bitants, the whole encircled by a high
wall four miles in length. Everything that the sovereign can require,
every necessity and luxury of life, every adjunct of pleasure, is
assembled within the kraton. As the Sultan's world is practically
bounded by his palace walls, the kraton is to all intents and purposes
a little kingdom in itself, for there dwell within it, besides the
officials of the household and the women of the harem, soldiers,
priests, gold and silversmiths, tailors, weavers, makers of batik,
civil engineers, architects, carpenters, stonemasons, manufacturers of
musical instruments, stage furniture, and puppets, all supported by the
court. The Sultan rarely leaves the kraton save on occasions of
ceremony, when he appears in state, a thin, aristocratic-looking old
man, somewhat taller than the average of his subjects, wrapped in a
sarong of cloth-of-gold, hung with jewels, shaded by a golden parasol,
surrounded by an Arabian Nights court, and guarded--curious
contrast!--by a squadron of exceedingly businesslike-looking Dutch
cavalry in slouch hats and green denim uniforms.

The first impression which one receives upon entering the inner
precincts of the kraton is of tawdriness and dilapidation. Half-naked
soldiers of the royal body-guard, armed with ten-foot pikes and clad
only in baggy, scarlet breeches and brimless caps of black leather,
shaped like inverted flower-pots, lounge beside the gateway giving
access to the Sultan's quarters or snore blissfully while stretched
beneath the trees. The "Ruler of the World" receives his visitors--who,
if they are foreigners, must always be accompanied by the Dutch
Resident or a member of his staff--in the _pringitan_, or hall of
audience, an immense, marble-floored chamber, supported by many marble
columns. The _pringitan_ is open on three sides, the fourth
communicating with the royal apartments and the harem, to which
Europeans are never admitted. At the rear of the _pringitan_ are a
number of ornate state beds, hung with scarlet and heavily gilded,
evidently placed there for purposes of display, for they showed no
evidences of having been slept in. Close by is a large glass case
containing specimens of the taxidermist's art, including a number of
badly moth-eaten birds of paradise. On the walls I noticed a
steel-engraving of Napoleon crossing the Alps, a number of English
sporting prints depicting hunting and coaching scenes, and three
villainous chromos of Queen