Splendid Entertainment by the " Concordia " Society. 269 



carrying a cannon crowned with flowers and nautical emblems, 

 all artistically designed and executed. The stewards all 

 wore red and white ribbons round their dress, while the 

 rich attire of the ladies consisted principally of stuffs in the 

 Austrian colours. Wlien the commander of the Expedition 

 entered the saloon with his staff, the band struck up the 

 Austrian National Hymn. The whole festivity went off 

 most agreeably, and the majority of the company, which 

 numbered about 800 guests, kept it up till day-break. Both 

 Dutch and Austrian officers vied with each other in making 

 this a truly fraternal feast. Still as the band played on, 

 there seemed no end to the fun and frolic, and one pair of 

 joyous spirits suddenly bethought them of the droll idea of 

 hauling the cannon ''with all its honours thick upon it" 

 through the apartment, with a not less fr^olicsome comrade 

 sitting astride it, singing and shouting ! Unluckily, during 

 this peregrination one of the Dutch officers fell under the 

 wheel, and had his thigh broken near the knee. The un- 

 fortunate had to be conveyed to the hospital forthwith, 

 where for weeks he could ruminate upon the consequences of 

 a moment's misplaced revelry. This gentleman, singularly 

 enough, had just retired home and gone to bed, when a 

 couple of his comrades insisted on his accompanying them, 

 amid much cheering and noise, back to the apartment, where 

 the accident happened to him ! 



One remarkable character in Batavia, whose acquaintance 

 we only made dui'ing the latter days of our stay, is Radhen 



