of the real needs of men's lives, which do not consist in meditations and no account was taken of the actualities of life, which is a continuous struggle from beginning to end.

And in spite of all the tolerance and liberalism contained in the teachings of Buddha, they are not free from partiality; and notwithstanding all the laws about honouring women, there is a maliciousness expressed towards them (between the lines), which throws a marvellous light, so as Dr. Kern says, on what the earthly saints-the padandas understood by "love and good-will." And did the great founder of this doctrine, Budha the Sage, the Enlightened the Budha of the legend, be it understood-did he always show love and respect to women?

It is true that he had some sad experiences with them, but it is no small wonder that the Balinese should have overstepped the bounds, when even among the early leaders there was such a wide discrepancy between theory and practice.

Let us see how the law further treats the women in Bali.

If a Sudra dies without a son or an adopted son old enough to replace him in his vassal duties, then the brother enters into possession of all he has left behind, including wife and children. In default of a brother everything becomes the property of the prince. This course is also pursued in cases of punishment for certain crimes; for instance if a man is outlawed; and as the prince is frequently called upon to deliver sentence, we may feel sure that he is not over-scrupulous about passing a judgment from which he derives so much advantage. The real estate is generally converted into hard cash, which finds its way to the prince's purse; the women of the household who are too old or too young are sent to the poeris to do the various domestic duties, thus working for the prince, whose property they have become; the goodlooking women are selected for the prince's harem, whilst all the others, oftentimes including young girls not yet arrived at the age of puberty, are sent out as panjoerans" to all quarters of the land and thus aid to swell the prince's revenue. These miserable creatures are compelled to send a percentage of their earnings to the prince, commensurate with their beauty and the density of the population whose territory they infest.

Is it not clear why the old Rajah of Lombock, whilst forming prohibitory laws which did not affect himself, upheld this most serious of all immoral institutions?

But this is not yet all.

"Furthermore we wish to add that if a Mohammedan dies here without male issue, the female relatives, as well as his real and personal estates are taken by the princes. The girls never turn out well, they all become prostitutes." However scandalous this may appear, it was "adat" as far as the Sudras were concerned; but:

"If the deceased leave brothers, they get nothing either, and later on, when Balinese from Karangassim are banished here, they are given the lands," etc. (both quotations are from the letter at the beginning of

the book). Now that was not "adat," so that the lot of the Sassaks was worse even than that of the Sudras.

Now that we have seen what is the position occupied by the Balinese women, we can the more easily understand the meaning and the justice of the further complaint of the Sassak chiefs, which are mentioned in the same letter: that the Balinese chiefs take the girls away by force, especially those of good families; some they keep for themselves, while the others are cast adrift; they do not content themselves with full-grown girls, but often insist upon taking tiny children only seven years old! "Then it sometimes happened that the parents went out of their minds, but what was to be done?"

And did not the old Rajah himself set the example, when against the will of the Raden of Kali Djaga, he took his daughter, Ma Radja,—-we shall have occasion to speak of this interesting woman later on-and had her poor resisting father put to death?

That then was the legal position of the Sassak people: absolute uncertainty as to land and property, wife and children, entirely at the mercy of the ruling race!

In no country in the world, not even in the country whence we borrow the device: "my house is my castle," is the realization of the idea contained therein, so strongly rooted as with "the Balinese. For him, his "homestead," enclosed within high walls, is really and truly his castle, his world. His world, holding all that he stands in immediate need of, be it temporal or spiritual; his world, in which he dwells with his family and all the members of his family, where he is safe against all intrusion.

The law however imposes upon him the duty of protecting his own homestead and at the same time confers upon him the right to stab without ceremony any nocturnal visitor, unable to give a speedy and satisfactory account of himself. Jealous and passionate by nature he does not allow his wife to speak to or receive any man during his absence from the homestead. Should a strange man enter his sleeping apartment uninvited he has a right to kill him. Outside the walls of his home, most things leave him cold and indifferent. Surly and proud, he seldom enters into conversation with his neighbour; as a rule, dissension exists between the different inhabitants of the same dessa; and nowhere does one come across the sociability and familiarity to be met with in the Javanese kampongs.

Only when self-interest is at stake-for in spite of their manifold offerings to the deities, the Balinese, that is to say the men, are great egotists-do they join dessa-unions and soebaks (polder-unions) for the benefit of their material welfare and club together to erect the dessatemples for their spiritual good.

The submissiveness of the Javanese is not one of their characteristics; they are always ready to assert their rights if they fancy these have been in any way violated. They are not the least bit quarrelsome; indeed they recoil from abuse or insult, which is looked upon as so

serious an offence, that the law permits of its being wiped out by blood. The Balinese man never forgets an injury. He is not inclined to theft, as so many of our native tribes are. Is this the result of their better nature, or as Dr. Jacob alleges, of the stringent laws against stealing? It appears to us that a people innately proud is less likely to be addicted to this vice; however we have already noticed that the use of opium and gambling have had more or less demoralizing effects and in

their train have followed poverty and misery, accompanied by theft and highway robbery. One invaluable feature of the Balinese character is their inherent capability for higher development and as we are called upon to assume such great responsability towards millions of our native subjects, we feel compelled to enlarge somewhat upon this point.

We have already alluded to their artistic genius in building the temples. One of the finest specimens is certainly the temple of Kasiman in Bali, a large quadrangle surrounded by high walls, richly sculptured, entrance to which is obtained through a magnificent pyramid shaped

gate, guarded ou each side by two huge Raksasas. Within the square, the transparent waters of a narrow little stream wind their way through the picturesque banks, shaded on either side by magnificent Waringintrees and ornamented with handsome porcelain vases, holding lovely water plants. The stream is crossed by little bridges, leading to an open space, where numberless small temples-the before mentioned "meroes"-immediately attract attention. In the stone walls of these little buildings as well as in those encircling the enclosure are thousands of variegated earthenware plates and saucers of all sizes, with the concave side facing one.

Many Hindu images and handsome niches adorn the whole, which is supposed to be a copy of the famous Hindu temple of Madjapahit.

Concerning the princely palaces, the poeris, they are very inferior to the temples from an architectural point of view. Just as all the Balinese homesteads are walled in, so are the princes' residences; the walls of the poeris are generally embellished by carvings, representing

allegorical subjects from the Hindu religion. As a rule, in front of most of the poeris there is a large covered-in space where the cockfights are held in rainy weather-as it would be impossible to forego this excitement. during any lengthy period. Within the walls, there is a second space dedicated to the same pastime, but this is not weatherproof. On each side of the main entrance there are large and small "pendoppos," one or more of which are used as receptacles for the cages containing the game-cocks. Further on, facing one, and on both sides are numbers of high narrow double gates, leading up to which are a few stone steps. The side doors give access to the private apartments of the prince and his household. The centre gates lead to a second large open space, containing more "pendoppos," serving as dining-rooms, sitting-rooms and reception-rooms for visitors. Sundry small and large doors lead off from this floor to the kitchens, the stables and the dwellings of the panjoerans; a general air of uncleanliness pervades the whole place.

The artistic taste of the Balinese has decidedly been shown to greater advantage in the magnificent country seats of the Lombock princes-but of that later. Their skill in reading and writing is another proof of the natural talent of the Balinese. "It is marvellous," says Van Bloemen Waanders, ‚‘that in a country where public schools are conspicuous by their absence and where teachers and teaching are never heard of, the knowledge df reading and writing should have attained such an extraordinary oevelopment."

And it is not only amongst the men that these accomplishments are so wide-spread; the women, especially those of the higher classes, are