JAVA. 
89 
All European residents in Java, to whatever nationality they belong, have to join 
an armed force, with regular drills and parades ; this force is for the suppression of 
any native rising should the troops be elsewhere employed. 
After the receipt of the telegram from the Government at Batavia I was able, with the 
permission of the Sourabaya officials, to start for Tosari, the first stage of that journey 
being by train to Pasoeroean. 
The following morning I left at 5 A.M. in a light pony-cart for Paserpan. The country 
through which we drove was flat and monotonous, being either under sugar or rice cultiva¬ 
tion, with occasional clumps of trees and bamboos; here and there the everlasting green 
was broken by the white buildings and tall chimneys of the sugar-mills. The road was 
bordered on both sides with tall bamboos and tamarind-trees, which at this early hour were 
partly hidden in the morning mists ; before we reached the foot of the mountain on which 
Tosari is situated the population were astir, and I noticed all were dressed in indigo-blue 
dyed garments. As soon as the country became too hilly—that is, on our arrival at Paserpan 
—the cart was changed for two saddle-ponies, one for myself and the other for my 
baggage. 
The mountain-road was wonderfully good; when the incline became too steep, this 
difficulty was overcome by making steps which were planked up, and these steps were easily 
negotiated by the plucky little ponies. After five hours’ steady up-hill work, we reached 
the Tosari hotel, about 5600 feet above the sea. On the journey up we met numbers of 
natives with one or two ponies each, laden with maize-pods and cabbages, which they were 
taking to the towns on the plain. 
The ride was most delightful: most of the route lay through coffee-plantations, until 
an altitude of 4000 feet Avas reached; then the country gradually transformed itself as it 
were into the highlands of Europe. The plants, birds, and butterflies Avere mostly of 
familiar European genera, a great number of common European weeds Avhich greAV on the 
roadside I believe are not indigenous, but have been either purposely or accidentally 
introduced. It is a curious sight to see homely cabbages groAving amongst magnificent 
tree-ferns; and over this familiar European vegetation flitted butterflies closely resembling 
our European species, Painted-ladies (Vanessa cardui ) and Fritillaries (.Argynnis niphe ), 
Avhile the presence of Larks, Blackbirds, Titmice, and Chats were quite sufficient to com¬ 
plete this illusory transformation. The villages of the mountaineers so closely resembled 
those of the Swiss, Avhen seen from a distance, that it Avas very difficult to believe one 
was still in the tropics. This strong resemblance to things European Avas not at all 
striking to me on the higher elevations of Kina Balu; there everything Avas still unmistak¬ 
ably tropical. 
The hotel’was comfortable, but unfortunately had been built in the style of those of 
the plains, as stone floors and airy passages are not at all times agreeable to travellers after 
a long sojourn in the hot plains. 
In Tosari I remained more than tAvo months, and made a small but interesting collec¬ 
tion of birds and butterflies. The small village of Tosari is, like all other Javanese villages, 
built on the ground, the raised dwellings of the Malays not being adopted in this island. 
The houses are built entirely of wood, the walls being either made of roughly planed planks 
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