September 18, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



251 



his experience while searching for the well-known 

 'Larkin despatch.' In closing, Mr. Schuyler de- 

 clared, that if the papers now unpublished, and hid- 

 den from the world in these great foreign store-houses, 

 were printed, the history of the American revo- 

 lution, and of the early years of our country, would 

 have to he entirely re- written. He asked the associa- 

 tion to petition the government to catalogue all papers 

 accessible in foreign countries, and to transcribe and 

 print those that are of importance. 



PUPPET-SHOWS IN JAVA, 



The Javanese take great delight in theatrical per- 

 formances. One form of these is the Wajang, or pan- 



stage properties, and a jar in which incense is burned 

 before the performance, and a copper basin to receive 

 offerings to the spirits (which consist of food, of 

 which it is thought the spirits eat the immaterial 

 part, although in fact the Dalang or one of the mu- 

 sicians takes it home). 



The puppets are about two feet high, and are made 

 of very thick buffalo-leather, or carved from wood, 

 painted all sorts of colors, and sometimes gilded or 

 silvered, those highly ornamented representing peo- 

 ple of rank. Their forms are hideous, and have 

 nothing human about them. The arms, which are 

 movable by little rods attached to the extremities, 

 and hands, are very long and narrow; the face is 

 pointed, and resembles the beak of a bird (some, 

 however, are round, and decorated with a huge nose 



BEHIND THE SCENES AT A PUPPET-SHOW IN JAVA. 



tomimes, where the actors are represented by puppets 

 moved by a man called the Dalang, who recites all 

 the parts. For the performances a curtain is erected, 

 on which the shadows of the puppets are thrown. 

 The women are placed on one side of this curtain, 

 the Dalang on the other. At his right sit the 

 men, and at his left the young people. By this ar- 

 rangement, only the men see the puppets directly: 

 the women see only the shadows. Behind the Da- 

 lang is the orchestra ; and around him are scattered his 

 Translated from La nature. 



and teeth); the eyes are either narrow and long, or 

 large and round ; and some have an enormous stom- 

 ach, while others are hump-baclYed. These forms 

 explain themselves; for they can only represent con- 

 ventional types well known to the people, whose 

 characteristics are exaggerated in order the easier to 

 be recognized. 



The origin of the puppets, according to the Java- 

 nese, is as follows : One morning, while a woman 

 was engaged in washing her rice, she saw the trunk 

 of a tree floating toward her. She tried to push it 



