540 
A Trtir TO PROBOUNGGO, 
On leaving Sourabaya road for the eastward, the deep water for 
ships is near the Madura shore, the mud banks accumulating along 
the opposite coast of Java. Care however must be taken not to 
hug the Madura coast too close about a mile from the anchorage, 
and opposite a bare limestone cliff, where a hard reef runs out, on 
which the unwary stranger without a pilot on board has been known 
to stick fast and do himself some injury. 
The coast of Madura is rather pretty ; along the beach numerous 
villages are seen, ensconced among plantations of fruit trees and 
hambus, the ground rapidly rising beyond into a sloping ridge, 100 to 
] 50 feet high. The substratum is a rock of limestone, which near a 
small valley rises up into fantastic towers and peaks. At the inner 
edge of the bank, and nearly opposite to the village of Gading, is 
seen a beacon of stakes rising out of the water, about half a 
mile from the shore. This stands on the sunken works of a fort 
built by Marshal Daendels for the protection of the eastern 
entrance to Sourabaya. The foundations were laid in 13 feet water 
and 7 feet soft mud, but appear not even then to have rested on a 
firm bottom, since the fabric soon gave way and sank beneath the 
waves. Our pilot reported, that at very low water the works may 
still be seen, and that then the intermediate space to the shore of 
Madura is fordable. The mud bank is not above a mile across, but 
is of considerable length, extending from the villages of Gading and 
Boliga, on Madura, right across to the Java shore, which now in¬ 
stead of trending east and west, suddenly turns off due south for Pa- 
suruan. From the bank, the green shores of Madura and Java, ap¬ 
pear to narrow inwards like a funnel) terminating in the hills above 
Grissee known by the name of Giri; the shipping at the anchorage 
of Sourabaya may be seen near the bottom, on the left hand side. 
From this circumstance the Dutch call this entrance the “Treehter” 
which also means Funnel. Once fairly over the bank, the Pilot 
leaves the ship and returns to Sourabaya, the course south for Pasu- 
on the principle that the less the service rendered, the greater shall be the 
charge, the lower figures being alter the rate of f 3 to per foot, the 
higher f. 4 and f. 5 ! The total amount of wages paid to the above pilots 
and boats crews, as well as cost of rice to the latter, does not exceed f 1900 
per month. The merchant vessels visiting the port, average hilly for the 
12 months, one per day, and supposing them to average on arrival a draught 
of 12 feet and on departure 14 feet, the Pilotage would amount to 
f.2970, leaving thus a good profit in the hands of government. If they 
have further to purchase and keep the boats in repair, they on the other 
hand have the advantage of getting their men of war piloted for no¬ 
thing. 
