382 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, 



January — Sailed for Surabaya in Java, 

 This morning there is only such a wind as sailors 

 wonld {'nil a fresh, bnt not a liea^y gale. In all 

 the wide area between Java and the line of islands 

 'east to Timnr on the south, and the tenth degree of 

 north latitude, none of those ft-iffhtfiil ofales known in 

 the Bay of Bengal as cyclones, and in the China Sea as 

 ** ty],)hoons " have ever been experienced. The chief 

 soui'ces of solicitude to tlie navigator of the Java and 

 the Ban da Seas are the strong currents and many 

 reefs of coral. 



Oui* large steamer is little else than a gi'eat float- 

 ing menagerie. We have, as usual, many native sol- 

 diers on board, and eaeh has with him two or three 

 pet parrots or cockatoos. Several of our passengers 

 have dozens of large cages, containing crested pigeons 

 from New Guinea, and representatives of nearly every 

 species of parrot in that part of the archipelago. We 

 have also more than a dozen diffei*ent kinds of odd- 

 looking monkeys, two or three of which are contin- 

 ually getting loose and upsetting the parrot-cages, 

 and, before the sluggish Malays can approach them 

 with a " I'ope's end " unawares, they spring np the 

 shrouds, and escape the pnnishment which they 

 know their mischief deserves. These bii^ds and mon- 

 keys are mostly purchased in the Spice Islands ; and 

 if all now on boai'd this ship could be safely trans- 

 ported to New York or London, they would far ex- 

 cel the collection on exhibition in the Zoological Gar- 

 dens of the latter city. 



Besides the Chinese, Arabs, Malays, and other 

 passengers forward, there is a Buginese woman, a 



