Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/116

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F Eastern monarchs none retain such a strange and picturesque bodyguard as the Sultan of Dyokja, one of Java's few remaining native rulers. Surrounded by hordes of strangely uniformed retainers, consisting of soldiers, musicians, singers, dancers, bearers of the royal fan and umbrella, pipe, and betel-box, his court presents an extraordinary spectacle, recalling a comic opera on a colossal scale.



The time to visit this court is during one of the many native festivals. Then one may witness a sight which for Oriental pomp and grandeur and startling effect has certainly no equal. On that occasion the troops appear in the weirdest of costumes. There are uniforms of every shade and color—black, white, blue, pink, and green—uniforms made up of several colors, striped uniforms, and uniforms enriched with gold lace and other trimmings. Some take the form of tightly-