Dutton Cook - "Art in England"

Richard Harding Davis - "Cuba in War Time"

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing - "Abhandlungen ueber die Fabel"

Joseph Coppinger - "The American Practical Brewer and Tanner"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Dutch Life in Town and Country

P >> P. M. Hough >> Dutch Life in Town and Country




On paying a visit to such a house you go up two or three steps on to the
front verandah, where a servant-boy offers you a chair and a drink, and
then goes to find his master, who presently joins you. You are never
asked to 'come in;' if the front verandah is too hot, an adjournment is
made to the back. Sometimes, in the interior of the country, visitors are
received in the garden, where they enjoy their cheroot Indian fashion,
reclining rather than sitting. But this _dolce far niente_ does not kill
work, for merchants in the towns work pretty hard, and have to be at
their offices during the heat of the day, from nine to five, and even on
Sunday, if it happens to be mail-day. Other people take life rather
easier, especially in the country, where the routine is as follows more
or less: rise at six, bathe, breakfast at seven; then dress and go to
work at nine; at twelve o'clock lunch, after which one lies down to sleep
or read for a couple of hours; tea at four, and then a second bath. After
five it is cool enough to dress and go for a walk or drive until
dinner-time, and after dinner you may go for another drive or visit your
neighbours. On Sundays you go to church from eleven to twelve, and take
things easy for the rest of the day.

Travelling, if for any distance, is done at night, both by Europeans and
natives, and if a native has to walk far he usually carries a mat, and
when the day begins to get hot he unrolls his mat and lies down on it by
the roadside. It does not surprise any one, therefore, to find seeming
idlers asleep in the daytime along the roadside. Naturally, the little
wayside shops which are found at every corner are not shut up or removed
at night, as most of their trade is done then, but if customers are few
the shopkeeper will fall asleep among his wares. The Government roads are
well guarded by the native police, and at regular intervals there are
stations where fresh horses can be procured if they are bespoken in time
by letter or telegraph.

The colonist's life does not seem to be a very hard one on the whole,
though no doubt there are drawbacks, such as, for instance, the want of
schools. At present many Dutch children born in India are sent to Holland
to be educated, not, as in the case of Anglo-Indians, for the sake of
their health, but because there is not a sufficient number of schools in
these colonies. This want will be remedied in time, so that colonists may
be spared the trouble and expense of sending their children to Europe; but
the only Dutch schools in Java that I know of are the 'Gymnasium' at
Willem III (Batavia) and one high school for girls. Native schools are
more numerous, and are being multiplied not only by the Government but by
the missionaries. The attitude of the Indian Government towards missionary
work has changed immensely for the better in the last forty years, and the
labours of the missionaries are now appreciated very highly by both the
Indian and the Home Government, and deservedly so, for the task of the
Government has been very much lightened through the improvement in the
attitude of the natives, owing largely to the work of the missions.

As to the life and customs of the natives, it is not necessary to
describe all the different races, but the Malay villages deserve notice.
In Java and Sumatra these are not arranged in streets, but the houses are
grouped under large trees, and are separated from the road by a bamboo
fence, on the top of which notice boards are fixed at intervals bearing
the names of the villages; these are necessary, because it is often
difficult to see where one village ends and the next begins. In the open
spaces may be seen a few sacred 'waringin' trees, in which are hung
wooden bells, used to sound an alarm or call the villagers together.
Before the house of a native Regent is an open square, with a 'Pandoppo,'
or roof on pillars in the centre, and here meetings are held,
proclamations read, and distinguished visitors received. The houses are
built of bamboo and roofed with palm-leaves; and sometimes they have
floors of split bamboo, but often the hard clay soil serves as a floor.
There are usually two or more sleeping-places, called 'bale-bales,' also
made of bamboo, split and plaited, and over these another floor, which
forms a sort of loft or store-room. There is no fireplace, all the
cooking being done outside. Such a house can be bought for about five
shillings! It takes a few men two or three weeks to build one, but to
take it down and remove it to a new site is a matter of only a few hours.
Near the houses are the stables, where the buffaloes and carts are kept,
and here and there is a well, over which hangs a balancing-pole with a
bucket at one end and a stone at the other.

The children play about naked until they are ten years old, when they
dress like their elders, and consider themselves men and women. The
costume of the Malay women consists of the 'sarong,' a cloth about 31/2
yards long and 11/2 wide, which is wound round the body and held by a belt
and then rolled up just above the feet; over this a wide coat called a
'kabaya' is worn, and over all a 'slendang,' which is very like a
'sarong,' but is worn hanging over one shoulder, and in this is slung
anything too large to be easily carried in the hands--even the baby. The
men wear either 'sarongs' or trousers, or both, and a cotton jacket, and
are always armed either with kreeses or chopping-knives, carried in their
belts; the weapons are for cutting down cocoanuts and bamboo, and for
protection against snakes and tigers. Both sexes wear their hair long, the
men with head-cloths and the women with flowers and herbs, and all go
bare-footed. The men are very good horsemen, and ride, like the Zulus and
other coloured men, with only their big toes in the stirrups.

In Bally and Lombok the inhabitants are of the same race as the people of
Java and Sumatra, but differ in religion and habits, having never been
wholly subjected by the Mohammedans. The difference is chiefly noticeable
in the construction of their houses, which are of stone in many cases,
and built in streets. Each house has three compartments and a fireplace,
or altar, which stands in the middle, opposite the door, the floors are
sometimes paved, and the roofs are often covered with tiles instead of
leaves, and supported by carved pillars.

