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while finding out, and used to pitch the poor feminine out of bed every night with a hearty anathema; but after I was taught her proper place I saw my error, and became much attached to her. In a word, the "Dutch wife" is to be put under your legs or arms to prevent too warm a contact with the mattress, and to allow a cool circulation of air; and the comfort which this gives in a hot climate can be appreciated only by those who have tried it. Still better than one "Dutch wife" stuffed with cotton are four short, hollow Chinese ones-one for each limb-made of split bamboo work.

During my stay in Batavia I used never to tire of watching the morning household life to be seen in our bungalows. These long rows of rooms faced each other, separated merely by a road and some little grass-plots, and consequently, when sitting on the veranda just outside of your door, you could see all that was going on over the way without even moving your head. All, as I have also said, go about in their sleep-clothes, and in this way one can easily judge of the intrinsic beauty of each lady without being deceived by dress. Then the naïveté and absence of false shame to be seen every where was very amusing and really rather pleasant. All seemed to do just what they wanted to, and what with us are little family secrets, were freely performed without hesitation in the presence of their neighbors. The interior economy of every family was perfectly apparent. In a room directly opposite to mine,

over the way, were a fat frau, her husband, four children, and a nurse, all together. She was continually hanging out her good man's inexpressibles to dry, and all the morning one of her little daughters, the beauty of the family, had her hair screwed up in curl-papers, so that just before dinner she would appear with a luxuriant crop of ringlets.

Among the queer places I poked into, in and about Batavia, was one some five miles from town, and which is called Maistre Cornelius's. This individual is a Chinaman, who has quite a settlement of houses for smoking opium in, gambling, and all sorts of dissipation, and to attract the crowd he has exhibitions of Chinese theatricals and Malay dancing girls free. The proper time to visit this place is from midnight onward, and then one acquainted with the inimitable etchings of Retsch would be strongly reminded of his delineation of what Faust saw at the Witches' Sabbath. After leaving your carriage at the outskirts of this small villa-for so it may almost be called-you penetrate through a vast crowd of Javanese, Malays, and Chinamen, with here and there a few Dutch soldiers off duty lounging about, and perhaps a party of Europeans drawn hither, like yourself, by curiosity, and you are first attracted by the Chinese Theatre. This is a shed erected on poles, so that the floor is on a level with the heads of the spectators in order that all may see. It is always surrounded by a dense crowd, whose heads the glare of light from the stage shows in strong

relief to the darkness around, and gives us yet more of an entertainment than the drama.

Chinese acting is a queer thing. The men are all dressed in long robes, are armed with innumerable weapons, and have on inconceivably ugly, bearded masks, while their performance consists in advancing to the front, and after declaiming in a shrill tone from between their eyebrows, in giving a kick up in front as they turn on one foot and depart: he who kicks highest is evidently the best actor, and is the most applauded. Sometimes they have a fight, and slash round, each with two swords, waltzing in and out in a really skillful manner, only it gives the impression more of a ballet than of a combat. The women are painted like an enamel miniature, and squall in a falsetto, which probably to most readers needs no description, since the numerous Chinese exhibitions which have been of late years in this country. As you edge your way through the dense crowd you notice that every native is armed; but there is no danger. The strict subjection in which the Dutch Government here keeps those under its sway renders this one of the safest lands in the world, and in this place, when you enter, a policeman in uniform immediately presents himself as your cicerone.

A little farther on are the Javanese dancinggirls, who, with their hair ornamented with flowers and their shoulders and arms bare, while the rest of their figure is enveloped in a long and handsome sárong, move in short steps, swaying their bodies and gracefully gesticulating with their arms in time to the music, while they sing in a high, discordant squall, which seems to be the universal kind of vocal music

DANCING-GIRLS.

all over the East. Then there are to be seen innumerable tables surrounded by gamblers of every description, and opium smokers in abundance are visible, too, though there are little cells where the votary of the drug may stupefy himself in private. Frequently, about one or two o'clock at night, when hundreds of men and women are intoxicated by opium, a saturnalia may be seen which is not to be described; and at any time the elephant may be found here in all its stages, though, if any one wishes to know about the peculiar habits of the animal in this retreat, he will have to go and see for himself. I sha'n't describe them.

