Bantam

“ Even in Bantam, where they acknowledge our equal right, they threaten to pull our people out of our factory by the ears, sometimes picking quarrels with them in the streets, and even imprisoning them; and when they themselves have caused an uproar, complaining to the king of Bantam of our unquietness, and bribing him to take their parts. ”

“ In 1683 the Dutch reduced the sultan to vassalage, built the fort of Speelwijk and monopolized the port, which had previously been free to all comers; and for more than a century afterwards Bantam was one of the most important seats of commerce in the East Indies. In 1811 after Batavia had surrendered to the British, Bantam soon followed; but it was restored to the Dutch in 1814. Two years later, however, they removed their chief settlement to the more elevated station of Serang, or Ceram, 7 m. inland, and in 1817 the ruin of Bantam was hastened by a fire.
For "Bantam" fowls see Poultry. ”

“ Bantam had a population in 1897 of 709,339, including 302 Europeans, 1959 Chinese and 89 Arabs and other Asiatic foreigners. The natives are Sundanese, except in the northern or Serang division, where they are Javanese. The coast is low-lying and frequently marshy. The northern portion of the residency constitutes the most fertile portion, is generally flat with a hilly group in the middle, where the two inactive volcanoes, Karang and Pulosari, are found, while the north-western corner is occupied by the isolated Gede Mountain. ”

“ It produces rice, coffee, sugar, cinnamon, &c. Serang is its capital. The town Bantam was the first Dutch settlement in Java (1595) , and for some time their principal mart, though now not so prosperous.
Ban ́tam Fowl, a small but spirited breed of domestic fowl, first brought from the East Indies, supposed to derive its name from Bantam in Java. Most of the sub-varieties have feathered legs; but these are not to be preferred. In point of colour the black and nankeen varieties are the best. A well-bred bantam does not weigh more than a pound. ”

“ The town of Bantam is about three English miles long, and very populous. It has three markets held every day, one in the forenoon and two in the afternoon. That especially which is held in the morning abounds as much in people, and is equally crowded with many of our fairs in England; yet I never saw any cattle there for sale, as very few are bred or kept in the country. The food of the people is almost entirely confined to rice, with some hens and fish, but not in great abundance. All the houses are built of great canes, with a few small timbers, being very slight structures ”

“ Bantam promised this, as indeed he would have any thing else.
“You must go to Old Weasel of Holm-wood,” whispered Marten, laying his forepaws on Bantam’s breast to hold him near him, “and find his daughter. Tell her that young Ferret is a scapegrace and a good-for-nothing fellow, and that Judge Fox has sent him to prison. Then tell her that I am very rich, and that my son Longtail is making a handsome fortune by his school. This is a delicate matter, Bantam: if you manage cleverly, I will be your friend through life ”

“ At Bantam, on the same island, the Dutch have a strong fort with a numerous garrison, to keep the people in awe, who are very mutinous, and far from being well affected to the Dutch government. The king, or rajah of Bantam, has also a fort only a few hundred paces from that belonging to the Dutch, in which be keeps a numerous garrison for the security of his person. The only commodity of this part of the country is pepper, of which they are able to export 10,000 tons yearly. The king is obliged to supply the company with a certain quantity of pepper yearly ”

“ Bantam keepers who have a surplus of such products can usually find customers in their own neighborhood. The very small bantams and the very rare varieties are usually delicate and so hard to rear that amateurs who try them soon become discouraged and either give up bantams or take one of the hardy kinds. It is better to begin with one of the popular varieties, which are as interesting as any and, on the whole, are the most satisfactory. ”

“ Bantam, a town of Java Major, stands in latitude 6° S. and the variation here is 3° W. [142] It is a place of great resort by various nations, and where many different commodities are to be bought and sold, though of itself it produce few things, besides provisions, cotton-wool, and pepper. The quantity of this last at the yearly harvest, which is in October, may be about 32,000 sacks, each containing 49-1/2 Chinese cattees, and each cattee 21-1/2 rials English. ”

