198 AUSTRALASIA. 



as ill India, into the four castes of the Brahmans, Kshatryas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. 

 But these primordial groups are again subdivided into numerous sub-castes, while 

 the ancient Balinese nobility constitutes a special class between the Yai'syas and 

 Sudras. All these distinctions are maintained by inveterate custom with pitiless 

 ferocity. The daughter of a Brahman marrying a man of lower position is thrown 

 to the flames, and her lover sewed up in a sack and drowned. Even in the 

 provinces under direct Dutch control, public opinion compels the magistrates to 

 banish any young persons violating the laws of caste. Brahmans have often been 

 known to sla}^ their own daughters guilty of this offence. Nevertheless, inter- 

 crossings are frequent, both Brahmans and nobles having the right to take from 

 the lower ranks as many wives as they like, the offspring of such unions inheriting 

 the paternal caste. 



The Balinese are still worshippers of the Hindu trinity, and everywhere is to 

 be seen the tricolour flag, red, white, and blue, symbolising the Creator, Preserver, 

 and Destroyer. But the effigies of Brahma and Vishnu have for the most part 

 been replaced by those of Durga and Ganesa. Buddhist influences also persist 

 under the outward forms of Brahmanism, and Siva, by far the most popular deity, 

 is invoked as a beneficent god. In other respects the Balinese have little religious 

 zeal, and display no intolerance towards those of other religions. Some thousands 

 of the lower caste have even become Mohammedans, in order thus to improve 

 their social position. But since the murder of a missionary in 1881, all further 

 attempts to propagate Christianity have been discontinued. The thousands of 

 Hindu temples scattered over the island are obviously too numerous for the 

 faithful, for many are in ruins and no one thinks of repairing them. The 

 religious ceremonies observed with the greatest fervour are those connected with 

 husbandry. These agricultural islanders delight in processions round their 

 fields, in worshipping at the little bamboo shrines of the goddess of the crops, and 

 crowning themselves with chaplets of flowers after abundant harvests. 



The religious jurisprudence is excessively harsh, and severe public penances 

 are frequently imposed in order to avert any fancied forebodings of evil. Till 

 recently certain ill omens required the shedding of human blood, at times 

 accompanied even with the most atrocious tortures. One of the hideous devices 

 of the priests was to stretch their victims on the sharp points of young bamboos 

 and leave them to linger for days until released by death from their unspeak- 

 able agony. The wives of Brahmans and of princes were morally bound to perish 

 in the flames kindled to consume the bodies of their husbands, and twenty 

 years after the last case of suttee in India, Bali still had its holocausts of 

 widows. 



The Balinese live almost exclusively on rice, other cereals, and fruits, pork 

 being the only flesh permitted by the priests, who, however, never touch it them- 

 selves. The extensive cocoanut groves yield large quantities of oil, and domestic 

 industries as well as agriculture are even more developed than in Java. The 

 jewellers, metal-chasers, and armourers are very skilful, while the women weave 

 and dye beautiful cotton and silk textiles. 



