ABSTRACT
Intention of the present chapter.—Architecture.—Great variety of dwellings.—No modern architecture of durable materials, and why.—Among the more civilized tribes, two distinct characters of dwellings occur.—Dwellings of the agricultural and maritime tribes.—Nature of materials used for building.— The building called a Pandapa.— Description of a Javanese palace.—A village and town described.— Varieties of both. —Character and description of the household furniture of the Indian islanders.—A durable architecture never applied by the Indian islanders to works of public utility, and the cause.—Nature of ancient tanks.—Mahomedan buildings dedicated to religion.—Ignorance of the modern Javanese in architecture.—Art of weaving.—Its origin among the Indian islanders.—Manufacture of cotton fabrics acquired from the Hindus.— The labours of the loom, among the Indian islanders, confined to the women, an evidence of barbarity.—Description and character of the process.— Art of dyeing and painting cloth.—Indian islanders taught the use of silk by the Hindus.— Working of metals.—Of 156gold.—Silver, a foreign metal.—Manufacture of iron.— Description of tools.—Peculiar scarcity of iron in the Archipelago, and its consequences.— Chiefly employed in the fabrication of warlike implements.—Manufacture of the subordinate metals.—Carpentery.—Boats and vessels. —Art of fishing.—Its importance and extent among the Indian islanders, and how practised.—In what form fish prepared for use.— Salt.—Manufactured chiefly in Java. —Description of the processes by which it is obtained.— Saltpetre and gunpowder.—General remarks on the arts practised by the Indian islanders.
