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an the spaces between the latter and the couches were decorated in gorgeous style , with cloth of gold , artificial flowers , and numerous other ornaments . " Chairs ( an unsightly innovation ) were placed in the centre of the room for the Europeans , on which we had to wait a considerable time . Gradually the room began to fill with the ladies of Sarawak and their children . They seated themselves in their more primitive posture , all squatting on the floor , while the men collected outside . " In one corner we observed the bride seated on an ornamented mattress , and
surrounded by a crowd of women , who were busy dressing and decorating the poor girl ; she drooped her head and affected to be , or I dare say she was , very nervous , but did not say a word . However , the head-dress , covered all over with gold flowers and ornaments , having been completed to the satisfaction of the elderly Ladies , she was led to the bridal couch , where she was seated . The men sit crosslegged ; the posture of the women is more graceful , both feet being inclined on one side , and bent back . We noticed that each young lady closely scrutinised the bride , and pretended to detect something in the dress that required a finishing pinch : some fanned her , and all looked a little envious .
"Her dress was very handsome , and in good taste : the baju ( jacket ) was of shot silk , embroidered with gold , and was of native manufacture ; the saluar ( trousers ) of rich silk ; one sarong , likewise of silk , was fastened round the waist by a gold belt , and reached to the ancles ; while a lighter one was worn over the right shoulder and across the breast ; her arms were loaded with massive gold bracelets , and she wore on her left hand a profusion of rings ; a handkerchief was held in her right hand , as is considered indispensible by Malays of rank . " The young bride had a narrow escape of being very pretty ; the upper part of her face really was so , but the lower jaw was a little too square and prominent . " From the number in the room , we had an opportunity of forming an opinion as to the looks of Malay women , which were decidedly pleasing ; a few of the damsels particularly so . Those of our party who had been living long enough to have got over their English prejudices , pointed out two or three whom they declared to be downright handsome . The women of the lower classes have , however ,
so much household drudgery to perform , that their good looks soon wear out . The men , although small , are strong-limbed and well-proportioned ; but their features are hard and ugly . " Our bride having been kept in proper suspense for some time , the approach of the bridegroom , who had been fitting out at his relation ' s ( the Bandar ' s ) , was announced . " Hassan , having landed from his barge ( a new Siamese boat , lent for the occasion by the Ilajah ) , was borne by four men on a kind of chair to the door of the room , preceded by men carrying ornaments of artificial flowers .
" On his alighting here , some Hadjis ( men who have made a pilgrimage to Mecca ) uttered a prayer , which was three times responded to by the whole assemblage . After this , Kassan struck the threshold of the room with his foot three times , and then walking up to the bridal couch between two men , he gently touched his future wife over the head with a wand , and placed his right foot in her lap , and then retreating a couple of paces , he sat down on the adjoining couch . " Kassan was dressed , as well as his bride , in cloth of gold . He wore silk trousers , and over them a sarong , short , like a kilt : another sarong , crossing over his right shoulder and under the left arm , and a crown of gold flowers on his head , completed his costume . " As this was all the ceremony we were allowed to see , we left the room , in which I understand the wedded pair have to remain shut up for seven days . "
And now for graver matter , touching on one of the most complex questions of social science . From Sir James Brooke ' s diary we extract the following passage , bidding all theorists on society , and especially all colonizers , reflect on its meaning : —
TIIE GEOWTII OF CIVILIZATION NOT TO BE FORCED . " Surawak seems to have taken the shoot upward which I had expected long ago : but confidence is of slower growth than 1 anticipated ; and piracy has been a great drawback . I may mention , too , that the effect on the Dyaks of a freedom from oppression has been just the reverse of what I expected . The freedom from oppression , the reduction of taxation , the security for life and property , has made them lazy . I always thought that it would have made them industrious , and eager to ' improve their condition . This error is a common one ; and probably most men in Kngland would have fallen into it as well as myself . More of thin another time ; but , lazy or industrious , the right principle should ( and shall ) be persevered in ; for the right principle in based on the solid rock . If the first step ia laziness , the second will be improvement , the third industry .
