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connection with gutta-percha and india-rubber industries 

 in Java. Everybody in the business has heard of the 

 abundant and cheap labour in Java, the magnificent soil 

 in that island, and the rapid growth of Para rubber trees 

 in favoured districts. It was, therefore, with a feeling 

 akin to keenness that I sailed from Singapore at lo a.m. 

 on May ist, in the s.s. " Both," owned by the Konink- 

 lijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (commonly known as the 

 Royal Packet Steam Navigation Company). We arrived 

 at Batavia at 3.30 p.m. on the 3rd May. The trip 

 through the Malacca Straits was quite enjoyable, the in- 

 numerable scattered islands giving hourly variety to the 

 pleasure-seeking traveller. 



Java. 



There is nothing of special interest in Batavia to the 

 rubber grower. The Dutch manner of living and doing 

 business impressed me very much, especially after nearly 

 seven years in Ceylon and a hurried tour through some of 

 the Federated Malay States and Straits Settlements. The 

 costumes worn, customs adopted in the heat of the day, 

 the beautifully-laid bungalow hotels, steam engines for 

 trams, watering the streets by hand-carried garden cans, 

 the time taken to get our luggage on shore and through 

 the customs, and the musical clubs, prevent you from 

 rushing through work. The natives are slow to move, 

 and you begin to disbelieve the story that Java is, or 

 ever was, a volcanic island. English colonists can cer- 

 tainly take a few lessons from the Dutch on how to live 

 in the tropics. 



My first journey was to the world-famous Botanic Gar- 

 dens, Buitenzorg, under the directorship of that most dis- 

 tinguished scientist and administrator — Dr. Treub. The 

 journey from Weltevreden Station to Buitenzorg took us 

 over an hour, and was not particularly striking. The 

 principal cultivations were rice, coconuts, tapioca, kapok, 

 sugar and groundnuts. The selecting of seed parents in 

 the mature paddy fields and the transplanted seedlings 

 were, however, points which native agriculturists in other 

 parts of the world might well take note of. By these 

 means the Javanese appear to have developed a variety 

 of rice of much superior value. Canals are met with 