Having become thus pretty well acquainted with Batavia and its environs, a trip into the interior seemed very desirable, so the English officer and myself went one morning to the stables of a man who kept traveling carriages for hire, and picked out a glorious one, broad and capacious, with boxes under the seats for our clothes, with a servant's dicky and box behind, and a box under the coachman's seat in front. Within there were numerous pockets, straps, and hooks, in and on which all kinds of little articles could be stowed, greatly conducing to our comfort in traveling. This done, we contracted for government post-horses to and from Bandon, our place of destination, situated some 150 miles in the interior; and as our passports had been obtained through the kindness of friends, with none of that delay which many have complained of, we started one glorious morning in great style with four ponies, a staid coachman roofed with a hat strongly resembling a large inverted wash-basin, and with three halfnaked footmen running alongside, who cracked their long whips with reports like those of a pis tol, and who yelled and grunted at the terrified ponies in order to keep them in the stretching gallop into which they had been started. When we were fairly off at the rate of fourteen miles an hour, our footmen hung behind on steps suspended for the purpose on each side of the servant's dicky. As we were about to turn a corner to go over a bridge, off came these gentry again, and ran alongside of the horses, lashing them with their whips and turning them into the proper course-a very necessary proceeding, for the coachman appears to have no idea of driving, and has very little control over the badly-broken horses. The first stage was about seven miles long, and while fresh ponies were being harnessed in lieu of our old friends, which stood by panting and pouring with perspiration, a greasy book was thrust into the window, in which we were to write our names, ages, and professions, where we came from, and where we were going to. By the time this was done the horses were in, and off we started again, men yelling, the ponies not knowing exactly what to do, and our runners, two only this time, dashing alongside cracking their whips with a skill really wonderful. I never saw such fellows for cracking whips; they outdo the ring-master of a circus completely, for they

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practice the accomplishment from their earliest | pistol. On one of our stages between Tjanjoer childhood, and attain such proficiency that they run along whirling the whips in fantastic figures around their heads and bodies, the lash cracking at each turn of the wrist like the report of a

THE RISING GENERATION.

and Bandong, we saw a man standing in the
road, with a whole row of little naked urchins,
teaching them to crack scientifically.
On this road, as there is a great deal of travel
between Batavia and Buitenzorg, the lit-
tle boys, I am sorry to say, have lost their
unsophisticated bashfulness and retiring
modesty, and at every stage-house they
congregate in small bands, arrange them-
selves in military line, and vociferously
cheer the arrival of strangers, in order to
wile out the shower of coppers for which
they scramble: they generally succeed,
too, as they, by experience, have become
the most expert scramblers imaginable,
and it is worth a cent or two to see into
what a living, twisting, writhing, dusty
mass they can pile themselves.

As we neared Buitenzorg we saw the peculiar arrangement of the paddi (rice) fields, which are laid out in regular terraces, one some two feet higher than the other, by which means the water is conveyed from the top to the bottom of the whole series without being wasted. From the appearance of this part of the country, and the numbers of men and women that are to be seen toiling in the fields, the Javanese would appear to a traveler to be quite an industrious race, while just the reverse is the fact: they are very lazy, like most of the Malays, and if a man by any chance get ten doits (about a third of a cent) he will do no more work that day.

