rhinoceros, and the wild bnll now roam undisturbed.
A modern civilization of another type is now spreading
over the land. Good roads run through the country from
end to end; European and native rulers work harmoniously
together; and life and property are as well
secured as in the best governed states of Europe. I
believe, therefore, that Java may fairly claim to be the
finest tropical island in the world, and equally interesting
to the tourist seeking after new and beautiful scenes; to
the naturalist who desires to examine the variety and
beauty of tropical nature; or to the moralist and the
politician who want to solve the problem of how man may
be best governed under new and varied conditions.
The Dutch mail steamer brought me from Ternate to
Sourabaya, the chief town and port in the eastern part of
Java, and after a fortnight spent in packing up and sending
off my last collections, I started on a short journey into
the interior. Travelling in Java is very luxurious but
very expensive, the only way being to hire or borrow a
carriage, and then pay half-a-crown a mile for post-horses,
which are changed at regular posts every six miles, and
will carry you at the rate of ten miles an hour from one
end of the island to the other. Bullock carts or coolies
are required to carry all extra baggage. As this kind of
travelling would not suit my means, I determined on
making only a short journey to the district at the foot of
Mount Arjuna, where I was told there were extensive
forests, and where I hoped to be able to make some
wood collections. The country for many miles behind ©Sourabaya is perfectly flat and everywhere cultivated;
being a delta or alluvial plain watered by many branching
streams. Immediately around the town the evident signs
of wealth and of an industrious population were very
pleasing ; but as we went on, the constant succession of
open fields skirted by rows of bamboos, with here and
there the white buildings and tall chimney of a sugar-mill,
i became monotonous. The roads run in straight lines for
[several miles at a stretch, and are bordered by rows of
dusty tamarind-trees. At each mile there are little guardhouses,
where a policeman is stationed; and there is a
| wooden gong, which by means of concerted signals may be
! made to convey information over the country with great
rapidity. About every six or seven miles is the post-house,
where the horses are changed as quickly as were those
[ of the mail in the old coaching days in England.
I stopped at Modjokerto, a small town about forty miles
south of Sourabaya, and the nearest point on the high road
I to the district I wished to visit. I had a letter of intro-
| duction to Mr. Ball, an Englishman long resident in Java
I and married to a Dutch lady, and he kindly invited me to
stay with him till 1 could fix on a place to suit me. A