64 TRAVELS IX THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



here, Moor as well as Gentile strangers, but chiefly 

 of the Chetis, who are of the Coromandel coast, and 

 have large ships, which they call giunchi" (junks). 

 Unlike the irregular winds that must have greatly 

 discouraged the early Greeks and Phoenicians from 

 long voyages over the Euxine and the Mediterra- 

 nean, the steady monsoons of the Bay of Bengal in- 

 vited those people out to sea, and by their regular 

 changes promised to bring them within a year safely 

 back to their homes. 



The United States steamship Iroquois was then 

 lying in the roads, and our consular agent at this 

 port invited Captain Rodgers, our consul from Batavia, 

 who was there on business, and myself, to take a ride 

 with him out to a sugar-plantation that was under 

 his care. In those hot countries it is the custom to 

 start early on pleasure excursions, in order to avoid 

 the scorching heat of the noonday sun. We were 

 therefore astir at six. Our fi'iend had obtained a 

 large post-coach giving ample room for four persons, 

 l3ut, like all such carriages in Java, it was so heavy 

 and clumsy that both the driver and a footman, who 

 was perched up in a high box behind, had to con- 

 stantly lash our four little ponies to keep them up to 

 even a moderate rate of speed. Our ride of ten miles 

 was OA^er a well-graded road, beautifully shaded for 

 most of the way with tamarind-trees. Parallel with 

 the carriage-roads, in Java, there is always one for buf- 

 faloes and carts, and in this manner the former are al- 

 most always kept in prime order. Such a great double 

 highway begins at Angir, on the Strait of Sunda, and 

 extends throughout the whole length of the island to 



