IN THE FAR EAST

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 188, 11 August 1931, Page 6

IN THE FAR EAST

CITY WITH 60 TEMPLES AN ADDRESS TO ROTARIANS Although Air Cranleigh Barton said that he would find it very hard to give the Wanganui Rotary Club an impression of a six-months’ tour in the East in thirty-five minutes, he succeeded yesterday in a manner which drew very hearty applause from the members, and a request to speak again. Vivid, if necessarily cursory, was Iris description of the many different places which he had visited and of the sights which he had seen. Al a king ’ip the coast of Australia he had visited amongst other places Alakassar, Bali. Sourabaya, Batavia, Singapore. Bang kok, Saigon and Angkor. Air Barton briefly outlined the points of interest in his visit. Cremation. It was at Bali that Mr Barton saw the custom of the inhabitants of that island in cremating their dead. Cremation in Bali, said Air Barton, was no r regarded as anything sorrowful for i‘ was considered that the sorrow had been incurred when the person had died When he xvas cremated it was regard ed as the passing on to another world and therefore more a matter for rejoicing. It was not the correct thing for any member of a family to be cremated until his older relations had dir i and had been cremated. If a young member of the family died his bodv would be embalmed and kept until the older members of the family had passed away before his own time came to be cremated. Great preparations were made for the i ceremony which, though it was rathei interesting, was rather drawn out. A tower was .milt of bamboo and was about 100 feet high. On this occasion two bodies had been placed on the top of it and the whole carried through chstreet to the place appointed for thr cremation. The huge bulk was carried by relays of men while others would rush down the side streets to give the devils the slip. Before the bodies were cremated they were placed in receptacles and hundreds of women came from the many temples and poured water and food over them. Afterwards the bodiexuere burnt The huge, tower was also burnt. Native life was very interesting in Bali, continued the speaker, and the island had a population of about a million natives. Although the Dutch go\ erned the island they were very rnr<dv seen. He found the’ Dutch to be most kind and hospitable people. One of the chief differences of their mode of liv ing in the East as compared with that of the English people was that the Dutch ate enormously largo meals. Thev would then sleep during the aftornnor, and appear about five o’clock in pyjamas ready for afternoon tea. Rico Fields. The Balinese were Hindoos and therwere no missionaries on the island Three months’ work was sufficient to keep them in food for the remainder of the year. During the remaining nine months time was much taken up with religious rites which were spread out over the twelve months. The count’w was wonderfully prolific, and the ricfields had been brought up to a verv high state of cultivation, reaching their present state of productivity after 100 years. Every available foot of land w ■ worked, It was most interesting to see the rice fields for there was no de finite time for planting or sowing. Tn one field the natives might be planting the rice while in the other thev would be harvesting; in another ploughing. “Temples in Bali are magnificent.” said Mr Barton. “During the week or ten days T was there 1 saw between 50 and 60. There seems to be more merit in building temples than in keeping the old ones in repair. The carvings on them are very beautiful and looks like lacework set in stone.” Eastern Dancing. Dancing girls wore trained when they were five years old and were in the’’-hey-dav when they were about 12 years old. They were trained most rigorou--Iv and wore very beautiful women. The dances themselves wore rather monot onous but beautiful and took the form of a series of postures, being totally different from our own ideas of dancing. There was no charge to see. the-<-dancers and the people themselves di<! not seem to mind anybody coming iri. The orchestra which supplied the music for the dancers was quite pic turesque while the leader or conductor was a very big man in the island. The speaker had been told that one of them had been offered 13.000 dollars to go to America but he had refused. Tn order to show that he was an important personage the “conductor” would let hil- - nails on his left hand grow to the length of about a foot. Goat Fighting. In Java Air Barton said he had seen as many as twenty large billy goats which were kept for fighting. Two goats, when brought into the ring, seem ed to know exactly what was expected of them for they charged each other at once and the noise made by their skulls knocking together was like re volver shots. The owners would often run along beside their animal and encourage it to butt harder. Cock fighting was also popular but the Dutch were trying to suppress it. Singapore was most interesting, said Mr Barton, and it was very pleasant to meet English people again. He ha 1 held an exhibition while he was there and it had been interesting to see the manner in which the Chinese attended. Throe students became particularly taken with his work and asked if thev might watch him sketching. They took him to manv beautiful temples, and places which he might otherwise not have seen. Bangkok was another tremendously interesting city. It was called f he Venice of the East. There was a large amount of native shipping but the wa ter was not of the cleanest for the natives used it for bathing, washing clothing and every conceivable use beside drinking. The temples were rather more beautiful than they were at Bali. Afanv of them contained huge figures of Buddha while another was built of white marble. Tn one place he had seen a temple with a solid silver floor, and in another there had been a large Buddha of solid cold which simply bristled with diamonds. Ancient Civilisation. One of the most unique places waAngkor. It was here that the ramainsof an ancient civilisation were to be seen.

the bill for it« journev up-stream. It was said that at the time when Angkor was flourishing it contained more inhabitants than Rome in the time of Augustus. There were many different theories as to why the city and wonderful buildings had been abandoned. One of its temples was three mileround. Saigon was occupied by the French and therefore it was not unnatural to fnd a miniature Paris with boulevard-' complete. There was, however a very large native population and it was here that one felt very pleased that one had been born an Englishman, said Mr Barton. The natives seemed to sleep anvw’hcre they fell and lived on the plain est and meagre food. On the conclusion of his address Mr Barton was accorded a very hearty vote .of thanks and waa warmly applauded by his audience.