56 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



eiglit or ten miles from laud. On both sides of tlie 

 Madura Strait the land is also low, and on the left 

 hand we passed many villages of native fishermen 

 who tend bamboo weirs that extend out a long way 

 from the shore. 



Here, for the first time, I saw boats with outrig- 

 gers. Each had one such float on the leeward side, 

 while, on a hind of rack on the windward side, was 

 placed a canoe and every thing on board that was 

 movable. Each boat carries two triangular sails, 

 made of narrow, white cloths, with occasionally a red 

 or black one in the middle or on the margins by way 

 of ornament. 



Just before entering the road of Surabaya we 

 passed Gresik, a small village of Chinese and other 

 foreigners, situated immediately on the beach. It is 

 an old site and famous in the early history of Java, 

 but the houses seemed mostly new, and their red- 

 tiled roofs contrasted prettily with their white ridge- 

 poles and gable-ends. It was here, according to the 

 Javanese historians, that the Mohammedan religion 

 was first established on their soil. 



At Surabaya there appears to be much more busi- 

 ness than at Batavia, and we found a larger number 

 of vessels at anchor in the roads. At Batavia, the 

 anchorage is somewhat sheltered by the islands at the 

 mouth of the bay. At Samarang, the anchorage is 

 quite exposed during the western monsoon, and the 

 swell and surf are sometimes so great that boats can- 

 not land, but at Surabaya the shipping is perfectly 

 sheltered from all gales. There are, however, strong 

 tidal currents, on account of the size of the bay, at 



