Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/50

 S8 CLASSIFICATION AND philological argument, I shall quote, on this subject, the words of a Javanese historian, when he is de- scribino; the hostilities conducted against the Eu- ropean power by the combined Chinese and Java- nese, and when a mock action is thought neces- sary to deceive the common enemy, the Dutch. " Sing sell and Sapanjang (the Chinese leaders) obseiTcd to the Javanese chiefs, the Adipati (the first minister) has now arrived with a countless liost, and we are unacquainted with the practice of the Javanese, and how they conduct a mock fight.'* " Fathers, said the Javanese chiefs, such a battle is conducted by us in perfect earnest, with mutual slaughter, for not the smallest compassion is shewn to the people ; keeping your secret and saving the life of the Adipati, you may exterminate the rest." The condition of the peasantiy or occupiers of the soil will afterwards be described in a separate chapter ; and, in the meantime, it may be suffi- cient to observe, that their tenure depends upon the will of their masters, and that the only secu- rity for their possession is the utility and neces- sity of their labour to their superiors. Among themselves, the peasantry live in their villages on terms of much equality. In many parts of Java, the village is a kind of co?^poration, in which the chief and officers, including the priest, are elected by the cultivators, privileges which they