ROMANTIC ISLES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 44, 21 February 1942, Page 6

ROMANTIC ISLES

BALI AND TIMOR

SCENES OF JAP. RAIDS

The very name of Bali, which Japanese bombs have desecrated, seizes the imagination. Temples' brown bodies, grotesque idols, lushgreen paddy, fluttering of fingers and fan, fighting cocks in wicker baskets are brought to the mind at mention of this romantic island.

Lying to the east of Java across a narrow strait, Bali is only 70 miles long by 50 miles broad, and is 2240 square miles in extent, yet it supports a population of more than a million people. Dotted with volcanoes, one of which leaped into activity some 20 years ago, bringing death and destruction, here is the explanation of the ability of this small island to support so great a number of people in such a limited area. For the mountains wring from the tropical sky rain which spreads the fertile volcanic soil which plays so great a part in the agricultural life of the island. I

The Balinese are a superior race and speak a language related to the Javanese. Their religion is Brahmanism of an ancient type. One invariably associates with them music and the dance. The music of the gamelan, the native orchestra, resembles modern swing. Around a classic theme handed down unwritten through generations, each leaderless orchestra gives its own interpretation. As an American swing leader modernising an old melody, bases his variations on the musical memories of his audience, so the gamelan orchestra weaves intricate, sophisticated counterpoint on the study warp j of familiar themes.

The Balinese dances are of varying .spirit and movement. There is the kebiyar, a sitting dance, wherein the performer interprets musical moods by swift-changing facial expressions, swaying of torso and nimble movements of head, hands and arms. There are rhythmic pantomimes depicting legends ages old, performed by artists whose training begins at three or four, and whose career ends at puberty. But the love of dancing does not die. even in 13-year-old veterans, and troupes of adult performers indulge in the art. Timor's Fertility About 600 miles east of Bali is the island of Timor, which is also one of the latest victims of Japanese aggression. This almost unknown neighbour of Australia is picturesque in the extreme. Small strips of coastal plain and river flats lead up to well-wooded hills and mountains rising to 9000 ft at the highest peak The countryside is slashed here and there by precipitous streams, roaring torrents in the rainy season but waterless and gleaming white in the dry.

From the humid coastal plains to the highlands a varietv of climatic conditions, rainfall and soil exists making possible the production of an equally wide range of foodstuffs from rice, copra and cotton to tobacco, tea, coffee, cocoa and fruits and vegetables such as are usually grown in more temperate lands.

Japanese action in regard to Portuguese Timor can be said to date from 1937, when an announcement was made that a Japanese company had decided to start a trading concern on this half of the island Ascendancy in Portuguese Timor is undoubtedly part of the Japanese southern drive.