material generously made available by the internet archive across the equator. [frontispiece: temple, parambanan.] across the equator. a holiday trip in java. by thos. h. reid. kelly & walsh, limited, singapore--shanghai--hongkong--yokohama. 1908. [all rights reserved.] preface. it was at the end of the month of september, 1907, that the writer visited java with the object of spending a brief vacation there. the outcome was a series of articles in the "straits times," and after they appeared so many applications were made for reprints that we were encouraged to issue the articles in handy form for the information of those who intend to visit the neighbouring dutch colony. there was no pretension to write an exhaustive guide-book to the island, but the original articles were revised and amplified, and the chapters have been arranged to enable the visitor to follow a given route through the island, from west to east, within the compass of a fortnight or three weeks. for liberty to reproduce some of the larger pictures, we are indebted to mr. george p. lewis (of o. kurkdjian), sourabaya, whose photographs of tosari and the volcanic region of eastern java form one of the finest and most artistic collections we have seen of landscape work. singapore, _july, 1908_. contents. first impressions of batavia 1 the british in java 15 botanist's paradise at buitenzorg 23 on the road to sindanglaya 33 sindanglaya and beyond 42 hindu ruins in central java 49 the temples of parambanan 58 people and industries of central java 65 the health resort of east java 73 sunrise at the penandjaan pass 77 hotels and travelling facilities 87 first impressions of batavia. when consideration is given to the fact that java is only two days' steaming from singapore, that it is more beautiful in some respects than japan, that it contains marvellous archaeological remains over 1,100 years old, and that its hill resorts form ideal resting places for the jaded european, it is strange that few of the british residents throughout the far east, or travellers east and west, have visited the dutch colony. the average britisher, weaving the web of empire, passes like a shuttle in the loom from london to yokohama, from hongkong to marseilles. he thinks imperially in that he thinks no other nation has colonies worth seeing. british port succeeds british port on the hackneyed line of travel, and he may be excused if he forgets that these convenient calling places, these links of empire, can have possible rivals under foreign flags. there is no excuse for the prevailing ignorance of the netherland indies. we do not wish it to be inferred that we imagine we have discovered java, as dickens is said to have discovered italy, but we believe we are justified in saying that few have realised the possibilities of java as a health resort and the attractions it has to offer for a holiday. miss marianne north, celebrated as painter and authoress and the rival of miss mary kingsley and mrs. bishop (isabella bird) as a traveller in unfrequented quarters of the globe, has described the island as one magnificent garden, surpassing brazil, jamaica and other countries visited by her, and possessing the grandest of volcanoes; and other famous travellers have written in terms of the highest praise of its natural beauties. its accessibility is one of its recommendations to the holiday maker. the voyage across the equator from singapore is a smooth one, for the most part through narrow straits and seldom out of sight of islands clad with verdure down to the water's edge. excellent accommodation is provided by the rival dutch mail steamers running between europe and java and the royal packet company's local steamers, and the government of the netherland indies co-operates with a recently-formed association for the encouragement of tourist traffic on the lines of the welcome society in japan. this association has a bureau, temporarily established in the hotel des indes in batavia, to provide information and travelling facilities for tourists, not only throughout java, but amongst the various islands that are being brought under the sway of civilised government by the dutch colonial forces. as our steamer pounded her way out of singapore harbour in the early morning, islands appeared to spring out of the sea, and seascape after seascape followed in rapid succession, suggesting the old-fashioned panoramic pictures of childhood's acquaintance. one's idea of scenery, after all, is more or less a matter of comparison. one passenger compares the scene with the kyles of bute; another with the inland sea of japan, at the other end of the world. yet, this tropical waterway is unlike either, and has a characteristic individuality of its own, none the less charming because of the comparisons it suggests and the associations it recalls. we spent a good deal of our time on the bridge with the captain, who was courteous enough to point out all the leading points on his chart. the sultanate of rhio lies on the port bow, four hours' sail from singapore. glimpses of sumatra are obtained on the starboard, and on the way the steamer passes near to the island of banka, reputed to contain the richest tin deposits in the world. this tin is worked by the government of the netherland indies, with chinese contract labour; and the revenue obtained is an important factor in balancing the colonial budget. it is interesting to note that the chinese, who have long mined for gold and tin in the malay peninsula and archipelago, were quite familiar with the rich nature of banka's soil two hundred years ago, and that tin from this island was then a common medium of exchange in china and throughout the far east wherever the adventurous chinese merchant had penetrated. the visitor landing at tandjong priok, the port of batavia, after his experience of other far eastern ports, cannot fail to be struck by the excellence of the arrangements for berthing vessels and for storing cargo. we british people are so accustomed to the idea that our ports are the best and our trading arrangements unequalled that we are astonished when we discover that our shipping and commercial rivals know how to do some things better than ourselves, and that all wisdom is not to be found within the confines of england and among the people who are proud to own it as their place of birth. our far eastern ports owe their supremacy to geographical position almost entirely. we have realised that during recent years in singapore, and in our haste to correct the mistakes of former officials and residents, the straits settlements paid rather heavily when they expropriated the tanjong pagar company which owned the wharves, docks and warehouses. tandjong priok may not handle the shipping that tanjong pagar does, but if they were called upon to do so, we have not the least doubt that our dutch neighbours would rise readily to the occasion. there is a customs examination at tandjong priok. in our own case, it was a mere formality, the new duty on imported cameras not applying to our well-used kodak, since it was being taken out of the country again. but we could not help contrasting to the disadvantage of singapore the examination of chinese and other asiatic passengers. theoretically, in singapore, there is no customs service. it is a free port, and so, theoretically, one may land there free of vexatious examinations, such as one experiences at some continental ports or on the wharves at san francisco. but, as a matter of fact, they who have occasion to walk along the sea front in singapore may see asiatic passengers at any of the landing places turning out their baggage in sun or rain, while chentings--the hirelings of the rich chinese syndicate which "farms" or leases the opium and spirit monopolies--examine it for opium or spirits. there is no proper landing place, absolutely no proper arrangements for overhauling baggage, with the result that these poor asiatics are subjected to examination under conditions that are a disgrace to a place which arrogates a front place in the seaports of the world. they do things better at tandjong priok. there is a brief journey by train to batavia, and there the visitor, having handed over his baggage to the care of the hotel runners at tandjong priok, ought to take a sado for conveyance to the particular hotel he has selected. the word sado is a corruption of "dos-a-dos." the vehicle is drawn by a small pony, and is not comparable with the ricksha for comfort, though the long distances may make the ricksha an impossibility in batavia. [illustration: the town hall.] batavia is favoured in that it has a choice of several good hotels. whoever selects the hotel nederland or the hotel des indes will say that the other "best hotels in the far east" have something yet to learn in the accommodation of visitors, general cleanliness, and moderation of prices. one of the first things one ought to do after arrival is to obtain the "toelatingskaart," at the town hall. armed with this document, which, most probably, he will never be called upon to show, the tourist may travel in the interior. without it, he may have trouble. batavia shares with the french ports of saigon and hanoi the honour of more resembling a european town than any other ports in the far east. this, of course, is a matter of opinion, though it is based on acquaintance with every port of importance from yokohama to penang, including the principal ports of the philippines, and we were somewhat surprised, therefore, when expressing this opinion to a dutch friend, with his reply: "when i left singapore, with its fine buildings i felt i had said good-bye to europe!" a little probing soon showed that it was only the two and three-storeyed houses that created this impression. [illustration: hotel des indes.] one has only to stroll along the noordwijk in the afternoon and evening to appreciate the difference between batavia and singapore. after sundown, so far as europeans are concerned, with the exception of the little life seen under the electric light of raffles hotel and the hotel de l'europe, singapore is a dead place. hongkong is no better. in batavia it is different. up to the dinner hour, and after, there is a considerable amount of life and light and animation, and if it be a stretch of the imagination to compare the noordwijk or the rijswijk with the boulevard des capuchins in paris, or its open air restaurants with the café de la paix, it is at least within comparison to say that the resemblance to a continental town is sufficiently marked to be welcome, while one can have as choice a dinner or supper, with superb wines, in stamm and weijns or the hotel des indes as in the best restaurants of london and paris. not the least noticeable feature of all to the observant visitor will be the punctilio and excellence of the waiting of the javanese table boys. when one saw the carefulness with which each dish was served, and the superior nature of the side dishes, one thought with a shudder of the sloppy vegetables, the dusty marmalade, and the slipshod waiting of the china boy in some of the hotels it had been our misfortune to patronise in british colonies. in this quarter, the wives and daughters of the dutch and foreign merchants drive in comfortable rubber-tyred carriages, having first driven to the business quarter to bring home the "tuan besar" or head of the family. greetings are exchanged with friends by the way, and, while the young folks stroll off in happy groups, the elders alight to drink beer or wine at one or other of the famous open-air restaurants. there is a general air of prosperity and a spirit of gaiety which one does not usually associate with our dutch cousins in the depressing humid atmosphere of holland. one soon catches the spirit of the place the more readily if one has spent any time on the continent. on band nights the harmonie or concordia clubs, two beautiful and commodious buildings replete with every comfort, become the rendezvous of old and young, and dancing is kept up till half-past eight o'clock. it must be confessed that it made one perspire to see the dancers tread a measure to a popular waltz, but there could be no question of the enjoyment of those who participated. there are two batavias. there is the old town, founded in 1619 as the capital of the dutch east indies upon the ruins of the ancient city of jakatra. this is the portion of the town where the business is done, with the famous kali besar, the lombard street and fenchurch street of batavia. the quarter is not particularly attractive. but after experience of the filthy chinese quarters of singapore, hongkong and shanghai, it is satisfying to european self-respect to observe how dutch officialdom has asserted the claims of hygiene and cleanliness upon the asiatic residents. the objectionable hanging chinese signboards are noticeably absent in batavia, as in all other towns throughout java, and something has been done to make less clamant the odoriferous articles of chinese commerce. the dutch have proved that the chinese are amenable to european notions if only firmness is shown by those in authority. then there is the residential town, weltevreden with its broad tree-lined avenues and palatial pavilion hotels and private villa establishments. in style, the european houses are quite unlike those erected by the spaniards in the philippine islands, or the british in the malay peninsula. they are not raised to any great height from the ground. three or four wide low steps lead on to a capacious white marble verandah, the lofty roof of which is supported by shapely pillars with grecian cornices. upon the polished surface of the ample hall are strewn rugs of beautiful design or the fancy straw matting of the east. bed-rooms open on either side from this hall, and at the back, opening out upon a spacious court-yard or garden filled with gaily coloured flowers or stately palms, is another wide verandah where meals are served. the bath-rooms, kitchen, stables, store-rooms and servants' quarters lie beyond the garden. there is everywhere a generous appreciation of space, and doubtless the good health enjoyed by the dutch ladies and their families so markedly in contrast to the british colonists on the other side of the equator is largely due to the more comfortable homes in which they are settled. in java, the bath-room is a special feature, and only those who have travelled much in tropical countries can appraise it at its true value. it is all in keeping with the thorough cleanliness of the dutch people, a feature which impressed itself upon us wherever we travelled throughout the island. detached from every house of any pretensions, there is a smaller pavilion. it usually stands in the grounds in front and nearer the roadway, and in former times was spoken of as "the guest house." nowadays, either because the hotels are more comfortable than in olden times or because the railway system has led to a style of life that calls for less hospitality for travellers, the guest house is more often let to bachelors, who find it easier and cheaper to maintain a small establishment of this sort than the bachelor messes or chummeries of singapore and penang. weltevreden may be compared with a gigantic park, and there are residences sufficiently imposing to please the lover of architectural beauty, even if there is no assertive clock tower to emphasise by contrast the hovels of singapore's region of slums. the idea of keeping the various races to their kampongs may be contrary to british ideas, but in java it appears to work satisfactorily enough. it is only in recent years that certain british colonies have been allowed to set apart reservations for european residence, and it would be well if the government of the federated malay states, before it is too late, introduced the kampong system in laying out new towns throughout the peninsula. a motor-car ride through the residential quarter and round the suburbs of batavia gives one a good idea of the extent of the town, and, incidentally, of the merging of east and west in the population. former dutch residents have left their impress in more respects than one, and one result is a half-caste population which takes a much more prominent part in the affairs of the island than is the case, so far as we are aware, in any british colony. there are pretty forms and beautiful faces among this hybrid race, and we are not astonished that succeeding generations from the land of dykes and canals should form alliances that wed them for ever to the sunny soil of java. east may be east and west may be west, but here at least the lie is given to kipling's generalisation, false like most generalisations, as to the impossibility of their blending. the visitor will find the museums full of objects of interest. on koningsplein, young holland devotes itself to recreation, and evidence is given here and elsewhere throughout the suburbs of the widespread popularity of the english game of football. the dutch do not follow the british colonial custom of sending their children to europe. many are educated and kept under the home influence in java, and a fine healthy race of boys and girls is being reared to play its part in the new netherlands created by dutch enterprise and perseverance. great as is the java of the present day, there is justification for believing that it has a greater future in store. [illustration] the british in java it is a constant matter of regret to british travellers who have visited java that the island, once in our possession, should have been restored to dutch rule. it is not our purpose, however, to discuss the reasons for that restoration, contenting ourselves with the reflection that the capture of java was merely part of the plan for breaking the power of napoleon and destroying his dream of dominating the east. the alliance of european powers having succeeded in encompassing the great frenchman's downfall, there were doubtless good reasons at the time for reinstating the dutch in an island where they had been established for two hundred years. a perusal of the history of the british expedition against java brings into strong relief the annihilation of space and the improvements in marine travel during the past century. it was on april 18, 1811, that the troopships carrying the first division, commanded by colonel robert rollo gillespie, sailed from madras roads. on may 18, they anchored in penang harbour, and on june 1, at malacca. here they awaited the remainder of the flotilla, and were joined by lord minto, then viceroy of india; lieutenant-general sir samuel auchmuty, commander-in-chief; and commodore broughton. while here, the british learned that marshal daendels, the dutch governor-general, had been recalled, and that general janssens, with a large body of troops from france, had landed and taken over the command in java. marshal daendels had been the governor-general when the colony was taken over by the crown of holland from the dutch east india company. he has left the mark of his influence upon the colony to this day, and many of the public works that remain as evidence of the pioneer days were due to his force of character and initiative. some of his methods may not commend themselves to us in these more humane and enlightened days, any more than they were approved by his great english successor, sir stamford raffles, such, for instance, as his construction of the post-road from anjer head to banjoewangi, a distance of over 700 miles, at the cost of from twelve to twenty thousand lives; but it is not always easy to estimate at a distance of a hundred years the peculiar difficulties and conditions under which european governors administered an oriental colony. if, at times, he exceeded his instructions, as british governors also had to do before they came under the thralldom of a colonial department at the end of a telegraph cable, we can forgive much in a man who accomplished so much. sir stamford raffles is careful to explain in the preface of his "history of java" that as "in the many severe strictures passed upon the dutch administration in java, some of the observations may, for want of a careful restriction in the words employed, appear to extend to the dutch nation and character generally, i think it proper explicitly to declare that such observations are intended exclusively to apply to the colonial government and its officers. the orders of the dutch government in holland to the authorities at batavia, as far as my information extends, breathe a spirit of liberality and benevolence; and i have reason to believe that the tyranny and rapacity of its colonial officers created no less indignation in holland than in other countries of europe." on june 11, the british armada set out on the final stage of its journey. we can imagine the imposing show it made as it lay in the roadstead of malacca, now shorn of its ancient importance and long since superseded as the foremost shipping port in the far east. the squadron consisted of four line of battle ships, fourteen frigates, seven sloops, eight honourable east india company's cruisers, fifty-seven transports and several gunboats--altogether over 100 sail. composed equally of european and indian troops, there were upwards of 10,000 men under sir samuel auchmuty's command. the european troops included the 14th, 59th, 69th, 78th, and 89th regiments of infantry, royal artillery, and royal marines, and a small detachment of royal engineers. a course was set for a rendezvous off the coast of borneo, and on august 4, 1811, a landing was effected at chillingching, a village about ten miles east of batavia. to the astonishment of the british commander, his landing was not opposed, the defending force being concentrated in the neighbourhood of weltervreden and meister cornelius, to-day the thriving residential suburbs of batavia. general janssens rejected lord minto's summons to surrender. on august 10, batavia was in the hands of the british troops, and on that day, after two hours of hard fighting, weltervreden was captured, the 78th highlanders having a heavy casualty list amongst their officers. the french troops bravely contended every foot of ground, and battles, with heavy losses on both sides, were fought on august 22, august 24, and august 26. colonel gillespie, who led the advance in each of these engagements, performed prodigies of bravery in the latter fight, for we read that "colonel gillespie took one general in the batteries, one in the charge, and a colonel, besides having a personal affair in which another colonel fell by his arm." altogether, the british captured three general officers, 34 field officers, 70 captains and 150 subaltern officers in these fights. the rout of the enemy was complete. general janssens made his escape to buitenzorg, thirty miles distant, with a few cavalrymen and the remnants of his army of 13,000 men. he did not remain here long, but fled eastwards. a british force was shipped to cheribon, where a large number of french officers were captured; and the port of samarang was next attacked, with the object of forcing general janssens back upon solo, while the eastern end of the island was occupied by another british force. on september 10, an action was fought outside samarang, and janssens, defeated, retreated to fort salatiga; but eventually, being deserted by his troops, he opened up negotiations for capitulation. this must have been a bitter experience for general janssens, for it was not only the crowning misery of his defeat but marked the end of his military career, assuming that his imperial master retained his power in europe. "souvenez vous, monsieur," napoleon is reported to have said to him upon taking up his appointment, "qu'un génèral francais ne se laissa pas prendre une seconde fois!" the island having been wrested from the french, the british authorities set about the reform of the civil administration. this was not to be accomplished, however, without a test of strength between the natives and their new masters. an act of treachery soon called the troops into the field again. during the governorship of marshal daendels, the sultan of djocjakarta had been the most turbulent and intriguing of the native princes, and his conduct immediately after the british occupation gave occasion for serious uneasiness. mr. stamford raffles, who had been appointed by lord minto lieutenant-governor of java in december, 1811, went in person to see the sultan. a treaty was entered into, under which the sultan confirmed to the honourable east india company all the privileges, advantages and prerogatives which had been possessed by the dutch and french authorities. to the company also were transferred the sole regulation of the duties and the collection of tribute within the dominions of the sultan, as well as the general administration of justice in cases where british interests were concerned. this expedition of mr. raffles seems to have had exciting experiences, for we read: "the small british escort which accompanied mr. raffles, consisting only of a part of the 14th regiment, a troop of the 22nd light dragoons and the ordinary garrison of bengal sepoys in the fort and at the residency, were not in a condition to enforce terms anyway obnoxious to the personal feelings of the sultan. the whole retinue, indeed, of the governor were in imminent danger of being murdered. krises were actually unsheathed by several of the sultan's own suite in the audience hall where mr. raffles received that prince, who was accompanied by several thousands of armed followers expressing in their behaviour such an infuriated spirit of insolence as openly to indicate that they only waited for the signal to perpetrate the work of destruction, in which case not a man of our brave soldiers, from the manner in which they were surrounded, could have escaped." for a time, however, an open breach of the peace was averted by the tact of mr. raffles and the outward appearance of bravery of the officers and men accompanying him. several expeditions were made into the interior to put down petty brigands, in much the same way as the dutch are engaged in flores and celebes to-day, and a more imposing display of military force had to be made in sumatra. in the following year, the sultan of mataram in djocjakarta again became troublesome, and it was found necessary to send a strong expedition against him. on june 20, the famous water castle at djocjakarta was captured by assault, and the sultan taken prisoner. he was exiled to prince of wales island (penang), and the hereditary prince was placed on the throne. the ruling native at solo, who rejoiced in the imposing title of emperor, made terms with the lieutenant-governor, and peace was established throughout the island, and was not disturbed seriously during the remainder of the british occupation. mr. raffles set himself to establish a more humane administration than had hitherto prevailed, and anyone who wishes to realise the thoroughness with which this able administrator set himself to the task should read his "history of java." it is replete with shrewd observations of the native customs, industries, antecedents, and languages, and shows how little change has been effected in the character and domestic customs of the people during the last hundred years. the essence of his policy of administration is contained in the following sentence written by him:--"let the higher departments be scrupulously superintended and watched by europeans of character; let the administration of justice be pure, prompt and steady;" and it is satisfactory to one's sense of patriotism to know that that is the spirit which pervades british administration in her crown colonies to-day. botanist's paradise at buitenzorg. to the singaporean visitor to java there is a melancholy interest in the little monument erected in the garden at buitenzorg by sir stamford raffles to the memory of his wife, who died during his residence there. in the conditions under which the island was restored to holland, it was stipulated that the monument, in the form of a little greek temple, should be cared for by the dutch. the trust has been fulfilled, and those of us who take interest in the historic chances and changes of britain's possessions in the far east and the personal influence of the builders of the empire, can find food for reflection in the sacrifices made by those men and women who are ever found on the empire's frontiers. the sight of this memorial among the kanari trees in the tropical island of java makes us think of the tablet in the little parish church on the hill at hendon, near which this woman's husband lies buried. the inscription runs as follows:- "sacred to the memory of olivia marianne, wife of thomas stamford raffles, lieutenant-governor of java and its dependencies, who died at buitenzorg on the 26th november, 1814. "oh thou whom ne'er my constant heart one moment hath forgot. tho' fate severe hath bid us part yet still--forget me not." the traveller who has only a fortnight or three weeks to devote to java must awake betimes. in any event, he must needs be early to take advantage of the express trains, and in our case we had only a day to devote to buitenzorg, where the governor-general of the netherland indies has his palace. with the exception of the short run from tandjong priok, it was our first acquaintance with the railway service, and when we saw the crowd awaiting to entrain at weltervreden station we decided to travel first-class, contrary to the advice of our friends. it was well we did so on this occasion, for the train was overcrowded; but afterwards we travelled only by the second-class, and found it as comfortable as one could wish. indeed, so few persons travel in the first-class compartments of the trains that we are astonished that any are retained by the management. throughout java we found the railway service excellent in every respect. the carriages are comfortable. ample accommodation is given for each person. it is possible to stow away a considerable amount of barang or baggage in the carriages, and full advantage is taken of this facility by the dutch and native travellers. the lavatory accommodation is better than we have seen it in the fast expresses on the principal lines in england, and on the through service expresses there are restaurant cars where meals may be partaken of at a moderate tariff. we cannot say we always found the food palatable, for the chinamen who are in charge appear to have a fixed idea that the "beef-stuk," which is the pièce de resistance, should be served up raw. in course of time, doubtless, the railway management will be able to turn its attention to the commissariat arrangements, with a view to their improvement, and, when they do so, we hope they will leave out the beefsteak altogether and provide more variety and daintier, more inviting, and more palatable viands. a fair rate of speed is maintained, and it is possible to go from batavia to sourabaya, at the other end of the island, in two days. the trains, of course, as in the federated malay states, run only from sunrise to sundown, and the through traveller between the two principal towns must sleep the night at maos, where a commodious pasanggrahan or rest-house provides clean, comfortable accommodation and wholesome food. only on two occasions were we belated on the railway, and both instances were due to the one cause,--a wash-out on the line at moentilan, the result of a severe thunder and rain storm on the previous day and night. the train was run down cautiously to the gap, passengers crossed over on a temporary bridge to the train waiting on the other side, and the baggage was transferred by a host of coolies. all this had to be done in a torrential rain-storm, but the railway officials did all in their power to make the conditions as little disagreeable as possible, and the only inconvenience was the late arrival of some of the baggage at djocjakarta. there was not much of interest on the morning run to buitenzorg, but the dutch lady who carried on an animated conversation with four gentlemen for the whole of the hour and a half introduced to us the possibilities for expression in the dutch equivalents of "yes" and "no." we had been prepared by miss scidmore's book for the beauties of buitenzorg, and for once expectation was more than realised. the dutch governor-general van imhoff was certainly well advised when he selected this position as the official residence of the governor-general, and the dutch horticulturists, than whom there are probably none better, deserve to be congratulated upon the garden city they have created out of the primeval jungle. part of the old palace was built by governor-general mossel, one hundred and fifty years ago, and the original received additions during the reigns of daendels and raffles. this structure was destroyed by an earthquake in 1834, and the new palace, the first glimpse of which one receives across an artificial lake, is a worthy residence for the administrator of the dutch indies. the surface of the lake is studded with lotus flowers and victoria regia, and the little island in the centre displays a wealth of the red or rajah palm, feathery yellow bamboo, and dark-green foliage which the lake mirrors in ever-changing pictures. an alma tadema or a marcus stone would revel in the flowers and marbles of the palace, with its broad stairs and corridors and fine ionian columns and cornices; and a landseer or a macwhirter might find endless subjects in the deer park by which it is surrounded. the garden is a botanist's paradise. tropical treasures from nature's storehouse, collected by successive directors, are arranged with care and precision characteristically dutch. it was established in 1817 by professor reinwardt, and many distinguished botanists who have left their mark in the scientific world studied here and added to the collections. as may be imagined, the dutch were not content with a mere show place for tropical specimens, and they established five mountain gardens where experiments are conducted, for practical and scientific purposes, in the cultivation of flowers, plants, vegetables and trees usually found in temperate regions. these gardens are situated in the mountains to the south--at tjipanas, tjibodas, tjibeureum, kadang badoh, and on the top of mount pangerango, that is to say, at heights ranging from 3,500 ft. to 10,000 ft. the garden at tjibodas remains, and at the governor-general's summer villa at tjipanas one might imagine one's-self in a private garden in surrey or kent. in the buildings at buitenzorg, facilities are afforded for foreign students, and at the time of our visit a japanese professor, from the tokio university, who had studied for three and a half years in berlin, was making an exhaustive investigation on scientific lines. everything that can be of service to students of botany is to be found here in the museum, herbarium and library. the general herbarium has been arranged on the kew model. besides a large collection of plants made by zollinger between 1845 and 1858, it contains the valuable collections gathered by teysmann, between 1854 and 1870, throughout the malay archipelago. specimens by kurz and scheffer are also found, together with other recent collections of plants from borneo and adjacent islands. duplicates from the herbarium at kew gardens and from several of the more famous european herbaria are to be found here, as well as numerous specimens from the botanical institutions of the british colonies. the herbarium horti contains the necessary materials for the compilation of the new catalogue of the botanic gardens, and the herbarium bogoriense contains plants to be found in the neighbourhood of buitenzorg. besides specimens of fruits, there is a comprehensive technical collection in the botanical museum--fibres, commercial specimens of rattan, india-rubber, and gutta-percha, barks for tanning purposes, peruvian barks, vegetable oils, indigo samples, various kinds of meal, resins and damars. there is also a section devoted to forest and staple produce. fuller details of the gardens and environs of buitenzorg may be found in the handbook published by messrs. g. kolff and co., batavia. one need not be wholly a scientific investigator to appreciate the beauties of buitenzorg. there is here one view which has been described over and over again, oftentimes in the language of hyperbole--the view of the tjidani valley from the verandah of bellevue hotel. it is, indeed, difficult to avoid the use of extravagant language in the attempt to describe this beauty spot of nature. though he was writing of a beautiful woman, f. marion crawford might have been describing some beautiful landscape when he wrote in his own exquisite style:-"i think that true beauty is beyond description; you may describe the changeless faultless outlines of a statue to a man who has seen good statues and can recall them; you can, perhaps, find words to describe the glow and warmth and deep texture of a famous picture, and what you write will mean something to those who know the master's work; you may even conjure up an image before untutored eyes. but neither minute description nor well-turned phrase, neither sensuous adjective nor spiritual smile can tell half the truth of a beautiful living thing." the noble roman, prompted to exclaim "behold the tiber" as he stood on the summit of kinnoull hill and gazed upon the fertile valley of scotland's noblest stream, saw no fairer sight than this veritable garden of eden in equatorial java. seen in the afternoon when the setting sun is casting long shadows over the landscape, the scene in the tjidani valley is calculated to arouse the artistic senses of the most insusceptible. miles away, the salak raises his majestic cone against the blue sky. in the distance, the mountain forms a purple background for the picture, purple flecked with soft white patches of floating cloud. beneath his massive form, colour is lost in shadowy but closer at hand are the dark pervading greens of the trees and vegetation, palms and tree ferns and banana trees helping by their graceful form to provide the truely tropical features, while the equally graceful clumps of bamboo sway and creak in the light breeze, their pointed leaves supplying that perpetual flutter and movement which one associates with the birches and beeches of one's native land. the cultivated patches on hillside and valley are rich in colour. here, the yellow paddy is ripening for the sickle; there, it is bright green; alongside, the patient buffaloes are dragging a clumsy wooden plough through water-covered soil to prepare for the next crop. the lake-like patches reflect weird outlines, and one almost imagines that they catch the brilliant colours from the sun-painted clouds. down the valley, crossing the picture from left to right is the river--the tjidani,--a broad shallow stream when we saw it, in which men, women and children are constantly bathing. from the compact kampong nestling among the trees, the native women, clad in bright coloured sarongs, came with babies, who take to the water as if it were their natural element. merry shouts of laughter ascend from the valley as the youngsters splash about and chase each other. everything suggests beauty and peace and contentment, and as one drinks in the scene it is borne in upon one that the comparison with the garden of eden is not inapt. what could one wish for more than a beautiful, bounteous land and a happy, contented people! on the road to sindanglaya long before sunrise, the sound of merry voices arose from the valley. already the natives were bathing in the tjidani, and, when the light came, the primeval life on which the sun had gone down was reproduced in the model-like scene spread out before us. our kreta for the journey over the poentjak pass had been ordered for six o'clock, but with un-oriental punctuality it was a quarter-past live when the sound of carriage wheels broke in upon our dreams. while we sipped our morning coffee,--java hotel coffee has improved since miss scidmore anathematised it in 1899,--the sun's rays began to peep over the shoulder of the salak, and dispelled the morning mists on river and valley. the salak's fretwork crater stood out entirely clear--his form a purple background to the picture gradually unfolding itself. nature was everywhere awake. children's voices in play blended with the songs of early workers proceeding to the fields. butterflies flitted and floated like detached petals from the flowers. distance converted human figures into larger butterflies, yellow and orange, pink and blue and red. if it were beautiful in the evening, the scene was enchanting in the morning, and it was with reluctance that we obeyed the summons to early breakfast, and followed our barang into the kreta to begin the journey to sindanglaya. it was half-past six o'clock when we were salaamed out of the courtyard of the bellevue by the hotel "boys." the kreta was not a handsome affair. in fact it was one of the most disreputable vehicles it has ever been our misfortune to travel in, and when we made acquaintance of the road it had to travel over we must give the owner credit for an abundant faith in the toughness of the kreta. it was a cross between the carromata of the philippines and a covered dog-cart. there was no aid to mount. by a series of gymnastics we managed to get into the driver's seat--our own was behind his but also facing to the front. in attempting to get there, a sudden movement of the team sent us plunging into the barang, and, in extricating ourselves, head came in contact with the roof and hat went overboard. eventually we went off with a bound along the main street of buitenzorg, scattering the fowls obtaining a precarious living in the roadway, and sending cats and dogs and goats flying for safety into the houses. we had now time to examine the points of our team. it was composed of three tiny battak ponies. two were brown, and one a piebald in which a dingy chestnut strove for mastery with a dingier white. no two ponies were the same in size. one was in the shafts; the other two were in traces alongside. they tapered in size from right to left--the piebald on the left. the giant of the group had a nasty temper, and when lashed, as he was frequently during the drive, vented his anger upon the patient brute doing the lion's share of the work in the shafts. upon the whole they did their work extremely well, for a great deal was asked of them, and they scarcely deserved the almost continuous flogging to which they were subjected by our driver. having travelled over the road from buitenzorg to sindanglaya by the poentjak, without reserve, we advise pilgrims to sindanglaya to patronise the road from tjiandjoer. the local guide book remarks with truth: "the main road to the poentjak being very steep, it does not afford a quick mode of travelling. at toegoe, an extra team of horses must be added--or karbouws (water buffaloes) used instead of the horses, to pull the carriage at a slow pace up the mountain. good walkers may, therefore, be advised to do this part of the road on foot, which will take them about an hour and a half. by doing so they will be more able to admire this marvellous work of governor-general daendels." we suspect there is a touch of dutch satire in this last remark. we have travelled the road, and we are not prepared to parody the old scot's saying:- "if you'd seen this road before it was made, you'd lift up your hands and bless general wade" daendels may have been an admirable gentleman, a brave soldier, and a clever administrator, but his engineering skill did not equal his other qualities. it would have been much better if the road had never been made. surely no highway was ever more badly graded, and we are not astonished that a practical people like the dutch set themselves to construct a more sensible road by way of tjitjoeroeg and soekaboemie. we have seen paved mountain paths in china more inaccessible, but not much, and when we dashed up to the sindanglaya hotel at 12.15, we thought more highly of the team that had pulled us over the pass than we could have believed when we formed our first early morning prejudices. needless to say, it is not a road for a motor car. it would be inadvisable to adopt this route to sindanglaya if the party included ladies. but, if they have a taste for mountaineering, baggage should be sent by rail to tjiandjoer under the care of some of the party, and carriages dispensed with at toegoe and the remainder of the journey made on foot. as it was, a good deal of our journey up had to be made on foot over unblinded loose road metal. going down the other side the driver led the ponies for about a quarter of a mile, and then joined us in the kreta. that downward trip was the most perilous we ever made in anything that runs on wheels, except a train journey from manila to malolos during the filipino insurrection in 1899. jack london, the californian novelist, once told us that life would not be worth living if it were not for the thrills. we had more thrills than we care to have crowded into one hour on that down-grade run from poentjak to sindanglaya. several times, we retrimmed at the request of the driver, and we kept the barang from falling upon him, while he manipulated our three rakish adventurers from battak. when an unusually severe lurch nearly precipitated us into the deep storm-water channel on the left or the carefully-irrigated paddy fields on the right, jehu turned round and grinned a grin of fiendish appreciation, whilst we thanked with fervour the merciful providence who preserved us from destruction, and wondered how long one could hold out with a broken limb, without surgical help, should the worst happen. it is the unexpected that happens. we got to sindanglaya without any more serious damage than a bottle of odol distributed amongst our best clothes. governor-general daendels seems to have had a high opinion of this remarkable highway. we read: "the obstinacy with which he carried through his scheme of constructing the main road to the preanger regencies across this summit is really amazing. he never shrank from the terrible death-rate among the wretched labourers, nor from the difficulties and enormous cost to keep such a road in good condition, for, especially in the west monsoon, heavy rain-showers are continually washing the earth off the road. yet it was by no means necessary." let this be governor-general daendels' epitaph! had not one's attention been distracted by the eccentric performances of the kreta, one might well have admired the scenery. close at hand, the road teems with fascinating pictures of native life. only occasionally does one see a really beautiful face, but there is a pretty shyness such as one seldom sees on the roads of a european country. although we read of the thirty millions of people in java, there is still, apparently, room for more, and nearly every woman has a brown baby slung upon the hip and others dragging on her sarong, or seeking to efface themselves behind her none too ample form. at intervals, old women or young children keep shop, either in nipa huts or on mats under the shade of a kanari-tree. in the kampongs or collections of neat little huts which punctuate the way, a pasar (market) is being held, haberdashers with cheap glass and fancy wares being in juxtaposition with dealers in sarongs and the sellers of fruits and vegetables. on the stoeps of some of the houses, groups of women spin or weave cloth for the native sarong; some make deft use of the sewing machine of foreign commerce. the road is fringed by a variety of trees and plants which only a botanist would attempt to describe. colour is given to this fringe by the magenta bougainvillea, the red hibiscus, the pale blue convolvulus, the variegated crotons, and the orange and red of the lantana, and at places the poinsettia provides a predominating red head to the hedge-like greenery. palms and tree ferns and feathery clumps of young bamboo are called to aid by nature's landscape gardener; but they do not shut out the verdure-clad ravines that mark a waterway or the terraced rice-fields which climb almost to the top of the highest summits. we thought we had seen the acme of perfection in rice cultivation and irrigation in china and japan. but here in java, we have seen more to excite the admiration in this respect than in either of these countries. one can only marvel at the completeness of the system of irrigation. rice is in all stages of cultivation, from the flooded paddy field to the grain in the ear being reaped by the gaily coloured butterflies of women. water buffaloes drag a primitive plough through the drenched soil, while the bright-faced young ploughboy, by what appears to be a superhuman effort, balances himself precariously on the implement. on the left, we pass tea gardens, the tufty bushes low to the ground. what strikes us first is the amazing regularity of the rows and the cleanness of the ground. an aroma of tea in the making escapes from the roadside factory and agreeably assails our sense of smell as we jolt past in our kreta. we reached kampong toegoe at nine o'clock, refreshed both men and beasts, and harnessed two more ponies with long rope traces to help us to the summit of the pass, which was reached at eleven o'clock. here we made a deviation on foot to the telega warna (colour-changing lake) while the ponies rested for the downward journey. the path is a difficult one, and the lake itself is less interesting than the lovely vegetation by which it is surrounded. ferns and bracken cover the hillside, pollipods predominating, orchids cling to tree stems, and higher up, the curious nest-fern and various forms of plant life attract attention. tree is woven to tree by a network of mighty lianas. the lake itself lies in what must have been the crater in the prehistoric period of activity of megamendoeng. it is 100 metres in width, circular in shape, and about 100 fathoms deep. fish are found in the lake, and they are regarded with veneration by the natives. the steepness of the heavily wooded wall that rises hundreds of feet sheer round three sides reminds one of the geyser-studded old crater of unzen, in the island of kyushiu in japan, "its gleaming mirror," the guide book says, "exhibits a wonderful luxury of tints and colours, shifting and changing whenever the gentle mountain breeze ruffles the smooth surface." we did not stay a sufficiently long time to experience any wonderful changes on the lake itself, but the surroundings are loaded with charm. the visitor to sindanglaya should certainly not neglect to make the trip to the lake. we would recommend an excursion on foot from the hotel. once over the pass, the view on the other side of the large basin-shaped plateau in which sindanglaya lies is more attractive than on the buitenzorg side, and, as we were to find on the following morning, a better idea is obtained of the wonderful industry of the people, and the remarkable extent to which the cultivation of the mountain slopes is carried on by them. sindanglaya and beyond. we had not gone far on our travels before we realised the presumptuousness of our attempt to "do" java in a fortnight. it would require weeks to drink in all the subtle beauties and influences of buitenzorg, to get the atmosphere of the place; and to derive the fullest measure of benefit and enjoyment from the visit to sindanglaya, one would require at least a fortnight. it will ever be matter for regret that we were unable to devote more time to the beauty spots of western java or to make the various interesting and health-giving excursions from sindanglaya's comfortable hotel. we have already said that the ride over the poentjak pass should be avoided and the train taken from buitenzorg to tjiandjoer. the train leaving batavia (weltervreden station) at 7.25 a.m. and buitenzorg at 8.44 reaches tjiandjoer at 12.04. here, if a carriage has been ordered in advance, a representative of the sindanglaya establishment meets passengers, and the journey to the hotel is negotiated in two hours at a cost of two and a-half guilders. from buitenzorg to sindanglaya the hire of a carriage for passenger and baggage is nine guilders; from sindanglaya to buitenzorg it costs seven guilders. the train fare from batavia to buitenzorg is three guilders for first-class and two guilders for second; from batavia to tjiandjoer, it is eight guilders first-class and four guilders and seventy-five cents second. the hotel, which consists of one main building with a number of small detached pavilions surrounded by roses and other flowers of the temperate zone, is situated on the slopes of the gedéh, and is 3,300 feet above sea level. at this level one is able to move about long distances during the day without becoming exhausted, and in the evening the air is delightfully cool, falling just below 70 degrees the night we slept there. there is a tennis court, and the manager spoke of laying down another, and with billiards and skittles in the evening and a hot spring swimming bath, near the governor-general's villa, for healthful recreation in the daytime, one need not feel too much the absence of city life and companionship. the tariff is the moderate one of six guilders a day, but it is reduced to five guilders per day when a stay of a week or more is made. the governor-general's summer residence, tjipanas, is here, a quarter of a mile from the hotel. it is a prettily situated bungalow residence, standing quite close to the main road from tjiandjoer, and surrounded by a garden which transports one at once to the south of england. here, as in many other places in java, the notice appears: "verbodden toegang;" but a courteous application to the steward in charge obtains a hearty welcome to inspect the grounds. these are well stocked with dahlias, roses, hortensias, begonias, cowslips, sweet williams, wall-flower, and other old-fashioned flowers, and the bloom-covered fuschias carried one's thoughts back to pleasant days spent in devonshire dales. from the lawns sweet-smelling violets perfumed the air. matchless orchids clung to the trees, and the delicate maiden-hair fern held its own with the hardier varieties. dusky fir-trees, groups of australian araucarias, and japanese oak trees and chestnuts set off the brightness of the flower beds. in the park there is a beautiful pond, from the centre of which a fountain throws a crystal spray to catch the sun's rays and dispense a wealth of glittering diamonds. hot water is the literal meaning of tjipanas, and a hot spring in the vicinity of the villa supplies the bath-rooms, as well as the swimming bath of the sanatorium. there is a fine view from the villa, but a better prospect is obtained from goenoeng kasoer, some hundreds of feet higher, where a former governor-general often took his ontbijtberg (or breakfast). it is now known as breakfast hill. a silver mine in the neighbourhood was worked for a time by the john company. the mountain garden of tjibodas, mentioned in a previous article, is well worth a visit. a good walker, starting at six o'clock, can go there, breakfast and be back at the hotel by noon. but the excursion to be taken by everyone who stays at sindanglaya for any length of time is to the falls at tjibeureum, kandang badak and the crater of the gedéh. ladies may make the trip in sedan chairs; gentlemen on foot or on horseback. the falls of tjibeureum consist of three cataracts, falling 400 feet down a perpendicular crag, and the winding road passes through some interesting jungle scenery. from tjibeureum, the path winds up a steep ascent, and through a narrow cleft in the rocks, a natural gateway to which the natives have attached some wonderful legends. hot springs break through the mountain crust and run side by side with crystal-pure cold brooks, as is often the case on the mountains in japan. after a two and a half hours' climb from tjibeureum, kadang badak (or rhinoceros kraal) is reached. it lies almost half way up the saddle which connects the gedéh with the pangerango, and although there are now no traces of pachyderms, it is stated that both this place and the telega warna were favourite haunts of the rhinoceros not so very many years ago. it is recommended that the climbers should spend the night in the hut here, and ascend the pangerango (9,500 ft.) at 4 a.m. to see the sun rise. from the top the view is magnificent. along a steep and difficult mountain path, the crater of the gedéh may be reached in an hour and a half, and the sight of the gigantic crater of this majestic volcano is said to be overwhelming and ample compensation for the toilsome ascent. it is about two miles distant from the pangerango, and forms the still active part of the twin volcano. between 1761 and 1832 no eruptions occurred, but seven took place in the twenty years following, the most terrible and severe being the eruption of 1840. there were again terrible eruptions in 1886 and 1899, when the volcano covered the hillsides with huge stones, one over 150 kilogrammes in weight landing three-quarters of a mile away. there are several places in the preanger region where the visitor may elect to stay instead of sindanglaya, such as soekaboemi (2,100 ft.) which has the advantage of being on the railway, bandoeng and garoet. all have their own attractions for invalids, and the hotel accommodation is spoken of in terms of the highest praise by all who have been there. when we drove away from sindanglaya at seven o'clock on the following morning, the white crater wall of the gedéh stood out like a huge lump of marble in the morning sun. our route lay through tea, coffee and cocoa plantations, and richly cultivated country to tjiandjoer--a thriving little mountain town, with an air of prosperity and progress,--where we joined the train at 9.30 a.m. for padalarang. here, at 11.10 a.m., a change was made to the express from batavia, and maos was reached at 5.46 p.m. it had been our intention to stay overnight at bandoeng, strongly recommended by mr. gantvoort, the courteous manager of the hotel des indes in batavia, but we pressed on with the intention of devoting more time to the eastern end of the island. it was well we did so, for, shortly after leaving padalarang, rain began to fall in torrents, and the afternoon and night were passed in a severe thunderstorm which was to cause us delay. part of the line was washed away near moentilan, and our train was over three hours late in reaching djocjakarta on the following day. at maos, there is a commodious, well-built, comfortable passagrahan or government rest-house, where four of us ate our meal in solemn silence, until a query by ourselves when the coffee arrived broke the icy reserve of the quartette, and opened the way for an interesting conversation. it is customary to make fun of english reserve, but our observation convinced us that the dutch are no whit behind us in that respect where fellow-dutch are concerned. on the other hand, nothing could have exceeded the kindness and courtesy with which we were treated from one end of java to the other. speaking no dutch, we had looked forward to many tedious days, but our fears were needless, for, wherever we went, we met pleasant english-speaking dutchmen, who proved the most entertaining of companions, and we take this opportunity of acknowledging the courteous assistance we received from time to time. on the score of not speaking dutch or malay, no english man or woman need be deterred from visiting java. english is spoken at all the hotels, and though all the train conductors and stationmasters may not do so, there is sure to be an educated dutchman or lady in the car to whom one may turn for help, which is always readily given. on one occasion, we had an interesting conversation with two native officials attached to the staff of the sultan at djocjakarta. these men had never left the island of java, yet one of them read and spoke english with ready fluency and perfect accent. next day, in spite of the delay caused by the wash-out on the line, we were able to reach djocjakarta by tiffin time, and devoted the afternoon to the hindu ruins at parambanan. [illustration: the bara budur.] hindu ruins in central java. a visit to java would be incomplete did it not include a pilgrimage to the marvellous products of religious fervour which buddhism reared in the plains around djocjakarta before it went down before the all-conquering onslaught of moslemism. these ruins testify to an ancient art and civilisation and culture and an instinct of creation few are aware of to-day, and it is hard to resist the temptation to indulge in extravagant language when attempting to describe them as they now stand, partially restored by the dutch authorities. miss scidmore has lavished the wealth of her luxuriant vocabulary upon them, but neither she, nor any of her predecessors in the work of praise, saw them as they stand to-day--a wonder alike to archaeologist, architect, artist and student of comparative religions. here in the centre of fertile plains we have the real java of ancient times. the dutch had been in possession of the island for two hundred years without discovering the rich deposits hidden beneath the accumulated mounds of centuries and buried under a mass of tropical vegetation. to the active mind of sir stamford raffles the discovery was due. he went to java as lieutenant-governor in 1811, and during the period it was under his control, he had the mounds explored, the ruined temples un-earthed and their historic import co-related with the romantic legends and poetic records rescued from the archives of the native princes. it was due to the investigations of this great englishman that the date of the construction of the temples was fixed at the beginning of the seventh century of the christian era, and subsequent investigators (prominent amongst whom must be placed dr. i. groneman, now and for many years resident of djocjakarta and honorary president of its archaeological society) agree in accepting this period as authentically proved from the ruins themselves. [illustration] sir stamford was of opinion that the temples, as works of labour and art, dwarf to nothing all wonder and admiration at the great pyramids of egypt; but since his time, it must not be forgotten, much richer discoveries in ancient art and archæological lore have been made in egypt and palestine. alfred russell wallace, brumund, fergusson, all join in the chorus of praise, and the latter, in his "history of indian and eastern architecture," expresses the opinion that the boro budur is the highest development of buddhist art, an epitome of all its arts and ritual, and the culmination of the architectural style, which, originating at barhut a thousand years before--that is more than twenty-one centuries ago--had begun to decay in india at the time the colonists were erecting this masterpiece of the ages in the heart of java. [illustration] to reach the boro budur, one takes the steam tram from djocja to moentilan. there a dog-cart may be hired for three guilders, and, taking the temple or tjandi of mendoet on the way, the boro budur may be reached in an hour and a half from moentilan. miss scidmore was able to write with her customary enthusiasm about this road; but, truth to tell, we found the drive far from pleasant. until one gets within a quarter of a mile of the ruins, the surface is bad and some of the small bridges so dangerous that we dismounted at the driver's request. the dog-cart, also, is far from an agreeable vehicle in which to travel, and if a better carriage could be found we would advise its being hired. wherever one goes in java, the public vehicles are in a state of decay, far more disreputable than the gharry of singapore, and a large number of the ponies are decrepit and suffering from open sores. if java is to become a tourist country the vehicles should be better supervised. before setting out from djocjakarta, the visitor should get the hotel proprietor to communicate with the stationmaster at moentilan, with the object of having a more comfortable carriage than fell to our unhappy lot through leaving the matter to haphazard. strictly speaking, the boro budur--which means the collection of buddas--is not a building in the sense that we speak of st. paul's or st. peter's. a small hill has been cut down and the earthwork surrounded by masonry, uncemented, unjointed, layer upon layer, and there is no column, pillar, or true arch. it is supposed that it was built by some of the first buddhist settlers from india as the resting place (dagaba) of one of the urns containing a portion of the ashes of buddha. [illustration: bas relief--bara budur.] [illustration: bas relief--bara budur.] it is difficult to describe it briefly, but the following extract from miss scidmore's book seems to us to convey the best idea of the structure in general terms:- "the temple stands on a broad platform, and rises first in five square terraces, inclosing galleries or processional paths between their walls, which are covered on each side with bas-relief sculptures. if placed in single line, these bas-reliefs would extend for three miles. the terrace walls hold four hundred and thirty-six niches or alcove chapels, where life-size buddhas sit serene upon lotus cushions. staircases ascend in straight lines from each of the four sides, passing under stepped or pointed arches, the keystones of which are elaborately carved masks, and rows of sockets in the jambs show where wood or metal doors once swung. above the square terraces are three circular terraces, where seventy-two latticed dagabas (reliquaries in the shape of the calyx or bud of the lotus) inclose each a seated image, seventy-two more buddhas sitting in those inner, upper circles, of nirvana, facing a great dagaba, or final cupola, the exact function or purpose of which as key to the whole structure is still the puzzle of archæologists. this final shrine is fifty feet in diameter, and either covered a relic of buddha, or a central well where the ashes of priests and princes were deposited, or is a form surviving from the tree-temples of the earliest primitive east when nature-worship prevailed. the english engineers made an opening in the solid exterior, and found an unfinished statue of buddha on a platform over a deep well-hole." [illustration] we read this description among others before we visited the boro budur, and must confess that from none of them did we get a correct idea of what we were to see. it must be seen to be realised. not even photographs give a true conception of the ornate character of the decorative stonework--the hard but freely-worked lava stone having lent itself easily to the chisel. like cologne or milan cathedrals, it must be examined minutely to grasp the elaborateness of the sculptured work, but, unlike either of these, it does not produce an immediate impression of grandeur and religious elevation. it is unlike any of the temples in japan, or, indeed, anywhere, though ceylon and india may suggest comparisons. what will strike the visitor as he perambulates these miles of sculptured terraces is the complete absence of any offensive or indecent figure. mere nudity is not, of course, an outrage to the artistic soul; but here there is not even a nude or grotesque figure. each is draped in the fine flowing robes of the east, not in monotonous regularity but suggestive of prince and peasant, princess and maids, down even to the jewels they wear. strangely enough, no particularly javanese type of face or figure is represented--all are hindu, hindu-caucasian and pure greek. it is not our purpose to give elaborate details of this work of religious art. the visitor may obtain at djocjakarta a copy of dr. groneman's learned treatise on the subject, a treatise which will teach him something about buddhism as well as the boro budur, of which dr. groneman has made an exhaustive study. with his guide, the sculptures become an open book to the visitor. it is more archæological than descriptive, however, and we must acknowledge our indebtedness again to miss scidmore for the following passage to show the scope of the sculptures:-[illustration] "the everyday life of the seventh and eighth century is pictured--temples, palaces, thrones and tombs, ship and houses, all of man's constructions are portrayed. the life in courts and palaces, in fields and villages, is all seen there. royal folk in wonderful jewels sit enthroned, with minions offering gifts and burning incense before them warriors kneeling and maidens dancing. the peasant ploughs the rice-fields with the same wooden stick and ungainly buffalo, and carries the rice-sheaves from the harvest field with the same shoulder poles, used in all the farther east to-day. women fill their water-vessels at the tanks and bear them away on their heads as in india now, and scores of bas-reliefs show the unchanging costumes of the east that offer sculptors the same models in this century. half the wonders of that great three-mile-long gallery of sculptures cannot be recalled. each round disclosed some more wonderful picture, some more eloquent story. even the humorous fancies of the sculptors are expressed in stone. in one relievo a splendidly caparisoned state elephant flings its feet in imitation of the dancing girl near by. other sportive elephants carry fans and state umbrellas in their trunks; and the marine monsters swimming about the ship that bears the buddhist missionaries to the isles have such expression and human resemblance as to make one wonder if those pillory an enemy with their chisels, too. in the last gallery, where, in the progress of the religion, it took on many features of jainism, or advancing brahmanism, buddha is several times represented as the ninth avatar, or incarnation, of vishnu, still seated on the lotus cushion and holding a lotus with one of his four hands." in all probability, the masonry was shaken down by an earthquake, the boro budur being near three volcanoes. restorative and preservative work is now being carried on by the government, and some of the smaller temples in the djocja district are restored in the original design. [illustration: the bara budur--one of the galleries.] [illustration: the sméroe--13,000 feet high.] there is a small hotel at the boro budur where one is recommended to stay when studying details, and we can well believe that sunrise as seen from the summit is a sight one should never forget. we saw it in the early afternoon when the heat vapours from the noontide sun partially obliterated the landscape, but even so it was impressive. except on the right, where the mountains close in the horizon, the eye has a range of many miles over fertile alluvial plains, studded with coco and banana and palm trees, and every other patch of ground cultivated "like a tulip bed." miss marianne north, whose collection of paintings in kew gardens may be familiar to some of our readers, wrote of this view: "the very finest view we ever saw." the temples of parambanan. there are other buddhist ruins in the neighbourhood of the boro budur; but the other more important collection is scattered over the region between djocjakarta and soerakarta. one small temple, the tjandi kali bening, is reputed to be the gem of hindu art in java. this we did not see; but, on another day, in a victoria drawn by four small ponies, kept going by the wild gr-r-r-ee gr-r-r-eeing of our native running footman, we drove to the scattered temples on the plain of parambanan, where, with the help of another archæological guide by dr. i. groneman, we were able to appreciate the beauties of these 1100-year-old centres of ancient religious devotees. these temples are the most interesting in the country, though lacking the extent and grandeur of the boro budur. though they do not contain a single genuine buddha figure, but many images of brahmanic gods, dr. groneman says there are many reasons to justify the opinion that they were built by buddhists, probably over the ashes of princes and grandees of a buddhistic empire. in his report to sir stamford raffles on these parambanan ruins, captain george baker, of the bengal establishment wrote:--"in the whole course of my life, i have never met with such stupendous and finished specimens of human labour and of the science and taste of ages long since forgot, crowded together in so small a compass, as in this little spot, which, to use a military phrase, i deem to have been the headquarters of hinduism in java." in volume xiii of the "asiatick researches or transactions of the society instituted in bengal for inquiring into the history and antiquities, the arts, sciences and literature of asia" (calcutta, 1820), mr. john crawfurd, who, apparently, visited java in 1816, gives a long and interesting description of the ruins on the plain of parambanan. he describes the locale as ten miles from djocjakarta, a valley lying between rababu and marapi to the north and a smaller southern range of high land. a few of the ruins consist of single isolated temples, but the greater number are in groups, rows of small temples surrounding larger temples. the shape of the smaller temples is worthy of observation. from the foundation to the lintels of the doors, they are of a square form. they then assume a pyramidal but round shape, and are decorated around by small figures resembling lingas, while a larger linga surmounts the whole building, forming the apex of the temple. invariably, the sites of the temples are adjacent to abundant supplies of clear water so much desired by the hindus and so necessary to the performance of the ritual. beside two rivers of the purest water, there is between the villages of parambanan and plaosan a small tank, evidently an appendage to the temples. this little piece of water is a square of about 200 feet to the side. the ground around it is elevated, and there is every appearance of its being an artificial excavation. the whole tank, when visited by mr. crawfurd, was covered with blue lotus, the flower of which is so conspicuous an ornament of the sculptures of the temple. then, as now, there was no evidence of hindu descendants of the builders of these religious houses and places of worship, but the javanese are as tolerant of various religious cults as the chinese or the japanese, and the visitor need not be surprised to find native visitors making what appears to be a pilgrimage to some particular shrine. mr. crawfurd found barren women, men unfortunate in trade or at play, persons in debt and sick persons propitiating the goddess durgá, "smeared with perfumed unguents or decked with flowers." this worship, too, was not confined to the lower orders. his highness the susuhunan when meditating an unusually ambitious or hazardous scheme made offerings to the image. these temples are built of a hard dark and heavy species of basalt, the chief component of the mountains of java. the stone is usually hewn in square blocks of various sizes, as is the case with the boro budur. the respective surfaces of the stones which lie on each other in the building have grooves and projections which key into each other as in the best masonry work to-day. they are regularly arranged in the walls in such a manner as to give the greatest degree of strength and solidity to the structure, and nowhere is cement or mortar utilised. there are no huge pillars or single blocks such as may be seen in other prehistoric edifices, and neither in boldness of design nor imposing grandeur have the temples presented any difficulties to the builders. there is nothing upon a great scale, nothing attempted outside the reach of the most obvious mechanical contrivance or the most ordinary methods of common ingenuity. the chief characteristic is the minute laboriousness of the execution. nevertheless, the temples excite the imagination, and send the thoughts back to those primeval days when men sought to express their religious feeling through these elaborate monuments of hewn stone. the tjandi kalasan, one of the most beautiful of the temples, is the only ruin in central java of which the exact date of construction has been learned with any degree of accuracy. this was ascertained from a stone found in the neighbourhood, inscribed in nâgari characters. two versions of the inscription were made--one by the dutch scholar, dr. j. brandes, and the other by the indian, dr. r. g. bhandarkar. dr. i. groneman makes use of both versions to compile the following:- "homage to the blessed (or, reverend) and noble târâ. "may she,--the only deliverer of the world, who, seeing how men perish in the sea of life, which is full of incalculable misery, is sure to save them by the three means--grant you the wished for essence, the salvation of the world by the lord of gods and men. "the guru (_i.e._ teacher) of the sailendra prince erected a magnificent târâ temple. at the command (or, the instance) of the guru, the grateful ----(?) made an image of the goddess and built the temple, together with a dwelling (vihara, monastery) for the monks (bhikshus) who know the great vehicle of discipline (mahâyâna). "by authorisation of the king, the târâ temple and the monastery for the reverend monks have been built by his counsellors, the pangkur, the tavan, and the tirip (old javanese civil officers, perhaps soothsayers or astrologers). "the deserving guru of the sailendra king built the temple in the prosperous reign of the king, the son of the sailendra dynasty. "the great king built the târâ temple in honour of the guru (to do homage to the guru) when 700 years of the saka era were past. "the territory of the village of kâlasa was bestowed on the congregation of priests (monks) in the presence of the pangkur, the tavan and the tirip, and the village chiefs (as witnesses). "this great (incomparable) endowment was made by the king for the monks. it is to be perpetuated by the (later) kings of the sailendra dynasty, for the benefit of the successive reverend congregations of monks, and be respected (maintained) by the wise pangkur, the good tivan, the wise tirip and others, and by their virtuous wives (according to dr. brandes, but "their virtuous foot-soldiers" according to dr. bhandarkar). "the king also begs of all following kings that this bridge (or, dam) of charity, which is (a benefit) for all nations, may be perpetuated for all time. "may all who adhere to the doctrine of the jinas, through the blessings of this monastery, obtain knowledge of the nature of things, constituted by the concatenation of causes (and effects), and may they thrive. "the ---prince once more requests of (all) future kings that they may protect the monastery righteously." this inscription, showing clearly that the temple was consecrated to târâ, the sakti of the deliverer of the world, the fourth dhyâni buddha, amitâbha, the târâ of the buddhists of the northern church (mahâyâna, or the "great vehicle"), leads dr. groneman to the opinion that this particular temple was completed in the year 701 of the saka era, or 779 of the christian era. no trace of the târâ image was found; but this is not to be wondered at when we note the presence of other images in the gardens of private residences in djocjakarta, and even farther afield, and remember the destruction wrought by foreign soldiers and foreign and native vandals. people and industries of central java. in the plains going eastward through central java from the preanger regencies to the mountains of the teng'ger region, one cannot fail to be struck by the remarkable change in the appearance of the natives. the soendanese of the west may not have the resource and thoughtfulness of the people of the plains, the javanese, but they have brightness and vivacity which make them more attractive. their bent of mind is reflected in the bright colours of their dress. in this and other respects, they resemble the japanese women. in the plains, sombreness of dress is a characteristic--the browns of mid-java changing to an almost universal dark blue in the west, reminding the traveller of the chinese and the inhabitants of the southern japanese islands. everywhere, the male javanese carry the kris or native knife in the girdle. there is much variety in the blades, handles and sheaths of those weapons, real native damascene blades costing considerable sums. one taking a superficial trip through the island is at a loss to understand why the natives should be armed. according to all accounts, they are a peaceably inclined people, and give their dutch rulers very little trouble; and if they were at all quarrelsome amongst themselves, the handy weapon would be a source of grave danger. in course of time, perhaps, the knife will disappear as did the sword of civilised europe a century or more ago. a traffic in birmingham manufactured krises and knives is done at djocjakarta and soerakarta, as well as at samarang, sourabaya and batavia, and anyone who wishes to make a collection of native weapons should be careful to have the assistance of an expert to detect the sham from the real. the same remark applies to the purchase of sarongs. the ordinary sarong of commerce is manufactured in lancashire, whence an excellent imitation of the native manufacture is exported. tourists are also catered for in a native block-stamped variety, which is at least a colourable imitation of the real article. wherever we went, however, we could see that the native art had not been lost entirely. women sit outside their little huts by the roadside tracing the most elaborate designs in brown and blue dye upon the cloth with tiny funnel-shaped implements. this cloth is styled bátik. according to the ground of white, black or red, it is known as bátik látur púti, bátik látur irang, or bátuk látur bang. to prepare it to receive the design, the cloth is steeped in rice water, dried and calendered. the process of the bátik is performed with hot wax in a liquid state applied by means of the chánting. the chánting is usually made of silver or copper, and holds about an ounce of the liquid. the tube is held in the hand at the end of a small stick, and the pattern is traced on both sides of the tightly drawn suspended cloth. when the outline is finished, such portions of the cloth as are intended to be preserved white, or to receive any other colour than the general field or ground, are carefully covered in like manner with the liquid wax, and then the piece is immersed in whatever coloured dye may be intended for the ground of the pattern. the parts covered with wax resist the operation of the dye, and when the wax is removed, by being steeped in hot water till it melts, are found to remain in their original condition. if other colours are to be applied, the process is gone over again. it will thus be seen that a considerable amount of skill is required. in the ordinary course, the process of the bátik occupies about ten days for common patterns, and from fifteen to seventeen days for the finer and more variegated. some of the sarongs worn by the native aristocracy and the european ladies are not only beautiful in pattern and working but most expensive in price. in our excursions in the neighbourhood of djocjakarta, we had ample opportunity of seeing the industry of the javanese. wherever one went, there were long processions of stunted women bravely carrying enormous burdens on their backs, often with a baby slung in the slandang astride the hip. the cheery, coquettish look of the soendanese was absent here. all seemed to be borne down by the seriousness of a strenuous physical life. no songs arose from the fields; scarcely a head was raised from the laborious planting of tufts of paddy roots as our kreta rattled past. while mothers toiled in the fields, children played near the roadways, or now and then assisted their parents. we were surprised to see in these fertile plains how prevalent goitre is amongst the women. in the drive from moentilan to the boro budur, at least one in twenty were so afflicted. we commented on this fact to a native official while waiting for our tram at moentilan, and he assured us that it is remarkably prevalent amongst the common people, but that the men do not suffer in the same proportion as the women. the disease is named "kondo" by the javanese. we do not know whether any scientific investigations into the disease have been carried out by the dutch officials; but it would be interesting to know why it should be so prevalent in this area. goitre is usually associated with people living in mountainous regions, yet we never noticed it in the preanger and scarcely at all on the mountains of east java. since the above was written, we have had an opportunity of consulting sir stamford raffles' history of java. he found goitre prevalent in both java and sumatra, but is careful to explain that it was observed in certain mountainous districts. the natives ascribed it to the quality of the water, but, says sir stamford, "there seems good ground for concluding that it is rather to be traced to the atmosphere. in proof of this, it may be mentioned that there is a village near the foot of the teng'ger mountains, in the eastern part of the island, where every family is afflicted by this malady, while in another village, situated at a greater elevation, and through which the stream descends which serves for the use of both, there exists no such deformity. these wens are considered hereditary in some families, and seem thus independent of situation. a branch of the family of the present adipati of bandung (1811-15) is subject to them, and it is remarkable that they prevail chiefly among the women of the family. they never produce positive suffering nor occasion early death, and may be considered rather as deformities than diseases. it is never attempted to remove them." [illustration: sultan of djocja's soldiers.] we reached djocjakarta in the ordinary way through maos. it may be that circumstances may take the traveller off the beaten track, and we are indebted to a friend for the following brief description of the trip from samarang to djocja over the mountains:- "the usual journey from samarang to djocjakarta is made by way of solo (soerakarta), but the route is devoid of interest, the railway running through low country under rice cultivation. i would suggest the far more interesting route via willem i. starting at 5.57 a.m. or 8.17 a.m., djocja is reached at 2.16 p.m. or 5.10 p.m. the 10.50 a.m. train, i found, went only as far as magelang, so i started at 2.9 p.m., and, after a delightful run, reached kedoeng djattie, a fine junction station, where we changed cars. the next two hours' run is through foot hills, strips of forest and lovely vegetation, glimpses being obtained every little while of pleasant valleys, rice fields and distant hills as the train climbed up to willem i. this point we reached about 5 p.m., in time to enjoy the refreshing cool breezes and to admire the beautiful view and sunset on a small mountain opposite the hotel. "next morning, i caught the train (8.54 a.m.,) which leaves samarang at 5.57, and after a short run reached a station where our engine was changed for one working on the cog-wheel system, the grade being too heavy for the ordinary locomotive. the train winds and circles round hills cultivated, for the most part, to their summits. upwards we climbed till we were in the clouds and the air became quite bracing and invigorating. tiffin should be ordered through the guard before starting from willem i., and it will be handed into the train. "it was about one o'clock when we reverted to the ordinary locomotive, and began the descent to djocja, through magelang. to anyone who has to visit samarang, i would recommend this trip." the principal sight of djocja itself is the water castle. this trip need not occupy more than a couple of hours, and its appreciation depends upon the taste of the visitor. earthquakes have played havoc with the buildings, but sufficient is left in the way of tunnels, grottoes, bathing ponds and dungeon-like rooms. everywhere are signs of decay and desolation; nevertheless, it is possible, with a little knowledge of comparatively recent javan history, to reconstruct the scenes enacted here in the days when the native sultans were more powerful in the land than they are to-day. for a small fee, a native pilots one through the carved archways, underground halls and subways and cells. as one stands in the large banqueting hall, it is possible to conjure up the ceremonials of a past age, and, in the mind's eye, to group retainers round the sultan and the members of his harem, while gaudily dressed courtesans sang and danced for the entertainment of "the quality." the health resort of east java. tosari on the teng'ger mountains was the goal of our travels. we were anxious to escape from the heat of the plains, for the sun had now crossed the equator, java was in its summer season and the rains might come any day. from djocjakarta, we should have arrived in sourabaya in time for riz-tafel, but the wash-out at moentilan still caused a delay of traffic and we were two hours late in reaching our destination. sourabaya is the most important port and business centre of java, but this fact notwithstanding many of the foreign business houses still maintain their headquarters in batavia. as a place of residence, each has its good points, and those who have lived in both are divided in preference. possibly we were not in either long enough to form a lasting opinion, but we stayed so long in sourabaya that we prefer batavia. it would be sheer ingratitude, however, not to acknowledge the hearty welcome we received from the british colony in sourabaya, and the personal help of members of that community. here where the principal business of java is conducted, as elsewhere throughout the far east, it was satisfying to one's patriotism to see the respect in which british commercial enterprise and integrity is held by native and european alike, and that the most cordial good feeling exists on all sides. to reach tosari, the visitor proceeds first of all by train to pasoeroean, leaving sourabaya (goebeng station) at 6.42 a.m., and reaching pasoeroean at 8.23. here a single-pony carriage is engaged (two and a-half guilders) as far as pasrepan, where a change is made to a two-pony carriage (three guilders). this conveyance takes one to poespo, 2,600 feet above sea-level. a halt is made for tiffin in this delightful little hotel, whose pleasant looking proprietress, unfortunately, does not speak english. the remainder of the journey to the sanatorium (6,000 feet) is made in the saddle or by sedan chair. of this ride and a subsequent excursion we have painful recollections, but anyone accustomed to the saddle will enjoy this ascent through mountain scenery and vegetation, and even more the morning trip down to poespo, through the forest, when returning to sourabaya. tosari has been described as the darjeeling of the netherland indies. here within four days' journey from singapore, one may obtain a complete change of climate, and if there were only more frequent direct steamer communication between singapore and sourabaya, we predict with confidence that tosari would become a favourite health resort for those who live on the northern side of the equator. the rooms are comfortable, the food is good, the facilities for amusements at nightfall are ample, the walks and excursions are inexhaustible and the views are magnificent. the tariff (seven guilders per day--$4.90 in singapore currency) is higher than that of any other hotel in java, but those who intend to stay for a fortnight or more could probably arrange more favourable terms. there is a resident doctor who has graduated in the schools of tropical medicine, and when we were in tosari there were visitors from burma, siam, singapore, penang, and all parts of java, recruiting from malaria and other ailments peculiar to far eastern residence. but they were not all invalids, and formed a bright, companionable party. the teng'gerese who people this mountainous region are a race apart. their religion is a mixture of paganism and buddhism, and, though reputed to be kind and honest, they are an ignorant, uncouth, uncultured people. they dwell _en famille_ in large square houses without windows, in isolated kampongs on the projecting ridges of the mountains. the door of each house is on the side nearest the bromo crater, and as if tradition gave them cause to fear another destructive eruption they worship this volcano. dirt prevails everywhere, and in consequence of the cool climate and the scarcity of water they seldom bathe, a fact that is very noticeable after one's acquaintance with the people of the plains. to go to tosari without seeing the bromo is tantamount to going to rome without entering st. peter's. the journey is made on pony or in a sedan chair, by way of the moengal pass and the dasar or sand sea, which is in reality the enormous teng'ger crater, inside of which there are three more craters, the bromo being the only one showing signs of activity. a better view and more impressive is obtained from the penandjaan pass, a description of which is given in the next chapter. another trip worth making is to the lakes in the saddle-back mountain between the teng'ger and the seméroe. from this high plateau, the ascent of the seméroe or mahameroe is fairly easy and will prove attractive to those who are fond of mountaineering. it is the highest volcano in java and has a perfect cone. the crater, from which smoke and ashes are constantly ejected, is not on the summit but is formed on the south-east side. the visitor who does not wish to retrace his steps to poespo and pasrepan may return to the plains by way of malang or lawang through beautiful sub-tropical and tropical mountain scenery. sunrise at the penandjaan pass. when a sharp rap came to our door at two o'clock in the morning to summon us for a ride to the penandjaan pass, we repented the rash promise to carry out this over-night project to see the sun rise. it was no use to curl one's-self up under two heavy blankets and pretend that we had not heard. the "jongus" was insistent. up we had to get, effect a hasty toilet in ice-cold water by the aid of a flickering lamp, and step into the outer darkness and mount the pony waiting beside our bedroom door. unfamiliar constellations shed a cold light on the hillside. our thickest clothing was penetrated by a searching though slight breeze, as our little rat of a pony, guided by the syce, clambered bravely up the brae that led through tosari village. the road bore away to the left, and we were soon slipping and jolting down a mountain path that sank into a crater-like ravine. it was like a descent into the infernal regions. disaster seemed inevitable. a mistake by the pony or the slightest lurch would have precipitated us down some hundreds of feet; but the guide knew his way and so did the pony, as, sure-footed and cautious, it picked its way, first on one side of the road and then on the other, descending, descending, lower and lower, where the pale light failed to penetrate. the hill on the other side loomed so high that one could not believe there was a way out. pit-pat, pit-pat went the pony with steady step, now on hard road now on yielding lava mud, across fragile bamboo bridges covered with bamboo lathing, down, down, down till at last we reach the ford. the seat was not an easy one for the unaccustomed rider, whose hands and feet were chilled almost beyond feeling by the unwonted cold. but it was arm-chair ease compared with the experience on the other side, as the pony pluckily pounded his way up the zigzag path for the summit of the hill. how either guide or pony could see a path will ever remain a puzzle. the over-hanging vegetation blotted out any recognisable landmarks; not even the ribbon of a road was visible to the eye. but the top was reached, and believing we were now on the level road for penandjaan we tried to open up conversation with our guide. it is not easy to carry on a connected conversation with a native of the teng'ger when one's malay vocabulary consists of about twenty words--and half of these numerals--and the native's knowledge of the english language, as one soon learned, consists entirely of "yes" and "no." yet, it is wonderful what one will attempt in the dark--the loneliness was so overpowering that one felt compelled to break the awesome silence. [illustration: road to tosari.] but the conversation soon flagged, and one was thrown back upon one's own thoughts. and as the road once again shaped for another crater-like ravine, plunged in inkier darkness and shrouded in solemn stillness, thoughts surged rapidly through one's mind. the first thing that had attracted our attention as we mounted our pony was the delicious smell of roses in the grounds of the tosari hotel. since nothing could be learned from the syce, nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard except the occasional bark of a dog from a remote hut on the hillside or the tuneful tingle of a bell on the neck of the uneasy occupant of an unseen cow-shed, one tried to learn something by the sense of smell. at first, the morning air was snell and sharp; there was an earthy aroma which suggested nothing but decaying vegetable matter, but soon it was succeeded by a pungent penetrating odour which made one wonder whence its source. this pungency remained for the remainder of the morning's ride, almost to the top of the mountain pass, some 9000 feet above sea-level, and we ascertained on our return that it proceeded from the enormous cabbages grown by the mountaineers for the markets on the plains of east java. as we plunged deeper into the forest, it was impossible to make out more than a dull outline of a white jacket and the white shoulder of our piebald pony. had we not known that the guide was there, we might have wondered how the wonderful jacket succeeded in floating through space. the pony had no head to our sight; the reins we held in our hand might have been dispensed with so far as they acted as a guide to the pony, who picked his own foothold and followed the white jacket. with painful persistence, he picked the edge of the precipitous declivity which was lost in the bottomless abyss. once only we lost our way. turn after turn was negotiated safely, first down into the bottom of the ravine and through the mountain torrent, then up the hillside again, mysterious zigzag after zigzag, and one had become reconciled to the jolting motion of the pony, the steady tramp of his tiny hoofs, and his heavy breathing where the path was steepest, and gave one's-self up to reverie. how terrible, we thought, must have been the scene on the mountain slopes when the enormous craters of the teng'ger range were belching forth their death-dealing streams of lava, their showers of ashes and stones and choking sulphurous fumes! how insignificant was man before the powerful agencies of nature! how bright were the occasional stars one saw wherever there was a break in the trees that lined our path! how wonderful that each of those stars, those planets, might be peopled by beings puzzling over the disputed facts of the creation, as we were; who might also be worrying over a future existence and the redemption of a sinful people; who might be endeavouring to solve labour problems and trade disputes and discussing whether free trade or preferential tariffs were best for a nation's welfare! was there somebody up in one of those other planets on a pony's back, as we were, robbing one's-self of much-needed rest to reach a mountain top to see the sun rise? these and other thoughts kept recurring to one when, suddenly, as if it had been shot, the pony planted his forefeet and refused to follow the guiding lead of the syce. we had made a wrong turning and the syce all but slipped over a precipice. had it not been for the pony's instinct, all three of us would have been plunged into eternity, and some of the problems of the previous moment might have been solved. out came the syce's matches, as he clung to the pony's bridle. not nearly so bright as the lambent phosphorescence from the fireflies which flickered across our path, the puny light of the match was sufficient for the guide to pick up the ribbon-like path, and once more we were on our way to the top. three deep ravines were traversed before we made the final upward movement, and then nature's lamp lights were being shut out in hundreds at a time as the soft dawn began to diffuse itself. with dawn's left hand in the sky, we thought of omar khayyam's stanza, and felt impelled to cry out to the sleepers in the hollow- awake! for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight: and lo! the hunter of the east has caught the sultan's turret in a noose of light, the dawn had been preluded by the awakening chirrups of songsters in the wood. a shriller note was struck by some feathered daphnis piping to his chloe. deep down in the valleys and in the villages perched perilously on projecting ledges of the mountain, faint twinkling lights began to appear, and the lowing of the cattle and the answering and re-echoed crowing of rival poultry-yards sent the thoughts back to homeland scenes some 10,000 miles away. as we stood on the wall of the enormous crater, overlooking the sand sea, and watched the long shafts of golden light shoot up to the zenith from behind the mountain peaks to the east, we felt that our ride had not been in vain. to be abroad at early dawn in the tropics is to enjoy the most delightful period of the day. an english essayist has well expressed the exhilaration one feels: "there is something beautiful in the unused day, something beautiful in the fact that it is still untouched, unsoiled." only those who have stood on the hill tops, far removed from the haunts of men, have any true idea of the grandeur of nature and the insignificance of man. the sun rose speedily in the full power of his golden radiance to paint the landscape. there was no transition. out of the darkness there rose a view, enormous, diversified, impressive. miles away on the west, the five summits of the ardjeono had been the first to reflect the rays hidden from us. penanggoenan's sugar-loaf top soon caught them up and passed them on to kawi's three lofty peaks. to the south, was the seméroe, java's loftiest volcano; to the east, the yang plateau; to the north, the sea and the island of madoera. we could trace the coast-line 9,000 feet below, away westward beyond sourabaya, where white-crested surf beat silently upon the streak of yellow sand. the vast plains of east java showed a pattern of variegated colour, which stretched out to the cultivated slopes of the hills. mountain hamlets and villages on the plains sent out blue vapours from morning fires. the rivers were distinguishable by their leafy fringe as much as by the reflection of the blue sky overhead. between us and the yang plateau, there were rolling billows of white cloud, tipped by the colours from the sun's spectrum. but it was the panorama spread out like a model beneath our feet which arrested attention and impressed one most. we stood on the edge of an enormous crater--the teng'ger--with a circumference of fifteen miles. where, in prehistoric times, flames and ashes and lava had boiled and belched, there was now a sea of yellow sand, out of which stood other three volcano peaks--the battok, the bromo, and the widodarèn--showing purple in the morning light. the battok is a perfect cone, the lava-covered sides standing out in clearly defined ridges like the buttresses of a gothic structure. the bromo is the only one of the three now active. as we gaze down, we are startled by a deep groaning noise, and out of the wide crater mouth there issues a mass of grey smoke and ashes laden and streaked with fire. simultaneously, a huge mass of cloud, cruciform in shape, is shot up hundreds of feet into the air from the semeroe. it rests a few seconds above the bare, ash-strewn cone, and then drifts heavily to westward, to make way for the next eruption. [illustration: sand sea, with bromo and semeroe.] these indications of nature's activity in the crucible at the earth's centre make one reflect on the possible consequences of the next great convulsion, and the fate that is in store for those intrepid villagers who have perched their primitive huts on the very edge of the teng'ger crater. with these reflections, we turn away from one of the most solemn and impressive sights it has been our privilege to witness, silently mount our pony and retrace our steps for the snugly-situated hotel at tosari, no longer regretting, nay, rather thankful, that we had resolved and achieved our resolution to climb the penandjaan pass to see the sun rise. [illustration: smoke plume--the sméroe.] hotels and travelling facilities before going to java, the tourist ought to make himself acquainted with the outlines of the history of the island since it came under european domination. half the charm of european travel, if one is something more than a mere unreflective globetrotter, lies in the historic associations of the places visited, and it is the comparative absence of this quality which robs new countries of the interests they would otherwise possess for educated people. scenery alone surfeits the appetite. in java, as in most oriental countries, the traveller feels that he is moving in an atmosphere of antiquity, and though it has become a misnomer to refer to "the unchanging east," it is borne in upon one that in the large group of islands comprised in the philippine and malay archipelagoes, from luzon in the north to java in the south, from samar in the east to sumatra in the west, centuries of western contact has left but a slight impress upon the characters of the people. changes there are, undoubtedly. modern civilisation has advanced like a resistless wave and gradually engulfed an older civilisation, but here in java one feels that the change has not been so decisive; and railways and canals and cultivation notwithstanding, the difference in general advancement between the javanese and the japanese is most marked, and even the chinese, conservative though they are in most ways, have more character and look more hopeful soil for the reception and development of western ideas. a solid foundation for the trip to java may be laid by perusing sir stamford raffles' history, the second edition of which, published in 1830, will be found in raffles library. it covers the whole period from the time the portuguese arrived in the farther east in 1510 to the british occupation. making malacca his headquarters, albuquerque sent various expeditions to the surrounding islands, and antonio de abrew was his emissary to java and the moluccas. the dutch appeared in 1595, obtaining their first footing in the east indies at bantam, the english east india company establishing a factory at the same place in 1602. of the capture of java by the british troops brief details have already been given. an interesting account of "the conquest of java" is given by captain william thorn, a dragoon officer, who served on the staff of one of the brigadiers. it was written in 1815 while he was on his way back to england, and is so plentifully illustrated with field maps as to add interest to one's visit to batavia and buitenzorg and the seaports of samarang and sourabaya. we are indebted to dr. hanitsch, the curator, for the following list of books on java in raffles library:- the dutch in java; 1904, by clive day. java, facts and fancies; 1905, by augusta de wit. facts and fancies about java; 1908, by augusta de wit. life in java, 2 vols; 1864, by w. b. d'almeida. voyage round the world; 1870, by marquis de beauvoir. with the dutch in the east; 1897, by w. cool. geschiedenis der nederlanders of java; 1887, by m. l. deventer. from jungle to java; 1897, by arthur keyser. java; 2 vols., 1861, by j. w. money. java; 1830, by sir stamford raffles. führer auf java; 1890, by l. f. m. schulze. the conquest of java; 1815, by william thorn. a visit to java; 1893, by w. b. worsfold. rambles in java; 1853, (anon.). the hindu ruins in the plain of parambanan; 1901, by dr. i. groneman. the tjandi-bäräbudur in central java; 1901, by dr. i. groneman. bôrô-boedoer op het eiland java; 1873, by f. c. wilsen, 2 vols. in addition to a selection from the above-named, the intending visitor should read "java: the garden of the east" by miss e. r. scidmore, 1898, and the rev. g. m. reith's "a padre in partibus" will be found entertaining. much must depend upon the notions of the tourist as to the cost of a trip in java, but our experience is that java is the cheapest country we have ever visited. the hotels are superior to those found in the interior of japan, and, as the guilder, which has a value of 70 cents in singapore currency or about 1s. 7¾d. in english currency, may be taken as the unit of value for travelling purposes, our readers will see at a glance what a fortnight or three weeks' trip is likely to cost from the following hotel rates:- hotel des indes, batavia 6 guilders per day hotel bellevue, buitenzorg 6 " " hotel, sindanglaya 6 " " hotel garoet 6 " " gov't. hotel, maos 4 " " hotel mataram, djocjakarta 5 " " hotel simpang, sourabaya 6 " " sanitorium, tosari 7 " " hotel du pavilion, samarang 5 " " there are a few extras, and the servants are civilised enough to expect small tips. charges for liquors are invariably reasonable. the hotels are scrupulously clean and the accommodation excellent, and in a tropical country one appreciates the facilities for bathing. in his delightful poem of "lucile," owen meredith wrote:- we may live without poetry, music and art; we may live without conscience, and live without heart; we may live without friends; we may live without books; but civilised man cannot live without cooks. he may live without books,--what is knowledge but grieving? he may live without hope,--what is hope but deceiving? he may live without love,--what is passion but pining? but where is the man that can live without dining? here the poet leaves the realms of poetic fantasy to record a simple fact of everyday life--one which is appreciated by every man and woman irrespective of nationality or temperament. as in all other matters pertaining to the comfort of the european in the tropics, the dutch, in the matter of food, seem to us to have achieved better results than we have in the british colonies. the "riz-tafel" may not appeal to the english palate, but there is no lack of clean, wholesome dishes, and side dishes that make us wonder at the toleration of the traveller with the indian and colonial caravanserai. the tourist who visits java after traversing india will be agreeably surprised at the difference in favour of the dutch colony in this respect. in the matter of the personal attention to their guests by the management of some of hotels in the interior, and the supply of information, there could easily be an improvement, and doubtless there will be a great change when tourist traffic becomes more general, as it promises to do in the near future. our own experience was that we were left, almost invariably, to the tender mercies of the servants, and as one's malay was limited this led to avoidable inconvenience. nothing, however, could exceed the courtesy and attention of the management at the hotel des indes, in batavia, and the hotel du pavilion in samarang, and the manager of the hotel at sindanglaya. we have already mentioned stamm and weijns restaurant in batavia. coupled with it for excellence of table is grimm's famous restaurant in sourabaya. this year, thanks to the efforts of some of the leading hotel proprietors, the government of netherlands india has awakened to the possibilities of java as a country for tourists. co-operating with the hotels and steam-ship companies, special inducements were held out to visitors during the months of may and june, in the way of reduced fares, and the success of the venture will doubtless lead to its continuance. the koninklyke paketvaart maatschappij (ship's agency, late j. daendels and co.) issues tickets at single-fare rates to batavia and sourabaya, the fare to batavia and back being $45; to sourabaya and back $63; and to batavia and along the coast ports to sourabaya and back to singapore (sixteen days on board ship) $74. the tickets are available by the steamers of the royal nederland line and the rotterdamsche lloyd. travel by rail throughout the island is cheap. for the convenience of visitors with limited time to devote to java, a tourist ticket has been arranged. this may be obtained from the steamship company in singapore. the price is $40 (singapore currency). the tour laid down by the coupons covers the whole of java from tanjong priok, the port of batavia, to the easternmost end of the island beyond sourabaya on the way to tosari and bromo. buitenzorg and the preanger health resorts may be visited on the tickets, the famous hindu ruins near djocjakarta, and the health resorts of eastern java. the journey may be broken wherever the tourist cares to stay, and the ticket is available for sixty days. directions are printed on the ticket in english in regard to baggage and other matters, and a small outline map is a useful adjunct. throughout the island, the carriages for hire are execrable. the four-pony victoria which took us from djocjakarta to the buddhist ruins at parambanan had not gone half a mile when one of the wheels came off, and we were lucky to escape without serious damage. it will always remain a marvel to us how the ramshackle kreta held together which took us from buitenzorg to sindanglaya, over the poentjak pass, and we are astonished that the dutch authorities, who are exacting in other respects, do not exercise a wholesome supervision over the ponies employed in these cross-country carts and carriages, for a more wretched collection of horseflesh could scarcely be imagined. we have already commented on the toelatings kaart. this relic of a past age, which did not add much to the revenue, and impressed one unfavourably with a rigid officialism at the port of entry that did not obtrude itself upon one's notice in the interior, may now be avoided by the traveller registering at the tourist bureau. in our own case, we were never called upon to produce the kaart. the general impression left by one's visit to java is the excessive cleanliness of town and country and the widespread cultivation. there are, of course, black spots in the towns; but they are as nothing to the traveller who has perambulated the native quarters of any british colony in the far east. when we think of the millions of dollars hongkong has expended to cope with filth-created plagues and to reduce the native rookeries of china town, it fills us with the highest admiration for dutch administration in java. the government of the straits settlements is entering upon a similar campaign to rectify past sins against the laws of sanitation and hygiene, and hundreds of thousands of dollars might have been available for other purposes had the chinese been handled as the dutch handle them in batavia, samarang and sourabaya. it may be overdoing the cult for whitewash to whiten the walls of every bridge and the stack of every sugar mill in the country, but it is pleasing to the europeans to see that one nation has been successful in carrying its ideas of cleanliness into the tropics and in making the oriental conform to the ordinary laws for the protection of the health of the common people. to those of our readers who may be induced to visit java, we would tender a few words of advice. if it is intended to compress a tour of the principal places we have noted into a fortnight's holiday, travel, if possible, to sourabaya, and go first of all to tosari. after a few days there, djocjakarta should be made the headquarters for a two or three days' inspection of the buddhist ruins, and then bandoeng could be made a halting place while a decision is arrived at as to whether sindanglaya, soekaboemi or garoet is to be visited next before going on to buitenzorg and batavia. we recommend this course because there is a more frequent service of steamers between batavia and singapore, and by ascertaining the sailing dates while at some of the preanger health resorts one is able to time one's arrival at batavia and so avoid the heat of the seaport. we have painted java in rosy colours because we found it beautiful, the people companionable and the conditions agreeable. it is possible that others may go over our tracks without deriving a tithe of the enjoyment. no one should travel unless he has a genius for travel and a ready adaptability to prevailing conditions. he should bear in mind that it is he who is the odd piece in the machinery, and that unless he adjusts himself to the other working pieces he will only have himself to blame if things do not run smoothly. if java is visited in the right spirit, we have not the least doubt that the traveller will be delighted with all he sees and experiences, and will come away with an assured conviction that it was no exaggeration which styled the island "the garden of the east." [map: java.] transcriber's notes: inconsistencies in the hyphenation of words preserved. (court-yard, courtyard; over-night, overnight) pg. 52, the phrase: "collection of buddas". the author might have meant "collection of buddhas", as "buddha" is used elsewhere in the text. however the author's original spelling is preserved. pg. 55, "daning" changed to "dancing". (and maidens dancing.) pg. 63, the title "tivan" is also spelled "tavan" in two instances in the preceding paragraphs. as it is unclear which spelling the author intended, the original spelling is preserved in all cases. pg. 70, unusual time expression "2.9 p.m." the original text is preserved. (so i started at 2.9 p.m., and, after) pg. 74, duplicated word "at" removed. (reaching pasoeroean at 8.23) pg. 90, text contains the expression "1/7¾d" which, for clarity, has been rendered as "1s. 7¾d." (or about 1s. 7¾d. in english currency) in the original text, the author was inconsistent with respect to whether the "ae" ligature was used in the word "archæological". this inconsistency has been preserved. digital material generously made available by the internet archive from jungle to java the trivial impressions of a short excursion to netherlands india. by arthur keyser, author of "our cruise in new guinea," "cut by the mess," "an exile's romance," etc., etc. [publisher's logo] the roxburghe press, limited, fifteen, victoria street, westminster. contents i. a select community 1 ii. the start 7 iii. singapore 14 iv. on the way to java 19 v. batavia 23 vi. an official call 34 vii. a concert at the concordia club 39 viii. concerning the lomboh war 44 ix. buitenzorg 49 x. customs and costumes 56 xi. an untimely call 62 xii. a model estate 66 xiii. among the roses 76 xiv. garvet 84 xv. baths and volcanoes 89 xvi. the quest for a mother 94 xvii. the quest continued. tjilatjap 99 xviii. the quest successful. the wodena's house 109 xix. a village home in java 115 xx. back to the jungle 120 from jungle to java chapter i. a select community. mr. x., whose impressions and mild adventures i have undertaken the task of editing, has asked me to narrow his personal introduction to such limits as is consistent with the courtesy due to my readers, if haply i find any. he prefers, as his pseudonym implies, to remain an unknown quantity. i need only explain that he is an officer employed in one of the small states of the malay peninsula, which are (very much) under the protection of the colonial government of the straits settlements. the latter, with careful forethought for their ease-loving rulers, appoints officers to relieve them of all the cares and duties of administration, and absolves them from the responsibility of a government somewhat more progressive in its policy than might commend itself to oriental ideas, if left without such outside assistance. as the title intimates, mr. x.'s duties compel him to make his home in the jungle. the word has many significations in the east, where it is often used to express a region remote from civilization, although perhaps consisting of barren mountains or treeless plains. mr. x.'s jungle, however, is one realizing what it represents to the untravelled englishman. it is a land of hill and dale covered with thickly growing forest trees, with here and there by the side of the rivers, which are nature's thoroughfares, or the main roads made by man, small oases of cultivation. it is a beautiful country, with a climate which those who live in it--and they are the best witnesses--declare to be healthy and agreeable. and the members of the small community who form the european population take a personal pride in the amenities of their beautiful retreat, with its perennial verdure, and glory in their "splendid isolation." criticisms are resented, and suggestions of indisposition due to climatic influence held to be little short of traitorous. so, as may be imagined, it was a matter of no ordinary interest when x. not only complained of being unwell, but also developed signs of a chronic discontent. for x.--no mr. was necessary in that little round-table club--certainly was unwell. of this there could be no doubt, and such a condition of body was little short of an abuse of the privileges of the place. but since he could give no real explanation of his feelings, and only sighed vaguely when engaged in the daily preprandial game of billiards at the club, it was thought best to ignore his new departure, and to leave the subject severely alone. however, the effect of this wise treatment was entirely ruined by the arrival of the doctor, who bore the sounding official designation of the residency surgeon. this gentleman was wont to be sceptical in the matter of ailments, limiting his recognition only to honest, downright illness worthy of the attention of a medico whose name stood in front of a formidable array of honourable letters, too numerous for him to mention. but even really great people are not always strictly consistent, and occasionally make small lapses from the straight path of precedent--and so this man of science deigned to cast an eye of interest upon the ailment of x. that it should be worthy of notice at all was enough for the companions of the now much-appreciated invalid, but when the great man added to his notice by bestowing a classical name, expressions of sympathy knew no bounds, and the unwonted solicitude was almost more than the sufferer could bear with the dignified attitude of conscious merit fitting to the occasion. something rather _distingué_ had happened to the place, something quite new. a vulgar complaint was a subject for reprobation and not sympathy, as casting discredit on this salubrious retreat, but a malady composed of two words out of the greek lexicon conferred a distinction perhaps unknown to, and to be envied by, the larger communities beyond the pass. the matter was most seriously discussed, and the decision arrived at that x. wanted a change. not exactly that a change would do him good, but because, when he came back, the change, from the place he went to, to his happy home in pura pura, would work wonders for his health. as the doctor endorsed the former part of the verdict, rather modifying it by suggesting, that there were few conditions of health when a change would not be beneficial to a hard-worked official, there remained nothing but to select the spot to which x.--his leave once granted--must go. it would never, of course, do that he should go to penang, or even to hong kong or japan, such an expedition would be too ordinary and commonplace. it was felt that x. should do something worthy of the occasion, and show his appreciation of the place he lived in by going to one as similar in respect of people and scenery as could be found, and so, when the person chiefly concerned, knowing what was expected of him, suggested java, the idea was accepted, and java it was settled to be. and that night at the club there was a long sitting, and manop, the patient barman, had to record the disappearance of many extra "stengahs,"[1] as the matter was discussed in all its bearings. those of the community who had been to java recalled their experiences and recollections of that country, rather to the annoyance of those others whose travels, though perhaps more extended, had not led them in the same direction, and thus had to accept the unwelcome rôle of silent listeners. however, goaded by long endurance, one of the party, the scene of whose stories mostly lay in the antipodes, remarked that certainly when x. returned from java he must write a book about it, because if he had only half as much to communicate as the present speakers, the book would be full of information. this little sarcasm was entirely spoilt by being taken literally, as it was at once decided that x. must write a book. vainly he protested that it would be impossible to write a book after only a brief visit to a place, as he could only put into it what was already known to others; his objections were over-ruled, and he was reminded that only the other day, when h. e., the governor, progressed (which is the official rendering of travelled) through a neighbouring state (known to those present only too painfully well, through many weary days spent in the jungles while exploring and actually constructing the path over which this "progress" was subsequently made), one of the party wrote a book which announced the discovery of a newly found place, and even went so far as to sniff severely at the presumption of those who had undergone these early days of toil, because certain grateful pioneers had named various landmarks after friends who had assisted them in the first months of settlement. "if that state, which we know so well, was discovered so recently," urged one of the speakers, "why not discover java?" "and as for a fortnight being too brief a time," suggested another--"did the progress take longer?" and thus, it being an unwritten law in pura pura that the wishes of the community should be respected, x. having now returned from leave, has commissioned a chronicler to write about what he saw in java, though it would be an easier task were the latter allowed to write about the community. but that must not be--at any rate now. java is the theme--that, and no other. [footnote 1: local name for "peg."] chapter ii. the start. in the few days which elapsed before the due arrival of official permission for x. to leave the jungle, it might have been observed that he was changed. the hitherto sedate individual became fussy and worried, and members of the community agreed that he was "journey-proud"--a happy expression used by one of the neighbouring malay potentates when wishing to describe _his_ feelings at a time of emerging from the security of his own retreat. but there was much to do--clothes not looked at since the distant days when they left those cities on the other side of the pass, had to be inspected and all their lapses laid bare--moths had eaten holes in most conspicuous places, and in others rats had, literally, made their nests. the shirts were whitened shams, as they lay, no more than so many "dickeys," in a row, for when unfolded it was found that they had lost their tails, long since the prey of cockroaches or bedding for the young of mice; collars, when severed from their fray, were sadly diminished in height, and the overhauling of the boot department revealed the fact that there was nothing that would bear a more critical eye than that of "the community." however, the best had to be made of a bad job, and one bo ping, a stitcher in leather, certainly did _his_ best in the matter. then an equal preparation was required for the wardrobes of usoof and abu, the two followers selected to accompany x. upon his travels. this entailed many visits from the local tailors, who spent long hours in the back premises, accompanied by all their friends and relations--for in pura pura, as amongst many other eastern peoples, for one person at work there are always ten looking on. thus the interest in these proceedings was not centred upon x.--to some he played quite a secondary part in the matter, being merely an incident connected with the departure of usoof, who was going to java, which was his birthplace--as all the world knew--but which he had left years ago, when little more than a baby in arms. usoof was going home to find his relations and tell them all about himself, and "tuan"[2] x. happened to be going too. this being a fact widely reported and discussed nightly far into the small hours of the morning, while friends ate light refreshments of bread and sugar with pink-coloured syrups to wash them down, it is not to be wondered at that x. began at last to feel that it was settled he was going principally to search for usoof's mother, who was possibly living in a village somewhere in java, her name unknown; indeed, her still being in the land of the living was a matter of conjecture. this quest, however, which obtained additional interest from the little that was knowable of its object, is alluded to here, so that when it is subsequently related how it led x. from the beaten track of tourists, there may be no surprise, since it can be understood that it would have been impossible for him to return to pura pura without some attempt to perform that which was expected of him. [footnote 2: malay equivalent for mister = sahib.] in due time arrived the document permitting x. to leave pura pura, and the day of departure was fixed. usoof and abu had already gone on ahead in a bullock cart with the luggage, and x. was to leave next morning. several of "the community" kindly came to see the start and sat calm and superior over their long "stengahs," while the intending traveller endeavoured to compress into a quarter of an hour the final instructions for the regulation of affairs in his absence. however, after writing various little memos and giving many injunctions to the syces and tenants generally, concerning the care of the horses, sheep, geese, dogs, bears, tame storks, porcupines, and other live stock which belonged to the household, the traveller mounted into his sulky, with that sinking in the region of his heart which comes to all those temporarily about to leave pura pura's secluded calm. and thus he drove forth into the great populous world beyond. the first glimpse of it was distant twenty-four miles, and reached after a drive through some of the most beautiful jungle scenery imaginable. this oasis of civilization was the capital of the state at whose port it was necessary to embark. here x. remained for the night, accepting hospitality from the kind doctor who had looked upon his complaint and so scientifically localised and named it. to one fresh from the jungle, this evening appeared full of novelty and life, from the fact of there being strange faces present. one of the party was a french roman catholic priest, known to all in the various states as a man of practical good works and a congenial companion. and there was also a gentleman of title--a visitor fresh from england--who should have been called a globe-trotter had he not, in the course of the meal, thanked providence that he had come across none of that genus in those localities. this gentleman, who rejoiced at the absence of globe-trotters, was bound for such a variety of places in such a short space of time that x. could only regard him with bewilderment and envy. for while he had only undertaken his journey after the mature consideration of a month, during which time the correspondence concerning leave and medical certificates had assumed proportions of official magnitude, this traveller carried with him all the documents connected with his plans in the form of a piece of paper on which was written exactly where he must sleep, lunch, and dine during the ensuing fortnight. it would be interesting to know if this visitor actually accomplished his task and saw all that he proposed in the time allowed. perhaps, when he gets home, _his_ community--the other titled people--will put pressure on him to write a book, and satisfy our legitimate curiosity. on the following morning x. boarded the train on the railroad which connects the capital with the sea. he found himself an object of interest to the dwellers in those distant parts, not only as the fleshly embodiment of the personality hitherto known as initials at the bottom of official minutes, but as the champion who had not long since descended from his mountain for the purpose of engaging the railway in litigation, in consequence of his garments having suffered from sparks on the occasion of his last venture in the train. this case had excited considerable interest, and x. had made a triumphant exit, as he drove away from the court with portions of charred wardrobe packed in behind. during the present journey there were no sparks, and the coast was reached without any incident which might promise litigation. the party consisting of x., usoof and abu, embarked on the s.s. _malacca_, a fairly comfortable steamship with a kindly captain. the sniff of the sea was delightful to the jungle-wallah, and, freed from official chains, he reclined in a long chair feeling that all his plans and preparations had at least a present good result. the only incident of the voyage that remains in his memory is the fact that a chinese passenger sitting opposite at dinner drank a bottle of whisky and a bottle of claret mixed, and appeared to suffer no subsequent inconvenience. in the evening the ship lay off malacca. there are few more suggestive views than this one of twinkling lights, here and there disclosing momentary peeps of that picturesque old town, peeps that conjure forth visions of half forgotten stories of that place of many memories, told, in the jungle by the flicker of the camp fire, by malays, adepts at relating tales handed down by their fathers. then the cool evening of a tropical climate, the sea glinting in silver moonlit streaks around the ship, which throwing a huge shadow on the water lies silently swinging to her anchor before the peering little red stars of that solitary old-world city. scenes such as these are some compensation to many a home-sick exile. ah, well,--we must not get sentimental and out of tune, though the snores of the whisky-claret chinaman are particularly discordant. however he passed--as happily passengers do--and so did the night and the early dawn as the s.s. _malacca_ approached the beautiful island of singapore (does everyone know it is an island?) ask you another! well, can my readers say straight off what constitutes the straits settlements, and which are islands? but never mind--skip this and hurry on over the bracket, if an answer were really wanted the bracket would not be there. chapter iii. singapore. i see that x. has it in his notes that the first view of this city is the most beautiful in the east--does he mean the approach, the view, or the city. it perhaps does not greatly matter, but it is certain that he recorded the fact that to a poor jungle-wallah like himself it seemed very vast and full of life, as he dressed himself and prepared to re-enter the world from which he had so long been absent. a gharry--a close carriage on four wheels with a dirty-looking driver and a tiny pony--now conveyed, or rather set forth to convey, the traveller to the hospitable house of a certain distinguished general who resides in singapore. singapore is a city in which it is notoriously difficult to find one's way about, as all the roads seem alike--they are all excellent--and so do the houses. had i not undertaken to tell you how x. went to java, i should like to stop and relate how once on this account the writer dined at the wrong house--and dined well--while his host, whose name he never knew, preserved an exquisite _sang-froid_ and never showed surprise; but such egotistic digressions might possibly annoy x. who has a right to claim the first place in this little history. the driver apparently knew where no one as an individual lived, and entirely relied on strange local descriptions known only to the native inhabitants, therefore it was vain for x. to try and explain where he wanted to go. it transpired from interrogations of passers by that no gharry driver or malay policeman had heard of the general or even that such a personage existed--x. never told the general that--and thus the gharry containing x., and the two which followed with the suite and luggage, drove backwards and forwards puzzling people as they went, for such twistings and turnings argued ignorance of locality, and ignorance of locality meant a globe-trotter, and yet no mail steamer was in, and, again, no globe trotter would be followed by two malays. and presently he again endeavoured to explain where he wanted to go in forcible malay--this made the problem more difficult--till the passers by, mostly cooks going to market, gave it up as one too deep, or perhaps too trivial, for solution. the morning drive thus lasted till europeans early for office appeared in their smart buggies and fast trotting horses, and one of these magnates of commerce coming to the rescue, it was explained to the gharry syce that the commander of all the forces occupied a house where mr. so-and-so used to live, after the celebrated mr. so-and-so had sold off his racing stud and given up the house--"didn't the driver remember?" "yes, was not omad the chief syce" to the gentleman alluded to? at this the driver exclaimed, "of course," and whipping up his pony, with a withering look at his face, which implied "if only he had had the sense to tell me that before," he drove direct to one of the largest and most imposing mansions of the town. saved from the hotels of singapore, where bewildered travellers grumble and strange-looking jungle-wallahs come down to drink, x. felt all the half-dormant memories of civilization return to him, as, passing the sentry, he entered the spacious hall and received a kindly welcome from his host. having, as the books say, removed the traces of his journey, no very palpable ones in this case, since washing is practicable and customary on board s.s. _malacca_, x. joined his host at breakfast and was informed of the programme of the day--consisting of an afternoon drive, dining out in the evening, and thence to hear the regimental band play by moonlight in the gardens. what a gay place singapore seemed to x., who nightly dined alone, and to whom the sound of a band was a memory of bygone days--and a band by moonlight too. yes, that also had memories all its own. on moonlight nights he is wont to sit on the verandah and listen to the drowsy monotonous singing of the malays who dwell in the villages below his hill. very agreeable is that chanting sound as it ascends, telling of companionship and content, although for that very reason making the solitary european feel more solitary still. native servants have given him his dinner and left him to seek their own amusement. he is a duty only, something finished with and put away for the night, left solitary upon the broad verandah, half envying the natives who can enjoy the moonlight in the society of their friends. here in singapore x. need envy no one, for was he not to go out after dinner and hear a band in the moonlight, and a band played by europeans? the reality equalled expectation, for moonlight in the beautiful gardens of singapore, with the _elite_ of society sitting in their carriages or strolling along the grass by the lake would have been a pleasant evening even to people more _blasé_ than x., nor did that person enjoy it any the less from catching sight of usoof and abu standing as lonely amongst this mass of strangers as ever he was wont to feel when brooding in his solitude at home, while they sang songs in the moonlight to their friends. the evening ended up with the glorious dissipation of supper at the regimental mess. the immediate result of this outing was pleasure, the subsequent one--probably the addition of another syllable to the compound greek word with which x.'s ailments had been identified. chapter iv. on the way to java. on the following day, remembering what was expected of him, x. hired a gharry and proceeded to discharge all such obligations as etiquette demanded from one in his peculiar official position. the first and foremost of these was to inscribe his name in a book in the ante-room of the office of the colonial secretary. the names in this book would make interesting reading, and, thought x., probably become a source of wealth could one take it into the smoking-room of a london club and lay ten to one that no three people present could locate the places named upon a map. perak[3]--or as they would call it in the smoking-room, pea rack--selangor, pahang--called at home pahhang--jelebu, sungei ujong--also londonized into sonjeyajang--and many others of unaccustomed sound. [footnote 3: pronounced perah.] official routine over (this should be semi-official routine, suggests x., who fears that he may be held responsible for any error of the writer, which may lead it to be supposed that he is arrogating to himself any real colonial office rank)--however, it is difficult to be so observant of nice distinctions--x. next paid a visit to messrs. john little and co. every one who has been to singapore has been to john little's, for it is better known to the dwellers in that city than even whitely to londoners. whitely has rivals, john little has none. from this famous provider of necessaries and superfluities to the hospitable club is but a step, and there the traveller lunched. this club is the meeting-place of all the prominent merchants in singapore. the building is a fine one, with a verandah overlooking the sea, and the members always cordially welcome strangers and neighbours from the adjoining peninsula. having said this much i feel compelled to risk incurring the displeasure of x., who will be credited with having told me, and add that the company is better than the cooking. the quality of the fluids and the quantity are without reproach, but the food!