" The lazy , comfortable , well-fed Dyaks , who have no occasion to work for others , and no wish to work for themselves , who have arrived at tho Hiimmit of human felicity , an depicted in their imaginations , form no ungrateful picture for the mind to rest upon : and now , before they lalxmr to satisfy their wantn , they nmat Ikj taught new wants , arising out of an improved social utate . Would I lalxmr in order to possess palaces puved with gold , and studded with precious Htones ? No , certainly noi , for I should not , value such a lodging . Why , then , should tho Dyak work to obtain a silver K ] M > on , or a silver platter , when u plantain leaf and five-pronged hand are sufficient for his wants ? There is n jxrint of social development which begets healthy wants and desires ; and to this point the Dynk luis not arrived .
" Them is , besides thin , a condition of ( sterner want , begotten by the very pro-K rcHH of" Hw ' iul advancement , which we know in Mid land and Ireland ; and ( Jod forbid tho Dyak nhould « mui to that state of penury which bus ever been seen in contrast , and , perhaps , must ever contrast frightfully with a high degree oj c . vihzation There arc Home philosophers who harp on the tenn . s ' industry mid work , am though Um ™ two words comprised the sum total of human happiness work work ! work ! and when the weary head reuses , what In tfamwl t Why , food ! Now , if food run ho obtained without ceaseless labour , is it not better that tho poor man should n » l » x from toil ? Is there not n greater hope of moral imd intellectual fruit , when want is not always pinching " « , <> r Htariiitf us in the face ?
" I believe llml , htern and ceaseless toil keeps man iib nearly as possible to the level of tl . e brute . I Nay , then , let the Dyak be . happy lot him eat his fill of the rice he K rowH . Il « has ' \ h beneath hi « house-ho feantB sit stated periods—ho is not driven to labour Cor others . The jungle is his own , ho enjoy * the elmne , he ih rich in his own estimation , and he is happy . Why should he toil when he does not want when lu ; Iuih no ( U ; Mhe to gratify—no hope to realize ? Ho ia content nnd well-fed . The time will Hmw , when oventri , chasing each other in the world , will advance his intellectual noweiH ¦ the infant btiito of the rflco will progrt'HH to
manhood j the Dyaks will improve morally and socially , and be creatures capable of appreciating a higher order of enjoyment . But it is time , and time alone , can do this ; the whole province of Government is to afford them protection , and to prevent them from injuring others ; and taxation , that inevitable result of Government , must be apportioned to their laziness . They must not be forced to work : no ! not even to pay the taxes that may not appear burdensome . They must not be forced to work—no ! though civilized men and wise may think it for their good . In these principles I am firm and steadfast . " Philanthropists would improve the Dyaks by teaching the women to sew , and the men to manufacture piece-goods . Experience will leave them to advance , content that they enjoy , and fearful of applying rules which may injure and not benefit them . "
Our extracts have sufficiently indicated the variety of this work and the nature of its contents . Having done that we have done all our office demands . Upon the great question of the Itajah ' s exploits and policy this is not the time to speak , nor the place . IJpok-clubs and Libraries will know what they may expect in Captain Xeppel ' s Visit to the Indian ArchipelagQ .
