148 COMPENDIUM OF GEOCxRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



unsavoury native suburbs, to the city, whence the train, 

 or a showy open cab drawn by a pair of horses, conveys 

 him to the European quarter. By road he passes 

 Molenvliet, a connecting link of houses and huts, sur- 

 rounded by gardens, and bordered by a canal which 

 joins the city to Noordwijk, Pdjswijk, and Weltevreden — 

 the three European villages or districts grouped around 

 the Koningsplein. This Koningsplein, which, in spite of 

 latitude, reminds the Englishman not a little of Wool- 

 wich Common, is similarly used by the troops here 

 quartered, and its vast open space is no doubt of great 

 service in ventilating the district, and freeing it from 

 malaria. The walks and roads in these suburbs, although 

 not equal to those of the towns of the Spice Islands, are 

 nevertheless charming in their beauty and in the wealth 

 of their tropical foliage, and the houses, with their neat 

 appearance and characteristic white -pillared entrances, 

 are equally attractive. The broad roads are bordered 

 with trees meeting overhead to form arched avenues, and 

 as most of the houses are low and are surrounded by 

 gardens full of fruit trees, palms, and flowering shrubs, 

 the general effect is very pleasing. While Batavia 

 proper is given up to warehouses, shops, and offices, and 

 peopled by Malays, Chinese, and Arabs, the European 

 suburbs just named have within their limits all the chief 

 hotels, clubs, museums, theatres, and other places of 

 amusement. In Eijswijk is the Governor-General's resi- 

 dence and the Government offices ; the museum and other 

 public edifices are in the Koningsplein, and the barracks 

 and civil and military hospital in Weltevreden. The 

 Dutch in Java have done much to further science, and 

 their various learned societies established here have 

 published numerous valuable papers upon the fauna and 

 flora as well as upon the ethnology of the islands, of 



