cataswero a frreeae would
î J t l u e « M w - i | channel, i t would
S u l e away and let a strong current sweep us
X to the east, and one time we were earnedmort
I p L a n f l y near the high,
lemhang Point, ne»r Java Head - f t « wh
Strait^i^ the heginidng 7 4 e t p p o i e ^
few miles farther on their long ™yag®^ ^ poured
DT h o tte ° s t rays the thermometer ranging from
a S K i i f l ■ £ e rts days were the most tedious and oppresswe
1 CT^ e 6S n hach of Java Head seemed to he
King Eolns's favorite seat. Clouds would come from,
e v e r y quarter of the heavens and gather round ds
s u m m i t while the " ^ “ S S w S r n ’ shy,
S S T “ S t d thither, and again and
A VEIL OF RAIN. 17
again the thunders would crash and roar enough to
shake the very firmament.
"We are not alone. Six or eight vessels are also
detained here—for this Strait of Sunda is the great
gate through which pass out most of the valuable
teas and costly silks of China and Japan, and these
ships are carrying cotton goods to those lands to exchange
in part for such luxuries. On the evening of
the sixth day a more favorable breeze took us slowly
up the channel past a group of large rocks, where
the unceasing swell of the ocean was breaking, and
™ airing them sound in the quiet night like the howling
and snarling of some fierce monster set to guard
the way and unable to prevent his expected prey
from escaping.
With the morning came a fine breeze, and, as we
sailed up the strait, several small showers passed
over the mountains, parallel to the shore, on the
Java side; and once a long cloud rested its ends on
two mountains, and unfolded from its dark mass a
thin veil of sparkling rain, through which we could
see quite distinctly all the outlines and the bright-
green foliage of the valley behind it. The highly-
cultivated lands near the water, and on the lower
declivities of the mountains, whose tops were one
dense mass of perennial green, made the whole view
most enchanting to me; but our captain (who was
[ a Cape Cod man) declared that the sand-hills on
\ the outer side of Cape Cod were vastly more charming
to him. On the shallows, near the shore, the
clear sea-water took a beautiful tint of emerald
green in the bright sunlight, and here we passed
2