Book reviews

Theodore G. Th. Pigeaud and P. Voorhoeve. Handschriften aus Indonesien (Bali, Java, und Sumatra), xi, 71 pp., 6 plates. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, 1985. (Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland, XXVIII, 2.) DM 64,‐

G. J Knapp, Kruidnagelen en christenen: de Verenigde Oost‐Indische Compagnie en de bevolking van Ambon 1656–1696.xii, 323 pp. Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1987. (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal‐, Land ‐en Volkenkunde, 125.) Guilders 35.

Rainer Carle (ed.). Cultures and societies North Sumatra. 514 pp. Berlin; Hamburg: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1987. (Veröffentlichungen des Seminars für Indonesische und Südseesprachen der Universität Hamburg, 19.) DM 95.

J. Noorduyn. Bima en Sumbawa: bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de sultanaten Bima en Sumbawa door A. Ligtvoet en G. P. Rouffaer.xii, 187 pp. Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1987. (Verhandelingen van net Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal‐, Land‐ en Volkenkunde, 129.) Guilders 30.

Anthony J. Whitten and others. The ecology of Sulawesi. By Anthony J. Whitten, Muslimin Mustafa, Gregory S. Henderson,xxi, 777 pp. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press, 1987.

Robert Wessing. The soul of ambiguity: the tiger in Southeast Asia. vi, 148 pp. [Dekalb, Illinois]: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, 1986. (Monograph Series on Southeast Asia, Special Report 24.) (Distributed by Cellar Bookshop, 18090 Wyoming, Detroit, Michigan 48221.)     

Testaments of two cities: A comparative analysis of the wills of medieval Genoa and Douai

A comparison of testamentary practice in medieval Genoa with that in Douai, France, reveals how differing social orientations resulted in profoundly contrasting social practices. Genoese society was chiefly privately orientated, and patrimony in Genoa was correspondingly transmitted along a vertical dimension. The public nature of the process in Douai, meanwhile, was correlated with a wide distribution of legacies on a horizontal axis. Women in Douai, therefore, enjoyed a scope of action not experienced by their Genoese counterparts. These circumstances, in turn, require a re‐evaluation of the so‐called ‘Frauenfrage‘ — the supposed problem of too many unmarried women.     

Book reviews

Transmigration in Indonesia, by J M Hardjono. Oxford in Asia Current Affairs. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press 1977; xv, 116 pp, 8 maps, 15 tables. £6.00.

Myths and Legends of Indonesia, by Jan Knappert. Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd, 1977; 198pp. £2.40.     

Book reviews

The Indonesian Tragedy by Brian May, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978, pp. xvii, 438. £8.95.

Comment fut tranchée la liane céleste, et autres textes de littévature orale bunaq (Timor, Indonésie), edited by Claudine Friedberg from the collection and translations of Louis Berthe, Paris: Société d'Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France (Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale 25), 1978; pp. 294, 8 plates, 2 maps and several figures in the text.