Wilhelmina, Prince Henry of the
Netherlands, and the Princess Juliana.

Thanks to the courtesy of the Resident, who had notified the
authorities of the royal household of our visit in advance, we found
that a series of Javanese dances had been arranged in our honor. Now
Javanese dancing is about as exciting as German grand opera, and, like
opera, one has to understand it to appreciate it. Personally, I should
have preferred to wander about the kraton, but court etiquette demanded
that I should sit upon a hard and exceedingly uncomfortable chair
throughout a long and humid morning, with the thermometer registering
one hundred and four degrees in the shade, and watch a number of
anaemic and dissipated-looking youths, who composed the royal ballet,
go through an interminable series of posturings and gestures to the
monotonous music of a native orchestra.

Those who have gained their ideas of Javanese dancing from the
performances of Ruth St. Denis and Florence O'Denishawn have
disappointment in store for them when they go to Java. To tell the
truth I found the dancers far less interesting than their audience,
which consisted of several hundred women of the harem, clad in filmy,
semi-transparent garments of the most beautiful colors, who watched the
proceedings from the semi-obscurity of the _pringitan_. I cannot be
certain, because the light was poor and their faces were in the
shadow, but I think that there were several extremely good-looking
girls among them. There was one in particular that I remember--a
slender, willowy thing with an apricot-colored skin and an oval,
piquant face framed by masses of blue-black hair. Her orange sarong was
so tightly wound about her that she might as well have been wearing a
wet silk bathing-suit, so far as concealing her figure was concerned.
Whenever she caught my eye she smiled mischievously. I should have
liked to have seen more of her, but an unamiable-looking sentry armed
with a large scimitar prevented.

By extraordinary good fortune we arrived in Djokjakarta on the eve of
the celebration of a double royal wedding, two of the Sultan's
grandsons marrying two of his granddaughters. Thanks to the cooperation
of the Dutch Resident, Hawkinson was enabled to obtain a remarkable
series of pictures of the highly spectacular marriage ceremonies, it
being the first time, I believe, that a motion-picture camera had been
permitted within the closely guarded precincts of the kraton.

The