--that is one of the things they manage better in the jungle. in the afternoon the general was again as good as his word, and took his guest for a drive, showing to his wondering eyes all the beauties of the new water-works. the china mail had that morning come in, and this favourite resort was dotted over with evident passengers, some of them globe-trotters. what would the titled traveller have said had his hurried steps taken him that way? in the evening his excellency gave a dinner party to twenty guests culled from the most select circles in singapore. to sit at table with so many europeans would at any time have been a new sensation to x., but to suddenly find himself one of such a distinguished company was almost alarming in its novelty. however, being happily situated by the side of beauty, the situation expanded generally, and had any member of the community been watching, he might have thought that x. was proving false to the creed that there was no place like pura pura for a man to dwell in. that which to the other diners was a matter of every day, to him was both a present pleasure and a glimpse of the past. it was, of course, quite hopeless to attempt to explain to anyone whence he came, or where he lived, for the very name of pura pura was unknown to them, and so it was necessary to pose as a passenger passing through _en route_ to java. some amongst the company had been to java (including the host), and all spoke in high terms of the civility to be found there. in the morning the traveller took leave of his kind host, who left first at 5.30 a.m. for some early little game of war, a description of which would probably have been as vague to a civilian as would the geographical position of pura pura, or the exact official status of x., to members of the company of the previous evening. the great soldier having driven off in full uniform through a throng of salaaming menials of various nationalities, x. entered his humble gharry, and, followed by usoof and abu, drove to the messagerie wharf. the steamer for batavia was the s.s. _godavery_, which was in connection with the mails for home. the cost of the passage is, perhaps, for the actual distance travelled, the most expensive in the world. the time taken by the voyage is thirty-six hours. chapter v. batavia. the voyage on board the _godavery_ resembled similar ones, with the notable difference that the excellent cuisine made x. wish that the time to be spent in transit were longer. the only people who were not contented were usoof and abu, for each of whom their employer was paying the sum of three dollars a night. these particular mahomedans refused to touch the food shovelled out to them, and to crowds of natives of all colour and class--by the rough and ready chinese servants, and towards the end of the second day, having eaten nothing, they presented a very woebegone and miserable appearance. however, a few more judiciously placed dollars produced them a square meal of bread and tea, after which they smiled. there is perhaps no sensation so agreeable as the arrival in a strange port. thoughts and conjectures as to the possibilities that lie beyond the landing place are innumerable, and fancy and anticipation are equally strong. when the _godavery_ steamed into batavia it was still dark and the rain was coming down in torrents. it all looked miserable enough, but, once alongside the wharf, daylight began to appear and the passengers trooped ashore. the station was more than a quarter of a mile from the place of landing, and this distance the poor people had to hurry along in the rain. the unfortunate natives--carrying bundles containing their belongings--were drenched to the skin. also the european passengers--less objects of pity, as only the portion of their wardrobe actually worn was exposed to the rain--came in for a considerable share of the moisture of that wet arrival. it is true there was a magnificent covered way, but this was hopelessly blocked up with trucks and other railway gear, which were, presumably, more susceptible to cold than the passengers. the luggage was quickly and courteously passed by the custom house officials, and the travellers entered a luxuriously fitted train--apparently a show train, as x. never met another like it in java. arrival in batavia town created a good first impression, as there were no pestering crowds, as there are in singapore, and there were many carriages waiting for hire, all two-horsed and good. the drive to the hotel was a long one, through the business portions of the town, till the residential side was reached. here detached houses are situated alongside the principal road, on the other side of which flows a canal, giving to the place an appropriate dutch appearance. the hotel was a most imposing building outside, with apparently countless rooms, but the thing which immediately struck x. as something uncommon was the fact that the floors of the apartments were level with the ground and not raised as is the case in singapore and the peninsula, and he felt feverish as he noticed it. the traveller was allotted a fair sized room opening on to a court yard, with other rooms and other openings to the right and to the left, and in fact all round him, and in front of these rooms sat people in every stage of deshabille. there seemed to be no privacy and what, perhaps, under the circumstances was fortunate,--no shyness. x. however had not yet reached that point of his observations, and, entering his room, he shut the door and ordered his first meal in java. this turned out to be a terrible repast, consisting of a plate of cold clammy selections from the interior of some edible beast, two cold hard-boiled eggs, three small cold fish roasted in cocoanut oil, and something intended to resemble ham and eggs. this first meal is mentioned in detail as it was but a foretaste of an equally trying series. x. thought of dagonet and that power of description which, when relating dyspeptic woes, will compel the sympathy of the hardiest feeder. it did not take long to skim hastily over the surface of these uninviting viands, and now x. turned his attention to the notices which stared at him from every wall. these in many languages threatened all travellers with penalties if, immediately after their arrival, they neglected to obtain permission to reside in netherlands india. after reading this, x. lost no time in sending for a conveyance to drive to the british consulate. the gentleman who received him there was extremely civil and gave him all the information in his power. it appeared that if the traveller was anxious for facts about java, the officials of that country were equally so in requiring the same from him, and he was obliged to fill in a printed form stating his age, birthplace, residence and occupation, etc., and, when this was done, pay one guilder and a half for his trouble. the next step was to go to the bank, and nothing could exceed the kindness with which he was received at this place, and the thoughtful manager assisted the stranger to decide where he had better go in order to best see something of the country, and what was most to the point, wrote for him the names of places and hotels which seem outlandish and terrible on first meeting with them. x. learnt to his dismay that the system of obtaining money by cheque was almost unknown, and it would always be necessary to carry money and, when more was wanted, receive it by registered letter through the post. the idea of carrying ready money to a person who had for years followed the customs of the east and depended on cheques and "chits," seemed a new trouble for which he had not been prepared. on the drive back to the hotel through streets sloppy with mud, the first new impression made upon the traveller was caused by the number of natives selling vegetables--good wholesome english looking specimens, especially carrots. this was a refreshing sight after years of seeing no familiar vegetables, except those which passed long periods of imprisonment in tins. all along the route natives of either sex were bathing in the filthy water of the canal without even a suspicion of that modesty which characterises the malays. impression no. 2 was noted to the effect that none of the natives wore boots or shoes, and all plashed barefooted through the mud. he had already had his attention called to this absence of shoes when coming up in the train by the notice (not to say the excitement) attracted by the neatly-booted feet of his followers. could it be possible that they would also be obliged to go barefooted through the muddy streets? and still worse thought--would it fall to his lot to break it to them? the natives all appeared larger and more strongly built than the malays of the peninsula, but, as in singapore, they were a hybrid lot, and there were also to be seen a variety of other nationalities--malay nationalities--but, strange to say, no arabs, and, more remarkable still, no chinamen. to those readers who may not have visited that part of the world of which i write, it should be explained that singapore is almost entirely populated by chinese, and in the native states they materially outnumber the malays, so that the eye is accustomed to see chinese everywhere and regard them as the real inhabitants of the country. their absence in a malay town strikes anyone coming from the peninsula as strange. cf course there _are_ chinese in batavia, and many of them, as x. soon learnt, but they do not pervade the whole place as is the case in the english colonies over the way. reaching the hotel x. was relieved to find that usoof and abu had discarded their boots, and were picking their way delicately across the mud of the courtyard. also they had been provided with an excellent curry. then he prepared to get ready for his own lunch, and next to bathe. in order to do this it was necessary to run the gauntlet of many eyes, as the bathroom was some distance off, and, to reach it, the entire length of the verandah must be passed. on to this verandah opened the doors of bedrooms, the occupant of each sitting in his long chair in front--exactly, as abu remarked, like vendors holding stalls in a market. the long chairs were of the luxurious kind, with short seats and long movable arms, and on which latter the occupants extended their naked feet. this of course refers to the men. ladies also sat there, in what x. subsequently learnt was not altogether considered _deshabille_, namely, the sarong and kabaya of the country. the first-named garment, it may be explained for the benefit of readers in the west, is a close-fitting petticoat such as the natives wear, and the latter a white linen jacket. it required some courage to take that first walk along this verandah, but things seldom continue to seem strange, unless other people look as if they thought them so, and as these reclining rows of visitors lay back doing nothing, not even reading, with an air of unconcern, it was not difficult for x. to assume one too. however, he could not but believe that he helped to fill in that vacant blank in which the sitters sank, as he passed along, himself clad in wondrous garments made of gaudy silks woven by the skilled natives of the peninsula, while usoof and abu followed, bringing the towels and soap. nor did he entirely deceive himself, since he was subsequently informed by usoof that the "boy" of a nyonia, or what in singapore is called a "mem," told him that his lady had instructed him to discover whether x. had many more of those silk sarongs for sale. lunch was perhaps the first real revelation of life in java, since it introduced the traveller to that which a majority of the people seem to live for (and always sleep after)--the rice-table. this rice-table has been so often described that it need not be done in detail here; but the basis, as it were, of this rice-table is, as may be supposed, rice, and with this foundation in your plate, innumerable dishes of eggs, fish, meat, etc., are offered by a string of attendants, who expect you to put some of each on the top of it. probably this is only a literal and exaggerated interpretation of a malay curry, which is incomplete without the countless little relishes which should accompany it. this particular dish, or rather function, is seen in its fullest development in the up-country places, visited later, and the one in batavia was scarcely a fair sample, as though x. was unaware of this at the time, its proportions had evidently been toned down and diminished out of deference to the cosmopolitan character of the guests, who, probably like our traveller, had on former occasions given their ignorance away by asking for more plates and taking each dish seriously, as though it were a separate course, sent up before its time, at the risk of getting cold. to a person accustomed to singapore there was something novel and cheering about the first meal in the vast dining-hall of this hotel. the floor was of marble--scrupulously clean--and the javanese waiters were dressed in a uniform of white trimmed with red, presenting a pleasing contrast to the slipshod dirty "boy" of an ordinary hotel, whose habit it is to clatter round flapping your face and brushing your food with his long, unclean, hanging sleeves. though in the native states from whence x. came it is no uncommon thing to see malays wait at table, yet in singapore, with the exception of indian servants, it is very seldom that there are any attendants but chinese. perhaps the most striking feature of the meal was the absence of bread. this could be procured, when asked for, but was not provided, as it is elsewhere, as a matter of course, and was regarded as an extra. an excellent arrangement of this marble hall was that it was permitted to smoke immediately after lunch. as, availing himself of this, x. smoked his cigarette and meditated contentedly, he noted all the various details which might interest the community at home. one rather prominent detail was a lady at a neighbouring table dressed only in a sarong and kabaya, with her extremities bare. the lower portion of these were thrust into some loose sandal slippers, the upper turned back as far under the chair as the stretch of the sarong would allow. it was not a costume which, from x.'s point of view, appeared elegant, though, like most articles of apparel worn by beauty, capable of becoming elegant if elegantly worn; still in the present instance more natural elegance would be required in proportion to that of the costume, there being so little of the latter. returning to the publicity of his apartment, x. was met by usoof and abu, both with very long faces and evidently in considerable distress. on being interrogated it transpired that they had nowhere to bathe. now to bathe, and bathe constantly, is as necessary to a malay as are regular meals to a european. x., being sadly aware that he would be held responsible for everything that went wrong or did not fit in with the exact views of these children of nature, thought it best to be brave at the commencement of things and affect an indifference which he was far from really feeling, and, therefore, with a jerk of his head towards the canal, replied that that was where people bathed. "yes, perhaps _people_," said abu, with meaning, and then for fear x. should not be sufficiently intelligent to catch the tone, added "people who don't mind filth or water like that in a drain." this seemed to need no answer, and as usoof had reserved his remarks x. knew that worse was to come, and he would be more prudent to wait and reply on the whole question, instead of being drawn into argument as though he were actually to blame for this terrible state of affairs. but as usoof still kept silence x. rashly thought he had gained an easy victory, and airily added, "all right, you must make the best of it and go to the canal." then the reserved remarks found vent, "was the tuan aware that all the women in the place bathed there?" "yes," this had to be admitted, since the tuan himself had noticed it, and, as has been recorded above, not without some comments of his own. "then how can i bathe there at the same time?" continued usoof, "i should be ashamed." "well, if they are not you need not be," rather frivolously replied his master, as he sought escape from further conversation by burrowing in a box full of books. it may as well be recorded here that the couple never did bathe in that canal, and eventually drove some miles into the country, where they performed their modest ablutions by a village well. they also refused to permit any clothes to be sent to the wash in batavia, and they were not far wrong, since the water of the canal was equally unfitted for washing either clothes or the human body it was their office to adorn. chapter vi. an official call. after luncheon x. took a drive. all the most noteworthy features of batavia are duly set forth in guide books, and it is therefore only advisable to mention those few points of difference from an english colonial town which seemed to the traveller worthy of note. the principal one was that all the residents' houses were built along the side of the high road; there were no secluded mansions standing in their own grounds as in singapore. all the houses were obtrusively _en evidence_, so much so, that people, socially inclined, take their evening drive and note at a glance, by the lights displayed, who is at home and ready to receive. those not prepared to entertain sit in semi-darkness. the houses seemed as devoid of privacy as were the verandahs of the hotels. planted on each side of the road were huge towering trees testifying by their presence that the town was not of mushroom growth. no europeans were met; this was understood later when it was explained that at this hour of the day they were all asleep. at first it seemed that there were no shops, but closer observation discovered them under the same roof as some of the private dwellings, standing detached away from the road. the english church wore a deserted aspect, closed and uncared for. possibly the driver libelled the community when he informed the traveller that it was never used. the ordinary carriage is a _dos-à-dos_, a most uncomfortable conveyance like an irish car turned end on, but excellent carriages are provided by the hotels. later our traveller proposed to call upon the resident--the chief authority in the place--and present his letters of introduction. he had been told that he must not call before 7.30 in the evening, and also that he must wear dress clothes. it seemed an outrageous thing to do, to put on dress clothes in broad daylight in an hotel and to go out about dinner time to call, and when he summoned usoof to assist him, that grave-faced individual did so with a kind of silent pity for his master compelled to do unaccountable things in a land of strangers. however, when x. had arrayed himself, as though he were dining out, his heart failed him. he felt it was impossible to go to the house of a stranger like this just at the hour for dinner without appearing as though he hoped he would be asked to stay for that meal. and so he shamefacedly untied his white tie and asked usoof to provide him with a morning coat. this apprehension might have been spared, however; the call was never actually paid, for, in the drive that led up to the house of the resident, he met a carriage coming out containing a gentleman and three ladies. this turned out to be the resident with his wife and daughters. it was an agreeable surprise to find that the carriage stopped, and the traveller had the somewhat difficult task of introducing himself and explaining his appearance in the dark. the resident, who spoke excellent english, was most cordial and kind. he regretted that he was not at home to receive the intended visit, but he was obliged to attend a reception given in honour of the general, the hero of the lomboh war. then the great official expressed a hope that x. had secured his permit, and told him that he must renew it when he reached buitensug, which was the limit of his jurisdiction. x. noticed that the resident was not in dress clothes and mentally congratulated himself that he wore none either, or most certainly as the carriage drove away he would have looked like a person disappointed of a dinner. the hotel was most gorgeously illuminated with electric light, and the marble dining hall was extravagantly lurid. had x. consulted his convenience he would certainly have worn his black sun spectacles, but actually feared to alarm his followers by exhibiting any further tendency to eccentricity on their first day in a strange country, and so he resigned himself to blink owlishly throughout the meal. the absence of a punkah, a necessity to which he was accustomed, was also a trial. however, there was little fear of getting hot by over indulgence at the table, as the chilly cocoanut-oily viands were excellent checks to any imprudent display of appetite. towards the end of the repast the proprietor of the hotel informed x. that the resident of batavia wished to speak to him through the telephone. if there is one place where he exhibits himself in an unfavourable light it is in front of that horrible, muttering, jibbering instrument, when, after the introductory "who's there?" and information as to who you are repeated _ad nauseam_, there rumble to your ear the most exasperating sounds, so full of meaning and yet conveying nothing, until it seems as though the person at the other end were mocking you, and the tone of his voice gets so irritating that you long to throw down the tubes and make a rush at him. however, on this occasion x. wisely left the whole matter in the hands of the proprietor, who presently informed him that the resident invited him to an open air concert given at the concordia club in honour of the general, then the man of the hour, and, if he would care to come, an english friend would presently call for him at the hotel. the only possible answer to such a welcome invitation was duly transmitted. x. has, according to his own account, all his life been a most fortunate individual. wherever he went he has always, as the phrase has it, "fallen on his feet." on this expedition his luck did not desert him, and on the appearance of his fellow countryman which took place (to be exact in speaking of an event now historical) at 9 p.m., there commenced a new departure which forged a first link in the chain of events which was to happily land him in the most beautiful country that he had ever yet beheld. x. has always thought of telephones more kindly since. chapter vii. a concert at the concordia club. the traveller was naturally much impressed with the scene at the concordia club. in the beautiful gardens, which were gorgeously illuminated, people were walking about and sitting down as though it were an english summer night. but, as in the east thoughts of health and diet always occupy an extraordinarily prominent place in the minds of all who have dwelt there for any length of time, that which chiefly struck the stranger was the apparently reckless indifference to fever displayed by those _flaneurs_ who dawdled about under the trees on this treacherous soil, as though it were the harmless green grass of hurlingham at home. and it almost relieved him to hear presently from a lady, to whom he expressed this astonishment, that the doctors declared this season of open air concerts was certainly the most busy time for colds and fever. the resident and his party were seated at a round table on the top of the flight of marble steps leading to the club. to each person of this group x. was presented in turn, after which he had the honour of a seat on the right hand of his host and thus full opportunity to enjoy the novelty of the surroundings and the excellent music of the band. as the party gathered round the table included some of the greatest names in the country, people who were in a position to have an intimate knowledge of recent events, the conversation proved interesting and instructive. thus the englishman heard the story of the balineri war--that terrible defeat and massacre of the dutch troops under the command of the general, who ultimately retrieved the position, and to do honour to whom all were assembled to-night. x. listened as people spoke of the unparalleled treachery of the natives, the sufferings of the troops, and the assistance rendered to the enemy by the importation of arms by a european. and severe remarks were made as to this latter incident, some present insisting that the culprit was an englishman from singapore. war was in the air--everyone talked of the war, and such an impression did the matter make upon x., who heard the conduct of the campaign discussed wherever he went, throughout his stay, that it may be of interest to give in a separate chapter the story of what was said about the recent war. all those who joined the party on the terrace spoke english, to the relief of x.--and as new guests arrived to join the circle they were formally introduced by name to each one among the company in that precise manner which is the fashion in america. and likewise when any individual rose to leave he would bid good-night to each separate member of the party. when i undertook to compile this little account of how x. went to java, it had been my intention to arrange what he saw and what he heard in some order of sequence, but from the nature of his manner of observation, i find this to be impossible, and therefore must record each impression he received and facts of interest which he heard, just as they came to him, regardless of apparent want of connection. as the chief object of this sketch is to assist others intending to spend a short holiday in that beautiful island belonging to our neighbours, this little originality may pass. thus on this occasion the traveller learnt that, contrary to his former ideas on the matter, the civil service was much underpaid, and that, though it corresponds with our indian civil service in standard of examination, etc., the scale of pay and of pensions falls far short of its prototype. and it may be mentioned here, as showing what an important part naval officers are expected to play in dutch east india, that all midshipmen have to pass in the malay language. the command of the squadron on the waters of netherlands india is the prize of the service, to the holding of which the most distinguished naval officers look forward. the governor general of the dutch possessions in the east is known as his excellency during his term of office. the admiral who commands there not only has the same title during the years of his command, but is entitled to retain it for the remainder of his life. in the course of conversation the resident kindly informed x. that he must not be annoyed at being obliged to obtain a permit to travel, since it had been found necessary to insist that even his own countrymen should do so, and he had recently caused notices to be issued and posted in all the steamers and hotels, so that there might be no misunderstanding in the matter. after the concert and the conclusion of a most agreeable evening x. was introduced to the harmonic club, where he had supper. this, like the concordia, is a magnificent building with marble pillars and floors, more in accordance with his early ideas of the gorgeous east than anything which the traveller had seen. the harmonic club was built during the time when java was an english possession--and his informant, the englishman, sighed. it was not long before the new comer also sighed, when, having seen the beauties of this glorious country, he remembered that but for the blindness of some former rulers, unmindful of the advice of those on the spot who should know, another india might have been held for england. but as the natural beauty of the country was enhanced and made complete by the sight of universal prosperity and content, the sound of such a sigh from an english visitor is the greatest compliment the present proprietors could be paid. the first day of x.'s stay in java was now over--a pleasant day enough, as he admitted to himself, after a long seclusion in the jungle--the place on which, after all, his last thoughts rested, that negatively happy jungle and its kindly inhabitants--represented to his immediate view by two inanimate bundles on the floor entrenched behind a barricade of boxes in a corner of the room. these were the faithful usoof and abu, long since gone to rest--forgetful of all the troubles of their first day in a new country. chapter viii. concerning the lomboh war. lomboh is an island to the east of java. the raja of lomboh did not come to batavia at a time when it was expected of him, and after some correspondence the resident of the nearest district was sent to see him. after--in true oriental fashion--promising to give him audience, and then failing to do so--keeping the resident waiting a week--he finally sent a message refusing to meet him. then troops were sent. but their departure was not effected without a commencement of that bickering which marked the whole subsequent course of events. the general in command was junior to the admiral over whom he was put. a compromise was effected by a second general being appointed. when the expedition reached its destination the balineri showed great astonishment at this parade of force, and affected to be at a total loss to understand why they had come. this unexpected turn of events finally ended in a great "chumming up" which developed into social functions and the taking of a photograph, in which the raja's generals and other chiefs of the expedition were all taken in one large group. this photograph was sent to buitenzorg--the seat of government--as a proof of the unreality of the scare, and the diplomatic ease with which the expedition had been able to come, see and conquer. the photograph is not now to be purchased. after the festivities and photography the dutch force camped by the palace walls, and the general in command reported officially that the matter was settled. on receipt of this welcome news the governor general was so delighted that he gave a dinner party that same evening, and after the meal was over stood on the billiard table and made a little speech announcing the bloodless success and happy termination of the affair lomboh. the palace where the troops had camped was a kind of village--a collection of houses surrounded by a huge wall. each day the dutch held parades and drill outside the village, and tried to astonish the natives with the wonders of their winchesters and field guns. at these the people professed great astonishment, examining those modern weapons with intense interest, and asking questions innumerable as to their construction and cost. the latter is almost invariably the first question which occurs to a native mind. the balinese must be clever actors, since all the while they possessed hundreds of winchesters and many pieces of field ordnance within those deceitful walls. they were deceitful walls, for they were extensively loop-holed, the apertures being cunningly stopped up with mortar. one evening the crisis came. the officers while playing whist--dressed in their lounge clothes of sarong and their feet bare, were attacked and shot down almost to a man. when the poor fellows sought refuge under the walls, hand grenades were fired to dislodge them. a general panic and flight followed. those fugitives who had managed to effect an orderly retreat, took refuge in a temple about half way between their camp and that of another detachment. it was only then that they realized to the full extent the nature of the terrible disaster, for here they met a poor remnant of that other detachment fighting their way to them for help--they also having been treacherously attacked. but this was not all, no warning had yet been sent to a third detachment which had been left on the coast. this column, ignorant of any disaster, marched in to the recent camp and had scarcely time to wheel round before the guns in the loopholes opened fire, almost annihilating them, a few only escaping back to the boats. how deeply affected were the dutch and their friends, the whole civilized world, at the arrival of this terrible news, is matter of history, and for a time something like consternation reigned in buitenzorg and batavia. after telegraphic communication with europe, and the fortunate mislaying of a certain message deprecating any prompt action, the governor general took a popular step in deciding to send every available man to the seat of war, and to render all possible assistance. this was done, and the dutch forces subsequently retrieved their fortunes, in some measure avenging the death of their comrades. but it was at no small sacrifice, since java--the government of which place much reliance on military display--was almost destitute of troops. as an illustration of this it is related that during this war the sultan of deli elected to pay a visit to batavia. as only two battalions of troops were left it was considered impolitic that he should know it, therefore the men were marched past him first when he was dining in the capital, and then despatched by train to represent other battalions, and march past him once again on the occasion of his visit to buitenzorg the following day. the description of the tears of the aged sultan of lomboh at the destruction of his beautiful palace, and the marvellous stories of how jewels and millions of treasure were borne away by the victorious general more resembled a page for the "arabian nights" than a record of facts in the present day. on the other hand, accounts of the terrible hardships endured by the brave dutch soldiers sounded more modern, and were only too easy of belief. the seat of the war was only half a day from the javanese port of soerabaya, and enough money had been collected in java and holland to pay the cost of the entire war, and yet it was so mismanaged that officers had only rice to eat, and nightly camped out on the ground without shelter in that fever-giving climate. chapter ix. buitenzorg. on the afternoon of the day of his arrival, a sunday, having declined a kind invitation to a party for the theatre, x. decided to leave for buitenzorg. he thought he sniffed fever mingled with the other very apparent odours in his room on the ground floor, while usoof and abu not only could not bathe but were unable to send his clothes to the wash. the combination of reasons and of smells was strong. it may be mentioned here, it being about as _apropos_ in this place as it would be in any other, that all functions in java, from a reception of the governor general to a performance by a travelling show, take place on a sunday. the train left batavia at 4.30 and x. reached buitenzorg at six. so much that is misleading has been written about buitenzorg--the washington of java, that x. was woefully deceived. it certainly is a beautiful place--indeed exquisitely so, but a traveller is scarcely satisfied with the beauties of nature when he pays to mankind for creature comforts which he fails to obtain. the most agreeable feature of the journey to a stranger who has, as it were, been long hemmed in by dense jungles in the peninsula, was certainly the long stretches of open country reminding him of the pasture lands and fields which fly past the train at home. cattle and ponies grazing complete the illusion, and x. could scarcely refrain from outspoken exclamations of delight. it had been much impressed upon the traveller that he must by all means obtain a room at the belle vue hotel, and if possible, one overlooking the back which governs the famous view. this was achieved by telegram. on arrival a carriage with three ponies conveyed him to the hotel--a poor building on a lovely site, which bristled with possibilities. the famous back terrace of rooms was at the further side of the courtyard to the entrance, and, once duly installed, x. was delighted with the outlook. just immediately below the window was the railway line--below that rushed a large, broad, shallow mountain river in which half the native population seemed to be bathing. beyond these stretched an unbroken view of picturesque villages, whose scattered red-roofed houses peeped here and there from among the palms and other graceful trees. beyond again, the mountain--with five distinct sugar-loaf tops, tops which had to be watched while counting as they emerged and disappeared in turn from out and in the hanging land of clouds. yes, the view had certainly not been overrated, and x. was glad he came. usoof and abu refused to consider anything beautiful, and could only exclaim with horror at the bathers in the river, who evidently shocked their ideas of propriety. their master was not surprised at their comments, but his own views were broader and his moral perceptions perhaps blunter, and experience had taught him the propriety of the injunction concerning rome and the romans. but it was nevertheless quite certain that the most moderate london county councillor could not have borne the sight of that river without a shock to his system. after revelling in the view from the verandah a black coat was donned for dinner, which the wearer subsequently found rendered him conspicuous, and he then crossed the courtyard to the dining room prepared to dine well off fresh fish, mutton, and other products of the country. although the soup was on the table cooling, the company sat outside round a little table drinking gin and bitters. not wanting any, x. as clark russell would say, hung in the wind, and then after a few seconds--seeing that dinner was certainly ready--seated himself. this isolated action rendered him almost as conspicuous as his coat, which was also alone in its sombre glory. presently others followed the stranger's example, and the meal began. then ensued a period of disillusion. there was no punkah, the glare of the lamplight was blinding, and the food--all of it--coarse, greasy and cold. the soup which had been waiting was of the variety known as tinned, an old acquaintance which x. had hoped to have left in the jungle until his return. this, and other messes, would not have mattered so greatly, had not the proprietor of the hotel, a pompous gentleman (x. afterwards learnt he was president of the race club), stood sentry over the door, whence issued the rows of servants with the dishes, narrowly watching what each guest partook of and detecting with an eagle eye the uneatable scraps which the defeated diner had striven to conceal beneath his knife and fork. the most amusing thing during the progress of the meal was the conversation of an elderly english couple, who, in truly british tourist fashion seemed to imagine they were alone, and the people round them but figures of wax who could neither hear nor be affected by anything they might say. "oh, how they soak the fish in grease," the lady would exclaim; or, "this is good meat, but ruined, yes, positively ruined in the cooking; look, my dear, it is (doubtfully, and sniffing at her plate), it is absolutely _soaked_ in grease--oh, what a pity, how can you eat it, dear--but you would eat anything," the speaker continued garrulously, "for yesterday you ate the fish on board that steamer when it was almost rotten--i smelt it from my cabin before we came out, etc," and much more in the same strain. to all these domestic remarks, her companion vouchsafed no reply, but continued his dinner as though accustomed to such an accompaniment. it was as much as x. could do to refrain from laughing, and, fearful of hurting the feelings of others himself, he would take another helping when the proprietor was looking, and felt uncommonly "hot" at the conduct of his compatriot. however, worse was to come, for at the end of dinner, when the "boys" brought coffee made in the way usual to the country--a few drops of cold essence of coffee at the bottom of the cups, which had to be filled up with boiling milk or water--the lady from england could not contain her indignation, but loudly scolded the waiter for such a stingy way of putting so little in the cup, since "coffee should surely be cheap in java," and then proceeded to empty the contents of all the cups into two, one for herself and one for her husband, while saying with a smile "we like a cup of coffee, not a drop." then while she sipped her full cup like one on whom there unwillingly dawns the unpleasant consciousness of having made a mistake, the lady further addressed the waiter and asked, "do they always drink cold coffee in java?" the waiter, who could only stand passive while this calm robbery was committed--for had not the whole company to wait for a second brew--made reply with the only english of his vocabulary, "yes." x., who had the doubtful advantage of understanding as well as seeing all that was going on, glared fiercely as he saw himself deprived of the only portion of the meal which was at all likely to be good, and could willingly have caused an interruption by using his napkin and bread as a sling and a stone. the "yes" of the native apparently checked the embarrassment which the lady was beginning to feel, and triumphantly she exclaimed, "my goodness, what a country." then the husband blew his nose with discomfort, and, her attention attracted, his good wife exclaimed, "my dear, you have a cold, let us go to bed," and they went. x., and possibly others, found satisfaction in the thought that people might go to bed after partaking of such a concoction as that couple had done, but that they certainly would not sleep. nor did they, as the sequel showed. for the lady and her husband also had a room on the terrace suite, and this was divided only by a thin partition from that of x., and though he did not wish to listen, the first words which greeted his gratified ears on the following morning were, "oh, darling, i have had such a dreadful night; i never closed my eyes." x. heard no more as he delicately buried his head in the pillows, lest he should be dragged too deep in domestic confidences; but he had heard enough--he was avenged. and they knew themselves it was the coffee, since it was noticed that this night after dinner the sleepless couple each firmly declined the brimming cups, which, with kind forethought for the public good, the proprietor had ordered to be handed to them. chapter x. customs and costumes. early in the morning x. went out to explore, and, naturally, his first visit was to those wonderful gardens which are the first in the world, and are the resort of naturalists from all portions of the globe. in a sketch of this nature it would be presumption to attempt to describe the marvels of this garden, one of the sights of the east, which it is worth while going to java to see. during his walk the traveller was at every turn astonished at the evidences of wealth amongst the natives, the tiled roofed houses and plentifully stocked orchards and gardens, while goats and sheep browsed everywhere. in the streets everyone appeared to be selling--there seemed none left to buy--and they sold the most attractive looking fruits and vegetables, together with a variety of flowers. the population is large, and for some distance round the town stretched rows and rows of native houses built close together, backs and fronts facing each other in every angle and position, showing that the people must surely live together in unity, _en famille_ or rather _en masse_, in marked contrast to the malay villages, where, as a rule, each house stands in an enclosure of its own grounds. but there they have unlimited space, here apparently they have unlimited people. himself living an isolated life amongst a native race, it was only natural that x. should be more inclined than the ordinary traveller to notice the people of the country and their surroundings. he had heard so many stories of their oppression by the dutch and the uncomfortable conditions under which they lived, that the actual appearance of the natives came as a surprise, which only increased the more he saw and the further he travelled in java. as to higher life in java, to any one who has been there or knows anything of the country, its social conditions are well known. but however much may have been previously heard of them, it cannot but give the ordinary englishman a shock, when he is for the first time confronted with them in their reality. intermarriage with the people of the country is not only condoned, but almost encouraged, and it is no uncommon thing to meet the children of these marriages in the highest society. cases occur where people, holding great positions, legitimize their children, and after years of unsolemnized intercourse lead their mother to the altar. the mothers of many children being educated in holland, probably in the future to enter the service of the country, are simply native women still living in their villages. the accident of birth would seldom be considered a bar when ascending official heights, nor is a mixed parentage any obstacle to such distinction. many instances of this were observed by x. during his visit, and, though the state of affairs appeared to him rather strange, he was obliged to own that from a dutch point of view there existed many and weighty arguments in its favour, the _pros_ and _cons_ of such a question are certainly beyond the scope of a book which only purports to note for the benefit of intending travellers such things as merit observation. so far as i can gather, there were few excursions to be made from buitenzorg and few sights, but in the afternoon he drove to see a famous stone covered with hindoo inscriptions, the first indication brought to his notice of the real origin of this now mahommedan people. late in the day x. decided to call upon the official who holds the position corresponding with that of an english colonial secretary, and to ask his assistance in obtaining a pass to continue his journey into the interior. though warned not to call before 7 p.m., just as it was getting dusk, the traveller felt nervous and fidgety, unable to really believe that he would be doing right to make a call so late, and thus six o'clock found him approaching the very modest-looking dwelling in which the great official dwelt. a glance was enough to show that he was wrong and his informant right, since in front of him, at a desk in a room off the verandah, sat his host still clothed in the undress of pyjamas--not having yet made his toilet for the evening. however, though x. felt guilty of a _gaucherie_, the sense of it came entirely from his own consciousness, and not at all from the manner of the gentleman whom he interrupted, for without the least trace of either annoyance or surprise, but as though the untimely appearance of a stranger and a foreigner was a daily occurrence, he bade him welcome with polite cordiality. this official was as agreeable and well informed as anyone the traveller had met, and x. always waxes enthusiastic when speaking of him. with true courtesy he at once abandoned the work on which he was engaged, without that last lingering look at the table which so often ruins the grace of a similar sacrifice, and forthwith evinced the utmost interest in the affairs of his guest. he quickly reassured him concerning his pass, and, on hearing that he was in some way connected with the government across the straits, immediately promised to procure for him a special permit which would enable him to travel where he would, and ensure assistance from all with whom he came in contact. though, at this time relying upon his own ability to manage the order of his going, x. may not have attached much importance to the future part which this permit would play, at the end of his travels he gladly acknowledged that it proved of the utmost utility, and there was more than one occasion on which he felt impelled to record words of gratitude towards him who had so thoughtfully provided it. _apropos_ of the calling hour, it may be mentioned here that this is a social rock on which many english people strike. i use this nautical simile advisedly since, not so very long ago, no less a person than a british admiral wishing to follow the hours to which he was accustomed paid his official call on the dutch naval commander at five o'clock. the dutch admiral, who was not then dressed, and did not intend to dress until seven o'clock, declined to receive him at such an unusual hour, and the question of dress, always one of the first importance in the british navy, then became rather a burning one, until tactful mediators paved the way for a more successful visit. whereas, in the east, english people maintain their usual habits and customs--did not our grandfathers wear tall hats when pig-sticking in india?--the dutch in java adopt the habits and the clothes they consider most fitting for the climate. it is not intended to imply that both are loose, though certainly the former are somewhat relaxed. no visitor to the country is competent to give a judgment for or against the manners he finds there. x. longed to impress this on more than one tourist whom he met on his travels. few dutch ladies in java mind being seen in what to us appears undress--a sarong and kabaya--and frequently, when without guests, it is the custom to dine in this scanty apparel. in consequence there is a dislike to dining out, which involves the wearing of european clothes in all their fashionable tightness, and many a story is told in batavia of sudden illness amongst lady guests during the evening--illness easily attributable to the unusual compression of garments, worn only on such rare occasions. there is seldom necessity for dressing since europeans scarcely ever call in java--of ladies it may be said they never call--though in the mornings they drive round in covered carriages visiting their intimate friends, clad in the skirts of the country so universally adopted. chapter xi. an untimely call. it was this same custom which caused discomfiture to x. on the following day, when having received the promised special permit, a document calling upon all officials to assist him, in the name of the governor-general himself, he decided that it would be only right that he should present himself at the house of the ruler who had signed it, and in token of gratitude and respect inscribe his name in his book. as the traveller had no intention of seeing anyone or attempting to enter the gorgeous palace which stands in the midst of the famous gardens, there seemed no need to trouble about the time for the call, and therefore it seemed well to make it the excuse for a walk and fit it in with his afternoon stroll. accordingly about 5 o'clock found him walking up the broad avenue, on either side of which were browsing deer in great numbers--a very novel feature to anyone who for years had only seen such creatures wild excepting one time when--but no i must withhold the temptation to wander off the broad avenue which leads the visitor up to the stately pile in front of him as, like he did a little further on, i would wish to get it over. for it is not pleasant even to record the admittedly awkward situations in which x., who had always prided himself on his _savoir faire_, now so often found himself. as he approached the portico (it reminded him much of gorhambury, the seat of lord verulam, in hertfordshire) the stranger became aware, rather than actually saw, that there were two figures seated on the main verandah having tea. he almost felt their eyes upon him in wonder and amusement, and, as he gradually neared the steps without in any way looking up, it was in some mysterious manner conveyed to him that these figures were ladies, and their dress, the sarong and kabaya! what was he to do. he could not turn and fly, nor could he diverge from the broad path and wander across the grass like any common trespasser--and, even while he wondered, his steps took him deliberately on, feeling self-conscious in the most literal understanding of the word--and inexorably each moment took him nearer, though in the endeavour to put off the evil moment he had, perhaps unknown to himself, slowed down his previously deliberate saunter until his feet were now doing little more than marking slow time. however, the visitor gazed alternately at the tops of the trees and the roof of the palace, as though things of absorbing interest were there taking place, and at last he was obliged to realize that he had reached the lowest step of the imposing staircase. x. assures me that it is a fact, he never once lowered his eyes or focussed the little party before him, although ultimately the tea table could not have been more than a few yards off. there stood the stranger with a vacant expression which would have made the fortune of a performer in a waxwork show, and hoped and almost prayed that a servant of some kind would appear, receive his signature or his card and allow him to return to the comfortless obscurity of his hotel. there was no bell, and no servant came, and the silence at length became unbearable. relief came at last from the tea party for the voice of a lady suddenly fairly shrieked for a "boy." after this explosion the tension of the situation was relieved, and there was a sound as of chairs hastily pushed back and the patter of little feet and the rustle of sarongs, which led x. to infer that there had been some sort of a retreat. then a flurried native appeared, he seemed a kind of gardener hastily fetched from his duties, possibly the mowing machine, and pouring forth words in a strange dialect he pointed wildly to another flight of steps and another door. following this menial, a veritable _deus ex machina_, x. was led down those palatial steps and up another flight round the corner. there the gardener threw open a door and seemed disposed to resign his custody of the stranger, preparing to return again to his machine. but x. steadily declined to enter alone into that vast hall, nor would he even stay to look for a book in which to write his name, for he felt that the hasty retreat he had heard was not carried beyond the nearest pillars, and each moment he tarried, the fugitives were wondering what he could be doing while, alas, their tea was getting cold. and so he thrust his card, his only guarantee of good faith, into the soiled hand of the solitary attendant of this eastern palace and fled--but fled he hoped with dignity. as he walked down the avenue with conscious and deliberate steps--admiring the view on the right of him and the view on the left of him--never looking back, though the desire for one glance was so overpowering that the nape of his neck actually ached, he conquered, and finally emerged from those great gates without any further satisfaction to the curiosity aroused by his first involuntary glimpse. but so long as he remained in java he never paid another call before dusk, a more convenient time, when such _contretemps_ are not likely to occur. chapter xii. a model estate x. was informed that the proper journey from buitenzorg was by carriage _via_ poentjuk to sindanglaya, where a stay should be made at gezondleid's establishment after securing an upstairs room. the next stage in the traveller's journey is to tjandjoer and thence to garvet. and after a week at garvet on again to djoedja, solo, semarang, etc., but the traveller had already had sufficient of hotel life in java, and so determined to at once avail himself of a kind invitation he had received to stay on an estate, not many miles from soekaboemi. after a few hours' rail in a first-class carriage (this fact is worth recording as it was very seldom that such accommodation could be had, even if a first-class ticket had been issued), he duly reached the station where he had been instructed to alight. here his host had sent two ponies to meet him, one for himself and one for his servant, as well as several coolies to carry his luggage. so, abu being left at the house of the stationmaster in care of the rest of the luggage (a terrible quantity, the cost of its transport almost equalled the first-class fare of its owner), x., followed by usoof, started on the ten mile ride which led to their destination. the path was a very rough one, and for the first portion of the distance the way was through an open country planted with padi as far as the eye could reach. the little ponies cared nothing for the stony path, and went gamely along as though accustomed to canter on a hard high road. after crossing the valley the route began to ascend the range of hills, at the summit of which, 2,000 feet high, the estate was situated. for almost the entire length of this ascent the view was so glorious that the traveller continued to exclaim in wonder to his companion to stop and look. usoof who, as has been related, was a native of the country, affected to gaze at it with the unconcern of a proprietor, merely reminding his master that he had always said, that his was a very fine country. for miles below the padi fields stretched away narrowing in the distance, and here and there amidst this expanse of emerald green were dotted little clumps of green of a darker shade, these being the trees surrounding the clusters of houses inhabited by the fortunate owners of the land. and every now and again athwart the green carpet, stretched out below, glittered belts of water sparkling like silver in the sun. the hills, which were also all planted with padi, looked like grassy slopes with a back-ground formed by terraces of hill-tops. one above the other they lay in ranges, until, in the furthest distance, mountains of noble height towered like giants above them all. it surely was a view worth going far to see, a wealth of green such as an untravelled eye could not even dimly realise. no troubles of travel, no greasy cookery or breadless meals could matter one jot if this was the reward. the view repaid the enterprise even if the path by which it were approached led only to a wayside inn of the most unpretentious type, but its joys were enhanced by the anticipation of a visit to a couple well known for their hospitality to strangers. the host being a fellow-countryman who had had the good fortune to marry a dutch lady of most distinguished family. almost at the summit of the hill, about eight miles from the station, stood a little halting house bearing the english-looking signboard with the legend of the "pig and whistle." here refreshments awaited the travellers, and then the journey was continued along a jungle path which shortly emerged on to the cultivated slopes of the estate. these slopes were covered with cinchona trees, which x. afterwards learnt were in process of being rapidly replaced by tea-plants. presently at a dip in the road the first glimpse was caught of the house below. a little english cottage, it appeared, nestling cosily in a hollow, close beside a mountain stream. a nearer approach revealed that the cottage was covered with blue convolvulus and other creepers, and that the verandahs were enclosed with glass. it all reminded him somehow of a well-known cottage by boulter's lock, and there came a curious thrill of home memories at the sight of a typical english home. on the further side of the stream stood a little detached pavilion, kept exclusively for guests, after the fashion of all dutch houses in the east. this annexe is generally considered the house of the elder son, but it is more usually built and used for the accommodation of guests; an excellent arrangement in a country where both entertainers and entertained wish occasionally to repose in attire, whose lightness is best suited to the climate. a rustic bridge connected the two buildings, and just above it was the bath room, into which a portion of the stream had been diverted, so as to form a natural shower bath. the stream and bridge and cottage, with their back-ground of hills and fore-ground of roses, combined to make such a picture that x. longed to be able to sketch it and take it away and keep it. the interior of this cottage was as cosy and home-like as the outside promised it would be, and, wonder of wonders! it had real wall paper on the walls. this almost unheard of luxury in the east was a triumph of the skill of the hostess, and had so far successfully defied the ravages of mildew and damp. the chief characteristic of the house was that it looked like a home, its tasteful decoration and contents indicating that the inhabitants had come to stay. most houses in the east have an unmistakeable air of being mere temporary shelters, where the owners are lodging till they can get away to their household goods now warehoused "at home." this was only the second house x. had seen in this part of the world, where the owners looked as if they lived in it (the other was in selangor). in this ideal spot it was the good fortune of the traveller to spend some days--days pleasantly spent in riding about the estate--which he soon grew to covet, and in watching the planting of the tea, which, it was hoped, would eventually enable the kind host and hostess to return with wealth to their native land. the climate at this elevation was delightful, cool, and invigorating, and it was possible to follow english hours and habits. instead of getting up at 5 a.m. to go for a ride, as was the custom in pura pura, x. found himself starting for a ride after breakfast, about ten o'clock, without fear of the sun, and this total change lifted his spirits, and he recorded silent thanks to the community who had suggested java for his jaunt. as may be imagined, during his stay in the hills the visitor was able to learn much about the country, and hear many things that not only interested him, but excited his admiration for the administration of the precise and order-loving race who owned this beautiful island. contrary to what he had been led to believe, chiefly, perhaps, by a book which had given currency to the impression, he found that the planters were greatly assisted by the government officials, who endeavour to work with them, and, whenever possible, to meet their wishes. the coolies certainly all appeared happy, when x. got accustomed to seeing them crouch servilely in the ditches when he or his host passed by. english officials in the native states of the peninsula are accustomed to pass their lives amongst the malays, to listen to and help them in their troubles, and to be constantly surrounded by them as followers or companions, and the inmates and affairs of each household are known, much as those of the cottagers on his estate would be to a home-staying country squire in england. it can then be understood how strange it seemed to x. to ride amongst people of the same race and see them crouch down as he passed, not even daring to lift their eyes, as it is counted an offence should they meet the gaze of one of the ruling race. what could the latter really know of these people, he wondered, when knowledge had to be obtained from across such a social gulf as this. he could not conceal the disagreeable impression made upon him, but many reasons were afterwards given to him as to why this state of things should exist, and some of them were, he was compelled to admit, good ones. the chief and foremost was, perhaps, that all javanese customs and manners are full of exaggerated formality and etiquette. these the dutch adopted as they found them, including all outward tokens of respect for those of superior rank, deeming that all europeans should be treated with the same ceremony as the native headman. one of the other reasons given was that the dutch, being a small nation and unable to keep a large force in the country, must rely upon keeping the natives down in their proper place--under foot--for the continuance of the supremacy they had achieved. x., as others would do, can only hope that this view, though heard from several sources, was given to him "sarcastic like," and that it was expected he would duly appreciate the irony. and perhaps he did, seeing that he came from a country where, without the presence of a single soldier, the widely scattered, and in many cases isolated, officials can act as the friends and advisers of a native race without the least fear of any loss of dignity or position, both accepted as so much a matter of course as to make any question regarding them impossible. java is, perhaps, the most governed country in the world. this phrase is not the writer's; he merely quotes an opinion to be found in books on java, written by men entitled to judge, and frequently expressed by people our traveller met in that island. the people are united by what might be described as chains of officials, and each link in each chain submits periodically precise reports on everything and everybody within his charge. the system sounds flawless, and the head of all, the chief official in the country, has thus pigeon-holed in front of him more detailed and readily-found information about his subjects than is, perhaps, possessed by any other ruler in the world. this is a matter which might excite admiration, and there is no doubt that it in some respects merits it, and the contrast presented to our own system of government in the adjacent mainland is worthy of examination. but it would be out of place in a book which professes to do no more than describe a pleasant tour, and x.'s opinion upon a question of such gravity, even though formed after a lengthy sojourn amongst the malays, and no little personal experience of the life and manners of an eastern people, may be omitted. it may be recorded, however, that the question made him ponder, and he wondered if the officials who knew everybody also knew everything, and whether many matters worthy of record did not find themselves washed on one side as the stream of reports wound its way from one native official to another, then to the subordinate european officials (sometimes married to native women), and then once more on to the pigeon-holes of the central authority. as i write i have before me a list of fifteen titles of native officials given to x. by one of themselves. there is no need to enumerate them here, though allusion to them may suggest the possibilities of the various stages of the journey to the final pigeon-holes. natives themselves have evidently formed opinions on these matters, since in some of the native states of the peninsula it was always the custom of the people to invite a raja from another country to come and rule over them, experience having taught them that a man with interest and relations in the country might not always be sufficiently impartial; in the same manner the native mahommedan priest is always selected from another nationality. however, to return to the place where we left x. riding along amongst the young tea plants. when the coolies were not running away from him or crouching to avoid the shock of meeting his imperial glance, he was bound to admit that they were apparently happy and contented, and, seeing the circumstances under which they lived, it would have been strange had they not been so. these people were provided with ample work within easy reach of their homes, which lay among the surrounding hills. it seemed an earthly labour paradise to an official, accustomed to hear the complaints of planters lamenting losses due to their labourers, imported coolies from india, china or java, running away. not only is the lot of the coolies in java more conducive to content than those in the peninsula, but the planter is also happier in the current rate of wages; 20 to 25 cents a day (java cents) and for women 15 cents. on this estate, as on most others, there was a festival fund for the coolies, that is a certain sum of money is spent annually on their recreation, providing for musical instruments and paying for travelling shows, etc. x. felt that he had had the best of shows provided for him, a show estate, where the supply of labour was cheap and unlimited, and the people well cared for without any elaborate legislation being required for their protection. here at any rate was a positive result of the administration of the dutch, and a confutation of the stories of down-trodden peasants in java; and the traveller made up his mind that if possible he would one day be a planter and that his plantation should be in java. chapter xiii. among the roses. life was so smooth and even in this little cottage by the river that days flew by with that pleasant rapidity which leaves nothing to record except a general sense of restful enjoyment. one expedition, however, might be described, a visit paid to a neighbouring estate which had been advertised for sale, as giving a glimpse of a typical phase of up-country life. the call was paid about noon, and after riding down a steep hill, where natives were busily engaged in planting tea, the two englishmen came upon a little square white house half hidden in a bend in the stream. this building had a deserted, untidy look which was intensified by the state of the garden which surrounded it; even at some distance from the house the scent of roses was perceptible, and in the garden itself, if such a wilderness deserves the name, the odour was almost overpowering. the place was a miniature forest of rose-bushes, loaded with lovely blossoms, roses such as x. had not seen since he left his native land. everything looked untidy and ragged and ruined; the house, the creepers, the rose bushes, the grass, the pigeon lofts all spoke of neglect and want of money to put them straight, a want caused by the fall in the price of cinchona, a misfortune which had involved many a fair estate and reduced it to the desolate and unkempt condition exemplified by the one now visited. but even unkempt and uncared for, what a picture it made! it was the realisation of a poetic death--the victim smothered by roses beside the singing waters of a brook. it was a long time before any one came, and the two visitors sat in the verandah feeling rather shy and uncomfortable, for this was the neighbour's first visit, and the native, who had ushered them in, vanished, sending weird cries around the tangled garden paths as though to summon his master home. at length, after long waiting, the silence and suspense, and the wonder of who would come, from which direction, and when, grew almost unbearable, and the absurd situation so wrought on their nerves that both visitors gave vent to little gasps of laughter, brought on probably by the same nervous sensations which compel children to misbehave in church--direct promptings of the evil one, inducing a desire to do that which we know we should not do. at length, after it had been debated in hurried whispers whether a departure could not be effected, the lady of the house appeared upon the scene. she was a tall, large lady, in appearance typically dutch. she wore the usual white linen jacket and skimpy sarong, and her legs were bare. she gave a cordial greeting in dutch, at least to x. it was dutch, for he knew nothing whatever of the language. this his friend carefully explained, so he surmised, as the lady gave vent to various guttural exclamations of astonishment and turned to gaze at him as though he were indeed a strange person to behold. the conversation between the two then continued glibly, and x. was quite forgotten, and he felt neglected and grew fidgety, realizing that he extremely disliked this novel sensation of being ignored, without the possibility of attracting any attention to himself by a remark. he was soon to learn however, that those trifling inconveniences of which we are cognizant are generally less unpleasant than those we do not know, for presently there was a stir and a general rising from seats as the husband of the good lady emerged from the house on to the verandah. this gentleman was tall and dark, with a pointed grey beard like an american in a caricature. he was clothed in a strange _deshabille_, which ended in bare feet thrust loosely into carpet slippers, and when the eyes of the visitors reached thus far they realized why his complexion was so dark. after the first greetings the host--who x. afterwards learnt had once held high office under government, which he gave up for planting--turned towards him and proceeded to harangue him without full stops. there is no other way to describe what took place, as he continued to pour language at his guest without the least apparent desire for reply. to say that the visitor felt uncomfortable would be to mildly describe his feelings--he had wished for recognition, and surely had it now. what would his host think of him, if he allowed him to continue to talk and never informed him that he could not understand one word of dutch? again and again he endeavoured to stem the torrent of words and explain both in english and in french, and this being of no avail, at the risk of appearing rude and inattentive, x. turned to his friend and begged him to make the matter clear. the friend said something in dutch, but he must, it seemed, have said the wrong thing, since it had not the slightest effect, and the host continued his talk, probably all about the advantages of the estate he wished to sell. then, regarding the situation as hopeless, x. fixed his expression into one of intelligent attention and waited for him to stop. but he was not so attentive that he did not presently hear the good lady say something to his friend which caused him to exclaim as though astonished, and with a suppressed click of a laugh he turned to x. and said, "it's all right. madame has just told me he is stone deaf and can't hear a word, so it's no use my saying anything, he would understand you as well." "but can't the lady tell him i don't know dutch?" exclaimed x. almost desperately--but too late, for by this time his friend was again deeply engaged in conversation with his hostess, and there was nothing to be done but once more give his assumed attention to his host. a pleasant situation truly, to go to a man's house for the first time and so conduct yourself that you feel certain he will presently believe that it was your intention to deliberately insult and make a fool of him. x. will never forget that quarter of an hour. at last the conversation ended by its appearing that the lady had suggested, and her visitor agreed to, a walk round the estate. when he gathered this, x. eagerly seconded the proposition, but it took all joy out of it to find that the verbose proprietor insisted upon accompanying them himself to do the honours of the place. it was in vain that x. endeavoured to plant him on his friend, for his prolonged assumption of intelligent interest had apparently been so successful, that his host was flattered and never left his side. however, a few climbs up slippery by-paths--i fear deliberately chosen--soon dislodged the slippers, and the poor man was compelled to heed what, it is hoped, he interpreted as polite entreaties not to put himself out for his visitors and return to the house. then ensued a tour of the estate, which had once been of great promise and now, alas, was overrun with undergrowth and weed. after their walk the englishmen found that the most hospitable preparations had been made for their entertainment, and, more, that these had evidently been seen to by a daughter whose presence had not before been observed. would i could describe this young girl as she appeared to x., who has confessed that he found it quite impossible to find words with which to paint a picture which could do her the scantiest justice. simply attired in the same costume as her mother, but oh, how becoming that costume can be! this charming apparition carried round the glasses and offered wine to the visitors, while x. wished heartily that the dear old host would harangue him ever so long that he might keep silence and watch--watch this dainty, dark-eyed maiden, who looked as if she had stepped out of some old picture to render those little domestic services after the custom of days gone by; and as he received his glass from the charming attendant, he endeavoured to think what it was this kindly service most called to mind, and in his memory he found it in those hospitable houses in new zealand beyond the bay of islands where once he visited, and all the daily life was like a glimpse of a century that had passed. but though visiting was good, x. was soon wanting to improve his position and show that he was capable of taking a more active part in the conversation than he had hitherto done, and so reckless of his host's disgust at a sudden lack of attention, he rose and went to the side table to sniff at the beautiful flowers and peep at the sample sacks of coffee which lay piled in the corner of the room. but such little wiles to obtain speech with the modest maiden were of small use, when one party spoke english and the other dutch, while neither of them knew both. it is true that x. could have carried on a conversation in malay, and he was sure that that language would be well known to all the family, but he had been warned that people in java did not like to be addressed in a language they considered fit only for a medium of communication with their servants. an invitation to stay and lunch was refused--in dutch--and the planter friend afterwards explained that he had done so, as he thought x. would not have liked to go without bread, since in such establishments up country bread was never found. as if--under the circumstances--x. would have cared whether he ate bread or rice, provided the rose-nymph had handed it to him; and so alas! they rode away beyond the fragrance of the roses and through the neglected grounds, carrying with them a new memory of home life which it will be hard to forget. the shabby, neglected house--the sacks of coffee and flowers run riot--the deaf, courteous ex-official, perhaps proud of his descent from some great makassar chief--the kindly lady, embodiment of perfect health, who long ago had left her home in europe for life in a distant land with the husband of her choice--and last but not least of all these impressions of that day--their child--reared in a glorious country unspoilt by contact with civilization--simple, unaffected, a picture from the past. chapter xiv. garvet. after leaving the cottage on the estate x. started for garvet. the view from the train, as it reached its destination, was certainly one of the most beautiful that could be imagined. long reaches of padi fields, backed by hills in a high state of cultivation, and the whole watered by little gushing torrents that looked cool and refreshing in the all-surrounding sun. it is impossible to describe the scenery as it appeared to the traveller, or in any way to do it justice. it is altogether new and unlike anything seen in other countries, with the exception, perhaps, of ceylon or japan, and it is worth a journey from europe to see. the hotel at garvet proved to be a combination of little buildings, scattered about in the gardens surrounding the main buildings, or across the road in enclosures of their own. x. obtained one of these cottages, and felt that he would be fairly comfortable, till an inspection of the bathing arrangements made him shudder. when dinner time arrived, _table d'hote_ also served to dispel illusions. there was the same absence of punkah, the same glaring light, and succession of half-cooked clammy dishes. there were only a few diners, apparently mostly residents of the place who boarded at the hotel. these gentlemen had put on black coats, and made a kind of toilet for the evening meal. but the penance they thus endured was brief, as, after hastily disposing of sufficient of the viands to satisfy their individual wants, they retired to their verandahs, where x. soon saw them reclining in all the comfort of pyjamas and bare feet. apparently the coating of civilization was not sufficiently thin to be congenial. in the morning the traveller went to pay his respects to the assistant-resident, who received him very kindly, and gave him all the information he required. this rather interrupted the work of the office as, whenever the assistant-resident turned to any employee to ask how far such and such a place might be distant, or the tariff of carriages, etc., the person so addressed, no matter how engaged, would, before reply, immediately flop on to his knees. the regent was also calling on the representative of the government, and to him the englishman was introduced. this native functionary was fat and well-looking, but did not seem to exactly bristle with intelligence. the assistant-resident very kindly conversed freely with his visitor about matters affecting the natives, and gave him much information, which, from the nature of his own work in pura pura, interested him greatly. to those whom the subject interests, the land system in java is too well known to need comment here, but there were a few facts learnt by x. which should remove any idea amongst those who have not studied the question, that the laws were either harsh or intricate. indeed, they seem to attain that brevity and simplicity which are the great desideratum when dealing with a native peasantry. thus, a man need pay no rent until his land is in bearing. coffee is the only product whose sale to government is compulsory. all land is classified and subject to a fixed rent, there is therefore a safeguard that the fruits of an owner's industry will not be taxed. anyone can complain if he thinks his land is rated too high, and should be in a lower class, and the complaint receives immediate attention. though the population is large, there is seldom any trouble about boundary marks in the padi fields. owners are content with long custom and local knowledge, and their reliance on their host of native officials never fails. all new land must be fenced round, if it is contiguous to government land, and on all plantations people must themselves plant trees as boundaries and upkeep them. and one register of titles with columns filled in and signed, according to its cultivation and classification, answers for all. lastly, let it be mentioned that there is a golden rule, that a native cannot sell his land to anyone but his own countrymen, neither to european, arab or chinese. thus no individual, tempted by the speculation, can by his selfish action, cause harm or annoyance to his neighbours. this one register of titles, mentioned above, is gradually filled in and signed as the land is brought into cultivation, and an exact record is thus kept of the actual present condition of each native holding. when finally signed, and the land yields produce, rent is demanded. the advantage of simplicity can only be realized by those whose lot it has been to pose as the bringer of glad tidings, and expound the advantages of the last new land code with its many paragraphs to an ignorant native population, who, unreasoning, tenaciously cling to the title which they already hold and think they understand, obstinately refusing, speak the speaker never so plausibly, to exchange it for the very newest that can be given to them from the most up-to-date land code in existence. after his interview with the courteous official, x. departed, pondering on all he had heard, and bearing with him a memo, on which was written the various places of interest which he had been recommended to visit in the neighbourhood. on his return to the hotel the traveller passed what appeared to be the local club. the first thing an english official in an outstation in india or the peninsula will do for a stranger arriving with introductions, is to offer to put him up for the club, and unless there seem strong reason against it, he will most probably ask him to dinner. apparently this was not the custom here, and so x. was free to wander about the little town and explore, with nothing more exciting to look forward to than a repetition of last night's gruesome meal in company with the suffering tenants of the prandial coats. chapter xv. baths and volcanoes. garvet seemed to boast of an enormous population for there were endless rows, or rather groups of houses, crowded together, face to face, back to back, and side by side, giving the idea of a casual conglomeration of several villages. all these were scrupulously clean and neat, and fenced round with little bamboo rails. nearly every house had a tiled roof, and all were of a superior class to the majority of those up country in the peninsula. the streets were little short of marvellously swept and clean, and it was decided by x. during that walk that garvet was the cleanest eastern town he had ever seen--the capital of pura pura of course excepted. much had been talked of about the hot baths at tji panao, and so the traveller determined to make that his first excursion. hiring a conveyance drawn by three ponies abreast--reminding him of his early youth when he would wonder at a smart turn-out in the park at home--three ponies abreast driven by a well known leader of society and fashion, before the days of two-wheeled pony carts and bicycles, x. told the driver to go to tji panao, and looked forward to spending a delicious half hour lying in warm water like that of the springs in new zealand, which send the bather forth invigorated and refreshed. another disillusion was in store for him, however, in this country where nature has done so much and man--for comfort--so little. the baths were located in a shed on the side of a hill. this shed had three partitions. in each partition was a shallow brick hole in which it was possible to sit. the hot water was conveyed into these holes by means of pipes, one at the head of each. the floor all round the bath was dirty, and the only furniture was one cane chair. the depth of the water in the baths was about three inches, and in this on slimy bricks the bather had to sit miserably, with the lower portion of his body immersed in warm water while the upper remained high and dry in the comparatively cool air above. x. had made preparations for a prolonged stay in the water, and came provided with literature to pass the time, but a very brief dip under the circumstances proved enough, and he soon unhitched his clothing from the back of the chair and prepared to depart. close by these baths was a building containing four rooms, apparently a government rest house, very well furnished and comfortable, so it was evident that people came there on purpose to make use of the baths. the hot water springs possess great capabilities, and with a little trouble and expenditure of money they should become both enjoyable and a source of revenue. there were one or two other excursions to be made from garvet, but the only one worthy of mention was that which was made to the volcano at tjiseroepan. one morning, together with usoof and abu, for x. was growing tired of sight seeing all alone, having obtained permission from the kind assistant-resident to use the government rest house, he drove to tjiseroepan. the road was excellent and the route, needless to say, lay through a beautiful country. here, as everywhere else, all well-to-do natives were riding ponies. the distance was thirteen miles. tjiseroepan is a little village in the hills at the foot of the mountain which it was proposed to ascend on the following day. the traveller was received by the assistant wodena, a native official who had been riding suspiciously behind and before the carriage during the last two miles. after reading the credentials of the stranger and finding that he could converse in malay, the local magnate became quite cordial, and made x. free of the government rest house. this was well furnished with beds and tables, etc., but glass and crockery were not provided. the assistant wodena conducted the visitor round the village, which was a model of neatness. each house stood in a garden, growing coffee, vegetables, and strawberries. the head of the village and a few others live in very good houses, and there seemed to be ponies without number. the village perched on a slope and the cultivated hillside bore some resemblance to a scene in the south of italy. the usual signs of prosperity and content reigned everywhere, and neither in this village, nor elsewhere, where x. conversed with the natives could he find anything to explain the commonly accepted view that the people of java are inimical to their rulers. the rest house proved comfortable, x. had brought his own provisions, which his servants cooked, and for once he enjoyed a hot and palatable meal. there was plenty of opportunity for conversation with the assistant wodena, who was quite willing to discourse on the customs of the country, and he gave a most interesting account of the elaborate etiquette of javanese rajas, and of the extraordinary deference paid by commoners to rank. he in his turn asked many questions concerning malacca and the malay straits, about which his interlocutor was able to give him all the information sought for. the next morning the sightseer and his followers ascended the mountain on ponies to see the volcano. this was a kind of inferno with wicked mouths which looked like ventilators from the bowels of the earth spitting and hissing blinding steam. the whole face of the mountain was yellow with sulphur, and the air was sickening from its smell. usoof and abu were not a little terrified by this awful experience, and grasped their tuan by the arm entreating him not to venture near what, they evidently thought, were the gates of hell. i feel that i have paid sufficient deference to my instructions in recording the impressions the scenery made upon the traveller, and shall therefore omit all mention of what he saw while descending the mountain. he described it as wonderful, and those of my readers who have arrived thus far will be prepared to admit the accuracy of the description. the party reached garvet in time to catch the two o'clock train to tassikmalaja, and thus make a start for tjilatjap. chapter xvi. the quest for a mother. to start for tjilatjap was such an unusual departure that it merits a chapter all to itself. no one had apparently left garvet for tjilatjap for years, since it had been pronounced to be one of the most unhealthy places in the island. the correct thing for every traveller to do is to go to tassikmalaya for the night and proceed from thence to djoeja by train, go by carriage to beroboeddoer, where a halt for the night can be made at a government rest house. the drive is twenty-five miles. the next morning the traveller should drive ten miles further to magelang, while his luggage goes by train or bullock cart. from magelang amberawa is reached by another drive of twenty miles, and from here the railway can be taken to semerang or back to djoeja, and from there to solo, a three hours' journey. x. was informed that everyone took this route, but he persisted in starting for tjilatjap, notwithstanding that the lady who presided over the hotel assured him that it was the most fever stricken port in the country. had he known then as much as he subsequently learnt of the evil reputation of the place it is probable that the traveller might have changed his plans. as it was, he only replied that he was inured to fever and did not mind. at that time he had no particular reason for going to one place more than another, and therefore the one which drove him in this direction was good enough to serve his purpose. usoof desired to commence the search for his mother. he had no recollection of the village where he was born, but believed it to be somewhere near the coast which, considering the country was an island, was somewhat a vague indication. after assisting his tuan to study a map he exclaimed that the name tjilatjap sounded familiar to him, and sure enough it was a large town on the coast. now, he argued, it could not be familiar unless he had heard it before, and that could only have been when he was in java, and as he was then little more than a baby, only the names of places in the neighbourhood of his birth place could have been familiar to him. it mattered little to x. where he went, the further away from the beaten track, the more opportunity for studying the natives and learning something of their lives. so he readily agreed to go to tjilatjap. it was only after all plans had been settled that its evil reputation for fever was heard of. the first stage of the journey was to tassimalaja, and, leaving garvet at two, they arrived there in time for dinner. so far as could be judged from a very brief stay during the dark hours and early morning, this seemed a pretty little country town, but the train left early and there was little time to look about. the first important stop was at maos, where a change had to be made. among the passengers was an englishman whom x. had met some ten years before in new york. he was going the orthodox round to ojoedja and semarang. the two englishmen, both experienced travellers, exchanged views as to their respective impressions of java, and both agreed that, wherever they went, the courtesy and assistance received equalled if they did not exceed any they had met with in other portions of the globe they had trotted over. at maos their ways separated, though fate brought them together again on board the steamer to singapore. another companion of the journey was a versatile young dutchman who spoke many languages and proved to be very good company. this gentleman apparently had no great admiration for his fellow-countrymen, as he saw them in java. he abused with equal impartiality the food and the manner of life, and declared that the dutch in java were devoid both of digestion and energy. they were in fact half dead from bad food and too much sleep. this communicative companion also gave his views on the civil service, which had gradually grown from the stage, when anyone could be pitchforked into it, to its present condition, when both brains and interest are required to achieve the entry to its rank. let a man once get in (the views are those of the communicative dutchman), his fortune was made, if he only kept quiet and was satisfied to slip along in the common groove. he must implicitly follow prescribed rules and obey his immediate superior blindly, sinking all individual conscience and identity. should he have views for his own self-advancement or to assist the people, should he economize government money and reduce the number of road-coolies or police, who actually officiate in the household as cooks, gardeners, or grooms, should he try to set a good example and relinquish perquisites, "that man" exclaimed the speaker "is lost, and had better return to holland forthwith." such were the views of his travelling companion, but what opportunity he had had for forming them, and whether they were justified by actual facts, x. did not know, or greatly care, so long as he found his company amusing, which he did until their arrival at tjilatjap. here his opinion was somewhat modified, when his voluble companion, profiting by superior experience, annexed the only decent room in the hotel and exulted over the ruse which secured it for him. when x. first announced in the train that he was bound for tjilatjap there was a chorus of exclamations, and his companions evidently thought him eccentric. had he also explained his reason for going, there would have been little doubt on the subject. it was then he learnt that tjilatjap had formerly been a garrison town, but it had been found necessary to abandon it on account of the high rate of mortality among the troops. it was not till after the change at maos that the young dutchman acknowledged that tjilatjap was also his destination, being probably unwilling to appear eccentric in the eyes of his fellow-countrymen who remained in the djoeja carriage. chapter xvii. the quest continued--tjilatjap. tjilatjap was reached at midday. the town had an imposing appearance, all the streets being planted with avenues of large trees. x. drove at once to the hotel, where he was given a room like a horse-box with the sun streaming into it. as mentioned above, he subsequently ascertained that his travelling companion had managed to secure the only decent room in the hotel, and x. did not feel any love for the stranger, who had taken what he felt to be an unfair advantage of his local innocence. he only wished he could hand him over to the tender mercies of the most muscular and irritable member of the civil service, after relating how he had libelled it. there was lunch lying ready spread on the table and its appearance was satisfactory. next day he noticed that this meal was laid hot at 9.30 daily, and left cooling until far on in the afternoon. being hungry, the distant view of the table looked inviting, and x. prepared for a hearty meal. but his joyful expectation gave way to something like disgust on discovering, what a nearer approach revealed, that each article of food was firmly congealed in its own gravy. but no one else seemed to mind, and a party opposite--father, mother and daughter--ate of these provisions as though they were delicacies hot from the kitchen of the savoy or bignon's. strolling out a little later to smoke a cigarette and try to persuade himself he had lunched, the visitor spied the proprietor of the hotel, his family and some favoured guests, enjoying cakes, and what appeared to be madeira, and fruit in the verandah. as sleep in that sunbaked oven of a room was impossible, the traveller sent for a carriage and went for a drive. the appearance of all the houses that he passed gave the idea that every one inside them was asleep, but their stillness was counterbalanced by the busy crowds of natives going to and fro along those avenues of wonderful trees. later in the day x. sallied forth to call on the assistant resident. he had been informed at the hotel that this official was not visible between the hours of 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.