TRAVEL NOTES FROM THE EAST.

Otago Witness, Issue 3994, 30 September 1930, Page 79

TRAVEL NOTES FROM THE EAST.

By

R. J. Terry.

SINGAPORE, August 15.

I am writing this from Singapore. It’s hard to realise that I am only about 16 days away from New Zealand if the connections fitted in. It has been a wonderful trip, and up to now has realised more than my expectations as regards health and foods as affecting humans, but it is not my intention to deal with dry, hard facts at the present time. I will endeavour to describe some of the things I have seen, and leave the strictly health matters till my return. The first port after Australia was Macassar. Well, the chief thing that strikes one on entering iacassar is the smell. Some of you may have heard “ Smell the Bay of Naples and die ” — it applies tenfold to Macassar. Due chiefly to wide-open drains flowing into the ‘ harbour, you strike the accumulated odour of these drains as soon as you land. It might be said: “Then how does rhe native manage to exist?” The answer undoubtedly is“ Because the drains are open and exposed to the fierce sunlight.” We in our conceit would close the drains in and there would be epidemics, although we might check the smell to a considerable extent. The natives of Macassar are small and not of a very good type of physique—with a lew outstanding exceptions—probably due to an infusion of blood. The children appear to. be puny, but a short distance outside of the town, where you find the agricultural worker, a decided improvement is at once shown. I was so impressed with the want of development in some of the plants, goats, P onies, horses, and the people that I took samples of soil, milk, and other things. It is probable I shall be able to analyse these in Japan. If not, they are sealed and will keep until my return! The interior of the island is very wild and a large portion in a state of Nature. There are huge reptiles, including pythons, which are quite common. I saw one measuring about 16 feet. I understand that tigers can still be found in the interior.

I was so impressed with statements made regarding Bali (pronounced Bally), which is a comparatively small island off the coast of Java, but in many respects the inhabitants are distinct from the Javanese as 'is also the religion. The Balinese claim to have come from India at least over 1000 years ago—some claim much longer than that. Steamers cannot go alongside at Bali as there is only a short, lightly-built jetty, and we were taken ashore in native boats. The development of Bali, as~we know development, has practically all taken place in the last 10 years. There are but few roads, but they are more than equal to anything we have in New Zealand outside of concrete roads. One road leads to the south -of the island, and a branch of it rises to a height of 0000 feet. There are a few motor cars on the island and three guides. I was very fortunate as regards my guide, he claims to be a Chinese, but there is evidently some other mixture of blood. I can quite forgive any tourist who .visits Bali coming to the conclusion, in the first quarter of an hour, that this was probably the Garden of Eden. Nothing more beautiful and peaceful can be imagined. The low hills are terraced for the •growing rice, and the peculiar thing as regards the growing of this rice is

that it can be grown at any' time of the year. You see terraces flooded with water, others just planted, and the seedlings showing just above the water, and as the growth progresses, so the plant becomes a darker green till it is mature, and then commences to turn to gold. Imagine a saddle in the hills terraced with this varying colour, framed on either side by coconut and betelnut palms, and on the road and in the fields bright patches of -colour due to the clothing of the natives. The whole seems to blend and give one an idea of prosperity and peace. Near the port, which is very small, a certain amount of clothing is worn. As one progresses into the south of the island this becomes less, till all the women either working or walking along the roads are bare from the waist upwards; the men similar when working, but have a covering when walking along the road. The bulk of the heavy work appears to be done by the women, who carry very heavy loads, even up to 1001 b, on their heads, with the result that the Balinese have a wonderful carriage and walk with a swinging grace. The interested parties who induced us to take these trips, have a few photographs of very beautiful Balinese women,

but one more often sees the other side , of the picture. Stilly one gladly admits that, taken all round, they are a wonderful type, due in a large measure to exposure to the sun, sleeping in the •open, and wearing very little clothing. By the way, I have forgotten to describe the clothing. It consists of a piece of cloth brightly coloured reaching from the waist to the calf of the leg or lower, and is called a “ sarong ” —it is worn alike by men and women. All go barefooted. Young children do not wear any clothes. Going towards the southern part of the island you reach a height of 3000 feet, and as the sun sets the cool breezes give grateful relief from the heat of the day, which is somewhat distressing at

mid-day. The population of this small island is well over a million, and every half mile or so you pass through a small village, and continually you are passing natives along the road. Often there were flocks of ducks, very much resembling Indian runners, on the terraces when they are being reploughed or irrigated with a view to keeping the worms in check and giving to the soil a certain amount of manure from the ducks.

