SAMARANG. 49 



river. This canal is firmly walled in, as at Batavia. 

 From tlie landing-place to tlie city proper tlie road 

 was a stream of mud, and the houses are small and 

 occupied only by Malays and the poorer classes of 

 Chinese. In such streets two coolies are occasionally 

 seen carrying one of the native belles in a tandu. 

 The city itself is more compact than Batavia, and the 

 shops are remarkably fine. It was pleasant to look 

 again on some of the same engra^^.ngs exposed for 

 sale in our own shops. The finest building in the 

 city, and the best of the kind that I have seen in the 

 East, is a large one containing the custom and other 

 Imi'eaus. It is two stories high, and occupies three 

 sides of a rectangle. I was told that they were 

 fifteen years in building it, though in our country a 

 private firm would have put it up in half as many 

 months. There are several very fine hotels, and I 

 saw one most richly fui'nished. Near the river stands 

 a high watch-tower, where a constant lookout is kept 

 for all ships approaching the road. From its top a 

 wide A^ew is obtained over the anchorao-e, the low- 

 lands, and the city. Toward the interior rich fields 

 are seen stretching away to the province of Kedu, 

 " the garden of Java." A railroad has been begun 

 here, which will extend to Surakarta and Jokyo- 

 karta, on the east side of Mount Merapi, and will 

 open this rich region more fully to the world.* 



Tlie church of the city, which is chiefly sustained 



* The population of the Residency of Samarang, which inchides the 

 city, is 1,020,275. Of these 5,162 are Europeans, 1,001,252 arc natives, 

 11,441 are Chinese, 438 are Arabs, and 1,982 are from other Eastern 

 nations. In these figures the military are not included. 

 4 



