128 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



Sundanese is ruder and less cultivated, although still 

 possessed, like Javanese, of the two forms of court and 

 vulgar language. It is spoken purest in the west 

 extremity of the island, and is believed to have been 

 introduced by some of the Malay tribes of Sumatra, in 

 parts of which it is also spoken. Madurese, though allied 

 to Javanese, is still sufficiently distinct to take rank as a 

 language. 



7. Religion and Education. 



Little now remains, save the wonderful temples of Bram- 

 banam and Boro-bodor, to mark the wave of Buddhism and 

 Brahmanism that overspread the island in the Middle Ages. 

 Almost all the Javanese are Mohammedans Ijy religion. 

 But, just as the Hindu influence penetrated but little into 

 the fastnesses of the western highlands, so the creed of 

 the Prophet is considerably modified among the Sun- 

 danese of the present day. Every Javanese, indeed, of 

 whatever nation, is more or less of a pagan, whose beliefs 

 and superstitions place him scarcely on a higher level 

 than the Papuan. Attributing to the action of good or 

 malevolent spirits every incident of their lives, and adopt- 

 ing the saints of every calendar, they have succeeded in 

 evolving a religion of their ow^n, so different from that 

 enjoined by Mohammed, that it has even been dignified 

 by the separate title of Javanism. " The whole life of 

 the Javanese, indeed, is enveloped in a mesh of mystery ; 

 not the stars only, and the heavens, rain influence, but 

 from every object a spiritual emanation, invisible for the 

 most part, but potent and exhaustless, flows forth to him 

 for Ijlessing or for curse. Even Mohammedanism with its 

 (3ne God has done little more than increase the number 

 of supersensual beings to whom he prays. To Joseph he 



