A TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 391 



I. 



On the 29th of October, 1815, a squadron quitting the roadstead of 

 Texel in the north of Holland set sail for the East Indies. The passen- 

 gers (for they carried them upon these ships of war), must have rejoiced 

 that they had left the storms and fogs of the North Sea for the sunny 

 coasts of Malaysia. The squadron took to Java the commissioners- 

 general to whom the sovereign of Holland had committed the task 

 of assuming in his name the government of the Dutch East Indies. 

 Beiuff a man of broad views, the new king had attached to the com- 

 mission a distinguished naturalist, Beinwardr, professor in the Athe- 

 neum of Amsterdam, in order that the study of the marvellous natural 

 products which constitute the wealth of the Dutch possessions in the 

 south of Asia might be settled upon a solid basis. 



The squadron did not enter the straits of Sunda until the last of 

 April in the following year. The high functionaries, sailing after a 

 long voyage between charming islets, set like emeralds in thin silver 

 fillets of breakers, breathing the faint odors from the neighboring 

 coasts, must at last land and take up their task. Tiie future indeed 

 reserved for them many disappointments, and it was only after long and 

 tedious diplomatic manoeuvers that the English authorities, on the 19th 

 of August, 1816, decided to turn over to the plenipotentiaries of the king 

 of Holland the rule of the Dutch Indies. Baron Van der Capellen 

 the commissioner who was to perform the functions of governor-general 

 shortly installed himself at Buitenzorg, taking Reinwardt with him. 



Buitenzorg, the residence of the viceroy of the Dutch Indies, is 

 situated 58 kilometres [36 miles] from Batavia, in lOC^ 53' 5" east 

 longitude and 6'^ 35' 8" south latitude, upon one of the long ridges 

 that extend to the north of the great mountain of Salak. An enchant- 

 ing site, possessing a beautiful and healthful climate, it is not surpris- 

 ing that the governors-general established themselves there instead of 

 at Batavia, however large and beautiful that "city of villas" might be. 

 This preference, accorded to Buitenzorg by the representatives of the 

 king, was the cause of the creation of a botanical establishment at that 

 point. In fact, upon the request of Keinwardt, the commissioners- 

 general decided — by adecreeof A[)ril 15, 1817 — to found a botanic garden 

 at Buitenzorg upon an uncultivated territory belonging to the domain 

 and ceded by Baron Van der Capellen. On this territory, contiguous 

 to the park and to the palace garden, work was (;ommeucedon the 15th 

 of May by some fifty native workmen, under the direction of two chief 

 gardeners, one of whom, brought out by Eeinwardt, had been employed 

 in the same ca[)acity in Holland, while the other was a pupil of the 

 royal garden of Kew. It would have been difilicidt to find in the whole 

 island of Java a place more appropriate for a garden of this kind, for 

 owing to certain conditions, Buitenzorg unites to other advantages 

 that of having no dry season, properly speaking. It is evident that 