--rather a long period of retirement. as it was growing dark x. walked up to the house, a far superior residence to the one at garvet. the lady of the house and her family were starting for the evening drive, not daring to venture out before this late hour. the assistant resident, apparently a very young man, received his visitor with great cordiality and gave him all the information in his power, promising his assistance if he wished to go further up country. it should be stated that, arrived at tjilatjap, usoof's memory received a filip, and he recollected that the town of jombong, not far off, had been the chief place near his "kampong." on hearing this, the assistant resident promised to send a letter to the wodena or native magistrate of the village, who lived at soempioet and could let him stay in his house. this exactly met the wishes of x., who had been only wanting an opportunity to see more of the native life in java, away from the track of hotels and tame curio sellers, who differed but little in one town from another. while the traveller was paying this call, another visitor arrived. this was no less a personage than the president of the landraad. after they had left, he hospitably invited the englishman into the club, where they played billiards. the great man made himself most agreeable and was quite ready to impart to his companion all he might wish to hear about the duties of the local government officers. he learnt that the assistant resident exercised a very limited jurisdiction as magistrate, and all cases, excepting the most trivial, are brought before the landraad. the post held by this cheery official was evidently most congenial, and he explained with much satisfaction how he had to be frequently travelling, and what a liberal allowance he could draw while doing so. it need be liberal, thought his hearer, to compensate for a course of feeding in java hotels. but sympathy on this point was wasted, as the president of the landraad alluded to the one, at which it appeared they were both staying, and spoke of it as comfortable. billiards over, it was time to return to the hotel for dinner. this meal, probably more owing to the lamp-light than to any inherent superiority, seemed an improvement on the last one, had not the diners made it unnecessarily uncomfortable by treating it as though it were a hurried snack at the counter of a railway refreshment room. for instance, three or four times during the progress of the meal callers came to see the courteous president, who cheerfully left the table to interview them, returning with equanimity to the discussion of the chilled dishes at whatever stage of the feast he chanced on when he returned. the table was not cleared away after the sorry farce of dinner was over, and x. noticed, as late as ten and even half-past ten o'clock, late diners strolling in to feed on the ever less appetising remains. x. recalled the words of his companion in the train, and thought he at least had some justification for his remarks on the digestions, or the want of them, of his fellow-countrymen in java. the chief thing for intending travellers in java to recollect is the difficulty of obtaining money, since no one will look at a cheque, as people in that country do not use them. it is necessary, therefore, to take ready money and rely upon periodical remittances sent by registered letter from the bank. at garvet x. had his first experience of pecuniary trouble through having placed confidence in his cheque book, backed by the special permit signed by the governor general of the netherlands india. he had invested in some java ponies and thus outrun all calculations as to expenditure. the hotel people would not look at his cheque, though they certainly looked at the owner of it with the careful scrutiny born of suspicion. very troubled, he had called at all the chief shops and places of business in the town asking assistance, and assuring merchants of his _bona fides_, as they scanned his cheque and passed it from one to another as a curiosity such as none of them had ever seen before. at length good fortune appeared in the shape of a mr. schmidt. one of those who had endeavoured to grasp some meaning from the cheque, explained that he believed this kind of thing was seen in europe, and they had better call mr. schmidt, who not only had been there within the last two years, but also spoke a little english. x. eagerly seconded the suggestion, and mr. schmidt appeared. his verdict was anxiously awaited, but especially by the owner of the cheque, whose future movements must depend on the decision, and his relief was great when the good, the discerning, the up-to-date mr. schmidt pronounced in his favour. he declared that, certainly he had seen such cheques before, and generously offered to cash it himself. thus the situation was saved, and the stranger was able to carry out his arrangements and pay his debts. good mr. schmidt! that stranger remembers you with gratitude. here, in tjilatjap, x. was again threatened with penury, for, though he had telegraphed for money, the little registered packet had so far not appeared. perhaps his bankers could not really credit that he had gone to a place with such a reputation as tjilatjap. but it was because of this reputation that x. was unwilling to prolong his stay there beyond what was actually necessary, and, therefore, sending off the malays with the luggage, remained behind, relying upon the arrival of the money by the morning post. he utilised the opportunity of this enforced stay to visit the hospital. the hospitals in the native states of the peninsula are perhaps the chief signs of the civilization, of which their government may be proud, seeing that in them natives of all nationalities are splendidly housed and have the best of medical attendance free. it was, therefore, interesting for the englishman who hailed from that peninsula to see how, in a large town like tjilatjap in java, these things were done. he had the good fortune to be most courteously shown over the building by the doctor in charge. it was somewhat of a surprise to find that there were few patients in the hospital, notwithstanding the reputation of the place for fever, and to learn that the average number of sick amongst the natives was not noticeably in excess of other towns. the whole building was a picture of neatness and cleanliness. the walls were made of bertam (a kind of plaited reed) so as to be easily destroyed and replaced in case of infection. the floors were of cement and raised off the ground. this hospital has only been started two years, and, at the present time, possesses fifty beds. the bathing places in particular merited attention, the floors being tiled, while large tanks of brick and cement contained the water supply--baths are provided for feeble patients. the most elaborate building was the dead-house, where all the latest improvements were to be seen. there was, and is, a european ward where patients can be treated for three guilders a day. another building, standing a little apart, was for europeans of a better class who could afford to pay six guilders a-day, "but," the doctor added, "they never come." the hospital is free for all natives, and, contrary to what is frequently the case elsewhere, the authorities seem to experience no difficulty in inducing them to go there. the doctor has one assistant to help him in managing the hospital. he spoke very highly of the native dressers, and said that they frequently turn out well. to x., accustomed to see similar hospitals crowded with chinese, it was curious only to find one in the whole hospital, and he was the cook. after his visit to the hospital the traveller went to the post office to ask if his registered letter had come, and was considerably depressed to find that, though the post had arrived, there was no letter by it for him. there was nothing to be done but to accept the information and return to the hotel and think it out. he was alone--servants and luggage had gone, and some ten guilders of money only remained. where could he find a local schmidt. the landlord suggested that perhaps the people at the factory might change his cheque. x. was not certain, but believed the factory to be the name for the offices of the chief trading firm in java. acting on this advice, he took a carriage and drove there. the haughty young gentleman who presided behind the counter received him suspiciously, and at once disdainfully and very firmly refused to have anything to do with the cheque, which he turned over and over in his fingers as though it might bite him, and then returned to its owner. bowed out and baffled, the traveller returned to his hotel. the situation was now growing serious, for the train to soempioeh went in half-an-hour, and, after paying his bill, there would be no money for the fare, even could he start penniless. as a forlorn hope x. sallied forth in the sun to pay one more visit to the post-office. this building was closed, and the hard-worked officials had retired to their private apartments in the back premises. bold to desperation, the visitor skirted round the post-office and peered into the privacies beyond. seeing an open door he walked in, and found the chief official in his shirt sleeves partaking of his midday meal. with profuse apologies for his intrusion, x. stated his anxiety about his remittance, and rather feebly asked the officer if he were "quite sure" the letter had not come. "quite sure," grumbled the official in excellent english, "but to satisfy you i'll let you come and look yourself." x. almost begged him not to take what surely must be superfluous trouble, but, luckily, refrained, and accompanying the officer into the post-office, walked towards a pile of papers stacked in pigeon-holes. "there," exclaimed his guide, "see--see for yourself"; and he did, for on the top lay a blue envelope duly registered and addressed to himself. thus the hotel bill was paid, and he caught the train to soempioeh. there he was met by abu and messengers from the wodena, who accompanied him to that officer's house. chapter xviii. the quest successful--the wodena's house. the wodena's house was a comparatively large building made with alang-lalang walls,[4] and the floor on a level with the ground. the entire front of the house was open, though the overhanging eaves of the roof kept out the glare. in the foreground three tables with corresponding chairs were ranged stiffly, as though in a hotel verandah. in one corner was a little cupboard kind of compartment, which x. found was his bedroom. there was no attempt to cover the floor of bare earth with mats, as would have been the case in even poor malay houses. at the back of the one large sitting room stood an imposing long table. the outlook of the house was on to some untidy waste land covered with long grass--rather an unusual sign of slovenliness in a country of such universal neatness. close by a new house was in course of construction for government use. this building had the somewhat strange combination of alang-lalang walls and a tiled roof. the host who welcomed x. to his house was, as has been said, the wodena, or local head native magistrate. a malay in such a position would most certainly have had a courteous manner and have probably been an agreeable companion. this official, though he evidently intended to be cordial, was awkward and seemingly stupid. he also spoke bad malay, and seemed an ill-educated man for such a position. he wore a terrible old sun-helmet on his head, and presented a grotesque appearance. [footnote 4: plaited grass.] after having tea his host took x. for a walk round to show him the place, and all the people crouched on the ground as they passed. the followers in uniform walked after them, occasionally shouting at those who did not promptly go to earth, while hurrying their movements with insinuating prods from the poles of office. the few chinese who were met, bowed low like ladies to a royalty, which was a somewhat startling experience to x., so recently from singapore, where chinamen jostle europeans from the side walks and puff bad tobacco in their faces as they pass. _apropos_ of this it might be mentioned here that a high dutch official in java stated that he considered that the way the chinese in singapore were allowed to treat the europeans was "nothing less than a disgrace to civilization." in the singapore local press at the time of writing there is now appearing a series of indignant letters from a chinaman in selangor who signs himself as "speaking pig tail." this scribe complains to "mr. editor" that he has not the same rights as a european. i wonder what "speaking pig tail" would say to the above-mentioned dutch official. however these particular chinese in soempioeh bowed many inches low to the wodena, while x. with bland self-consciousness appropriated a certain length to himself as the only white man in the place. this walk at soempioeh was full of interest, and the wodena kindly replied to the best of his ability to all the questions asked. the whole country round was one vast expanse of padi, valleys and hills alike so far as the eye could reach, and it seemed to x. that no population could be sufficiently dense to consume such an apparently unlimited supply, but the wodena assured him that none was ever exported. the town presented a busy scene of great activity, as there was evidently a country fair in full swing, and rows of people lined the roadside selling quaint cakes and fruit, and here and there a stall was gay and sweet-smelling with little heaps of gathered rose leaves and yellow blooms of fragrant chimpaka. the wodena and his visitor called on the chief chinese of the town, of which race he informed him there were two hundred all told. these people scarcely resembled the chinamen as known to x., since they had all been born and bred in the neighbourhood, and not one of them had experience of life beyond the island of java. the head chinaman produced various curios--so considered--for inspection, these being sent for from the pawn-shops close by. the wodena volunteered the information that large quantities of opium were consumed in the district. this meant, as there were no chinese, the habitual use of this drug amongst the people. after this walk the little procession wended its way back to the wodena's house. dinner that night proved a weird meal, as usoof, who cooked, had gone to the neighbouring village of tambak, where he found his mother dwelt, and abu, who had never cooked anything more complicated than rice, tried his 'prentice hand. the next day was sunday, and the weekly fair was at its height till twelve noon. hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people were packed tightly together, line after line, under little sheds, selling sarongs and cloths of every conceivable colour, with hats, mats, and native ornaments of all descriptions. it was an animated scene, and one not easily forgotten, and this was the first time, if the wodena was to be believed, that any white man had seen it. be that as it may, or perhaps as it may not, x. allowed himself the satisfaction of believing that it was the first time that any englishman had seen it. after the fair the traveller returned home, and there received a visit from usoof and his mother. he had found her, and the object of his journey to java was accomplished. it appears that he had met her while walking along a path by the river, which his awakened memory recalled would lead him to his home. and she, noting his unusual dress and stranger-like appearance, stopped to ask whether he had any news of her son who many years ago had gone away to singapore, and to whom she had so frequently written, receiving no reply. she feared he was dead, but as the kind stranger came from foreign parts it was possible that amongst the colony of javanese in singapore he might have heard of her long-lost son. such was the meeting, and a dramatic and successful climax to what had seemed a somewhat forlorn quest. had i the pen of a swettenham or a clifford, those sympathetic spinners of delightful tales of a race whose childish faith so lends itself to story, i might here find material for pages of a charming romance. but in reality there was little romance about usoof, rather a sturdy honesty and affection, as he brought his poor mother in her humble attire and presented her to his tuan, who, at that moment, bored to death by his kind host, who would not cease to entertain him by sitting by him in attentive silence, would have welcomed any diversion as a boon. but the poor lady, according to the custom of the country, could only prostrate herself outside the house nor venture nearer than some dozen yards, probably regarding her new-found son, who stood upright, as some knave who courted death. this system of obeisance had been rather embarrassing to x., since all the retainers of his host stooped low and crept about while his own attendants had maintained their usual attitudes with occasional lapses from the perpendicular. for there had been intervals over night when, realizing his conspicuous position, abu had wandered about awkwardly doubled up, and offered cigarettes and liquid refreshment from somewhere among the legs of the table, startling his master by his sudden cat-like appearance in unexpected places, while there was that in his eye which said, "do not expect this sort of thing to continue when we get you home." chapter xix. a village home in java. to usoof and his mother the great wodena was kindness itself, and conversed with them in javanese with much affability. x. wishing to see a real country village, and obtain speech with its people, away from the all-subduing eye of the local authority, promised to go that afternoon and visit the good lady in her ancestral home, and a few hours later he took the train for the next station, tambak. no european had ever done such a thing before apparently, and there was quite a fuss at the station to find a first or even a second-class ticket. and during the search the railway officials displayed the most naive curiosity, and questioned the traveller without restraint. arrived at tambak x. descended, and immediately the station-master hurried forward and politely assured him that he had made a mistake, since gombong, the large town, was the next station but one. he obviously could not believe it possible that any european should get out at tambak on purpose, and regarded the polite insistence of x. that he knew where he wanted to go as evidence of some sort of want of sanity, to be passed over as harmless. gesticulating and ejaculating, the worthy gentleman collected quite a little crowd of gazers as the white man, followed by usoof, sauntered out of the station. once out of sight, the station-master would have been intensely gratified to see x., who did not really in the least know where he was going, turn round and ask his follower the way. so they branched off to the left and wended their route along the banks of a noisy river, beneath the shade of huge trees which formed an avenue by the side of the water. on their right lay the endless padi fields of early green and ripening gold, all equally shimmering in the sun. this combination of ripe padi, side by side with newly sown, forms a striking feature of javanese agriculture. while gazing upon this warm picture, and congratulating himself that someone had had the forethought to plant this pleasant row of trees, the voice of usoof from the rear announced that they must now turn to the right. to turn to the right naturally meant to go across that sunlit plain. the hand of x. involuntarily went up to his stiff stand-up collar, and though he could not see the face of his attendant, he was aware through his back that he smiled. so climbing a rustic stile they branched off to the right and walked across the padi, where the lurid light was zigzagging above the corn. presently the red roofs of a village were in sight, and once more the voice of usoof spoke to introduce his birthplace. this was interesting, as was the additional information that the little river they had now to cross was the boundary of his ancestral land. the house they had come all this way to see was deep in the shadow of countless fruit trees, over which towered palms of considerable age. the green turf so scrupulously neat, and the little group of buildings set round the central house, all combined to make a picturesque scene. in the front of these cottages, on the green turf, was the reception house--a square building, surrounded by benches with a table in the middle. here the stranger was escorted by a crowd of javanese, cousins and sisters and brothers and aunts, without number--for it seemed less of a family than a tribe which had come together to do him honour. then the guest was seated in the place of state, and fruit of many kinds in large brass dishes was set before him. it was truly a pleasant spot, and there was additional satisfaction in the thought that with so little to guide them they had been able to light upon it without lengthy search. then ensued a conversation, during which the visitor learnt and imparted many things. amongst the former he heard that once before, when the railway was being made, a white man had been seen in the neighbourhood, but the present occasion was the first, when the village had beheld one close. and this stranger told them of the malays and his life amongst them, and how their houses and customs resembled theirs, while usoof, alone venturing to remain upright, acted as interpreter as a swarm of young brown relations clasped his hands and ruthlessly robbed him of his watch and chain, his brass buttons, and all the loose coins in his pockets. then x., who has a material mind, asked to see the title deeds of their lands, which were produced and inspected, and they were instructed how to proceed, so that when the time came the absent usoof, as the eldest son, should obtain his fair share of the inheritance. then, as the shadows were lengthening, and the zigzags on the padi had given way to a soft and mellow light fanned by an evening breeze, x. gave the signal to depart and announced that farewells must be made. hurrying over his own, he wandered towards the river so that he might not witness the anguish of the mother bereaved anew of her long lost son, but he could not escape hearing the sounds of sobs which arose behind him. and the little procession of two--the european with his limp collar, and the javanese bereft of all his finery--started once more across the plain. but the procession grew and grew, as one by one the fond relations hurried after it for one more glimpse or one more word for the departing brother. then the traveller began to feel as near a brute as ever in his life before, and suggested to usoof that he should bid him good-bye and return for good to the bosom of his weeping family. but this he declined to do, and at the rustic stile the actual parting came. arrived at the train, the good station-master was still on the look-out and walking around as though something unusual had happened, but, tired and hot, x. parried his questionings with some abruptness. but the interviewer was as persistent as if he were on the staff of a london evening paper, and after producing an inverted wheelbarrow, which he offered x. as a seat, went to his house for a whisky and soda--called by the natives "dutch water." after that walk in the sun, his whole physical and nervous system disorganized by the deglutition of strange fruits and condiments, and by witnessing heartrending family farewells, an unexpected whisky and soda, when such a restorative had seemed as unobtainable as the very moon which was beginning to appear, was welcome indeed. the station-master was at once the master of the situation, and the hitherto taciturn englishman, his thirst assuaged and his limbs at rest, became as communicative as a star of _the_ profession, and answered all questions as fully and docilely as a willing witness in the hands of his own counsel. chapter xx. back to the jungle. arrived at the house of the wodena, the traveller had to submit to more pumping, nor would his host rest until he knew, or was persuaded he knew, each word which x. had written in his letter of thanks to the assistant resident at tjilatjap. that night it was very hot, and it was borne in upon the sleepless traveller that he had exhausted the resources of the place. therefore at an early hour next morning his miscellaneous fairings were packed, the cost of his entertainment liberally repaid, and accepted without demur, and the visitors, after earnestly commending the picturesque little village at tambak to special official protection, departed for the station. x. had intended to now perform the usual round and visit the temples at djaokjakerta, solo and semarang, but when almost in the act of asking for his ticket, a spirit of revolt infected him, and he rebelled at the thought that he must go here and there just because all others did, when his inclinations really called him elsewhere, for his inclinations were bidding him go back to the cottage in the hills, where the tea and coffee grew. and so without hesitation he took his ticket and sent a telegram to announce his intended return. bandong was to be the first halting-place, which meant travel in that crawling train from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and stopping at twenty-eight stations on the way. there was no first-class compartment and the seats of the second-class were hard and narrow, and the cramped space after the first few hours became almost unbearable. things looked brighter, the guard flattered the hopes of passengers by asking who would buy tickets for lunch at some halting-place further on, so that he could telegraph for the meal to be prepared. hope is eternal, and experience of java hotels had not yet robbed the traveller of the fond pleasure of anticipation. the swindon of the line was reached, and there, sure enough, was a table spread with food. after the first bite of the first dish x. realized sadly that he had been done, since it would have been impossible to make any impression on that meat with aught less forcible than an axe. thus, with reluctance, his portion, albeit paid for in advance, was relinquished, to be again paid for probably and again to flatter and deceive some other passing and hungry stranger. the remainder of the journey proved agreeable, thanks to the companionship of a young officer who, invalided home from the lomboh war, was _en route_ to buitenzorg, where he lived. this poor warrior had undergone a time of much hardship, and related how he and his men had slept shelterless on the wet ground and for nights had nothing but rice to eat. and this only half a day's journey from the principal port in java, and with as much money collected for aid to the soldiers as would have, if necessary, paid for the whole cost of the war. this companion told many interesting anecdotes of the war, and related some almost incredible tales of the treachery and ingratitude of the natives. the englishman also availed himself of this opportunity for hearing something of social etiquette in time of peace, and the unwritten rules which guided those attending entertainments where dutch and natives met. as for instance, when the sultan of djoedja gives a ball, each official must stand upon a step, high or low, in proportion to his rank, while the resident is met and escorted to the same lofty altitude as the sultan, on the top. to the governor-general, however, the sultan must do obeisance. this might be a convenient place to mention the great regard officially paid to caste. reverence for rank amongst the people is fostered and aided by their rulers, and if a man of position is ever suspected or accused so that inquiry becomes necessary, it must take place with closed doors and in private. that night the party lay at bandong (fresh from reading the "red cockade" its language seems the most descriptive). the train reached that considerable town at dusk. here the traveller had the good fortune to again meet his friend the president of the landraad, and was introduced by him to the club. being introduced to the club meant being separately introduced to every member then in it, with that punctilious formality which x. had observed in batavia. the hotel at bandong was the best which the traveller had yet visited, and, contrary to expectation, dinner was warm and comforting. the others of the party, however, usoof and abu, were not so fortunate, for they had no means of getting anything to eat. it was not permitted them to go out after dark without lights, and they could not get lights. added to this it was raining hard. the hotel apparently could not supply natives with food at such an hour, and it was necessary for them to go and look for it. this sad story greeted x. when his own dinner was done. but the kind president of the landraad cut the knot of this dilemma and soon provided a caterer, protector, and guide for the hungry pair. as usual next morning, the time fixed for the train to leave was very early, and other trains were starting too, and of these abu selected the one on the point of departure for maos in which to stow all the portable luggage--no small amount--and this was only rescued as the train was actually on the move. this, of course, necessitated hurried action, making those who hurried hot. then the scene at the ticket window was scarcely to be described. for a country where, in public, such a gulf is fixed between europeans and natives, it is a strange thing to find the one aperture for the purchase of tickets, besieged by a serging clamouring throng of both races, and no one had any idea of waiting his turn. x. attempted to force his way to the little window, but as he stopped to observe the rules of the game, as played in civilized countries of the west, he was each time passed over, when the tickets were almost in his grasp. at length, disgusted at having to take part in such a scene, he retired. then usoof, with much insinuation of elbows and words in javanese (words such as his mother may not have approved), managed to obtain tickets just in time to catch the train. this train duly landed them at the familiar little station, where, as before, the ponies waited them to carry them up that hill of wonderful views. at the station the traveller parted with his companion, the invalid officer, after accepting a kindly invitation to lunch with him at buitenzorg on his way through to batavia. no need to repeat myself in describing those few extra days spent at the cottage in the hills. and they also resembled the last ones in that they went too quickly. the hearty welcome received was, the visitor liked to think, rendered even warmer by the fact that he was able to assure his busy host that the young tea plants had most certainly grown a little in his absence. the day soon came when x. was nearing the limits of his leave and must start for batavia. the always early train reached buitenzorg in the morning, and there, where on his first visit he had felt so lonely, the traveller was met by his soldier friend and driven by him to the home of his _fiancée_. that reception, and its pleasant sequel of a home-like lunch, is one of the most agreeable of the recollections which x. now preserves of the town. though he felt inclined to take the welcome all to himself, yet in his heart he knew that it was in great manner due to the fact that he was even remotely connected with the safe return of one whom the household considered as a son. after lunch the host, bravely clad in uniform, took his guest to see the barracks. these buildings seemed as clean and comfortable as could be expected in a tropical climate. the extreme youth of some of the men was so noticeable that the visitor could not but observe it, and he learnt that this was accounted for by the fact that they could enlist at the age of sixteen. another item of information was that one-third of the army in java was composed of people of other nationalities. in the native corps there is never any difficulty in obtaining recruits. after inspecting the barracks a visit was made to the gaol. this over they drove to the club for the much-needed refreshment of "dutch water" with something in it. the club was a fine building, but there was no time left to enjoy its luxurious lounges, and in a very short time x. was bidding farewell to his good friend and steaming once more towards batavia. arrived in the capital, the traveller thought it best to widen his experience by driving to an hotel other than the one of electric light. this was also a huge building at the end of a regular street of rooms, all looking out on to the main verandah. as this look-out provided the only light, the majority of the occupants kept open both doors and windows, and a walk along the verandah was like some panorama of dressing in all its stages. the chief points about this hotel were the usual ones--indifferent food, absence of privacy, and horrible bathing arrangements. in eastern countries it is usual to find a bath-room attached to the bedroom. in java hotels people--ladies as well as men--burdened with sponges and towels, and some with soap, must cross a public court-yard and wait their turn outside the bath-room door. in this particular hotel the ordeal was especially trying, since the bathrooms were outside the office, and in the centre of a regular street where people drove past arriving and departing or calling on friends, and must perforce gaze upon that little forlorn group of scantily-clad humans on cleanliness intent. however, this hotel remains to x. one of blessed memory, since it was while there he was, through the knowledge of the language, able to render some slight service to two charming american ladies who were courageously going round the world alone. on the following day these ladies were passengers on board the s.s. _godavery_ en route for hong kong, shanghai, japan, havaü, and all the places in the world apparently, excepting, alas! that little one of pura pura. that last evening there happened to be a performance of an english circus, and x. went there and laughed at the jokes of an excellent clown--a cheery being whose like he had not seen for many a long year past. fancy a clown in the jungle! the next day he reluctantly bade farewell to the country where such a pleasant three weeks had been spent, and embarking on board the s.s. _godavery_--his impedimenta increased by three ponies--the traveller steamed again for singapore. the day after his arrival there he started for home, and some thirty-six hours later was once more seated in his verandah, listening all alone to the chanting songs of his malay neighbours in the plain below. the moon was bright, and pura pura kept high revelry. those readers who have had the patience to follow my friend through his short holiday may leave him there--sighing perhaps with contented discontent--an excuse for grumbling--while all around is beautiful, and body and mind can revel in long chairs and books galore. there is a world perhaps, he thinks, where all are up and doing, but--like his dreams--it is very far away. has he been to java--he asks himself--has he ever been anywhere beyond the edge of this green turfed hill--to which are now ascending sounds of happiness from poor villagers who live among the padi fields, away there across the river, dimly seen now when the moon is high? and has he helped to make them happy?--did they always sit singing there before he or others came, or did they have to watch with krises ready, for fear of stealthy foes--foes who crept to stab beneath the raised bamboo floors. perhaps he, too, has aided with his mite--perhaps--who knows? and as this thought occurs, the discontent will fade, while content alone remains. long years has this exile lived in pura pura, and then when he left it for a space--to redeem a promise--he asked me to relate all that he did and saw while thus away. from jungle to java have i therefore followed him as a faithful chronicler and my commission is ended. but it should not be so, since there are tales of the jungle and tales of pura pura all worth the telling if what i think be true. for there, where life moves slowly, the incidents, which make it dwell, dwell so long that those who watch may note and read. and though that which they read, being of nature and mankind, is necessarily an old, old story, yet is the framework new, and thus with an interest all its own, able to impart a lesson to those who sit at home and speak with vague pity of peoples far away. perhaps our traveller--to whom such a name must have seemed irony indeed--will one day ask my assistance to relate certain chapters of that life, brief glimpses of which have been afforded the reader in this little sketch. the _roxburghe romances._ =the best value of any books at the same price.= =published on the first and fifteenth of each month.= _a series of bright, well-written stories, etc., daintily produced, with designed art cover._ =sixpence each:= or in "strakeria" cloth, one shilling. each contains from 20,000 to 30,000 words, and is well and clearly printed on good paper. =titles and authors.= a widow well left r. manifold craig. _ready november the first, 1896._ one weak moment e. white. without bloodshed harold e. gorst. that charming widow clarence hamlyn. a romance of the fair l. & h. cranmer-byng. mademoiselle sophie arthur j. ireland. an afternoon ride anne page. the diamond shoe buckles mary albert. blotted out e. pullen burry. (or a puritan's curse) the priest and the actress ethel walker. (some idylls of st. giles) marie vasellis josephine stockwell. the dealer in death arthur morris. told at the club charles f. rideal. _and others in preparation, by_ mrs. cecil marryat norris; mr. massey shaw; mr. j. l. owen; mr. c. gordon winter; the hon. stuart erskine; mr. walter herries pollock; mr. r. brinsley; mr. graham everett; mr. richard davey; mrs. graham and other attractive writers. may be obtained through all booksellers, newsagents, and railway book stalls; or from the publishers: the _roxburghe press,_ _limited,_ =fifteen, victoria street.= =westminster.= [bookplate: ex libris roxburghe press] transcriber's notes: inconsistencies in the hyphenation of words preserved. (bathroom, bath-room; courtyard, court-yard; foreground, fore-ground; lamplight, lamp-light; stationmaster, station-master) pg. 96, "ojoedja" possibly refers to the town "djoedja" (short for djoedjakarta) which is mentioned elsewhere in the text. however, the original text has been preserved. pg. 99, "civi service" changed to "civil service". (irritable member of the civil service) pg. 124, "attemped" changed to "attempted". (x. attempted to force his way) pg. 125, duplicated word "a" removed. (sequel of a home-like lunch) on the equator by h. de w. cassell, petter, galpin & co. _ludgate hill, london e.c._ to john lancaster, esq., of bilton grange, near rugby, warwickshire. this volume is dedicated, with the best wishes of the author. contents. chapter i. page our plan of travel outfitters--journey to marseilles- departure--"the inevitable"--journey out--singapore- leave for kuching--the _aline_--"talang-talang"--the sarawak river--kuching--the bazaar, &c.--comfortable quarters 9 chapter ii. territory of sarawak--history of the country--raja brooke and muda hasim--rebellions in sarawak--brooke proclaimed raja--chinese insurrection--military and naval establishment--exports--progress of sarawak--death of sir james brooke 24 chapter iii. kuching--society--the club--amusements--the _sarawak gazette_--the bazaar--health of kuching--life in kuching--rats--preparations for journey to the matang mountain 36 chapter iv. travel in borneo--travelling boats--leave for matang- our crew--alligators--mosquitoes--matang bungalow--the garden--ascend the mountain--the waterfall--a nasty jump--view from the summit--snakes--return to kuching 44 chapter v. the rejang residency--wild tribes of the interior--start for rejang--timber ships--sibu--attack by katibus--a dinner party--the fireship--kanowit--"jok"--kanowits' dwellings--human heads--"bones" and "massa johnson" 58 chapter vi. leave kanowit--scenery--war canoes--arrive at kapit- wild tribes--kayan burials--head feast--lat--his family--tattooing--the sumpitan--kayan and dyak war dances--the kok-goo--the bock expedition to central borneo--cannibalism--return to kuching 75 chapter vii. sport in borneo--the orang-utan--his habits--start for sadong--a rough journey--sadong--the fort and village--l. capsized--the mines--our cook--the abang--start for mias ground--our hunt for orang--lost in the forest--leave for sadong--an uncomfortable night--small-pox--manangs--a dyak don juan--return to kuching 93 chapter viii. preparations for departure--leave sarawak--a squall--a dutch dinner--batavia--weltereoden--life in java- buitenzorg--koerapan--dutch soldiers--a review--modes of execution in the archipelago--the world-wide circus--return to singapore--leave for europe--gibraltar 114 chapter ix. cadiz custom-house officers--spanish courtship- marketplace--leave for seville--jerez de la frontera- seville--pilate's house--las delicias--triana--madrid- bull fighting--"espadas"--a bull fight--frascuelo- cruelty to horses--leave for paris--a stormy passage- home again--adieu 128 on the equator. chapter i. our plan of travel outfitters--journey to marseilles- departure--"the inevitable"--journey out--singapore- leave for kuching--the _aline_--"talang-talang"--the sarawak river--kuching--the bazaar, &c.--comfortable quarters. it was on the 13th of april, 1880, that, accompanied by an old college friend (whom throughout these pages i shall call l.), i left london for the eastern archipelago, _via_ marseilles and singapore, our destination being sarawak, the seat of government of raja brooke in the island of borneo. our expedition had been a long-projected one, but it was not until the latter end of march, 1880, that we finally decided to start. thanks to the small experience gained from a former voyage to these parts we successfully resisted the efforts of our outfitters to supply us with, in addition to what was really necessary, almost every useless thing ever heard of, from a cholera-belt to a velvet smoking suit. we were, however, resolved to take nothing more than was absolutely necessary, as on a journey of this kind nothing is more embarrassing than a large amount of luggage. a small but complete outfit was therefore got together, which was easily carried in one small overland trunk, one small portmanteau for cabin use on board ship, and a gun-case each. this we afterwards found ample to contain all the necessaries required. on the evening, then, of the 13th of april, we stood on the platform of the charing cross station, awaiting the departure of the mail train for dover, and--our luggage duly registered for paris--we ensconced ourselves in a smoking-carriage, and lit up the fragrant weed, not sorry that we were really off at last. our journey to paris was pleasant enough--a quick run to dover, a smooth moonlit passage to calais, a sound sleep in a comfortable _coupé lit_, and we awoke to find paris around us, white and cheerful in the bright spring sunshine. putting up at meurice's hotel, three days were enjoyably spent here, and on the 17th we left for marseilles, which was reached at 6.30 a.m. on the 18th, after a tedious journey of twenty hours. we at once drove to the ship, on alighting at the railway station, not forgetting to purchase on our way through the town those essentials on a long sea voyage, a couple of cane easy-chairs. on arrival at the quay we found active preparations for departure going on, as the ship was to sail at 10 o'clock a.m.; and, being sunday, she was thronged with holiday-makers, who had come to see her off. having got on board, we dived below and installed ourselves in a comfortable and roomy cabin (which we were lucky enough to get to ourselves the entire voyage), and returned on deck to watch the busy scene. the hubbub and the noise were deafening, for the squeakings of some sixty or seventy pigs, which were being hoisted on board a vessel alongside bound for barcelona, added to the din, and combined to make what the french would call "_un vacarme infernal_." by 9.30, however, decks were cleared of all but passengers, and at 10 precisely hawsers were cast off, and we steamed out of harbour. our vessel, the _sindh_, was a very fine one of over 3,000 tons burthen, and our fellow-passengers chiefly dutch and spanish bound for the eastern archipelago and manilla, a few french, and but seven english including ourselves. among the latter was an individual who is usually to be met with on the ships of the p. & o. company and those of the messagéries maritimes, though more frequently on the former. l. and i christened him "the inevitable," as a voyage to india or china can rarely be made without coming across him. he is invariably an englishman, and my indian readers will readily recognise him when i say that he is always (in his own estimation!) perfectly _au fait_ on every subject whatever, be it political, social, or otherwise, that he always knows how many knots the ship has run during the night, and is continually having what he calls "a chat" with the captain and officers of the vessel he is on, returning to tell the first unlucky passenger he may succeed in button-holing the result of his conversation. he is also a great hand at organising dances and theatricals on board, and constitutes himself master of ceremonies or stage-manager at either of these entertainments. our specimen of the genus, however, subsided soon after leaving naples, finding all his lectures in vain, and confided to us his intention of "never coming out again by this infernal line"--a consummation most devoutly to be wished for the sake of the messagéries maritimes. among our number was also an amusing yankee, fresh from the states, and bound for singapore, who announced his intention of "getting to windward of those 'maylays' before he'd been long in the clearin'." the arrangements on board the _sindh_ for the comfort of passengers were simply perfect--a roomy cabin (cool even during the severe heat in the red sea), good bath-rooms, and, above all, civility from every one connected with the ship, was the order of the day on board. the food and cooking were excellent, fresh meat and fish, and a good french salad, being provided for dinner daily--even during the run from point de galle (ceylon) to singapore, in which no land is touched at for nine days--and a good sound claret, iced, supplied at every meal free of charge. when it is considered that the first-class fare from london to singapore (including the journey through france) is only £70 5s., it is to be wondered how the passenger fares of this line can even be made to cover the outlay. it would scarcely interest the reader to be told how we beguiled the long tedious days at sea with ship's quoits, "bull," and other mild amusements of a similar nature, or the still longer evenings with whist; how we went ashore at dirty glary port said, and drank bad coffee, while a brass band of german girls discoursed anything but "sweet music"; how "the inevitable" made a desperate effort to get up a dance in the red sea on one of the hottest nights, but was instantly suppressed by force of numbers, determined, though well-nigh prostrate from the heat; or how we went to the wakwalla gardens at galle, to drink cocoa-nut milk and admire the first glimpse of tropical scenery. suffice it to say, that on the 15th of may we arrived at singapore, after a singularly quick passage from marseilles. bidding adieu to our fellow-passengers, including "the inevitable," who of course recommended us to the best hotel in the place (though i very much doubted his ever having been there before), we entered a little red box on wheels drawn by a java pony, which is designated a "gharry," and drove to emmerson's hotel, near the esplanade. this was reached after a drive of four miles under a blazing sun, and we were not sorry to find ourselves located in two good bed-rooms, which felt delightfully cool and airy after our comparatively close cabin on board. after a cold bath, doubly enjoyable by its contrast with the lukewarm sea-water we had been accustomed to during the voyage, it was not long ere we were doing justice to an excellent breakfast under the cool swing of the punkah. singapore is an island 27 miles long by 14 broad, and is divided from the main land, or malay peninsula, by a narrow strait of three-quarters of a mile broad. the town consists of about 70,000 inhabitants, comprising europeans, indians, chinese, and malays, the two latter forming the bulk of the population. it is well laid out, and from the sea presents a very picturesque appearance. the neighbourhood is slightly undulating and well wooded, and the country around studded with well-built and substantial houses, belonging to the european merchants and other officials in singapore. no europeans live in the town, as the heat there during the south-west and even north-east monsoon is insupportable. the esplanade, which faces the sea, and near to which our hotel stood, is the fashionable drive, and where the inhabitants enjoy the sea-breezes when the heat of the day is over. the horses and carriages here, however, were a sorry sight, the former being nearly without exception cast-offs from australia, and sent here as a last resource. the carriages, too, were fearfully and wonderfully made contrivances, and would have caused the inhabitants of long acre to shudder, could they have seen them. the view of the roadstead from the esplanade is very striking, and is generally alive with shipping of all kinds and nations, from the smart and trim british man-of-war to the grimy collier, and from the rakish malay prahu to the clumsy junk laden with produce from china. these latter are, however, fast dying out, and most of the larger chinese firms have now steamers. we were anxious to make as short a stay in singapore as possible, and therefore made inquiry the day after our arrival as to the best means of getting over to kuching, the capital of sarawak, and a journey of forty-eight hours by sea. what was our dismay to find that the _raja brooke_, the only steamer running between kuching and singapore, had left the day before, and would not be back for a week at the very least. as she made a stay of five days at either place every trip, this was anything but pleasant news, as nearly a fortnight must elapse ere we could leave singapore. luckily, however, the sarawak government gunboat _aline_, which had been into dock at singapore, was then lying in the roads, and sailing for kuching in two days' time, and through the kindness of the sarawak agents we were offered a passage in her. this we gladly accepted, agreeing to be on board the following thursday at 10.30 p.m., the _aline_ sailing at 11. on the evening appointed, accordingly, we set out from our comfortable hotel to embark. the weather, which had all day been oppressively hot, had suddenly changed, and the rain was now pouring down in torrents. to make matters worse it was as dark as pitch, and it was some time ere, after shouting ourselves hoarse, we could procure a sampan to take us on board. the _aline_ was luckily lying close in-shore, and we stood on her deck, after a short pull in the sampan, wringing wet. a pleasant welcome from her captain, however, dry clothes, and a glass of grog in her cheerful and well-lit cabin, soon set things right, and we turned in and slept soundly, undisturbed by the bustle and noise that always attends the departure of a ship. we were awoke at six next morning, and, swallowing a cup of most excellent coffee, _sarawak grown_, went on deck. the sun shone brightly, and the air felt cool and fresh after the rain of yesterday. no land was in sight, and with a fair wind and sail set we were making good way through the water. the _aline_ is the largest of the gunboats (of which there are four) belonging to the sarawak government. she is about 200 tons, schooner rigged, and carries two 32-pounders, fore and aft. her accommodation, state rooms and saloon, are forward, a good plan in the tropics, as the smell of steam and hot oil from the engine-room are thus avoided, and it is also cooler than aft when the vessel is under weigh. the quarters of the crew are aft; and i was surprised to see how clean and neat everything on board was kept, the more so that the ship's company consisted entirely of malays, who are proverbially careless and dirty in these matters. she had but two european officers, the captain and engineer. the former, captain k., who had been in these seas for many years, had some interesting tales to tell of the old pirate days, when sir james brooke first visited borneo in his yacht the _royalist_. our voyage across was very enjoyable, and our host a very agreeable companion. it seemed but a short time, then, since our departure from singapore, that on the 25th of may at 4.30 p.m. we sighted the high lands of the island of borneo; the mountain of gunong poë, in dutch territory, towering high above the rest. by eight o'clock we were abreast of cape datu, a long spit of land running far out to sea, and the southernmost point of sarawak territory. rounding this we passed sleepy bay, in which a boat in search of pirates, commanded by an officer of h.m.s. _dido_, was nearly captured by them some years ago. the whole crew, including the watch, had fallen asleep one night while at anchor in the bay, but one of their number happening to wake just in time, gave the alarm, just as the pirate prahus, which had pulled out from the land, were within about thirty yards of them. a sharp skirmish ensued, and the illanuns were at length driven off, but had they not been warned in time the english must have perished to a man, as these ruffians made it a rule to spare none but _hajis_, or mahometans who have made a pilgrimage to mecca. the bay derives its name from this occurrence. at daybreak the next morning we were summoned on deck by captain k. as we were passing _talang-talang_, or turtle island, and should shortly be off the mouth of the sarawak river. _talang-talang_ is a small island literally swarming with turtle, whose eggs form a staple article of commerce in the sarawak market. the mode of procuring them is curious. turtles lay only at night, and having dug holes in the ground deposit their eggs therein, and cover them over with sand. natives who have been on the watch then place sticks in the ground to mark the place where they may be found, and they are the next morning dug out in enormous quantities, and exported to various parts of borneo and the adjacent islands. the eggs have a stale fishy flavour, are very sandy, and to my mind extremely nasty, although they are considered a great delicacy by the natives, who eat them raw with their curry. by seven o'clock we were entering the santubong mouth of the sarawak river. there are two entrances to this; the other, moratabas, some few miles farther down the coast, being the larger, is used by men-of-war and other large craft. vessels of 300 tons and under, however, always use the santubong entrance, excepting during the north-east monsoon, when it is unsafe for vessels of any size, and moratabas is always used. the santubong entrance is far superior to the other as far as scenery is concerned. on the right bank of the river, its base stretching for some way out to sea, stands the peak of santubong, rising to a height of over 2,000 feet, and covered with dense forest to a height of nearly 1,700 feet, from which point a perpendicular sandstone precipice rises to the summit.[1] at the foot of the hill, and almost hidden by trees which surround it, lies the little fishing village of santubong, inhabited by chinese and malay fishermen. kuching is supplied daily with fresh fish from this place. the left-hand bank is a flat, swampy plain of impenetrable jungle, having its river banks lined with mangroves and nipa palms. this extends for about ten miles inland, until the mountain of matang, which can plainly be seen from the mouth, is reached, and on the near side of which lies the capital, kuching. the journey up river from the mouth is flat and uninteresting, and little is to be seen but nipa and other palms on either side, and although kuching is but seven miles from santubong as the crow flies, it is quite twenty by river. it was not till ten o'clock, therefore, that signs of civilisation commenced, in the shape of a few malay houses built close to the water's edge. these are usually built in the same manner on piles of wood of ten to fifteen feet high, the walls and roof being made of "atap," or the leaf of the nipa-palm dried, and the flooring of "lanties" or split bamboo. the chinese brick-yards and potteries of "tanah puteh," a suburb of kuching, came into view shortly after this, and immediately after this fort margaret, which stands on a hill on the left-hand bank of the river, and commands the entrance to kuching, and, rounding the bend that hides it from our view, we now come to the town itself, so unique and picturesque a place that a far abler pen than mine is needed to do justice to its description. lining the right bank of the river, which is here about 400 yards broad, is the chinese bazaar extending for nearly a quarter of a mile along the shore, the houses, which are of brick, presenting a very curious appearance, with their red roofs and bright-coloured façades--the latter, in the case of some of the wealthier owners, embellished with designs of porcelain and majolica ware. the row of acacia trees which line the street from end to end would give the place rather the look of a boulevard in a small french town were it not for the palms growing at the back of the bazaar, and the chinese junks and malay craft moored alongside the bank. at the end of the bazaar, and separated from it by a small stream running into the main river, which is crossed by a wooden bridge, is the chinese joss-house, an imposing edifice erected by the principal chinese merchants here at a cost of over 10,000 dols.[2] next to the "pangkalan batoo," or principal landing-place, is the prison, a large stone building, on the right of which is the borneo company's (limited) wharf; and behind this again stands the court house, containing all the government offices, such as treasury, post-office, &c., and wherein the court of justice is held. stone buildings cease here, and the malay town extends for half a mile up both banks of the river. on the left bank, in the midst of beautifully laid-out gardens, is the "astana," or palace of the raja, a handsome stone building built in three blocks, connected with each other by means of small bridges. the centre building, which is surrounded by a fine broad verandah, supported by massive stone pillars, contains drawing-room, dining-room, library, and billiard-room, and is flanked by a tower which forms the principal entrance. the buildings on either side of this consist of sleeping apartments, while on the right of the house, and standing on somewhat lower ground, is a bungalow set apart for the use of guests. with the exception of the fort and commandant's house, the "astana" is the only building on this side of the river. the passage across to the opposite shore, or town side, is made by means of boats built on the model of the venetian gondola, and propelled by paddles, there being as yet no bridge. the _aline_ was anchoring off the town when a message was brought us from the raja, who kindly offered to place the "astana" bungalow aforementioned at our disposal during our stay in the country. we gladly availed ourselves of his invitation, and were soon ashore and comfortably installed in our new quarters. footnotes: [footnote 1: the outline of this mountain, as seen from kuching, bears a remarkable likeness to the profile or side face of the late raja, sir j. brooke.] [footnote 2: about £2,000.] chapter ii. territory of sarawak--history of the country--raja brooke and muda hasim--rebellions in sarawak--brooke proclaimed raja--chinese insurrection--military and naval establishment--exports--progress of sarawak--death of sir james brooke. the territory of sarawak extends for nearly 300 miles along the south-west coast of borneo from its southernmost boundary, cape datu, to kidorong point, its northern frontier. it is bounded on the north by brunei, or kingdom of borneo proper, and on its other borders by the dutch possessions, which comprise considerably more than half the island. sarawak has a mixed population, consisting of malays, milanows, chinese, dyaks, and other minor races too numerous to mention. these number about 220,000. sarawak was ceded by the sultan of brunei, under whose suzerainty it originally was, to the late raja sir james brooke; and a short history of the country from the time in which it first came into possession of the brooke family may be of some interest to the reader. on the 15th of august, 1838, the _royalist_, a yacht of about 200 tons, anchored off the town of kuching, with sir james (then mr.) brooke on board. the capital was then but a small straggling malay village, consisting of a few nipa-palm houses. the raja's palace, so called, was a dilapidated building constructed of the same material, although the state and formality observed within its walls were considerable, and contrasted strangely with the dirt and squalor in which muda hasim, the reigning sovereign, was living. sarawak was in a sad state in those days. her coasts were infested with pirates, who effectually prevented anything like trade being carried on, while anarchy, rebellion, and bloodshed reigned inland. the raja, muda hasim, was, as he assured mr. brooke, utterly powerless to act. the rebellion in the interior was affecting his government even more seriously than the piratical raids on the coast. he concluded by begging that mr. brooke would remain with his yacht, which was fully armed, at kuching until things looked brighter, hoping that when the rebels heard there was an armed british ship lying at the capital they would be intimidated, and surrender. this arrangement, however, brooke could not agree to, and, notwithstanding the raja's entreaties, was obliged to leave for singapore on the 31st of september of the same year, not, however, without a promise to the raja to return at some future time. after an absence of nearly two years, during which he visited celebes, and other parts of the archipelago, brooke returned to sarawak on august 29th, 1840, only to find the country in a worse state than ever, for, encouraged by their repeated successes, the enemy had advanced to within thirty miles of kuching. the poor raja received him with open arms, and implored his assistance, offering to make over the country to him if he would only give him his help. brooke, conceiving quite a friendship for the poor man, who, with all his faults was kind-hearted and sincere, now determined to do so, and organised an expedition against the enemy, headed by himself in person. after months of hardship and privation, during which time he was several times deserted by his faint-hearted followers, brooke succeeded in his efforts, and peace was restored on december 20th, 1840. although hostilities were now over, and danger past, muda hasim did not forget the promise he had made brooke concerning the country in his adversity, and a form was drawn up by him for the signature of the sultan of brunei. the terms of this document were not, however, quite in accordance with what the raja had undertaken to do, but this being pointed out to him by brooke, he replied that the paper was merely a preliminary, and it would come to the same thing in the end. with this explanation brooke had to be content, and await the return of the deed from brunei. like all easterns, malays are most dilatory, and time hung very heavily on brooke's hands at kuching. although the raja was then (and ever after) a firm friend to brooke, the native chiefs who surrounded him were not best pleased at the turn affairs were taking, and did their utmost, secretly, to undermine his influence with the people. these intrigues were carried to such a dangerous extent by a certain pangeran makota (who had formerly been governor of sarawak, and the chief cause of the troubles in the interior, by his acts of cruelty and oppression), that brooke determined to act forthwith, and bring matters to a crisis. loading the _royalist's_ guns, and bringing them to bear, he went ashore with an armed party to the raja's palace, and at once pointed out to him pangeran makota's treachery. he went on to say that makota's presence in the country was dangerous both to the safety of the raja and the government, and announced his determination of expelling him from it. brooke concluded by saying that a large force of dyaks were at his call, and the only way to prevent bloodshed was to instal him governor then and there. this speech, and the determined way in which it was spoken, decided muda hasim. brooke's terms were unconditionally accepted, and makota outlawed. an agreement was signed by the raja making over the government of sarawak and its dependencies to brooke, on his undertaking to pay a small annual tribute to the sultan of brunei, and this document having been duly signed by the latter, brooke was proclaimed raja of sarawak on the 24th september, 1841. from this day matters mended, and under the influence of a just government the country soon showed signs of improvement. in 1847 raja brooke went to england for a while, and was there received with great honours. among others he received the order of knighthood while on a visit to windsor castle; and the freedom of the city of london was presented to him in recognition of his deeds in borneo. he was not long away, however, from his adopted country, returning to sarawak early the following year. sarawak now steadily progressed, and the revenue, which in the first year of brooke's accession, was next to nothing, began to show a considerable increase. several englishmen also were employed by the raja to maintain order throughout his dominions. an incident, however, occurred in 1857, which, had it not been for the prompt and decisive action shown by the raja's government, might have led to serious consequences. a colony of chinese (of whom great numbers had come into sarawak on the accession of sir james) had settled at bau, a short distance above kuching, on the sarawak river, for the purpose of working gold. these men were members of a "hue," or chinese secret society, and, instigated by the three chiefs or leading members thereof, determined to attack kuching, overthrow the raja's government, and seize the country. descending the river in twenty-five large boats, some 600 strong, and fully armed, they reached the capital about midnight on the 18th of february. their plan of attack had been carefully laid, and on arrival off the town they divided into two parties: the smaller of these turning up the sungei bedil, a small stream running close by the government house, for the purpose of attacking it, and the larger proceeding down river to attack the fort situated on the opposite bank. sir james brooke had already been warned by some malays that an attack was to be made by the gold-workers on kuching, but knowing how prone natives are to exaggeration, had given the report no credence. roused from his sleep at midnight, however, by the yells of the chinamen, he quickly guessed the state of affairs, and calling to his european servant--the only other inmate of the house--to follow him, dashed through his bath-room on to the lawn at the back of the house, intending, if possible, to cut his way through the rebels, and so escape. the latter were, however, luckily, all assembled at the front entrance, and the coast clear. making his way, therefore, with all speed to the sungei bedil, the raja, who was a good swimmer, dived into the stream and under the chinese boats (which were luckily void of their occupants) in safety, only to fall exhausted on the opposite bank, for he was suffering from a severe attack of fever at the time. in the meanwhile death and destruction of property were busy. mr. nicholetts, a young officer of nineteen, who had but just joined the sarawak service, was killed; also an englishman on a visit to kuching; while mr. and mrs. crookshank[3] were cut down, and the latter left for dead. two children of mr. crymble, the police constable, were hacked to pieces before their mother's eyes, while she lay hidden in a bathing jar, from which she was eventually safely rescued; but mr steele,[4] and penty the raja's european valet, succeeded in escaping to the jungle, and were both saved. the larger party were in the meanwhile attacking the fort, which was then but a small wooden stockade. a desperate resistance was made by mr. crymble, who was in charge, assisted by only four malays, but seeing after a while that he was overwhelmed by numbers, he escaped, leaving the position in the hands of the enemy. the raja had by this time been discovered by native friends, who at once conveyed him to the house of the _datu bandar_, or principal malay chief in kuching. here he stayed the night; and, next day, accompanied by a small number of officers who had escaped and joined him, set out on foot through the jungle for the siol stream, leading into the santubong branch of the sarawak river, intending to procure boats at the mouth and make his way to the batang lupar river, where a sufficiently powerful force of dyaks and malays could be organised to attack the rebels and retake kuching. but the raja's nephew,[5] mr. c. brooke, who was then resident of the sakarran district, had already heard the news, and was even then proceeding to kuching with a force of nearly 10,000 dyaks and malays, but of this the raja was of course ignorant, and was on the point of putting out to sea with his small party for lingga, a small village at the mouth of the batang lupar, when they descried a steamer making for the mouth of the river. this proved to be the b. c. l.'s steamer _sir james brooke_, from singapore. those on board had, of course, heard nothing of the disastrous events at kuching, and were hailed with great joy by the raja and his little band, who were soon on board and making for the capital with all speed. the sight of a steamer approaching the town created quite a panic among the chinese, for they well knew the _sir james brooke_ was armed, and as soon as her guns had opened on them, they fired one wild volley at her from every available firearm they possessed. this took no effect whatever, and the wretches fled in dismay into the jungle, intending to reach the border, some twenty-eight miles distant, and cross into dutch territory. but the wild and fierce tribes of saribus and sakarran had now arrived, led by mr. c. brooke, and were soon on their track. encumbered as were the chinese by women and children, they found escape next to impossible, but were cut off one by one by the dyaks, with whom in jungle warfare they had no chance whatever. at length, after days of fearful suffering, about sixty of their number contrived to reach sambas in dutch borneo, this being all that remained of a force of 500 men. thus ended the chinese insurrection, which, although resulting in the loss of valuable lives and much property, was not altogether without its good results, for it served to place the raja's government on a firmer basis than before, by showing the natives, malays, chinese, and dyaks alike, that it was a strong one, and to be relied on in the hour of need. it pointed also to the danger of tolerating secret societies in small states, and the penalty for belonging to such in sarawak has ever since been death. trouble is now over for sarawak, for, with the exception of occasional brushes with the more distant dyak tribes, the country is thoroughly settled. natives in great numbers and from all parts of the island settle here yearly, and take refuge under the sarawak flag,[6] for nowhere, say they, throughout borneo is such security found for life and property as in the dominions of raja brooke. the government of sarawak now employs twenty-two european officers. the resident commandant, treasurer, postmaster, and medical officer, and two or three others holding minor posts, reside in kuching, while the remainder are quartered at the various forts or out-stations along the coast, and in the interior of the country at the heads of the principal rivers. there are eight of the latter, each of which is in charge of a european resident and assistant resident. the military force of the country consists of about 200 men, who are quartered in the fort barracks at kuching. the out-stations are garrisoned by these men, who are drafted for certain periods in batches of ten to each fort. their time over, they are relieved by others, and return to kuching. the "sarawak rangers," as they are styled, are recruited from malays and dyaks exclusively, and are instructed in battalion and gun drill by an english instructor. the raja can, however, always count on the services of the tribes of batang lupar, seribas, and other sea dyaks. these, who could muster over 25,000 fighting men, are ready at any time to assemble at the call of the government. the naval establishment consists of three steamers: the _aline_, _ghita_, and _young harry_. the former, which i have already described, is principally used to convey the raja to the various out-stations, while the _ghita_ is stationed at sibu on the rejang river. the _young harry_, which lies at kuching, is used as a despatch boat, and is very fast.