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diff --git a/27556.txt b/27556.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7114fc --- /dev/null +++ b/27556.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2651 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Across the Equator, by Thomas H. Reid + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Across the Equator + A Holiday Trip in Java + +Author: Thomas H. Reid + +Release Date: December 18, 2008 [EBook #27556] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACROSS THE EQUATOR *** + + + + +Produced by a Project Gutenberg volunteer from digital +material generously made available by the Internet Archive + + + + + + + + + +ACROSS THE EQUATOR. + +[Frontispiece: TEMPLE, PARAMBANAN.] + + + + + ACROSS THE + EQUATOR. + + A HOLIDAY + TRIP IN JAVA. + + + BY + + THOS. H. REID. + + + KELLY & WALSH, LIMITED, + SINGAPORE--SHANGHAI--HONGKONG--YOKOHAMA. + 1908. + [all rights reserved.] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It was at the end of the month of September, 1907, that the writer +visited Java with the object of spending a brief vacation there. + +The outcome was a series of articles in the "Straits Times," and after +they appeared so many applications were made for reprints that we were +encouraged to issue the articles in handy form for the information of +those who intend to visit the neighbouring Dutch Colony. There was no +pretension to write an exhaustive guide-book to the Island, but the +original articles were revised and amplified, and the chapters have +been arranged to enable the visitor to follow a given route through the +Island, from west to east, within the compass of a fortnight or three +weeks. + +For liberty to reproduce some of the larger pictures, we are indebted +to Mr. George P. Lewis (of O. Kurkdjian), Sourabaya, whose photographs +of Tosari and the volcanic region of Eastern Java form one of the +finest and most artistic collections we have seen of landscape work. + + + SINGAPORE, _July, 1908_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BATAVIA 1 + + THE BRITISH IN JAVA 15 + + BOTANIST'S PARADISE AT BUITENZORG 23 + + ON THE ROAD TO SINDANGLAYA 33 + + SINDANGLAYA AND BEYOND 42 + + HINDU RUINS IN CENTRAL JAVA 49 + + THE TEMPLES OF PARAMBANAN 58 + + PEOPLE AND INDUSTRIES OF CENTRAL JAVA 65 + + THE HEALTH RESORT OF EAST JAVA 73 + + SUNRISE AT THE PENANDJAAN PASS 77 + + HOTELS AND TRAVELLING FACILITIES 87 + + + + +First Impressions of Batavia. + + +When consideration is given to the fact that Java is only two days' +steaming from Singapore, that it is more beautiful in some respects than +Japan, that it contains marvellous archaeological remains over 1,100 +years old, and that its hill resorts form ideal resting places for the +jaded European, it is strange that few of the British residents +throughout the Far East, or travellers East and West, have visited the +Dutch Colony. + +The average Britisher, weaving the web of empire, passes like a shuttle +in the loom from London to Yokohama, from Hongkong to Marseilles. He +thinks imperially in that he thinks no other nation has Colonies worth +seeing. British port succeeds British port on the hackneyed line of +travel, and he may be excused if he forgets that these convenient +calling places, these links of Empire, can have possible rivals under +foreign flags. + +There is no excuse for the prevailing ignorance of the Netherland +Indies. We do not wish it to be inferred that we imagine we have +discovered Java, as Dickens is said to have discovered Italy, but we +believe we are justified in saying that few have realised the +possibilities of Java as a health resort and the attractions it has to +offer for a holiday. + +Miss Marianne North, celebrated as painter and authoress and the rival +of Miss Mary Kingsley and Mrs. Bishop (Isabella Bird) as a traveller in +unfrequented quarters of the globe, has described the island as one +magnificent garden, surpassing Brazil, Jamaica and other countries +visited by her, and possessing the grandest of volcanoes; and other +famous travellers have written in terms of the highest praise of its +natural beauties. + +Its accessibility is one of its recommendations to the holiday maker. +The voyage across the Equator from Singapore is a smooth one, for the +most part through narrow straits and seldom out of sight of islands clad +with verdure down to the water's edge. + +Excellent accommodation is provided by the Rival Dutch Mail steamers +running between Europe and Java and the Royal Packet Company's local +steamers, and the Government of the Netherland Indies co-operates with a +recently-formed Association for the encouragement of tourist traffic on +the lines of the Welcome Society in Japan. This Association has a +bureau, temporarily established in the Hotel des Indes in Batavia, to +provide information and travelling facilities for tourists, not only +throughout Java, but amongst the various islands that are being brought +under the sway of civilised government by the Dutch Colonial forces. + +As our steamer pounded her way out of Singapore Harbour in the early +morning, islands appeared to spring out of the sea, and seascape after +seascape followed in rapid succession, suggesting the old-fashioned +panoramic pictures of childhood's acquaintance. One's idea of scenery, +after all, is more or less a matter of comparison. One passenger +compares the scene with the Kyles of Bute; another with the Inland Sea +of Japan, at the other end of the world. Yet, this tropical waterway is +unlike either, and has a characteristic individuality of its own, none +the less charming because of the comparisons it suggests and the +associations it recalls. + +We spent a good deal of our time on the bridge with the Captain, who was +courteous enough to point out all the leading points on his chart. + +The Sultanate of Rhio lies on the port bow, four hours' sail from +Singapore. Glimpses of Sumatra are obtained on the starboard, and on the +way the steamer passes near to the Island of Banka, reputed to contain +the richest tin deposits in the world. This tin is worked by the +Government of the Netherland Indies, with Chinese contract labour; and +the revenue obtained is an important factor in balancing the Colonial +Budget. It is interesting to note that the Chinese, who have long mined +for gold and tin in the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, were quite +familiar with the rich nature of Banka's soil two hundred years ago, and +that tin from this island was then a common medium of exchange in China +and throughout the Far East wherever the adventurous Chinese merchant +had penetrated. + +The visitor landing at Tandjong Priok, the port of Batavia, after his +experience of other Far Eastern ports, cannot fail to be struck by the +excellence of the arrangements for berthing vessels and for storing +cargo. We British people are so accustomed to the idea that our ports +are the best and our trading arrangements unequalled that we are +astonished when we discover that our shipping and commercial rivals know +how to do some things better than ourselves, and that all wisdom is not +to be found within the confines of England and among the people who are +proud to own it as their place of birth. Our Far Eastern ports owe their +supremacy to geographical position almost entirely. We have realised +that during recent years in Singapore, and in our haste to correct the +mistakes of former officials and residents, the Straits Settlements paid +rather heavily when they expropriated the Tanjong Pagar Company which +owned the wharves, docks and warehouses. Tandjong Priok may not handle +the shipping that Tanjong Pagar does, but if they were called upon to do +so, we have not the least doubt that our Dutch neighbours would rise +readily to the occasion. + +There is a Customs examination at Tandjong Priok. In our own case, it +was a mere formality, the new duty on imported cameras not applying to +our well-used kodak, since it was being taken out of the country again. +But we could not help contrasting to the disadvantage of Singapore the +examination of Chinese and other Asiatic passengers. Theoretically, in +Singapore, there is no Customs service. It is a free port, and so, +theoretically, one may land there free of vexatious examinations, such +as one experiences at some Continental ports or on the wharves at San +Francisco. But, as a matter of fact, they who have occasion to walk +along the sea front in Singapore may see Asiatic passengers at any of +the landing places turning out their baggage in sun or rain, while +chentings--the hirelings of the rich Chinese Syndicate which "farms" or +leases the opium and spirit monopolies--examine it for opium or spirits. +There is no proper landing place, absolutely no proper arrangements for +overhauling baggage, with the result that these poor Asiatics are +subjected to examination under conditions that are a disgrace to a place +which arrogates a front place in the seaports of the world. + +They do things better at Tandjong Priok. + +There is a brief journey by train to Batavia, and there the visitor, +having handed over his baggage to the care of the hotel runners at +Tandjong Priok, ought to take a sado for conveyance to the particular +hotel he has selected. The word sado is a corruption of "dos-a-dos." The +vehicle is drawn by a small pony, and is not comparable with the ricksha +for comfort, though the long distances may make the ricksha an +impossibility in Batavia. + +[Illustration: THE TOWN HALL.] + +Batavia is favoured in that it has a choice of several good hotels. +Whoever selects the Hotel Nederland or the Hotel des Indes will say that +the other "best Hotels in the Far East" have something yet to learn in +the accommodation of visitors, general cleanliness, and moderation of +prices. + +One of the first things one ought to do after arrival is to obtain the +"toelatingskaart," at the Town Hall. Armed with this document, which, +most probably, he will never be called upon to show, the tourist may +travel in the interior. Without it, he may have trouble. + +Batavia shares with the French ports of Saigon and Hanoi the honour of +more resembling a European town than any other ports in the Far East. +This, of course, is a matter of opinion, though it is based on +acquaintance with every port of importance from Yokohama to Penang, +including the principal ports of the Philippines, and we were somewhat +surprised, therefore, when expressing this opinion to a Dutch friend, +with his reply: + +"When I left Singapore, with its fine buildings I felt I had said +good-bye to Europe!" + +A little probing soon showed that it was only the two and three-storeyed +houses that created this impression. + +[Illustration: HOTEL DES INDES.] + +One has only to stroll along the Noordwijk in the afternoon and evening +to appreciate the difference between Batavia and Singapore. After +sundown, so far as Europeans are concerned, with the exception of the +little life seen under the electric light of Raffles Hotel and the Hotel +de l'Europe, Singapore is a dead place. Hongkong is no better. In +Batavia it is different. Up to the dinner hour, and after, there is a +considerable amount of life and light and animation, and if it be a +stretch of the imagination to compare the Noordwijk or the Rijswijk with +the Boulevard des Capuchins in Paris, or its open air restaurants with +the Cafe de la Paix, it is at least within comparison to say that the +resemblance to a Continental town is sufficiently marked to be welcome, +while one can have as choice a dinner or supper, with superb wines, in +Stamm and Weijns or the Hotel des Indes as in the best restaurants of +London and Paris. Not the least noticeable feature of all to the +observant visitor will be the punctilio and excellence of the waiting of +the Javanese table boys. When one saw the carefulness with which each +dish was served, and the superior nature of the side dishes, one thought +with a shudder of the sloppy vegetables, the dusty marmalade, and the +slipshod waiting of the China boy in some of the hotels it had been our +misfortune to patronise in British Colonies. + +In this quarter, the wives and daughters of the Dutch and foreign +merchants drive in comfortable rubber-tyred carriages, having first +driven to the business quarter to bring home the "tuan besar" or head of +the family. Greetings are exchanged with friends by the way, and, while +the young folks stroll off in happy groups, the elders alight to drink +beer or wine at one or other of the famous open-air restaurants. There +is a general air of prosperity and a spirit of gaiety which one does not +usually associate with our Dutch cousins in the depressing humid +atmosphere of Holland. One soon catches the spirit of the place the more +readily if one has spent any time on the Continent. + +On band nights the Harmonie or Concordia Clubs, two beautiful and +commodious buildings replete with every comfort, become the rendezvous +of old and young, and dancing is kept up till half-past eight o'clock. +It must be confessed that it made one perspire to see the dancers tread +a measure to a popular waltz, but there could be no question of the +enjoyment of those who participated. + +There are two Batavias. There is the old town, founded in 1619 as the +capital of the Dutch East Indies upon the ruins of the ancient city of +Jakatra. This is the portion of the town where the business is done, +with the famous Kali Besar, the Lombard Street and Fenchurch Street of +Batavia. + +The quarter is not particularly attractive. But after experience of the +filthy Chinese quarters of Singapore, Hongkong and Shanghai, it is +satisfying to European self-respect to observe how Dutch officialdom has +asserted the claims of hygiene and cleanliness upon the Asiatic +residents. The objectionable hanging Chinese signboards are noticeably +absent in Batavia, as in all other towns throughout Java, and something +has been done to make less clamant the odoriferous articles of Chinese +commerce. The Dutch have proved that the Chinese are amenable to +European notions if only firmness is shown by those in authority. + +Then there is the residential town, Weltevreden with its broad +tree-lined avenues and palatial pavilion hotels and private villa +establishments. + +In style, the European houses are quite unlike those erected by the +Spaniards in the Philippine Islands, or the British in the Malay +Peninsula. They are not raised to any great height from the ground. +Three or four wide low steps lead on to a capacious white marble +verandah, the lofty roof of which is supported by shapely pillars with +Grecian cornices. Upon the polished surface of the ample hall are strewn +rugs of beautiful design or the fancy straw matting of the East. +Bed-rooms open on either side from this hall, and at the back, opening +out upon a spacious court-yard or garden filled with gaily coloured +flowers or stately palms, is another wide verandah where meals are +served. The bath-rooms, kitchen, stables, store-rooms and servants' +quarters lie beyond the garden. There is everywhere a generous +appreciation of space, and doubtless the good health enjoyed by the +Dutch ladies and their families so