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They are very pleasant and obliging, however, | six horses, the brutes would stop every now and and though every man wears a creese, or weapon then and balk at every little ascent, and, as the of some sort, very little violence occurs. Where blood is spilt, it is generally through jealousy. At the rate at which we traveled we were not more than four hours in reaching Buitenzorg, in spite of our frequent changes and the delays consequent upon the willfulness of unbroken steeds, which would persist, at every starting, in getting themselves and harness into dreadful snarls. The same coachman went the whole way, and his fee was a guilder (forty cents), while the fee of each runner, two of whom go the stage of five miles, is ten doits (a doit is the one hundred and twentieth part of a guilder).

road was hilly from the beginning, we halted pretty often, while the air resounded with English oaths and Javanese anathemas at our unruly ponies which, with heads and hoofs in every direction, snarled themselves up, and, finally, with ears back and tails closely drawn, stood obstinately still. Yells, blows, and coaxing finally got them along to the place where buffaloes were used, and first a pair of these were placed in front of them: a little farther on we had two pair, and when we fairly arrived at the foot of the mountain the horses were taken out altogether, and four pair of buffaloes were hitch

At Buitenzorg is the large palace of the Gov-ed on; then, at a tortoise pace, we plodded up ernor-General, situated in a superb park which the steep ascent. It was dreadfully slow work, is filled with trees of every description to be but we walked a little and slept a good deal, ate found in the tropics, while numerous inclosures quantities of cold chicken, and drank plenty of for rare animals and birds are scattered through ale, while the fumes of fragrant tobacco soothed the grounds. A botanist would find matter us till we reached the top, when the view reenough here and in the botanical gardens to quited us for all our trouble. No words can entrance him, and a naturalist would be nearly describe, no pencil can portray, the magnificent, as much pleased by the animals. the exquisite, the lovely variety and beauty of the landscape. Each hill is of a different shape from its neighbor; while all are graceful, and all are covered with verdure, save where the naked peak of a volcano gives strength and majesty to the scene, and renders, by contrast, the fertile country about still more charming. Numerous lakes and water-courses enliven the scenery and enrich the soil, while mineral springs every where pour out their refreshing and healing waters.

Interiorward, the next day's journey is usually to Tjanjoer, and is the most unpleasant one on the route, as a lofty chain of mountains has to be slowly and wearily crossed, and one wants a good stock of patience or cigars, plenty to eat and drink, and an overcoat to resist the cool mountain air, to enable him to get through the day with equanimity. We started at five o'clock in the morning, and very soon after our troubles commenced; for, though we had

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In place of the buffaloes, horses were again put to, and, after the shoe was placed on the hind wheel, we dashed onward and downward. In spite of my convictions that we should be dashed to pieces, we reached Tjanjoer in safety, and, after dressing and taking tiffin, we strolled through the town. The majority of the streets presented the handsomest appearance of the kind imaginable. Instead of fences or walls, on each side of the street are most neatly trimmed hedges of some shrub with a luxuriant foliage like the lilac. Cocoa-nut palms and other trees overhang the road, which is neatly graveled and kept in perfect order. The houses, which one does not see in looking down the street, are certainly not in keeping, as they are little mat and bamboo buildings with thatched roofs; but they are hidden by the shrubbery, and, in point of cleanliness, far excel the native houses of most half-civilized people.

To Bandong, our place of destination, it is but half a day's work more, so we started in the morning in the usual way. We were now about entering the vast plains which extend here in the Preanger district,

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though more than two thousand feet above the level of the sea, and which form the best riceproducing country in the island; consequently, our drive was not so interrupted by hills, and we dashed along over level, well-made roads, through the exquisite country of which we had had a bird's-eye view the day before. Our first stoppage was to us unaccountable; nothing appeared to be the matter, but the runners began to take the horses out, and a band of men came up with a long rope. We stuck our heads out inquiringly, and found that we were on the brink of a deep ravine, with a bridge over the stream at the bottom, the sides of which were so steep that it was not safe for horses to attempt to take the carriage down. With a proper regard for our necks, we decided that we would walk down, and accordingly got out, when my farther progress was arrested for some minutes by the overpowering beauty of the view. Of all charming spots I have ever laid eyes upon, this valley and water-course form the most beautiful!

ropean. Were a chief to give a letter to one of his followers, and bid him carry it through a jungle filled with tigers, and where death was almost certain, he would still without hesitation obey, and go cheerfully to his probable fate. Indeed, the Javanese, though almost cowardly in fight, meet death with the utmost sang-froid. The Regent of this district is the richest prince on the island, with the exception of the Emperor at the eastern end, as he has a percentage of all the rice grown here, and, as I have before said, this is the greatest rice-growing part of Java.