After dinner, which was about 8 o’clock, I could hear tom-toms, so decided to chance things and follow the natives who all seemed to be going in one direction. Eventually I came to an open space where so-called dancing was taking place. In reality it was posturing of both men and women; their posturing is very remarkable and almost speaks. The natives appear to be very inoffensive, as at times they became enthusiastic and were inclined to crowd but invariably one of them would speak to the other, and 1 was given sufficient elbow room. It was rather too hot to sleep soundly that night, and one was somewhat disturbed at the size of the cockroaches, which were eight or 10 times larger than we know them. Further, you will see lizards running along the wall or even from the ceiling and chasing mosquitoes or other insects, and one wondered how it would feel if they fell on one’s face, but I never saw one fall from the wall or ceiling. The Balinese are agriculturists pure and simple, they have no business instincts; the Chinese supply this want and take full advantage of it, or at least as far as the Dutch will allow them. One sees in the East the enormous possibilities of this peaceful penetration of the Chinese. The main street certainly did contain some smell, as do most native quarters in the tropics, but it was due apparently to dried fish, consumed to a considerable extent by the Chinese.

At first sight one would say that the Balinese were very clean. They bathe three times a day, and you are impressed until you see them bathe; anything which is wet is water, no stream of water is too small to wash in, they will wash the pig and the baby side by side. I understand that in Java and Bali, if one asked for the locality of a convenience, they are likely to say: “ Lead me to a small stream or to a big stream ” —in other words, streams are used for all purposes, including bathing and washing of clothes. The action of the sun must be the factor that prevents epidemics. I have taken samples of these streams and also samples of cloth washed in the stream before and after exposure to the sun. I hope to get the results in Japan. A mongrel type of pig is grown in large numbers and exported to Java by boat. I am not certain whether the Balinese eat pork or not. They rear a fair quantity of sacred cattle, which they do not eat but sell, so it may be the same with the pig. Imagine an Eastern bazaar with a fierce tropical sun and about 40 native women in one portion of it, bare from the waist upwards, each cuddling a pig—this ortion was evidently the pig market. I found no trouble in entering the compounds or clusters of village huts, and I was unattended by the guide as he had gone with a party who wished to view the temples Evidently I was quite as much of a curiosity to them as they were to me. The so-called houses would be emptied and I would be escorted round the compounds. Pigs and chickens were everywhere. The most remarkable thing was that there was practically no smell. I am speaking now of the suburbs. In one instance there were four adult pigs, nine halfgrown, and 11 small ones on a piece of ground about CO feet by 40 feet. I could only come to the' conclusion that, as it was the dry season, the atmosphere was so dry and the soil of a light open nature that it acted as a deodoriser. What happens in the rainy season I cannot say, but it is highly probable the rain is'so heavy that everything is washed away. I am judging by the guttering and'the down pipes at the rest house, which were about four times as large as in New Zealand. Eventually I visited the hospital, and although the doctor in charge and the matron could not speak fluent English, still we . managed to understand each other fairly well, and they were extremely courteous, far more 'so than the ordinary Dutch official who did not seem to have a very good impression of New Zealand, which he classes together with Australia. The Dutch official, with a few notable exceptions, has a very exalted idea of himself, possibly due to seldom coming into contact with those outside the public service or natives; I am now speaking of Bali, where there were practically no ordinary civilians except Chinese storekeepers, etc. Managing a hospital in Bali must be extremely trying. The matron took me for a walk to view the wards. In the first room there was a na.. e woman sick on a typical hospital cot, but immediately on our entering, several natives who were reclining on sleeping mats on the floor stood at semi-attention. The matron, who was evidently watching my face, and enjoying its look, then said: “ Are you surprised?” I didn’t know exactly what to say, because the beds on the floor were certainly not tidy. Then she explained to. me that they were friends of the p..tient who s'rayeu with her, and that a native would not come to a hospital to stay if her friends were not present. The doctor stated that when he took over, one sick mqn had 19 friends or relatives staying with him. The friends cooked their own

food, and either camped in the room with the patient, or if there were too many some of them slept outside. Whilst this continues, the accommodation of the hospital certainly could not exceed more than six or eight patients. I found that the diseases introduced by white men were- already prevalent; T.B. was also creeping in, but only with the better class or richer natives who lived in houses and copied European manners and food. Goitre was prevalent in the hill country. Now, I want you to grasp this, my readers: that goitre was prevalent in the hill country, and the hill country is in the of the island—the furthermost point from the sea—therefore the land would be lacking in iodine and certain mineral salts.