markedly in contrast to the British +colonists on the other side of the Equator is largely due to the more +comfortable homes in which they are settled. In Java, the bath-room is a +special feature, and only those who have travelled much in tropical +countries can appraise it at its true value. It is all in keeping with +the thorough cleanliness of the Dutch people, a feature which impressed +itself upon us wherever we travelled throughout the island. Detached +from every house of any pretensions, there is a smaller pavilion. It +usually stands in the grounds in front and nearer the roadway, and in +former times was spoken of as "the guest house." Nowadays, either +because the Hotels are more comfortable than in olden times or because +the railway system has led to a style of life that calls for less +hospitality for travellers, the guest house is more often let to +bachelors, who find it easier and cheaper to maintain a small +establishment of this sort than the bachelor messes or chummeries of +Singapore and Penang. + +Weltervreden may be compared with a gigantic park, and there are +residences sufficiently imposing to please the lover of architectural +beauty, even if there is no assertive Clock Tower to emphasise by +contrast the hovels of Singapore's region of slums. The idea of keeping +the various races to their Kampongs may be contrary to British ideas, +but in Java it appears to work satisfactorily enough. It is only in +recent years that certain British colonies have been allowed to set +apart reservations for European residence, and it would be well if the +Government of the Federated Malay States, before it is too late, +introduced the Kampong system in laying out new towns throughout the +Peninsula. + +A motor-car ride through the residential quarter and round the suburbs +of Batavia gives one a good idea of the extent of the town, and, +incidentally, of the merging of East and West in the population. Former +Dutch residents have left their impress in more respects than one, and +one result is a half-caste population which takes a much more prominent +part in the affairs of the island than is the case, so far as we are +aware, in any British Colony. There are pretty forms and beautiful faces +among this hybrid race, and we are not astonished that succeeding +generations from the land of dykes and canals should form alliances that +wed them for ever to the sunny soil of Java. East may be East and West +may be West, but here at least the lie is given to Kipling's +generalisation, false like most generalisations, as to the impossibility +of their blending. + +The visitor will find the Museums full of objects of interest. On +Koningsplein, young Holland devotes itself to recreation, and evidence +is given here and elsewhere throughout the suburbs of the widespread +popularity of the English game of football. The Dutch do not follow the +British Colonial custom of sending their children to Europe. Many are +educated and kept under the home influence in Java, and a fine healthy +race of boys and girls is being reared to play its part in the new +Netherlands created by Dutch enterprise and perseverance. Great as is +the Java of the present day, there is justification for believing that +it has a greater future in store. + +[Illustration] + + + + +The British in Java + + +It is a constant matter of regret to British travellers who have visited +Java that the island, once in our possession, should have been restored +to Dutch rule. + +It is not our purpose, however, to discuss the reasons for that +restoration, contenting ourselves with the reflection that the capture +of Java was merely part of the plan for breaking the power of Napoleon +and destroying his dream of dominating the East. The alliance of +European Powers having succeeded in encompassing the great Frenchman's +downfall, there were doubtless good reasons at the time for reinstating +the Dutch in an island where they had been established for two hundred +years. + +A perusal of the history of the British Expedition against Java brings +into strong relief the annihilation of space and the improvements in +marine travel during the past century. + +It was on April 18, 1811, that the troopships carrying the first +Division, commanded by Colonel Robert Rollo Gillespie, sailed from +Madras Roads. On May 18, they anchored in Penang Harbour, and on June +1, at Malacca. Here they awaited the remainder of the flotilla, and were +joined by Lord Minto, then Viceroy of India; Lieutenant-General Sir +Samuel Auchmuty, Commander-in-Chief; and Commodore Broughton. While +here, the British learned that Marshal Daendels, the Dutch +Governor-General, had been recalled, and that General Janssens, with a +large body of troops from France, had landed and taken over the command +in Java. + +Marshal Daendels had been the Governor-General when the Colony was taken +over by the Crown of Holland from the Dutch East India Company. He has +left the mark of his influence upon the Colony to this day, and many of +the public works that remain as evidence of the pioneer days were due to +his force of character and initiative. Some of his methods may not +commend themselves to us in these more humane and enlightened days, any +more than they were approved by his great English successor, Sir +Stamford Raffles, such, for instance, as his construction of the +post-road from Anjer Head to Banjoewangi, a distance of over 700 miles, +at the cost of from twelve to twenty thousand lives; but it is not +always easy to estimate at a distance of a hundred years the peculiar +difficulties and conditions under which European Governors administered +an oriental Colony. If, at times, he exceeded his instructions, as +British Governors also had to do before they came under the thralldom +of a Colonial Department at the end of a telegraph cable, we can forgive +much in a man who accomplished so much. + +Sir Stamford Raffles is careful to explain in the preface of his +"History of Java" that as "in the many severe strictures passed upon the +Dutch Administration in Java, some of the observations may, for want of +a careful restriction in the words employed, appear to extend to the +Dutch nation and character generally, I think it proper explicitly to +declare that such observations are intended exclusively to apply to the +Colonial Government and its officers. The orders of the Dutch Government +in Holland to the authorities at Batavia, as far as my information +extends, breathe a spirit of liberality and benevolence; and I have +reason to believe that the tyranny and rapacity of its Colonial officers +created no less indignation in Holland than in other countries of +Europe." + +On June 11, the British armada set out on the final stage of its +journey. We can imagine the imposing show it made as it lay in the +roadstead of Malacca, now shorn of its ancient importance and long since +superseded as the foremost shipping port in the Far East. + +The squadron consisted of four line of battle ships, fourteen frigates, +seven sloops, eight Honourable East India Company's cruisers, +fifty-seven transports and several gunboats--altogether over 100 sail. +Composed equally of European and Indian troops, there were upwards of +10,000 men under Sir Samuel Auchmuty's command. The European troops +included the 14th, 59th, 69th, 78th, and 89th Regiments of Infantry, +Royal Artillery, and Royal Marines, and a small detachment of Royal +Engineers. + +A course was set for a rendezvous off the coast of Borneo, and on August +4, 1811, a landing was effected at Chillingching, a village about ten +miles east of Batavia. To the astonishment of the British Commander, his +landing was not opposed, the defending force being concentrated in the +neighbourhood of Weltervreden and Meister Cornelius, to-day the thriving +residential suburbs of Batavia. + +General Janssens rejected Lord Minto's summons to surrender. + +On August 10, Batavia was in the hands of the British troops, and on +that day, after two hours of hard fighting, Weltervreden was captured, +the 78th Highlanders having a heavy casualty list amongst their +officers. + +The French troops bravely contended every foot of ground, and battles, +with heavy losses on both sides, were fought on August 22, August 24, +and August 26. Colonel Gillespie, who led the advance in each of these +engagements, performed prodigies of bravery in the latter fight, for we +read that "Colonel Gillespie took one General in the batteries, one in +the charge, and a Colonel, besides having a personal affair in which +another Colonel fell by his arm." + +Altogether, the British captured three General officers, 34 field +officers, 70 captains and 150 subaltern officers in these fights. + +The rout of the enemy was complete. General Janssens made his escape to +Buitenzorg, thirty miles distant, with a few cavalrymen and the remnants +of his army of 13,000 men. He did not remain here long, but fled +eastwards. + +A British force was shipped to Cheribon, where a large number of French +officers were captured; and the port of Samarang was next attacked, with +the object of forcing General Janssens back upon Solo, while the eastern +end of the island was occupied by another British force. On September +10, an action was fought outside Samarang, and Janssens, defeated, +retreated to Fort Salatiga; but eventually, being deserted by his +troops, he opened up negotiations for capitulation. + +This must have been a bitter experience for General Janssens, for it was +not only the crowning misery of his defeat but marked the end of his +military career, assuming that his Imperial master retained his power in +Europe. + +"Souvenez vous, Monsieur," Napoleon is reported to have said to him +upon taking up his appointment, "Qu'un General Francais ne se laissa pas +prendre une seconde fois!" + +The island having been wrested from the French, the British authorities +set about the reform of the civil administration. This was not to be +accomplished, however, without a test of strength between the natives +and their new masters. An act of treachery soon called the troops into +the field again. + +During the Governorship of Marshal Daendels, the Sultan of Djocjakarta +had been the most turbulent and intriguing of the native princes, and +his conduct immediately after the British occupation gave occasion for +serious uneasiness. Mr. Stamford Raffles, who had been appointed by Lord +Minto Lieutenant-Governor of Java in December, 1811, went in person to +see the Sultan. A treaty was entered into, under which the Sultan +confirmed to the Honourable East India Company all the privileges, +advantages and prerogatives which had been possessed by the Dutch and +French authorities. To the Company also were transferred the sole +regulation of the duties and the collection of tribute within the +dominions of the Sultan, as well as the general administration of +justice in cases where British interests were concerned. + +This expedition of Mr. Raffles seems to have had exciting experiences, +for we read: + + "The small British escort which accompanied Mr. Raffles, + consisting only of a part of the 14th Regiment, a troop of the + 22nd Light Dragoons and the ordinary garrison of Bengal Sepoys + in the Fort and at the Residency, were not in a condition to + enforce terms anyway obnoxious to the personal feelings of the + Sultan. The whole retinue, indeed, of the Governor were in + imminent danger of being murdered. Krises were actually + unsheathed by several of the Sultan's own suite in the Audience + Hall where Mr. Raffles received that Prince, who was accompanied + by several thousands of armed followers expressing in their + behaviour such an infuriated spirit of insolence as openly to + indicate that they only waited for the signal to perpetrate the + work of destruction, in which case not a man of our brave + soldiers, from the manner in which they were surrounded, could + have escaped." + +For a time, however, an open breach of the peace was averted by the tact +of Mr. Raffles and the outward appearance of bravery of the officers and +men accompanying him. + +Several expeditions were made into the interior to put down petty +brigands, in much the same way as the Dutch are engaged in Flores and +Celebes to-day, and a more imposing display of military force had to be +made in Sumatra. + +In the following year, the Sultan of Mataram in Djocjakarta again became +troublesome, and it was found necessary to send a strong expedition +against him. On June 20, the famous Water Castle at Djocjakarta was +captured by assault, and the Sultan taken prisoner. He was exiled to +Prince of Wales Island (Penang), and the Hereditary Prince was placed on +the throne. The ruling native at Solo, who rejoiced in the imposing +title of Emperor, made terms with the Lieutenant-Governor, and peace was +established throughout the island, and was not disturbed seriously +during the remainder of the British occupation. + +Mr. Raffles set himself to establish a more humane administration than +had hitherto prevailed, and anyone who wishes to realise the +thoroughness with which this able administrator set himself to the task +should read his "History of Java." It is replete with shrewd +observations of the native customs, industries, antecedents, and +languages, and shows how little change has been effected in the +character and domestic customs of the people during the last hundred +years. + +The essence of his policy of administration is contained in the +following sentence written by him:--"Let the higher departments be +scrupulously superintended and watched by Europeans of character; let +the administration of justice be pure, prompt and steady;" and it is +satisfactory to one's sense of patriotism to know that that is the +spirit which pervades British administration in her Crown Colonies +to-day. + + + + +Botanist's Paradise at Buitenzorg. + + +To the Singaporean visitor to Java there is a melancholy interest in the +little monument erected in the Garden at Buitenzorg by Sir Stamford +Raffles to the memory of his wife, who died during his residence there. + +In the conditions under which the island was restored to Holland, it was +stipulated that the monument, in the form of a little Greek temple, +should be cared for by the Dutch. The trust has been fulfilled, and +those of us who take interest in the historic chances and changes of +Britain's possessions in the Far East and the personal influence of the +builders of the Empire, can find food for reflection in the sacrifices +made by those men and women who are ever found on the Empire's +frontiers. The sight of this memorial among the kanari trees in the +tropical island of Java makes us think of the tablet in the little +parish church on the hill at Hendon, near which this woman's husband +lies buried. + +The inscription runs as follows:-- + + "Sacred to the memory of Olivia Marianne, wife of Thomas + Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Java and its + dependencies, who died at Buitenzorg on the 26th November, 1814. + + "Oh thou whom ne'er my constant heart + One moment hath forgot. + Tho' fate severe hath bid us part + Yet still--forget me not." + +The traveller who has only a fortnight or three weeks to devote to Java +must awake betimes. In