422 WASHERMEN, BOATMEN, TROOPS. 



and these are your only money-changers, if you wish 

 to get a note cashed. During the day all the Eu- 

 ropean warehouses are thronged with these and 

 people of other nations ; and pale-faced clerks may 

 be seen driving about in hackney carriages to the 

 custom-house or other places of commercial resort. 

 The river meanwhile is crowded with life. Besides 

 the bathers, there may be seen groups of men and 

 women washing clothes. This they perform by dip- 

 ping them in the muddy water, and then banging 

 them with their whole force against a wooden bench, 

 one end of which is scored with grooves at right 

 angles to each other, to produce a greater impres- 

 sion. Soap is seldom used, and it is singular how 

 clean and white linen becomes under this process 

 and with this dirty water, although, as may be ima- 

 gined, its texture suffers severely. Meanwhile, 

 boats of all sizes are constantly passing up and 

 down, from simple canoes made of a hollow tree, to 

 the gaily painted and curtained tambangan, or the 

 great prahu or cargo boat, laden to the water's edge 

 with cargoes of rice, corn, sugar, or coffee, covered 

 in with a penthouse of mats, and propelled by men 

 with long poles, who have a ledge to walk on outside 

 the gunwales. Mingled with the various groups 

 ashore, were the troops in their light blue and yel- 

 low uniform. These are a miscellaneous assem- 

 blage of many races : Javanese, Madurese, and 

 Bugis, with genuine Negroes from the west coast of 

 Africa, and Europeans, who are often Dutch con- 



