THE INDIAN OCEAN. 321 



Though clothed from the tops of tlie mountains 

 down to tlie very water's edge with the most hix- 

 uriant vegetation, it is too uniform to be agreeable. 

 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 

 ijentle 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 

 prodiiced by immense masses of vegetation in decom- 

 position. The breeze bears, in fact, the pestilence 

 upon its wings. 



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 peaceful 

 and inviting air to the landscape. The smaller isles 

 are said to be exquisitely lovely. 



"The sea near Batavia is covered with innumerable 

 little islets, all of which are clothed with luxuriant 

 vegetation. Native prahus, with their yellow mat- 

 sails, are occasionally seen to shoot from behind one 

 of them, to be shielded from view immediately after- 

 wards by the green foliage of another ; and oxev the 

 tops of the trees may often be descried the vi^hite 

 sails of some stately ship, threading the mazes of this 

 little archipelago. One group, appropriately named 



