100 



JAFA. 



[chap, m 



the iutr-rior, Tmvelling in Java is very luxurious but 

 very expensive, tlie only way being to liire or borrow a 

 carriafie, and tbeu pay ludf-a-CTOwu a mile for post-borees, 

 which are diauged at regular posts every six miles, and 

 will cai'iy you at the rate of ten milps an hour from om- 

 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 

 making only a short journey to the district at the foot of 

 Mount Arjuna, where I was told there wci'e extensive 

 forests, and where I hoped to be able to make some 

 good collections. The country for many Tiiiles l>ehind 

 Soutabaya is perfectly flat and every where cnltivated ; 

 being a delta or alUn'ial plain watered by many branching 

 streams. Immediately around the town the evident signs 

 cif wealth and of an uidustrious population were very 

 pleasing; but as we went on, the constant succession of 

 open fields skirted l>y rows of bamboos, witli hei*e and 

 there the white buddijigs and tall (■liimney oCa su<4ar-mill, 

 l>ecame monotonous. The roads run in straight titles for 

 several miles at a stretchy and are bordered by rows of 

 dusty tamarind-trees. At each mile there are little guard- 

 houses, where a policeman is statujuwl ; and there is a 

 wooden gong, which by means of concerted signals may be 

 made to convey information over the country with great 

 i-apidity. Alxmt everj' six or seven miles is the post-house, 

 where the horses are changed as (piickly as were those 

 of the mail in the old coaching days in England. 



I stopped at !Modjokeilo, a small town about forty miles 

 south of S(uirabaya, and the nearest ^>oint on the high road 

 to the district I wished to visit. \ liad a letter of intro- 

 duction to ^Ir. Ball, an Englishman long resident in Java 

 and married to a Dutch lady, and he kindly invited me to 

 stay with him till 1 could iix on a place to suit me. A 

 Butch Assistant Resident as well as a Regent or native 

 -Javanese prince lived here. The t<)wn was neat, and had 

 a nice open grassy space like a village gi'cen, on which 

 stood a magnificent fig-tme (allied to the Banyan of India, 

 but more lofty), under whose shade a kind of market is 

 continually held, and where the inhabitants meet together 

 to lounge and chat. The day after my arrival, llr. Baii 