[7] the chief exports of sarawak are antimony, quicksilver, coal, timber of many kinds, gutta-percha, rice, sago, and rattans. gold is also worked in small quantities by chinese.[8] the principal imports are cloths, salt, tobacco, brass, and crockery-ware. the borneo company, limited, have the monopoly of all minerals. a better proof of the progress the country is making cannot be shown than by comparing the revenues of 1877-78--185,552 dols. and 197,855 dols. respectively--with that of 1871, which was only 157,501 dols., thus showing an increase of about £40,000 in seven years. on the 11th of june, 1868, at burrator, in devonshire, sir james brooke breathed his last, leaving sarawak to his nephew, mr. c. brooke, the present raja, his heirs and assigns, for ever. to realise the importance and extent of the deeds wrought by the late raja, the state of sarawak must be visited--a state which forty years since was a hot-bed of piracy and bloodshed, a state now as peaceful and secure as any of the british possessions in the east. footnotes: [footnote 3: they were both saved eventually, and the courage shown by mrs. crookshank on this occasion will not be readily forgotten in sarawak. mr. crookshank was afterwards appointed resident of sarawak proper, and retired from the service in 1873.] [footnote 4: mr. steele was afterwards murdered by kanowits.] [footnote 5: the present raja.] [footnote 6: black and red cross on yellow ground.] [footnote 7: another vessel of 300 tons, the _lorna doone_, has been added since this was written.] [footnote 8: silver has lately been found to exist also.] chapter iii. kuching--society--the club--amusements--the _sarawak gazette_--the bazaar--health of kuching--life in kuching--rats--preparations for journey to the matang mountain. kuching, the capital of sarawak, although smaller than pontianak and other dutch settlements on the coast of borneo, is generally acknowledged to be the first town in borneo so far as civilisation and comfort are concerned, and is renowned for its bazaar, which is the best-built and cleanest in the island. there are two good roads extending at right angles from the town to a distance of seven miles each, at which point they are united by a third. these form a pleasant drive or ride, an amusement unknown in most bornean townships, where the jungle and undergrowth are usually so dense as to defy any attempts at walking, to say nothing of riding or driving. the number of europeans in kuching, although limited, and consisting of but some twenty in all (five of whom are ladies), form a pleasant little _coterie_, and there is a marked absence of the scandal and squabbling which generally seems inseparable from any place wherein a limited number of our countrymen and women are assembled. the occasional presence of an english or dutch man-of-war, also, breaks the monotony of life, and enlivens matters considerably. the club, a comfortable stone building, was founded by the government a few years ago, and contains bed-rooms for the use of out-station officers when on a visit to kuching. a lawn-tennis ground and bowling alley are attached to it, and serve to kill the time, which, however, rarely hung heavily on our hands in this cheerful little place. riding and driving are but still in their infancy, and kuching boasted of only some dozen horses and four carriages--including a sporting little tandem of deli (sumatra) ponies, owned by the resident. the deli pony is a rare-shaped little animal, standing from 13 hands to 13.2, with immense strength, and very fast. they would be worth their weight in gold in europe, and an enterprising dutch merchant lately shipped a cargo of them to amsterdam from singapore, _via_ the suez canal, with what result i never ascertained. a new road was being cut when we were there from kuching to penrisen, a mountain some thirty miles off, which, when completed, may bring a few more horses here; but borneo (except far north) can never become a riding or driving country. kuching has its newspaper, which is published fortnightly, in the english language, and brought out under the editorship of the postmaster. this journal contains, among other subjects, the doings of the law courts, reports from the various residencies, and arrivals and departures of ships, with occasionally an interesting account of a journey inland made by the resident of one of the up-coast districts. the _sarawak gazette_ was organised in 1871, and will form an interesting history of the country in years to come. but the most interesting and novel sight in kuching is its bazaar, which is built in arcades _à la_ rue de rivoli, the shops therein belonging chiefly to chinamen, excepting three or four held by indians. birmingham and manchester furnish these emporiums to a large extent, the article finding most favour with the natives in the edible line being huntley & palmer's biscuits, which are imported to kuching in great quantities. all kinds of brass and crockery-ware, cheap cloth (shoddy), sheffield cutlery, imitation jewellery, gongs, &c., form the greater part of the goods for sale; but i was surprised, my first walk down the bazaar, at the great number of large china jars exposed for sale, four or five of these standing at nearly every door. i subsequently found that these are held in great esteem by the dyaks, and i afterwards saw some in their houses that the owners refused 300 dols. (£60) for! the latter were, however, _bonâ fide_ ones, some 400 years old, and came from china. worthless imitations have been sent out from england and holland of late years, but they proved a bad speculation to the importers, for the dyak is, in his way, as good a judge of jars as the veriest chinamaniac at home of sèvres or dresden. the chinese are, as i have said, the principal householders in the bazaar, the richest among them being the brothers ken-wat, a firm trading in gutta, gold-dust, and diamonds, with singapore and china. borneo has ever been famous for its diamonds, and, although scarce in quantity, i have heard good judges affirm that they are the finest in quality of any in the world. some large stones have been found in sarawak territory, and, only lately, one was discovered by a chinaman, and sold to government, weighing 87 carats. the silver coinage in use in sarawak is the mexican dollar, but the copper coinage of cents and half-cents bear the head of the raja. a walk under the arcades of the bazaar in the busy part of the day (11.30 a.m.) is well repaid by the curious spectacle presented--thronged as it is with the quaint dark blue dresses of the chinese and the gaudy, rainbow-hued garments of the malays, while now and again a land dyak from up river may be seen, clad in his "chawat" (waist-band) and turban, evidently quite out of his element, and half-scared at the busy scene around him. the public health of kuching, which has a mixed population of 20,000, is good, notwithstanding a severe outbreak of cholera which occurred in 1877 and carried off a great number of the inhabitants; and the climate, for a tropical one, is exceptionally healthy. although the mid-day heat is during six months in the year excessive, the nights are nearly always cool, for a day seldom passes without a squall of wind and rain during the latter part of the afternoon, which clears the atmosphere. consumption is unknown in sarawak; and an english officer who came out to join the government service, afflicted with this complaint, completely recovered after a residence of three years in the country. indeed, if due attention be paid to diet, and the excessive use of stimulants avoided, a long period may elapse in this climate without returning home to recruit; and there is now an officer living in kuching who has not been out of the place for eighteen years, and who is in as good health as when he left europe. our days at kuching slipped pleasantly by. a plunge in the large astana swimming-bath at dawn began the day; after which, our light breakfast of coffee, eggs, and fruit over, we would go across river for a ride or stroll out with a gun; and during my morning's walk past the neat town and bungalows, the latter surrounded with their pretty gardens and trim hedges, i often thought of what poor old muda hasim would think could he arise from his grave and compare kuching the modern with the kuching of forty years ago--half a dozen malay houses on a mud bank! _déjeunner à la fourchette_ over, a siesta and cigar would be indulged in till five o'clock, when a ride or rattling set-to at lawn tennis, followed by a refreshing bath, prepared one for dinner--the more enjoyable for the violent exercise that had preceded it. such was our daily life in kuching, and one that i shall ever look back upon with pleasure. but the loveliest countries have their little drawbacks, sarawak not excepted. mosquitoes and sand-flies are not, although very numerous, the worst evils in the land, for i was startled, my first night in kuching, while lying half-awake in bed, to feel something cold and slimy run across my chest. thinking it was a snake, i was out of bed like (to use a yankee expression) "greased lightning," and was not a little relieved to find that the cause of the mischief was only a "chik-chak," or common lizard of the country, which was larger than usual in this case, being nearly a foot long. but the true curses of sarawak are the rats. go where you will, avoid them as you may, there is not a bungalow that is not infested with them, and boots, shirts, and even cigars, suffer in consequence. no sooner in bed, and the lights out, than their gambols commence, and they sometimes make such a noise as to keep one awake for the greater part of the night. i have sometimes gone out to the verandah, thinking i heard men's footsteps, and found it to be rats, who fled at my approach. these pests occasionally migrate at night in large numbers, several hundred of them on one occasion passing through the raja's bed-room at astana on one of these nocturnal expeditions. nor are mosquito curtains a guard against them, for an out-station officer at simanggang, on the batang lupar river, woke up one night to find a huge grey rascal sitting on his chest and endeavouring to make a hearty meal off his jersey. to get rid of rats is, therefore, well-nigh impossible, though a plan adopted by some europeans of keeping a boa-constrictor between the roofs and ceilings of their bungalows is the most effectual. there are many snakes in borneo, but none, with the exception of the cobra, are deadly. centipedes and scorpions are common, and the tarantula spider is also occasionally, though rarely, met with. after nearly a fortnight's stay in the capital, we made preparations for an excursion to matang, of which we wished to make the ascent, and whither we were about to accompany mr. h., who was formerly agent of the raja's coffee estate, half-way up the mountain. chapter iv. travel in borneo--travelling boats--leave for matang- our crew--alligators--mosquitoes--matang bungalow--the garden--ascend the mountain--the waterfall--a nasty jump--view from the summit--snakes--return to kuching. travelling in the south-western districts of borneo, and indeed generally throughout the island, excepting in the far north and interior, is done in boats, the density of its forests and swampy nature of the ground rendering journeys overland in most parts of the territory next to impossible. jungle paths there are, running inland to native houses, and "padi" (rice) clearings, as well as one or two native roads of considerable length, such as the one leading from lundu, in sarawak, to the dutch settlement of sambas, a distance of twenty-eight miles; but the walking is very severe, and the journey but seldom attempted except by dyaks. its rivers may therefore be said to be the highways of sarawak, and, fortunately for the traveller, it is a well-watered country. the rejang, batang lupar, and sarawak rivers are the largest, while among many other smaller streams are the sadong, saribus, kalaka, eyan, muka, and oya; the three latter, although small, are very important, as they run through the sago districts, where are large forests of that palm. the travelling boats used by europeans are propelled by means of paddles, and vary considerably in size, from those pulled by six or eight men, to those having a crew of thirty or forty, some of the dyak war canoes holding as many as eighty men. the latter are used only on expeditions against the enemy. the ordinary travelling boat is roofed over from stem to stern with "kadjangs," or dried palm-leaf awnings, having a space in the centre some 8 feet long or more, according to the size of the boat, walled in on each side with the same material, the better to exclude the fierce rays of the sun. herein sits, or rather lies, the traveller, the lowness of the awning (which is removable) precluding any other position. boxed up in this manner, but little can be seen of the surrounding country, but as in sarawak one river is so precisely alike another this is no great loss. in the interior, however, the scenery improves, and is much finer, as i shall presently show. a short journey in this style is pleasant enough, but when the unhappy traveller has to live, and cook, &c., for days together in one of these craft it becomes very irksome and trying to the temper. moreover, the smell from the remnants of the crew's meals, such as stale fish and decayed fruit and vegetables--which they will not take the trouble to throw overboard, but invariably drop under the "lanties" or bamboo deck--is well-nigh insupportable. we left kuching on the 4th of june for matang, intending to make the ascent of sorapi, the highest peak of the matang range. the tide not serving further, santubong was to be our resting-place that night, and we were to proceed on our journey early the following morning. matang, though only eight miles from kuching in a straight line, is fully thirty by river, the stream which runs past the landing-place at matang having its outlet at santubong. it was once intended by the sarawak government to make a road from kuching to the mountain, but on being surveyed the intermediate country was found to contain a deep swamp four miles across, so the project was abandoned. our craft on this occasion was pulled by a crew of six men, and, though small, was, thanks to mr. h. (who accompanied us), replete with every comfort. on our way down river, h. pointed us out his crew with pride as being all prisoners, who, although he never took a gaoler with him, had never once taken advantage of him for three years, during which time he had made several trips. three of these men were in for murder, and h.'s own body-servant, who cooked our meals, waited on us. he was working out a sentence of fifteen years for the murder of a chinaman, whose head he had one day conceived a desire to possess, which desire he had promptly gratified! this man was a "kayan," a tribe inhabiting the interior of borneo, of whom more anon. by six o'clock that evening we were at santubong, and cast anchor a short distance from the shore, but were soon left high and dry on the sands by the receding tide. stepping on to the beach, l. and i set out for a stroll on the sea-shore and a dip in the sea before dinner, leaving h. to superintend the culinary operations in the boat. he warned us ere we started to beware, when bathing, of sharks and alligators, which swarm here. there has ever been something most repulsive to me about the latter, who, when they have seized their prey, human or otherwise, do not at once devour it, but stow it away in their nests under water for two or three days until the flesh becomes decomposed, when they return to their hideous meal. alligators do not attain a very large size in borneo, ranging from 10 to 15 feet long only. the offer by the sarawak government of 30 cents, per foot, when captured, has greatly decreased their number in most of the rivers. an amusing anecdote is told of an enterprising malay fisherman, who, when these rewards were first offered, established a "farm" at the mouth of one of the rivers, killing them when they grew to their full size, and claiming the money for their capture. this did not last long, however, and the "wily oriental's" ingenuity was nipped in the bud by a punishment that has deterred other natives from following his bad example. it is a curious fact that the eggs of alligators are invariably found in the following numbers--11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, &c. the following story, which, had it not been told me by the resident of the district wherein it had occurred, and published in the _gazette_, i should have greatly doubted, may interest the reader:-two malay children, the elder a girl, aged seven and four years, were playing at low tide on a mud bank close to their dwelling, and some 15 yards from the water, when an alligator, which had advanced unperceived, seized the younger, and was making for the water with the child in its jaws. the little girl, on seeing this, had the presence of mind to leap on the animal's back and plunge her fingers into its eyes, when it instantly dropped the child unhurt, and made off into the river. we enjoyed a cool and refreshing dip in the sea, and it was almost dark ere we left the water to return to the boat. a light was placed in her little cabin, which shone like a firefly over the sands, giving promise of good things within, to which we were shortly doing justice, in the shape of an excellent fowl curry (prepared by the murderer), washed down by a bottle of claret cool and fresh from the spring on shore, where it had been placed on arrival. the night was beautiful and starlight, and, our repast over, the awning was removed, and we sat out enjoying our cigars in the cool night breeze blowing in fresh and strong from the sea. the quiet ripple of the waves as they broke on the sandy beach had a soothing effect very favourable to reflection (and baccy), and the lights of the little fishing village twinkling at the foot of the black and rugged peak of santubong--which rose to a height of 1,500 feet above our heads, and behind which the moon was just rising--presented a fine and uncommon picture. but, alas! our enjoyment, like many others in this world, was of short duration, and received a severe shock from a sudden exclamation by h. of "by jove! we have forgotten mosquito curtains! we shall be eaten alive!" it was too true. in the hurry of departure, and forgetting that we were to pass a night at the mouth, we had left them behind, knowing that on matang mosquitoes are unknown. there was no help for it, however, and, our cigars finished, we turned in with a foreboding that sleep that night was not for us. nor were we wrong in our conjecture, for no sooner were we wrapped in our blankets, and the lights out, than the enemy, mosquitoes and sandflies--for the latter of which santubong is famous--attacked us in myriads. we eventually gave it up as a bad job about eleven p.m., lit our lamps, and waited for daylight, when the cold land breeze came and dispersed these pests, leaving us a couple of hours' sleep ere we should start with the morning tide. the morning was bright and sunny, and, starting at seven, we were entering the matang stream which runs past the bungalow landing-stage at eleven o'clock a.m. our destination was reached at one p.m., and, loading our amiable crew with baggage and provisions, we started off up the mountain for the bungalow, which was reached, after a rather severe climb, at three o'clock. there was formerly a coffee estate on matang belonging to the raja. this was started in 1868, but the coffee, though good in quality, grew in such small quantities that it was deemed advisable to abandon the scheme, and this was accordingly done in 1873. the bungalow, however, which was built in the same year is still kept up as a sanitarium--a great boon to the europeans in kuching, as the climate here is delightful, the temperature at night never exceeding 80 even in the hottest season. the bungalow, which stands about 1,000 feet above sea level, is a comfortable wooden house, containing a sitting-room and three good bed-rooms. it stands on the sheer mountain side, the jungle for 100 feet or so below it having been completely cleared, and replaced by a pretty garden, built in five terraces one below the other, and containing roses, honeysuckles, sweetbriar, and many english flowers that would not live a day on the plains below. it was barely daybreak the next morning ere we were awoke by h., and, hastily swallowing a biscuit and cup of coffee, we set out for the summit. our road for the first half-mile lay through the old coffee clearing, and the path was easy enough, which was, perhaps, lucky, as everything was enveloped in a dense mist issuing from the valley below, which rendered objects quite invisible ten yards off. by six o'clock, however, the sun was shining so brightly that we were not sorry to leave the open and enter the forest, from which we should not now emerge until we attained the summit. to arrive at the foot of the sirapi mountain two distinct ridges must be ascended and descended, and after an hour's hard walking (though nothing to what we were coming to), we descended the second ridge, into the valley, and arrived at the waterfall, which here descends the mountain from a height of some 600 feet. seating ourselves on a huge black boulder overhanging the fall, we paused here for a while to regain our breath, of which we should shortly stand so much in need, for up till now the work had been child's play compared with what was coming. the most striking thing about this valley was its dense gloom, the huge forest-trees of tapang, pli, and other kinds, excluding every ray of light, excepting where here and there a bright patch of blue sky peeped in through the thick trellis-work of branches overhead. beautiful palms, kladiums, and tree ferns, grew in profusion around us, and rare orchids filled the air with their sweet perfumes. strangely enough not a bird, or living thing, was to be seen in this lovely glen, and the solemn stillness which reigned, broken only by the plash of the water as it fell from rock to rock, was almost oppressive. we could have lingered here willingly for an hour, but our guide was inexorable, and "forward" was again the cry. climbing now commenced in real earnest, for, leaving the old track altogether, we began the sheer ascent of the mountain. dense undergrowths and sharp rocks impeded our every step, and cut our feet cruelly, while, every now and then, a fall flat on the face was the result of misplaced confidence in a fallen tree trunk, which had become rotten from the ravages of ants or other insects. falling any considerable height was, however, scarcely possible, as the binders and undergrowth, which tore our clothes and scratched our faces, legs, and arms, unmercifully, prevented that. after three-quarters of an hour of this work--which in a tropical climate, with the thermometer something like 90° in the shade, was no joke--we again struck on the old path, which, though now completely overgrown, we determined to follow for a short time. with injunctions from h. to "hold on by our eyelids," and "'ware holes" where the path had given way, we proceeded along this track about three feet wide, whence descended a sheer precipice of at least 2,000 feet. glancing upwards, however, we could see that the neck of the journey was broken, and, encouraged by this, we went ahead merrily. but our pride was destined to have a fall. l. and i were proceeding alone, h. having stopped behind to secure an orchid, when, on turning a corner, we were brought up "all standing." about ten paces in front of us was an enormous landslip. it had commenced about 150 feet above the track, and, carrying huge rocks and trees with it, had swept down to the base of the mountain, demolishing the path on which we stood, and leaving a smooth, perpendicular precipice of earth, rocks, and trees, to mark its course. going round was impossible, for it had left a gap about twelve feet wide, while under us yawned the dread gulf, a fall down which must have been fatal. over this chasm lay a thin bamboo pole about a foot in circumference, evidently thrown over the chasm, and crossed by some native, for dyaks and malays are as active as cats, and in feats of this kind know no fear. this mode of transit seemed to us, however, out of the question, and we were lamenting our bad luck in having to return without having reached the summit, when h. came up. without a moment's hesitation, and merely remarking "rather an awkward place," he crossed the pole, while it swayed and oscillated with every movement he made, in a way that made my blood run cold. having seen him over safely, there was no help for it but to follow, and, dissembling a feeling within me very much akin to what schoolboys denominate "funk," i determined to jump for it, but cross that infernal stick--never! consigning matang and all things connected with it to a considerably warmer sphere than borneo, i "threw my heart over" and followed it a run, a wild bound in the air, a scramble, and i was over, l. almost jumping on my back, and both being ignominiously hauled out of danger by h., who showed no more interest in the whole affair than he would have done in crossing piccadilly! this little adventure over, matters were easy enough, until within a short distance of the summit. it then became terrible work. tearing and struggling through masses of briars and thorns, cut about the feet by sharp rocks, and having literally to pull ourselves upwards by tree trunks and branches, on we went, until a shrill yell from l. gave us a happy excuse for a halt. he had been bitten by a "sumut api," or fire-ant, the pain of whose bite is intense, and strongly resembles the running of a red-hot needle into the flesh. "never mind," said h., "you won't feel it in a minute." we resume the climb, and i am just beginning to be aware that very few minutes more of this work will sew me up altogether, when, o joyful sound! a faint cry from h., who is some distance ahead, comes back to us. "hurrah! here's the top!" panting and exhausted, we at length reach the summit, and throw ourselves on the ground dead beat. when sufficiently recovered in wind and limb to get up and look around us, we feel that double the hard work undergone would have been amply repaid by the magnificent view now disclosed to us. far away in front of us, surrounded by an interminable forest of jungle, lies gunong poé, the south-west boundary of sarawak, while behind it again rise the long low hills of sambas, in dutch borneo. stretching far out to sea, and to the right of poé, is the long spit of land, or promontory, known as "tanjong api," on this side of which lies the mountain of "gading," or mount brooke, in sarawak territory. nearer to us again are santubong and moratabas, and far down the coast the sadong mountains, the home of the mias or orang utan of borneo. we can plainly trace the course of the sarawak river, which looks from here like a thin silver thread, as it winds its way past kuching, its white houses glittering in the sunshine. the mountains of singgi and cerambo are plainly discernible, as also the sharp rugged hills of legora, where the cinnabar and antimony mines are; while farthest away of any on the dim horizon, we can distinguish the island of burong, at the mouth of the batang lupar, and the flat-topped mountain of lingga, where the sarawak mission has established its headquarters. the sky was cloudless, and h. told us that never before had he been able to procure such a good view from the summit. we enjoyed the fresh breeze at the top for half an hour, and then commenced our descent, avoiding the landslip, and reached the waterfall in a little over the hour. pausing here for a few minutes to rest, and quench our thirst, we resumed our journey, and reached the bungalow at midday none the worse, with the exception of leech-bites and cut feet, for the climb. remarking to h. on the extraordinary number of snakes i had noticed on the way up, he informed me that matang is famed for them, and that, on rising one morning at the bungalow we were then in, he discovered a cobra eight feet long, curled up asleep under his pillow. it had evidently been there all night, and, not best pleased at the interruption, was crawling away when a bullet from h.'s revolver cut short its career. we stayed two days more at the bungalow, after which we returned to our quarters at kuching, not a little pleased at having accomplished the ascent of "sirapi." chapter v. the rejang residency--wild tribes of the interior--start for rejang--timber ships--sibu--attack by katibus--a dinner party--the fireship--kanowit--"jok"--kanowits' dwellings--human heads--"bones" and "massa johnson." sarawak is divided into six districts or residencies, each of which is under the supervision and control of a european government officer. the latter, who is stationed at the fort established at the principal town of the district, is styled the resident, and settles law cases, receives revenue, &c.; the entire residency being under his control. these districts are as follows:--(1) sarawak proper (comprising kuching); (2) rejang; (3) batang lupar; (4) muka; (5) bintulu; (6) lundu. the rejang residency, whither we were now about to make an expedition, contains the largest and most important river in sarawak, having a draught of five fathoms for a distance of over 130 miles from the mouth. the exports of rejang are many, the principal ones being gutta-percha, rattans, and bilian wood. a curious article of export, which is found only in this river, is the _galega_, or bezoar stone. this is a perfectly hard light green substance, very much the size and shape of a thrush's egg, which is found in the interior of a peculiar species of monkey inhabiting rejang. the bezoar stone, which is supposed to be caused by disease in the animal, takes a beautiful polish, and is used as a charm by the malays, but the majority are sent to china, where they fetch their weight in gold, being held in great esteem by the chinese, who use them as a drug. the races dwelling on the banks of this great river are very numerous, varying from the totally wild and wandering ukits at its head to the malay and milano races inhabiting its shores from sibu to the mouth. the population of rejang is roughly estimated at 103,000, but the difficulties of obtaining anything like an accurate census are obvious. the number i have given comprises 40,000 dyaks (including the katibus and kanowit tribes), 30,000 milanos, 30,000 kayans, and 3,000 malays--the latter do not live above sibu. there are also other tribes of totally different language and customs to the above, whose number it has been found impossible to ascertain. of these i shall give an account anon. the dyaks (who are the principal indigenous race in this part of borneo) may be classed as follows:--(1) the sea dyak; (2) the land dyak. the sea dyaks are so called from their inhabiting the sea-coast east of the sadong district, as far as the rejang river, though some are to be occasionally met with far inland. these, who are the most numerous of any dyaks, are at the same time the bravest and most warlike, and in former days were greatly addicted to piracy and head hunting. they are of a dark copper colour, and although not tall men are wonderfully strong and well-built, and will endure a great amount of fatigue. they are also endowed with great courage, and are very skilful in the use of weapons, especially the parang ilang[9] and spear. this tribe has been found by missionaries to possess some small amount of religion, inasmuch as they believe in the existence of a supreme being, _batara_, who made this earth and now governs it. they believe, also, in good and evil spirits, who dwell in the jungles and mountains. sickness, death, and every kind of misfortune, are attributed to the latter, while _batara_ is the accredited author of every blessing. the land dyaks are inferior, both morally and physically, to the sea dyaks. these occupy a portion of the landu district, with sarawak proper, samarahau, and sadong, and in colour only are similar to the sea dyaks. the land dyak is much shorter and weaker in frame, and is also far less skilled in the use of arms. cowardly, weak, and decimated by sickness, this race had up to the accession of sir james brooke in 1840, led a life of slavery and oppression. since the establishment of the raja's government, however, their state has greatly improved, although they are even yet a wretched set of people, having none of the nobler instincts or courage characterising their brethren of the sea. the years they have passed in oppression may account for this, as also the continual state of poverty and sickness in which they exist, their villages being seldom entirely free from dysentery or small-pox, while nearly all are more or less afflicted with _korrip_, a loathsome skin disease peculiar to the dyak. the religion of the land dyaks consists solely in superstitious observances, and they are given up to the fear of ghosts. physical evils, such as poverty, sickness, &c., they try to avert by sacrifices, such as the killing of goats, pigs, &c., which they offer to these spirits. their belief in a future state is that when a man dies he becomes an _autu_, or ghost, and lives in the forests. of the other races inhabiting sarawak, and especially the rejang district, may be mentioned the kayans, a powerful tribe living at the head of the rejang river, and occupying the vast tract of land between it and the territory of the sultan of brunei in north borneo; the kanowits, who take their name from the stream of that name, which rises in the batang lupar residency, and runs into the rejang; and the poonans, pakatans, sians, and ukits, the latter of whom are acknowledged to be the wildest of the human race yet met with in borneo. of these tribes, all with the exception of the ukits are tattooed, unlike the dyaks, who look upon the practice with contempt, and say that they have no need to disfigure their faces to frighten their enemies. a curious mixture of the dyak and malay races are the milanoes. these occupy the sea-coast and oya, muka, and bintulu rivers. the custom (similar to that of the indians on the mosquito shore) of flattening their children's heads is prevalent among them. we were fortunate enough to choose the right time for our expedition to the rejang. the gunboat _aline_ was leaving kuching for sibu, the residence of the officer in charge of rejang, in a week's time after our return from matang, with instructions to him to proceed to kapit, 200 miles up river in the interior, without delay, as a small wooden fort was being erected at that place, and required supervision. such an opportunity was not to be lost, and we gladly availed ourselves of the raja's offer to accompany the expedition. such a journey undertaken at our own cost and responsibility would have been next to impossible, for, apart from the danger of travelling among unknown tribes without a guide, we should have lost all the valuable information we were able to obtain from the resident. of the dyak language i had a slight knowledge, but this is practically useless at kapit and in the interior, the natives around being, both in language and customs, totally unlike dyaks. daybreak on the 16th of june saw us on board the _aline_, _en route_ for sibu. arrived at the latter place, we were to leave the _aline_ and proceed in the little launch _ghita_; for although, as i have said, the rejang is navigable for large vessels for a distance of over 150 miles, the stream above kanowit (our first halting-place after sibu) being very swift, renders it dangerous for ships of any size. we arrived off the mouth after a pleasant run of seven hours along the coast, and entered the river rejang, which is here four miles broad. on the right bank stands the little village of rejang, and lying off it was a large portuguese sailing vessel, loading "bilian" or iron wood. this is a tedious business. the wood is cut a considerable distance up river and floated down in rafts, an operation which sometimes detains a ship here for three or four months. deaths are frequent on board these timber ships, as the country for miles round is one dismal mangrove swamp, and very productive of fever. a great quantity of this timber is exported yearly to china direct from rejang, and it must be a lucrative speculation for the shippers, as the cost is merely a nominal charge of 1 dol. per ton to government, and it fetches a considerable price in the chinese market. we anchored at sundown off sarikei, a lonely-looking place, twenty miles from the mouth, consisting of four or five tumble-down malay houses on a mud bank, and starting next day at daybreak reached our destination at ten o'clock a.m. sibu is a clean-looking malay town of some 30,000 inhabitants. all malays living here are exempt from taxation on condition that they are liable to be called out by government in the event of any disturbance among the up-river tribes. the fort and bazaar stand on an island in the centre of the river, which is here about one and a half miles broad, and are connected with the town on the right bank by a wooden bridge. "fort brooke," as it is styled, is built in a pentagon of solid bilian planks, about 12 feet high; a sloping wooden roof reaching down to within 2½ feet of the plank wall. this interval is guarded by a strong trellis-work, so that when the fort door is shut the building is rendered perfectly secure against any _native_ attack. the resident's and fortmen's quarters are reached by a ladder inside the fort about eight feet high, while the ground floor is used as a kitchen, rice-store, &c. fort brooke is garrisoned by sixteen malays, and armed with six nine-pounders. all forts in sarawak are built of the same materials and on the same model as the above, excepting that at kuching, which is of stone, and much larger. a daring attempt was made by the katibus tribe eight years since to capture fort brooke, but although taken by surprise, the resident and his handful of men drove them back with great ease, killing eight of their number, and shooting their chief with his own hand. the fort was attacked (as is the invariable dyak custom) just before daylight, and the enemy were estimated to number about 150. the resident, who was not starting for kapit until seven the following morning, asked us to dine, the evening of our arrival, at his quarters; where we found that, although in the wilds of borneo, he (an old garibaldian) managed to make himself uncommonly comfortable. an excellent dinner, washed down by some champagne well cooled in saltpetre, is no mean fare for the jungle, and it was late ere we returned on board the _aline_, which was lying in mid-stream. a slight headache the next morning (which warned us that irish whiskey on the top of champagne is _not_ the most wholesome thing to drink in the tropics) was soon dispelled by a cup of hot coffee, and we were on board the _ghita_ by seven o'clock. the resident was even at that early hour aboard and awaiting us, and the little launch was soon steaming merrily away up river. kanowit was to be our halt for that night, as the resident had some business of importance to transact there, and travelling on the rejang at night is unsafe. the scenery up the river for some hours after leaving sibu presents the same flat uninteresting appearance as we had passed from the mouth to sibu, the landscape being unbroken by hill or habitation of any kind, and newspapers and books that we had brought with us from kuching, proved in great demand as the journey for the first few hours was sadly monotonous. towards four o'clock in the afternoon, however, the scenery entirely changed, and books were discarded to look at the really beautiful country we were passing through, the narrowing of the stream to about 500 yards broad, and the swiftness of the stream indicating that we were approaching kanowit. the powerful current rushed by so rapidly, that the little _ghita_ had hard work to make any headway, and the "snags," or huge pieces of timber, that whirled past us, gave the steersman plenty of work in keeping the launch clear of them. the dense jungle here gave place to green park-like plains, broken by a succession of undulating hills, not unlike rhine scenery. several dyak habitations were now passed, which gave evidence of kanowits being near, their inmates thronging to the water's edge for a look at the _fire-ship_, a rare and novel sight to them. at five o'clock we rounded the bend that hid it from our view, and came in sight of the little white fort and village of kanowit, about a mile distant at the end of the reach we were entering. no sooner had we entered the latter than we were observed by the natives, and could distinguish them, through our glasses, shoving off from the bank in four or five large canoes, and paddling towards us. their boats are all built flat-bottomed for greater facility in shooting rapids, and were each manned by a crew of ten or twelve men, who presented a curious spectacle--their faces and bodies completely covered with tattooing, their long black locks streaming in the wind, and bright brass ornaments flashing in the sun. as they came alongside us they brandished their paddles and yelled--this being meant as a welcome to the resident--and, although the _ghita_ was going at full speed, they laid hold of her bulwarks and commenced clambering on board in such numbers that the little launch's deck was soon so crowded as to offer scarcely standing room, and we should have shortly had to beat a retreat to the cabin had not their chief "jok" arrived, and sent the majority back into their canoes with more force than ceremony. the kanowits are a small tribe, numbering about 500, and are quite distinct and totally unlike any other race in borneo. they have not unpleasant features, are of lighter complexion than the dyaks, and, though not so warlike, are fine, strongly-built men. nearly all were tattooed from head to foot with most intricate patterns, and others representing birds, beasts, fishes, &c., while round the face and throat the marks were made in imitation of a beard, an ornament which none of the tribes yet met with in borneo possess. their chief "jok," who is a well-known character in sarawak, may be taken as an example of the way in which the rest of the tribe were clothed: a cloth turban of gaudy colours constituted jok's head-dress, from under which, and down to his waist, streamed his long black hair. through his ears were thrust, points outwards, a pair of wild boar's tusks, and from the top to the lobe of the ears about a dozen small brass ear-rings were secured. a linen waist-cloth was jok's only garment, while around his waist was slung the deadly "parang ilang," its sheath ornamented with tufts of human hair, trophies of the wearer's prowess on the war-path, for jok's bravery is renowned throughout the rejang district. jok was tattooed from head to foot so thickly as to cause his body to look at a distance of a light blue colour, but a very small portion of his face, around the nose and eyes, being left _au naturel_. the remainder of the tribe were unarmed, as it is made a strict rule in sarawak that on entering a fort or government gunboat all arms, excepting in the case of a chief, shall be left behind. arrived off the village, we cast anchor for the night off the fort, and at the mouth of the kanowit stream. kanowit village consists of three long houses, built on wooden posts about 40 feet high. they are so built for the purposes of defence, and it is no uncommon thing in bornean travel to come across a whole village living under one roof. the longest of these dwellings that i have ever seen was when travelling up the baram river (north borneo), in 1873, about 170 miles in the interior. this was a house, 103 yards long, which contained the whole village, consisting of about sixty families. fort emma stands on the opposite side of the river to the village, and is in charge of a sepoy and four malays. it is on a good position, armed with three small guns, and commands the village and entrance to the kanowit stream. it was on this spot that messrs. fox and steele (then in charge of the station) were brutally murdered by the kanowits in 1859; but ever since the terrible vengeance that followed, on the part of the government, the tribe have always been among the firmest allies of the raja. we visited jok's dwelling in the cool of the evening. as all houses belonging to the more civilised indigenous races in borneo are built on the same principle as jok's, a description of this will suffice for all. the houses (as i have said) are built on wooden posts driven firmly into the ground, and ranging from thirty to forty feet high, according to the size of the dwelling. they are entered by a wooden pole, placed in a slanting position, at one end of the building, having notches cut into it to afford firmer foothold. this pole can be drawn into the house on occasion, thus cutting off all communication with the outside. the interior of the house (which in this case was over seventy yards long, by about thirty yards broad) was divided by a thin wooden partition running its entire length and dividing it into two equal portions. on the one side of this partition is the "ruai," or large hall, which is the common dwelling-place of the tribe, and on the other a series of small boxes (for one can call them nothing else) about twelve feet square, which are sacred to the married people. each of these compartments has a door of its own leading into the "ruai," and these are taxed by government at 1 dol. a door. overhead, again, is the "sadow," an upper storey which runs the length of the building, the residence of the unmarried girls, and wherein the valuables of the tribe are kept. the floorings of these houses are made of split bamboo, which offers but a precarious footing to the unsuspecting traveller, as holes are numerous, and a slip through would precipitate one forty feet below. in front of the house runs a bamboo verandah about twenty feet broad, where domestic operations, such as cooking, padi grinding, &c., are carried on. the roof of dried palm-leaves is a high sloping one, and comes down to within about foot and a half of the floor, throwing the interior of the building into almost total darkness, even in broad daylight. the resident's entry was hardly a dignified one, as he had to clamber up the pole and into the building on all fours, drawing his body through the small aperture hardly three feet square, which formed the entry of the house. once in the "ruai," however, great preparations were made by the inmates for his welcome. some beautifully-worked mats (in the manufacture of which the kanowits are very clever) were spread out on the floor, and siri and betel-nut produced; and while the resident was holding his "bechara" (or court business), surrounded by a ring of admiring natives squatted around him, l. and i slipped away with a young kanowit warrior, who offered to show us round the building. [illustration: dyak women.] our guide first pointed with evident pride to the bunch of smoke-dried human heads (thirty in number) that were hanging from a post in the ruai, but hastened to assure us, on our examining them rather closely, that they were all _old_ ones, the kanowits having a great dread of being suspected of head-hunting. proceeding along the ruai, we followed our cicerone into one of the little doors at the end, leading into one of the small compartments of the married people, but a pair of bare legs escaping through the side door into the adjoining "box," warned us that the fair occupant was evidently not at home to _us_! bidding us sit down, however, and await his return, our guide gave chase, and presently came back to us, dragging two females of the tribe with him, notwithstanding their cries and protestations to the contrary. these women were fair specimens, as we were afterwards informed, of the tribe, and were, like the men, tattooed from head to foot. but for the disgusting habit (which i shall mention anon) of blackening their teeth and disfiguring the lobes of their ears, they would not have been bad-looking. they wore a light brown petticoat of cloth woven by themselves, and reaching from the waist to just above the knee. their hair was not left to fall loose, but tied tightly into a knot at the back of their heads, very much as it is worn in europe at the present time. a few brass rings round their waists and arms completed their attire. strangely enough, the kanowit women are, as a rule, darker than the men. they lost their sense of shyness after a time, and at length produced the inevitable siri and penang. at the close of the interview we begged their acceptance of a piece of bristol bird's-eye each, which they at once put in their mouths and commenced chewing, and we then parted with mutual expressions of goodwill. we now returned to the resident and his party. the shouts of laughter proceeding from their corner of the house announced that business was over, and that chaff and fun, so dear to the heart of every kanowit, was being carried on with great gusto. as we arrived and stood by the group, one of their number (evidently a privileged buffoon) begged to be allowed to speak to the resident. "you remember that gun, resident," said he, "you gave me?" (this was an old muzzle-loader for which mr. h. had had no further use.) "oh yes," was the reply; "what luck have you had with it?" "oh, wonderful," said the kanowit, "i killed fourteen deer with one bullet out of that gun!" "what!" rejoined mr. h., "fourteen deer with one bullet!--but that is impossible!" "oh no," replied our friend, "for i cut the bullet out each time!" roars of laughter greeted this sally, which had evidently been some time preparing for h.'s benefit; and as we took our departure and crawled down the pole, the scene so forcibly reminded me of "bones" and "massa johnson" at the st. james's hall that i nearly fell off it from laughing. as we sat on deck that evening, smoking a cigar in the bright moonlight, we could still hear in the distance the gongs and laughter of the jovial kanowits celebrating the arrival of the "fire-ship," no common occurrence in these waters. footnotes: [footnote 9: a sword (convex and concave) about 2½ feet long, which is made by the dyaks. the hilt is of ivory or bone, and ornamented with human hair.] chapter vi. leave kanowit--scenery--war canoes--arrive at kapit- wild tribes--kayan burials--head feast--lat--his family--tattooing--the sumpitan--kayan and dyak war dances--the kok-goo--the bock expedition to central borneo--cannibalism--return to kuching. we enjoyed a good night's rest, for the air was deliciously cool, and the noise made by the stream as it rushed past the sides of the little _ghita_ had a very pleasant and somnolent effect. mosquito nets were unnecessary, none of these pests existing so far inland; but we were much persecuted during the day by a large red-and-black painted fly, which inflicts a very painful and poisonous bite, and is very numerous on the upper rejang. we were up betimes, and at seven o'clock were again under weigh, though making but slow progress against the rapid current. the river, however, widened to nearly a mile in breadth two hours after leaving kanowit, and we made better way, the mouth of the katibus stream being passed at mid-day. this, which has evoked the cognomen in sarawak of the "accursed river," is rightly so called, for it has always been a thorn in the side of the government, and the tribe (katibus) living on its banks have given more trouble than any in the country, for although closely allied in manners and customs to the kanowits, the katibus are a far braver race, and less easily subdued. the character of the country around this part of the river rejang is extremely beautiful, and presents a pleasing contrast to the flat swampy marshes which line the river below kanowit. steep rocky hills here rise abruptly to a great height from the river, the water of which was so clear that the smallest pebble at the bottom could be seen, although we found, on sounding, the water to be nearly forty feet deep. far away on the horizon we could discern a long range of precipitous, rugged mountains, on the far side of which lay kapit, our destination. a large war-canoe was passed a short distance above katibus, containing forty or fifty men of that tribe. they looked fine hardy fellows, and much broader made than any natives i had yet seen in borneo, but were of far less pleasing countenance and more ferocious aspect than our friends the kanowits, scarcely deigning to look at the launch as we passed them, but sweeping along down stream with a scowl on their ill-favoured features. the bright sunny afternoon wore away rather monotonously, for not a living thing was to be seen, excepting occasionally a small dyak habitation, with its small strip of clearing whereon the owners grew their "padi" or rice. at last, as the sun was setting like a ball of fire behind the distant mountains, we heard the faint sound of gongs, which announced that we were approaching kapit. the country around us now became wilder, and we entered a gorge, rocky and precipitous, but less wooded than any part of the rejang we had as yet passed. the river here narrowed considerably, and the navigation became very dangerous, on account of the extreme swiftness of the current, which rushed by at a tremendous pace, carrying large snags, or pieces of timber, with it, a blow from one of which would have sent the little _ghita_ flying. the dreaded "makun" rapid, in which so many have lost their lives, is not far above kapit, and greatly increases the dangers of ascending this part of the river. we now came in sight of a fleet of some 100 huge war canoes, each one containing about forty men, who on our appearance struck up a tremendous row on the gongs and drums, to give the resident welcome. the sound of these, mingled with the roar of the water as it dashed through the ravine, had a strange and weird effect. these people had been living above kapit and out of sight of the government, eluding taxes, taking heads, and otherwise misbehaving themselves. a government expedition was formed to remedy this state of affairs, the result being their total defeat, and the order to remove below kapit--which they had now obeyed. having rounded the corner of the next reach, we arrived off the little wooden fort which protects the village of kapit. the latter, however, can scarcely be called a village, having consisted, till quite recently, of but two large native houses. the tribes around, as i have said, having given great trouble of late years, it was decided to form a government station, and to that end a fine wooden fort (which at the time of our visit was but half finished) was commenced. the country and climate around kapit are quite different to other parts of sarawak, the former being mountainous, rocky, and free from jungle, and the latter temperate and cool. we landed and walked up to the fort, which is situated in a first-rate position on one of the many hills overlooking the river. although in a very unfinished state, it contained one room nearly completed, in which we managed to live very comfortably. we had scarcely arrived here half an hour ere our apartment was filled with some of the most extraordinary mortals i have ever beheld. a number of tribes exist around kapit, each of which (with the exception of the wild and homeless ukit) had its representative here during our visit, for the station being in charge of a eurasian, or half-caste, the advent of europeans attracted many to the fort, some of whom had never before seen a white man. the most powerful and civilised of these tribes are the kayans, who extend from rejang far into the dominions of the sultan of brunei, and, besides these, the poonans, pakatans, and ukits, but the latter are generally supposed to be the wildest specimens of the human race yet met with in borneo. this tribe (which is the only one living at the head of rejang not tattooed) has been occasionally but seldom seen in these regions by europeans, as they shrink from all intercourse with mankind, and fly at the approach of any but their own race. they are described as being of a much lighter colour than the poonans, possess no dwellings, and are totally unclothed. the absurd reports of men with tails existing in borneo may possibly be traced to the fact that these men are frequently likened to monkeys by their more civilised brethren, who look upon them with great contempt, and by whom they are much feared and avoided. the kayans, on the other hand, are the finest and most civilised aboriginal race in the island. their men, who are of a splendid physique and considerably taller than any other tribe in sarawak, are of a light copper colour. their dress is nearly identical with the kanowits, excepting that they wear many more ornaments, but no turbans. their long, coarse, black hair streamed in some cases far below the waist, and they were not a little proud of this appendage, which was cut square over the forehead. the kayans were not at all given to joking like the kanowits, but all wore an appearance of suspicion and distrust on their faces, which even the genial influence of _square face_ ("hollands") failed to banish, but which originated perhaps more from shyness than ill-temper. their women wore more clothes than any other tribe, being clothed in a long and flowing "sarong," a species of petticoat, reaching from the waist to the feet, and a white linen jacket. they were very ugly, and their teeth stained a jet black. the mode of burial practised by the kayans is a curious one, and i here give it in the words of an eye-witness:-when a man dies, his friends and relatives meet in the "ruai," and take their usual seats. the deceased is then brought up attired in his waistcloth and ornaments, with a straw cigar fixed in his mouth, and, having been placed on the mat in the same manner as when alive, his betel box is set by his side. the friends and relatives then go through the form of conversing with him, and offering the best advice concerning his future proceedings. this palaver over, the corpse is placed in a large wooden box, and kept in the house for several months. at the expiration of this time, the relatives and friends again assemble, and the coffin is taken out and deposited on a high tree. the deceased is repeatedly cautioned during the ceremony to beware that he does not lose his way: "follow the road," they say, "till it branches off into three directions. be careful in selecting the centre path, for that to the right will lead you back to borneo, while the one to the left will take you to the sea." after many similar cautions the assembly breaks up, and the body is left to its fate. the day after our arrival at kapit was taken up by the resident in trying law cases, receiving taxes, &c. l. and i, therefore, secured a canoe, and, accompanied by five malay sailors from the launch, one of whom was acquainted with the poonan language, we proceeded up river to a large house occupied by this curious tribe, who inhabit the country between the rejang and koti rivers. it may give the reader some idea of the strength of the stream above kapit when i say that it took our men over two hours to accomplish the distance (three miles) from the fort to the house. the landing-place was at length reached, after a tough pull, and at a distance of about 200 yards from it stood the poonan dwelling. this, which contained about 150 inhabitants, was about 40 yards long, and was built on the same principle as those at kanowit, excepting that it was on its last legs in point of repair, for many of the posts on which it stood had rotted away and fallen to the ground, a proceeding of which the house appeared likely shortly to follow the example. noticing an unusually quiet and dejected air about the place, very unusual whenever a visit is paid by a european to a bornean dwelling, we inquired the reason from our guides, and were informed that a head feast had been celebrated there the preceding four days, and that probably the inmates were endeavouring to sleep off the evil effects of their potations, and this we subsequently found to be correct. these "head feasts" are general among the aboriginal tribes throughout the island of borneo, and are held when a new head has been added to the ghastly trophies of the dyak's house. they are now, however, rare, as head hunting is punished by death in sarawak, but on the occasion of an expedition by government against a hostile tribe, head hunting is permitted to those fighting against the rebels. on the occasion of one of these feasts, the "ruai" is gaily decorated with green boughs, palm leaves, &c., and the heads to be feasted are taken out and hung from one of the posts in the hall. an incessant beating of gongs, drums, &c., is kept up unceasingly for four days and nights, and war-dances performed by the warriors of the tribe. strong "arrack"[10] is brewed in large quantities from the gornuti palm, and the scene of debauchery that succeeds the first day of the feast is indescribable. drunken men lie about in all directions, shrieks and yells resound throughout the village, and for four days the whole place is given up to dissipation and riot. a food-offering is made to the heads on the first day, and a piece of rice stuck in their mouths, which gives them a most ghastly appearance, as, when freshly taken, they are smoked over a slow fire until the skin assumes the consistency of leather, and thus preserves to a certain extent the expression, though blackened and disfigured, of the face during lifetime. it was once my fate, in 1873, to be staying at a dyak house on the batang lupar river during one of these entertainments, and i have no wish to repeat the experiment. this, then, had been the state of affairs at the dwelling we were about to visit. cautiously clambering up the entrance pole, half the notches in which had rotted away and left but a precarious foothold, we entered the house, the flooring of which stood nearly 30 feet above ground, and within which a sorry spectacle presented itself. heaps of food, in the shape of rice, pork, &c., lay strewn about the floor, on which also reposed (undisturbed even by the loud barking which the dogs set up on our arrival) the male members of the tribe, some seventy in number. the overpowering stench arising from stale arrack, &c., was well-nigh sickening, while, to complete the unsavoury _coup a'oeil_, a bunch of human heads, their mouths stuffed with rice, grinned at us from the end post of the ruai, whence their owners had not yet sufficiently recovered from their orgies to remove them. our malays succeeded, after some trouble, in waking a young brave who had evidently succumbed to fatigue (and arrack) while performing the war-dance, as he was still in full war costume. he, however, quickly recovered himself, and arousing forty or fifty of his companions, led us off to see the chief or head-man of the tribe. preceded by these youths, whose unsteady gait and sleepy faces afforded our malay guides no small amusement, we cautiously crept along the ruai, passing at every ten paces or so enormous holes in the bamboo flooring occasioned by rot, and a fall through which would have precipitated us into the mud and filth thirty feet below. the chief, rejoicing in the name of "lat," was a fine-looking old man about sixty, tattooed to the eyes, and with long grey hairs streaming down below his waist. he wore a dirty waistcloth which had once been white, his only adornment being a short red flannel jacket, fastened with three old buttons of the 34th regiment of the time of george iii.; how they ever got there is, and ever has been, a mystery to me. "lat" was sitting or rather lying in a three-sided wooden box or alcove, about ten feet square, built upon the centre of the ruai. this is invariably the dwelling-place of a head-man of a house throughout this tribe, and with the exception of europeans no one may enter it. we had evidently called at an inauspicious moment, for lat seemed rather annoyed at being disturbed from his "siesta," and, to judge from his looks, had been having a high time of it during the feast. shaking hands with him, an operation which he performed half unconsciously, we took our departure and left this merry old gentleman to his slumbers. our guides now showed the way into one of the smaller rooms leading out of the ruai, and occupied by mrs. lat and her two fair daughters. we found these (unlike the kayans) tattooed over the face as well as body, and each wore the short skirt of the kanowit. these were the fairest natives i ever saw in borneo, being of a light yellow complexion, not unlike the chinese. their jet-black hair was unsecured and allowed to fall in profusion down their backs, while their arms were ornamented with brass rings and bright-coloured beads. from the neck to the waist they wore a succession of brass rings which formed a species of cuirass. these when once put on are never taken off again. had it not been for the practice of elongating the ear-lobes and staining and filing the teeth, these women would not have been bad-looking. the former operation is performed by introducing at an early age a light metal earring followed by heavier ones as the wearer gets older, until the lobe of the ear touches the shoulder; in fact, i afterwards saw an old poonan dame who could introduce her hand into the aperture, with the greatest ease, and whose earrings weighed 1 lb. each. the teeth, as i have said, are stained black, and filed into the shape of a v, in some cases a hole being bored through the front ones and a piece of brass knocked in; this being considered an additional adornment. the atmosphere of the apartment in which mrs. lat resided rapidly became rather oppressive, there being about ten people in the room, which was about fourteen feet square, and we were not sorry, therefore, to take our leave and return to the ruai. the ladies, too, were not in the best of tempers, especially mrs. l., who was evidently much put out at the goings on of her better half during the past three days. on re-seating ourselves in the ruai, l. happened to notice the intricate and really beautiful tattooing on the body of one of the younger men. the latter seeing this, asked us through our interpreter if we should care to be operated upon in a similar manner--this being considered a great honour to a guest; and no sooner had we accepted the offer than an old woman made her appearance armed with the necessary implements, and with the aid of a pair of very blunt needles, and a peculiar species of dye obtained from a tree, succeeded, after a good hour's work, in embellishing us--l. with a ring on each shoulder (the sign manual of the tribe), and myself with a bird, whose genus it would puzzle most naturalists to determine, but which was popularly supposed among the poonans to represent a hornbill, on the arm. strange to say neither l.'s punctures nor mine showed the slightest signs of inflammation afterwards, and the figures are far more distinct than they would be had indian ink or gunpowder been employed. on leaving the house we noticed several blow-pipes, a hollow tube eight feet long called by the poonans "sumpitan," the chief weapon of this tribe, and in the manufacture of which they greatly excel. the darts used are about five inches long, and are dipped in upas juice. the slightest scratch from one of these, drawing blood, proves fatal in less than half an hour unless at once attended to; the only remedy being to keep the patient awake by walking him up and down, and dosing him with brandy or whiskey. should he once give way to the feeling of drowsiness he sleeps never to wake again. we were entertained one evening during our stay at kapit by a war-dance of kayans on the terrace outside the fort. a large crowd of some 200 from the canoes down river had assembled to witness the dancing, and the bright moonlight and flaring torches shedding an uncertain light over their dark faces and barbaric dress and ornaments, presented a picture not readily forgotten. a ring being formed, two of the best dancers of the kayans tribe stepped into the enclosure, each dressed in full war costume. this consists of a long jacket of leopard skin, which covers alone the back of the wearer, and comes down to his knees. this is secured round the neck by a huge shell, and is covered from top to bottom with the black and white feathers of the rhinoceros hornbill loosely attached to it, and which flapping about with every movement of the wearer, gives him the appearance of some huge bird. in addition to this cloak is worn the waist-cloth, and a tight-fitting skull-cap of monkey skin, with three enormous hornbill feathers stuck upright in it, completes the costume. armed, in addition to his spear, with parang ilang and shield (the latter ornamented with tufts of human hair), the kayan brave is ready for the war-path. the kayan war-dance is not danced (as is the dyak) to a lively measure of gongs and drums, a wind instrument being used constructed out of a gourd and three short pieces of bamboo. this is called a _kaluri_, and although possessing but five separate notes in a minor key, the tone is not unmusical, though very melancholy. the dance itself has a history, the first part representing two warriors meeting on the war-path. an exciting combat then ensues in which one is killed, and the survivor is indulging in a solitary _pas de joie_, when he suddenly discovers that he has by mistake killed his brother. he is giving way to violent paroxysms of grief, when his relative, who had been only severely wounded, suddenly rises, and a triumphant _pas de deux_ brings the pantomime to a close. this performance lasted nearly half an hour, and judging from the exertions of the dancers it must be terribly fatiguing, for although a cool evening the perspiration fairly poured off their bodies, and they fell exhausted on the ground at the close of the performance. another dance succeeded this one, performed by two boys, apparently each about thirteen years old, who went through it with surprising grace. although using full-sized parangs and shields, they whirled them round their heads with the greatest ease, for dancing, like paddling, deer-snaring, and the use of the parang ilang, are part of the kayan education. a week passed pleasantly at kapit, for each day brought us fresh objects of interest. for the first two or three nights at the fort, however, our sleep was much disturbed by what we imagined to be a dog barking outside the fort. thinking that one of the pariahs from the adjoining houses had taken up his quarters there, i sat up for him one night with a gun. at midnight, his usual hour, the noise recommenced, but what was my surprise to find that it proceeded not from under the fort, but from the rafters above, and that the intruder was a large brown lizard about a foot long, which emits a sound quite as loud, and exactly like the barking of a dog. it is called by the poonans the _kok-goo_, and as its advent in any house is considered to be an especial piece of good fortune, we left it to continue its nocturnal barkings in peace. we left kapit the end of the week, and nine days after reached kuching, not sorry to be amongst civilised comforts again. the rejang river is at last in a fair way of becoming an important one, and the tribes living along its banks are gradually getting to understand that trade is preferable to head hunting, for, within the last fifteen months, but one case has occurred in the residency. i chanced on my return to kuching to come across a number of the _illustrated london news_ containing a letter from a danish gentleman, mr. carl bock, in which he announced his having been among a race in borneo called the poonans, and went on to observe that he was the only european who had ever seen this tribe, or had intercourse with them. this error i hastened to correct, and wrote to the _illustrated london news_, explaining that the tribe visited by mr. bock and ourselves was identical, also venturing to express a doubt as to the existence of cannibalism amongst them, the reports of which mr. bock believed in. while at kapit i made frequent inquiries through an interpreter concerning this practice, but my questions as to its existence were invariably met with an indignant denial. my letter the _illustrated_ was good enough to take notice of, and it appeared in that journal on september 4th, 1880. i may add that cannibalism, although known to exist in sumatra, and supposed to be prevalent in new guinea, has ever been doubted by competent judges to exist in the island of borneo. footnotes: [footnote 10: "native brandy."] chapter vii. sport in borneo--the orang-utan--his habits--start for sadong--a rough journey--sadong--the fort and village--l. capsized--the mines--our cook--the abang--start for mias ground--our hunt for orang--lost in the forest--leave for sadong--an uncomfortable night--small-pox--manangs--a dyak don juan--return to kuching. sport, in the general acceptance of the term, is scarce indeed in sarawak, and those persons meditating a voyage to borneo for the purpose of obtaining it, should think twice ere they venture, for, apart from the scarcity of animals, walking is rendered well-nigh impossible by the swamp and dense undergrowth which exists, with but few exceptions, throughout the island. none of the larger carnivora--such as lion, tiger, &c.