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
Sourabaya 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 (8s. 4d.) for half
a day, so that an hour's business in the morning and a visit in the
evening costs 16s. 8d. 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
gardens. The Hotel des Indes was very comfortable, each visitor having
a sitting-room and bedroom 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'hote 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 somewhat 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
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