A Visit to Java WWith an Account of the Founding of Singapore;

by William Basil Worsfold

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Genres: History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2008

Reviews

[Perry Whitford]

- not long after the time of Christ the Hindus came to Java, the figure of Saka, 'variously termed warrior, priest, and god, to whom is attributed the introduction of the arts of civilization'
- the Brahmins ruled for over a millennium before Islam usurped them as the predominant religion in the 16th century. At around the same time the Europeans first visited, the Portuguese and the Dutch, and in the late 18th century the Dutch East India Company took adminstrative control of the island
- the island is long and thin, but has a greater land mass than Britain, and in 1892 the population was 23 million, more than Britain (current it is nearly 150 million, doubling in the last fifty years
- the natives he described as 'simple and refined'
- the parents of both partners are not invited to the wedding ceremony. Divorce is an easy matter; if a couple decide that hey don't want to be together anymore they simply part.
- sugar, cinchona and of course coffee. He visited a plantation.
- wayang, a puppet show the natives would watch for hours. The puppets are grotesque distortions of human shape, shown only as shadows behind a screen. N Javanese theatre the actors are marked and speechless, the dalang (manager) recites the dialogue.
- Sir Thomas Raffles, 1811-16 during the Napoleonic wars, then founded Singapore
- Peter Elberfeld led a rebellion against the Dutch, had his limbs tied to horses