156 JAVA. [chap. vn. 



rhinoceros, and the wild bull now roam undisturbed. 

 A modern civilization of another type is now spreading 

 over the land. Good roads run through the country from 

 end to end ; European and native rulers work har- 

 moniously together ; and life and property are as well 

 secured as in the best governed states of Europe. I 

 believe, therefore, that Java may fairly claim to be the 

 finest tropical island in the world, and equally interesting 

 to the tourist seeking after new and beautiful scenes ; to 

 the naturalist who desires to examine the variety and 

 beauty of tropical nature ; or to the moralist and the 

 politician who want to solve the problem of how man may 

 be best governed under new and varied conditions. 



The Dutch mail steamer brought me from Ternate to 

 Sourabaya, the chief town and port in the eastern part of 

 Java, and after a fortnight spent in packing up and sending 

 off my last collections, I started on a short journey into 

 the interior. Travelling in Java is very luxurious but 

 very expensive, the only way being to hire or borrow a 

 carriage, and then pay half-a-crown a mile for post-horses, 

 which are changed at regular posts every six miles, and 

 will carry you at the rate of ten miles an hour from one 

 end of the island to the other. Bullock carts or coolies 

 are required to carry all extra baggage. As this kind of 

 travelling would not suit my means, I determined on 



