People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 March 1893 — SOME STRANGE PEOPLE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SOME STRANGE PEOPLE.

Different Races Represented at the World’s Pair. m»t Print* Enterprise Is Doing for the Colombian Exposition —Hare Sights cu Midway Plaisance— Types of Javanese. > (Special Chicago Correspondence. ( A walk through the world’s fair would be incomplete unless it would take one beyond the confines of what we of the western world call civilization. We like to look at beings who are low«r in the scale of development, and then pat ourselves on the back and feel happy that we are not like them. To show these people was not strictly within the objects for which the exposition company was legally incorporated. Jt had to he left to private enterprise. And by this means the exposition has been rounded out in a way that gives it a charm which only things which are odd and outlandish oan bestow.

Thus one of the most interesting divisions of the fair was gotten up by private enterprise. Along the Midway Plaisance you will find representatives of many of those nations and tribes which to us are strange, and, for that reason, attractive. After passing through Algiers and Tunis, along the east of Africa to Egypt where we make a stop at Cairo, and look at the model of its streets which are on exhibition, we continue along the south coast of Asia, round the East Indian peninsula, *nd reach the groat archipelago which .stretches from tha northwestern ex-

tremity of Asia, down to Australia and , thence eastward and northward through the vast Pacific ocean. These countless islands, perhaps the mountain peaks and plateaus of a submerged continent—for Australia is the oldest of the existing continents, so geologists tell us—are inhabited by many strange tribes who until discovered by Europeans had never been beyond the particular island or narrow group of islands on which they were born. In many ways these people are interesting to us. Among the most curious are the Maoris, of New Zealand, with their fine characteristic features, strongly resembling the American In-

dian. I used to admire the beautiful yet simple figures with which they tattooed their faces and bodies. At the extreme end from this island are the Javanese, now under Dutch dominion. On the island of Java we faave two types of people. When I was a boy I remember seeing pictures purporting to represent the various tribes of men, and among them 1 have m recollection of a Javanese who might have sat as the model for an ancient Grecian sculptor. However, these classic features, I am now told, belong only \~j the upper classes of natives on lav*, probably a nos of conquerors,

whereas the common people are Mslays and, from onr point of view, although handsomer than the Chinese, are still far from being ideally beautiful. A special exhibit will be made from these islands. The Ot.anic Trading company has two hundred thousand feet along the Midway Plaisance for this purpose. It is intended there to show the life of the common people of the Dutch East Indies and some other islands, including Java, Sumatra, Borneo, the Phillippine, Friendly, Society, Solomon and Fiji islands, New Zealand, Samoa and Hawaii. So you can see the Fiji islander with a» much safety as you laugh at a lion in a menagerie, and I am assured that the “wild man from Borneo” will come to town and will be there in several specimens. The space for this exhibit has been divided into two parts, one on either side of the Midway Plaisance. One half will be devoted to the islands of Java, Sumatra and Borneo. As the touch of old King Midas turned everything into gold, so everything that has any connection with the world’s fair grows far beyond the original conception. So in this case. It was intended to have about sixteen to twenty houses of natives. But they tell me now that thirty-seven houses have already been built and there are liable to be forty or fifty. These houses are curious in themselves. Like the huts of the herdsmen in Switzerland there is not a nail used in their construction. The former builds entirely of wood and uses brackets and clamps to hold the beams together. The Javanese builds his house of bamboo. The poorer ones simply plant the bamboo poles close together and lash them with rope or whatever is handy. Those who are better off split up the bamboo into thin strips and braid them together in basket work, often making a wall that is perfectly weather proof. The roof is covered with bamboo and thatched with palm leaves and grasses. The houses present a unique appearance when placed together in a village. Most of them are square and there is no effort at ornamentation. To an American they look more like a lot of barns. In fact, they have little more furniture than a barn. There is in them a platform raised eight to fourteen inches above the floor, which serves as a table, a bench, a bed, etc. The natives say that the reason they raise it at all instead of sleeping on the floor is that they do not want to offend the serpents. They say that if a serpent finds no obstacle it will crawl along and not hurt anybody. So if it should get into the house it can crawl along anywhere, whereas if the people should sleep on the floor it would have to crawl over them and a move-

ment of the sleeper might cause it to bite. Evidently the Javanese do not like reptiles so well as did that couple who were recently found in the Palmer house in this city with a young alligator for a bedfellow. There are to be one hundred and eighty natives in the exhibit, under the direction of a priest and a chief, who give their directions or revelations from a raised structure like a throne that stands in the public square in the village. The ordinary Javanese, they tell me, does not believe that man lives for the purpose of working. He works enough to keep body and soul together and not more. It is only at tea harvest-time that he really does work five or six weeks in succession. By the way, they raise a great deal of excellent tea in Java, which, oddly enough, is not used in the United States at all. They raise and export rice in large quantities and, in fact, had a large export trade before the Dutch forced upon them the blessings of western civilization. But their social conditions are primitive. Such a thing as the division of labor is almost unknown. Every man is his own farmer, carpenter, weaver, tailor, cook, etc. It is only in some of the trades requiring a .higher degree of skill, such as silver work, furniture and wood carving, that any specialists can develop, and it is here they show considerable aDtitude. Their dress is primitive also. The women wear a blouse of some soft material and a skirt of what they call sarang. This is a peculiar kind of dress over which a woman will sometimes spend eight or nine months. They take a piece of calico and dye it to the tint they want for a basis. With an instrument like a pencil they trace the outlines of the figures and then boil the cloth in wax. Then a little melting pot that has a fine spout is filled with the paint and melted wax and moving the spout over the outlines the contents are poured out on the cloth. In an audience hall the J avanese at the world’s fair will give public exhibitions of their native entertainments. There will be dancers, boxers, wrestlers, jugglers and other athletes. There are two kinds of orchestras. One is the gamelang or gong band, where only gongs are used. The music is Strange, but is said to be, at times, vory

sweet and melodious even to western people. The gamelang is always accompanied by marionettes who give something that will remind you of the ' old-fashioned Punch and Judy show. Another orchestra is supplemented by string and wind instruments, with violins of ivory and bamboo. A unique exhibit will be the dancers of the sultan of Jokjerkarta, who id said to have the largest and best j equipped corps of female dancers on | the island. The dance is described as ' entirely different from anything that is seen anywhere else. In fact, it would scarcely be called daneing by us who are accustomed to see people jnmp around and chase one another over the floor. This Javanese dancing j consists almost entirely of posturing to slow music, and the movements are said to he marvelous, even the' fingers. taking part in them. The dresses are rich and often very beautiful. The sultan of Johore, an island near Singapore, will be here with his suite. This man is said to have 810,000,000 j worth of diamonds and is fond of dis- ! playing them. He is preparing twelve ] or fifteen houses, which will be shipped in a short time. The exhibit from Sumatra and Bor- j neo is very much like that from Java. The Samoan exhibit will contain some natfae dwellings,, which are tent fashion and thatched with cocoanut , leaves and fiber, the walls being of mats. There will be Samoan dancers also, who are more like the East In- ! dians. Some of their warriors in “full dress” tattooed natives will also be brought over. a The Fijlkns will exhibit themselves mainly. A Maori village represents New Zealand.

H. E. O. HEINEMANN.

WOMEN OF JAVA.

JAVANESE DANCING GIBE.

A JAVANESE COUPLE.