The Shallow Seas by Dawn Farnham

Author:Dawn Farnham
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9789810810795
Publisher: Monsoon Books Pte Ltd
Published: 2012-02-14T20:00:04+00:00

16

Two days later they left for the interior. The Duke was to accompany them for an extended visit to the Resident of Surakarta. Whilst Charlotte had made a moue at this news, Nathanial assured her it was all to the good. The presence of such a personage, a relation of the King of the Netherlands, no matter the distance, would ensure they would be received with the greatest of honours. When she discovered the Duke was to travel separately, accompanied by his own aide de camp and guard, the Commander of the Semarang garrison’s aide de camp, a contingent of soldiers and a swarm of servants, she relaxed.

She had been awakened at four o’clock and risen reluctantly. In the moonlight she saw Nathanial, who had risen even earlier to load the carriage, standing with two servants. There were six horses to pull them, for there had been considerable rain overnight and the road was heavy going. She and Takouhi slumbered fitfully in starts and snatches until the sun began to rise.

The soft light of dawn revealed a vast sweep of countryside, green and peaceful, dotted with villages and rice fields, like so many in Java, neat and clean, on the banks of a sparkling stream. No pen could write, no tongue could utter, Charlotte thought, the sheer beauty of Java. Everywhere the shapes of mountains dominated the landscape, some smoking ominously. To their right lay Mount Merbabu and beyond that Mount Merapi, the sacred mountain of Java, its crown wreathed in ashy smoke and cloud. The road continued to rise.

They stopped to take some refreshment at a post station whilst two buffalo were sought to yoke to the team, for, from here, the climb was very steep and the horses alone could not manage. They could only proceed at walking pace, so Charlotte and Nathanial left Takouhi to sleep for an hour or two. Accompanied by two of Tigran’s guardians, they set out.

Nathanial pointed out statues standing by the roadside. One was an image of the Boodha and the other of Siva, doubtless brought from one of the hundreds of temples which lay all around them, covered in long grasses and bushes.

“Indian kingdoms must have dominated this area of central Java for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years,” Nathanial said. “We are still not sure how the Hindoo and Boodha faiths are related or indeed if they are related. In my view, one of Raffles’s great acts in Java was the discovery and description of the Hindoo temples at Brambanan and the mountain of Boodha at Boro Bodo. Raffles always believed that Java was the home of civilisations as mighty as any in Europe, and these monuments were the proof.”

Nathanial stopped at a bridge where some stones provided a way to ford the stream. Helping Charlotte, he scrambled down the bank. Each of the sections of stones was intricately carved and sculpted with figures, plants and arabesque borders. Many depicted girls holding a lotus or other large flower. Charlotte was struck by the elegant proportion of their forms and their exquisite grace.

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