We had a letter of introduction to a Mr. P—, a large coffee-planter in the neighborhood, and we dispatched it immediately on our arrival. To show the hospitality of the country, I would say that Mr. P—— came to call upon us early the next morning in his carriage, drawn by eight ponies, all the way from his plantation, which was nine miles distant, and 3800 feet high to boot. He told us that the deer were in the plains, and advised us to remain a couple of days where we were, have some deer-shooting, and then come up and pay him a visit, when he would try to find a rhí

He left with us his huntsman, and wrote a line to the Regent for some horses for our use. At about noon, a herd of rough, half-tamed creatures were driven in and harnessed to our carriage, and off we went over good roads and bad, crossing ferries, bumping through ditches, and dragging through swamps, until we reach

We found it a huge, marshy plain, covered with acres of long grass, high enough to conceal a man. We seized our guns-I say we, for though I was no sportsman I was inocu

To return to our carriage. Four men took hold of the pole, while a whole crowd of men and children held back by the rope behind, and so they went down-bumping, sliding, and kick-noceros and some wild bulls for our benefit. ing up a dust, with each one yelling as if he had the whole command and responsibility. On the ascent the never-failing buffaloes were put into requisition, and we were soon off again over the level country. A little farther on, we crossed a river on a most primitive ferry-boat, formed of two long canoes, with a bamboo flooring between. This, instead of being row-ed the ground-some ten miles from Bandong. ed across the stream in the usual way, bows on, was pulled over sideways by men standing at the ends, and propelling it across by means of rattan ropes stretched from bank to bank. All the people on the roadside, as we pass-lated with the hunting enthusiasm of my comed, took off their hats, if they had any on, and squatted down-it being a mark of disrespect to stand in the presence of a superior. If a man were on horseback, he would take off his hat, dismount, and crouch in the ditch; and I even saw women in the houses get off their seats and squat upon the ground. At first, this abject submission was really painful to us; but such is the inherent love of power and superiority, that on our return we felt quite indignant at a couple of Chinamen, who, with the independence peculiar to them when they think they can show it with impunity, passed us with no farther notice than a stare.

The description of Tjanjoer will do very well in a general way for Bandong, except that in the latter place there are the house of the Dutch “Resident," and the palace of the native Regent. The Regent was a native prince, who is now in the service of the Dutch Government, receives a salary, and is responsible for the people. This method shows good policy in the Dutch, as the Javanese are devotedly attached to their own chiefs, and will implicitly obey commands from them which they would be apt to rebel against if coming from an EuVOL. XV.-No. 87.-Y

panion, and bore his double-barreled fowlingpiece loaded with ball. We had first to cross a paddi-field covered with water, except where the divisions of the beds formed muddy ridges. With an instinctive dislike to wetting ourselves while we could help it, we went daintily along these treacherous bridges, balancing ourselves with our guns like a rope-dancer with his pole, eyes fixed and dilated, lips apart, and feet cautiously advanced. "Kush-slump!" I heard a noise, and looking round, saw my companion up to his knees in mud and water, making frantic efforts to keep his balance. I couldn't help shouting with laughter, and immediately verified the old adage that "Pride will have a fall;" for my feet, left to themselves, slipped off the ridge, and down I came, leaving a distinct impression of my nether man in my soft seat, while my legs, apparently, were persuading themselves that they were Artesian well-borers, from the depth to which they penetrated. With a sucking "phlop," they came out, however, after a strenuous effort on my part, and then, regardless of the moisture around, we splashed along to the grass. Arrived there, a man went up to a little hut elevated on a scaffolding above

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