Java and her neighbours; a traveller's notes in Java Celebes, the Moluccas and Sumatra (1914) (14577016649)

Identifier: javaherneighbour00walc (find matches)
Title: Java and her neighbours; a traveller's notes in Java Celebes, the Moluccas and Sumatra
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors: Walcott, Arthur Stuart, 1869-1923
Subjects:
Publisher: New York Putnam
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto



Text Appearing Before Image:
AKARTA DJOKJAKARTA, or Yugyakarta, as SirStamford Raffles more phonetically trans-literates the name of the city, once capital of thesuccessive Hindu and Mahometan states of Mata-ram, is situated on a broad plain near the foot ofthe volcano Merapi, about thirty-five miles fromSoerakarta and perhaps twenty-five from theIndian Ocean. In the earlier days, as we haveseen, the two present native principalities formedone powerful empire, a great central state thatheld fast to its earlier gods and faiths for m^anyyears after the Hindu kingdoms of Padjadjaramto the west and Madjapahit to the east had yieldedto the behests of the Mahometan conquerors. Inthis region the Dutch found the natives inclinedto offer a strong resistance to their policies ofcolonization and control, and of all the nativetowns of Java the cities of Mataram were the lastto give up the struggle for independence, and thenonly after a final desperate effort in the early yearsof the nineteenth century. In connection with 224
Text Appearing After Image:
DJOKJAKARTA 225 Soerakarta I have already told of the cunningdiplomacy by which the Dutch gradually came intocontrol, and of how, by successive steps, theyweakened the power of the native rulers. Present conditions at Djokja are the exactcounterpart of those at Solo,—the same puppetruler, native court life, Dutch Resident, and garri-son,—but Djokja is even more typically Javanesein its street scenes and the sights of its nativequarters, while, for some unknown reason, itspeople impress one less as puppets and more asmen. There is a certain something in the carriageand expression of the people of Djokja expressiveof pride and high spirit, the inheritance of a greatpast, the memories of which still linger in theminds of the present generation and are keptalive by legend, song, and play. The Djokjakarta Residency is a substantialstructure of the usual classic order, set in a roomycompound on the main street. Within its groundsthere is a temporary shed or shelter containinga most inte