any event, he must needs be early to take +advantage of the express trains, and in our case we had only a day to +devote to Buitenzorg, where the Governor-General of the Netherland +Indies has his palace. + +With the exception of the short run from Tandjong Priok, it was our +first acquaintance with the railway service, and when we saw the crowd +awaiting to entrain at Weltervreden Station we decided to travel +first-class, contrary to the advice of our friends. It was well we did +so on this occasion, for the train was overcrowded; but afterwards we +travelled only by the second-class, and found it as comfortable as one +could wish. Indeed, so few persons travel in the first-class +compartments of the trains that we are astonished that any are retained +by the management. Throughout Java we found the railway service +excellent in every respect. The carriages are comfortable. Ample +accommodation is given for each person. It is possible to stow away a +considerable amount of barang or baggage in the carriages, and full +advantage is taken of this facility by the Dutch and native travellers. +The lavatory accommodation is better than we have seen it in the fast +expresses on the principal lines in England, and on the through service +expresses there are restaurant cars where meals may be partaken of at a +moderate tariff. We cannot say we always found the food palatable, for +the Chinamen who are in charge appear to have a fixed idea that the +"beef-stuk," which is the piece de resistance, should be served up raw. +In course of time, doubtless, the railway management will be able to +turn its attention to the commissariat arrangements, with a view to +their improvement, and, when they do so, we hope they will leave out the +beefsteak altogether and provide more variety and daintier, more +inviting, and more palatable viands. + +A fair rate of speed is maintained, and it is possible to go from +Batavia to Sourabaya, at the other end of the island, in two days. The +trains, of course, as in the Federated Malay States, run only from +sunrise to sundown, and the through traveller between the two principal +towns must sleep the night at Maos, where a commodious pasanggrahan or +rest-house provides clean, comfortable accommodation and wholesome food. +Only on two occasions were we belated on the railway, and both instances +were due to the one cause,--a wash-out on the line at Moentilan, the +result of a severe thunder and rain storm on the previous day and night. +The train was run down cautiously to the gap, passengers crossed over on +a temporary bridge to the train waiting on the other side, and the +baggage was transferred by a host of coolies. All this had to be done in +a torrential rain-storm, but the railway officials did all in their +power to make the conditions as little disagreeable as possible, and the +only inconvenience was the late arrival of some of the baggage at +Djocjakarta. + +There was not much of interest on the morning run to Buitenzorg, but the +Dutch lady who carried on an animated conversation with four gentlemen +for the whole of the hour and a half introduced to us the possibilities +for expression in the Dutch equivalents of "Yes" and "No." + +We had been prepared by Miss Scidmore's book for the beauties of +Buitenzorg, and for once expectation was more than realised. + +The Dutch Governor-General van Imhoff was certainly well advised when he +selected this position as the official residence of the +Governor-General, and the Dutch horticulturists, than whom there are +probably none better, deserve to be congratulated upon the garden city +they have created out of the primeval jungle. + +Part of the old palace was built by Governor-General Mossel, one hundred +and fifty years ago, and the original received additions during the +reigns of Daendels and Raffles. This structure was destroyed by an +earthquake in 1834, and the new palace, the first glimpse of which one +receives across an artificial lake, is a worthy residence for the +administrator of the Dutch Indies. The surface of the lake is studded +with lotus flowers and victoria regia, and the little island in the +centre displays a wealth of the red or rajah palm, feathery yellow +bamboo, and dark-green foliage which the lake mirrors in ever-changing +pictures. + +An Alma Tadema or a Marcus Stone would revel in the flowers and marbles +of the palace, with its broad stairs and corridors and fine Ionian +columns and cornices; and a Landseer or a MacWhirter might find endless +subjects in the deer park by which it is surrounded. + +The garden is a botanist's paradise. Tropical treasures from Nature's +storehouse, collected by successive Directors, are arranged with care +and precision characteristically Dutch. It was established in 1817 by +Professor Reinwardt, and many distinguished botanists who have left +their mark in the scientific world studied here and added to the +collections. As may be imagined, the Dutch were not content with a mere +show place for tropical specimens, and they established five mountain +gardens where experiments are conducted, for practical and scientific +purposes, in the cultivation of flowers, plants, vegetables and trees +usually found in temperate regions. These gardens are situated in the +mountains to the south--at Tjipanas, Tjibodas, Tjibeureum, Kadang Badoh, +and on the top of Mount Pangerango, that is to say, at heights ranging +from 3,500 ft. to 10,000 ft. The garden at Tjibodas remains, and at the +Governor-General's summer villa at Tjipanas one might imagine one's-self +in a private garden in Surrey or Kent. + +In the buildings at Buitenzorg, facilities are afforded for foreign +students, and at the time of our visit a Japanese Professor, from the +Tokio University, who had studied for three and a half years in Berlin, +was making an exhaustive investigation on scientific lines. Everything +that can be of service to students of botany is to be found here in the +museum, herbarium and library. + +The general herbarium has been arranged on the Kew model. Besides a +large collection of plants made by Zollinger between 1845 and 1858, it +contains the valuable collections gathered by Teysmann, between 1854 and +1870, throughout the Malay Archipelago. Specimens by Kurz and Scheffer +are also found, together with other recent collections of plants from +Borneo and adjacent islands. Duplicates from the Herbarium at Kew +Gardens and from several of the more famous European herbaria are to be +found here, as well as numerous specimens from the botanical +institutions of the British Colonies. + +The Herbarium Horti contains the necessary materials for the compilation +of the new catalogue of the Botanic Gardens, and the Herbarium +Bogoriense contains plants to be found in the neighbourhood of +Buitenzorg. + +Besides specimens of fruits, there is a comprehensive technical +collection in the Botanical Museum--fibres, commercial specimens of +rattan, india-rubber, and gutta-percha, barks for tanning purposes, +Peruvian barks, vegetable oils, indigo samples, various kinds of meal, +resins and damars. There is also a section devoted to forest and staple +produce. + +Fuller details of the gardens and environs of Buitenzorg may be found in +the handbook published by Messrs. G. Kolff and Co., Batavia. + +One need not be wholly a scientific investigator to appreciate the +beauties of Buitenzorg. There is here one view which has been described +over and over again, oftentimes in the language of hyperbole--the view +of the Tjidani Valley from the verandah of Bellevue Hotel. It is, +indeed, difficult to avoid the use of extravagant language in the +attempt to describe this beauty spot of Nature. + +Though he was writing of a beautiful woman, F. Marion Crawford might +have been describing some beautiful landscape when he wrote in his own +exquisite style:-- + +"I think that true beauty is beyond description; you may describe the +changeless faultless outlines of a statue to a man who has seen good +statues and can recall them; you can, perhaps, find words to describe +the glow and warmth and deep texture of a famous picture, and what you +write will mean something to those who know the master's work; you may +even conjure up an image before untutored eyes. But neither minute +description nor well-turned phrase, neither sensuous adjective nor +spiritual smile can tell half the truth of a beautiful living thing." + +The noble Roman, prompted to exclaim "Behold the Tiber" as he stood on +the summit of Kinnoull Hill and gazed upon the fertile valley of +Scotland's noblest stream, saw no fairer sight than this veritable +Garden of Eden in Equatorial Java. + +Seen in the afternoon when the setting sun is casting long shadows over +the landscape, the scene in the Tjidani Valley is calculated to arouse +the artistic senses of the most insusceptible. Miles away, the Salak +raises his majestic cone against the blue sky. In the distance, the +mountain forms a purple background for the picture, purple flecked with +soft white patches of floating cloud. Beneath his massive form, colour +is lost in shadowy but closer at hand are the dark pervading greens of +the trees and vegetation, palms and tree ferns and banana trees helping +by their graceful form to provide the truely tropical features, while +the equally graceful clumps of bamboo sway and creak in the light +breeze, their pointed leaves supplying that perpetual flutter and +movement which one associates with the birches and beeches of one's +native land. The cultivated patches on hillside and valley are rich in +colour. Here, the yellow paddy is ripening for the sickle; there, it is +bright green; alongside, the patient buffaloes are dragging a clumsy +wooden plough through water-covered soil to prepare for the next crop. +The lake-like patches reflect weird outlines, and one almost imagines +that they catch the brilliant colours from the sun-painted clouds. + +Down the valley, crossing the picture from left to right is the +river--the Tjidani,--a broad shallow stream when we saw it, in which +men, women and children are constantly bathing. From the compact kampong +nestling among the trees, the native women, clad in bright coloured +sarongs, came with babies, who take to the water as if it were their +natural element. Merry shouts of laughter ascend from the valley as the +youngsters splash about and chase each other. Everything suggests +beauty and peace and contentment, and as one drinks in the scene it is +borne in upon one that the comparison with the Garden of Eden is not +inapt. What could one wish for more than a beautiful, bounteous land and +a happy, contented people! + + + + +On the Road to Sindanglaya + + +Long before sunrise, the sound of merry voices arose from the valley. +Already the natives were bathing in the Tjidani, and, when the light +came, the primeval life on which the sun had gone down was reproduced in +the model-like scene spread out before us. Our kreta for the journey +over the Poentjak Pass had been ordered for six o'clock, but with +un-Oriental punctuality it was a quarter-past live when the sound of +carriage wheels broke in upon our dreams. + +While we sipped our morning coffee,--Java hotel coffee has improved +since Miss Scidmore anathematised it in 1899,--the sun's rays began to +peep over the shoulder of the Salak, and dispelled the morning mists on +river and valley. The Salak's fretwork crater stood out entirely +clear--his form a purple background to the picture gradually unfolding +itself. Nature was everywhere awake. Children's voices in play blended +with the songs of early workers proceeding to the fields. Butterflies +flitted and floated like detached petals from the flowers. Distance +converted human figures into larger butterflies, yellow and orange, +pink and blue and red. If it were beautiful in the evening, the scene +was enchanting in the morning, and it was with reluctance that we obeyed +the summons to early breakfast, and followed our barang into the kreta +to begin the journey to Sindanglaya. + +It was half-past six o'clock when we were salaamed out of the courtyard +of the Bellevue by the hotel "boys." + +The kreta was not a handsome affair. In fact it was one of the most +disreputable vehicles it has ever been our misfortune to travel in, and +when we made acquaintance of the road it had to travel over we must give +the owner credit for an abundant faith in the toughness of the kreta. It +was a cross between the carromata of the Philippines and a covered +dog-cart. There was no aid to mount. By a series of gymnastics we +managed to get into the driver's seat--our own was behind his but also +facing to the front. In attempting to get there, a sudden movement of +the team sent us plunging into the barang, and, in extricating +ourselves, head came in contact with the roof and hat went overboard. + +Eventually we went off with a bound along the main street of Buitenzorg, +scattering the fowls obtaining a precarious living in the roadway, and +sending cats and dogs and goats flying for safety into the houses. + +We had now time to examine the points of our team. It was composed of +three tiny Battak ponies. Two were brown, and one a piebald in which a +dingy chestnut strove for mastery with a dingier white. No two ponies +were the same in size. One was in the shafts; the other two were in +traces alongside. They tapered in size from right to left--the piebald +on the left. The giant of the group had a nasty temper, and when lashed, +as he was frequently during the drive, vented his anger upon the patient +brute doing the lion's share of the work in the shafts. Upon the whole +they did their work extremely well, for a great deal was asked of them, +and they scarcely deserved the almost continuous flogging to which they +were subjected by our driver. + +Having travelled over the road from Buitenzorg to Sindanglaya by the +Poentjak, without reserve, we advise pilgrims to Sindanglaya to +patronise the road from Tjiandjoer. The local guide book remarks with +truth: "The main road to the Poentjak being very steep, it does not +afford a quick mode of travelling. At Toegoe, an extra team of horses +must be added--or karbouws (water buffaloes) used instead of the horses, +to pull the carriage at a slow pace up the mountain. Good walkers may, +therefore, be advised to do this part of the road on foot, which will +take them about an hour and a half. By doing so they will be more able +to admire this marvellous work of Governor-General Daendels." + +We suspect there is a touch of Dutch satire in this last remark. We have +travelled the road, and we are not prepared to parody the old Scot's +saying:-- + + "If you'd seen this road before it was made, + You'd lift up your hands and bless General Wade" + +Daendels may have been an admirable gentleman, a brave soldier, and a +clever administrator, but his engineering skill did not equal his other +qualities. It would have been much better if the road had never been +made. Surely no highway was ever more badly graded, and we are not +astonished that a practical people like the Dutch set themselves to +construct a more sensible road by way of Tjitjoeroeg and Soekaboemie. We +have seen paved mountain paths in China more inaccessible, but not much, +and when