THE QUEST SUCCESSFUL--THE WODENA's HOUSE.
The Wodena's house was a comparatively large building made with
alang-lalang walls,[4] and the floor on a level with the ground. The
entire front of the house was open, though the overhanging eaves of the
roof kept out the glare. In the foreground three tables with
corresponding chairs were ranged stiffly, as though in a hotel verandah.
In one corner was a little cupboard kind of compartment, which X. found
was his bedroom.
There was no attempt to cover the floor of bare earth with mats, as
would have been the case in even poor Malay houses. At the back of the
one large sitting room stood an imposing long table. The outlook of the
house was on to some untidy waste land covered with long grass--rather
an unusual sign of slovenliness in a country of such universal neatness.
Close by a new house was in course of construction for Government use.
This building had the somewhat strange combination of alang-lalang
walls and a tiled roof. The host who welcomed X. to his house was, as
has been said, the Wodena, or local head native magistrate. A Malay in
such a position would most certainly have had a courteous manner and
have probably been an agreeable companion. This official, though he
evidently intended to be cordial, was awkward and seemingly stupid. He
also spoke bad Malay, and seemed an ill-educated man for such a
position. He wore a terrible old sun-helmet on his head, and presented a
grotesque appearance.
[Footnote 4: Plaited grass.]
After having tea his host took X. for a walk round to show him the
place, and all the people crouched on the ground as they passed. The
followers in uniform walked after them, occasionally shouting at those
who did not promptly go to earth, while hurrying their movements with
insinuating prods from the poles of office. The few Chinese who were
met, bowed low like ladies to a royalty, which was a somewhat startling
experience to X., so recently from Singapore, where Chinamen jostle
Europeans from the side walks and puff bad tobacco in their faces as
they pass. _Apropos_ of this it might be mentioned here that a high
Dutch official in Java stated that he considered that the way the
Chinese in Singapore were allowed to treat the Europeans was "nothing
less than a disgrace to civilization." In the Singapore local press at
the time of writing there is now appearing a series of indignant letters
from a Chinaman in Selangor who signs himself as "Speaking Pig Tail."
This scribe complains to "Mr. Editor" that he has not the same rights as
a European. I wonder what "Speaking Pig Tail" would say to the
above-mentioned Dutch official.
However these particular Chinese in Soempioeh bowed many inches low to
the Wodena, while X. with bland self-consciousness appropriated a
certain length to himself as the only white man in the place.
This walk at Soempioeh was full of interest, and the Wodena kindly
replied to the best of his ability to all the questions asked. The whole
country round was one vast expanse of padi, valleys and hills alike so
far as the eye could reach, and it seemed to X. that no population could
be sufficiently dense to consume such an apparently unlimited supply,
but the Wodena assured him that none was ever exported. The town
presented a busy scene of great activity, as there was evidently a
country fair in full swing, and rows of people lined the roadside
selling quaint cakes and fruit, and here and there a stall was gay and
sweet-smelling with little heaps of gathered rose leaves and yellow
blooms of fragrant chimpaka. The Wodena and his visitor called on the
chief Chinese of the town, of which race he informed him there were two
hundred all told. These people scarcely resembled the Chinamen as known
to X., since they had all been born and bred in the neighbourhood, and
not one of them had experience of life beyond the island of Java. The
head Chinaman produced various curios--so considered--for inspection,
these being sent for from the pawn-shops close by. The Wodena
volunteered the information that large quantities of opium were consumed
in the district. This meant, as there were no Chinese, the habitual use
of this drug amongst the people. After this walk the little procession
wended its way back to the Wodena's house. Dinner that night proved a
weird meal, as Usoof, who cooked, had gone to the neighbouring village
of Tambak, where he found his mother dwelt, and Abu, who had never
cooked anything more complicated than rice, tried his 'prentice hand.
The next day was Sunday, and the weekly fair was at its height till
twelve noon. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people were packed tightly
together, line after line, under little sheds, selling sarongs and
cloths of every conceivable colour, with hats, mats, and native
ornaments of all descriptions. It was an animated scene, and one not
easily forgotten, and this was the first time, if the Wodena was to be
believed, that any white man had seen it. Be that as it may, or perhaps
as it may not, X. allowed himself the satisfaction of believing that it
was the first time that any Englishman had seen it.
After the fair the traveller returned home, and there received a visit
from Usoof and his mother. He had found her, and the object of his
journey to Java was accomplished. It appears that he had met her while
walking along a path by the river, which his awakened memory recalled
would lead him to his home. And she, noting his unusual dress and
stranger-like appearance, stopped to ask whether he had any news of her
son who many years ago had gone away to Singapore, and to whom she had
so frequently written, receiving no reply. She feared he was dead, but
as the kind stranger came from foreign parts it was possible that
amongst the colony of Javanese in Singapore he might have heard of her
long-lost son.
Such was the meeting, and a dramatic and successful climax to what had
seemed a somewhat forlorn quest. Had I the pen of a Swettenham or a
Clifford, those sympathetic spinners of delightful tales of a race whose
childish faith so lends itself to story, I might here find material for
pages of a charming romance. But in reality there was little romance
about Usoof, rather a sturdy honesty and affection, as he brought his
poor mother in her humble attire and presented her to his Tuan, who, at
that moment, bored to death by his kind host, who would not cease to
entertain him by sitting by him in attentive silence, would have
welcomed any diversion as a boon.
But the poor lady, according to the custom of the country, could only
prostrate herself outside the house nor venture nearer than some dozen
yards, probably regarding her new-found son, who stood upright, as some
knave who courted death.
This system of obeisance had been rather embarrassing to X., since all
the retainers of his host stooped low and crept about while his own
attendants had maintained their usual attitudes with occasional lapses
from the perpendicular. For there had been intervals over night when,
realizing his conspicuous position, Abu had wandered about awkwardly
doubled up, and offered cigarettes and liquid refreshment from somewhere
among the legs of the table, startling his master by his sudden cat-like
appearance in unexpected places, while there was that in his eye which
said, "Do not expect this sort of thing to continue when we get you
home."