JAVA MINERALS. 217 



the acquaintance of a handsonrie jet-black cobra, about 

 six feet long and a couple of inches in diameter, said to 

 be poisonous. 



Buitenzorg, thanks to the indefatigable exertions of 

 Mr. Murschenbrock, who holds the high position of 

 judge and controller, and to whom it had been my 

 good fortune to be introduced, possesses a most excel- 

 lent geological museum, containing samples of gold and 

 coal from Java, diamonds from Borneo, copper and coal 

 from Sumatra, silver from Timor, etc. Sumatra is 

 particularly rich in coal, but so far the Government 

 had not granted permission to work it ; there are seams 

 twenty feet in depth, whilst those of Java seldom 

 exceed six to eight feet. All these islands produce 

 innumerable varieties of timber ; Mr. Murschenbrock 

 told me that he had sent to the last exhibition at 

 Batavia no less than 800 specimens from Banca alone. 



The country around Buitenzorg is simply magnifi- 

 cent, and the prettiest view is probably that from the 

 verandah of the Hotel "Belle Vue." A thickly- wooded 

 and well-watered valley below, with high mountains for a 

 background, rising to a height of 4,000 to 5,000 feet, and 

 clothed in verdure to the very top. To the east there is a 

 succession of terraces whose bright green indicates the 

 cultivation of rice, and under your eye winds a limpid 

 stream, spanned here and there by slender bamboo 



