538 
A TRIP TO PROBOLINGG0. 
turning to Batavia, mostly prefer making the circuit of the island of 
Madura in order to gain this advantage; though the passage is often 
very baffling for want of regular land and sea breezes, on account of 
the little elevation of the island. At Fort Lodewyk, there are only 
II to 12 feet at low water. At high water, during the neaps, a ship 
will find 14 feet; at the springs 15 to 15^ feet, but, on account of 
the closeness of the Solo river, the sandy bottom is much harder 
than the soft mud on the eastern bank. At the eastern entrance, a 
ship drawing 18 feet may get out at the springs, but she will then 
be dragging through about 2 feet of oose. These banks appear to 
be gradually shoaling, according to the testimony of long experien¬ 
ced persons, and it requires no great gift of prophecy to foresee 
that the consequences must, ere long, prove most disastrous for the 
port of Sourabaya, both as a place of trade and as a naval station 
for the government, this being the only safe and commodious har¬ 
bour all round the coast of Java. As it is, the heavy ships of the 
Handel Maatschappy can only take in a part of their cargoes here, 
and must then proceed elsewhere to fill up ; lately the Frigate “ Ce¬ 
res,” after being engaged in the operations against Bali, would not 
venture over the eastern bar, but lay at Pasuruan, to undergo some 
necessary refitting and caulking. For the last 12 years, the govern¬ 
ment have been wrapped up in their hobby of building fortresses 
all over Java, to the neglect of the more peaceful and profitable im¬ 
provement of their harbours and piers; yet it cannot be said that they 
have entirely lost sight of these objects, since they have lately sanc¬ 
tioned the construction of extensive dry docks at Sourabaya after 
maturely ruminating on the subject since 1834. Another long talk¬ 
ed of matter has been a <c dredging machine.” An Engineer came 
out from Holland nearly three years ago to put up the machinery, 
when the discovery was made that there was no fit boat to put it in. 
Lately a huge box has been completed ; this however we need not 
expect to see fit for use for some months to come. The ground has 
been staked out for the dry docks close to the eastern pier head, 
but it will be the rising generation that will have the pleasure of 
smoking their pipes over the completion of the works. Large ships 
of war formerly visited the harbour of Sourabaya. In 1807, Admiral 
Pellew (afterwards Lord Exmouth) with 2 ships of the line, some 
frigates and smaller vessels, ran into the Straits, and destroyed some 
batteries and the shipping. This case I have heard instanced by M. 
Rambaldo, the present master attendant of Sourabaya, as a proof of 
