chap, vii.] BATAFIA AND BU1TENZ0RG. 173 



that an hour's business in the morning and a visit in 

 the evening costs 16s. 8d. a day for carriage hire alone. 



Batavia agrees very well with Mr. Money's graphic ac- 

 count of it, except that his " clear canals " were all muddy, 

 and his " smooth gravel drives " up to the houses were one 

 and all formed of coarse pebbles, very painful to walk upon, 

 and hardly explained by the fact that in Batavia every- 

 body drives, as it can hardly be supposed that people 

 never walk in their gardens. The Hotel des Indes was 

 very comfortable, each visitor having a sitting-room and 

 bedroom opening on a verandah, where he can take his 

 morning coffee and afternoon tea. In the centre of the 

 quadrangle is a building containing a number of marble 

 baths always ready for use ; and there is an excellent 

 table d'hote breakfast at ten, and dinner at six, for all 

 which there is a moderate charge per day. 



I went by coach to Buitenzorg, forty miles inland and 

 about a thousand feet above the sea, celebrated for its 

 delicious climate and its Botanical Gardens. With the 

 latter T was somewhat disappointed. The walks were all 

 of loose pebbles, making any lengthened wanderings about 

 them very tiring and painful under a tropical sun. The 

 gardens are no doubt wonderfully rich in tropical and 

 especially in Malayan plants, but there is a great absence 

 of skilful laying-out; there are not enough men to keep 

 the place thoroughly in order, and the plants themselves 

 are seldom to be compared for luxuriance and beauty to 



