•ollection. In the zoological garden there were some
handsome birds : the kroonvogel of the size of a large
fowl, of delicate slate colour, with brownish wings, a very
foil feathery tuft on his head, and a bright red eye ; the
splendid bird of Paradise from the Moluccas;, the gold
and silver pheasant, and the black cockatoo belonging
to this island; the blue Australian pheasant, and the
large blue emu. An exceedingly pretty animal,
belonging to Java and the Malay islands, is the dwarf
or musk deer (Jcanchill, the Dutch call it), no more
than eight to ten inches high and fifteen inches long,
the most perfect and well-proportioned little animal
imaginable, very active and easily tamed.
Foreseeing that I might possibly miss seeing Buiten-
zorg, the sanatorium of the Batavians, if I delayed the
trip until my return, I arranged to go there at once,
and secured a seat in the coach that was to start on
the following morning. I t was a cumbersome machine,
which had probably some fifty or a hundred years ago
plied between Amsterdam and Botterdam,—four, and
at times six, ponies were put under requisition to pull
us along, which they did at a fair pace, a couple of
boys running alongside encouraging the poor a n ima l s
by whip and tongue. We passed through the pretty
faubourg of Cramat, with its elegant villas, and past
magnificent woods and gardens, along an excellent but
hilly road, until we reached the plateau upon which
Buitenzorg is built, 883 feet above the sea-level, and
forty miles from Batavia. Now' a railway connects the
two towns, with further extension in prospect.
Nature has done much for this island, justifying the
appellation of “ Queen of the Eastern Archipelago,”
which many travellers have given it. I t is the spot
above all others that fully merits the admiration of
lovers of natural beauty, whichever direction the eye
may take. French authors have compared Buitenzorg
with Versailles, but I cannot see the slightest resemblance,
unless it be that both possess a stately palace,
though differing totally in their respective construction
and surroundings. Art did everything for the favourite
residence of the Grand Monarque, whilst nature has
imbued Buitenzorg with all her charms. The extensive
and really handsome palace at the latter place,
where the Governor-General seeks repose during the
more unhealthy part of the year, stands in a park of
magnificent banyan trees (Ficus indica), whose numerous
roots, descending from the branches, gradually form quite
a network around the parent tree, which is a favourite
resort of the monkeys continually met with, sitting
high aloft or swinging themselves from branch to
branch, and keeping up a perpetual chattering.