THE TIMOR GROUP 
349 
have also walls of clay with a thatch of grass or palm 
leaves. Their agriculture is very perfect, and owing to the 
fertility of the volcanic soil and the constant supply of 
water for irrigation, their fields produce a continual succes¬ 
sion of crops, giving the country the appearance of a vast 
and highly-cultivated garden. The chief export is coffee, 
of which £43,750 worth was shipped in 1890. Tobacco, 
cattle, and copra to the amount of over £10,000 each 
were also exported, but there is not otherwise much trade, 
and these figures also include Lombok. 
The Balinese are fair handicraftsmen, especially in 
gold and iron, making excellent weapons with the rudest 
tools and appliances, including even long-barrelled guns 
with flint locks, used in war and for shooting wild cattle. 
The language, though written in the Javanese character, 
and, like it, having two different forms or dialects— 
the high and low Balinese — is quite distinct. The 
ancient Kawi language, extinct in Java, is still used by 
the priests and in legal business. There is a written code, 
both civil and criminal. Literature was abundantly 
represented in almost all its branches, but a period of 
decadence has set in, and the Balinese are no longer the 
cultured race they were in former days. The religion 
prevalent is a mixture of Buddhism and Brahmanism, 
but numbers of the coast people are Mohammedans. 
The people are divided, as among the old Hindus, into 
four castes—priests, soldiers, merchants, and labourers, 
and there is also a Pariah class; the second order, that 
of soldiers, includes almost all the rajas, gustis, and 
governing classes. Caste prejudice and laws are still 
very strong, and the burning of widows and slaves on 
the death of great men is apparently still practised, 
although the victims usually stab themselves before the 
fire is lighted. 