we dashed up to the Sindanglaya Hotel at 12.15, we thought more +highly of the team that had pulled us over the Pass than we could have +believed when we formed our first early morning prejudices. + +Needless to say, it is not a road for a motor car. It would be +inadvisable to adopt this route to Sindanglaya if the party included +ladies. But, if they have a taste for mountaineering, baggage should be +sent by rail to Tjiandjoer under the care of some of the party, and +carriages dispensed with at Toegoe and the remainder of the journey made +on foot. As it was, a good deal of our journey up had to be made on +foot over unblinded loose road metal. + +Going down the other side the driver led the ponies for about a quarter +of a mile, and then joined us in the kreta. That downward trip was the +most perilous we ever made in anything that runs on wheels, except a +train journey from Manila to Malolos during the Filipino insurrection in +1899. Jack London, the Californian novelist, once told us that life +would not be worth living if it were not for the thrills. We had more +thrills than we care to have crowded into one hour on that down-grade +run from Poentjak to Sindanglaya. Several times, we retrimmed at the +request of the driver, and we kept the barang from falling upon him, +while he manipulated our three rakish adventurers from Battak. When an +unusually severe lurch nearly precipitated us into the deep storm-water +channel on the left or the carefully-irrigated paddy fields on the +right, Jehu turned round and grinned a grin of fiendish appreciation, +whilst we thanked with fervour the merciful Providence who preserved us +from destruction, and wondered how long one could hold out with a broken +limb, without surgical help, should the worst happen. It is the +unexpected that happens. We got to Sindanglaya without any more serious +damage than a bottle of Odol distributed amongst our best clothes. + +Governor-General Daendels seems to have had a high opinion of this +remarkable highway. We read: "The obstinacy with which he carried +through his scheme of constructing the main road to the Preanger +Regencies across this summit is really amazing. He never shrank from the +terrible death-rate among the wretched labourers, nor from the +difficulties and enormous cost to keep such a road in good condition, +for, especially in the west monsoon, heavy rain-showers are continually +washing the earth off the road. Yet it was by no means necessary." Let +this be Governor-General Daendels' epitaph! + +Had not one's attention been distracted by the eccentric performances of +the kreta, one might well have admired the scenery. Close at hand, the +road teems with fascinating pictures of native life. Only occasionally +does one see a really beautiful face, but there is a pretty shyness such +as one seldom sees on the roads of a European country. Although we read +of the thirty millions of people in Java, there is still, apparently, +room for more, and nearly every woman has a brown baby slung upon the +hip and others dragging on her sarong, or seeking to efface themselves +behind her none too ample form. At intervals, old women or young +children keep shop, either in nipa huts or on mats under the shade of a +kanari-tree. In the kampongs or collections of neat little huts which +punctuate the way, a pasar (market) is being held, haberdashers with +cheap glass and fancy wares being in juxtaposition with dealers in +sarongs and the sellers of fruits and vegetables. On the stoeps of some +of the houses, groups of women spin or weave cloth for the native +sarong; some make deft use of the sewing machine of foreign commerce. + +The road is fringed by a variety of trees and plants which only a +botanist would attempt to describe. Colour is given to this fringe by +the magenta bougainvillea, the red hibiscus, the pale blue convolvulus, +the variegated crotons, and the orange and red of the lantana, and at +places the poinsettia provides a predominating red head to the +hedge-like greenery. Palms and tree ferns and feathery clumps of young +bamboo are called to aid by Nature's landscape gardener; but they do not +shut out the verdure-clad ravines that mark a waterway or the terraced +rice-fields which climb almost to the top of the highest summits. + +We thought we had seen the acme of perfection in rice cultivation and +irrigation in China and Japan. But here in Java, we have seen more to +excite the admiration in this respect than in either of these countries. +One can only marvel at the completeness of the system of irrigation. +Rice is in all stages of cultivation, from the flooded paddy field to +the grain in the ear being reaped by the gaily coloured butterflies of +women. Water buffaloes drag a primitive plough through the drenched +soil, while the bright-faced young ploughboy, by what appears to be a +superhuman effort, balances himself precariously on the implement. + +On the left, we pass tea gardens, the tufty bushes low to the ground. +What strikes us first is the amazing regularity of the rows and the +cleanness of the ground. An aroma of tea in the making escapes from the +roadside factory and agreeably assails our sense of smell as we jolt +past in our kreta. + +We reached Kampong Toegoe at nine o'clock, refreshed both men and +beasts, and harnessed two more ponies with long rope traces to help us +to the summit of the Pass, which was reached at eleven o'clock. Here we +made a deviation on foot to the Telega Warna (Colour-changing Lake) +while the ponies rested for the downward journey. The path is a +difficult one, and the lake itself is less interesting than the lovely +vegetation by which it is surrounded. Ferns and bracken cover the +hillside, pollipods predominating, orchids cling to tree stems, and +higher up, the curious nest-fern and various forms of plant life attract +attention. Tree is woven to tree by a network of mighty lianas. + +The lake itself lies in what must have been the crater in the +prehistoric period of activity of Megamendoeng. It is 100 metres in +width, circular in shape, and about 100 fathoms deep. Fish are found in +the lake, and they are regarded with veneration by the natives. + +The steepness of the heavily wooded wall that rises hundreds of feet +sheer round three sides reminds one of the geyser-studded old crater of +Unzen, in the island of Kyushiu in Japan, "Its gleaming mirror," the +guide book says, "exhibits a wonderful luxury of tints and colours, +shifting and changing whenever the gentle mountain breeze ruffles the +smooth surface." We did not stay a sufficiently long time to experience +any wonderful changes on the lake itself, but the surroundings are +loaded with charm. The visitor to Sindanglaya should certainly not +neglect to make the trip to the lake. We would recommend an excursion on +foot from the hotel. + +Once over the Pass, the view on the other side of the large basin-shaped +plateau in which Sindanglaya lies is more attractive than on the +Buitenzorg side, and, as we were to find on the following morning, a +better idea is obtained of the wonderful industry of the people, and the +remarkable extent to which the cultivation of the mountain slopes is +carried on by them. + + + + +Sindanglaya and Beyond. + + +We had not gone far on our travels before we realised the +presumptuousness of our attempt to "do" Java in a fortnight. It would +require weeks to drink in all the subtle beauties and influences of +Buitenzorg, to get the atmosphere of the place; and to derive the +fullest measure of benefit and enjoyment from the visit to Sindanglaya, +one would require at least a fortnight. + +It will ever be matter for regret that we were unable to devote more +time to the beauty spots of Western Java or to make the various +interesting and health-giving excursions from Sindanglaya's comfortable +hotel. We have already said that the ride over the Poentjak Pass should +be avoided and the train taken from Buitenzorg to Tjiandjoer. The train +leaving Batavia (Weltervreden Station) at 7.25 a.m. and Buitenzorg at +8.44 reaches Tjiandjoer at 12.04. Here, if a carriage has been ordered +in advance, a representative of the Sindanglaya establishment meets +passengers, and the journey to the hotel is negotiated in two hours at a +cost of two and a-half guilders. From Buitenzorg to Sindanglaya the hire +of a carriage for passenger and baggage is nine guilders; from +Sindanglaya to Buitenzorg it costs seven guilders. The train fare from +Batavia to Buitenzorg is three guilders for first-class and two guilders +for second; from Batavia to Tjiandjoer, it is eight guilders first-class +and four guilders and seventy-five cents second. + +The hotel, which consists of one main building with a number of small +detached pavilions surrounded by roses and other flowers of the +temperate zone, is situated on the slopes of the Gedeh, and is 3,300 +feet above sea level. At this level one is able to move about long +distances during the day without becoming exhausted, and in the evening +the air is delightfully cool, falling just below 70 degrees the night we +slept there. There is a tennis court, and the manager spoke of laying +down another, and with billiards and skittles in the evening and a hot +spring swimming bath, near the Governor-General's villa, for healthful +recreation in the daytime, one need not feel too much the absence of +city life and companionship. The tariff is the moderate one of six +guilders a day, but it is reduced to five guilders per day when a stay +of a week or more is made. + +The Governor-General's summer residence, Tjipanas, is here, a quarter of +a mile from the hotel. It is a prettily situated bungalow residence, +standing quite close to the main road from Tjiandjoer, and surrounded by +a garden which transports one at once to the south of England. Here, as +in many other places in Java, the notice appears: "Verbodden Toegang;" +but a courteous application to the Steward in charge obtains a hearty +welcome to inspect the grounds. These are well stocked with dahlias, +roses, hortensias, begonias, cowslips, sweet williams, wall-flower, and +other old-fashioned flowers, and the bloom-covered fuschias carried +one's thoughts back to pleasant days spent in Devonshire dales. From the +lawns sweet-smelling violets perfumed the air. Matchless orchids clung +to the trees, and the delicate maiden-hair fern held its own with the +hardier varieties. Dusky fir-trees, groups of Australian araucarias, and +Japanese oak trees and chestnuts set off the brightness of the flower +beds. In the park there is a beautiful pond, from the centre of which a +fountain throws a crystal spray to catch the sun's rays and dispense a +wealth of glittering diamonds. + +Hot water is the literal meaning of Tjipanas, and a hot spring in the +vicinity of the villa supplies the bath-rooms, as well as the swimming +bath of the Sanatorium. + +There is a fine view from the villa, but a better prospect is obtained +from Goenoeng Kasoer, some hundreds of feet higher, where a former +Governor-General often took his ontbijtberg (or breakfast). It is now +known as Breakfast Hill. A silver mine in the neighbourhood was worked +for a time by the John Company. + +The mountain garden of Tjibodas, mentioned in a previous article, is +well worth a visit. A good walker, starting at six o'clock, can go +there, breakfast and be back at the hotel by noon. But the excursion to +be taken by everyone who stays at Sindanglaya for any length of time is +to the falls at Tjibeureum, Kandang Badak and the crater of the Gedeh. +Ladies may make the trip in sedan chairs; gentlemen on foot or on +horseback. The falls of Tjibeureum consist of three cataracts, falling +400 feet down a perpendicular crag, and the winding road passes through +some interesting jungle scenery. + +From Tjibeureum, the path winds up a steep ascent, and through a narrow +cleft in the rocks, a natural gateway to which the natives have attached +some wonderful legends. Hot springs break through the mountain crust and +run side by side with crystal-pure cold brooks, as is often the case on +the mountains in Japan. + +After a two and a half hours' climb from Tjibeureum, Kadang Badak (or +Rhinoceros Kraal) is reached. It lies almost half way up the saddle +which connects the Gedeh with the Pangerango, and although there are now +no traces of pachyderms, it is stated that both this place and the +Telega Warna were favourite haunts of the rhinoceros not so very many +years ago. It is recommended that the climbers should spend the night in +the hut here, and ascend the Pangerango (9,500 ft.) at 4 a.m. to see +the sun rise. From the top the view is magnificent. + +Along a steep and difficult mountain path, the crater of the Gedeh may +be reached in an hour and a half, and the sight of the gigantic crater +of this majestic volcano is said to be overwhelming and ample +compensation for the toilsome ascent. It is about two miles distant from +the Pangerango, and forms the still active part of the twin volcano. +Between 1761 and 1832 no eruptions occurred, but seven took place in the +twenty years following, the most terrible and severe being the eruption +of 1840. There were again terrible eruptions in 1886 and 1899, when the +volcano covered the hillsides with huge stones, one over 150 kilogrammes +in weight landing three-quarters of a mile away. + +There are several places in the Preanger Region where the visitor may +elect to stay instead of Sindanglaya, such as Soekaboemi (2,100 ft.) +which has the advantage of being on the railway, Bandoeng and Garoet. +All have their own attractions for invalids, and the hotel accommodation +is spoken of in terms of the highest praise by all who have been there. + +When we drove away from Sindanglaya at seven o'clock on the following +morning, the white crater wall of the Gedeh stood out like a huge lump +of marble in the morning sun. + +Our route lay through tea, coffee and cocoa plantations, and richly +cultivated country to Tjiandjoer--a thriving little mountain town, with +an air of prosperity and progress,--where we joined the train at 9.30 +a.m. for Padalarang. Here, at 11.10 a.m., a change was made to the +express from Batavia, and Maos was reached at 5.46 p.m. It had been our +intention to stay overnight at Bandoeng, strongly recommended by Mr. +Gantvoort, the courteous manager of the Hotel des Indes in Batavia, but +we pressed on with the intention of devoting more time to the eastern +end of the island. It was well we did so, for, shortly after leaving +Padalarang, rain began to fall in torrents, and the afternoon and night +were passed in a severe thunderstorm which was to cause us delay. Part +of the line was washed away near Moentilan, and our train was over three +hours late in reaching Djocjakarta on the following day. + +At Maos, there is a commodious, well-built, comfortable passagrahan or +government rest-house, where four of us ate our meal in solemn silence, +until a query by ourselves when the coffee arrived broke the icy reserve +of the quartette, and opened the way for an interesting conversation. + +It is customary to make fun of English reserve, but our observation +convinced us that the Dutch are no whit behind us in that respect where +fellow-Dutch are concerned. On