CHINESE BURIAL GROUND. 
279 
rima were amongst their favourite ornamental plants. The Murraya 
exotica and Justicia picta adorned their hedges, and the Gloriosa 
superba in full blossom flourished in every moist and shady place ; 
and the Sida rhombifolia and Phlomis zeylanica were universal on 
waste ground. 
Beyond the huts of the natives the road winds through the 
Chinese burial-ground, and changes all its former beauties for the 
loathsomeness of a bog covered with tombs. The Chinese burial- 
ground excites the notion of a great battle having been fought, and 
the slain having been hastily and promiscuously buried. So crammed 
is the whole space with its lifeless inhabitants, that the soil loosened 
by fresh burials, has often yielded their remains to the action of 
the rain and surrounding water which rises all around the graves. 
It is impossible to avoid shuddering at the consequences that must 
be induced by the quantity of noxious effluvia necessarily engendered 
by these circumstances in a country within six degrees of the line. 
The Nelumbium and the Lotus , in full bloom, flourished amidst the 
tombs, and formed a singular contrast to their gloomy situation. 
Beyond the burial-ground the town is soon reached, and affords at 
an early hour, the singular spectacle of smiths, carpenters, and other 
artisans, chiefly Chinese, going to their day’s employment in their 
own carriages ; a kind of cabriolet, drawn by two Javanese ponies, 
which can be kept at a very reasonable rate. All but the very 
lowest class in Java disdaining or being afraid to walk exposed to 
the sun, a discriminative mark of rank in other countries is here in 
a good measure wanted. After passing through the town of Batavia 
I always felt a real or imaginary sickness and torpor. 
Many of us, in conformity with the local belief that it is dangerous 
to be in the sun after eight o’clock in the morning till five in the 
afternoon, kept within the greater part of the day. A party, how- 
ever, much to the astonishment of the inhabitants, frequently amused 
themselves at cricket in the plain before our quarters, during the 
heat of the day ; and what perhaps was scarcely to be expected, 
took no harm from the exercise. 
