140 A COLLECTING TRIP 
visited the Ouwens for a month every year. His father 
lost all his fortune; so the son came to Java in the 
Indian army and as he failed to make a fortune he is 
determined to remain here the rest of his days. The 
other day we received an invitation to the Governor- 
General’s ball. I must tell you about it. I wore my 
Pompadour silk, my ring, my pin, and prinked for 
hours. Rena pressed Tom’s dress suit until it looked 
quite well, not a wrinkle in it; at 8.30 we drove to the 
palace with Major Ouwens. The palace is an enormous 
building of white marble. I took the Major’s arm 
and we ascended the steps which were covered with 
red carpet; on every step, on each side of the carpet, 
were fourteen of the Governor’s Malay servants, with 
bare feet, but most grandly dressed in white and gold, 
with his crest on their gold coat buttons. We were 
met at the top of the stairs by the Governor’s aid-de- 
camp, De Neve by name, in military uniform with 
huge gold epaulets. He is a very handsome man, of 
the Gibson type. He was extremely polite to us and 
introduced us to many people. About nine o’clock or 
so we were ushered into the ball room, a huge oval 
room, with gold mirrors on the walls, and beautifully 
decorated with palms and flowers; it was lighted by 
three enormous glass chandeliers, a good deal like 
Miss Knight’s, only on a much larger scale. Most 
of the Dutch women were sloppy and untidy looking 
and I thought my dress far and away the prettiest. 
About 9.30 the Governor-General was announced ; 
every one bowed and the women made a deep courtesy. 
Tom and I had been placed away up the line and were 
among the first to be presented. I was thankful 
enough that I was not the first, as I should not have 