the other hand, nothing could have +exceeded the kindness and courtesy with which we were treated from one +end of Java to the other. Speaking no Dutch, we had looked forward to +many tedious days, but our fears were needless, for, wherever we went, +we met pleasant English-speaking Dutchmen, who proved the most +entertaining of companions, and we take this opportunity of +acknowledging the courteous assistance we received from time to time. On +the score of not speaking Dutch or Malay, no English man or woman need +be deterred from visiting Java. English is spoken at all the hotels, and +though all the train conductors and stationmasters may not do so, there +is sure to be an educated Dutchman or lady in the car to whom one may +turn for help, which is always readily given. + +On one occasion, we had an interesting conversation with two native +officials attached to the staff of the Sultan at Djocjakarta. These men +had never left the island of Java, yet one of them read and spoke +English with ready fluency and perfect accent. + +Next day, in spite of the delay caused by the wash-out on the line, we +were able to reach Djocjakarta by tiffin time, and devoted the afternoon +to the Hindu ruins at Parambanan. + +[Illustration: THE BARA BUDUR.] + + + + +Hindu Ruins in Central Java. + + +A visit to Java would be incomplete did it not include a pilgrimage to +the marvellous products of religious fervour which Buddhism reared in +the plains around Djocjakarta before it went down before the +all-conquering onslaught of Moslemism. These ruins testify to an ancient +art and civilisation and culture and an instinct of creation few are +aware of to-day, and it is hard to resist the temptation to indulge in +extravagant language when attempting to describe them as they now stand, +partially restored by the Dutch authorities. + +Miss Scidmore has lavished the wealth of her luxuriant vocabulary upon +them, but neither she, nor any of her predecessors in the work of +praise, saw them as they stand to-day--a wonder alike to archaeologist, +architect, artist and student of comparative religions. Here in the +centre of fertile plains we have the real Java of ancient times. + +The Dutch had been in possession of the island for two hundred years +without discovering the rich deposits hidden beneath the accumulated +mounds of centuries and buried under a mass of tropical vegetation. To +the active mind of Sir Stamford Raffles the discovery was due. He went +to Java as Lieutenant-Governor in 1811, and during the period it was +under his control, he had the mounds explored, the ruined temples +un-earthed and their historic import co-related with the romantic +legends and poetic records rescued from the archives of the native +princes. It was due to the investigations of this great Englishman that +the date of the construction of the temples was fixed at the beginning +of the seventh century of the Christian era, and subsequent +investigators (prominent amongst whom must be placed Dr. I. Groneman, +now and for many years resident of Djocjakarta and Honorary President of +its Archaeological Society) agree in accepting this period as +authentically proved from the ruins themselves. + +[Illustration] + +Sir Stamford was of opinion that the temples, as works of labour and +art, dwarf to nothing all wonder and admiration at the great pyramids of +Egypt; but since his time, it must not be forgotten, much richer +discoveries in ancient art and archaeological lore have been made in +Egypt and Palestine. Alfred Russell Wallace, Brumund, Fergusson, all +join in the chorus of praise, and the latter, in his "History of Indian +and Eastern Architecture," expresses the opinion that the Boro Budur is +the highest development of Buddhist art, an epitome of all its arts and +ritual, and the culmination of the architectural style, which, +originating at Barhut a thousand years before--that is more than +twenty-one centuries ago--had begun to decay in India at the time the +colonists were erecting this masterpiece of the ages in the heart of +Java. + +[Illustration] + +To reach the Boro Budur, one takes the steam tram from Djocja to +Moentilan. There a dog-cart may be hired for three guilders, and, taking +the Temple or Tjandi of Mendoet on the way, the Boro Budur may be +reached in an hour and a half from Moentilan. Miss Scidmore was able to +write with her customary enthusiasm about this road; but, truth to tell, +we found the drive far from pleasant. Until one gets within a quarter of +a mile of the ruins, the surface is bad and some of the small bridges so +dangerous that we dismounted at the driver's request. The dog-cart, +also, is far from an agreeable vehicle in which to travel, and if a +better carriage could be found we would advise its being hired. +Wherever one goes in Java, the public vehicles are in a state of decay, +far more disreputable than the gharry of Singapore, and a large number +of the ponies are decrepit and suffering from open sores. If Java is to +become a tourist country the vehicles should be better supervised. + +Before setting out from Djocjakarta, the visitor should get the hotel +proprietor to communicate with the stationmaster at Moentilan, with the +object of having a more comfortable carriage than fell to our unhappy +lot through leaving the matter to haphazard. + +Strictly speaking, the Boro Budur--which means the collection of +Buddas--is not a building in the sense that we speak of St. Paul's or +St. Peter's. A small hill has been cut down and the earthwork surrounded +by masonry, uncemented, unjointed, layer upon layer, and there is no +column, pillar, or true arch. It is supposed that it was built by some +of the first Buddhist settlers from India as the resting place (dagaba) +of one of the urns containing a portion of the ashes of Buddha. + +[Illustration: BAS RELIEF--BARA BUDUR.] + +[Illustration: BAS RELIEF--BARA BUDUR.] + +It is difficult to describe it briefly, but the following extract from +Miss Scidmore's book seems to us to convey the best idea of the +structure in general terms:-- + + "The temple stands on a broad platform, and rises first in five + square terraces, inclosing galleries or processional paths + between their walls, which are covered on each side with + bas-relief sculptures. If placed in single line, these + bas-reliefs would extend for three miles. The terrace walls hold + four hundred and thirty-six niches or alcove chapels, where + life-size Buddhas sit serene upon lotus cushions. Staircases + ascend in straight lines from each of the four sides, passing + under stepped or pointed arches, the keystones of which are + elaborately carved masks, and rows of sockets in the jambs show + where wood or metal doors once swung. Above the square terraces + are three circular terraces, where seventy-two latticed dagabas + (reliquaries in the shape of the calyx or bud of the lotus) + inclose each a seated image, seventy-two more Buddhas sitting in + those inner, upper circles, of Nirvana, facing a great dagaba, + or final cupola, the exact function or purpose of which as key + to the whole structure is still the puzzle of archaeologists. + This final shrine is fifty feet in diameter, and either covered + a relic of Buddha, or a central well where the ashes of priests + and princes were deposited, or is a form surviving from the + tree-temples of the earliest primitive East when nature-worship + prevailed. The English engineers made an opening in the solid + exterior, and found an unfinished statue of Buddha on a platform + over a deep well-hole." + +[Illustration] + +We read this description among others before we visited the Boro Budur, +and must confess that from none of them did we get a correct idea of +what we were to see. It must be seen to be realised. Not even +photographs give a true conception of the ornate character of the +decorative stonework--the hard but freely-worked lava stone having lent +itself easily to the chisel. Like Cologne or Milan Cathedrals, it must +be examined minutely to grasp the elaborateness of the sculptured work, +but, unlike either of these, it does not produce an immediate impression +of grandeur and religious elevation. It is unlike any of the temples in +Japan, or, indeed, anywhere, though Ceylon and India may suggest +comparisons. + +What will strike the visitor as he perambulates these miles of +sculptured terraces is the complete absence of any offensive or indecent +figure. Mere nudity is not, of course, an outrage to the artistic soul; +but here there is not even a nude or grotesque figure. Each is draped in +the fine flowing robes of the East, not in monotonous regularity but +suggestive of prince and peasant, princess and maids, down even to the +jewels they wear. Strangely enough, no particularly Javanese type of +face or figure is represented--all are Hindu, Hindu-Caucasian and pure +Greek. + +It is not our purpose to give elaborate details of this work of +religious art. The visitor may obtain at Djocjakarta a copy of Dr. +Groneman's learned treatise on the subject, a treatise which will teach +him something about Buddhism as well as the Boro Budur, of which Dr. +Groneman has made an exhaustive study. With his guide, the sculptures +become an open book to the visitor. + +It is more archaeological than descriptive, however, and we must +acknowledge our indebtedness again to Miss Scidmore for the following +passage to show the scope of the sculptures:-- + +[Illustration] + + "The everyday life of the seventh and eighth century is + pictured--temples, palaces, thrones and tombs, ship and houses, + all of man's constructions are portrayed. The life in courts and + palaces, in fields and villages, is all seen there. Royal folk + in wonderful jewels sit enthroned, with minions offering gifts + and burning incense before them warriors kneeling and maidens + dancing. The peasant ploughs the rice-fields with the same + wooden stick and ungainly buffalo, and carries the rice-sheaves + from the harvest field with the same shoulder poles, used in + all the farther East to-day. Women fill their water-vessels at + the tanks and bear them away on their heads as in India now, and + scores of bas-reliefs show the unchanging costumes of the East + that offer sculptors the same models in this century. Half the + wonders of that great three-mile-long gallery of sculptures + cannot be recalled. Each round disclosed some more wonderful + picture, some more eloquent story. Even the humorous fancies of + the sculptors are expressed in stone. In one relievo a + splendidly caparisoned state elephant flings its feet in + imitation of the dancing girl near by. Other sportive elephants + carry fans and state umbrellas in their trunks; and the marine + monsters swimming about the ship that bears the Buddhist + missionaries to the isles have such expression and human + resemblance as to make one wonder if those pillory an enemy with + their chisels, too. In the last gallery, where, in the progress + of the religion, it took on many features of Jainism, or + advancing Brahmanism, Buddha is several times represented as the + ninth avatar, or incarnation, of Vishnu, still seated on the + lotus cushion and holding a lotus with one of his four hands." + +In all probability, the masonry was shaken down by an earthquake, the +Boro Budur being near three volcanoes. Restorative and preservative work +is now being carried on by the Government, and some of the smaller +temples in the Djocja district are restored in the original design. + +[Illustration: THE BARA BUDUR--ONE OF THE GALLERIES.] + +[Illustration: THE SMEROE--13,000 FEET HIGH.] + +There is a small hotel at the Boro Budur where one is recommended to +stay when studying details, and we can well believe that sunrise as seen +from the summit is a sight one should never forget. We saw it in the +early afternoon when the heat vapours from the noontide sun partially +obliterated the landscape, but even so it was impressive. Except on the +right, where the mountains close in the horizon, the eye has a range of +many miles over fertile alluvial plains, studded with coco and banana +and palm trees, and every other patch of ground cultivated "like a tulip +bed." Miss Marianne North, whose collection of paintings in Kew Gardens +may be familiar to some of our readers, wrote of this view: "The very +finest view we ever saw." + + + + +The Temples of Parambanan. + + +There are other Buddhist ruins in the neighbourhood of the Boro Budur; +but the other more important collection is scattered over the region +between Djocjakarta and Soerakarta. One small temple, the Tjandi Kali +Bening, is reputed to be the gem of Hindu art in Java. This we did not +see; but, on another day, in a victoria drawn by four small ponies, kept +going by the wild gr-r-r-ee gr-r-r-eeing of our native running footman, +we drove to the scattered temples on the Plain of Parambanan, where, +with the help of another archaeological guide by Dr. I. Groneman, we were +able to appreciate the beauties of these 1100-year-old centres of +ancient religious devotees. These temples are the most interesting in +the country, though lacking the extent and grandeur of the Boro Budur. +Though they do not contain a single genuine Buddha figure, but many +images of Brahmanic gods, Dr. Groneman says there are many reasons to +justify the opinion that they were built by Buddhists, probably over the +ashes of princes and grandees of a Buddhistic empire. + +In his report to Sir Stamford Raffles on these Parambanan ruins, Captain +George Baker, of the Bengal establishment wrote:--"In the whole course +of my life, I have never met with such stupendous and finished +specimens of human labour and of the science and taste of ages long +since forgot, crowded together in so small a compass, as in this little +spot, which, to use a military phrase, I deem to have been the +headquarters of Hinduism in Java." + +In Volume XIII of the "Asiatick Researches or Transactions of the +Society instituted in Bengal for inquiring into the History and +Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences and Literature of Asia" (Calcutta, +1820), Mr. John Crawfurd, who, apparently, visited Java in 1816, gives a +long and interesting description of the ruins on the Plain of +Parambanan. He describes the locale as ten miles from Djocjakarta, a +valley lying between Rababu and Marapi to the north and a smaller +southern range of high land. + +A few of the ruins consist of single isolated temples, but the greater +number are in groups, rows of small temples surrounding larger temples. + +The shape of the smaller temples is worthy of observation. From the +foundation to the lintels of the doors, they are of a square form. They +then assume a pyramidal but round shape, and are decorated around by +small figures resembling Lingas, while a larger Linga surmounts the +whole building, forming the apex of the temple. + +Invariably, the sites of the temples are adjacent to abundant supplies +of clear water so much desired by the Hindus and so necessary to the +performance of the ritual. Beside two rivers of the purest water, there +is between the villages of Parambanan and Plaosan a small tank, +evidently an appendage to the temples. This little piece of water is a +square of about 