PLEASANTNESS OF COUNTRY. 41 



looked very serious, and when we met he commenced 

 a long and earnest story to the other two men who 

 had accompanied me. But for a little incident like 

 this, and for the tropical appearance of the palm- 

 trees, bananas, and other vegetation, I could hardly 

 realize to myself that I was in Java, —Java the hot, 

 the deadly, the terrible. The cool freshness of the 

 air, the short, springy, fresh green turf, the green 

 lanes with footpaths and cart tracks, the ditches and 

 fences, with here and there a gap, as if broken 

 down by a sportsman, the old coffee plantations with 

 their lofty trees and grassy alleys among the under- 

 wood, reminded me rather of shooting in a mild 

 evening in September in some of the remote dis- 

 tricts of England, among half-neglected covers and 

 preserves and imperfectly cultivated fields. This 

 part of Java, indeed, is remarkably healthy, and 

 is visited on that account by invalids from Sourabaya 

 and the hot towns of the muddy and swampy north 

 coast. 



On returning to the passangerang a little after 

 dark, we found the Rongo waiting to welcome us to 

 a dinner as luxurious and well cooked as the break - 

 fast he had given us in the morning. On relating 

 our tiger story to him, he regretted that it had not 

 happened in the morning, as the tiger would not 

 have moved far from the spot during the day, and 

 we might have assembled some forces for a hunt. 

 He assured us he had but to beat a particular mea- 

 sure on his gong, and two or three hundred spear- 