“ Lancaster now determined to make his way home by way of the Sunda Straits. Experience had shown him that Acheen was a hopeless place for business in present circumstances, and that the real centres of the spice trade was at Priaman to the southward on the eastern coast of Sumatra and at Bantam on the island of Java. It was clearly in this direction that the permanent establishment could be most profitably located, more especially as the Dutch had made Bantam their headquarters. ”

“ The immediate and principal object of this Company, therefore, was to obtain pepper and other spices; accordingly their ships, on their first voyage, sailed to Bantam, where they took in pepper, to the Banda isles; where they took in nutmeg and mace, and to Amboyna, where they took in cloves. On this expedition the English established a factory at Bantam. In 1610, this Company having obtained a new charter from James I., built the largest merchant ship that had ever been built in England, of the burthen of 1100 tons, which with three others they sent to India. ”

“ What is there in mere extent of land? Even a desert turns into heaven when it falls to the care of a fortunate owner. The unknown petty village of Madras, formerly called Chinnapattanam or Madraspattanam, was sold by the Raja of Chandragiri to a company of merchants. Then the English had their principal trade in Java, and Bantam was the centre of England's Asiatic trade. Madras and other English trade settlements in India were under the control of Bantam. Where is that Bantam now? And what development that Madras has made! It is not whole truth to say that fortune favours the enterprising man ”

“ The King of Bantam is an absolute sovereign, and since the deposition and death of the late Emperor of Damacke he is considered as the principal king of the whole island. He uses martial law on any offender he is disposed to punish. If the wife or wives of any private individual are guilty of adultery, upon good proof, both the woman and her paramour are put to death. They may put their slaves to death for any small fault. ”

“ Commencing from the west, the province, or as it is usually termed, the kingdom of Bantam (properly Bántan) occupies the first place. This extensive province forms a large portion of the island. It is washed on three sides by the sea. At the [Vol I Pg 10] east it joins with the environs and highlands of Batavia and the district of Chi-ánjur, and on the west it is bounded by the Straits of Sunda; and in this quarter comprises dependant islands scattered along its shore, and the two harbours of Mew and Merák, which, with other bays, deeply indent the coast. ”

“ He next visited Bantam in the island of Java, where, owing to the influence of Portuguese traders, he and several of his attendants were made prisoners and were only released on payment of a ransom of £400. Some other ports of Java were visited, as were also Madura and Bali, and a small quantity of spice was purchased, but there were many quarrels and some combats with the natives. So many men died that it was necessary to burn the Amsterdam, which ship was much decayed, and strengthen the crews of the other three vessels. ”

“ Pangeran Tranggana had auxiliaries from Bantam among his troops and this leads us back to West Java after our slight digression in favour of Demak, the energetic central state which, at the time here spoken of, ruled the roast in matters of conquest for the propagation of the faith. The Bantamese, more than their converters, have conserved a reputation for fanaticism and it is not yet a quarter of a century since a certain Abool Karim of the district Tanara preached the holy war, the brotherhood of the Naqshibendyah fanning the flame of sedition he kindled. ”

“ John made himself as the deaf adder and scraped his cutlet clean in a mute fever of irritation. He felt as a man feels in a busy office, working against time at some urgent task in the face of constant interruptions. He could not fix his mind on the Emily matter, on Stephen, on the Underground Railway, or his food. There was a kind of thickness about his temples which he had noticed already at Turnham Green station, and he felt that he was not digesting. Mrs. Bantam hammered ruthlessly on his tired head ”

“ When they are about the size of thrushes, or a little larger, unless the summer be very fine, the bantam may be allowed to range loose in the orchard and shrubbery, and no longer permitted to enter the garden. The young must, however, still receive a bountiful and frequent supply of food; they are not to be considered safe till the horn on their head is fairly grown. ”

