THE GIBRALTAR OF JAVA. 43 



his second appearance as a litterateur^ with a copy 

 of the Cornhill Magazine. As he evidently did not 

 intend to read, I borrowed it, and found it was al- 

 ready three years old, and the leaves still uncut. It 

 contained a graphic description of the grounds about 

 Isaac Walton's retired home — probably the most 

 like the garden of Eden of any place seen on our 

 earth since man's fall. 



The other passengers were mostly officials and 

 merchants going to Samarang, Sui-abaya, or Macas- 

 sar, and I found that I was the only one travelling 

 to Amboina. The general commanding the Dutch 

 army in the East was on board. He was a very po- 

 lite, unassuming gentleman, and manifested much 

 interest in a Sharpe's breech-loader I had brought 

 from America, and regarded it the most effective 

 army rifle of any he had seen up to that time. He 

 ^vas going to the headquarters of the army, which is 

 a strongly-fortified place back of Samarang. It was 

 described to me as located on a mountain or hio;h 

 plateau with steep sides — a perfect Gibraltar, which 

 they boasted a small army could maintain for an in- 

 definite length of time against any force that might 

 be brought against it. About five months later, 

 however, it was nearly destroyed by a violent earth- 

 quake, but has since been completely rebuilt. 



One genial acquaintance I soon found in a young 

 man who had just come from Sumatra. He had 

 travelled far among the high mountains and deep 

 gorges in the interior of that almost imexjjlored 

 island, and his vivid descriptions gave me an inde- 

 scribable longing to behold such magnificent scenery 