200 feet to the side. The ground around it is elevated, +and there is every appearance of its being an artificial excavation. The +whole tank, when visited by Mr. Crawfurd, was covered with blue lotus, +the flower of which is so conspicuous an ornament of the sculptures of +the temple. + +Then, as now, there was no evidence of Hindu descendants of the builders +of these religious houses and places of worship, but the Javanese are as +tolerant of various religious cults as the Chinese or the Japanese, and +the visitor need not be surprised to find native visitors making what +appears to be a pilgrimage to some particular shrine. + +Mr. Crawfurd found barren women, men unfortunate in trade or at play, +persons in debt and sick persons propitiating the Goddess Durga, +"smeared with perfumed unguents or decked with flowers." This worship, +too, was not confined to the lower orders. His Highness the Susuhunan +when meditating an unusually ambitious or hazardous scheme made +offerings to the image. + +These temples are built of a hard dark and heavy species of basalt, the +chief component of the mountains of Java. The stone is usually hewn in +square blocks of various sizes, as is the case with the Boro Budur. The +respective surfaces of the stones which lie on each other in the +building have grooves and projections which key into each other as in +the best masonry work to-day. They are regularly arranged in the walls +in such a manner as to give the greatest degree of strength and solidity +to the structure, and nowhere is cement or mortar utilised. There are no +huge pillars or single blocks such as may be seen in other prehistoric +edifices, and neither in boldness of design nor imposing grandeur have +the temples presented any difficulties to the builders. There is nothing +upon a great scale, nothing attempted outside the reach of the most +obvious mechanical contrivance or the most ordinary methods of common +ingenuity. The chief characteristic is the minute laboriousness of the +execution. Nevertheless, the temples excite the imagination, and send +the thoughts back to those primeval days when men sought to express +their religious feeling through these elaborate monuments of hewn stone. + +The Tjandi Kalasan, one of the most beautiful of the temples, is the +only ruin in Central Java of which the exact date of construction has +been learned with any degree of accuracy. This was ascertained from a +stone found in the neighbourhood, inscribed in nagari characters. Two +versions of the inscription were made--one by the Dutch scholar, Dr. J. +Brandes, and the other by the Indian, Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar. + +Dr. I. Groneman makes use of both versions to compile the following:-- + + "Homage to the blessed (or, reverend) and noble Tara. + + "May she,--the only deliverer of the world, who, seeing how men + perish in the sea of life, which is full of incalculable misery, + is sure to save them by the three means--grant you the wished + for essence, the salvation of the world by the Lord of gods and + men. + + "The guru (_i.e._ teacher) of the Sailendra prince erected a + magnificent Tara temple. At the command (or, the instance) of + the guru, the grateful ----(?) made an image of the goddess and + built the temple, together with a dwelling (vihara, monastery) + for the monks (bhikshus) who know the great vehicle of + discipline (Mahayana). + + "By authorisation of the king, the Tara temple and the monastery + for the reverend monks have been built by his counsellors, the + pangkur, the tavan, and the tirip (old Javanese civil officers, + perhaps soothsayers or astrologers). + + "The deserving guru of the Sailendra king built the temple in + the prosperous reign of the king, the son of the Sailendra + dynasty. + + "The great king built the Tara temple in honour of the guru (to + do homage to the guru) when 700 years of the Saka era were past. + + "The territory of the village of Kalasa was bestowed on the + congregation of priests (monks) in the presence of the pangkur, + the tavan and the tirip, and the village chiefs (as witnesses). + + "This great (incomparable) endowment was made by the king for + the monks. It is to be perpetuated by the (later) kings of the + Sailendra dynasty, for the benefit of the successive reverend + congregations of monks, and be respected (maintained) by the + wise pangkur, the good tivan, the wise tirip and others, and by + their virtuous wives (according to Dr. Brandes, but "their + virtuous foot-soldiers" according to Dr. Bhandarkar). + + "The king also begs of all following kings that this bridge (or, + dam) of charity, which is (a benefit) for all nations, may be + perpetuated for all time. + + "May all who adhere to the doctrine of the Jinas, through the + blessings of this monastery, obtain knowledge of the nature of + things, constituted by the concatenation of causes (and + effects), and may they thrive. + + "The ---- prince once more requests of (all) future kings that + they may protect the monastery righteously." + +This inscription, showing clearly that the temple was consecrated to +Tara, the sakti of the deliverer of the world, the fourth Dhyani Buddha, +Amitabha, the Tara of the Buddhists of the Northern Church (Mahayana, or +the "Great Vehicle"), leads Dr. Groneman to the opinion that this +particular temple was completed in the year 701 of the Saka era, or 779 +of the Christian era. No trace of the Tara image was found; but this is +not to be wondered at when we note the presence of other images in the +gardens of private residences in Djocjakarta, and even farther afield, +and remember the destruction wrought by foreign soldiers and foreign and +native vandals. + + + + +People and Industries of Central Java. + + +In the plains going eastward through Central Java from the Preanger +Regencies to the mountains of the Teng'ger Region, one cannot fail to be +struck by the remarkable change in the appearance of the natives. The +Soendanese of the West may not have the resource and thoughtfulness of +the people of the plains, the Javanese, but they have brightness and +vivacity which make them more attractive. Their bent of mind is +reflected in the bright colours of their dress. In this and other +respects, they resemble the Japanese women. In the plains, sombreness of +dress is a characteristic--the browns of Mid-Java changing to an almost +universal dark blue in the west, reminding the traveller of the Chinese +and the inhabitants of the southern Japanese islands. + +Everywhere, the male Javanese carry the kris or native knife in the +girdle. There is much variety in the blades, handles and sheaths of +those weapons, real native damascene blades costing considerable sums. +One taking a superficial trip through the island is at a loss to +understand why the natives should be armed. According to all accounts, +they are a peaceably inclined people, and give their Dutch rulers very +little trouble; and if they were at all quarrelsome amongst themselves, +the handy weapon would be a source of grave danger. In course of time, +perhaps, the knife will disappear as did the sword of civilised Europe a +century or more ago. A traffic in Birmingham manufactured krises and +knives is done at Djocjakarta and Soerakarta, as well as at Samarang, +Sourabaya and Batavia, and anyone who wishes to make a collection of +native weapons should be careful to have the assistance of an expert to +detect the sham from the real. + +The same remark applies to the purchase of sarongs. The ordinary sarong +of commerce is manufactured in Lancashire, whence an excellent imitation +of the native manufacture is exported. Tourists are also catered for in +a native block-stamped variety, which is at least a colourable imitation +of the real article. Wherever we went, however, we could see that the +native art had not been lost entirely. Women sit outside their little +huts by the roadside tracing the most elaborate designs in brown and +blue dye upon the cloth with tiny funnel-shaped implements. + +This cloth is styled batik. According to the ground of white, black or +red, it is known as batik latur puti, batik latur irang, or batuk latur +bang. To prepare it to receive the design, the cloth is steeped in rice +water, dried and calendered. The process of the batik is performed with +hot wax in a liquid state applied by means of the chanting. The +chanting is usually made of silver or copper, and holds about an ounce +of the liquid. The tube is held in the hand at the end of a small stick, +and the pattern is traced on both sides of the tightly drawn suspended +cloth. When the outline is finished, such portions of the cloth as are +intended to be preserved white, or to receive any other colour than the +general field or ground, are carefully covered in like manner with the +liquid wax, and then the piece is immersed in whatever coloured dye may +be intended for the ground of the pattern. The parts covered with wax +resist the operation of the dye, and when the wax is removed, by being +steeped in hot water till it melts, are found to remain in their +original condition. If other colours are to be applied, the process is +gone over again. It will thus be seen that a considerable amount of +skill is required. In the ordinary course, the process of the batik +occupies about ten days for common patterns, and from fifteen to +seventeen days for the finer and more variegated. + +Some of the sarongs worn by the native aristocracy and the European +ladies are not only beautiful in pattern and working but most expensive +in price. + +In our excursions in the neighbourhood of Djocjakarta, we had ample +opportunity of seeing the industry of the Javanese. Wherever one went, +there were long processions of stunted women bravely carrying enormous +burdens on their backs, often with a baby slung in the slandang astride +the hip. The cheery, coquettish look of the Soendanese was absent here. +All seemed to be borne down by the seriousness of a strenuous physical +life. No songs arose from the fields; scarcely a head was raised from +the laborious planting of tufts of paddy roots as our kreta rattled +past. While mothers toiled in the fields, children played near the +roadways, or now and then assisted their parents. + +We were surprised to see in these fertile plains how prevalent goitre is +amongst the women. In the drive from Moentilan to the Boro Budur, at +least one in twenty were so afflicted. We commented on this fact to a +native official while waiting for our tram at Moentilan, and he assured +us that it is remarkably prevalent amongst the common people, but that +the men do not suffer in the same proportion as the women. The disease +is named "kondo" by the Javanese. We do not know whether any scientific +investigations into the disease have been carried out by the Dutch +officials; but it would be interesting to know why it should be so +prevalent in this area. Goitre is usually associated with people living +in mountainous regions, yet we never noticed it in the Preanger and +scarcely at all on the mountains of East Java. + +Since the above was written, we have had an opportunity of consulting +Sir Stamford Raffles' History of Java. He found goitre prevalent in both +Java and Sumatra, but is careful to explain that it was observed in +certain mountainous districts. The natives ascribed it to the quality of +the water, but, says Sir Stamford, "there seems good ground for +concluding that it is rather to be traced to the atmosphere. In proof of +this, it may be mentioned that there is a village near the foot of the +Teng'ger mountains, in the eastern part of the island, where every +family is afflicted by this malady, while in another village, situated +at a greater elevation, and through which the stream descends which +serves for the use of both, there exists no such deformity. These wens +are considered hereditary in some families, and seem thus independent of +situation. A branch of the family of the present Adipati of Bandung +(1811-15) is subject to them, and it is remarkable that they prevail +chiefly among the women of the family. They never produce positive +suffering nor occasion early death, and may be considered rather as +deformities than diseases. It is never attempted to remove them." + +[Illustration: SULTAN OF DJOCJA'S SOLDIERS.] + +We reached Djocjakarta in the ordinary way through Maos. It may be that +circumstances may take the traveller off the beaten track, and we are +indebted to a friend for the following brief description of the trip +from Samarang to Djocja over the mountains:-- + + "The usual journey from Samarang to Djocjakarta is made by way + of Solo (Soerakarta), but the route is devoid of interest, the + railway running through low country under rice cultivation. I + would suggest the far more interesting route via Willem I. + Starting at 5.57 a.m. or 8.17 a.m., Djocja is reached at 2.16 + p.m. or 5.10 p.m. The 10.50 a.m. train, I found, went only as + far as Magelang, so I started at 2.9 p.m., and, after a + delightful run, reached Kedoeng Djattie, a fine junction + station, where we changed cars. The next two hours' run is + through foot hills, strips of forest and lovely vegetation, + glimpses being obtained every little while of pleasant valleys, + rice fields and distant hills as the train climbed up to Willem + I. This point we reached about 5 p.m., in time to enjoy the + refreshing cool breezes and to admire the beautiful view and + sunset on a small mountain opposite the hotel. + + "Next morning, I caught the train (8.54 a.m.,) which leaves + Samarang at 5.57, and after a short run reached a station where + our engine was changed for one working on the cog-wheel system, + the grade being too heavy for the ordinary locomotive. The train + winds and circles round hills cultivated, for the most part, to + their summits. Upwards we climbed till we were in the clouds and + the air became quite bracing and invigorating. Tiffin should be + ordered through the guard before starting from Willem I., and it + will be handed into the train. + + "It was about one o'clock when we reverted to the ordinary + locomotive, and began the descent to Djocja, through Magelang. + To anyone who has to visit Samarang, I would recommend this + trip." + +The principal sight of Djocja itself is the Water Castle. This trip need +not occupy more than a couple of hours, and its appreciation depends +upon the taste of the visitor. Earthquakes have played havoc with the +buildings, but sufficient is left in the way of tunnels, grottoes, +bathing ponds and dungeon-like rooms. Everywhere are signs of decay and +desolation; nevertheless, it is possible, with a little knowledge of +comparatively recent Javan history, to reconstruct the scenes enacted +here in the days when the native sultans were more powerful in the land +than they are to-day. For a small fee, a native pilots one through the +carved archways, underground halls and subways and cells. As one stands +in the large banqueting hall, it is possible to conjure up the +ceremonials of a past age, and, in the mind's eye, to group retainers +round the Sultan and the members of his harem, while gaudily dressed +courtesans sang and danced for the entertainment of "the quality." + + + + +The