the palace, from which, this time, however, the genei^i
public was excluded. Here tea was handed round to
the Europeans,—an attention on the part of the Resident,
I was informed,—and after a bow to the Emperor
we all withdrew.
I trust that I have not spun too long a yarn on so
unimportant a subject as that of a native Court, but
what has tempted me to note down every detail is that
the few remnants of mediaeval customs and ceremonies
still existing are rapidly disappearing altogether,
whilst, as long as they last, they bear an interest beyond
their tinsel pageantry.
In the evening I attended a native concert at the
Residency ; the orchestra or “ gamalang,” consisted of
instruments of various kinds and shapes, the principal
feature is the kettle-drum, of which fourteen, say seven
in each row, are let into a bamboo frame, and of these
there were four, also ordinary large drums and gongs,-—
for noise is essential at these entertainments,—timbrels,
flutes,and various stringed instruments. Their music is
either wild or plaintive, and on the whole harmonious;
a little of it is very pleasant, and the grouping of the
orchestra is not the least agreeable part of it.
On the following day, thanks to the instructions
from headquarters at Batavia, a carriage and four
horses, or rather ponies, appeared at the appointed time
in front of the hotel to convey me to Djokjokarta, a
distance of forty miles, and the road in some places
being very steep, a pair of oxen were added when required.
The scenery I passed through was much the
same as that before reaching Soerakarta. At Klaten,
about half way, I had tiffin, and inspected the making
of sarong cloth, called “ battikken,” for which the place
is famous. When the cloth is ready and the pattern
drawn on it with Indian ink or indigo, the mouth-piece
of a little instrument resembling a short cutty-pipe, its
handle of bamboo, and its bowl of copper, fitted on one
side with a fine sharp-pointed tube, is carefully made to
follow the design with the melted wax contained
in the little p o t; and when the entire piece is
finished, it is put in the vat holding the dye for
the ground colour, generally brown, thus leaving the
pattern yellow, as the wax does not take the colour,
but gives the material a glossy and silky appearance.
I have also seen some very handsome sarongs, in
different shades. This process, of course, needs repetition,
according to the number of colours required.
Cotton is the material generally used for these articles,
but silks are dyed in the same way.
In working metals the Javanese are very clever,
and they show great skill in the production of the
well-known kriss, which every man, and often boy