
I t is in working the metals, however, that the Javanese have most excelled, and as
they acquired this comparative excellence without possessing any of the metals
themselves, but having all of them imported, the fact may be considered as evidence
of a higher civilisation than was attained by any of their neighbours. According to
the Javanese, the first rank among artisans is to be ascribed to the blacksmith, or at
least to the cutler. In the native language this personage is called ampu, but he has
another designation, pandd, which signifies “ cunning” or “ skilful.” The most
esteemed product of his skill is the dagger, the well known kris, which, in the different
dialects of the Javanese, has four different names, k&ris, duwung, churiga, and
wangkingan, and is alleged to have no fewer than one hundred different forms.
Every man, and boy of fourteen wears, at least, one kris, as parcel of his ordinary
dress, and men of rank two and sometimes four. Even ladies of high rank occasionally
wear one, so that the total number throughout the whole island cannot be
less than several millions. Swords, taking the different names, according to their form,
of padang, klewang, badik, lamang, golok, and chudra, all 'native words except,
perhaps, the first, are used only in native warfare, and are much less esteemed than
the kris, the national weapon. The Javanese spear, a plain pike with an iron head,
is a formidable weapon, from its long shaft, of from 12 to 14 feet. Some of the
Javanese krises, from their antiquity, are highly appreciated, and when saleable bring
enormous prices. They are fancied, in fact, to be charmed, but the temper of the
best of them may be doubted, since the Javanese have no iron of their own, and
the source and quality of what they had before their intercourse with Europeans
is unknown. The Javanese had also before the arrival of the Portuguese, a knowledge
of gunpowder and artillery. De Barros in describing the expedition already
alluded to as having invaded Malacca in 1513, says, “ that it was furnished with much
artillery, made in Java, for,” adds he, “ the Javanese are skilled in founding or
casting, and in all work in iron, besides what they have from India.”
In works in gold and silver the Javanese display no peculiar skill, for, although
they manufacture ornaments of considerable beauty, they execute nothing equal to the
filagree work of Sumatra. In works in brass, their chief excellence consists in the
fabrication of musical instruments, a full band of which is known throughout the
Archipelago by the Javanese name of gamalan. The instruments consist chiefly of
bars, constructed after the manner of the Stauata, or of the gong, a word which has
found its way into our dictionaries, and is genuine Javanese. Some of these gongs
have been made three feet in diameter. Musical instruments of this description Eire
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