< Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu
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88

A Real Sultan's Strange Body-Guard

OF Eastern monarchs none retain such a strange and picturesque bodyguard as the Sultan of D3^okja, one of Java's few remaining native rulers. Surrounded by hordes of strangely uniformed retainers, consist- ing of soldiers, musicians, singers, dancers, bearers of the royal fan and umbrella, pipe, and betel-box, his court presents an extraordinary spectacle, re- calling a comic opera on a colossal scale.

��Popular Science Monthly

The time to visit this court is dur- ing one of the many native festivals. Then one may witness a sight which for Oriental pomp and grandeur and startling effect has certainly no equal. (Jn that occasion the troops appear in the weirdest of costumes. There are uniforms of every shade and color — black, white, blue, pink, and green — uniforms made up of several colors, striped uniforms, and uniforms enriched with gold lace and other trim- mings. Some take the form of tightly-

��The general

of the Sultan

of Dyokja's

army

���The sultan of Dyokja, in Java, maintains a court which must be the envy of the comic

opera librettists. The uniforms are all queer, and the etiquette is individual and very

Javanese, especially in minor matters of oriental deportment

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