Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
lage. It was a very dull and dreary place; a collection of narrow lanes bounded by high mud
walls, enclosing bamboo houses, into some of which we entered and were very kindly re-
ceived.
During the two days that we remained here, I walked out into the surrounding country to
catch insects, shoot birds, and spy out the nakedness or fertility of the land. I was both as-
tonished and delighted; for as my visit to Java was some years later, I had never beheld so
beautiful and well cultivated a district out of Europe. A slightly undulating plain extends
from the sea-coast about ten or twelve miles inland, where it is bounded by a fine range of
wooded and cultivated hills. Houses and villages, marked out by dense clumps of cocoa-nut
palms, tamarind and other fruit trees, are dotted about in every direction; while between
them extend luxuriant rice-grounds, watered by an elaborate system of irrigation that would
be the pride of the best-cultivated parts of Europe. The whole surface of the country is di-
vided into irregular patches, following the undulations of the ground, from many acres to a
few perches in extent, each of which is itself perfectly level, but stands a few inches or sev-
eral feet above or below those adjacent to it. Every one of these patches can be flooded or
drained at will, by means of a system of ditches and small channels, into which are diverted
the whole of the streams that descend from the mountains. Every patch now bore crops in
various stages of growth, some almost ready for cutting, and all in the most flourishing con-
dition and of the most exquisite green tints.
The sides of the lanes and bridle roads were often edged with prickly Cacti and a leafless
Euphorbia, but the country being so highly cultivated there was not much room for indigen-
ous vegetation, except upon the sea-beach. We saw plenty of the fine race of domestic cattle
descended from the Bos banteng of Java, driven by half-naked boys, or tethered in pasture-
grounds. They are large and handsome animals, of a light brown colour, with white legs, and
a conspicuous oval patch behind of the same colour. Wild cattle of the same race are said to
be still found in the mountains. In so well-cultivated a country it was not to be expected that
I could do much in natural history, and my ignorance of how important a locality this was
for the elucidation of the geographical distribution of animals, caused me to neglect obtain-
ing some specimens which I never met with again. One of these was a weaver bird with a
bright yellow head, which built its bottle-shaped nests by dozens on some trees near the
beach. It was the Ploceus hypoxantha, a native of Java; and here, at the extreme limits of its
range westerly. I shot and preserved specimens of a wagtail-thrush, an oriole, and some
starlings, all species found in Java, and some of them peculiar to that island. I also obtained
some beautiful butterflies, richly marked with black and orange on a white ground, and