--have as yet been found in borneo, but wild cattle and a small species of elephant are said to exist on the large grass plains around brunei in north borneo, the only part of the island entirely free from jungle. the animal tribe, then, is reduced to the following:--orang-utan, tiger cat, wild pig, deer, and snipe; the pretty "plandok" or mouse-deer, and honey-bears, being also occasionally met with. although the aforesaid animals are known to exist in the island, they are extremely hard to get near, and the discomfort of lying out in the jungle all night, eaten up by mosquitoes and other abominations, is scarcely repaid by the chance of a shot at a deer or a pig, which is even then but seldom obtained. the natives, however, are very clever at deer-snaring, and their sporting expeditions are generally attended with success; but the hardships undergone by them on these excursions would completely knock up a european constitution. a few remarks as to the orang-utan, or wild man of the woods, which, as i have said, is the largest wild beast found in borneo, may not be here amiss, as this chapter is to be devoted to an expedition made by l. and myself in quest of these strange creatures. the "orang-utan" (a word derived from the malay, _orang_, man; and _utan_, woods) is the sole wild animal of any size yet met with in borneo. he is found only in certain districts of the island, those in sarawak being sadong and lingga (the former of which we were about to visit), it is supposed on account of the enormous quantity of wild fruits produced in these regions. lingga, in particular, is famed for the "durian," a sort of bread-fruit, of which he is very fond. the outside of this fruit is covered with thick, sharp spikes, and when hotly pursued the orang will sometimes make use of it as an article of defence, flinging it on to the heads of his pursuers below. the "durian" is very heavy, and natives have been known to die from the effects of a blow from this fruit. unlike his african brother the gorilla, the orang is seldom of a savage disposition, and will always rather avoid than molest the intruder on his privacy. nevertheless, at close quarters his enormous reach of arm and strength render him a dangerous antagonist, and brave indeed is the dyak who will attack him single-handed. did he know his gigantic strength (which, fortunately, he does not), he would make short work of his natural enemy--man. the "orang-utan" rarely descends to _terra firma_, but moves slowly from tree to tree, the density of the branches rendering this comparatively easy, and is easily kept up with by the hunter, as this strange animal never essays to get away altogether, even when severely wounded. he does not seem to realise the danger of his situation, and were it not for this, it would be quite useless to attempt to follow him, the swamps which have to be traversed rendering anything like rapid progress quite impossible. reports as to the size of the orang greatly differ, but the one shot by mr. wallace at sadong (sarawak) some years since, is generally considered to be the largest specimen yet obtained. this measured four feet two inches high. stories are told by natives of the orang-utan seizing and carrying away young dyak girls to their dens in the forests. this was, i believe, authenticated in one instance, the woman returning to her tribe after a lapse of three months. the orang when wounded utters a cry wonderfully like a child in pain, and indeed all his actions and ways closely resemble those of a human being; so much so indeed that a story is told of a former worthy bishop of sarawak, being, while in quest of orangs, so reminded by the features of one of them of a certain old uncle at home, that he had not the heart to fire, but let his prey pursue his way unmolested! our preparations were complete about ten days after our return to kapit, and it was on a raw, drizzling day that we paddled down the kuching river with the morning tide in a sampan or native boat (pulled by a crew of six natives), that we had hired for the occasion from a chinaman in the capital. more than half our journey had to be accomplished by sea, which, as it was blowing half a gale, and looking at the capabilities of our cranky old craft (christened _sri laut_, or _beauty of the sea_, by her proud owner), was not a pleasant prospect. ere we had been half an hour afloat we were wet through with the rain, which beat through the old palm awning as if it had been note-paper. this state of things, with a journey of over ten hours before us, was not cheering; but, as i have said before, bornean travel is not all _couleur de rose_, so, covering ourselves with a tarpaulin, and lighting our pipes, we prepared to make the best of it--no easy task in the space allotted to us--a space five feet long by three feet wide, and the rain coming in on us in torrents all the time! we arrived off the village of moratabas, at the mouth of the sarawak river, at mid-day, after a hard paddle. matters here did not mend, for the wind had risen since we started, and the roar of the breakers on the shore recalled kuching, and the comforts we had left behind us, most vividly to our minds. after, however, a short consultation with our steersman (who acted as skipper), we determined to push on for sadong at once, and hoisting the old rag that did duty for a sail we stood out to sea. seldom have i experienced such a journey as on that day. once outside the bar, our troubles recommenced, for while crossing it a heavy sea dashed over our bows, drenching everything on board, and at the same time carrying away our awning. for eight mortal hours did we struggle on, shivering like half-drowned rats, and occasionally taking a turn at the paddles to keep life within us. cooking was naturally out of the question, and our only food that day consisted of a captain's biscuit, some bottled beer, and a tin of preserved plum pudding! our progress through the water was not made the more rapid by the fact that two of our crew had to be kept constantly at work baling the water out of the wretched old tub, whose creaks and groans were dismal to hear, and which, as we neared the mouth of the sadong river, seemed to be coming to pieces altogether. but the longest lane must have a turning, and by 10 p.m. we were entering the mouth of sadong, and half an hour afterwards were in smooth water; and heartily thankful we felt, for the _sri_ must have assuredly gone to pieces with another hour of it. midnight saw us scrambling, stiff and numbed, up the muddy "batang" or pole that formed the landing-place of the fort, and we were not sorry to take off our saturated clothes, and, after a stiff glass of grog apiece, to tumble into the two little camp bedsteads, that, with the exception of a table and two chairs, formed the sole furniture of the fort. morning broke bright and sunny, and we were up by six, feeling none the worse, save a slight stiffness, for our exertions of yesterday. while breakfast was preparing i strolled round the pretty little garden, rich in roses and gardenias, that encircled the fort, and whose sweet perfume filled the air, cool and fresh after the heavy rain, for many yards around. this residency, the smallest in sarawak, is now in charge of a eurasian, or half-caste. up till two years since, however, it was under the supervision of a european resident, and to the latter was due the trim-looking garden with its gravel walks and gardenia hedges--now, alas, fast falling into decay in the care of the half-caste, who, like most of his race, cares but little for anything but filthy lucre. the village of sadong consists of a malay population of about 400 souls, and is situated on the banks of the simunjan, a tributary of the sadong river, which meets it at this point. coal is found in large quantities near here, and government has opened out a small mine for the use of its vessels and those of the borneo company. the coal wharf is situated about half a mile up the simunjan stream, whence a tramway, three miles long, leads up to the shaft from the landing-place. the coal is conveyed to kuching weekly, in a small sailing vessel. we visited the mines the day after our arrival, paddling up stream in two small malay canoes to the wharf--a paddle that proved disastrous to l., who was capsized when close to the landing-stage. the tide was running strong, and, as l. could not swim, things for a moment looked serious; but help was at hand, in the shape of an old malay fisherman in a canoe moored mid-stream, who pulled him out, none the worse for his ducking. our walk through the jungle was very picturesque, the forest being alive with butterflies of every description, including the _brookeana_, a beautifully-marked green-and-black butterfly, but rarely met with. it was along this tramway that mr. wallace shot the orang-utan mentioned in an earlier part of this chapter. the sadong mines are superintended by a european overseer, who lives in a small hut on the side of the mountain, and who showed us over the place. he told us that the amount turned out per diem was only ten tons, but the working of the whole place is still in a very primitive state. the tramway was constructed of wooden rails, and the coal cars drawn by an old grey pony. in the hands of a properly organised company the mines would undoubtedly pay, as there is any quantity of coal, and the facilities for shipping are great. moreover singapore, which is the coaling station for all vessels bound to and from china, is but two days distant by steamer. we remained at sadong for two days, during which time we were principally engaged in getting our guns in order, after the rough usage they had experienced during our sea voyage in the _sri laut_; and arranged to leave for the mias district, 30 miles up stream, the third day after our arrival at sadong. the half-caste resident gave us the loan of his cook (a kling), and a most undeniable hand at a curry, to accompany us, and he proved a treasure in his way, though as a _compagnon de voyage_ he was hardly a pleasant adjunct to our party, as the reader will presently see. i should not omit to mention an important character, who was constantly appearing on the scene during our sojourn at sadong. this was the _abang_ or malay chief of the village. this worthy constantly dogged our footsteps, and followed us wherever we went, invariably making his appearance at breakfast and dinner time, and squatting himself on the floor by l.'s or my side, gravely watched us throughout the meal. he was a thin, cadaverous-looking old man, about sixty years of age, with a most melancholy cast of features, so much so that we christened him the "skeleton at the feast!" as i am but little conversant with high-class malay, and l. knew none, our conversation was somewhat limited, and while i fully acted up to the old turkish proverb that "silence is golden," he, in his turn, did so to that of "hurry is the devil's," for he never would leave us till we had finished our last glass of grog, and turned in for the night. the sun was scarcely up on the morning of the 13th of july when we were up and stirring, and by 6.30 were on board the _sri_, and, casting off from the shore, paddled away up stream. our crew now had an addition of two new hands: the cook aforesaid, and a dyak who accompanied us as guide, and who had the reputation of having killed with his own hand a greater number of orangs than any native in sarawak. four hours above sadong the stream narrows to about twenty feet in width, and the scenery here is truly beautiful. tall nipa palms and a species of bamboo grew out of the water, while above us the long branches of enormous forest trees stretched over us on either side, and formed a kind of natural archway, their branches alive with monkeys of every description, from the hideous proboscis to the pretty wa-wa, whose cry exactly resembles the running of water from a narrow-necked bottle. we emerged from this lovely glade half an hour after entering it, and, the stream again widening, the scenery again became flat and monotonous. we reached the hunting-grounds at about five p.m., after a hard pull against the stream, and mooring the _sri_ to the bank made all snug for the night. we landed, or i should rather say left the boat, next morning about eleven a.m., for of dry land, excepting a dismal mangrove swamp extending far away on either side of us, there was none. our shooting costumes were more light than elegant, consisting as they did of a pair of white duck trowsers, a thin jersey, no socks, a pair of white canvas shoes, and a sun helmet, the latter filled with cartridges. struggling ashore with some difficulty, we found ourselves without further ado up to our waists in swamp, or rather a substance the colour of but considerably thicker than pea-soup. bakar (the dyak hunter) and a malay boatman preceded us with parangs to clear the way of branches before us, and, all being ready, we set off. i shall not readily forget the pleasures of that day's walk! for three long hours did we struggle on through the dense jungle, without a sight of living animal, to say nothing of an orang. to make matters worse, the sun was fearfully hot, and beat down on our heads with a force that the dozen or so of cartridges we carried in our "topics," did not tend to alleviate; the smell also of decayed vegetation arising from the ground was well-nigh sickening. we cried a halt after three hours of this, and discovered from bakar that we had gone a distance probably of about a mile and a half since we started, which will give the reader some idea of jungle walking in borneo. our dismal faces at this species of sport(!) must have excited the compassion of bakar, for he volunteered the remark that this _was_ rather hard walking, even for borneo, a remark with which we cordially agreed. up till now we had seen no vestige of living creature, bird or animal. on my observing this, our guide replied: "oh, never mind! we've eight hours before sundown. we must get on. time is precious!" mentally registering a vow that i would see bakar in a considerably hotter climate than the inhabitants even of borneo are accustomed to, if even two hours of this work more saw me at it, we started off again. another hour passed away, and well-nigh done up, i was about to suggest a retreat to the boat when we were brought up all standing by a cry from bakar of "moniet, tuan!" and an injunction to keep perfectly still. [illustration: river scenery near sadong.] "moniet"[11] there might be, but i could discern nothing until, after a few moments of intense excitement as to whether the "moniet" was but a common proboscis or wa-wa, bakar came splashing back through the dirty water, and, seizing my shoulder, breathlessly exclaimed, "moniet besar, tuan! orang-utan!" hurrah then! at last we had got near one of these brutes, and our troubles had not all been in vain. but the next thing was to get a sight of him, and this, through the dense undergrowth and brushwood which intervened, was by no means an easy task. for some time did i gaze through the thick network of green leaves, till, at last, following the direction in which our guide was pointing, i dimly made out a square patch of brown against the green leaves, and, trusting to chance, fired. the spot i had aimed at was not the orang, but the report of the rifle had the desired effect of dislodging the brute from his hiding-place, and bringing him full into view. a fine, strapping fellow he seemed as he remained stationary for some seconds, looking down at us with a puzzled expression, as if he scarcely knew whether to greet us as enemies or as strange specimens of his own species. l. now cut short his reflections with a bullet, which this time had more effect, as was evinced by the sharp cry he gave as he sprang into the branches of the adjoining tree, closely observing all our movements as we waded through the stagnant water beneath him, and took up a favourable position for our next shot. this was again successful, breaking his left fore-arm. moving slowly on after him, for at least three-quarters of an hour, we fired shot after shot with variable success, until a bullet from l.'s rifle caught him full in the neck, and brought him crashing through the branches to our feet. on measuring him, we found him but a moderate-sized animal, standing three feet seven inches from the top of the skull to the tip of the toes. this seemed a poor return after the amount of labour we had gone through; however, "experientia docet," and we determined that this should be our last attempt at orang shooting, and, hoisting our prize on to the shoulders of the faithful bakar, we set out to regain the sampan. this, however, proved no easy task. the erratic movements of our guide shortly after leaving the spot where we had shot the mias had attracted our attention, and the reason of this was shortly evident--he had lost his way! here was a pretty predicament to be placed in, and a pleasant ending to our day's sport. all the stories i had ever heard of natives going astray in the forest, and dying of starvation, crowded into my mind with unpleasant clearness, and among all the horrible deaths connected with eastern travel that had occurred to l. and myself, that of expiring like two amateur babes in the wood had not been included. i shall never forget the anxieties of that terrible hour, and the blank faces of our guides as they waded backwards and forwards in search of the lost trail, pausing ever and anon to give a sort of melancholy wail, not unlike the australian "co-o-o-ey," the cry of the dyak when lost in the forest. l. and i had almost given up all hope, and were preparing to make up our minds to a night at least in the jungle, when a cry from bakar, who had strayed away to the left of us, attracted our attention. he had struck upon the river! we were now safe, and fortunately so, for it was nearly dark as, turning a bend of the stream, we came in sight of our fires and the lamp of our little craft shining over the water. having arrived on board, we divested ourselves of our now filthy clothes and plunged into the stream, when, after a good rub with our rough towels, we felt ourselves again, and quite ready to do justice to the very excellent curry that our "cordon bleu" of a kling had prepared for us. the task of skinning the orang was next day relegated to bakar, for which we were thankful, as the smell that proceeded from his carcase even at some distance off was fearful. this operation over, he was stowed away in a barrel of arrack that we had brought for the purpose, and we may dismiss him with the remark that he now adorns the smoking-room of a friend of the writer's in england. a suggestion of another hunt the following day by bakar was politely but firmly declined, and we left early the following afternoon at five--our anchorage being in a very feverish locality. the halt for the night was to be at a large dyak house, fifteen miles down stream, and half way to sadong. i would remark, for the benefit of sportsmen in general, that the whole of the two days spent in this interesting locality we were unable to leave the boat, owing to the swampy nature of the ground; and as our only recreation consisted of two of whyte melville's works, "the gladiators" and "digby grand" (the latter with half the leaves torn out), the weary hours, as may be imagined, did _not_ fly, and we were not sorry to set off the next day for the dyak pangkalan,[12] on as wet, dreary, and uncomfortable an afternoon as it has ever been my lot to experience in borneo or elsewhere. we sighted lights on the left bank about eleven o'clock the same evening. rain was still falling in torrents; but the noise of gongs and drums in the distance announced that we had nearly arrived at the end of our journey. to land, however, was easier said than done; for the stream, swollen by the heavy rains, was running at a terrific rate, and carried us right past the landing-stage ere our bowman could hold on and make fast, crashing us into a large war-canoe moored just beyond, the property of the "orang kaya," or head-man of the house whither we were bound. we at length succeeded, after a deal of trouble, in securing the sampan to the bank; and, despatching two of our boatmen to announce our arrival to the chief, awaited the invitation which would probably be brought back to stay the night, this being strict etiquette in bornean travel. during the absence of our two messengers the yells and beating of gongs proceeding from the house, which stood at a distance of about 300 yards from the landing-place, proclaimed that a feast of some sort was being held; and we were debating what substitutes for tobacco and gin (our supply of which we had nearly exhausted) we could present our hosts with, when our men returned. there was no feast, said they. what we heard were the cries of the "manangs," or medicine-men, whose mode this was of driving away the evil spirit of "char-char," or small-pox, which had attacked nearly a third of the inmates of the dwelling. l. and i, on hearing this, promptly deciding that mosquito bites were preferable to small-pox, determined not to land, but to sleep in the boat. our cook, the kling, who up till this had maintained a stolid silence, now became quite excited, and joined in the conversation. there was hardly a house on the river, said he, entirely free from this loathsome disease; the dyaks were flying from it in all directions, and added that he himself was not sorry to be returning to sadong, as two of his own children were very ill with it, and he ought not by rights to have left them! this was pleasant, to say the least of it, but it was now too late to mend matters, and wrapping ourselves in our rugs we essayed to sleep. the howling and beating of gongs in the house, however, rendering this quite impossible, the inevitable "square-face" was therefore produced, and, lighting our pipes, we made up our minds for a thoroughly wretched night--and got it; till about six a.m., when the noise ceased, and the m.d.'s, i conclude, retired to that rest which they must have sorely needed, to say nothing of their unfortunate patients! small-pox is and has ever been a disease greatly dreaded by the aborigines of borneo, for living as they do in crowded and ill-ventilated dwellings, this terrible scourge, whenever it breaks out amongst them, commits great ravages. a regular panic ensues on the appearance of the epidemic; those seized being left to their fate, with perhaps a bundle of firewood and gourd of cold water placed within their reach, while their more fortunate companions take their flight up or down the river as the case may be, spreading infection wherever they go. it is not surprising, therefore, that so few recover, although vaccination, which is now compulsory in sarawak, has greatly decreased the number of those attacked. the "manangs," or medicine-men aforementioned, are a queer race of creatures. although of the male sex, they are dressed as women, living in the sadow and possessing all the privileges of the other sex. small-pox is never mentioned by its proper name of "char-char" by the dyaks, but always spoken of as "he," "she," or "it;" for they imagine the mere mention of its name may attract, and bring it amongst them. an amusing anecdote is told of an old dyak living in the house we were moored off that dismal night. this old man (of some 60 years) became enamoured, while on a visit to kuching, of an english lady's-maid residing there; so much so, that he repeatedly urged her to marry and accompany him to his jungle home. this offer was declined with thanks; but on the morning of the day of the departure of this merry old gentleman for his country residence, the lady missed her chignon, which she had placed on her dressing-table the night before on retiring to rest. not being possessed of so much hair as she might have been, this was no inconsiderable loss. six months later, when the event was nearly forgotten, an officer up the simunjan, noticing what looked like a scalp on our old friend's girdle, and knowing that the dyaks never take them, examined the object more closely; and, having heard the story of its abstraction from the lady's apartment by the elderly lover, took it from him and returned with it in triumph to kuching! such true love was worthy of a better cause, for the lady was considerably more annoyed than flattered by the incident, chignons not being an article kept in stock by the native _coiffeurs_ of kuching. we reached sadong late the following evening, and partook of a frugal meal at the fort, this time not prepared by our native soyer, one of whose children had died in our absence. the old chief was at our side ere we had eaten our first mouthful, silent as ever; but dinner over, and his cheroot well under way, he became more loquacious than we had yet known him. "perhaps," said he, dreamily, "you had better not stay here longer than you can help. small-pox is raging in the kampong (village); there is scarcely a house free from it, and it would be a sad thing if one or both of the tuans[13] were to die here." we were much of the same opinion, and the evening of the next day but one saw us again on board the little _sri_, bound for kuching. the sun was setting behind the distant klinkang mountains as we left sadong, illuminating the landscape around us with its declining rays. scarcely a breath of wind was stirring, and our little sail flapped lazily to and fro against the slender mast as we drifted slowly down the river. the evening being sultry and oppressive, dense grey mists were already arising from the simunjan stream, enshrouding the pretty village in their sickly vapours, and the cries of the malay "hajis," praying at the setting of the sun for deliverance from the fatal scourge which was rapidly decimating their population, sounded in melancholy cadence over the water, while the booming of gongs from distant dyak houses lent to their voices a weird and appropriate accompaniment. all around seemed to wear a depressed and melancholy aspect, even to the very palm-trees, which, drooping their fronds in the damp, hot atmosphere, seemed to be mourning the fate of those who had perished in this plague-stricken spot. we reached kuching the next day, not greatly impressed with the sport to be obtained in borneo, nor will, i imagine, be the reader of the foregoing chapter. footnotes: [footnote 11: "moniet," monkey.] [footnote 12: landing-place.] [footnote 13: a title by which every european is addressed.] chapter viii. preparations for departure--leave sarawak--a squall--a dutch dinner--batavia--weltereoden--life in java- buitenzorg--koerapan--dutch soldiers--a review--modes of execution in the archipelago--the world-wide circus--return to singapore--leave for europe--gibraltar. our days were now numbered in sarawak, and we had but little time before us, as we intended making a journey to java, the principal dutch possession in the eastern archipelago, ere we returned to england. packing up now became the order of the day. the skins of beasts and birds of all kinds strewed the floor of our little bungalow, transforming it into a sort of miniature museum, for we had made a very fair collection considering our short stay in the country, including no less than one hundred different specimens of butterflies, three of the rare and lovely _brookeana_ amongst them. it may be of use to collectors of the latter to know that the safest and most convenient way of carrying them any distance is not to set them up when freshly caught, but to simply fold the wings back till they lie flat against each other, and place them thus singly in a common envelope. they will then keep for six months, or even more, unimpaired. this is a far simpler method than that of setting-up, which, even though the amateur be experienced in the art, is always open to the danger of the butterflies becoming detached and shaking to pieces in their box. we left kuching at midday on the 21st of july, after bidding adieu to all our friends, not without regret at leaving a land where we had passed so many pleasant days. the _raja brooke_ (a small trading steamer of about 300 tons) was heavily laden, not only with cargo, but also with over 100 deck passengers--malays going on a "haji pilgrimage" to mecca. there was also on board an old hindoo, the proprietor of a dancing bear, who had been making a good thing of it in the sarawak capital. the captain, l., and i, were the only inmates of the saloon, and after dinner, it being a fine evening, we sent for our hindoo friend and his bear to give us a private performance--which had, however, to be suddenly nipped in the bud, the pilgrims insisting on coming aft _en masse_ and joining in the fun. we had a fine passage to singapore, though half-way across a heavy squall struck us, and the sea, which half an hour before had been as smooth as glass, rose rapidly. the poor bear, especially, had a rough time of it, and narrowly escaped being washed overboard by one of the green seas which we shipped over the bows. the _raja brooke_, however, behaved uncommonly well throughout, and by sundown there was nothing left of the turmoil but a long, heavy swell, which, judging from the groans we heard forward, was playing the very deuce with the internal economy of the pilgrims! we reached singapore in forty-nine hours, notwithstanding the storm and adverse wind--a wonderfully quick run. we accepted an invitation from the dutch consul to dinner the evening before our departure for batavia, as we were anxious to obtain as much information as possible about java; and the dinner being given in honour of the officers of a dutch man-of-war then lying in the roads, we thought this a first-rate opportunity, but were doomed to disappointment. on our arrival "schnapps" before the feast had evidently been too much for them, and ere dinner was over they were all--to use a mild expression--overcome. we left them at midnight to go on board our steamer, embracing each other and singing "die wacht am rhein" at the top of their voice--a performance hardly appreciated, i should imagine, by the occupants of the adjoining bungalows. on arrival at the wharf, which our gharry driver had no little difficulty in finding in the darkness, we were much disappointed to find that the messagéries vessel had broken down, and that a small dutch steamer, belonging to the nederland indische stoomship co., was to be her substitute for that voyage, and still more disgusted were we when shown into a stuffy little cabin containing three bunks, in one of which a fat dutchman had already retired to rest, the other two being l.'s and my resting-place. we made the best of a bad job, however, and turned in, but not for long; certain animals, which shall be nameless, had already taken up their quarters in the berths, and resented our intrusion with such good effect that they drove us out of the little cabin and on deck, where, the weather being fine, we slept on the skylight the three remaining nights we stayed on board. the days went by very wearily, for there was literally nothing to do on board; the passengers were all dutch, speaking no english, and very little french; the _cuisine_ on board was composed principally of grease, and what smelt like train-oil, add to this that the highest rate of speed ever attained by the _minister frausen von der putte_ was seven knots an hour, and i think the reader will agree with me that our journey across was anything but a pleasant one. we were not sorry, therefore, when at daybreak on the 31st of july the long low coast of java came in sight, and shortly afterwards the lighthouse standing at the entrance of the canal leading up to the old town of batavia. we anchored in the bay at nine o'clock, and awaited the arrival of the little tug which was to convey us to the custom-house, and which we could now see issuing from the mouth of the canal. it may not be generally known that the dutch possess nearly the whole of the eastern archipelago, with the exception of north and south-western borneo. java is, however, their most important colony, and batavia they have christened the "paris of the east," though i must acknowledge i have heard none but dutchmen call it so. the tug was alongside by ten o'clock, and we were soon aboard and entering the double sea wall which forms the canal. we passed on our right the large lighthouse which has proved so fatal a residence to europeans, no less than five died within six months of its completion, and it has been found necessary to place javanese in charge ever since, so unhealthy is the situation. arrived at the custom-house we passed our boxes with some little trouble, and selecting a "kahar," or species of carriage like a victoria, drawn by two ponies, we drove off to the pension nederlanden, to which hotel we had been recommended by our naval friends at singapore. the lower part of the town, or, as it is called, old batavia, consists entirely of warehouses, go-downs, and native houses. no europeans can live here, so unhealthy is it, nor can even one night be passed in this quarter with impunity. the upper town--which is named weltereoden, "well content"--consists of government house and the houses of all the officials and merchants in batavia. most of these houses are situated around the "koenig's plein," a large grass plain some 1,000 yards in circumference, which in the time of the english occupation was used as a racecourse. on one side of this stands the governor's palace, a large stone building of modern architecture, while on the other side of the plain is a statue of the netherland lion. the inscription on this amused me not a little, as it commemorates the victory of the belgians over the french at waterloo, the british troops not being mentioned. there are two ways of reaching weltereoden from old batavia, by railway and tramcar. where are there not tramcars now? even the stately streets of stamboul are not free from them. the street cab of batavia is a "dos-à-dos" literally so called, as the passenger sits with his back to the driver's, thus forming a mutual support. batavia is intersected by canals, the largest or main canal running alongside the road leading from the lower town to weltereoden. as we drove along we saw hundreds of natives taking their morning dip in the dirty stream; though, as a matter of fact, they have no fixed time for their ablutions, but bathe at all hours of the day and night. we reached the "nederlanden" after half an hour's drive. as all european houses in java are built on the same principle, a description of our hotel may serve for all. the nederlanden was built entirely on the ground floor, and having long wings which projected back for some 60 or 70 yards. in these wings are the bed-rooms of guests, while the centre building contains the drawing-room, dining-room, and sleeping apartments of the host and hostess. under the verandah of the front portico stands a large round marble table, surrounded by about a dozen rocking-chairs. here the men of the house congregate before dinner and breakfast for "peyt," a villainous compound which is drunk with gin, and is supposed to stimulate the appetite. the food and cooking in java may be said to be the worst, as are its hotels the dearest, in the world; and it seems surprising that the mode of living adopted by the dutch in this trying climate does not injure their constitutions more than it does. the following may be taken as a specimen of the manner in which they live:-breakfast, from 6 till 9, consisting of sardines, bologna sausages, eggs, and cheese(!). 12.30: _déjeunner a la fourchette_, a truly disgusting meal, its dutch name being _ryst tafel_, literally "rice meal." rice is here the chief ingredient, accompanied by soup, fried fish, pork, pickled eggs, sardines, and various kinds of sambals--also little seasoned messes, handed round with the boiled rice, which is eaten at the same time and off the same plate as all these condiments; a tough, underdone beefsteak and fried potatoes follow. dinner is precisely the same, with the addition of sweets and dessert. and this from day to day invariably forms the dutchman's _menu_ in java. smoking is carried on throughout dinner and breakfast, which i was not sorry for, as it counteracted in some degree the smell arising from the abominable _ryst tafel_. the voracity of some of the european children during this meal at the nederlanden was surprising, and i fairly trembled for the safety of one small boy, about eight years old, who appeared to swell visibly during breakfast, and took a short nap between each course. we christened him "the fat boy in 'pickwick.'" the morning costume of the european lady in java is apt to take a stranger by surprise. it consists of the malay "sarong," a loose clinging silk skirt which reaches to the ankles, the upper garment being the "kabarga," a long embroidered white linen jacket. the hair is worn loose, and the bare feet are thrust into half slippers embroidered with real gold and silver beads. this dress is worn from early morning till five o'clock in the afternoon, the batavia calling hour. this costume has one great advantage, that of coolness, and would doubtless look becoming on a pretty woman, though as that article is very seldom, if ever, seen in java, we had no opportunity of judging. we were leaving for buitenzorg (the country seat of government) the day after our arrival at batavia, and our preparations for the journey thither being complete, we took a stroll the evening of our arrival on the koenig's plein. this, the hyde park of batavia, is where the beauty and fashion of the capital take the air in the cool of the day. some of the carriages were not badly turned out, but we only saw _one_ man riding (ladies never ride in batavia), his nether-man encased in long jack-boots, and wearing a sombrero hat, and green hunting-coat! the effect of this get-up was somewhat marred by his mount--a deli pony so small that it took the rider all his time to keep his feet from dragging along the ground. we left the next day at 11.30 a.m., by train, for buitenzorg. this is thirty-five miles from batavia, and stands 750 feet higher up in the hills. the governor's house here is a fine stone building, surrounded by a splendid park and grounds, and many of the merchants in the capital also own villas around. it is not unlike a german watering-place in aspect, and has been named by some "the simla of the dutch indies," though i should say this comparison was rather far-fetched. the volcanic mountain of gedéh, and the peak of pangerango are plainly discernible from buitenzorg, and a journey to the summit of the former is amply repaid by the splendid view thence obtained of the rich preanger district. we paid a visit while here to the house of mr. d., who has resided in java for thirty years, and who owns a large estate (koerapan) some eighteen miles out of buitenzorg. he told us that coffee, tea, and rice were growing on the estate, and he was about to try cinchona (quinine). the latter is the most paying of all, and the soil and climate of java are peculiarly adapted to its growth. we made several excursions in addition to this while at buitenzorg, but none worthy of record. in truth a more uninteresting country than this part of the island i have seldom seen, and, as l. remarked, very few weeks of buitenzorg would fill hanwell! one incident, however, i should not omit to mention: a grand review of the troops was held during our stay here, in the palace park, and having obtained cards, we were admitted to view the proceedings. i was not impressed with the javanese army, for a more wretched, undersized-looking set of men it has seldom been my lot to witness. it is not to be wondered at, after seeing them, that atchin has held out so long, and unless a great reform takes place in the dutch colonial army, it will probably continue to do so. europeans and natives are alike indiscriminately mixed up in their ranks, and it is no uncommon sight to see a malay sergeant in command of a european guard. their uniform did not tend to improve their personal appearance, consisting as it did of a thick blue cloth-tunic, with long skirts, a french kepi, blue trousers, and bare feet. considering this absurd dress, it is not to be wondered at that sunstroke is frequent among the european privates, most of whom are escaped french communists. [illustration: town of sintang. (dutch borneo.)] the garrison at buitenzorg consisted of 800 men, but of these only about 600 were on parade the remainder being in hospital. i afterwards ascertained from the doctor in charge of this building that, thanks to fever, drink, and sunstroke, it was seldom empty, and that the death-rate amongst the european soldiers was exceedingly high. we watched them going through their (so-called) drill for over an hour, and even in that short time three were carried off the field in a fainting condition. on our return to the hotel we passed a criminal being taken to the railway station _en route_ for batavia, where he was to be executed on the morrow. unlike borneo and other islands of the archipelago, hanging is had recourse to in java, and in java alone, the mode of execution elsewhere being by kris. the following is an account of a malay execution in the words of an eye-witness:--"the criminal is led to the place of execution, and squats cross-legged on the ground, chewing penang or smoking, as a rule, up till the very last moment. the kris used on such occasions is about sixteen inches long by two broad, and quite straight. grasping this weapon in both hands, the executioner steps up behind the prisoner, and thrusts it up to the hilt between the left shoulder-blade and neck of the victim. the heart is pierced immediately, and the criminal dies at once painlessly." in celebes, however, the mode of execution is far more barbarous. it is done in the same manner as the above, with the difference that the executioner takes two hours and sometimes three before he gives the final _coup de grace_. advancing and returning from his victim, sometimes just drawing blood, until the poor wretch faints from fright, and is brought to with cold water, only to re-undergo fresh sufferings, until at length the heart is reached, and death puts an end to his tortures. we returned to batavia in a week, heartily sick of buitenzorg and all its surroundings. the nederlanden was in a perfect uproar when we arrived, for mr. wilson's world-wide circus had just come from india for a stay of two months in batavia, and nearly every available bed-room had been taken by them. we succeeded, however, in obtaining a shake-down, and attended the performance (a remarkably good one) on the koenig's plein the same evening, after a very festive dinner at _table d'hote_ with the troupe. i have given but a very slight sketch of java, as we saw so little of the island, and our stay there was so limited; nor had we the slightest desire to prolong it. we reached singapore on the 21st of july, and sailed for europe on the 24th in the messageries s.s. _amazone_--a splendid vessel, nearly the size of the _sindh_, and quite equal to her in all other respects. staying a few days in egypt, we thence embarked on board the p. and o. s.s. _australia_ for gibraltar. l. left me at the latter place, returning direct to southampton, while i arranged to proceed through spain and _viâ_ paris, home. chapter ix. cadiz custom-house officers--spanish courtship- marketplace--leave for seville--jerez de la frontera- seville--pilate's house--las delicias--triana--madrid- bull fighting--"espadas"--a bull fight--frascuelo- cruelty to horses--leave for paris--a stormy passage- home again--adieu. i left for cadiz by the small trading steamer _james haynes_ three days after my arrival at gibraltar. a friend of mine being quartered here, i stayed with him at the barracks, fortunately for myself, as the gibraltar hotels leave much to be desired in the way of accommodation. on the approach from seaward cadiz, with its flat roofs and high towers, presents more the appearance of a moorish town than a european city, and the afternoon i saw it appeared to fully justify its spanish appellation of "pearl of the sea," white and glittering in the bright afternoon sunshine, in striking contrast to the dark blue colour of the sea surrounding it. i arrived at four o'clock the afternoon of my departure from gibraltar, and drove to the fonda de cadiz, in the plaza san antonio, after considerable annoyance from the custom-house officers, who, although i had nothing contraband about me, seemed determined to make themselves as rude and unpleasant as possible, and appeared to be only second to the turkish and egyptian _donaniers_, as far as robbery and extortion are concerned. i took a stroll after dinner to the plaza nina, the favourite lounge of cadiz in the cool of the evening. the square was crowded with people of all classes; and the beauty of the women throughout spain, and especially seville and cadiz, is very striking, although the picturesque costume with which one is apt to associate the spanish lady is fast dying out. black seemed to be the favourite colour, as it always has been in spain, but the graceful mantilla is gradually but surely giving way to the parisian bonnet. the streets of cadiz are well paved, and the houses substantially built of white stone. i was much struck at first by the heavy iron bars with which the windows of the ground floors in this, as in all other spanish towns, are guarded. these, i subsequently ascertained, are for the double purpose of excluding thieves and too ardent lovers(!), for it may not be generally known that when a youth in spain is paying his addresses to a girl, the doors of her parents' house are closed to him; nor is this all, for all intercourse with his _novia_, or intended, is forbidden excepting through these gratings! a visit to cadiz cathedral, "la vieja," is well repaid, and i was lucky enough to hear a mass sung there. the interior of the building is very beautiful, although a high altar erected by queen isabella in 1866 greatly mars the effect, being in very florid style and bad taste. there were no seats at all in the building, the congregation kneeling and sitting upon the bare flags. the market at cadiz is a novel and picturesque sight, its stalls laden with every imaginable kind of fruit--grapes, pears, peaches, apricots, and even bananas--in abundance and at absurdly cheap prices. i was much struck, throughout spain, with the appearance of the spanish soldiery. they all, with but few exceptions, looked smart and well set up, and their uniforms looked clean, and _fitted_ them--an uncommon sight on the continent. my bill on leaving for seville surprised me not a little--a good bed-room, excellent dinner and breakfast, including wine and omnibus to the station--about 8s. 6d. in english money! would that some hotel-keepers i could mention would act on the same principle! railway travelling in spain is cheap, though very slow, and the carriages exceedingly comfortable. the intending voyager to spain would, however, do well to learn the etiquettes of the country before going there, for they are manifold, and their non-observance may sometimes be taken as an insult by the sensitive spaniard. the latter have an almost ridiculously keen sense of personal dignity, even to the very beggars, who consider themselves _caballeros_ (gentlemen), and expect to be treated as such, as indeed they _are_ by their own countrymen. it is also a good rule in spain, to bear in mind when much pressed for time, that spaniards hate being hurried, and that the slightest attempt to do so will probably delay you all the longer. the five hours' journey from cadiz to seville is through vast sandy plains, not unlike parts of roumania, excepting in the neighbourhood of jeres de la frontera. here are large vineyards, in the midst of which stand pretty red-roofed villas, the properties of the owners of the vines, which formed pleasant relief to the eye after the glaring dusty plains left behind us, but to which we return on clearing the outskirts of jerez.[14] seville is reached at about eight p.m., and we drive to the fonda de cuatro naciones, in the plaza nueva, having been recommended thither by a communicative fellow-passenger. i stayed two days in seville, and could willingly have remained longer, had i not been pressed, for it is a truly delightful city. its houses are built very much in the modern french style, but there are also many old moorish dwellings, with their open courtyards and fountains. one well worth seeing is the casa de pilatos, an exact model of pilate's house at jerusalem, and built by enriquez de ribiera to commemorate his visit there in 1533. of public gardens seville has many, the prettiest of these being las delicias, a walk stretching for nearly a mile along the banks of the river gudalquivir, and planted with orange-trees, pomegranates, palms, roses, and all kinds of rare plants. this is the champs elysées of seville, and when lit up at night, with innumerable coloured lamps, bears no slight resemblance to them. triana, a transpontine suburb, is worth a visit _in the daytime_, as it is the residence of gipsies, smugglers, lower order of bull-fighters, and thieves. in december, 1876, it was nearly destroyed by the floods, and seville was under water for five days, the water reaching to the cathedral doors. i arrived in madrid on the morning of sunday, october 3rd, after a wretchedly cold night journey from seville, and the jumps and bounds taken by the carriage i was in put sleep out of the question. on driving through the streets to the hotel, i noticed that every available wall was placarded with the announcement of a bull-fight to come off on that afternoon, and determined, if possible, to secure a seat. this, after breakfast, i managed to do, though only a second-class one, all "_boletiere de sombra_" or seats in the shade, being already let; the consequence being that at the end of the performance most of the skin had peeled off my face. bull-fighting in spain, at the present time, is very much akin to what racing is in england, the espadas (or matadors) being held very much in the same esteem as our popular jockeys by the public: and the photograph of the champion, at the time of my visit (frascuelo), was to be seen figuring in most of the photograph shops of madrid and seville, the latter town being considered the best academy for the aspiring bullfighter. the spanish bull-fighters have risen considerably in the social scale during the past century, for they were formerly denied the burial rite. a priest is now, however, in attendance at every fight to give absolution in the event of a fatal accident. the fights are very expensive affairs, costing from £400 to £500 each, and in most towns are only occasionally held, although in madrid they take place every sunday throughout the season, which lasts from april to october. most of the bulls selected are bred at utrera, in andalusia, about twenty miles from seville, and are splendid animals. all are not, however, fit for the ring, the more ferocious ones only being selected. the plaza is usually under the superintendence of a society of nobles and gentlemen, called maestanzas, the king being styled "hermano major," or elder brother of the guild. the bull-fighters themselves are of four grades: the espada or matador, the picadores, chulos, and banderilleros. the first named, who are at the head of the profession, engage in the last single combat with the bull, while the others are employed to annoy and harass him into as wild a state of frenzy as possible. the fight i attended was graced by the presence of the king and queen isabella (not the young queen, who rarely attends these performances), and the immense building was crowded to excess. it is about two miles out of seville, comparatively new (the old one having been burnt down in 1875), and built of red and white brick in the moorish style, with horse-shoe windows, and is capable of accommodating 17,000 persons. the ring is, as in a circus, covered with sand, a wooden barrier about five feet high running round it, separated from the front row of spectators by a narrow passage four feet broad, wherein the chulos or others (except the espada, who must never leave the arena) vault when hard pressed by the bull. the whole of the building is of course open to the sky. the bills of the performance ran as follows:- "plaza de toros, de madrid. "_el domingo, 3 de octobre, de 1880._ "se lidiaran siete toros los seis primeros de la antigua y a creditada ganaderia de don manuel bannelos y salcedo, vecino de columiar viejo, con divisa azul turqui, y'el setimo de la de d. donato palonimo vecino de chozas de la sierra, con diviza amarilla." then followed the names of espadas (one of whom was the celebrated frascuelo), picadores, chulos, &c. a flourish of trumpets now sounded, and announced the arrival of the king and queen, which was the signal for the immediate clearing of the arena and commencement of the performance by the quadrilla, or procession of bull-fighters. these entering at the end of the building opposite, advanced to the front of the royal box and bowed. the espadas (three in number) looked particularly graceful, and were most gorgeously dressed in green, violet, and light blue satin, covered with gold lace; all wore the national spanish dress--jacket, short breeches, and silk stockings, their hair being twisted up in a knot behind, and secured in a silk net. at the end of the procession came two picadores, mounted on two sorry steeds, who looked only fit for the knacker, as indeed they were. their riders wore broad-brimmed grey felt hats and had their legs encased in iron and leather, to withstand the bull's horns. each was armed with a _garrocha_, or spear, the blade of which, however, is only about an inch long, as the picadores are not allowed to kill the bull, but merely to irritate and goad him. they are subject to narrow squeaks sometimes, and few have a sound rib left, owing to the fearful falls they get, when the bull sometimes tosses both man and horse in the air. as i have said, the horses are fit for little else than the knacker, and as such are the excuse for most unmeasured cruelties, as the reader will see anon. the poor brutes' eyes are bound round with white cloths, or they would probably refuse to face the bull. if merely wounded, the gap is sewn up, and stuffed with tow, and i saw one poor brute who was desperately gored in the first encounter, go through three succeeding fights with blood pouring from wounds in his side, until a more furious charge, and plunge of the bull's horns put an end to his misery. the procession over, there was a breathless pause while the chulos got into position, and this being finished, and everything ready, the doors of his prison were opened, and the bull trotted out. he had evidently been well goaded in his cell before being released, as was evinced by the suppressed roars he gave as he caught sight of the chulos. the first act of the drama now commences, and the chulos pursue him round the arena with their red cloths, showing the while most wonderful grace and activity. the bull invariably charges at the _cloth_, and not the man; sometimes, however, making a frantic rush at both, when the chulos vaults over the barrier, so closely pressed as to give one the idea of his being lifted over by the bull's horns. this was carried on for about five minutes, when another trumpet sounded, and the picadores entered, mounted on the poor brutes (a brown and a grey) already mentioned. the bandage having slipped off from over the grey horse's eyes, it was hastily readjusted, and only just in time, for the bull, as soon as ever he caught sight of the horses, made straight for the grey. maddened by the shouts of the people and the cloaks of the "chulos," his charge was not a light one, and he buried his horns deep in the poor brute's flank, the picador meanwhile scooping a large piece of flesh out of his back with his garrocha. maddened and exasperated, he then made for the brown, this time fortunately missing him, only, however, to reserve the poor beast for a worse fate. another furious charge now unhorsed the picador, at which the chulos leaped into the ring, and distracted the bull's attention with their red cloths while the fallen picador scrambled over the barrier into safety, a feat which his heavy accoutrements rendered by no means easy. the trumpets now sounded for the approach of the banderilleros, while the horses were led away out of sight, to be patched up for the succeeding engagement; a quantity of sand was thrown over the blood stains, which were pretty numerous throughout the arena. the banderilleros were three in number, and smart, dapper, little fellows, beautifully dressed in light blue satin and gold. each was armed with the _banderillo_, small barbed darts, about a foot long, ornamented with coloured paper. their duty is to go straight up to the bull, facing him, and as soon as he stoops his head to charge them, stick their barbs, one on each side of his neck, and slip aside. this seemed to be the most graceful feat of the day, and one requiring nearly as much nerve as that of the "espada," whose arrival a final flourish of trumpets now announced. the espada, or man of death, now stands _alone_ with his victim, and having bowed to the royal box, he throws his _montero_, or cap, among the audience, and swears to do his duty. in his right hand is the long toledan blade _la espada_, while in his left he holds the _muleta_, or small red flag about a foot square, which is his weapon of defence, and on the skill of using which his safety depends. the now maddened bull's first tactic was to charge furiously at the red flag, which the espada held at arm's length, and so wonderfully skilled was frascuelo that he never moved an inch, while the animal rushed by him beneath his arm. gradually decoying him along the edge of the ring with the _muleta_, frascuelo paused in front of the royal box with his victim, and played him for a while, preparing in the meantime to give him the _coup de grâce_. this is done when the bull is preparing for the final charge; the espada meeting him with his sword, plunges it hilt deep, just at the back of the head, and severing the dorsal column. the bull is now stationary for a few seconds, hardly knowing what to make of it, the espada holding up his hand to enjoin silence, till at length the brute sways slowly from side to side, and falls down dead, amid the jeers and applause of the populace, while the victorious espada withdraws, and wipes his sword, and walks slowly round the ring, the spectators throwing him cigars, packets of cigarettes, and--this last a great honour--their hats, a compliment he returns by throwing them back again. if, however, the espada is long in despatching the bull, or in the slightest degree "shows the white feather," he is grossly insulted, and empty bottles, orange-peel, cigar stumps, &c. are thrown at him till he leaves the plaza. frascuelo's performance was, however, apparently all that could be desired, and a team of fourteen mules, gaily caparisoned with bells and flags, now entered, and dragged away the carcase of the dead bull at full gallop--the fight having occupied a little over twenty minutes. the arena was now raked over, and put in order, preparatory to the arrival of the second bull, florido, who evidently did not care about the game at all. disregarding all the attempts of the chulos to harass him, he repeatedly charged at the barrier, and endeavoured to clear it and get out of their way. the picadores tried him with no further success, until a waving of handkerchiefs was seen among the audience. this is the sign for the _banderillos del fuego_ to be applied. these are barbs made with crackers, which go off with a loud report as soon as they are stuck in the bull's shoulder. but even this last resource failed to rouse florido, who was ignominiously despatched by a cacheterro, and dragged out of the ring to the strains of "nicholas" (in derision) by the band! but if this performance had been a tame one, the succeeding one fully made up for it. carbonero, the bull who now made his appearance, was evidently not to be trifled with. galloping into the arena, he made short work of the chulos, who soon decamped to make way for the picadores, mounted on the wretched brown aforementioned and another poor brute in place of the grey already butchered. carbonero lost no time, and, making his rush suddenly, rolled the brown horse and his rider over and over, repeatedly goring the wretched brute with his long horns (the picador having made his escape over the barrier). in vain did the chulos try to get the bull to leave his prey; in vain did the second picador seek to divert his attention; all was useless, until, at length, with a maddened effort, the wretched horse staggered up and galloped wildly round the ring, _treading on its own entrails_, and closely pursued by the bull! the poor brute was caught at length and despatched by the cacheterro. "banderilleros" were dispensed with on this occasion, so rabid had the bull become, and frascuelo, after a ten minutes' encounter, succeeded in killing him, amid shouts that might have been heard at madrid, two miles off, and applauded by none more vociferously than those occupying the royal box. there were five more bulls to be killed, but the last performance had sickened me of bull-fighting and everything connected with it, and i left the plaza wondering that such things are allowed to exist in a civilised country![15] i left madrid the following day for paris, breaking the journey at bordeaux, and after two days spent in the gay city, am once more on the chemin de fer du nord, _en route_ for calais. a stormy passage across (which makes us feel considerably queerer than we have in all our travels on sea), and we enter the tidal express, which seems to fairly tear along, after the crawlers we have left abroad. two hours more, and we are at charing cross, scarcely realising that we are really home again until the window is opened and a good gust of "home-made" london fog enters, convincing us that there is no mistake about it. and here--after a journey of over 20,000 miles, during which i trust the reader has not tired of and forsaken me--i must say, adieu. footnotes: [footnote 14: pronounced "herez."] [footnote 15: a bill was brought before the cortes in 1878 for the abolition of bull-fights in spain, but nothing has since been heard about it.] transcriber's notes: inconsistencies in the hyphenation of words preserved. (mid-day, midday; waist-cloth, waistcloth; ear-rings, earrings; sand-flies, sandflies) table of contents, chapter viii, "bintenzorg" changed to "buitenzorg". table of contents, chapter viii, "roerapan" is presumed to be "koerapan" as the latter is used in the main text twice. changed to "koerapan". footnote 7, duplicated word "was" removed. (since this was written) pg. 35, figures show the revenue of sarawak for 1871 and 1877-78 in dollars while the increase during the period is given in pounds sterling. one or other of the units of currency used is incorrect as otherwise (using the exchange rate of 5 dollars to 1 pound given in footnote 2) the arithmetic would be wrong. the author either intended all the figures in to be in dollars or all to be in pounds but it is unclear which, hence the original text is preserved. [illustration: mount salak, from the hôtel belle vue, at buitenzorg. _frontispiece._ (_see page_ 134.)] a visit to java with an account of the founding of singapore w. basil worsfold. [illustration] london: richard bentley and son, publishers in ordinary to her majesty the queen. 1893. (_all rights reserved._) preface. in writing these pages i have had before me a double purpose. first, to present to the general reader an account of what seemed to me to be a singularly interesting country, and one which, while being comparatively little known, has yet certain direct claims upon the attention of englishmen. secondly, to provide a book which, without being a guide book, would at the same time give information practically useful to the english and australian traveller. in sending this book to the press i have to acknowledge the courtesy of the editors of the _field_ and of _land and water_. to the former i am indebted for permission to make use of an unusually interesting quotation from mr. charles ledger's letter to the _field_ on the subject of cinchona introduction, and also to include a short article of my own on "horse-racing in java" in chapter xii. the latter has kindly allowed me to reproduce an account of my visit to the buitenzorg gardens, published in _land and water_. my general indebtedness to standard works, such as raffles' "java," and mr. wallace's "malay archipelago," and also to those gentlemen who, like dr. treub, most kindly placed their information at my disposal in java, is, i hope, sufficiently expressed in the text. professor rhys davids has very kindly read over the proof sheets of the chapter on the hindu temples; and i take this opportunity of acknowledging my sense of his courtesy in so doing, and my indebtedness to him for several valuable suggestions. the spelling of the javanese names and words has been a matter of some difficulty. the principle i have finally adopted is this. while adopting the dutch spelling for the names of places and in descriptions of the natives, and thus preserving the forms which the traveller will find in railway time tables and in the dutch accounts of the island, i have returned to the english spelling in narrative passages, and in those chapters where the reader is brought into contact with previous english works. but i have found it impossible to avoid occasional inconsistencies. in my account of the literature of the island i have kept to the dutch titles of javanese works as closely as possible; but i have modified the transliteration in accordance with the usages of english oriental scholars. w. b. w. 1, pump court, temple, e.c., november, 1892. [illustration: a javanese actress.] contents chapter i. page historical account up to the present day. hindus--mohammedans--portuguese--english--dutch- legal basis of dutch possession--british occupation--return of dutch--culture system- eruption of mount krakatoa 1 chapter ii. travelling and hotels. area--climate--permission to travel--chief objects of interest--means of locomotion--language--hotels 17 chapter iii. the system of government and the natives. dutch possessions in the east--government--army and navy--administration--development of natives--raden saleh--native dress--cooking and houses--rice cultivation--amusements--marriage ceremony 38 chapter iv. batavia. tanjong priok--_sadoes_--batavia--business quarter--telephoning--chinese campong--weltevreden- waterloo plain--peter elberfeld's house--raffles and singapore 62 chapter v. the hindu temples. the temple remains generally--the connection between buddha and brahma--the boro-boedoer--loro-jonggrang 86 annex: the routes to the temples 100 chapter vi. buitenzorg. batavian heat--to buitenzorg by rail--buitenzorg- kotta batoe--buffalo--sawah land--sketching a javan cottage 103 chapter vii. the botanical gardens. history of the buitenzorg gardens--teysmann- scheffer--three separate branches--horticultural garden--mountain garden--botanical garden- dr. treub--lady raffles' monument--pandanus with aërial roots--cyrtostachys renda--stelecho-karpus- urostigma--brazilian palms--laboratories and offices--number of men employed--scientific strangers 117 chapter viii. from buitenzorg to tji wangi. view of mount salak--railway travelling in java- soekaboemi--no coolies--a long walk--making a _pikulan_--forest path--tji wangi at last 134 chapter ix. the culture system. financial system previous to the british occupation- raffles' changes--return of the dutch--financial policy--van den bosch governor-general--introduction of the culture system--its application to sugar--to other industries--financial results of the system- its abandonment--reasons of this--present condition of trade in java--financial outlook 147 chapter x. on a coffee plantation. the tji wangi bungalow--coffee plantations- cinchona--native labour--a wayang--country-bred ponies--bob and the ducks--loneliness of a planter's life 169 chapter xi. animal and plant life. mr. wallace and the malay archipelago--animals- birds--general characteristics of plants--european flora in mountains--darwin's explanation--fruits- history of cinchona introduction--mr. ledger's story--indiarubber 186 chapter xii. social life. dutch society in the east--batavian etiquette- english residents--clubs--harmonie--concordia- lawn-tennis--planters--horse-racing 207 chapter xiii. the hindu javanese literature. the hindu javanese literature concerned with the past--javanese alphabet--extent of javanese works- kavi dialect--krama and ngoko--the mahabharata and the ramayana in kavi--native kavi works--the arjuna vivaya--the bharata yuddha--episode of salya and satiavati--ethical poems--the paniti sastra- localization of hindu mythology in java 223 chapter xiv. works of the mohammedan period. uncertainty about the history of the hindu kingdoms given by the chronicles--character of the _babad_, or chronicle--its historical value--brumund's treatment of the babads--account of the babad "mangku nagara"- prose works--the niti praja--the surya ngalam- romances--the johar manikam--dramatic works--the panjis--wayang plays--arabic works and influence--the theatre--the wayang 241 chapter xv. singapore. batavia and singapore--raffles' arrival in the east- determines to oppose the dutch supremacy in the archipelago--occupation of java--is knighted--returns from england--foundation of singapore--uncertainty whether the settlement would be maintained--his death--description of singapore--epilogue 263 list of illustrations. page mount salak, from the hôtel belle vue, at buitenzorg frontispiece a javanese actress vi mohammedan armour xii a portuguese house, batavia _to face_ 6 chinese barber 37 palace of a native prince _to face_ 43 woman cooking rice. kompor " 51 a bullock cart " 54 a sawah plough 61 the king's plain, batavia _to face_ 67 bridge leading to the pazer baroe, batavia " 70 the waterloo plain, batavia " 78 sketch map of java " 89 section and ground plan of the boro-boedoer temple " 94 a javanese cottage " 114 natives squatting 116 a happy celestial 133 a produce mill _to face_ 156 rosamala trees " 170 women barking cinchona 176 a dalang _to face_ 179 coffee berries 185 a wayang figure 262 the esplanade, singapore _to face_ 264 the cavanagh bridge, singapore " 282 [illustration: mohammedan armour.] chapter i. historical account up to the present day. hindus--mohammedans--portuguese--english--dutch- legal basis of dutch possession--british occupation- return of dutch--culture system--eruption of mount krakatoa. in the centre of that region of countless islands termed not inaptly the "summer of the world," midmost of the sunda group of which sumatra lies to the west, and flores to the east, with the fury of the tropical sun tempered by a physical formation which especially exposes it to the cooling influence of the ocean, lies the island of java. rich in historic remains of a bygone hindu supremacy, when the mild countenance of buddha gazed upon obedient multitudes, in memorials of mohammedan, portuguese, and dutch seafaring enterprises, it is a country singularly alluring to the student and antiquarian. nor is its present life less interesting. densely populated by a simple and refined native race, who live for the most part in the midst of mountain glories and tropical verdure, itself the best example of a rival and successful system of colonization, modern java is no mere tourist's country, but one which possesses, and always has possessed, special attractions for the man of science and the political student. from an immense mass of native tradition the main outlines of the history of the island can be disentangled with sufficient certainty. javanese tradition universally speaks of a personage called saka, variously termed warrior, priest, and god, to whom is attributed the introduction of the arts of civilization, and whose advent marks the opening year of the native chronology. the first year of saka corresponds to the seventy-eighth of the christian era. there can be no doubt as to the region from which this extraneous civilization came. native tradition and the vast religious monuments of the eastern and central districts alike point to an indian colonization and supremacy; for the temples of java bear the stamp of a culture and of an artistic and architectural genius superior to that possessed by a race, the sole record of whose national existence is contained in the meagre tradition of an immigration from the western lands about the red sea. sir stamford raffles, in his exhaustive history of java, gives the names and dates of the hindu monarchs, with an account of their conquests and administrations. but the native chronicles require to be carefully sifted, and to be supported by the record of the antiquarian remains, which supply an unfailing basis for, at any rate, the main outlines of the period. the oldest inscriptions are found on the west side of buitenzorg, on river stones, and at bekasi, on the east side of batavia; they are written in sanskrit characters of the oldest period, and, by comparison with the inscriptions of british india, indicate the existence of hindu civilization in java during the fourth and fifth centuries after christ. the oldest _dated_ inscription in java (and in the archipelago) is one bearing date 654 of saka (a.d. 732). this is now in the museum at batavia. it contains twelve verses in the sanskrit tongue, and is about four feet in length by two in width, and about ten inches in depth. the magnificent temple of boro-boedoer, of which mr. wallace[1] says, "the amount of human labour and skill expended on the great pyramid of egypt sinks into insignificance when compared with that required to complete this sculptured hill temple in the interior of java," and which will be separately described with the other religious monuments, was probably erected in the eighth or ninth century. it marks the highest point in the hindu supremacy, and the time when the influence of buddhism was supreme. at any rate, we have the witness of fa hian, a chinese traveller, who visited the island in the fifteenth century, to the effect that at this later period "the brahmins were still very numerous, but the law of buddha was no longer respected." [footnote 1: "malay archipelago."] the earliest european visitors tell us nothing of the two hindu kingdoms, pajajaran and majapahit, so celebrated in the chronicles. they speak only of sunda and its port bantam; and they mention a certain prince, fateléhan, as completing the mohammedan conquest in 1524. raffles, however, following the chronicles, focusses the overthrow of the hindu supremacy in the capture of the city of majapahit in 1478 a.d. in spite of the traditions which speak of a long period of fighting, it is probable that the conversion of the javanese to the new religion was gradual and peaceable, being in the main the result of commerce. the temples, the head-quarters of the old religion, show no traces of violence. they were destroyed, says dr. leemans,[2] simply by "carelessness, disuse, and nature," not by a sanguinary war. long before the prince fateléhan conquered the western kingdom of sunda in 1524, arab merchants had spread the principles of islamism among the javanese. it was just at the time of the establishment of the mohammedan power that the first europeans made their way to the island. portuguese writers say that their people, after the conquest of malacca in 1511, entered into relations with the inhabitants of bantam, through samian, a prince of sunda, who had formerly lived at malacca. lemé, a portuguese sent by albuquerque, captain of malacca, made a treaty with this samian, and obtained permission to build a fortress at bantam on condition that the prince and his subjects were protected from the moors. in the realization of this object, an expedition was sent by the portuguese king under command of francesco de sa; but before it reached the prince bantam had been taken by treason, and the mohammedan power established under fateléhan. henceforward the native rulers were mohammedans, and the list of these sovereigns given by raffles extends from a.d. 1477 to a.d. 1815. [footnote 2: "bôrô-boedoer temples," by dr. c. leemans, à leide 1874.] [illustration: a portuguese house, batavia. _page_ 6.] the portuguese were followed by the dutch and english after some considerable interval. the first dutch fleet, under the command of admiral houtman, sailed for bantam in the year 1595. the prince, who was then at war with the portuguese, allowed them to establish a factory there, and thus the first dutch settlement in the east indies was formed. not long after, the english east india company (immediately after their incorporation by queen elizabeth in 1601) despatched a force under captain lancaster. he succeeded in establishing friendly relations with the prince, who sent a letter to the english queen, which is still extant among the state records. this is noticeable as being the first settlement of the east india company; and as showing that hindustan, which now means india for most people, was not the original "india" of the company. in the subsequent quarrels between the natives and the dutch, the english assisted the former so successfully that at one time the dutch had to enter into a convention with the native chiefs and the english commander, by which they agreed to surrender their fort at jakatra and evacuate the island. on the conclusion of peace, however, between the dutch and english in europe, and on the arrival of reinforcements under jan pietersen koen, they changed their plans, and, instead of retiring from the island, proceeded to lay the foundations of an extensive settlement at jakatra. in the following year (1621) the name of batavia was given to the settlement, and from this period onwards the dutch continually increased their influence in the island, until in 1749 a deed containing a formal abdication of the sovereignty of the country was secured from the dying _susunan_ (or mohammedan emperor). in this the unfortunate prince "abdicates for himself and his heirs the sovereignty of the country, conferring the same on the dutch east india company, and leaving it to them to dispose of in future, to any person they might think competent to govern it for the benefit of the company and of java."