Frequency of Capital Pimishmenf. 267 



difficult to procui'c otherwise. There existed but one 

 object in this anthropological collection with which 

 Madame Hartmann would not part : this was the skull of a 

 China-man, who, during the fearful insurrection of these 

 emigrants in Borneo in 1819, made a mm^derous onslaught 

 on her husband, whose servants fortunately succeeded in 

 rendering timely aid by cutting the miscreant down. 



Early on 20tli May we quitted Buitenzorg. On the 

 same morning two crmiinals accused of murder and robbery 

 were brought thither. Although the punishment of death is 

 only inflicted in cases of extreme atrocity, yet we were in- 

 formed that in the capital scarcely a month passes without 

 the infliction of this last penalty. 



On our return to Batavia we once more found ourselves 

 the objects of that charming hospitality, to which we are 

 indebted for the memory of many most agreeable hours. 



There was one gentleman in particular, a German country- 

 man. Colonel Von Schierbrand, 'who has lived nearly thii-ty 

 years in Java, and at present holds the high position of head 

 of the Engineer department and President of the Topo- 

 graphical Institute, who most hospitably entertained the 

 voyagers of the Novara in his elegant, comfortable dwelling, and 

 arranged a variety of amusements and agreeable receptions.* 



* Colonel Von Schierbrand, to whom natural science is already under deep 

 obligations for acquiring a variety of valuable objects, is constantly and indefati- 

 gably endeavouring, both as a friend of knowledge and a zealous sportsman, to procure, 

 sometimes by personal exertion, sometimes by employing natives engaged at his own 

 expense, a series of rare geological specimens. He appears to be, like so many other 