“ The proportion of males and females born in Bantam, and over the whole of Java, is nearly the same as in Europe, and as we find generally to exist, wherever accurate statements can be obtained. From the information collected in a very careful surrey of one part of the very province in question, the preponderance seemed to be on the side of male children to an extraordinary degree; the male children being about forty-two thousand, and the females only thirty-five thousand five hundred. ”

“ The power of the sultans of Jokjakarta and Surakarta has diminished; in 1863 Dutch authority was strengthened in the neighbouring island of Madura, and Bantam has lost every vestige of independence. The strengthening of the Dutch power has largely resulted from a more statesmanlike and more generous treatment of the natives, who have been educated to regard the orang blanda, or white man, as their protector against the native rulers. ”

“ Nothing, save the meagre accounts of the babads and the scanty remains to be referred to at the end of this chapter, reminds now of Pajajaran, except the Badooy in South Bantam, who constitute [25] a community apart, entirely isolated from the rest of the population and whose peculiar customs and religious observances so far as known, make it probable that they are the descendants of fugitives before the Muhammadan inroad. ”

“ All trade was forbidden except at Acheen: but by releasing a Portuguese whom he had captured, he succeeded in winning the favour of the king, who gave him the title of 'Orancaya pute' which is 'white or clear-hearted lord.' He also obtained permission to open a trade with Siam, and received assurance of good entertainment. At Bantam he obtained a grant of land on which to build warehouses, and when, having got a full cargo, he sailed in November on the return voyage, the company's affairs in the East were far more satisfactorily settled than before. ”

“ Crawfurd states that it was found in England more than two thousand years ago. The small variety known to us as “the Bantam,” is not a native of Java, but received that name because it was first seen by European traders on Japanese junks which came to that city to trade.
All the Malay race, except the Javanese, have the most inordinate thirst for gambling, and their favorite method of gratifying this passion is cock-fighting. This is forbidden by the Dutch Government ”

“ Bantan, the present residency of Bantam, at the west end of Java. The Javanese and Dutch Dictionary of T. Roorda published at Amsterdam in 1847 gives this word Bantan, as implying-instrument, means; an offering. In Balinese Banten is an offering; and Bantenan are collective offerings. Mr. Friederich considers Bantĕn, to be a Krama or refined form for Bali, which by Clough's dictionary, Page 463 implies, Propitiatory offerings, religious gifts or sacrifice- which meaning Mr. F. is of opinion would apply to the island of Bali, since the same meaning attaches to the word Bali in Sanscrit. Mr. ”

“ The prosperity of the residency was further affected by a cattle plague in 1879, followed by a fever epidemic which carried off 50,000 people, and except in the rice season there is a considerable emigration of natives. Bantam contains five native regencies or territorial divisions, namely, Serang, Anjer, Pandeglang, Charingin, Lebak. The principal towns are Serang, the capital of the residency, Chilegon, Pandeglang, Menes and Rangkas Betug. The chief town, Serang, is situated 21⁄2 m. ”

“ The 'Soll' is the Dutch or Danish 'Zoll,' the English 'Toll.' The Banksoll was then the place on the 'bank' where all tolls or duties were levied on landing goods."—Talboys Wheeler, Early Records of B. India, 196. (Quite erroneous, as already said; and Zoll is not Dutch.)
BANTAM, n.p. The province which forms the western extremity of Java, properly Bāntan. [Mr Skeat gives Bantan, Crawfurd, Bantân.] It formed an independent kingdom at the beginning of the 17th century, and then produced much pepper (no longer grown) , which caused it to be greatly frequented by European traders. ”

“ For a small matter they will send their married wiues home agayne vnto their fathers, when they haue layne fiue or sixe dayes with them, saying they like them not, and so their marriage is vndone, when they desire it.
The manner, custome, housholding, childbearing, sporting and cleanlinesse of the women in Bantam.
The women of the towne are well kept from such as are circumcised, whereof the riche men haue many, and from other men or their friendes, for their owne sonnes may not come into the house where the women are. ”