1821.] 
a kid for two rupees and a half, and 
eight fowls may be had for a rupee. 
Pork is not difficult to obtain, but other 
meat is scarce and not equal to what we 
have in England. The cows are very 
poor looking animals, and yield very 
little milk ; goats are substitutes both 
for sheep and cows. Butter is extrava¬ 
gantly dear, and good cheese is a scarce 
article. Wines are moderate; the Cape 
wine is nine rupees the dozen. As to 
our situation, we reside in a house 
principally constructed of bamboo, in 
a pleasant green lane about three miles 
from Batavia; it is about 44 feet long 
and 35 wide, with a veranda before and 
behind. The centre is a large hail 
with folding doors opposite each other, 
which admit a free current of air; on 
each side is a sleeping room and a 
study. The walls are bamboo; the 
posts of teak; the floor is paved with 
square bricks, and the roof thatched 
with palm leaves. You may think it 
strange to hear of a house without an 
upstairs room, a pane of glass, or a 
single chimney; yet this is exactly the 
case, and it makes a pretty appearance. 
The contrast of the white walls with 
the green trees which surround it, gives 
a cheerful aspect to the whole. The 
sentinel tree, which presides over our 
gate of bamboo, is a majestic tamarind, 
now loaded with fruit. The front ve¬ 
randa looks into a garden, the back into 
a poultry yard. My little canary bird, 
my companion for fifteen thousand 
miles, hangs in the front veranda, and 
has never ceased warbling from cock- 
crowing till snn-set. The value of this 
little bird is equal to that of three 
houses in this country. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Mayazine. 
SIR, 
HE public is much in the dark 
respecting the objects and real 
proceedings of certain societies which 
have been formed within the last tew 
years in London, under all sorts of pre¬ 
texts ; and generally, with what are 
denominated honorary secretaries , at 
their head, which it must be confessed is 
a very imposing title; and would seem 
to indicate, that the offices implied by 
it are executed without emolument, 
and purely from patriotic motives. I 
fear hovvever, that there is something 
in all this more than meets the eye ; and 
that they and others with the same pro¬ 
fession in their mouths, have only what 
is called the 44 main chance” in view. 
12,1 
So fully am I of this opinion, that I do 
not think that any individual or body 
of individuals could render a more use¬ 
ful service to the public than by devot¬ 
ing themselves to the ferreting out and 
bringing into day-light the mechanism 
and management, in all its ramifica¬ 
tions, of some of these societies under 
the control! 1 of their self-stiled honorary 
secretaries. If it be a virtue to sub¬ 
scribe money to further the objects of 
such societies, it surely is no* less a 
virtue to see that such money is legiti¬ 
mately and properly applied. It is, l 
believe, notorious that societiesprofess- 
ing charitable objects, have been set on 
foot by individuals, the situations, cir¬ 
cumstances, and previous habits of some 
of whom, would seem to mark them out 
as the most unfit persons as to property, 
responsibility and talent, that could 
be named for such offices. They how¬ 
ever generally p >ssess one indispensable 
requisite for such Undertakings, which 
is, an over-weening degree of confi¬ 
dence in themselves, united with a 
large portion of cunning. Qualities, 
which, as daily experience proves, often 
leave real talent and desert, united with 
diffidence, in the shade. 
u Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.’’ 
The societies formed within these 
last few years are now so numerous, 
and their titles and apparent objects 
trenching so closely upon each other, 
that it really seems difficult, if not im* 
possible, to distinguish between them: 
or to know precisely t he d iff'erence,where 
the objects and even the names are so 
nearly the same. We have ‘'the House¬ 
less Destitute Society ,” and 4 * the House¬ 
less Poor Society ,” between which it 
would, I apprehend, puzzle a much wiser 
man than 1 am to find out any rational 
distinction. Then we have 44 the So¬ 
ciety for the Suppression of Hice 
and 4 * the Society 'for the Suppression of 
Mendicity and 44 ike Constitutional 
Association for the Suppression of Se¬ 
ditious and Blasphemous Publications 
which objects are to be accomplished, 
it seems, by impeding all the free mo¬ 
tions of the press; and finally putting 
a gag into its mouth. The public, in 
the mean time, seem to be lost in amaze¬ 
ment, and know not vvhat to iliink, or 
how to act, under these novel combi¬ 
nations of persons and circumstances. 
Amid this chaos of objects, however, 
there is one thing very observable ; ami 
that is, that those societies professing to 
have for their objects the relief of dis¬ 
tress. 
Abuses of Public Liberality. 
