Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/96

 80 LIFE IN JAVA.

as though in prayer, till on a level with their nose. However frequently the same individual passes and repasses, this form must be repeated.

Wishing to have a bird's-eye view of the whole Kraton from the watch-tower, a short way beyond the vestibule, we were conducted to this building by one of the numerous mestizo officers in the household of the Susulmnan. These mestizos are generally taller than the Javanese, and slightly fairer, but their features, almost without exception, are of the indisputable native t}^e.

On our way back to the vestibule we passed several large cannons, some of which are so old tliat no one can tell how they came into the island. One of them, which is said to have belonged to the Sultan of Padjang, had an inscription in native characters. This cannon is dignified by the appel- lation of " sapu-jagatj" sweeper of the earth, and is reverenced by the natives as a dispenser of good and evil dreams. The following inscription Avas

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