386 PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART II. 



vicinity of the so-called Sandy Sea, there live in about forty 

 villages, the remnants of a people which still profess the old 

 Hindoo religion. They are taller and more robust than the 

 other Javanese. 1 The position and the structure of their 

 houses, in the midst of which stands the sanctuary of bricks, 

 which no stranger must touch, are entirely different from any- 

 thing else on the island. 3 The chiefs of every village and his 

 assistants are elective. Four priests, intelligent, but otherwise 

 uneducated men, are the keepers of important documents, and 

 the sacred books, written on lontar-leaves, describing the 

 origin of the world, the attributes of the deity, and the forms 

 of worship ; they perform the marriages, and sing the hymns. 

 " The people universally declare that adultery, theft, and other 

 crimes are never committed amongst them, and that conse- 

 quently there is no punishment for them. If an individual 

 commit any wrong, he is reprimanded by the chief of the 

 village, and this rebuke is considered a sufficient punishment 

 for an inhabitant of Tengger. The authorities of the country 

 confirm this. They are almost exempt from crime, generally 

 peaceable, frugal, and industrious ; gambling and opium are 

 unknown." The whole population amounts to about 1,200 

 souls. They live, without exception, in the fairest and richest 

 region of Java. Their language is the present Javanese. 

 Proud of their independence and morality, they do not inter- 

 mix with the people of the low-lands. 



In contrasting these examples with the laziness and vulgarity 

 into which small communities of civilized Europeans have sunk, 

 when far removed from their native country, we are not merely 

 cautioned against the assumption of specific differences between 

 the white and coloured races : but the question obtrudes itself, 

 whether, after all, it would be so very beneficial for all races to 

 partake of our European civilization ; or whether there are not 

 certain states of culture, which, though differing widely from 

 ours, may not excel it in their moral aspect by the sum of hap- 

 piness and well-being they afford. 



If we admit that instances of this kind refer exclusively to 



1 Jukes, " Narrative of the Surveying Voy. of H.M.S. Fly," ii, p. 80, 1847. 



2 Stamford Raffles, " History of Java," i, p. 329, 1817. 



