50 TRAVELS IN THE KAST AKCHIPELAGO. 



eiglit or ten miles from land. On both sides of the 

 Madm'a Strait the land is also low, and on the left 

 hand we passed many villages of native fishermen 

 who tend l>ajnboo weirs that extend out a long way 

 from the shore. 



Here^ for the first time^ I saw boats with outrig- 

 gers. Each had one such float on the leeward side, 

 while, on a kind of rack on the windward side, was 

 placed a canoe and every thing on board that was 

 movable. Each Vioat carries two triangular sails, 

 made of naiTOW, white cloths, with occasionally a red 

 or black one in the middle or on the margins by way 

 of ornament. 



Just before entering the road of Sm-abaya we 

 passed Gresik, a small village of Chinese and other 

 foreigners, situated immediately on the beach. It is 

 an old site and famous in the early history of Java, 

 but the houses seemed mostly new, and theii* red- 

 tiled roofs contrasted prettily with their white ridge- 

 poles auA gable-ends. It was here, according to the 

 Javanese historians, that the Mohanamedan religion 

 was first established on their soil. 



At Surabaya there appears to be much more busi- 

 ness than at Batavia^ and we found a larger number 

 of vessels at anchor in the roads. At Batavia, the 

 anchorage is somewhat sheltered by the islands at the 

 raouth of the bay. At Samarang, the anchorage is 

 quite erposed during the western monsoon, and the 

 swell and snif are sometimes so gi'eat that boats can- 

 not land, but at Surabaya the shipping is perfectly 

 sheltered from all gales. There are, however, strong 

 tidal cuiTents, on account of the size of the bay, at 



