To these may be added, the still living witnesses to the original Hindu worship. The Bédui of Bantam, and the people of the Teng'ger mountains still retain it, although in a corrupted form. Of the latter, the following is a description taken from Sir S. Raffles' _History of Java_.
"To the eastward of _Surabáya_, and on the range of hills connected with _Gúnung Dasar_, and lying partly in the district of _Pasúruan_, and partly in that of _Probolingo_, known by the name of the _Teng'ger_ mountain, we find the remnant of a people still following the Hindu worship, who merit attention, not only on account of their being (if we except the _Bédui_ of _Bantam_) the sole depositaries of the rites and doctrines of that religion existing at this day on Java, but as exhibiting an interesting singularity and simplicity of character.
"These people occupy about forty villages, scattered along this range of hills, in the neighbourhood of what is termed the Sandy Sea. The site of their villages, as well as the construction of their houses, is peculiar, and differ entirely from what is elsewhere observed on Java. They are not shaded by trees but built on spacious open terraces, rising one above the other, each house occupying a terrace, and being in length from thirty to seventy, and even eighty feet. The door is invariably in one corner, at the end of the building, opposite to that in which the fire-place is built. The building appears to be constructed with the ordinary roof, having along the front an enclosed veranda or gallery, about eight feet broad. The fire-place is built of brick, and is so highly venerated that it is considered a sacrilege for any stranger to touch it. Across the upper part of the building rafters are run, so as to form a kind of attic story, in which are deposited the most valuable property and implements of husbandry.
"The head of the village takes the title of _Peting'gi_, as in the low-lands, and is generally assisted by a _Kabâyan_, both elected by the people from their own village. There are four priests who are here termed _Dúkuns_ (a term elsewhere only applied to doctors and midwives), having charge of the state records and the sacred books.
"These _Dúkuns_, who are in general intelligent men, can give no account of the era when they were first established on these hills; they can produce no traditional history of their origin, whence they came, or who entrusted them with the sacred books, to the faith contained in which they still adhere. These, they concur in stating, were handed down to them by their fathers, to whose hereditary office of preserving them they have succeeded. The sole duty required of them is again to hand them down in safety to their children, and to perform the _púja_ (praisegiving), according to the directions they contain. These records consist of three compositions, written on the _lontar_-leaf detailing the origin of the world, disclosing the attributes of the Deity, and prescribing the forms of worship to be observed on different occasions. When a woman is delivered of her first child, the _Dúkun_ takes a leaf of the _alang_ grass, and scraping the skin of the hands of the mother and her infant, as well as the ground, pronounces a short benediction.