Treasures of the Asia Collections

A Voyage to New Guinea relates the details of Thomas Forrest's journey of exploration from 1774-1776, on behalf of the East India Company, to western New Guinea (now the Indonesian province of West Papua). The Company traveled in search of spices beyond the Molucca Islands, which were then claimed by the Dutch. Forrest's travels took him from the north coast of Borneo, through the Moluccas, to New Guinea, and then to Mindanao, the southernmost island of the Philippines. His detailed observations lack the moral judgments found in so many other European accounts of the time. The book's first edition, shown here, is illustrated with thirty copperplates; a second edition, published in 1780, contains a number of detailed sketches and plans previously omitted due to the cost.

Captain Thomas Forrest. A Voyage to New Guinea, and the Moluccas, from Balambangan. London: J. Robson, 1779.

This is the first Vietnamese dictionary in quốc ngữ, the romanized orthographic system invented by European Christian missionaries to Vietnam in the 17th century. French Jesuit missionary Alexandre de Rhodes compiled the dictionary to facilitate the training of local priests in Christian teachings. In the early 20th century, quốc ngữ was popularized when French colonial authorities encouraged its use as a means of undermining the authority of the traditional elite. It is the standard writing system used in Vietnam today.

Alexandre de Rhodes. Dictionarium Annnamiticum [sic] Lusitanum, et Latinum. Romae: Typis, & sumptibus eiusdem Sacr. Congreg., 1651.

Originally published in Paris and Amsterdam in 1691 as Du royaume du Siam, de La Loubère's description of 17th century Siamese civilization is comprehensive, well-organized, and extremely accurate. Although he served as a French diplomat in Siam for only four months, in 1687, de La Loubère's accounts of physical geography, manners and customs, social and administrative structure, and religion remain useful today for our understanding of Thai culture and society. His careful observations, intelligent use of the accounts of others, and objectivity make this book universally regarded as the finest work on 17th century Thailand.

Monsieur de La Loubère. A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam. London: Printed by F. L. for Tho. Horne, 1693. Gift of Charles Wason.

The Echols Collection contains several dozen palm leaf manuscripts, all of which were received as gifts.

A Burmese parabaik manuscript on mulberry paper with engraved wood cover. The Burmese word, parabaik, is a generic term for the locally produced folding books which fold backwards and forwards in concertina fashion.

This parabaik manuscript, created in 1895 at a monastery in Burma, records a section of the Tipitaka, the Buddhist Pali Canon, in the Shan language.

Kamawa Sar

This Burmese manuscript from the early 20th century is a funerary volume prepared on the occasion of the death of a Buddhist monk. The core of each page is wood, perhaps thin bamboo slices, covered with many layers of lacquer. The text, Pali language written in Burmese script, was separately and painstakingly painted with lacquer in a very stylized fashion. The style is associated with a production center in Mandalay, Burma. The text consists of a compendium of popular Buddhist rituals.

Pathama uppajjaga ha peta

This manuscript was created in 1930 for kathin ceremonies at Wat Phrakhong (Lampung Province, Thailand). It is inscribed in gold ink on black mulberry paper. The covers are black lacquer adorned with gold. It consists of a selection of Pali chants used in ordinations and the kathin ceremony, plus explanations in Northern Thai of Pali words in the text, Palivasa Mahatta. In the kathin ceremony, which is held shortly after the end of the Buddhist lenten period, laymen present new robes and other useful goods to monks. Donations given as part of the kathin ceremony are reputed to bring beneficial karma to the donor.

The Ketjak Dance

In its pure form, the ketjak dance is a religious ceremony performed—sometimes for several hours on successive nights, for three to four months—to exorcise evil during times of peril and pestilence. The gamelan orchestra that accompanies most Balinese dance performances is generally absent during a ketjak performance, replaced by the sounds of a male chorus similar to the rhythms of the gamelan. While audiences and photography are not welcome during religious performances of ketjak, recently the "tourist ketjak" has emerged—an abbreviated version of the dance, performed for entertainment.

The Legong Dance

The Legong dance is performed exclusively by young girls, and is noteworthy for the artistic beauty of its harmonious interplay of movement and gamelan music. The single girl dancing to the accompaniment of the gamelan ensemble was part of a performance at a ceremony to honor the President of the State of East Indonesia, the Balinese nobleman Tjokorde Gde Rake Sukawati. East Indonesia, a Dutch creation established in December 1946, remained in existence with Sukawati as its head until the formation of a unified Indonesian state in May 1950.

This Balinese wood sculpture depicting a procession on the occasion of Melasti was likely carved by artisans in the village of Mas, or Peliatan, in the 1940s or 1950s. The upright figures are carved from red ebony (kayu ebon) found in Sulawesi; the pale wood is a Balinese soft wood called waru. Melasti usually entails a procession in which the gods from a particular temple are invited to enter into pratima (small statues usually in human form carried in ornate palanquins). The pratima are carried to the sea, or the closest source of sacred water, and ceremonially bathed in order to purify the village and its deities. Here a barong (a mythical, supernatural creature) is leading the palanquin as it leaves the split gates of a temple, set off by kulkul towers (slit drums made from hollow logs which are used as a summons to temple or village activities). This suggests that the procession, accompanied by male musicians and women in the lead carrying offerings, may in fact be for this barong. In such a ceremony—a matangi—the sacred barong of a temple is literally "awakened" and then goes on a series of processions to neighboring villages, sometimes to meet with the "awakened" barong of other temples. These processions are always very colorful—umbrellas are carried to shade the gods from the noon-day heat; banners and flags wave in the wind, and the gong provides marching music, while all the villagers dress in their best ritual attire, and follow the procession to its destination.

Gift of Nancy Echols Biggerstaff.