[3] it is by virtue of this deed that the dutch east india company, and subsequently the dutch colonial government, became practically landlord of the whole island. since the government assumed possession of the soil they have gradually bought up the previously existing rights of the native princes, and in return have guaranteed them certain revenues, which have now become in most cases mere official salaries. among the rights which the government secured, by thus becoming landlord of the island, was that of receiving one-fifth part both of the produce and of the labour of the javan peasants. this fact--that the mass of the javan natives owed, as it were, feudal services to the government--explains the comparative ease with which, nearly a century later, the culture system was introduced. [footnote 3: raffles' "history."] the english settlement at bantam was withdrawn in 1683, and no effort was made to interfere with the dutch until the year 1811, when, owing to the conquests of napoleon in europe, the island had become a mere french province. in that year a british force reduced java and its dependencies. during the short period of british occupation (1811-1816) extensive reforms were introduced by sir stamford raffles, the lieutenant-governor. these reforms had for their object the improvement of the condition of the mass of javan natives, and the liberation of the industries of the island from the restrictions placed upon them by the monopolist policy of the dutch. whatever may be the verdict of history as to the practical value of these proposals, the attempt to carry them out has at least left behind such a tradition of british justice as to cause a feeling of profound respect towards the english to be almost universally entertained in the island to this day. in the settlement effected by the treaty of london, in 1814, the british government retained the cape and ceylon among the dutch possessions acquired by conquest in the napoleonic wars, but java and its dependencies were restored to their former masters. a right of protectorate, however, over the neighbouring island of sumatra belonged to the british crown until the year 1872, when it was surrendered in return for equivalent rights on the gold coast of africa. this concession has proved a veritable _damnosa hereditas_ to the government of netherlands india. the attempt to enforce the newly acquired rights over the sumatrans resulted in the outbreak of the atchinese war in 1873, an event which has involved the island of java in serious financial difficulties, and imperilled the prestige of holland in the east. a great part of the special interest which attaches to java is derived from the fact that it has been the scene of an interesting financial experiment. the history of the introduction of the culture system, and of its gradual abandonment in recent years, is so interesting as to require a separate chapter to itself, and it is only necessary to mention here just so much as is essential for the purposes of a historical sketch. the author of the proposal was general van den bosch, who became governor-general in 1830. the system continued in full operation until the year 1871, when the home government passed an act providing for the gradual abandonment of the government sugar plantations. by the year 1890 sugar, by far the most important of the javan industries, was practically freed from government interference. at the present time it is in debate whether or not the coffee industry should be similarly treated. this short historical sketch would be incomplete without some mention of an appalling and unique event in the history of the island. on the 27th of august, 1883, the green-clad island of krakatoa, which rises for some three thousand feet out of the waters which separate sumatra from java--the straits of sunda--was the scene of a most terrific volcanic discharge. whole towns were destroyed in both islands; but even more striking than the loss of human life and property is the fact, now satisfactorily established, that the discharge of ashes was so great as to cause a series of extraordinarily brilliant sunsets all over the world, while the force of the tidal wave was such as to affect the level of the water in the river thames. in travelling from batavia to singapore, i was fortunate enough to meet with an officer in the employ of the netherlands india steamship company, who was able to give me an actual narrative of his personal experience of this wonderful eruption. mr. s---was at that time second engineer on the steamship _governor-general lowden_, belonging to the same company. i cannot do better than close this chapter with his narrative. "we were anchored off telokbetong, in sumatra, when the chief officer and myself observed a dark line out at sea which bore the appearance of a tidal wave. while we were remarking this, the captain (who was just then taking his bath) rushed on to the bridge, and telegraphed to the engine-room to steam slow ahead up to the anchors. i was engaged in carrying out this order when the wave came up to the ship. first she dropped; then heaved up and down for some five minutes. there were three waves. when i came on deck again, the long pier, which had been crowded with europeans who had come out of the town (they had experienced a shock of earthquake during the night),--this pier, the houses and offices, had disappeared, in fact, the whole town was gone. a government steamboat lying at anchor (with steam up) in the bay was landed high on the tops of the palm trees in company with some native boats. that was the first intimation we received that krakatoa was in eruption, and from that time, eight o'clock, onwards through the day the rumbling thunders never ceased, while the darkness increased to a thick impenetrable covering of smoky vapour. shortly after this we got under way, and proceeded until the darkness made it impossible to go on further. it was while we were thus enveloped in darkness that the stones and cinders discharged by the mountain began to fall upon the ship. in a short time the canvas awning and the deck were covered with ashes and stones, to the depth of two feet, and all our available men were employed in removing the falling mass, which would otherwise have sunk the ship. we had a large number of natives on board, and a hundred and sixty european soldiers. the latter worked with the energy of despair at their task of clearing the deck, in spite of the twofold danger of being burnt and stunned by the hot falling stones. while we were engraved in this struggle, and enveloped in the sheer blackness of a veritable hell, a new and terrible danger came upon us. this was the approach of the tidal wave caused by the final eruption, which occurred about 12.30 to 1 p.m. the wave reached us at 2 p.m. or thereabouts, and made the ship tumble like a sea-saw. sometimes she was almost straight on end, at other times she heaved over almost on her beam-ends. we were anchored and steaming up to our anchors as before, and as before we managed to escape destruction. all the passengers and the crew gave themselves up for lost, but there was no panic, and the captain handled the ship splendidly throughout. he received a gold medal from the government in recognition of his indomitable courage in saving the ship and passengers. well, you can fancy what it was like when i tell you that the captain was lashed with three ropes alongside the engine-room companion, while i was lashed down below to work the engines. the men were dashed from one side of the engine-room to the other. "when we reached angier we found no trace--neither a splinter of wood nor a fraction of stone--of the buildings of that once flourishing seaport. at batavia the water was so dense from the floating lava (the deposit reached fifteen feet in depth) that we made our way to the shore on planks. telokbetong was closed for three or four months, and on our return to achin we could not land our passengers. at batavia the tidal wave had penetrated almost to the town, where in the lower portion the houses were flooded by the kali bezar (great river). business was suspended except by a few determined spirits who worked on by gaslight, so great was the alarm at the darkness and thunderous noises." chapter ii. travelling and hotels. area--climate--permission to travel--chief objects of interest--means of locomotion--language--hotels. of the many travellers who have written accounts of their visits to java, not one has been explicit in his directions as to the ways and means of reaching the various interesting objects which he has described. this may partly be accounted for by the fact that there are, indeed, no titanic difficulties to be encountered. the districts to be traversed are furnished with excellent roads, and in part with railways, contain large and civilized towns, and are inhabited by a peaceable and industrious population. the difficulties, such as they are, can be overcome by the two necessaries for all except the most hackneyed excursions--time and money. in java the former is, if anything, more important than the latter. java--with which is included for all purposes the little island of madura, lying off its north-eastern coast--is a long narrow island six degrees south of the equator. it is 630 miles long, and averages 100 miles in breadth. its area is 51,961 square miles, an extent slightly greater than that of england; and the present population reaches a total of twenty-three millions. like all the islands of the malay archipelago, its surface is diversified by great mountains (generally volcanic) and extensive plains. it is poorly supplied with minerals; coal is there, but not in workable quantities; perhaps the only valuable mineral products are the clay, which is made into bricks, earthenware, and porcelain, and the deposits of salt in the government mines. on the other hand, the soil is proverbially fertile. the chief products are best exhibited in connection with the four botanical zones into which junghuhn has divided the island according to elevation: i. from the seaboard tropical. rice, sugar, cinnamon, to 2000 feet. cotton, maize. ii. from 2000 feet to moderately hot. coffee, tea, cinchona, 4500 feet. sugar-palm. iii. from 4500 feet to moderately cool. indian corn, tobacco, 7500 feet. cabbage, potatoes. iv. from 7500 feet to cold. european flora. 12,000 feet. the climate varies in accordance with these zones. observations made at batavia (on the coast), the only place where a record covering a sufficient period has been kept, give a mean of 78.69° for a period of twelve years. the monthly mean shows a variation of only two degrees. the period from april to november, when the south-east trade winds prevail, called the dry or east monsoon, is slightly warmer than the remaining six months which make up the rainy season. the heaviest rainfall is in the months of december, january, and february. the chief characteristic of the climate of java is, therefore, not so much its heat as its equability: it is rarely wet all day long even in the wet season, and at least one shower may be expected each day in the dry. in spite of its great heat java is generally healthy, and, in cases of simple bronchitis, the climate is positively helpful. of course the mountain districts are preferable to the plains, but in the ordinary routes traversed by travellers there are no conditions to be encountered which are adverse to persons in the enjoyment of ordinary health. buitenzorg (close to batavia), the summer residence of the governor-general, a place which is to dutch india what simla is to british india, is especially healthy, being some seven hundred feet above sea-level. tosari, again, in the eastern part of the island, is a recognized sanatorium. it has a capital hotel, and lies at an elevation of six thousand feet above sea-level. this latter place is easily reached in one day from soerabaia; and close by is mount bromo, one of the most active volcanoes in java, and one which is always covered with smoke. a three-mile walk will give the visitor an opportunity of seeing the boiling crater--a magnificent spectacle. mount s'meroe, the highest mountain in java (12,000 feet), is also in the neighbourhood. the best time to travel is the dry season, april to november, when the nights are cooler and the weather brighter; and, of course, in travelling by carriage, arrangements should be made to avoid proceeding during the hottest part of the day as much as possible. the dutch are nothing if they are not methodical, and in order to travel in java certain formalities, which at first sight appear somewhat formidable, but which are really matters of form, have to be gone through. any person intending to remain in the island for more than twenty-four hours must register his name with the police, and give them particulars of his age, birthplace, profession, last place of residence, the ship in which he arrived, and the name of its captain. he thereupon receives a document entitled _toetlakings-kaart_ ("admission ticket"), which states that the person so named and described arrived at a certain date, "with the intention of residing in netherlands india," and that he is permitted, "by authority of the ordinance of march 12, 1872, to reside in any of the chief harbours or ports open for general trade, and also at buitenzorg." it is signed by the assistant-resident of batavia. this "admission-ticket" is not sufficient to authorize the new arrival to travel in the interior. for this purpose a second and still more imposing document must be obtained. this is an extract from the register of "decisions" of the governor-general, and is to the effect that the petition of the undersigned so-and-so has been read, and "that the governor-general has been pleased to grant him permission to travel for six months in java." if the visitor wishes to enjoy any sport he will require a third document, signed by the resident, to entitle him to "import the following weapon and ammunition, namely," his gun, "which is intended for his own use." it will be a relief to the reader to know that in my own case the documents confirming the grant of all these privileges were obtained at the cost of half a crown for stamps. batavia, the capital of java and the seat of government of the dutch possessions in the east, is distant two hundred and fifty miles from samarang, and four hundred from soerabaia, the ports which respectively "tap" the populous central and eastern districts. while these two latter towns are connected by rail with each other, communication with batavia is maintained at present by steamboats and post-carriages, since there is a break of one hundred and twenty miles--from garoet, the terminus of the western railway, to tjilatjap, a port on the southern coast--in the trunk line which is eventually to unite the whole island. batavia, however, in spite of this drawback, is the natural starting-point for the visitor. in the first place, it is the port of call of the principal steamboat companies which connect java with australia, british india, china, and europe; and in the next, being the seat of government and containing the chief political and scientific authorities, it is the centre from which information and assistance of all kinds may be obtained. in particular, i would recommend a visit to the museum of antiquities at batavia as an introduction to the study not only of the hindu remains, but also of the native industries and manner of life. the subjects of special interest in java may be grouped under five heads--the hindu antiquities, the native towns, the plantations, tropical plant-life, and sport. in the case of the three latter, the several neighbourhoods required to be visited are easily accessible from batavia by the western railway. soekaboemi, the centre of the coffee and cinchona plantations, and the head-quarters of the planters' association, is fifty miles distant. buitenzorg, with its famous botanical gardens, is within an hour and a half's journey. here, in the various government gardens and plantations, the plant-life of the whole malay archipelago is conveniently exhibited, both in its scientific and industrial aspects, and a strangers' laboratory is specially provided for scientific visitors. the preanger regencies--the best place for sport--may be described roughly as occupying the southern half of the western portion of the island. the chief towns of this district--tjandjoer, bandong, and garoet--are all connected with batavia by the same line of railway. of these, tjandjoer is the residence of the native prince, the regent of tjandjoer, who is the chief patron of horse-racing in java. but the largest of the native towns and those in the neighbourhood of which the most important of the hindu remains are to be found, such as soerabaia, samarang, solo, djokja, and magalang, are situated in the centre and east of the island. as i have before explained, the western and eastern railways are not yet connected, and therefore the railway alone will no longer be sufficient to convey the traveller to his basis of operations. in planning his journey to these towns he will have to weigh the relative advantages of three routes, and to consider the opportunities offered by three means of locomotion--railway, steamboat, and post-carriage. in another place[4] i have given in detail, with full information as to distances and expenses, the three possible routes to the temples from batavia, and therefore i need speak here only in general terms. [footnote 4: appendix.] the principal coast towns can be reached by the steamships of the netherlands india company (or its successor), which average about 1000 tons, and are said to be fairly comfortable. as the fares are comparatively high, most people will prefer to avoid the discomforts incidental to a steamboat, augmented by the conditions of the place--natives and strange food. in travelling by road very considerable fatigue must be undergone, and of course the expense is greater than that incurred in travelling by rail or steamboat. also, as in such travelling smaller towns and less-known districts are traversed, it is especially desirable to have a "boy," or native servant (who can talk english), to communicate with the natives in the javanese and sundanese dialects, since in the out-of-the-way districts malay is not understood. the railways are much the same as elsewhere, except that the rate of travelling is slower and the cost of travelling rather more than usual. as part of the railways are held by private companies, there is a slight variation in both of these particulars on different lines. the construction of railways in java began in 1875. ten years later there were 261 miles of private, and 672 miles of government, railways open for traffic. since then this extent has been increased, but in 1891 the railway system was still incomplete, by reason of the gap between garoet and tjilatjap. there is another important consideration which will affect the choice of routes and of means of conveyance, and that is the question of language. the natives in the big towns and all servants in hotels and private houses speak malay, which is the official language for communication between them and the europeans. there is always supposed to be one man in each native village (or campong) who can speak this language. malay handbooks are published in singapore, and although such books cannot be _bought_, as far as i know, in batavia, they can often be _borrowed_; or, failing this, a few necessary phrases can be written down. such a phrase, for example, as this: _apa nama ini?_ ("what is the name of this?") will serve to supply the place of many vocabularies. the language, which from its soft sounding has been called "the italian of the tropics," is very simple, and seems to consist almost exclusively of nouns (_i.e._ substantives, adjectives, and pronouns). the verb "to be" and prepositions are often omitted, _e.g. pighi bawa ini tuan x--_ = "go [and] take this [to] mr. x----;" and most substantives can be formed into verbs. combinations of substantives are used; e.g. _kreta api_ ("fire-carriages") = "railway." again, many european words are adopted bodily. in _sadoe_ a frenchman will easily recognize a corruption of _dos-à-dos_; _ayer brandy_ (or _ayer whisky_), literally "water-brandy," will present no difficulties to the average englishman. "butter" is _mentega_, a portuguese word. the vowels have the same value as in the continental languages.[5] [footnote 5: the combination _oe_ is pronounced [_macron-u_] (or _oo_).] it is obvious that the few words and phrases necessary for everyday life can be easily acquired in such a language, and most people will find the process rather amusing than otherwise. if, however, it is desired to escape this trouble, or to gain a more complete knowledge of the ideas of the natives, a "boy" who speaks english can be secured at batavia, who will act as valet and interpreter.[6] in communicating with the dutch residents and the european shop-people in the towns, there is no difficulty experienced, since nearly every one can speak english; if not, recourse can be had to french or german. [footnote 6: the cost of such a "boy" is very small (labour being one thing which is cheap in the island). he is paid from 16 to 18 florins (12 florins = £1) a month; and when travelling it is usual to give him a half-florin a day for food, otherwise the hotel charge for servants, one florin a day, must be paid.] in addition to obtaining the formal permission to travel already mentioned, in order to see native ceremonies and enjoy big-game shooting, it is necessary to get recommendations to the residents of the native regencies, and in any case it is desirable to have as many private introductions as possible. but, however well supplied with such recommendations they may be, all travellers are sure to be more or less dependent on hotels. in java, as in other tropical countries, the hotels are large one or two storied buildings, with rows of rooms opening upon broad verandahs screened with bamboo blinds, and arranged round courtyards planted with trees. the general living-room and the dining-room have one or more sides open to the air, and are arranged with a view to coolness. the style of cooking in dutch india is different from that in british india, and has one special peculiarity the--_rice table_, which will be described hereafter; and of course there are minor differences, depending upon the conditions of the place and society. to persons who are prepared to enjoy life (and this is the spirit in which one should travel), the little eccentricities and deficiencies will be a source of amusement, and give additional zest to the travelling experience. but no invalid or dyspeptic should enter the portals of a javan hotel. as for accommodation, suites of rooms can be engaged, but the ordinary traveller has a large bedroom with the proportion of the verandah belonging to it; this latter is fitted with a bamboo screen, table and chairs, and a hanging lamp, and is for all intents and purposes a sitting-room. the bedroom also is furnished with a view of securing coolness; the floor is covered with matting, and the furniture is not very luxurious; its chief feature is a tremendous bedstead. now, a javan bedstead is quite _sui generis_, and requires a ground plan. the ordinary size is six feet square. it is completely covered with mosquito curtains, and has no clothes, the broad expanse being broken by two pillows for the head and a long bolster (called a dutch wife) which lies at right angles to the pillows. this latter is one of the numerous contrivances for securing coolness. the ordinary routine of hotel life is much the same as elsewhere in the island. at half-past six a coolie comes to the door and awakes you, bringing tea or coffee when you want it. some time subsequently you proceed in pyjamas, or (if a lady) in a _kabaia_ (or loose jacket) and _sarong_ (native dress) to the bath-room, which is an important feature in every eastern hotel. generally speaking, it is not so very much removed from what mr. ruskin would desire. it is a large room with bare walls and a marble floor, on which is placed a cistern or jar of water, from which water is taken with a hand-bucket and poured over the bather, who stands upon a wooden framework. the water runs away from the edges of the room, but i never felt _quite_ sure that it didn't come back again afterwards. the walls are sometimes decorated with mirrors, and there is often an arrangement for a shower-bath. but very generally the bather has nothing but bare walls and a huge earthen jar such as aladdin and the forty thieves would use at drury lane. at singapore this same arrangement obtains, and there it is related that a young midshipman, going to the bath-room and being confronted by a bare interior with nothing but the big jar in the middle of it, very naturally concluded that _this_ was the bath. he quickly stripped and got into it; but once in he found it impossible to get out again. after vain endeavours, he rolled the big jar over bodily, and, smashing it on the floor, triumphantly emerged from the fragments. his friends afterwards pointed out to him that there was a hand-bucket there, and enlightened him as to its uses. breakfast consists of light breads, eggs, cold meat in thin strips, and fruit, and is served about nine. after breakfast any serious business should be accomplished before the great heat of the day sets in. at 12.30 rice-table (or tiffin) commences. this is a serious meal, and must carry you on till eight o'clock in the evening. the first dish, or rather series of dishes, is that from which the meal takes its name--_rice-table_. in partaking of this the visitor first places some boiled rice upon a soup plate, and then on the top of it as many portions of some eight or ten dishes which are immediately brought as he cares to take--omelette, curry, chicken, fish, macaroni, spice-pudding, etc.; and, lastly, he selects some strange delicacies from an octagonal dish with several kinds of prepared vegetables, pickled fish, etc., in its nine compartments. after this comes a salad, some solid meat (such as beefsteak), sweets, and fruit. finger-glasses are always provided, and one notices that the salt is always moist, and also that it is not customary to provide spoons for that article. at four, or thereabouts, tea is brought to your room. this serves to rouse you from your siesta, and you then proceed (being by this time again in pyjamas) to take your second bath. after that, european garments are worn, and it is cool enough either for driving or walking. the dinner, which is served at eight, is much like an ordinary _à la russe_ dinner, except that there are rather more small vegetable dishes than is customary elsewhere. in the hôtel der nederlanden at batavia (and there are plenty of others like it) there is something of the life which is described as belonging to the baths in ancient roman watering-places. imagine a long courtyard, with deep verandahs, trees only screening you from the opposite side; around you men in pyjamas, with their feet resting on the arms of their easy-chairs, smoking or taking various iced drinks from long glasses; ladies dressed in the beautiful native garment (the _sarong_) and the lace-trimmed white jacket (the _kabaia_), promenading with children. opposite you is a little dutch maiden, whose golden hair and white skin contrasts with the dark complexion of her _baboe_, or nurse. she is dressed in a flowing white robe, and is putting on her stockings in the most _negligé_ attitude, for it is now time to go out--4 p.m.--while her mother stands by and scolds her. everywhere coolies are squatting on the ground in their bright garments, or standing busied with the ordinary duties of service, and _baboes_ are playing with their little charges. you are yourself dressed in such a way that you would probably feel uncomfortable were you discovered so dressed in your dressing-room at home; but here you feel perfectly at ease--such is the magical effect of climate--whether promenading in your loose garments or reclining in your easy-chair and gazing coolly upon the occupants of the carriages which cross the courtyard. or perhaps you are engaged in a chaffing-match with one of the native vendors--chinese, malay, or javanese--who are ever ready to persuade you to buy the commonest trifles at the most fancy prices. the native servants are very quick and willing to do the visitor's commands; indeed, disasters generally arise from an excess of diligence on their part. for instance, in a damp climate it is an excellent general rule for your "boy" to keep your clothes aired by laying them in the sun two or three times a week; but it is a trifle embarrassing to a modest and impecunious person to see the whole of his wardrobe exhibited _urbi et orbi_ in front of his room on the verandah. the pyjamas, suspended in airy fashion, floating in the wind; the coats and trousers hung up on strips of wood so that their full extent is exposed to the sun and air; the pair of pumps, on which only last night he had congratulated himself as looking quite smart by gaslight, now standing confessed in all the unseemliness of bulging sides and torn lining; even the domestic slippers too. yet such was the scene which met my gaze as i returned from breakfast at nine o'clock in the courtyard of the hotel belle vue at buitenzorg. _trop de zèle_, i thought. [illustration: chinese barber.] chapter iii. the system of government and the natives. dutch possessions in the east--government--army and navy--administration--development of natives--raden saleh--native dress--cooking and houses--rice cultivation--amusements--marriage ceremony. the netherlands india, as the dutch possessions in the east are officially styled, includes the whole of the malay archipelago, with the exception of the philippine islands belonging to spain, part of borneo in the possession of the north borneo company, and the eastern half of new guinea, which is shared by germany and england. the total area is officially stated to be 719,674 square miles, and the total population 29,765,031. it is administered by a governor-general, a government secretary, and a council of state consisting of five members, who are appointed from among the chief dutch residents in the island of java. as all matters of general policy are controlled by the secretary for the colonies, who is a member of the home government, the functions of the colonial government are mainly executive and consultative. so close is the connection that the colonial estimates for revenue and expenditure have to receive the approval of the home government before they can be carried out. moreover, the various government officials scattered through the archipelago are responsible to the secretary for the colonies. there are colleges established both in holland and in batavia in which the young men intended for the colonial service can receive a suitable training. the physical sanction upon which the dutch authority rests is an army of thirty thousand men, composed of dutch, germans, swiss, italians, and natives, but officered exclusively by dutchmen, and a navy of fifty ships. of these troops, a large proportion (amounting in 1891 to 16,537) are native. the head-quarters of the army is fixed at batavia. there are barracks at weltevreden, and at meester cornelis in the capital, and additional accommodation has been recently provided at buitenzorg. the fleet is stationed at soerabaia, a town which possesses the best harbour in java, and which is conveniently situated at the other end of the island. there are, however, a few ships always stationed at batavia. the greater proportion of the fleet is composed of the ships of the netherlands indian navy, which is permanently stationed in the archipelago; but there are among them some ships belonging to the dutch navy, which are relieved every three years. at the present time, the chief occupation of the colonial forces is the establishment of the dutch authority in sumatra. since 1874 the natives of achin have successfully resisted the dutch, and the achin war has proved so costly and so disastrous, that the home government have ordered the operations of the troops to be confined to such as are purely defensive. acting under these instructions, the colonial forces have retired behind a chain of forts, and all attempts to advance into the interior have been abandoned. last year (1891), baron mackay, the secretary for the colonies, was able to assure the states general that "excellent results were expected from the blockade system," now adopted, and that the achinese were already beginning to feel the inconvenience of being cut off from their supplies of necessaries, such as opium and tobacco. java is by far the most important of the islands of the malay archipelago. its population is four times that of the total population of the remaining dutch possessions in the east. this population is divided as follows (1890):- europeans. 48,783 chinese. 237,577 arabs. 13,943 other orientals. 1806 natives. 22,765,977 total. 23,064,086 with the exception of the chinese, the great retail traders of the malay countries, almost the entire population of the island is "native." this term includes various branches of the malay race, of which the chiefs are the javanese and sundanese, occupying respectively the east and west of the island. separate dialects are also spoken by the people of bantam and madura. there is little to distinguish the two chief races, except that the javanese are more warlike and spirited than the sundanese, who are somewhat more dull and almost entirely agricultural. speaking generally, the native population of java is but little inferior in intelligence to the native population of india, while in some respects--in particular, in the readiness shown by the native princes to assimilate european learning and customs, and in a certain artistic sensibility manifested by the whole people--they resemble the inhabitants of japan. the majority of the javanese natives are employed in the cultivation of rice; in work on plantations, sugar, coffee, cinchona, and tea; and in various lesser industries, such as the making of mats and weaving of _sarongs_. they are also by no means unskilful as workers in clay, wood, and metals, and as artisans generally, and are successfully employed by the government in working the railways and post and telegraph services. [illustration: palace of a native prince. _page_ 43.] for purposes of administration the island is divided into twenty-four residencies. each residency is further divided into districts, and finally into _campongs_, or townships. it will be remembered that when, at the end of the eighteenth century, the dutch government took over the island from the east india company, they received possession of the soil, subject only to such limitations as the company had already imposed upon their ownership. since that time the colonial government has pursued a policy in java similar to that pursued by the british in india, by which the native princes have been gradually induced to part with their territorial rights and privileges, and to accept in return proportionate monetary compensations. at the same time the services of these "princes" have been utilized in the work of government. as a result of this latter, the sums paid originally as incomes equivalent to the revenues derived from the rights surrendered have now come to be of the nature of official salaries. most of these regents, as the native princes are called, receive from two to three thousand florins a year; but some one or two, such as the sultan of djokja, and the regent of bandong, receive as much as seventy or eighty thousand florins. the dutch have wisely employed as much as possible the social organization which they found in existence, and native authorities and institutions have been supplemented by european officials. in each residency there is, therefore, a double set of officials, european and native. first of all, there is the resident, who resides at the chief town, and is the head of all officials, european and native. under him there are assistant-residents, contrôleurs, and assistant-contrôleurs. the contrôleur is an official more especially connected with the government plantations, and the regulation of the industrial relations between the planters and the peasants, or coolies, is an important duty which he fulfils. the regent is the head of the native officials, but of course inferior in authority to the resident, whom he calls his "elder brother." under him is an officer called a _patih_, and then _wedanas_, assistant-wedanas, and ultimately the village chiefs, or _loerahs_. in addition to these there is a further official called a _jaksa_, who ranks above the wedanas, and receives information of any offences committed. in the villages the loerahs act as policemen, but in the towns there are regular native policemen, called _oppas_, who also attend on the wedanas. in each residency there is a court of justice, consisting of a president, who is a paid legal official, a clerk of the court, and a _pangoeloe_, or priest, for administering oaths. in this court the jaksa sits as native assessor to the european judge-president. there are superior courts at the three great towns, batavia, samarang, and soerabaia, and a supreme court at batavia. murder and crimes of violence are generally rare, but small thieving is common throughout the island. the religion of the javanese is mohammedanism; although brahmanism still survives in some of the islands of the archipelago, it has entirely disappeared from java. until recent years the colonial government have discouraged any efforts directed towards the conversion of the natives to christianity. the quietism of the mohammedan creed was regarded as better adapted to supply their religious needs than the doctrines of the missionaries. of late years, however, a more generous policy has prevailed. as the mass of the javanese regard the native princes as traitors and apostates, the arab priests and hadjis have come to be recognized as the popular leaders. it is they, and not the princes, who now form the dangerous element. the priests are jealous of european influence, and are ready to incite the natives to revolt if occasion offers, but in any outbreak the native princes are the first to be attacked. a revolt in bantam had occurred some twelve months before the date of my visit (1890). in return for some injustice, the resident and his wife and children were put to death by mutilation. the village in which this took place was near serang, the capital town of bantam, and only seventy miles from batavia, and military assistance was obtained from both of these places. the troops from serang arrived in time to find the body of the resident's wife still heaving with the action of breathing. fifty or sixty of the natives were brought to justice for this murder, and six of the ringleaders were shot. i was told that there were numerous secret societies existing in the country, controlled by the mohammedan authorities in arabia, and absolutely hidden beyond the reach of the government.[7] the question of the moral and mental development of the javanese natives is one which has lately been much discussed, both in java and in holland, and the result has been that the colonial government is now fairly pledged to a humanitarian policy. the large sum annually appropriated in the colonial budget to the purposes of public instruction, is a sufficient evidence of the reality of the desire now manifested by the dutch to give the natives of java full opportunities for the education and training necessary for technical and industrial progress. there can be no doubt as to the capacity of the natives to benefit by such advantages. when d'almeida visited the island thirty years ago, he paid a visit to raden saleh, a native artist, who had been sent to holland to be educated there at the expense of the colonial government. he had lived for twenty-three years in europe, residing both in that country and in germany, and following the profession of an artist. he was chiefly distinguished as an animal-painter, and made such progress in art that he was commissioned by the late prince consort to paint two pictures for him, illustrative of javan life and scenery. raden saleh subsequently returned to his native country, and d'almeida found him residing in an artistically furnished house with large and beautiful gardens near batavia. in the course of this visit he was asked whether there were any other javan artists who had attained similar proficiency. he replied, "café et sucre, sucre et café, sont tout-ce qu'on parle ici. c'est vraiment un air triste pour un artiste." [footnote 7: at the time of writing i have come across the following paragraph in the java news column of the _singapore free press_ for february 23, 1892: "the _nieuwsblad_ notes the arrival of a turk from singapore in the _stentor_, who is suspected of having the intention to stir up the natives of java. the police are paying attention to him."] the artistic perception inborn in the javan natives is nowhere more clearly manifested than in the colour and form of their dress. nothing impresses the visitor more quickly or more pleasantly than the gay and graceful groups which throng the streets or roads. the light cottons and silken cloths which the natives wear are admirably suited to the climate, and an exquisite taste seems to govern the selection of colours and the fashion of wearing their garments. both men and women alike wear the _sarong_, a long decorated cloth wound round the lower limbs and fastened at the waist; over this the former wear a _badjoe_, or short open jacket, and the latter a _kabaia_, or cloak, closed at the waist by a silver pin (_peniti_), and reaching down almost to the bottom of the sarong. over the right shoulder is gracefully flung a long scarf called a _slendang_, used by mothers to carry their babies, and by the men as a belt when they are engaged in any active work. a square cloth (_kain kapala_) is worn on the head by men; it is folded in half diagonally, and then folded over and round the head until it looks much like a turban. on the top of this a wide straw hat (variously shaped) is carried, to protect the wearer against the sun. the women, on the contrary, wear nothing but their glossy black hair, or carry a bamboo umbrella if they wish for a similar protection. the native weapons are the bamboo spear, and the short wavy sword called a _kriss_; but the only arm they carry nowadays is a _golok_, or straight piece of iron with a handle and sheath, used for lopping off boughs and cutting wood. the better class of natives use european furniture, but the ordinary peasants and artisans, who live in a bamboo cottage, use nothing but a single bed on which the whole family sleep, and a chest for clothes, both made, like the house, of bamboo. [illustration: woman cooking rice. kompor. _page_ 51.] the staple diet is rice and dried fish, with vegetables and fruits: cakes and pastry are rare luxuries, and purchased at the market or from itinerant vendors. the cooking arrangements are very simple. nearly everything is cooked in a _priok_, or frying-pan, which is heated over a _kompor_, or stove of earthenware, or on bricks on a flat stove raised from the ground. in both cases charcoal is burnt, being made to burn brightly by a fan. the rice (which is to them what bread is to us) is not _boiled_, but _steamed_. a copper vessel (_dang-dang_) is filled with hot water, and the rice is then placed in a cone-shaped bamboo basket (_koekoesan_), which is placed point downwards into the vessel and covered with a bamboo or earthenware top (_kekep_). the dang-dang is then placed over the fire either in the _kompor_ or on the bricks. rice culture is the natural pursuit of the javanese or sundanese native. coffee, sugar, and tea he cultivates on compulsion for wages with which to pay his taxes. now the land of java is divided into two classes, land capable of being inundated by streams or rivers called _sawah_, and land not so inundated called _tegal_, or _gaga_. on the latter only the less important crops, such as mountain rice or indian corn, are grown. on sawah land the rice is grown in terraces, which are so arranged that, without any machinery for raising or cisterns for storing the water, a perfectly natural and perpetual supply is gained from the high mountains, which serve here the same useful purpose that the great river nile does in egypt. the small fields are worked with the _patjoel_, a sort of hoe, and the large with the plough (_wloekoe_), and then inundated. after ten or fifteen days they are hoed again, so that any places not reached by the plough or hoe may be laboured, and the intervening banks kept free from weeds and consequently made porous. the large sawahs are also harrowed with the _garoe_; and, finally, small trenches are cut for the water to flow from one terrace to another. when the earth has thus been worked into a mass of liquid mud, the young plants are transplanted from the beds in which they have been sown about a month previously, and carefully placed in this soft mud. inundation is necessary until the rice is nearly ripe, which is naturally about august or september. it is reaped with a short knife called _ani-ani_, with which the reaper cuts off each separate ear with a few inches of the stem; and the ears are then threshed by being placed in a hollow tree trunk and there stamped with a _toemboekan_, a heavy piece of wood with a broad end. the lands are ploughed, harrowed, and weeded by the men, but the transplanting, reaping, and threshing is done by women. a curious circumstance in rice-cultivation is the fact that side by side the crops may be seen in each of the separate stages, planting and reaping often going on simultaneously. beside the rice, a crop of beans or sweet potatoes is grown in the year, and the flooded terraces are also utilized as fish-tanks, in which gold-fish are grown to the length of a foot and a half and then eaten. they are brought to the market in _water_, and so kept fresh, and, if not sold, are of course returned to their "pastures" again. the sawah plough is an interesting study. it is made in three pieces--the pole (_tjatjadan_); the handle (_patjek_), which fits into the iron-shod share (_singkal_). to this is attached a crosspiece or yoke (_depar_), fitted with a pair of long pegs coming over the necks of the oxen or buffaloes, and a crosspiece hanging under their necks and fastened to the yoke by native cord. the ploughman holds the tail of the plough with the left and the rod-whip (_petjoet_) with the right hand. he drives and directs the big lumbering beasts by words or by a touch of the rod. to make them go "straight on," he calls out, _gio gio kalen_; "turn to the right" is _ghir ngivo_; "to the left," _ghir nengen_; "stop" is _his his_; and whenever they (or horses) incur the displeasure of their drivers, they are invariably brought to a better mind by hearing an unpronounceable exclamation something like _uk uk_. [illustration: a bullock cart. _page_ 54.] another natural industry in which the javanese are particularly skilful is the making of mats. there are many varieties. a light sort of floor-covering is made from the leaves of the wild pine-apple (_pandan_); a stronger kind is the _tika bogor_, or buitenzorg matting, which is made from the bark of a species of palm, and which is used to cover walls and ceilings. beside these, matting is made from rushes and from the cane imported from palembang, in sumatra; while for the walls of the houses a heavy matting of bamboo strips is used. the weaving of sarongs is practised by the women all over java, and the cooking and household utensils, made both in copper and earthenware, indicate by their forms a considerable taste. the javanese carpenters are also very clever, and both they and the malays are skilful in imitating any european designs which are handed to them. in spite, however, of this natural aptitude for higher industries, the great mass of the native population are compelled by the present commercial system to remain mere peasants. even so the cheapness and simplicity of the means of life prevent them from being a joyless race. a plantation cooly generally has two days in the week on which he does no work. the public feasts are numerous, the chief being the _taon baru_, or new year, which falls at the end of the fasting month, which varies from year to year. in 1890 it lasted from april 21 to may 21. during this month the chiefs and the better class abstain from eating or smoking from sunrise to sunset. every village has its market once a week or thereabouts, and after this there is generally a _wayang_, or puppet show, and some mild amusement. the wayang is the most important of the native amusements; for the theatre is a rare luxury, and confined chiefly to the towns or to the courts of the native princes. it is a very simple business--far beneath a punch-and-judy show in point of art, but the audience watch the puerile display for five or six hours without intermission. the theatre consists of pantomimic representations, with which is mingled a ballet, the basis of which is ancient tradition. the following story (which i have condensed from d'almeida's book) is a specimen. a certain king praboe sindolo of mendang kamolan, feeling tired of the vanities of the world, retired to a hut, where he lived in prayer and fasting. while thus living he was visited by a tempter, who sought to rekindle his desire for the good things of this life. thereupon praboe sent for a large bird and four vestal virgins to defend him against the evil spirit. by a miracle he transformed himself into a flower, around which the vestal virgins danced. by chance, however, a princess passed that way, and, seeing a vase with beautiful flowers therein, she chose and gathered one, which she carried to her home. this she placed in water, when, to her surprise, it suddenly was transformed into a young and graceful man. even as she had cared for him did praboe care for her, and forthwith he became her lover, and cared nothing any longer for the fasting and the cave. much of the javan festivity is connected with the marriage ceremony, which is always an occasion of feasting, greater or less, in proportion to the wealth of the bride and bridegroom. there is a procession and music, but the actual ceremony is very simple, although the accessory festivities appear to be capable of almost indefinite extension. barrington d'almeida, who visited the island in 1861, thus describes the scene[8] which he witnessed in a house filled with guests:- "on either side of the front room, on white samarang mats, were seated the elders of the village, priests, various friends, relations, and acquaintances, all squatted cross-legged. cups of tea, _à la chinoise_--that is, without milk or sugar--were placed on handsome trays before each guest, as well as betel nuts, cakes, a quantity of _rokos_, and other native delicacies.... followed by several of the guests, we entered another room, which was very gaudily decorated, and furnished with a low bed, the curtains of which were of white calico, ornamented with lace, gold, silver, beads, and coloured bits of silk. at the foot of this bed was a platform, raised about half a foot from the ground, on which was spread a spotless white mat, with several bronze trays containing cakes, etc. whilst we were inspecting this apartment we were startled by the din of voices, followed by the sound of music, which, from its peculiar character, was too near to be agreeable. 'the bride is come,' said drahman. the crowd was so great that it was some minutes before we could catch a glimpse of her. our curiosity was at length gratified, while they were pouring water upon her small naked feet. after this ceremony an elderly man, who, i was informed, was one of her relatives, carried her in his arms to the inner room, and placed her on the platform, where she sat down on the left side of the bridegroom, who had followed her in. she had a rather pleasing expression, but was much disfigured by a yellow dye, with which her face, neck, shoulders, and arms were covered, and which effectually concealed her blushes. "her dress was very simple, consisting of a long sarong of fine _batek_, passing under both arms and across the chest, so that, though her shoulders were quite naked, her bosom was modestly covered. this garment reached nearly down to the young bride's ankles, and was confined round the waist by a silver 'pinding.' her hair was arranged in the usual javanese style, with the addition that on the knob at the back of the head rested a kind of crown made of beads and flowers. "on the left side of the girl sat an old, haggard-looking woman, the waksie, or bridesmaid, on whose shoulders, according to the wedding etiquette of the javanese, rests no small share of the responsibility.... she is expected to adorn the bride in the most attractive manner, so as to please her husband and the assembled guests; and she superintends all the ceremonies during the celebration of the wedding.... the bridegroom, like his bride, was yellow-washed down to the waist; his eyebrows were blackened and painted to a point; he wore a variegated batek sarong, fastened round the waist with a bright silk scarf, through the folds of which glittered the gilt hilt of a kriss. his hair fell on his back in long thick masses, whilst a conical-shaped hat, made of some material resembling patent leather, was placed on the top of his head. on one side of him was seated his _waksie_, or best man, a boy dressed very much like himself. i was told that the parents of the young couple were absent, as, according to the usual custom in this country, their presence is not expected at the wedding ceremony." [footnote 8: "life in java." it is interesting to know that the ceremony by which the marriage tie is dissolved is as simple as the marriage ceremony is elaborate. all that is necessary is the consent of the parties; no discredit is involved nor any suffering incurred, and the arab priest performs the divorce service for a sum so trifling as half a florin! probably the cheapness of food, and the ease with which life can be supported generally in such a country and climate, is the cause of this laxity of the marriage tie. as a mohammedan, a javan peasant is permitted to have as many as four wives, but he can rarely afford more than one, or two at the most. [illustration: a sawah plough.] chapter iv. batavia. tanjong priok--_sadoes_--batavia--business quarter--telephoning--chinese campong--weltevreden- waterloo plain--peter elberfeld's house--raffles and singapore. when the prosperity of the dutch east india company was at its height, the city of batavia[9] was justly entitled the "queen of the east." apart from the fact that this place was the centre and head-quarters of the company, it was the emporium through which the whole commerce of the east passed to and from europe. the dutch possessions of ceylon, the cape of good hope, and the moluccas depended for their supplies on java. not only were the european imports, iron, broadcloth, glass-ware, velvets, wines, gold lace, furniture, and saddlery destined for these settlements received here in the first instance, but similar imports intended for china, cochin, japan, and the malay islands were also reshipped from this port into the native boats which conveyed them to those several countries. similarly, the wealth of china and the east was first collected upon the wharfs of batavia before it was finally despatched to the various ports of europe and america. [footnote 9: "not many years later (_i.e._ than 1602, the date of wolfert's victory over the portuguese admiral mendoza), at the distance of a dozen leagues from bantam, a congenial swamp was fortunately discovered in a land whose volcanic peaks rose two miles in the air, and here a town duly laid out with canals and bridges, and trim gardens and stagnant pools, was baptized by the ancient and well-beloved name of good meadow, or batavia, which it bears to this day" (motley, "united netherlands"). since the foundation of the town, the seashore has silted up to such an extent that the original harbour of batavia, in which the dutch east indiamen of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries lay at anchor, has been abandoned, and a new port has been constructed at a point six miles to the eastward. the harbour works at tanjong priok, as the present port of batavia is called, and the railway which connects the port and town of batavia, are one among many improvements set on foot in the island since the inauguration of a public-works policy by the colonial government in 1875. ocean steamships of 4000 and 5000 tons burden can now be berthed at these wharfs, and there is a constant and convenient service of trains between the port and the town. even to-day the presence of superannuated dutch warships and quaint craft from china and the malay islands relieves the monotony of the vast hulls of the steamships of the british india, the messageries maritimes, and the netherlands india companies. i was agreeably surprised at the size and convenience of the station at tanjong priok. the booking clerk, who was, i think, a chinaman, seemed to know the ways of strangers, and i and my fellow-passengers had no difficulty in taking tickets for batavia. the line passed through groves of cocoa-nut palms, intersected with canals. everything was quaint and interesting, the canal boats, the buffalo ploughs, the gaily-feathered birds,--all revealed a new and delightful phase of life and nature. we were immensely struck with the appearance of a native cutting grass. he had a hooked blade of steel fastened to a long handle, forming an instrument not unlike a cleek or other golf-stick. this he slowly swung round his head, and each time it touched the ground cleared about three inches of grass. the thing looked too absurd. we all wanted to get out and ask him how long he expected to be mowing that strip of grass by the canal-side. while i was on board ship i had been fortunate enough to borrow a malay phrase-book from a man who had visited the archipelago before, and during the voyage to batavia i had amused myself with copying out some of the phrases and committing them to memory. on landing i found these few phrases extremely useful, and i mention the fact by way of encouragement, and in case any other traveller should be inclined similarly to beguile the tedium of the voyage. he will have his reward. when mr. wallace visited java in 1861, he tells us he found no conveyances in batavia except "handsome two-horse carriages," costing something under a sovereign a day. he justly complains of the expensiveness of these vehicles, and also of the cost of the post-carriages which then formed the sole means of locomotion in the interior of the island. to-day things are greatly improved. to say nothing of the railway system which connects the large towns in the east and west, batavia is provided with an excellent tramway, and with a capital supply of small vehicles called _sadoes_. [illustration: the king's plain, batavia. _page_ 67.] the sadoe is the hansom of java. it is a small two-wheeled carriage, in which the seats are placed back to back (hence the name, which is a corruption of dos-à-dos), and which is furnished with a square top to keep off the sun. it is drawn by one (or two) of the sturdy little horses bred in the island. at a pinch these vehicles will hold four, but two is enough. ordinarily the driver sits in front, and the "fare" in the more luxurious seat behind. thus weighted the country-breds go at a very smart pace; nor is there any complaint to be made in respect of the drivers. they are generally very civil, and their charges are very moderate. i was told a story which illustrates the docility of the sadoe drivers, and the cleverness with which they can trace and identify their "fares." an english officer from singapore, whom we will call brown, was visiting batavia, and had occasion, in the course of his visit, to drive in a sadoe from the old town to a friend's house in weltevreden. for some reason or other he became annoyed with the driver, and, having ejected him, proceeded to drive himself. as it was night, he soon became entangled in the maze of streets. at last he reached the large open space called the king's plain. he was now close to his destination. the only difficulty was to get rid of the sadoe. in order to do this he drove into the middle of the plain. he waited until the horse began to graze quietly, and then "made tracks" as quickly as might be for his friend's compound. ultimately he returned to his hotel. the first thing brown saw, when he got up the next morning, was sadoe, driver, and horse waiting outside his verandah in the courtyard. he grew pale with thoughts of the police; but no, the driver only wanted his fare, which was two florins. having received this, he retired smiling and contented. there was a crowd of these sadoes waiting outside the station at batavia, in one of which i made my way to the hôtel der nederlanden. batavia may be divided (like all gaul) into three parts. first, there is the business quarter, the oldest, where the houses are tall and built in the style still prevalent in the warm countries of europe, with balconies and verandahs and widely projecting eaves, and where the streets are narrow. then there is the chinese campong, which, with the adjacent streets, occupies the central portion of the town, containing the bulk of the population closely packed in their curious dwellings. and, lastly, there is weltevreden, the dutch town, where the officials, the military, and the merchants reside. the town is traversed from end to end by the railway, which passes through from tanjong priok to buitenzorg and bandong; and by the tramway, which runs from the town gate in the north to the statue of meester cornelis in the south. it is also divided by the stream called the kali bezar, or great river, and intersected by numerous canals. the pavements are of red brick, and the roads covered with a reddish dust; indeed, the prevailing tone of the whole place is a warm red-brown, varied by salmon-pink and green masonry, and generously interspersed with bright yellow, deep crimson, and olive-green foliage, though not unfrequently a spreading waringin tree or a group of feathery palms overtops the general mass. additional colour is given by the natives, who are clothed in light cottons and silken stuffs of delicate tones and graceful shapes, carried with an easy carelessness and unfailing novelty of combination. sometimes they are gathered into dark brown masses round the base of some one of the many bridges which span the river or canals, prepared for the luxury of the tropics--an afternoon bathe. [illustration: bridge leading to the pazer baroe, batavia. _page_ 70.] all three quarters are possessed of a separate beauty. the elaborately carved pediments and ponderous doors, the heavy balconies and eaves of the houses, give an old-world quaintness to the first, which is enhanced by the crowd of many-shaped and variously coloured boats that line the quays that front the offices on either side of the great river. nothing could be more delightful than the setting of the red-tiled roofs, with their dragon-decorated ridges and parapets, on the wooden trellis fronts and canvas blinds of the chinese houses. weltevreden, too, is not without attractions. the broad porticoes of dazzling white, with their ionic columns and marble floors, are often set in a fair surrounding of green trees. the compounds and gardens are always verdant, and sometimes radiant with bright-leaved shrubs and flowers. especially the broad green-covered squares and the wide roads arched with noble trees speak of coolness and repose in a hot and weary land. on the outskirts of the town, along the country roads, where the cocoa palm and banana plantations begin, are the bamboo cottages of the sundanese natives. but it is after nightfall that this place becomes a veritable fairyland. the open porticoes of the dutch houses are seen to be thronged with gaily dressed people, the ladies often still wearing the sarong, and looking like æneas' mother- "proved to be a goddess by her stately tread," and in harmony with the pillars and pediments about them. everywhere lights gleam through foliage, and ever and again, through an air instinct with electric movement and heavy with perfumes, strains of music reach the ear from the open doorways, or are wafted in the distance from one of the numerous military bands, which are ever "discoursing sweet music" to the society of the capital. in the centre of the town the native streets look, to the european eye, like a perpetual festival. outside the doors are gathered in groups the various inhabitants--chinese, malay, or sundanese, some clanging cymbals and other strange instruments of music, others seated round fires, eating baked cakes or fruits and other frugal dainties. meanwhile the streets are alive with the rush of numerous cahars[10] and sadoes, drawn by the agile native pony, and with itinerant vendors, who, bearing their baskets suspended from their shoulders by the _pikulan_, or cross-piece, each with a lamp fixed to the rearmost basket, flit to and fro noiselessly on their bare feet. [footnote 10: native carriage much like the sadoe, but never used by europeans.] the business quarter, like the "city" in london, is thronged with merchants and carriages, carts and coolies, and all the machinery of commerce, in the daytime, and entirely deserted at night. the merchants keep their offices open from nine till five, and, in spite of the great heat, work all through the day, with the exception of an hour or so for "tiffin." by this arrangement the early morning and late afternoon, the only time when open-air exercise is possible, is left available for riding or walking. in spite of the romantic exterior of the place, batavia is not ill-supplied with modern improvements. the tramway system, in which smoke and heat are avoided by the use of a central boiler from which steam is taken for the different locomotives, is especially well suited to the requirements of the climate. the telephone, again, is in constant use both in offices and private houses, although the confusion of languages--malay, dutch, and english--makes it a little difficult sometimes to work it. i remember once asking the landlord of the hôtel der nederlanden to telephone to a man in the town that i was intending to go to buitenzorg on the following morning, and the terrible difficulty i had to get him to convey my name to the clerk at the other end. after ringing up the central office (which is worked by malays) and getting the connection he wanted, he said-"mr. x----?" "no." "mr. x---is not there" (to me). "all right," i said; "tell the clerk to tell mr. x----" but the telephone was now shut off, and the process of connecting had to be gone through again. "tell mr. x---what is your name?" "worsfold," i said. "versfolt?" "yes." "tell mr. x---that mynheer versfolt----" "who?" (from the other end). "mynheer versfolt." "who?" "versfolt." "who?" "how you spell it?" (to me). i spelt it. "mynheer v-e-a-s-f-o-l-t. veasfolt, _veasfolt_, veasfolt." here he appealed to a dutch gentleman who could speak english, and wrote down the name, w-o-r-s-f-o-l-d. "tell mr. x---that mynheer---listen, i will spell it--w-o-r," etc. "oh, never mind; tell him that the englishman is going to buitenzorg to-morrow." "the english gentleman is going to buitenzorg to-morrow." "what englishman?" "mynheer veasfolt." "who?" "mynheer veasfold. i will spell it--w-o-r," etc. "yes; what about him?" "tell mr. x---that mynheer veasfolt----" "who?" "oh, never mind," i said; "mr. x---will understand." but the polite landlord was not satisfied. "it is no trouble; i will tell him." then i went away in haste, as the process had already occupied half an hour, and i was telephoning to avoid delay. five minutes later i passed the bureau. the landlord was still at that wretched instrument. i hurried by without daring to look up, fearing that i should be appealed to again. i dared not even ask whether the message ever reached the office or not. beside the town gate--a massive stone arch, with two large iron images on either side, remnants of early victories over the kings of bantam--there are two buildings of interest in this (business) quarter of the town, the _stadthaus_, or town hall, and the town church. the former is just such an old dutch edifice as might be seen in any of the towns of holland, standing in a tree-planted space. in it are the offices of the resident and the police authorities. the _landraad_, or county court, also holds its sittings here; and on the stone terrace in front of the building, the town guard (a native force armed with lances or picks, and therefore called "pickiniers") are generally to be seen drilling. the town church is across the river, on the road to tanjong priok. it is given up to a half-caste congregation, but its walls are lined with memorial tablets of former governors, and there are some interesting monuments outside. according to a wooden tablet within, it was built between the years 1693 and 1695 by pieter van hoorn. it contains some handsome silver candelabra and a richly gilt pulpit, and in the vestry there are some handsome old chairs. the native quarter is remarkable for the picturesque medley of its people and their houses. there are also in the chinese campong many fine private houses, which are furnished with courtyards, and elaborately finished. in the decorations of the roof the favourite form of the chinese dragon is constantly repeated, and extraordinary effects are produced by a sort of mosaic work, with which the spaces over the doorways and windows are filled, and which has a shiny surface almost like majolica ware. weltevreden has many handsome buildings, and some which are interesting. most of them are grouped round the two great squares or parks, the king's plain and the waterloo plain. the former is lined by four magnificent avenues of tamarind trees (_poinciana regia_), which form a graceful arch of small-leaved foliage, broken here and there by a still wider-spreading waringin tree. on the west side stands the museum, which contains a very perfect collection of the antiquities and industries of the island. there is also a library, and new buildings are in course of erection. it is governed by a directory, which consists in full of eleven members, who have power to fill up any vacancies which may occur. there is a president, a vice-president, a secretary, and a librarian. this latter gentleman is generally to be found at the museum, and a little conversation with him, and a few hours spent in the ethnological and antiquarian sections, form the very best commencement of a tour through the island. directly opposite the museum is the weltevreden station and the great black dome of the dutch church. this latter is noticeable as being the place where the few people who do go to church in batavia attend, and where marriages are solemnized after the preliminary ceremony at the registrar's. [illustration: the waterloo plain, batavia. _page_ 78.] the waterloo plain is not nearly so large as the king's plain. on two sides it is lined by officers' bungalows; and the east side is occupied by a large pile of government offices, called the palace, and by the military club, the _concordia_. in front of these buildings there are some prettily laid out gardens, in the centre of which is a statue of jan pietersen van koen, the first dutch governor of batavia. in the centre of the plain is the monumental pillar from which it takes its name. it consists of a round column with a square base, some forty feet in height, surmounted by a belgian lion. on the base the following inscription is to be read in plain roman characters and excellent latin:- "in æternam, celeberrimæ diei duodecimæ ante kalendas julii mdcccxv, memoriam, quo, fortitudine et strenuitate belgarum eorumque inclyti ducis wilhelmi, frederici, georgi ludovici, principis arausiaci, post atrocissimum in campis waterlooæ proelium stratis et undique fugatis gallorum legionibus pax orbis reluxit...." [william frederick charles, vice-king of india, erected this monument in the year 1827.] "to the perpetual memory of that most famous day, _june 20, 1815_, on which, _by the resolution and activity of the belgians and their famous general, william frederich george ludovic, prince of luxemburg_, after a terrible conflict on the plains of waterloo, when the battalions of the french had been routed and scattered on every side, the peace of the world dawned once more." most people will admit that the facts of the famous victory are scarcely detailed with sufficient accuracy by the inscription. and, indeed, the american gentleman who accompanied me on my visit remarked that "he guessed the _lion_ at the top was on the whole inferior in size to the _lyin'_ at the bottom of the pillar." just outside this plain, and opposite one of the small bridges which leads into the native street termed _pazer baroe_, is the theatre, which is the most picturesque of the modern buildings of batavia. in the main road which leads through that part of the town which covers the site of the original sundanese capital, jakatra (meaning "the work of victory"), there is a desolate-looking house which the visitor will do well to include in his archæological investigations. over the walled-up entrance of this house the remains of a skull spiked on a pike are still to be seen. underneath is a tablet with the following inscription:- "_in consequence of the detested memory of peter elberfeld, who was punished for treason, no one shall be permitted to build in wood or stone, or to plant anything whatsoever, in these grounds from this time forth for evermore. batavia, april 22, 1722._"[11] [footnote 11: i have taken this inscription as i found it translated in d'almeida's "life in java," from which i have also abridged the story.] this peter elberfeld was one of the many natives who conspired from time to time against the dutch. according to raffles, the dutch administration of java was distinguished from the very first by a "haughty assumption of superiority, for the purpose of overawing the credulous simplicity of the natives, and a most extraordinary timidity, which led them to suspect treachery and danger in quarters where they were least to be apprehended." but large allowances must be made for the precarious position of a handful of europeans living in the midst of a hostile and numerous population. in the case of the conspiracy in question, the historical outlines of the story are tinctured by an element of romance. peter elberfeld was a half-caste who had acquired considerable wealth, but who was possessed by an intense hatred of the dutch. uniting the native princes in a league, he formed a conspiracy to extirpate the entire white population of the island by concerted massacres. when his plans were fully formed and ready for execution, an unexpected circumstance revealed the plot and brought destruction upon the chiefs of the conspiracy. elberfeld had a niece living with him, who, so far from sharing her uncle's hatred of the dutch race, had secretly fallen in love with a young dutch officer. knowing her uncle's aversion to their foreign masters and jealousy of their power, she did not dare to ask for his consent to the marriage. at last she arranged to elope with her lover. on the night previous to that fixed upon for this event she was unable to sleep, from a feeling of remorse at conduct which seemed ungrateful to one who had at least been indulgent and affectionate to her. as she stood upon the verandah, looking out upon the darkness of the night, she became conscious that some persons, unseen in the darkness, were moving around her. she made her way in alarm to her uncle's chamber, but found it empty. she then went to the dining-room. the door of this room was shut, but, bending down, she perceived that the room itself was filled with people, and listened to their whispered consultations. overwhelmed with horror at the cruel nature of the conspiracy, and at the terrible ceremonies by which they bound themselves at the same time to mutual loyalty and vengeance on their enemies, she yet hesitated to betray her uncle. finally love for her betrothed prevailed, and she communicated the particulars of the conspiracy to him. he at once informed the dutch authorities. on the following night--the night fixed for the elopement--elberfeld's house was surrounded, and the conspirators were captured as they were on the point of departing to their various stations. most of the native princes were punished by mutilation, but elberfeld was reserved for a signal vengeance. each of his arms and legs were tied respectively to one of four horses, which were then driven by lashes of whips in four different directions. finally his head was severed from the trunk of his body and impaled. to this day it remains a ghastly memorial of the turbulent past. the most unsatisfactory part of the story is the fact that the girl who had made such sacrifices in her lover's behalf was after all not permitted to be his bride. the population of batavia is, in round numbers, 110,000. of these 7000 are europeans. in respect of total population it is inferior to soerabaia, the eastern capital, which has 140,000 inhabitants. there are, however, fewer europeans at soerabaia than at batavia. samarang, which ranks third in size, has a population of 70,000. sir stamford raffles, who was governor of java during the short period of english occupation, was so impressed with the commercial importance of batavia, that he persuaded the british government, upon the cession of the island, to found a rival port on the opposite side of the straits of malacca. singapore, the town due to this act of political foresight, is built upon a small island at the extremity of the malay peninsula. although it is almost exactly on the equator, it enjoys a more temperate climate than its older rival. it also possesses vastly superior accommodation for shipping. while batavia, owing to the silting of the river already mentioned, is now some miles from the sea, singapore possesses two commodious harbours, and has far outstripped the older town in commercial importance. there is a monument marking the spot where lady raffles was buried in the green glades of the gardens at buitenzorg; but the statue of sir stamford raffles looks forth to the sea from the centre of the broad grass-clad esplanade of singapore. chapter v. the hindu temples. the temple remains generally--the connection between buddha and brahma--the boro-boedoer--loro-jonggrang. of the temple ruins of java, considered generally, mr. wallace says, "it will take most persons by surprise to learn that they far surpass those of central america, perhaps even those of india."