Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/42

 28 LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE , Facts are often accurately, and even circumstan- tially narrated ; but whenever there is an opening for the marvellous, it is sure to be indulged. In offering examples of Javanese historical writing, I shall endeavour not only to select such passages as will illustrate the remarks I have now made upon it ; but, in making that selection, instead of indis- criminate extracts, choose the best, with the hope of avoiding the offence of tiring or disgusting my readers. One of the most singular and extraordinary characters of Javanese, or indeed of any story, is a person called Surapati, a native of Bali, and the slave of a Dutch citizen of Batavia, who raised himself from that abject condition, in spite of the native and European governments, to sovereign authority, and maintained it until his death. His immediate descendants were defeated by the Dutch, and despoiled of the territory, while the body of the founder was taken up and treated with ignominy. The following is the Javanese account of this vile transaction, in which is discoverable that strange union of the true and the marvellous, which is so characteristic of the intellectual state of the Javanese : " The commissary remained long at Pasuru- han, making diligent search for the body of Sura- pati, but it was not to be found. He was distres-