BANTAM. 
-fc-> 
41 
water. A loud bubbling noise is distinctly heard, on placing the 
ear close to any part of the barren spot in which they are situated. 
The natives believe that the water possesses medicinal properties, and 
that it is especially efficacious in cutaneous disease. * 
On my return from the Springs, I made an excursion to Bantam, 
which is seven miles to the north of Sirang, for the sake of obtaining 
some specimens of the large bat of Java, which resort to groves in its 
neighbourhood. 
Bantam differs but little in appearance from other native towns of 
Java, consisting for the most part of long streets formed by the 
huts of the natives, surrounded on all sides by plantations of fruit- 
trees, of which the cocoa-nut and the banana are the most conspi- 
cuous. Passing through a lane formed of these dwellings, my attention 
was attracted by the firing of a musket and the sound of music; and 
on looking into an enclosure surrounding a cottage I saw a number of 
natives assembled, some of whom were gaudily dressed. As soon as 
I was perceived by them, they invited me in, not, as I had imagined, 
to witness a marriage-festival, but the rite of circumcision. I was 
ushered into a small square room, full of people. A wide bench 
passed from one side of it to the other, on which were spread three 
mats covered with plantain-leaves ; and over these hung as many 
curtains formed into small tents. This preparation had been made 
for the reception of three little boys about five years of age, who 
underwent in my presence the operation of circumcision ; which was 
performed by a native surgeon with great dexterity and dispatch, f 
On the completion of each operation a musket was discharged and 
* At the period of my visit, I was annoyed by some troublesome ulcers from the bites of 
musquitoes, which had covered my bands for several days; but they healed immediately, 
after having bathed them with the water of these pools. 
f Unus ex iis qui adsunt super ejus genua puerum ponit, oculis hujusce pueri amictu 
quovis coopertis. Chirurgus, arundinem parvam, inter glandem, et praeputium intro- 
missam, bine atque bine versus latera versat, quo hae partes melius separentur, et instru- 
mentum quod postea utendum est, facilius applicetur. Manu deinde depressa id efficit ut 
arundinis pars extrema exterius, punctum quasi tumidum, sentitur, quod statim cum 
G 
