110 Java. 



spreading over the land ; good roads run through the country 

 from end to end ; European and native rulers work harmoni- 

 ously together; and life and property are as well secured as 

 in the best-governed states of Europe. I believe, therefore, 

 that Java may fairly claim to be the finest tropical island in 

 the world, and equally interesting to the tourist seeking aft- 

 er new and beautiful scenes, to the naturalist who desires to 

 examine the variety and beauty of tropical nature, or to the 

 moralist and the politician who want to solve the problem 

 of how man may be best governed imder new and varied 

 conditions. 



The Dutch mail-steamer brought me from Ternate to 

 Sourabaya, the chief town and port in the eastern j)art of 

 Java, and after a fortnight spent in packing up and sending 

 off my last collections, I started on a short journey into the 

 interior. Travelling in Java is very luxurious, but very ex- 

 pensive, the only way being to hire or borrow a carriage, 

 and then pay half a crown a mile for post-horses, which are 

 changed at regular posts every six miles, and will carry you 

 at the rate of ten miles an hour from one end of the island 

 to the other. Bullock-carts or coolies are required to carry 

 all extra baggage. As this kind of travelling would not 

 suit my means, I determined on making only a short journey 

 to the district at the foot of Mount Arjuna, where I was told 

 there were extensive forests, and where I hoped to be able 

 to make some good collections. The country for many 

 miles behind Sourabaya is perfectly flat, and everywhere 

 cultivated, being a delta or alluvial plain watered by many 

 branching streams. Immediately around the town the evi- 

 dent signs of wealth and of an industrious population were 

 very pleasing ; but as we went on, the constant succession of 

 open fields skirted by rows of bamboos, with here and there 

 the white buildings and tall chimney of a sugar-mill, became 

 monotonous. The roads run in straight lines for several 

 miles at a stretch, and are bordered by rows of dusty tama- 

 rind-trees. At each mile there are little guard-houses, where 

 a policeman is stationed ; and there is a wooden gong, which 

 by means of concerted signals may be made to convey in- 

 formation over the country with great rapidity. About 



