232 KAIL TO SOERAKARTA.
four posts, an open gallery above, and a pretty roof
generally ending in a carved dragon. The neatness
oi their houses is also conspicuous, as the concave
outline of the pitched roof is usually ornamented with
a border of coloured tiles.
Samarang has a large trade, it being the port of
the principal agricultural provinces of the island,
notably of the “ Kadoe,” the beauty and fertility of
which, and other favourite districts, is apt to create
a not very unnatural regret that the island, after
having been subject to British rule for the space of
five years, from 1 8 1 1 to 1816, under the able Governor,
Sir Stamford Raffles, had to be restored to the
Dutch, to whose energy, in a great measure, no doubt,
Java owes her material prosperity.
There is a short railway of barely fifty miles running
between Samarang and Soerakarta, but, owing
to its gradual ascent, four hours are consumed in
reaching the latter. The country through which we
passed by this route is fertile throughout, and the
scenery, especially where we approached the hilly
region, became very picturesque. The rice fields and
acacise near the coast soon made room for the cocoa-
nut, the palmyra, and the areca palms, the tulip tree
(Liriodendron tulipifera) covered with flowers; also
the dragon tree (Draccena draco), some with straight
VILLAGES OF THE INTERIOR.
stems, others with their fantastical ramifications,
were visible in one or two spots ; and, whilst passing
slowly through a teak forest I noticed a great variety
of orchids, mostly much larger than I had seen elsewhere,
and a fine purple pitcher plant. After having
reached an elevation of about 1 , 0 0 0 feet the country
again became more open, and an excellent system of
irrigation favoured the cultivation of rice, even here.
Villages sprang up in every direction; the houses
built entirely of bamboo, not being so liable to injury
by earthquakes as stone houses are ; moreover, the
former material grows in such abundance that it is
used in every possible way. Every paddy field has
its little bamboo watch-kennel, similar in construction
to those the fishermen erect on the shores of the
Bosphorus ; it is raised on four posts, some six or
eight feet from the ground, and covered with dried
palm leaves; generally a little urchin is seen in it
pulling strings, with dry leaves knotted into them at
certain distances, which cross and recross the field
in every direction, and by their motion prevent the
legions of sparrows and white ibises from picking the
ripe ear.
N atives of every degree j oined the train, at the different
stations, many holding an official position as the large
umbrella, carried by their attendant, indicated. This