Java Head
In Literature
The narrator, Ishmael, in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick refers to "Java head" at the beginning of Chapter 87. The Grand Armada, in the following description:
"Those narrow straits of Sunda divide Sumatra from Java; and standing midway in that vast rampart of islands, buttressed by that bold green promontory, known to seamen as Java Head; they not a little correspond to the central gateway opening into some vast walled empire: and considering the inexhaustible wealth of spices, and silks, and jewels, and gold, and ivory, with which the thousand islands of that oriental sea are enriched, it seems a significant provision of nature, that such treasures, by the very formation of the land, should at least bear the appearance, however ineffectual, of being guarded from the all-grasping western world. The shores of the Straits of Sunda are unsupplied with those domineering fortresses which guard the entrances to the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and the Propontis. Unlike the Danes, these Orientals do not demand the obsequious homage of lowered top-sails from the endless procession of ships before the wind, which for centuries past, by night and by day, have passed between the islands of Sumatra and Java, freighted with the costliest cargoes of the east. But while they freely waive a ceremonial like this, they do by no means renounce their claim to more solid tribute."
See also
- Java Head (1919 novel by Joseph Hergesheimer)
- Java Head (1923 film)
- Java Head (1934 film)
- South by Java Head (1958 novel by Alistair MacLean)
References
- ^ Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 2007.
- ^ Horsburgh, James (1852). Horsburgh's Sailing Directions: The India Directory. London. p. 143.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Melville, Herman (1985). Moby Dick; Or the Whale. London: Chancellor Press. p. 389. ISBN 1851520112.