sovereignty. The shadowy
paraphernalia of vanished power is still accorded to the Sultan of
Djokjacarta, in melancholy travesty of past authority, though every
hereditary privilege has been wrested from his grasp. A curious relic
of primitive days remains in the _al fresco_ Throne of Judgment, a
block of stone beneath a rudely-tiled canopy, moss-grown and hoary. Two
ancient waringen-trees, their aerial roots, drooping branches, and
colossal main trunks denoting an almost fabulous age, flank the
historic seat, where the turbaned Ruler administered justice to the
surging crowd which thronged around him, the indigo garb of the
Soendanese contrasting with the gay _sarongs_ of Central Java, glowing
in the hot sunlight as it poured through the dark trellis of fluttering
boughs. The city in the course of ages moved away from this ancient
centre, and the rustic Throne is now remote from the heart of civic
life. The streets of Djokjacarta, and the surrounding roads, consist of
shady avenues, where open _tokos_ (the native shops) vary the monotony
of Dutch villas, their white colonnades and porticos gleaming against
the background of stately trees, and rising from a mass of tropical
vegetation. The prevailing indigo of Soendanese dress gives a dull
aspect to the wide but squalid streets, for in native capitals, though
Dutch cleanliness may enforce perpetual "tidying up," the lacking sense
of order produces a strange impermanence in the conditions insisted
upon. The inner court of the Sultan's Kraton, or Royal Enclosure, is
now taboo to visitors, for the barbaric monarch, on the plea of age and
infirmity, has obtained the privilege of privacy, and the Palace can
only be seen through a personal interview. The outer courts are
accessible to carriages, which make the square-mile circuit of the
spacious quadrangles. Massive gates and crumbling machicolated walls
command a green plain, where immense waringen-trees, clipped into the
semblance of evergreen umbrellas, display the Eastern symbol of
sovereignty. Officials passing to and fro show a continuous procession
of these State _pajongs_. The Sultan's august head is canopied with
gold, edged by an orange stripe, the Crown Prince sporting an umbrella
with a golden border. Sultanas and royal children are known by white
_pajongs_, while the vast concourse of Court officials, with umbrellas
of pink, blue, red, black, purple and green, show their status to the
initiated eye through the seq