GRANDMOTHER AT 28

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 November 1931, Page 10

GRANDMOTHER AT 28

JAVANESE CUSTOMS. SYDNEY, October 17. A grandmother at 28; her daughter, just turned 14, mother of a year-old' son! And nothing unusual about it,; either. Girls 15 years of age stroll along’ ’tween decks, crooning to their little brown babies on the Dutch steamer, Le Marie, now at Pyrmcint. Thesteamer has a Javanese colony on board, and their customs are proving a never-ending source of wonder to Pyrmont residents. Huddled together in the ; shelterdeck are 115 men, women, and children, natives of Java and islands .nearby. The adults are on their way home ‘after three years in the nickel mines at New Caledonia. The- younger children, who seem to predominate, first saw the world in French territory.

To Australian eyes the everyday existence of these visitors is astounding. There is a complete lack of ■privacy, the entire complement sleeping together on the; hatches. Few of the children wear a stitch of clothing. Most of the mothers are of extreme youth, for in the East Indies, girls reach womanhood between the 13th and 15th years, and are frequently married before they are 16. The women try hard to copy the French fashions they have seen in Noumea, but fail miserably. All, however, powder their faces in front of cracked mirrors, with what is strongly suspected as being some of the flour which is being loaded into the' ship. The men are inveterate gambler >, playing on make-shift roulette wheels which they have copied frpm the French. It is the chief officer’s duty to discourage gambling and should he discover them with the 'whirling wheel, he takes all the money on ‘board, hhd throws it over the side of the ship.

With the saving of three years, the men have plenty of money, but, being prohibited immigrants, ddnnot go ashore in Sydney to spend it? As all are Mohammedans no food must be eaten that has been killed or cooked by any other than a (follower, of Mohammed. For this reason, a large number of -cows, duckk, and fowls are carried on board, and these are killed and cooked by one of their own religion.

Rice and fish also play a large part in their diet. All food, is eaten with the fingers. Most of them pray, periodically dur. ing the day, supposedly facing Mecca*! but they* always turn to the East. Officers of th© ship are at a : loss to know how they find the Easf. so’ accurately, as they never have> a compass, but they seldom fail to locate, the exact compass bearing, tao matter what part of the world they-hap-pen to be, or whether the sun is visible to guide them.