156 CELEBES. [chap. 



if indeed the " chocolate ladies," as they are here termed, can be 

 included in that category. There appeared to be none of that 

 separation of colour which is so marked a feature where Briton 

 meets Eurasian. The reason no doubt lies in the fact that, after a 

 time, life in these regions renders a return to the gloomy skies and 

 winter of the north a pain rather than a pleasure. The official in 

 Netherlands India, condemned to a preposterous length of service 

 before he can obtain furlough,^ feels that his lot must be to live 

 and die there, and that his Fatherland is as impossible to him as 

 to the Lotus-eaters : — 



" For surely now oi;r liouseliold hearths are cohl : 

 . . . our looks are strange ; 

 And we should come like ghosts to trouble joy." 



And so he marries ; not perhaps a half-caste, but some one whose 

 dark hair and rich warm colouring betray the presence of other 

 than European blood. Should his constitution survive the ante- 

 prandial port and bitters, he retires to Batavia or Buitenzorg on 

 the completion of his term of service, and spends the remainder of 

 his life in the society of his fellows. 



The acting was good, but the Uijspel rather heavy. After it 

 was over the seats were removed and dancing began. Champagne 

 appears to be a favourite wine with the Dutch, and the supply of 

 it was inexhaustible. It had, we learnt, a prophylactic power of 

 which we had till then been ignorant. The advent of cholera was 

 expected, and we were instructed how to avoid it. "Float the 

 liver, my dear sir ; keep your liver constantly floating in champagne, 

 and you will never catch the cholera," was the advice given us, and 

 every one certainly seemed to act up to it to the best of his ability. 



The town is much as other Dutch Malayan towns. A row of 

 white shops and merchants' offices lines the sea, and dust of a 

 lightness and powderiness that is not excelled even in California 

 or the Diamond Fields covers the streets to the depth of an inch 



^ It is — I believe I am right in saying — as much as fifteen years. 