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CHILDREN'S BOOKS . In spite of the demands upon our space , we must squeeze in a few words about the Children's Books on our table : that being a branch of literature intrinsically more important than critics usually suspect . It is a branch that has been immensely improved of late , not only in respect of the artistic illustrations which replace the deformities and conventionalities once passed off as " pictures" upon the credulous child , but also in respect of greater truthfulness and superior morality . Conspicuous in this last respect is Miss Jewsbury ' s book , The History of an Adopted Child ( Grant and Griffith ) , which is in some sense our ideal of a book for youth , and cannot be read without admiration , interest ,
and moistened eyes , by grown men and women . That sharp sagacity and close observation which gave value to Miss Jewsbury ' s novels , are here brought to bear upon the vividness and reality of a story , which , as we can testify , children read with intense interest . The moral , is apparent but unobtrusive ; it shines with a quiet light through the incidents , and is not preached . The heroine is a true girl—not a pattern girl at alland hence the sympathy she excites in children , who , not generally being of the pattern order , secretly despise the virtuous models set before them by undiscriminating teachers . We hope great good will come from efforts in this direction . Depend on it , with children , as with all Adam ' s sons ,
truth is the most certain and effectual tuition . The History of an Adopted Child we would very seriously commend to parents , teachers , and guardians—they will earn something from it ; and the children will delight in it . Mrs . Hooper ' s Arbell ( Addey and Co . ) is a tale for young people , also to be commended for its interest , its wise , healthy spirit , and its feminine observation ; but we think it inferior , on the whole , to Mrs . Hooper ' s former work , Mrs . Anderso ? i ' s School , as running more in the track of the novelist , and as sinning more in what is called " want of keeping "—viz ., the children talk too much like grown people and think too much like grown people . Not that children notice this when they read ; but we critics do , and are sure that it must have its effect . With all allowance made for its short-comings , Arbell is nevertheless an attractive and admirable little book .
A Bay of Pleasure , by Mrs . Harriet Myrtle ( Addey and Co . ) is addressed to still younger readers , and abounds in those incidents of overyday life , and those natural objects which children are never tired of , because immediately appealing to their sympathies . The eight illustrations by Hablot K . Browne have his ordinary angularity , and a certain impishness of expression in the faces , which deduct from the merit of the drawings . The Adventures of a Hear , and a Great Hear too , ( Addey and Co ., ) is a very amusing story of the career poor Bruin passes through , from hia noisy and quarrelsome boyhood to his final degradation as a blind old beggar , led about the streets by a dog . Harrison Weir ' s illustrations arc admirable , in tho Granvillc and Kaulbacli style , representing beasts as semi-human ; they are full of character and fun . Boys will delight in .
them . The . Little Drummer ( Addey and Co . ) is a story of the Itussian campaign of Napoleon , very popular in Germany , as are moat of the stories by GuHtav Nieritx . It gives a lively picture of the horrors of war , and will impress upon the juvenile mind some of the leading incidents in this celebrated campaign . To the above works we must add a eouplo of tiny volumes , one containing Aladdin and Stnbad the Sailor , the other containing Jive stories from the Arabian Nights—viz ., Tho Fisherman and the Genie , the King and the Physician , the Punished Vizir , the King of the Black I ales , and tho Sleeper Awakened . Two acceptable little reprints , which M . cssrs . Addey have published by way of introduction of tho infant mind to the great world of wealth and wonder , named The Thousand and One Nights ' jEnterlainmcnis .
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Lincolntthire . A 1 ' antoral . liy . January Searlo . Parry and Co . Anotiikr little brochure from January Searle , like all his writingR , full of buoyuncy and life , and that wiltl * ' play-impulne , " us Schiller names it ,, inherent , in the jioetic nature . Kvery page hearty , fresh , and genial . To rend this pant oral jh to Mjwnd an hour of " Hunnner jollilio" amid November dulnesH , and to have your mind < liuahiiMed of Mm belief that thiH said Lincolnshire is irreclaimably given up to and inhabited l > y , the dismal , dreary , drizzling featured genius of November throughout ,
the whole round of tin ; equinoxes . A brighter character , however , the poets give it ; and science has ntriven arduously , and not vaiidy , to redeem its reputation . Dickens , for Hit ; purposes of art , pictures a Chesney Wold as the perpetual type of manorial drcuriiic . sH , bleaker far than Bleak JIounc itself ; hut , on the other hand , wo have Miller ' s sweet " Dai / in the Woods ; " and wo are not forgetful of Tennyson ' s noble picture of Bui-lcigh Hall , which may fairly vie- with Cheanoy Wold an th « county'm representative . January Scarlo ' a " Paatonil" i > renervcH throughout tho truo charnctorifltki * of u
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20 T HE LEADER , [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 1, 1853, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1967/page/20/
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