ONE day in 1890 Professor Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje was offered the hand of a Sundanese woman of aristocratic blood. Mangga, please take the girl of your own choice, so goes, more or less, they say, the offer made by Raden Arya Kusumasubrata the bupati (regent) of Ciamis in West Java.

It came just at the right time. Snouck then was only 33 years old. He took the offer and began searching for the girl of his choice. He traveled around Ciamis unti