148 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
unsavoury native suburbs, to the city, whence the train, 
or a showy open cab drawn by a pair of horses, conveys 
him to the European quarter. By road he passes 
Molenvliet, a connecting link of houses and huts, sur¬ 
rounded by gardens, and bordered by a canal which 
joins the city to Noordwijk, Bijswijk, and Weltevreden— 
the three European villages or districts grouped around 
the Koningsplein. This Koningsplein, which, in spite of 
latitude, reminds the Englishman not a little of Wool¬ 
wich Common, is similarly used by the troops here 
quartered, and its vast open space is no doubt of great 
service in ventilating the district, and freeing it from 
malaria. The walks and roads in these suburbs, although 
not equal to those of the towns of the Spice Islands, are 
nevertheless charming in their beauty and in the wealth 
of their tropical foliage, and the houses, with their neat 
appearance and characteristic white-pillared entrances, 
are equally attractive. The broad roads are bordered 
with trees meeting overhead to form arched avenues, and 
as most of the houses are low and are surrounded by 
gardens full of fruit trees, palms, and flowering shrubs, 
the general effect is very pleasing. While Batavia 
proper is given up to warehouses, shops, and offices, and 
peopled by Malays, Chinese, and Arabs, the European 
suburbs just named have within their limits all the chief 
hotels, clubs, museums, theatres, and other places of 
amusement. In Bijswijk is the Governor-General’s resi¬ 
dence and the Government offices ; the museum and other 
public edifices are in the Koningsplein, and the barracks 
and civil and military hospital in Weltevreden. The 
Dutch in Java have done much to further science, and 
their various learned societies established here have 
published numerous valuable papers upon the fauna and 
flora as well as upon the ethnology of the islands, of 
