Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Portrait of Javanese chief
In a month's collecting at Wonosalem and Djapannan I accumulated ninety-eight species
of birds, but a most miserable lot of insects. I then determined to leave East Java and try the
more moist and luxuriant districts at the western extremity of the island. I returned to Soura-
baya by water, in a roomy boat which brought myself, servants, and baggage at one-fifth the
expense it had cost me to come to Modjo-kerto. The river has been rendered navigable by
being carefully banked up, but with the usual effect of rendering the adjacent country liable
occasionally to severe floods. An immense traffic passes down this river; and at a lock we
passed through, a mile of laden boats were waiting two or three deep, which pass through in
their turn six at a time.
A few days afterwards I went by steamer to Batavia, where I stayed about a week at the
chief hotel, while I made arrangements for a trip into the interior. The business part of the
city is near the harbour, but the hotels and all the residences of the officials and European
merchants are in a suburb two miles off, laid out in wide streets and squares so as to cover a
great extent of ground. This is very inconvenient for visitors, as the only public conveyances
are handsome two-horse carriages, whose lowest charge is five guilders (8
s
. 4
d
.) for half a
day, so that an hour's business in the morning and a visit in the evening costs 16
s
. 8
d
. a day
for carriage hire alone.
Batavia agrees very well with Mr. Money's graphic account of it, except that his 'clear
canals' were all muddy, and his 'smooth gravel drives' up to the houses were one and all
formed of coarse pebbles, very painful to walk upon, and hardly explained by the fact that in
Batavia everybody drives, as it can hardly be supposed that people never walk in their gar-
dens. The Hôtel des Indes was very comfortable, each visitor having a sitting-room and bed-
room opening on a verandah, where he can take his morning coffee and afternoon tea. In the
centre of the quadrangle is a building containing a number of marble baths always ready for
use; and there is an excellent
table d'hôte
breakfast at ten, and dinner at six, for all which
there is a moderate charge per day.
I went by coach to Buitenzorg, forty miles inland and about a thousand feet above the sea,
celebrated for its delicious climate and its Botanical Gardens. With the latter I was some-
what disappointed. The walks were all of loose pebbles, making any lengthened wanderings
about them very tiring and painful under a tropical sun. The gardens are no doubt wonder-
fully rich in tropical and especially in Malayan plants, but there is a great absence of skilful
laying-out; there are not enough men to keep the place thoroughly in order, and the plants
themselves are seldom to be compared for luxuriance and beauty to the same species grown
in our hothouses. This can easily be explained. The plants can rarely be placed in natural or
