THE INDIAN OCEAN. 33-7 



The eye seeks in vain for some variation, some break 

 in the vast forest ; all is rich massy foliage, like 

 enormous heaps of green velvet. The solemn silence 

 that prevails, joined with this gorgeous uniformity, 

 creates an oppressive feeling of awe and loneliness. 

 And when the dews of evening descend, and the 

 gentle breeze blows off the land, it comes loaded 

 with what have been described as spicy odours, but 

 which are, in sober reality, but the sickly sweats 

 produced by immense masses of vegetation in decom- 

 position. They bear, in fact, the pestilence upon 

 their winsrs. 



But while this is the general character of the 

 great islands, there are exceptions. Java, settled by 

 the Dutch, contrasts with Sumatra and Borneo ; the 

 gloom of the forest is enlivened here and there by 

 verdant fields and lawns, while the white villas of 

 the Europeans chequer the hills, and give a peace- 

 ful and inviting air to the landscape. The smaller 

 isles are said to be exquisitely lovely. 



" The sea near Batavia is covered with innumer- 

 able little islets, all of which are clothed with lux- 

 uriant vegetation. Native prahus, with their yellow 

 mat-sails, are occasionally seen to shoot from behind 

 one of them, to be shielded from view immediately 

 afterwards by the green foliage of another; and 

 over the tops of the trees may often be descried 

 the white sails of some stately ship, threading the 

 mazes of this little archipelago. One group, appro- 

 priately named the Thousand Isles, has never yet 

 been explored, and its intricacies afford concealment 



to petty pirates who prey upon the small prahus and 

 22 2 F 