These Brahmins have numerous temples, which are quite different from
anything in the neighbouring islands, being built of brick and divided
into sections by low walls, but without roofs; walls and gates are painted
red, white, and blue, and inside stand a number of altars, on which
offerings are laid. Brahminism survives in some of the other islands, at
some distance from the coast, and occasionally a religious festival ends
in a riot between Brahmins and Mohammedans.

The staple food of the Malay races is rice, which is cooked very dry, with
fried or dried fish or shrimps and vegetables, and flavoured with chilis,
onions, and salt. Dried beef and venison are also used, and wild pig and
chickens and ducks are plentiful; other articles of food being maize,
sweet potatoes, and many kinds of fruit, such as cocoa-nuts, bananas,
mangoes, mangusteens, and so on. In the Moluccos the staple crop is not
rice, but sago, which is prepared from the sap of the sago-palm. To an
inhabitant of Java or Sumatra the cocoa-nut tree is indispensable; when a
child is born, a nut is planted, and later on, if the child asks how old
he is, his mother shows him the young palm, and tells him that he is 'as
old as that cocoa-nut tree.' The nuts are boiled for the oil, and the
white flesh is eaten, cooked in various ways, generally with other food.
All kinds of provisions and other goods, from butcher's meat to needles
and thread, are sold at the 'passars,' or markets, which are attended by
large crowds.

Mention has been made of the moral example set by some Europeans to the
natives. Generally the relations between the white and coloured races are
those of superiors and inferiors, but in the matter of matrimony there is
a difference. Many white men in Netherlands India never dream of marrying;
they take to themselves 'Njais,' or house-keepers. The same thing is done
in other colonies, at least in provinces far removed from European
society, when native customs allow it. The ancient customs of the Malays
and Javanese did not prescribe any religious ceremony for marriages; they
had their 'adat,' or customs, which were as strictly adhered to as if they
had been religious, but there was nothing consecrating the marriage tie.
Moreover, their notions of hospitality, which are similar to those of most
primitive races, no doubt encouraged the above-mentioned free marriages,
or at least they explain how it was that the Malay women had no objection
to becoming the 'Njais' of Europeans. Where such a woman was the daughter
of a prince or chief, the European who took her was invariably some high
official, whose position brought him into contact with noble Javanese
families. These young women are remarkably graceful, even fascinating, and
besides have received a good Javanese education, and it is not surprising
that such 'marriages' were sometimes happy and permanent.

The sons were sent to Europe to be educated, being entrusted to the care
of a guardian, uncle, or friend, and on their return to India soon found
employment in the service of the Government; the girls stayed at home, and
generally married well.

Such instances, however, are rare; more often the man regarded his 'Njai'
merely as a temporary helpmate, and if he saw a chance would marry some
rich European girl, when the Indian wife would be set aside--'sent into
the bush,' as the phrase was. That such behaviour should have roused the
wrath and hatred of the discarded wives and their relatives was but
natural. Often the European bride, sometimes the faithless husband too,
fell by the hand of a murderer who could never be found, or was poisoned
by a maidservant or cook who was bought over to assist in the work of
vengeance. The cast-out children sometimes played a part in these
tragedies; if not, they certainly retained a hatred of Europeans
generally, and rumours of mutiny were the consequence.

How this state of things can be remedied is a question which has long
occupied the attention of the Government. Gradually, however, the mixed
population is becoming more educated, and can find employment in
Government and mercantile offices, as all excel in beautiful handwriting.
A better feeling generally exists, and a keener sense of social duty is
coming over the Europeans, so that a good many have really married the
mothers of their children, a thing which fifty years ago was never heard
of. There now exists a mixed race of Eurasians, children of the children
of European fathers and Indian mothers, which at one time threatened to
become a source of danger and insurrection, but all fear of trouble in
that quarter is past. Of the 'inland children' many are now receiving a
good education. In the Government schools they can learn enough to hold
their own in point of knowledge against a large proportion of the
Europeans in the colony, and they find employment in offices and shops, on
the railway and post-office staffs, and on public works almost as quickly
as pure whites.




Index



Administrative system
Amusements, national
Army, the
Art, modern

Canals and their population, the
Capital, life in the
Capital punishment
Characteristics, national
Christmas customs
Church, relation of State to
Churches, Dutch
Clergymen, Dutch
Colonies, the Dutch
Costume, rural
Court, the
Customs, popular

Divorce, the law of
Dykes, the

Easter customs
Education, public

Farms and farmers
Freemasonry, Dutch
Friendly Societies
Funerals, customs at

Games, children's
Girls, freedom of Dutch

Home life

Indies, the Dutch

Justice, administration of

'Kermis,' the

Labour, conditions of
Law court, description of a Dutch
Literature and literary life

Marriage and marriage customs
Music

National Characteristics, types,
Navy, the
Newspapers, the

'Palm Paschen,'
Peasantry, the
Poets, modern Dutch
Political life and parties
Press, the
Professional classes, the

Queen Wilhelmina

Readers, the Dutch as
Reading Societies
Religions life
Renaissance, the literary
'Rommelpot'
Rural customs

Schools, the
Sculpture in Holland
Skaters, the Dutch as
Social life
Society, Dutch
Song, national love of
State, relation of Church to
St. Nicholas, festival of
Student life
Sunday in the country

Theatre, the
Thrift, Dutch

Universities, the

Village life

Wages of labour
Wedding customs
Women, position of
Working classes, the



The End

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