Health Resort of East Java. + + +Tosari on the Teng'ger mountains was the goal of our travels. We were +anxious to escape from the heat of the plains, for the sun had now +crossed the Equator, Java was in its summer season and the rains might +come any day. From Djocjakarta, we should have arrived in Sourabaya in +time for riz-tafel, but the wash-out at Moentilan still caused a delay +of traffic and we were two hours late in reaching our destination. + +Sourabaya is the most important port and business centre of Java, but +this fact notwithstanding many of the foreign business houses still +maintain their headquarters in Batavia. As a place of residence, each +has its good points, and those who have lived in both are divided in +preference. Possibly we were not in either long enough to form a lasting +opinion, but we stayed so long in Sourabaya that we prefer Batavia. It +would be sheer ingratitude, however, not to acknowledge the hearty +welcome we received from the British colony in Sourabaya, and the +personal help of members of that community. Here where the principal +business of Java is conducted, as elsewhere throughout the Far East, it +was satisfying to one's patriotism to see the respect in which British +commercial enterprise and integrity is held by native and European +alike, and that the most cordial good feeling exists on all sides. + +To reach Tosari, the visitor proceeds first of all by train to +Pasoeroean, leaving Sourabaya (Goebeng Station) at 6.42 a.m., and +reaching Pasoeroean at 8.23. Here a single-pony carriage is engaged +(two and a-half guilders) as far as Pasrepan, where a change is made to +a two-pony carriage (three guilders). This conveyance takes one to +Poespo, 2,600 feet above sea-level. A halt is made for tiffin in this +delightful little hotel, whose pleasant looking proprietress, +unfortunately, does not speak English. The remainder of the journey to +the Sanatorium (6,000 feet) is made in the saddle or by sedan chair. Of +this ride and a subsequent excursion we have painful recollections, but +anyone accustomed to the saddle will enjoy this ascent through mountain +scenery and vegetation, and even more the morning trip down to Poespo, +through the forest, when returning to Sourabaya. + +Tosari has been described as the Darjeeling of the Netherland Indies. + +Here within four days' journey from Singapore, one may obtain a complete +change of climate, and if there were only more frequent direct steamer +communication between Singapore and Sourabaya, we predict with +confidence that Tosari would become a favourite health resort for those +who live on the northern side of the Equator. The rooms are comfortable, +the food is good, the facilities for amusements at nightfall are ample, +the walks and excursions are inexhaustible and the views are +magnificent. The tariff (seven guilders per day--$4.90 in Singapore +currency) is higher than that of any other hotel in Java, but those who +intend to stay for a fortnight or more could probably arrange more +favourable terms. + +There is a resident doctor who has graduated in the Schools of Tropical +Medicine, and when we were in Tosari there were visitors from Burma, +Siam, Singapore, Penang, and all parts of Java, recruiting from malaria +and other ailments peculiar to Far Eastern residence. But they were not +all invalids, and formed a bright, companionable party. + +The Teng'gerese who people this mountainous region are a race apart. +Their religion is a mixture of paganism and Buddhism, and, though +reputed to be kind and honest, they are an ignorant, uncouth, uncultured +people. They dwell _en famille_ in large square houses without windows, +in isolated kampongs on the projecting ridges of the mountains. The door +of each house is on the side nearest the Bromo crater, and as if +tradition gave them cause to fear another destructive eruption they +worship this volcano. Dirt prevails everywhere, and in consequence of +the cool climate and the scarcity of water they seldom bathe, a fact +that is very noticeable after one's acquaintance with the people of the +plains. + +To go to Tosari without seeing the Bromo is tantamount to going to Rome +without entering St. Peter's. The journey is made on pony or in a sedan +chair, by way of the Moengal Pass and the Dasar or Sand Sea, which is in +reality the enormous Teng'ger crater, inside of which there are three +more craters, the Bromo being the only one showing signs of activity. + +A better view and more impressive is obtained from the Penandjaan Pass, +a description of which is given in the next chapter. + +Another trip worth making is to the lakes in the saddle-back mountain +between the Teng'ger and the Semeroe. From this high plateau, the ascent +of the Semeroe or Mahameroe is fairly easy and will prove attractive to +those who are fond of mountaineering. It is the highest volcano in Java +and has a perfect cone. The crater, from which smoke and ashes are +constantly ejected, is not on the summit but is formed on the south-east +side. + +The visitor who does not wish to retrace his steps to Poespo and +Pasrepan may return to the plains by way of Malang or Lawang through +beautiful sub-tropical and tropical mountain scenery. + + + + +Sunrise at the Penandjaan Pass. + + +When a sharp rap came to our door at two o'clock in the morning to +summon us for a ride to the Penandjaan Pass, we repented the rash +promise to carry out this over-night project to see the sun rise. It was +no use to curl one's-self up under two heavy blankets and pretend that +we had not heard. The "jongus" was insistent. Up we had to get, effect a +hasty toilet in ice-cold water by the aid of a flickering lamp, and step +into the outer darkness and mount the pony waiting beside our bedroom +door. + +Unfamiliar constellations shed a cold light on the hillside. + +Our thickest clothing was penetrated by a searching though slight +breeze, as our little rat of a pony, guided by the syce, clambered +bravely up the brae that led through Tosari village. + +The road bore away to the left, and we were soon slipping and jolting +down a mountain path that sank into a crater-like ravine. It was like a +descent into the infernal regions. Disaster seemed inevitable. A mistake +by the pony or the slightest lurch would have precipitated us down some +hundreds of feet; but the guide knew his way and so did the pony, as, +sure-footed and cautious, it picked its way, first on one side of the +road and then on the other, descending, descending, lower and lower, +where the pale light failed to penetrate. The hill on the other side +loomed so high that one could not believe there was a way out. Pit-pat, +pit-pat went the pony with steady step, now on hard road now on yielding +lava mud, across fragile bamboo bridges covered with bamboo lathing, +down, down, down till at last we reach the ford. The seat was not an +easy one for the unaccustomed rider, whose hands and feet were chilled +almost beyond feeling by the unwonted cold. But it was arm-chair ease +compared with the experience on the other side, as the pony pluckily +pounded his way up the zigzag path for the summit of the hill. How +either guide or pony could see a path will ever remain a puzzle. The +over-hanging vegetation blotted out any recognisable landmarks; not even +the ribbon of a road was visible to the eye. But the top was reached, +and believing we were now on the level road for Penandjaan we tried to +open up conversation with our guide. + +It is not easy to carry on a connected conversation with a native of the +Teng'ger when one's Malay vocabulary consists of about twenty words--and +half of these numerals--and the native's knowledge of the English +language, as one soon learned, consists entirely of "Yes" and "No." Yet, +it is wonderful what one will attempt in the dark--the loneliness was +so overpowering that one felt compelled to break the awesome silence. + +[Illustration: ROAD TO TOSARI.] + +But the conversation soon flagged, and one was thrown back upon one's +own thoughts. And as the road once again shaped for another crater-like +ravine, plunged in inkier darkness and shrouded in solemn stillness, +thoughts surged rapidly through one's mind. The first thing that had +attracted our attention as we mounted our pony was the delicious smell +of roses in the grounds of the Tosari Hotel. Since nothing could be +learned from the syce, nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard +except the occasional bark of a dog from a remote hut on the hillside or +the tuneful tingle of a bell on the neck of the uneasy occupant of an +unseen cow-shed, one tried to learn something by the sense of smell. At +first, the morning air was snell and sharp; there was an earthy aroma +which suggested nothing but decaying vegetable matter, but soon it was +succeeded by a pungent penetrating odour which made one wonder whence +its source. This pungency remained for the remainder of the morning's +ride, almost to the top of the mountain pass, some 9000 feet above +sea-level, and we ascertained on our return that it proceeded from the +enormous cabbages grown by the mountaineers for the markets on the +plains of East Java. + +As we plunged deeper into the forest, it was impossible to make out more +than a dull outline of a white jacket and the white shoulder of our +piebald pony. Had we not known that the guide was there, we might have +wondered how the wonderful jacket succeeded in floating through space. +The pony had no head to our sight; the reins we held in our hand might +have been dispensed with so far as they acted as a guide to the pony, +who picked his own foothold and followed the white jacket. With painful +persistence, he picked the edge of the precipitous declivity which was +lost in the bottomless abyss. + +Once only we lost our way. Turn after turn was negotiated safely, first +down into the bottom of the ravine and through the mountain torrent, +then up the hillside again, mysterious zigzag after zigzag, and one had +become reconciled to the jolting motion of the pony, the steady tramp of +his tiny hoofs, and his heavy breathing where the path was steepest, and +gave one's-self up to reverie. How terrible, we thought, must have been +the scene on the mountain slopes when the enormous craters of the +Teng'ger range were belching forth their death-dealing streams of lava, +their showers of ashes and stones and choking sulphurous fumes! How +insignificant was man before the powerful agencies of Nature! How bright +were the occasional stars one saw wherever there was a break in the +trees that lined our path! How wonderful that each of those stars, those +planets, might be peopled by beings puzzling over the disputed facts of +the Creation, as we were; who might also be worrying over a future +existence and the redemption of a sinful people; who might be +endeavouring to solve labour problems and trade disputes and discussing +whether free trade or preferential tariffs were best for a nation's +welfare! Was there somebody up in one of those other planets on a pony's +back, as we were, robbing one's-self of much-needed rest to reach a +mountain top to see the sun rise? + +These and other thoughts kept recurring to one when, suddenly, as if it +had been shot, the pony planted his forefeet and refused to follow the +guiding lead of the syce. + +We had made a wrong turning and the syce all but slipped over a +precipice. Had it not been for the pony's instinct, all three of us +would have been plunged into Eternity, and some of the problems of the +previous moment might have been solved. + +Out came the syce's matches, as he clung to the pony's bridle. Not +nearly so bright as the lambent phosphorescence from the fireflies which +flickered across our path, the puny light of the match was sufficient +for the guide to pick up the ribbon-like path, and once more we were on +our way to the top. + +Three deep ravines were traversed before we made the final upward +movement, and then Nature's lamp lights were being shut out in hundreds +at a time as the soft dawn began to diffuse itself. With Dawn's left +hand in the sky, we thought of Omar Khayyam's stanza, and felt impelled +to cry out to the sleepers in the hollow-- + + Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night + Has flung the stone that puts the Stars to Flight: + And lo! the Hunter of the East has caught + The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light, + +The dawn had been preluded by the awakening chirrups of songsters in the +wood. A shriller note was struck by some feathered Daphnis piping to his +Chloe. Deep down in the valleys and in the villages perched perilously +on projecting ledges of the mountain, faint twinkling lights began to +appear, and the lowing of the cattle and the answering and re-echoed +crowing of rival poultry-yards sent the thoughts back to Homeland scenes +some 10,000 miles away. + +As we stood on the wall of the enormous crater, overlooking the Sand +Sea, and watched the long shafts of golden light shoot up to the zenith +from behind the mountain peaks to the East, we felt that our ride had +not been in vain. + +To be abroad at early dawn in the tropics is to enjoy the most +delightful period of the day. An English essayist has well expressed the +exhilaration one feels: "There is something beautiful in the unused day, +something beautiful in the fact that it is still untouched, unsoiled." +Only those who have stood on the hill tops, far removed from the haunts +of men, have any true idea of the grandeur of Nature and the +insignificance of man. + +The sun rose speedily in the full power of his golden radiance to paint +the landscape. There was no transition. Out of the darkness there rose a +view, enormous, diversified, impressive. + +Miles away on the west, the five summits of the Ardjeono had been the +first to reflect the rays hidden from us. Penanggoenan's sugar-loaf top +soon caught them up and passed them on to Kawi's three lofty peaks. To +the south, was the Semeroe, Java's loftiest volcano; to the east, the +Yang Plateau; to the north, the sea and the island of Madoera. We could +trace the coast-line 9,000 feet below, away westward beyond Sourabaya, +where white-crested surf beat silently upon the streak of yellow sand. +The vast plains of East Java showed a pattern of variegated colour, +which stretched out to the cultivated slopes of the hills. Mountain +hamlets and villages on the plains sent out blue vapours from morning +fires. The rivers were distinguishable by their leafy fringe as much as +by the reflection of the blue sky overhead. Between us and the Yang +Plateau, there were rolling billows of white cloud, tipped by the +colours from the sun's spectrum. + +But it was the panorama spread out like a model beneath our feet which +arrested attention and impressed one most. We stood on the edge of an +enormous crater--the Teng'ger--with a circumference of fifteen miles. +Where, in prehistoric times, flames and ashes and lava had boiled and +belched, there was now a sea of yellow sand, out of which stood other +three volcano peaks--the Battok, the Bromo, and the Widodaren--showing +purple in the morning light. The Battok is a perfect cone, the +lava-covered sides standing out in clearly defined ridges like the +buttresses of a Gothic structure. The Bromo is the only one of the three +now active. As we gaze down, we are startled by a deep groaning noise, +and out of the wide crater mouth there issues a mass of grey smoke and +ashes laden and streaked with fire. Simultaneously, a huge mass of +cloud, cruciform in shape, is shot up hundreds of feet into the air from +the Semeroe. It rests a few seconds above the bare, ash-strewn cone, and +then drifts heavily to westward, to make way for the next eruption. + +[Illustration: SAND SEA, WITH BROMO AND SEMEROE.] + +These indications of Nature's activity in the crucible at the earth's +centre make one reflect on the possible consequences of the next great +convulsion, and the fate that is in store for those intrepid villagers +who have perched their primitive huts on the very edge of the Teng'ger +crater. With these reflections, we turn away from one of the most solemn +and impressive sights it has been our privilege to witness, silently +mount our pony and retrace our steps for the snugly-situated Hotel at +Tosari, no longer regretting, nay, rather thankful, that we had resolved +and achieved our resolution to climb the Penandjaan Pass to see the sun +rise. + +[Illustration: SMOKE PLUME--THE SMEROE.] + + + + +Hotels and Travelling Facilities + + +Before going to Java, the tourist ought to make himself acquainted with +the outlines of the history of the island since it came under European +domination. Half the charm of European travel, if one is something more +than a mere unreflective globetrotter, lies in the historic associations +of the places visited, and it is the comparative absence of this quality +which robs new countries of the interests they would otherwise possess +for educated people. Scenery alone surfeits the appetite. + +In Java, as in most Oriental countries, the traveller feels that he is +moving in an atmosphere of antiquity, and though it has become a +misnomer to refer to "The Unchanging East," it is borne in upon one that +in the large group of islands comprised in the Philippine and Malay +Archipelagoes, from Luzon in the north to Java in the south, from Samar +in the east to Sumatra in the west, centuries of western contact has +left but a slight impress upon the characters of the people. Changes +there are, undoubtedly. Modern civilisation has advanced like a +resistless wave and gradually engulfed an older civilisation, but here +in Java one feels that the change has not been so decisive; and railways +and canals and cultivation notwithstanding, the difference in general +advancement between the Javanese and the Japanese is most marked, and +even the Chinese, conservative though they are in most ways, have more +character and look more hopeful soil for the reception and development +of western ideas. + +A solid foundation for the trip to Java may be laid by perusing Sir +Stamford Raffles' history, the second edition of which, published in +1830, will be found in Raffles Library. It covers the whole period from +the time the Portuguese arrived in the Farther East in 1510 to the +British occupation. Making Malacca his headquarters, Albuquerque sent +various expeditions to the surrounding islands, and Antonio de Abrew was +his emissary to Java and the Moluccas. The Dutch appeared in 1595, +obtaining their first footing in the East Indies at Bantam, the English +East India Company establishing a factory at the same place in 1602. + +Of the capture of Java by the British troops brief details have already +been given. + +An interesting account of "The Conquest of Java" is given by Captain +William Thorn, a Dragoon officer, who served on the staff of one of the +brigadiers. It was written in 1815 while he was on his way back to +England, and is so plentifully illustrated with field maps as to add +interest to one's visit to Batavia and Buitenzorg and the seaports of +Samarang and Sourabaya. + +We are indebted to Dr. Hanitsch, the Curator, for the following list of +books on Java in Raffles Library:-- + + The Dutch in Java; 1904, by Clive Day. + + Java, Facts and Fancies; 1905, by Augusta de Wit. + + Facts and Fancies about Java; 1908, by Augusta de Wit. + + Life in Java, 2 vols; 1864, by W. B. d'Almeida. + + Voyage Round the World; 1870, by Marquis de Beauvoir. + + With the Dutch in the East; 1897, by W. Cool. + + Geschiedenis der Nederlanders of Java; 1887, by M. L. Deventer. + + From Jungle to Java; 1897, by Arthur Keyser. + + Java; 2 vols., 1861, by J. W. Money. + + Java; 1830, by Sir Stamford Raffles. + + Fuehrer auf Java; 1890, by L. F. M. Schulze. + + The Conquest of Java; 1815, by William Thorn. + + A Visit to Java; 1893, by W. B. Worsfold. + + Rambles in Java; 1853, (anon.). + + The Hindu Ruins in the Plain of Parambanan; 1901, by Dr. I. + Groneman. + + The Tjandi-Baeraebudur in Central Java; 1901, by Dr. I. Groneman. + + Boro-Boedoer op het Eiland Java; 1873, by F. C. Wilsen, 2 vols. + +In addition to a selection from the above-named, the intending visitor +should read "Java: The Garden of the East" by Miss E. R. Scidmore, 1898, +and the Rev. G. M. Reith's "A Padre in Partibus" will be found +entertaining. + +Much must depend upon the notions of the tourist as to the cost of a +trip in Java, but our experience is that Java is the cheapest country we +have ever visited. The hotels are superior to those found in the +interior of Japan, and, as the guilder, which has a value of 70 cents in +Singapore currency or about 1s. 7 3/4d. in English currency, may be taken +as the unit of value for travelling purposes, our readers will see at a +glance what a fortnight or three weeks' trip is likely to cost from the +following hotel rates:-- + + Hotel des Indes, Batavia 6 guilders per day + + Hotel Bellevue, Buitenzorg 6 " " + + Hotel, Sindanglaya 6 " " + + Hotel Garoet 6 " " + + Gov't. Hotel, Maos 4 " " + + Hotel Mataram, Djocjakarta 5 " " + + Hotel Simpang, Sourabaya 6 " " + + Sanitorium, Tosari 7 " " + + Hotel du Pavilion, Samarang 5 " " + +There are a few extras, and the servants are civilised enough to expect +small tips. Charges for liquors are invariably reasonable. + +The hotels are scrupulously clean and the accommodation excellent, and +in a tropical country one appreciates the facilities for bathing. + +In his delightful poem of "Lucile," Owen Meredith wrote:-- + + We may live without poetry, music and art; + We may live without conscience, and live without heart; + We may live without friends; we may live without books; + But civilised man cannot live without cooks. + He may live without books,--what is knowledge but grieving? + He may live without hope,--what is hope but deceiving? + He may live without love,--what is passion but pining? + But where is the man that can live without dining? + +Here the poet leaves the realms of poetic fantasy to record a simple +fact of everyday life--one which is appreciated by every man and woman +irrespective of nationality or temperament. As in all other matters +pertaining to the comfort of the European in the tropics, the Dutch, in +the matter of food, seem to us to have achieved better results than we +have in the British Colonies. The "riz-tafel" may not appeal to the +English palate, but there is no lack of clean, wholesome dishes, and +side dishes that make us wonder at the toleration of the traveller with +the Indian and Colonial caravanserai. The tourist who visits Java after +traversing India will be agreeably surprised at the difference in favour +of the Dutch Colony in this respect. + +In the matter of the personal attention to their guests by the +management of some of Hotels in the interior, and the supply of +information, there could easily be an improvement, and doubtless there +will be a great change when tourist traffic becomes more general, as it +promises to do in the near future. Our own experience was that we were +left, almost invariably, to the tender mercies of the servants, and as +one's Malay was limited this led to avoidable inconvenience. + +Nothing, however, could exceed the courtesy and attention of the +management at the Hotel des Indes, in Batavia, and the Hotel du Pavilion +in Samarang, and the Manager of the Hotel at Sindanglaya. + +We have already mentioned Stamm and Weijns Restaurant in Batavia. +Coupled with it for excellence of table is Grimm's famous restaurant in +Sourabaya. + +This year, thanks to the efforts of some of the leading hotel +proprietors, the government of Netherlands India has awakened to the +possibilities of Java as a country for tourists. Co-operating with the +Hotels and steam-ship companies, special inducements were held out to +visitors during the months of May and June, in the way of reduced fares, +and the success of the venture will doubtless lead to its continuance. + +The Koninklyke Paketvaart Maatschappij (Ship's Agency, late J. Daendels +and Co.) issues tickets at single-fare rates to Batavia and Sourabaya, +the fare to Batavia and back being $45; to Sourabaya and back $63; and +to Batavia and along the Coast Ports to Sourabaya and back to Singapore +(sixteen days on board ship) $74. The tickets are available by the +steamers of the Royal Nederland Line and the Rotterdamsche Lloyd. + +Travel by rail throughout the Island is cheap. For the convenience of +visitors with limited time to devote to Java, a tourist ticket has been +arranged. This may be obtained from the Steamship Company in Singapore. +The price is $40 (Singapore currency). The tour laid down by the coupons +covers the whole of Java from Tanjong Priok, the port of Batavia, to the +easternmost end of the island beyond Sourabaya on the way to Tosari and +Bromo. Buitenzorg and the Preanger health resorts may be visited on the +tickets, the famous Hindu ruins near Djocjakarta, and the health resorts +of Eastern Java. The journey may be broken wherever the tourist cares to +stay, and the ticket is available for sixty days. + +Directions are printed on the ticket in English in regard to baggage and +other matters, and a small outline map is a useful adjunct. + +Throughout the island, the carriages for hire are execrable. The +four-pony victoria which took us from Djocjakarta to the Buddhist ruins +at Parambanan had not gone half a mile when one of the wheels came off, +and we were lucky to escape without serious damage. It will always +remain a marvel to us how the ramshackle kreta held together which took +us from Buitenzorg to Sindanglaya, over the Poentjak Pass, and we are +astonished that the Dutch authorities, who are exacting in other +respects, do not exercise a wholesome supervision over the ponies +employed in these cross-country carts and carriages, for a more wretched +collection of horseflesh could scarcely be imagined. + +We have already commented on the Toelatings Kaart. This relic of a past +age, which did not add much to the revenue, and impressed one +unfavourably with a rigid officialism at the port of entry that did not +obtrude itself upon one's notice in the interior, may now be avoided by +the traveller registering at the Tourist Bureau. In our own case, we +were never called upon to produce the kaart. + +The general impression left by one's visit to Java is the excessive +cleanliness of town and country and the widespread cultivation. There +are, of course, black spots in the towns; but they are as nothing to the +traveller who has perambulated the native quarters of any British Colony +in the Far East. When we think of the millions of dollars Hongkong has +expended to cope with filth-created plagues and to reduce the native +rookeries of China town, it fills us with the highest admiration for +Dutch administration in Java. The Government of the Straits Settlements +is entering upon a similar campaign to rectify past sins against the +laws of sanitation and hygiene, and hundreds of thousands of dollars +might have been available for other purposes had the Chinese been +handled as the Dutch handle them in Batavia, Samarang and Sourabaya. It +may be overdoing the cult for whitewash to whiten the walls of every +bridge and the stack of every sugar mill in the country, but it is +pleasing to the Europeans to see that one nation has been successful in +carrying its ideas of cleanliness into the tropics and in making the +Oriental conform to the ordinary laws for the protection of the health +of the common people. + +To those of our readers who may be induced to visit Java, we would +tender a few words of advice. + +If it is intended to compress a tour of the principal places we have +noted into a fortnight's holiday, travel, if possible, to Sourabaya, and +go first of all to Tosari. After a few days there, Djocjakarta should be +made the headquarters for a two or three days' inspection of the +Buddhist ruins, and then Bandoeng could be made a halting place while a +decision is arrived at as to whether Sindanglaya, Soekaboemi or Garoet +is to be visited next before going on to Buitenzorg and Batavia. We +recommend this course because there is a more frequent service of +steamers between Batavia and Singapore, and by ascertaining the sailing +dates while at some of the Preanger health resorts one is able to time +one's arrival at Batavia and so avoid the heat of the seaport. + +We have painted Java in rosy colours because we found it beautiful, the +people companionable and the conditions agreeable. It is possible that +others may go over our tracks without deriving a tithe of the enjoyment. + +No one should travel unless he has a genius for travel and a ready +adaptability to prevailing conditions. He should bear in mind that it is +he who is the odd piece in the machinery, and that unless he adjusts +himself to the other working pieces he will only have himself to blame +if things do not run smoothly. If Java is visited in the right spirit, +we have not the least doubt that the traveller will be delighted with +all he sees and experiences, and will come away with an assured +conviction that it was no exaggeration which styled the island "The +Garden of the East." + +[Map: JAVA.] + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + +Inconsistencies in the hyphenation of words preserved. (court-yard, +courtyard; over-night, overnight) + +Pg. 52, the phrase: "collection of Buddas". The author might have meant +"collection of Buddhas", as "Buddha" is used elsewhere in the text. +However the author's original spelling is preserved. + +Pg. 55, "daning" changed to "dancing". (and maidens dancing.) + +Pg. 63, the title "tivan" is also spelled "tavan" in two instances in +the preceding paragraphs. As it is unclear which spelling the author +intended, the original spelling is preserved in all cases. + +Pg. 70, unusual time expression "2.9 p.m." The original text is +preserved. (so I started at 2.9 p.m., and, after) + +Pg. 74, duplicated word "at" removed. (reaching Pasoeroean at 8.23) + +Pg. 90, text contains the expression "1/7 3/4d" which, for clarity, has +been rendered as "1s. 7 3/4d." (or about 1s. 7 3/4d. in English currency) + +In the original text, the author was inconsistent with respect to +whether the "ae" ligature was used in the word "archaeological". This +inconsistency has been preserved. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Across the Equator, by Thomas H. 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