[12] yet it is only recently that these great works have been recovered to the world. a dutch engineer who was sent to construct a fort at klaten, in 1797, found that a number of architectural remains existed in the neighbourhood of brambanan, of which no account had been given. the natives, it appeared, regarded them as the work of some local deity, and, indeed, were in the habit of worshipping one conspicuous statue. he also found much difficulty in sufficiently clearing the ruins of the overgrowth of vegetation, so as to get an adequate view. eventually he succeeded in making some rough sketches of them. in the year following the english occupation (1812), colonel colin mackenzie visited brambanan, and made an accurate survey of the ruins in that neighbourhood, which he sketched and described. at the instance of the governor, sir stamford raffles, captain butler was then sent to make drawings of the buildings, and to report upon them. this was the first methodical exploration of the hindu ruins in java; but it was only partial, and related almost exclusively to the brambanan neighbourhood. a quarter of a century later, when the discovery of photography had made an exact reproduction of the sculptures possible, the dutch government instituted an exhaustive survey of the boro-boedoer temple. in july, 1845, m. shaefer was commissioned to execute photographs of the bas-reliefs, but he was only partially successful. two years later, an engineer, m. f. c. wilsen, was sent out from holland, and, after giving satisfactory proofs of his skill, definitely appointed in 1849, by a decree of the council of netherlands india, to make drawings of the bas-reliefs and statues of this temple. he was assisted by m. schönburg mulder. they commenced in april, 1849, and completed the whole of the task they had undertaken in the year 1853. m. mulder's drawings proved, however, to be useless, and a new assistant, m. mieling, was appointed. after various troubles, the drawings were finally completed in 1871, and the letterpress and plates published in 1874. this great literary work, consisting of several hundreds of large lithographed plans and drawings of sculptures and statues, with a complete account written by dr. c. leemans, director of the public museum at leiden, was produced under the direction of the dutch minister of the colonies. but even this splendid account of the boro-boedoer temple is not complete; since the date of its publication a new series of bas-reliefs have been discovered, and are being gradually photographed. in connection with the temples of brambanan and kalasan, also, new and interesting discoveries are being made from year to year. indeed, images and sculptured stones are continually found all over the island. at gunong praü, forty miles south-west of samarang, and further east, at kediri and in malang, there are large tracts of ruins; but the most imposing and interesting for the traveller are to be found in the centre of the island, in the neighbourhood of magalang and djokja, in positions indicated by the accompanying map. i shall endeavour first to give the reader a general idea of the extent and nature of these remains, and then, after a few remarks on the connection between buddha and brahma, to describe more at length the boro-boedoer temple, and that of loro-jonggrang, near brambanan, the former of which is buddhistic, and the latter brahmanic, or saivite. [footnote 12: "malay archipelago."] [illustration: sketch map of java. _page_ 89.] at boro-boedoer, ten miles from magalang, there are the remains of the vast temple of that name; and about a mile distant, on the nearer bank of the prago river, is the small and externally insignificant temple of mendoet. inside this latter is a vaulted chamber, the roof of which springs from walls twenty feet in height, and rises to sixty feet in the centre, covering a fine statue of buddha. at brambanan, a village near djokja, there is a large mass of ruins, of which the most important are the temple of loro-jonggrang and a group of small temples called tjandi sewoe, or thousand temples. in the neighbourhood of the former ruins there are six large and fourteen small temples, twenty separate buildings in all. the ruins of the latter group cover a space of six hundred, square feet, and contain many splendid colossal figures. they are arranged in five regular parallelograms, consisting of an outer row of eighty-four temples, a second of seventy-six, a third of sixty-four, a fourth of forty-four, and a fifth (forming an inner-parallelogram) of twenty-eight. the centre is occupied by a large cruciform temple, ornamented with sculpture, and surrounded by flights of steps. all of these remains are greatly marred by the luxurious growths of tropical vegetation which cover them. half a mile further are the tjandi kali bening, or temples of kalasan. here there is a very fine and well-preserved temple, seventy-two square feet in extent, of which mr. wallace says that it is "covered with sculptures of hindu mythology that surpass any that exist in india." there are also other ruins of palaces, halls, and temples in the neighbourhood.[13] [footnote 13: for this general account of the ruins in the neighbourhood of djokja i am indebted to the accounts of raffles and wallace.] the stones used for the construction of the boro-boedoer and other temples in java, and for the images found throughout the island, are of volcanic origin. they are supplied by the numerous volcanoes in the island, and carried down the sides of the mountains to the plains below in lava streams. to-day such stones are used largely for making roads. there is, however, a little limestone found in the southern districts of the island. in the boro-boedoer, at mendoet, and in the tjandi sewoe, buddha was worshipped; but in the temple of loro-jonggrang at brambanan, and in the temples of kalasan, siva (the third person of the hindu trinity--brahma, vishnu, siva) was the central object of adoration. as the connection between the religion of buddha and brahma has been often misunderstood, a few words on this point may be of service to the reader. brahmanism, which was the established worship of the hindus when buddha taught, was a religion which admitted of many sects; and buddha, although his ethical system was independent of brahmanic theology, recognized the existence of the popular deities. the distinction, then, between brahmanism and buddhism is purely arbitrary; the latter is merely a new growth of the former, and they both exist in british india at the present day. in china also there is a similar fusion of religious beliefs, where there are three established cults--those of brahma, confucius, and of the taöists, or nature-worshippers. the confucian religion is rather a system of ethics than a cult; but the rites of the buddhist and taöist temples are attended indiscriminately by the majority of the chinese, the priests of the separate temples alone confining themselves to the worship of a particular deity. in india, however, the special followers of the two systems do not exhibit an equal liberalism of sentiment; while the worship of brahma is considered orthodox, the cult of buddha is regarded as heretical. the buddhistic temples of java, coming midway between the oldest buddhistic temples of india and the modern shrines in burmah, ceylon, and nepaul, the present seats of the cult, supply an interesting _lacuna_ in the antiquities of buddhism. the javan form of this religion is especially allied to that of nepaul. it bears a general resemblance to the buddhism of northern india, but is distinct from that of ceylon and the south. it is not surprising, therefore, that ruins of temples dedicated to the services of both religions should exist side by side, nor that the grosser and more popular brahmanic forms should have developed more largely than the more spiritual worship of buddha, both in india to-day and in java previously to the mohammedan conquest. [illustration: ground plan. section of the boro-boedoer temple. _page_ 94.] the temple of boro-boedoer is built upon a slight rounded eminence, the last of a chain of hills on the eastern bank of the river prago. the entire edifice rests upon an equilateral base of six hundred and twenty feet, situated due n.s.e. and w., and rises gradually in terraces adapted in design to the form of the hill. these consist of two lower terraces which are square in form; four galleries (or passages, with sculptures on either side), which are still rectangular in form, but have twenty angles to admit of their following the rounded contour of the hill; and four terraces, of which the first has twelve angles, while the remaining three are circular, adorned with cupolas, each containing a statue of buddha; and finally the whole is surmounted by a huge cupola, fifty feet in diameter, in which rests the central figure of buddha. access from one terrace to another is gained by four flights of steps, running up the centre of each front, at the several entrances of which are placed two huge lion-monsters. dr. leemans, in his account of the building, enumerates _five_ galleries; but in reality there are only four, since the outside of what he calls the first gallery is merely a second basis for the whole structure, as is shown by the nature of its decoration, viz. simple architectural designs and groups of deities. the lower terrace, of which dr. leemans only guessed the existence, is now being excavated and photographed section by section. only one section is kept open at any given time, because the earth is necessary to support the vast mass of stonework which forms the entire building, and it was for this reason, namely, to prevent the structure from breaking up, that this terrace was formerly banked up. it is found that this lower terrace is decorated with sculptures representing ordinary mundane scenes, the world being the basis on which all the higher religious phenomena rest. in the first gallery (leemans' second), the bas-reliefs represent a continuous selection of scenes from the historical life of buddha; in the second, there are sculptures of the lesser deities recognized in the brahmanic worship, such deities having been adopted into the buddhistic pantheon; in the third the higher deities are represented, where the _shrine_, and not the deity, is worshipped; in the fourth there are groups of buddhas; and in the central dome there is the incomplete statue of the highest buddha--_adibuddha_. this is unfinished by design, in order to indicate that the highest deity cannot be represented by human hands, having no bodily but only a spiritual existence. "om, amitaya! measure not with words th' immeasurable; nor sink the string of thought into the fathomless. who asks doth err, who answers, errs. say nought." such is the design of this great religious monument, of which even the bare ruins, in their melancholy magnificence, inspire the mind of the spectator with mingled feelings of wonder and solemnity. the temple of loro-jonggrang is one in which, as at kalasan, the object of worship was siva, and not buddha. this god, as already stated, was the third of the three persons of the hindu trinity; the first being brahma, or the creator, and the second vishnu, the preserver. siva, the destroyer, is also the reproducer, and appears in java to have been worshipped under three forms: (1) as mahadeva, or the great god; (2) as mahayogi, or the great teacher; and (3) as mahakala, or the destroyer. guru (or goeroe) is an alternative name for siva mahayogi, and his statues in this temple are so called. the edifice is greatly inferior in size to that of boro-boedoer; it rests upon a rectangular basement having twelve angles, and measuring some eighty feet across in either direction. like the former temple, its position is almost exactly square with the points of the compass. the basement is ornamented with ordinary religious ornaments, consisting of sacred trees and lions. above this is a gallery, of which the parapet on the inner side is decorated with scenes taken from the ramayana (the second of the two great indian epics), while the opposite wall of the temple is adorned with forms of deities. in the centre or body of the temple are four chambers, one of which--the principal--is itself larger, and contains a larger image than the others. they are each alike approached by flights of steps in the centre of the four sides of the edifice. the deities represented are--in the northern chamber, durga; in the western, ganesa; and in both the southern and eastern, guru. now, according to the brahmanic pantheon, durga (_the_ goddess) was the mother, and guru the father, of ganesa, the elephant-headed god of wisdom. the connection between siva and the rama epic is this. the ramayana is the history of the incarnation of vishnu as rama, and contains an account of the war waged by rama with the giant ravana, the demon king of ceylon. in the poem mention is made of the vedic god indra and his maruts. subsequently siva, the world destroyer, was identified with indra in the form of rudra, the god of tempests; hence the appropriateness of scenes from this story on a saivite temple. it only remains to add that the name of the temple, _loro-jonggrang_, is simply the native name given to the particular durga (or goddess of efficient virtue) represented in the shrine, and means literally the "maiden with beautiful hips." note.--in view of the late appearance of the adibuddha (probably the tenth century), i have thought it desirable to state that the theory of the general design of the boro-boedoer contained in the text is based upon a very interesting conversation which i had with m. groeneveldt, who is a member of the council of netherlands india and director of the museum at batavia. professor rhys davids has pointed out an interesting distinction between the boro-boedoer and the buddhist shrines in india, viz. that, whereas the cupolas at boro-boedoer are hollow, the _dagabas_ of british india are always solid. in the annex will be found a detailed account of the various routes and the cost, etc., of travelling from batavia to the temple districts in the centre and east of java. annex to chapter v. the routes to the temples. supposing that the traveller has been landed at batavia, and wishes to visit the ruins in the east of the island, he will have the choice of three routes. first, he may sail by a netherlands india boat to samarang (or soerabaia, if, as often happens from december to february, it is impossible to land at the former place owing to the surf); this occupies about thirty-six hours. there is an excellent hotel at samarang--the pavilion--where the night can be spent, and the following day the train will carry him to amberawa, a distance of 50 miles by rail (or 30 by road). here the railway stops, and a carriage must be taken to magalang, the next town (with splendid views of the two volcanoes, merbaboe and merapi), which is some 20 miles further on, and where a halt must be made for the night. ten miles' driving will take him to the boro-boedoer; the drive is one of extraordinary beauty. after visiting the boro-boedoer and the neighbouring temple of mendoet, it is usual to return by way of djokja (25 miles), which is the centre of numerous ruins. if, however, it is intended to travel overland, there are two routes available. the first is the regular posting route along the northern coast; the second lies to the south, and is perhaps more interesting. if the regular route is chosen, the traveller will proceed by rail as far as bandong, a distance of some 90 miles; and then drive to cheribon (80 miles), a place on the northern coast; and then, following the coast-line, from cheribon to tegal (40 miles); from tegal to pekalongan (35 miles); and from pekalongan to samarang (68 miles). in all these places there are good hotels, but two horses, and in some places four (as in the last stage, where the road passes over mountains), would be necessary. such a journey in a carriage would cost (apart from hotel expenses) £20, or, if it were done in a cart (sadoe) and two horses, half that sum. if he pursues the second route, he will not leave the railway before garoet. from garoet he will proceed to kalipoetjan (100 miles) by carriage; this occupies two days, and manongyaya (with a hotel) is passed, and bandar, where there is sleeping-accommodation to be had. from kalipoetjan he will make his way to tjilatjap by native canoe, crossing the kinderzee, a large lagoon, in eight or nine hours, and passing some villages built on piles. there is also a curious cave and some edible swallow-nests to be seen. in travelling by this route it is necessary to take a servant to interpret with the natives. from tjilatjap the railway runs to djokja. this town is about 25 miles from the boro-boedoer temple; the road is bad, and at times covered with dust to the depth of a foot or more, so that three horses are necessary. even then the journey occupies four or five hours, although it is quite possible to return on the same day. there is an inn at the small village near the temple, but it is not sufficiently inviting to merit more than a transitory visit; at the same time, there is nothing to prevent the gentlemen of the party from staying the night at boro-boedoer if they felt so inclined. from djokja, of course, the railway extends to samarang and to soerabaia. especially the town of solo (or soerakarta), which is the junction where the line branches north or east, is worthy of a visit, as being the best centre for seeing native ceremonies. in conclusion i append a table of distances, means of conveyance, and cost (this latter being approximate only as depending upon individuals). note.--the regular hotel charge all through java is five or six florins a day (= 10s.). twelve florins = £1. first route. places. means of cost. number time. conveyance. of miles. batavia to steamboat 60 florins 240 36 hours. samarang samarang to train 8 " 50 amberawa amberawa to {cart 10 " } 20 magalang {carriage 20 " } magalang to {cart 5 " } 10 boro-boedoer {carriage 10 " } second route. batavia to train - " 90 bandong bandong to {cart 30 " } 80 10 " cheribon {carriage 60 " } cheribon to {cart 15 " } 40 4 " tegal {carriage 50 " } tegal to {cart 15 " } 35 4 " pekalongan {carriage 60 " } pekalongan to {cart 30 " } 50 11 " samarang {carriage 70 " } third route. batavia to train - " 100 garoet garoet to carriage 29 " 100 2 days. kalipoetjan kalipoetjan to native 15 " - 8 or 9 hours. tjilatjap canoe tjilatjap to train - 90 djokja chapter vi. buitenzorg. batavian heat--to buitenzorg by rail--buitenzorg- kotta batoe--buffalo--sawah land--sketching a javan cottage. once in java, and a visit to buitenzorg is a matter of course. in the first place, buitenzorg is to the dutch possessions in the east what simla is to british india; and, in the second, it possesses a strong attraction in its famous botanical gardens. after a week of batavia, the european or australian traveller begins to want a change. it is not that there is at any time any extraordinary thermometrical heat to be encountered. it is simply that, not being an orchid, he finds it does not suit him to live in the warm damp atmosphere of a hothouse. what he suffers from most is the want of sleep. probably he has not learnt to take two solid hours of sleep in the afternoon. he says to himself, "pooh! this is nothing to the sun in india." he remembers that when he was in australia the thermometer frequently registered 20° higher than it does here. it is all nonsense to call this a hot country, he thinks. so he hails a sadoe and drives off to the kali bezar to see the agent of his steamship company, when he ought to have been dressed in the luxurious freedom of pyjamas, and sleeping peacefully upon his great square bed, with the mosquito curtains securely drawn. when night comes, the heat is apparently just as intense, and he lies awake, saying bad words about the mosquitoes which buzz around him, until the small hours of the morning. when his "boy" wakes him at six o'clock, he feels as if he had had no sleep at all. all the same it is a little cooler now; so he gets up to enjoy the fresh air outside in the verandah. after he has had his coffee and some bananas or a slice of pomelo, and taken his bath, he feels tolerably alive. this impression is heightened by a gallop over the king's plain; and by the time he has had his breakfast he feels as "fit as anything." so he hardens his heart and does the same thing again to-day, except that, knowing the uselessness of trying to sleep before the temperature falls after midnight, he plays billiards at the club until he is turned out, and then spends the rest of the evening on a friend's verandah, seated in a long chair, consuming long drinks, and smoking long cigars. it is not surprising, therefore, that the average globe-trotter finds a week of batavia about enough at a time. he confides his emotions to his friend, who is a resident. this latter says, "can't sleep? you should go to buitenzorg; you'll sleep all night there." so he leaves his heavy luggage behind in the hotel, and packs a bag, jumps into a sadoe, and in less than two hours he finds himself in one of the healthiest climates in the world, and in the midst of surroundings as novel as they are delightful. the train by which i had arranged to travel to buitenzorg left the weltevreden station at the convenient hour of half-past four in the afternoon. it only stopped once, and accomplished the distance in the fairly good time of one hour and twenty minutes. here, again, as at tanjong priok, i was agreeably surprised with the size and convenience of the stations. the railway employés were chinese and javanese. the latter were dressed in peaked caps and blue serge coats and trousers, but wore rather unnecessarily waist-clothes and head-bands on the top of their european dress. in java, as elsewhere, the anglo-saxon abounded. the occupants of the railway carriage were, with two exceptions, english, like myself. there was a member of the upper house of one of our colonial legislatures and his wife, the sister of a prominent english politician. with them i was already acquainted. but an english gentleman, who occupied one of the corner seats of the compartment, engaged in reading the _field_, was a stranger. the train passed by rice-fields, plantations of sugar cane, of bananas, and of indian corn. on either side of us was a rich and highly cultivated country. there were hedgerows as neat as those which separate our english fields; and here and there a fox-hunter would have observed with disgust that barbed wire fences had spread as far as java. at regular intervals, bamboo cottages with red-tiled roofs had been built for the signalmen. among the fields were scattered groups of tropical trees, palms, and bamboos; and more than once we caught far-off glimpses of high mountains. the whole landscape was clothed in a supreme verdure. as we approached the neighbourhood of buitenzorg, the sky suddenly became overcast. tremendous masses of dense black clouds rushed up from the horizon, throwing into relief the slopes of the mountains on which the sun was still shining brilliantly, and deepening the verdure of the rice-fields by their shadows. a few minutes of pelting rain and a flash or two of vivid lightning low down on the horizon, and once more the sky was clear and the landscape smiling and peaceful. the town of buitenzorg is situated on the slopes of the great volcanic mountain salak, in 106° 53' 5" east longitude, and 6° 35' 8" south latitude. although the elevation is only seven hundred feet above sea-level, the heat is never overpowering in the daytime, and the nights are delightfully cool. the mean temperature at noon, as indicated by the thermometer, is 82° fahrenheit; but in the dry season as much as 88° is sometimes registered. moreover while on an average there are five months of dry weather in java and three in batavia, three weeks without rain is considered unusual in buitenzorg. the heat of the sun, therefore, is tempered by a rainfall which is not only very heavy, but very uniform; and when batavia is steaming with moist heat, and the plains of the interior are scorched and dry, in buitenzorg the gardens are still verdant and the air still tonic. besides salak, which rises to a height of seven thousand feet, there is another and still loftier mountain mass in the immediate neighbourhood of the town. this is the double-peaked pangerango and gedé. all three mountains are volcanic. salak, however, has been silent since the eruption of 1699, and the peak of pangerango is an extinct volcanic cone; the only sign of activity is the light wreath of smoke which is generally to be seen hanging over the summit of gedé. the slopes of these great mountains are clothed with a foliage which is kept perennially fresh by the abundant rains. seen from rising ground, they enrich the landscape with the beauty of their graceful elevations; from the lower levels of the town, and in contrast to the foliage of palm or bamboo, their sheer height is manifested by the intense blueness of the background they afford. buitenzorg has long been the favourite resort of the officials and merchants of batavia. in course of time the train service will no doubt be improved; as it is, busy men run down to see their families, or merely to enjoy the comparative coolness of the air for the "week end," or even for a single night. the town itself contains a population of four thousand inhabitants. it has an excellent club, a museum, a race-course, and several good hotels. the summer residence of the governor-general is in the centre of a large and beautifully wooded park, in which a number of deer are kept. it is an extensive building, consisting of an elevated central portion with wings on either side. it is built in the usual classical style affected by the dutch for their public buildings, and is ornamented with pilasters and pediments. part of the park is occupied by the famous botanical gardens, which form the supreme attraction of the place to the scientific visitor. the governor-general, as the highest official in the dutch east indies, receives a salary of 160,000 florins a year. while this personage is at buitenzorg he may be frequently observed driving down the great avenue of kanarie trees in his state coach drawn by four horses. in close connection with the palace (as the governor-general's residence is called), but at some distance from the town, large and convenient barracks have lately been completed for the better accommodation of the european troops. i had been told not to omit to visit batoe toelis, "the place of the written stone," where there is an ancient inscription, and kotta batoe with its celebrated bath presided over by a chinaman. my first expedition was to this latter place. there were three of us bent upon a swim before breakfast, and in order to save time we took a sadoe. the beauty and extent of the view increased as we ascended the slopes of mount salak. when we had driven some three miles we left the sadoe, with strict injunctions to the driver to wait till we returned, and proceeded to accomplish our quest on foot. there were three baths in all, natural basins of rock fed by streams of mountain water, and shaded by the dense foliage of lofty trees. one of them is circular in form, and the water is curiously coloured, by some trick of reflection or refraction, to a dull steely blue. a plunge in the clear cool water was well worth the trifling fee we paid to the celestial, and we returned to our hotel with a famous appetite for breakfast. it was on the occasion of this drive that i first made the acquaintance of that useful domestic animal, the buffalo (_bos sondaicus_). he is a very "fine and large" animal of a mouse colour, with white legs and a patch of white on his quarters; and has long horns lying back on his neck, where they cannot be the slightest use to him. his javan masters find him very docile, but he has an awkward way with strangers. he is generally to be found under the care of a small boy, who is seated on his broad back, and who touches him with a rod on this side or that according to the direction which he desires the animal to take. i have already described the simple but effective plough to which he is yoked when working the sawahs,[14] and the methods employed by the natives for the cultivation of rice. [footnote 14: in chapter iii.] from almost any elevated point it is possible to get views of the sawahs in the neighbourhood of buitenzorg. the form and extent of the separate fields divided by the water-courses vary with the nature of the country. each field is itself perfectly level, and is separated by as little as half a foot, or as much as four feet, from those immediately above and beneath it. the slopes of gedé are covered with such a series of vast and irregular terraces. seen from buitenzorg the general effect is not unlike that of the tiers of a theatre, while in the distance the individual terraces show smooth surfaces varying in colour from emerald green to saffron yellow, or flashing with the brightness of still and sunlit waters. indeed, there is much to be seen at buitenzorg with but little expenditure of time or trouble. close at hand is the campong, or chinese town, with its quaint shops and busy market-place. immediately beneath the hotel numberless bamboo cottages crowded with javanese peasants can be found for the looking. they lie in the midst of groves of cocoanut palms, hidden away almost as completely as if they were a hundred miles instead of a hundred yards from the belle vue. [illustration: a javanese cottage. _page_ 114.] i spent one whole morning sketching a cottage which i found within a stone's throw of the hotel. without any ceremony, i walked into the midst of the family circle, and seated myself under the shelter of a wood shed. had i known enough malay, i should certainly have first asked permission before i ventured upon such an intrusion, for i have found a sketching-book an almost universal passport to civility. as it was, i assumed an air of conscious innocence, which i trusted would soon remove any awkward suspicions which might arise in the mind of the owner of the house, and proceeded to unpack my sketching-traps. i then quickly sketched in the group on the verandah, consisting of the mother and children. before i had finished they all ran away in alarm, and for the next half-hour the front of the house was entirely deserted. i suppose they made up their minds at last that i was harmless, for they gradually came back and resumed their usual manner of life. the mother was occupied with keeping two small children in order. besides these, there was a little boy and a girl. this latter was the oldest of the family. she was not so shy as her mother; on the contrary, she arranged herself in a most becoming attitude against the front of the verandah. every now and then the mother showed her teeth and spoke crossly to the baby, and once when it cried she whipped it with a bit of palm-leaf until it came to a better mind--which it did promptly. after a time, a chinaman called and had a talk with the lady of the house. i think he wanted a load of firewood. an old lady also came. i could not fathom _her_ business, but, from the interest she manifested in the children, i expect she was a relative of the family. about noon the father came back with a load of wood. he was a man of the world, and knew all about the performance. after he had looked at the sketch, the children, and finally the mother, all came round my stool and had a good long look at my work. even so the mother would not let the children dab their toes into my paints, or generally become a nuisance. for this unexpected manifestation of a sense of the fitness of things, i felt grateful to her, and, before i went away, found a way of recompensing the children for the sorrow they must have felt at being compelled to relinquish such a rare opportunity for getting into mischief. every morning i found some quaint figure with which to enrich my sketch-book--a sarong-weaver, or a beggar crouching by the wayside, or a hadji, with his large umbrella and green turban, the latter marking the fact of his having accomplished a pilgrimage to mecca. but, interesting as were these human studies, my pleasantest recollections of buitenzorg centre in the visit which i paid to the botanical gardens, under the guidance of the curator, dr. treub. my account of this, however, and of the gardens generally, i reserve for the next chapter. [illustration: natives squatting.] chapter vii. the botanical gardens. history of the buitenzorg gardens--teysmann- scheffer--three separate branches--horticultural garden--mountain garden--botanical garden- dr. treub--lady raffles' monument--pandanus with aërial roots--cyrtostachys renda--stelecho-karpus- urostigma--brazilian palms--laboratories and offices--number of men employed--scientific strangers. among the twenty or thirty tropical gardens established in the colonial possessions of the various european powers, three stand pre-eminent--those of calcutta, the peradenia gardens in ceylon, and the dutch gardens at buitenzorg. it is only natural that a people so distinguished for horticulture as the dutch should have turned to account the floral wealth of the malay archipelago, perhaps the richest botanical hunting-ground in the world. the buitenzorg gardens, however, owe their present celebrity more to individual energy than to government patronage. originally established in 1819, in a corner of the park surrounding the residence of the governor-general, the exigencies of colonial finance subsequently required the withdrawal of almost all the provision originally made, and only a sum sufficient to support a single european gardener was left. the salary of this single official was taken from the funds appropriated to the maintenance of the park. it was to this post that j. e. teysmann was appointed in 1830. educated at one of the primary schools in holland, and originally employed as an under-gardener, he had in that capacity accompanied governor van den bosch to java. like our own moffat (also an under-gardener), teysmann rose by his energy and devotion to "great honour," and, half a century later, received a remarkable proof of the esteem in which he was held in the scientific world, consisting of an album, within which were inscribed the signatures of the donors--one hundred famous naturalists, ranging from darwen to candolle, the genevan. it bore the inscription- "_celeberrimo indefessoque j. e. teysmann cum dimidium per sæculum archipelagi indici thesaurum botanicum exploravit, mirantes collegæ._" during the period that the gardens ceased to exist as an independent institution--1830 to 1868--teysmann continued to search throughout the islands of the archipelago for rare and undiscovered plants with which to enrich them. he also published catalogues embodying the discoveries he had made, and finally arranged the plants and trees upon an excellent system, in which they are grouped in accordance with their natural relationships. in 1868 the gardens once more became a public institution, with a curator and a recognized revenue. the new curator was dr. scheffer, of utrecht, who in 1876 founded, in addition to the botanical gardens, a school of agriculture with a garden attached to it. this useful institution was subsequently suppressed by the government, but the garden still survives alongside its parent at buitenzorg. dr. scheffer died in 1880, when only thirty-six years of age. he was succeeded by the present curator, dr. treub. the dutch government gardens in java, known to the scientific world as the _hortus bogoriensis_,[15] and to the official as the _nederlands plantentuin te buitenzorg_, contain three separate branches--the botanical gardens, a horticultural garden, and a mountain garden. of these, the last is situated at some distance from the town, on the slopes of mount gedé. it occupies seventy-five acres of land at an altitude of between 4000 and 5000 feet, and is provided with a staff of ten natives working under a european gardener. i was told that, while all european, australian, and japanese flowers would grow there, it was found impossible to cultivate the fruits of such temperate regions, owing to the difficulty experienced in securing the necessary period of rest. i have since heard that in fiji the difficulty is overcome by exposing the roots for some months, and thus preventing the sap from rising. why not adopt this method in java? [footnote 15: _bogor_ is the native name for this place; _buitenzorg_ means "beyond care," and is therefore the equivalent of the french _sans sourci_.] the horticultural garden adjoins the botanical gardens, and occupies forty acres. as already mentioned, it owes its existence to dr. scheffer, and it is, of course, devoted to strictly practical objects. consequently, everything is arranged in such a manner as to make the most of the space. all the paths are at right angles or parallel to each other, and the garden generally is laid out with monotonous regularity. yet no small part of the success of the government gardens as an institution depends upon the produce of this department. it has for many years enabled the government to distribute gratuitously the seeds and plants required for various colonial enterprises. within its trim beds are contained tea and coffee plants, sugar-canes, caoutchouc and gutta-percha trees, _erythroxylon coca_ for cocaine, and trees producing tannin and oils. various medicinal plants are also to be found here, and such as afford useful nourishment for cattle. the necessary labour for this garden is supplied by a head-gardener and seventy natives. the botanical gardens occupy ninety acres of the southern corner of the park, which itself forms their northern limit. on the east they are bounded by the river tjiliwong, and on the west and south by the high-road from batavia. through the centre there runs the famous _allée des kanaries_ (_canarium commune_), the boughs of which form an arched roof one hundred feet from the ground. leading right and left from this central avenue run other smaller avenues, roads, and paths, conducting to the different plots in which the various families of plants are contained, in accordance with the system of arrangement introduced by teysmann. some of these paths, especially those leading to the lower level by the river-bank, are paved with pebbles after the manner of the "cobbled" streets of our english villages. to this mr. wallace, in his "malay archipelago," takes exception on the score of discomfort. i was assured, however, that they are a necessary evil, and that the heavy rains to which buitenzorg was liable, made it necessary to have the firmest kind of pathway in such places. at either end of the avenue there are lodges, but no gates, and the gardens are left open day and night without any fear of injury. this fortunate condition of affairs is not unusual in java, but in this case security is partly ensured by the proximity of a large military force and the frequent presence of the governor-general. as dr. treub had kindly offered to act as my guide, i found my way one morning to his house at the early hour of half-past seven. the residence provided for the curator is situated on the left side of the southern entrance. the deep verandah is furnished with some brilliant groups of flowers. opening on to it is a little morning-room hung with some elegant engravings--reproductions of _salon_ pictures. here i found dr. treub waiting for me. after a few moments' conversation we left the house and passed down the avenue. some hundred yards onwards, to the right, there is a stone monument interesting to englishmen. it consists of a circular roof supported by pillars, protecting a funereal urn placed upon a square pedestal. on the pedestal the following inscription is engraved:- "_sacred to the memory of olivia mariamne, wife of thomas stamford raffles, lieutenant-governor of java and its dependencies, who died at buitenzorg on the 26th of november, 1814._" although the site of this monument is more humble than that of sir thomas raffles' statue at singapore, it is scarcely less interesting; and the repair and preservation of the stonework is secured by a special clause in the treaty of cession. i think it was just here that dr. treub turned away from the canary avenue, and, taking one of the paths to the right, led me forward towards the river. i had asked him if he would point out any trees specially worthy of being sketched, and he had very readily acceded to my request. after we had walked a few minutes, however, he said-"i am in a difficulty; i do not know what to show you. we have some most curious plants in the garden, but there is nothing remarkable about them externally. i suppose you want something with a _cachet_ for the public?" i said he was quite right in his supposition. what i wanted was something of interest from a picturesque point of view to the general public. "there," he said, pointing to a tall tree with a growth and foliage of no distinct character, "is a strychnine tree; from the berries of that tree we get nux vomica; but if you drew that, they would say, 'why, it is an apple-tree; it is not worth going to the tropics to see that.'" by this time we had almost reached the banks of the tjiliwong, and again turning to the right, where grew the pandans, "there," he said, "is a tree with aërial roots. it comes from the nicobar islands, just north-west of sumatra. i think it is about twenty-eight feet in height. no, the roots do not contribute to its nourishment; they are useless but very curious." from the pandans we passed to the palms. first we noticed a specimen of comparatively low growth, with its leaves springing from the ground like the leaves of a primrose--_ladoicea sechellarum_. it bore, i was told, the largest fruit and the largest leaves of any known tree, the former being two, and the latter ten, feet in diameter. "unfortunately, there is no fruit on it," said dr. treub, "but you can see _that_ in any museum. you see, the stems of the leaves are as hard as iron." indeed, they gave quite a metallic ring as he drove the ferrule of his walking stick against them. a few steps further brought us to a tree which dr. treub said had no special characteristics, but was a perfect natural specimen of the palm family. it stood about forty feet in height, and was furnished with foliage which hung gracefully suspended from a straight tapering stem. then at the next corner, where its beauty showed to advantage, we came upon a group of red-stemmed palms from the little island of banka. a fortnight later i was anchored off mentok, the capital of that island, in a dutch mail boat; but at this time i had no knowledge of the _habitat_ of this fair tree--nor, indeed, had i seen it before, although a few weeks afterwards i found two fine specimens growing on either side of the entrance of a private house at singapore. it needs an expert to describe so rare a combination of brilliant colours and graceful form. mr. forbes, the naturalist, in his account of his "wanderings in the eastern archipelago," tells how he passed down through "plots of amaryllideæ, iris, and other water-loving plants" in this quarter of the garden; and how he found the "glory" of "the richest _palmetum_ in the world--the _cyrtostachys renda_, whose long bright scarlet leaf-sheaths and flower-spathes, and its red fruit and deep yellow inflorescence hanging side by side, at once arrest the eye." from this point we again ascended to the higher level of the garden by a path paved with pebbles and cut into steps. then "faring on our way," we reached the division marked _anonaceæ_, and there my eye came upon a sight which rivalled in wonder the golden bough of the sixth æneid which the doves of venus showed to æneas: "tollunt se celeres, liquidumque per aëra lapsæ, sedibus optatis geminæ super arbore sidunt, discolor unde auri per ramos aura refulsit." in this case the "contrasting golden beam" shone not from the foliage, but, stranger still, from the black trunk of a tall tree. it was a _stelecho-karpus_, or stem-flowering tree. the trunk from which the deep saffron flowers sprang was about one foot and three inches in diameter, and the flowers themselves were much like bunches of primroses, only darker in colour and divested of their leaves. unlike æneas, we passed forward without any floral spoils--for, indeed, we had no such awkward personage as charon to reckon with--among dark, cool, tree-arched avenues of figs and banyans to the northern limit. on our way we paused once to notice a fine "sacred fig" of india (_urostigma_), a tree with remarkably angular boughs; and again when dr. treub stopped, and, pointing to the frangipane blossom, said, "that is the flower of religion in india, being sacred to buddha; the malays here call it the 'flower of the dead.'" in this quarter the trees were larger and of more robust growth, and the appearance of the garden more natural to my northern eyes. a sudden turn brought us to a projecting spur, on which was built a little summer-house commanding a view of the surrounding country. far away the double mountain pangerango and gedé rose blue and shadowy, with just a wreath of smoke showing from the volcanic peak. in the middle ground stretched masses of tropical forests edging the bright green terraces of the savah land. at our feet the river ran bubbling and fretting over the brown stones. in returning we skirted the central lake, and, having crossed the avenue, passed down a broad roadway lined with rich foliage. this was so arranged as to afford a view of mount salak to the southern windows of the governor-general's residence. it was one of the many glimpses which appeared of a sheer height of dark azure contrasted with the bright green of palm or bamboo. leaving this, we passed down an avenue of brazilian palms, running parallel to the canary avenue. each tree was almost too faultlessly perfect in its graceful foliage and smooth rounded stem, and of apparently equal height. round the surfaces of these stems the green leaves and purple flowers of convolvuli clung. a few yards beyond the termination of this avenue we left the path and entered a wilderness of climbing plants. carefully advancing (for there were arms stretched out on every side ready to pluck flesh or clothing), we took our stand opposite the coils of a huge climbing palm. "there are branches," said dr. treub, "from this plant six hundred feet in length; it passes, as you see, from tree to tree." on reaching the path, i found that we had completed the circuit of the gardens, and were once more in the neighbourhood of the nurseries and buildings. these latter are numerous and extensive, for the curator of the buitenzorg gardens aims not only at obtaining a wide range of vegetable products, and thus serving the needs of colonial industries, but also at accomplishing researches in the pathology and physiology of plants. in this way dr. treub expects a useful development for the tropical gardens generally, which he considers have only lately become genuine centres of scientific research. at buitenzorg, in addition to a museum containing an extensive herbarium and a botanical library of over five thousand volumes, there are numerous laboratories and offices accommodating the curator and his three assistants, and draughtsmen, who are competent to employ the methods of photography and lithography in reproducing the forms of plants. under the direction of this staff there are employed a number of natives, including three malays with special botanical knowledge, a head-gardener, and nine under-gardeners, and scarcely less than a hundred coolies. altogether there are nine thousand distinct species of plants contained in the gardens. on our way to the strangers' laboratory we passed a number of trellis-work houses, with creepers trained over their sides and roofs. "you see," said dr. treub, with a smile, "we have _cool_ houses here instead of _hot_ houses. they are for forest plants accustomed to coolness and shelter." i was especially asked to notice the completeness of the arrangements made for scientific visitors. the laboratory is seventy-five feet in length, and opposite each of the ten windows (five on either side) is placed a table fitted with optical instruments and other necessary means of botanical research. it is also provided with a small library and herbarium. in reference to the strangers' laboratory, dr. treub remarked that he specially desired to see englishmen avail themselves of it. german and french _savants_ had come to buitenzorg to study, but no englishmen as yet. i visited these gardens on several occasions during my short stay at buitenzorg, and often wandered among the dark tree-arched paths and avenues. on each occasion i found some new beauty. one day it was a lakelet covered with great water-plants; another day a gorgeous plot of orchids, or a fresh piece of landscape. these subsequent visits, however, lacked that which gave so great a charm to my first walk through the gardens--the spontaneous courtesy and graceful learning of the curator. [illustration: a happy celestial.] chapter viii. from buitenzorg to tji wangi. view of mount salak--railway travelling in java- soekaboemi--no coolies--a long walk--making a _pikulan_--forest path--tji wangi at last. it is two in the afternoon, and i have just taken the curious javan meal called _rice-table_. everyone else in the hotel, visitors and servants alike, are asleep. the doors of my rooms are all open, and there is a through draught from the courtyard to the verandah, where i am seated in a long easy chair with arms extending at will after the manner of the tropics. by my side on a table are placed cigars, a glass of iced claret and water, and a novel. the view from the back rooms of the hôtel belle vue at buitenzorg is famous. this afternoon i am looking at it for the last time, and it seems more wonderful than ever. let me try to describe it. immediately in front is the great triangular mass of mount salak. the peak is 7000 feet above sea-level, and, like most of the javan mountains, it rises to its full height almost clear from its base. the lower levels are luxuriantly covered with tropical forests, a covering which gradually thins and dwindles until the apex of the triangle stands out sharply against the sky. between the hotel and the mountain there stretches a sea of waving treetops. in the distance it is deep blue; as it approaches it grows more and more green; then separate forms of palms and bamboos can be distinguished, with red-tiled or brown-thatched roofs showing between them. immediately beneath me is the brown river tjiliwong, with bamboo cottages on its banks and natives bathing in its waters. inside the courtyard no one is stirring. the dreamy silence is only broken by the voices that rise from the river below, by the clacking of the sarong weaver's shuttle or the dull boom of a far-away tom-tom. under such circumstances the conditions necessary for perfect physical enjoyment are very fully realized. yet it is at such moments that one is apt to reflect how unimportant are these material considerations compared with the advantages of strenuous and reasoned action. one longs for the stir of life as it is felt in the great centres of european population; "better fifty years of europe than a cycle of cathay." well, i was going to see some european energy on the morrow. at batavia an english resident had said, "when you are at buitenzorg you should go on to soekaboemi and see a coffee plantation.' subsequently he wrote that his friend h---would expect me on tuesday at his coffee plantation with an unpronounceable name in the preanger district. the morrow was tuesday. soekaboemi was only thirty or forty miles away, but i left buitenzorg at eight o'clock in order to escape the discomfort of travelling in the middle of the day. it goes without saying that trains in the tropics do not carry you along as quickly as the flying dutchman or the scotch express. but i found the carriages comfortable enough, being built in the american fashion, and furnished with venetians to keep out the sun and let in the air. except the station-masters, all the officials were chinese or javan natives. the guard who looked at my ticket wore the traditional peaked cap and cloth uniform, but over his european garments he had appended as usual his airy native costume. of the four classes of carriages two are reserved for europeans, one for chinese, and one for the natives. in leaving buitenzorg i made the mistake of taking a first-class ticket. in the first place, the carriage had not been dusted, and a cooly came in and disturbed me with his brush. he made such a cloud of dust that i had to beat a retreat. on my return i found the carriage clean, but the dust transferred to my baggage. in the next place, all the dutch officials, and the planters and their wives, were travelling second class, and i was left to enjoy (?) my compartment in solitary grandeur. had there been any one in the carriage, i should have found out that soekaboemi was not the right station for h----'s plantation. as it was i could open and shut windows at will, and i was free to make the best of my opportunities for sight-seeing--an object towards which the slow pace of the train and the frequent and lengthy stoppages materially contributed. indeed, the crowds of natives at the stations were as well worth studying as the mountains and plantations. i never saw elsewhere, even in java, such rainbow mixtures of colours as they contrived to bring into their cotton jackets and dresses; and as for their plaited hats, there was every possible variety of shape and size, from an umbrella to a funnel. for the first few miles the line ran southwards between salak and gedé. on either side i could see stretches of mountain slopes luxuriously wooded, while the brown stream tji sadanie, a tributary of the kali besar, or "great river" of batavia, playing hide-and-seek with the railroad, afforded more than one charming "bit" of river, tree, and mountain. as we get away from the mountains the view widens. masses of palms, dark green bamboos, and other tropical growths fill up the distance. in the foreground are irrigated rice terraces, with gleaming waters and the freshest of verdure. here copper-coloured natives are at work. men are ploughing the wet soil of the sawahs with buffaloes; women--often with their babies slung on their backs with their long scarfs--are hoeing, or weeding, or reaping. as the average monthly temperature does not vary more than two degrees all the year round in java, the process of preparing the ground, sowing, and reaping go on simultaneously in the ricefields. every now and then we come across a queer little noah's-ark cottage in the midst of bananas and bamboos, with a tall palm or two waving overhead. salak remains long in sight. at first it towered in its pride of greatness, then it grew soft in the blue distance. at last the railway turns abruptly at karan tenjak, and it is gone. as the train nears soekaboemi the character of the country changes. plantations of sugar in the level country and of tea on the uplands take the place of ricefields. the name soekaboemi means "pleasant place," and the town is the centre of the planting interest in java. in its immediate neighbourhood are coffee, cinchona, and tea plantations. at a quarter to eleven the train drew up in a large and excellently arranged station. i at once made my way outside. here i looked in vain for the horses and coolies i expected to meet me. after waiting some moments, i confided my troubles to a bystander, addressing him in french, which is spoken by the europeans in java almost as much as dutch. fortunately tji wangi--the unpronounceable name of h----'s plantation--seemed to be well known, and he grasped the situation at once. "you ought to have gone to tji reingass," he said; "the coolies will be there." "how far am i from tji wangi? is it within driving distance?" i inquired. "yes." "can i take a sadoe?" "yes, certainly." there were several sadoes outside the station at soekaboemi. as my knowledge of malay, the recognized language for communication between natives and europeans, was strictly limited, i asked my new friend to find out if the malay "boy" knew where tji wangi was. this he readily did, and told me that it was all right; that he would take me to tji wangi. so i got into the sadoe, expecting to be driven promptly to my destination. but the thing was not so simple. after an hour and a half of driving over mountain roads, the malay pulled up suddenly under the shelter of a wayside inn. while i was wondering why he stopped, he coolly took out my luggage and planted it in the middle of the road in front of the sadoe. after this very broad hint, i got out too. "mana tji wangi" ("where is tji wangi")? i said. for answer he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the mountain. "brapa lama" ("how long")? "suku jam" ("a quarter of an hour"), was the mendacious and unhesitating reply. meanwhile a cooly, who had been summoned from the ricefields, appeared upon the scene and took up my gladstone bag. nothing remained for me but to pay my mendacious malay half the number of florins he demanded and follow my new guide. as a matter of fact, tji wangi was ten miles away on the other side of the goenoeng malang, or cross mountain. this, of course, i did not know, and so i set off cheerfully up the side of the mountain. although it was midday, the heat was not oppressive at this altitude (two thousand feet), and i was clothed for the tropics. when an hour had passed and there were still no signs of the plantation, i began to feel less cheerful. i stopped and interrogated the cooly. he smiled blandly. _he_ at least was suffering from no misgivings. like the young man in "excelsior," he pointed upwards. we met some natives; i accosted them with "mana tji wangi?" they too pointed up the mountain. at any rate, we were travelling in the right direction. i noticed that the natives we met behaved very differently from the saucy sadoe-drivers in the towns. as we passed they stood on one side with their heads uncovered. when i spoke to them, they squatted down and sat with their legs tucked up under them and their hats off in a most uncomfortable way. i afterwards learnt that these traditions of oriental etiquette were preserved by the dutch and english planters in the interests of discipline. as the plantations are often long distances apart, the europeans have to rely upon moral force to maintain their ascendency. another half-hour passed and still no signs of tji wangi. we had met no europeans, and i was beginning to get uneasy, when we came to a second inn. here i ordered a halt. the shade of the projecting roof was very welcome. my eyes could not reach the dark interior, but they ranged hungrily--i had eaten nothing since my early breakfast--over the edibles laid out in front. there were fruits and cakes, little messes of vegetables, dried fish, and other odd-looking delicacies on plates. i decided on a big bunch of bananas. in payment i gave a half-florin--worth rather less than a shilling of english money--and i received in return quite a handful of silver and copper coins. i concluded that bananas were not expensive in java. while i was eating my bananas, my cooly set to work to make a _pikulan_, or shoulder-piece. he took a long bamboo and stripped off the leaves and branches with his _gaulok_, a long knife which every native carries at his waist. by the aid of this contrivance--borrowed from china--the javan natives carry burdens up to half a hundredweight without apparent exertion for long distances. the spring of the bamboo eases the pressure on the shoulder. on the same principle, an australian carries his swag with a lurch forward. while he was busied with the pikulan, the cooly talked over the affairs of the _tuan ingris_ (english gentleman) to a crowd of natives. suddenly i heard the word _kuda_. fortunately _kuda_ (horse) was one of the words i knew: and i at once ordered the kuda to be brought. half a dozen natives set off to find it. it turned out to be a very diminutive pony, but i was not prepared to criticize. we set out from the inn under brighter auspices. the cooly slung my gladstone bag at one end of the pikulan, and another small bag, with a big stone to balance, at the other. he moved with an elastic step, as if there was no greater pleasure in the world than carrying bags up mountain paths, and beat the kuda hands down. relieved of the fatigue of walking, i could admire the mountain scenery. as we climbed higher and higher, the stretches of green country grew more extensive, and the blue mountains seemed to grow loftier in the distance. once over the saddle of the mountain, we descended rapidly into a region of almost virgin forest. ferns and large-leaved trees overhung the path; from the verdant undergrowth there sprang at intervals the vast round trunks of the rosamala trees. in the branches high above, and beyond the range of any gun, the wild pigeons fluttered and cooed. the spaces between the great trees were filled by a background of dense forest. about five o'clock the red roofs of the plantation came in sight. in another five minutes i was being-welcomed with anglo-saxon heartiness. "ah!" said h----, as he looked at my little pony. "i sent you down a horse that would have brought you up within the hour. you should have gone to tji reingass; that is our station, not soekaboemi. johnston ought to have known. come in." in h----'s comfortable den i soon forgot the various _contretemps_ of my journey to tji wangi. chapter ix. the culture system. financial system previous to the british occupation- raffles' changes--return of the dutch--financial policy--van den bosch governor-general--introduction of the culture system--its application to sugar--to other industries--financial results of the system- its abandonment--reasons of this--present condition of trade in java--financial outlook. as i have already mentioned, the colonial government succeeded the dutch east india company in the administration of java towards the end of the last century. during the period antecedent to the british occupation, the revenue of the government was derived from two monopolies: (1) that of producing the more valuable crops, and (2) that of trading in all products whatever. meanwhile the mass of the natives were left entirely to the mercy of the native princes, by whom they were subjected to all manner of exactions. the financial results of this state of things were seen in the fact that in 1810 the gross revenue of java was only three and a half million florins,[16] a sum wholly inadequate to the requirements of administration. during the five years of british occupation (1811-1816) sir stamford raffles was lieutenant-governor. he at once introduced reforms. the native princes were displaced; the village community, with its common property and patriarchal government, was modified; a system of criminal and civil justice, similar to that in force in india, in which a european judge sat with native assessors, was introduced; the peasants were given proprietary rights in the soil they cultivated; and complete political and commercial liberty was established. an inquiry into the nature of the respective rights in the soil of the cultivator, the native princes, and the government resulted in establishing the fact that, of the subject territory the government was sole owner of seven-tenths. of the remainder, two-tenths belonged to the preanger regents, and one-tenth was occupied by private estates, chiefly in the neighbourhood of buitenzorg and batavia. in order to teach the native the western virtues of industry and independence, raffles determined to introduce the ryotwarree system. the property in the land vested in the government was handed over to individual peasant proprietors. in return for his land each proprietor was made individually and personally responsible for the payment of his land tax, and his land was liable to be sold in satisfaction of his public or private debts. [footnote 16: 12 florins = £1.] before the english administration the peasant had paid--(1) a land rent for his rice lands to the native princes, amounting to a sum equivalent to one-half of the produce of sawah (irrigated) and one-third of tegal (unirrigated) lands; and (2) a tax of forced labour to the dutch government, which took the form of unpaid labour in the cultivation of the produce for export. raffles abolished both, and in place of them he established a fixed money payment equivalent to a much smaller proportion of the produce of the land than had been paid before to the native princes alone. the dutch regained their east indian possessions by the treaty of london. on their return to java, they restored the village community with its joint ownership and joint liability, and abolished all proprietary rights of the natives in the soil, only allowing ownership of land to europeans. they contend that this attempt of raffles to apply western principles to an eastern society had already proved disastrous. the peasants, on the one hand, had not acquired the habits necessary for the successful development of their holdings, but, on the other, through their inability to pay the land rent, were becoming hopelessly involved in debt to the chinese and arab money-lenders. the broad fact, however, remains that during the short period of british rule the revenue rose from three and a half to seven and a half million florins, and the population from four to five and a half millions. as the old monopolies from which the chief part of the revenue had formerly been derived had been abolished by the policy of unrestricted commerce introduced by raffles, it was necessary to find some other method of raising money. it was decided to retain the land tax as a basis of revenue, but, in order to make it more profitable, a return was made to the original principle of land tenure under native rule, by which the cultivator paid one-fifth of his labour and one-fifth of his produce in return for the usufruct of the land. one day of gratuitous labour in seven (the european week) was substituted for one day in five formerly given to the landlord. in certain districts, namely, those of which the dutch became possessed by treaty and not by conquest, this contribution in kind and labour was paid to the native princes, and not to the government. on private estates, again, as the government had parted with their feudal rights in alienating the property, a tax of three-fourths per cent, on the estimated value of the property was substituted. this tax, called _verponding_, was at most equivalent to one-fifth of the net yearly income. as before, the produce due from the peasants cultivating government lands was commuted into a money payment assessed upon the rice crops; but this payment was made, not by the individual peasants, but by the _wedanas_, or village chiefs, on behalf of the whole community. beside the land tax, an additional source of income remained in the profit arising from the sale of coffee, grown either by the preanger regents and sold to the government at prices fixed by treaty, or on the coffee plantations established by marshall daendels, which were now restored. these two methods of raising revenue were resorted to by the dutch upon their return to the island, and continued in force during the period 1816-1833. they were wholly inadequate. whether the dutch were right or not in characterizing raffles' reforms as a failure, it is certain that nothing could be more desperate than the state of the island in the years immediately preceding the introduction of the culture system. at the end of the period 1816-1833 both revenue and population seem to have become stationary. the mass of the natives were becoming so impoverished that they ceased to be able to keep a supply of domestic animals and implements necessary for the cultivation of their lands. apart from the princes, there was no class, merchants or tradespeople, possessing any wealth that could be taxed. not only was the revenue stagnant, but, owing to a war with the sultans of the interior, a debt of over 35,000,000 florins was incurred by the government. in a word, the colony seemed likely to become an intolerable burden to holland. it was at this crisis that general van den bosch proposed the culture system as a means of rescuing the island from its financial and social difficulties. the immediate object of the culture system was to extend the cultivation of sugar, coffee, and other produce suited for european consumption; its ultimate object was to develop the resources of the island. this latter was, of course, the most important. van den bosch saw that the natives would never be able to do this by themselves. in the first place, they were still organized on the patriarchal model in village communities; and, in the second, owing to the tropical climate and the extreme ease with which life could be sustained in so fertile a country, they were naturally indolent and unprogressive. he therefore proposed to organize their labour under european supervision. by this method he thought that he would be able both to raise the revenue and to improve the condition of the peasants by teaching them to grow valuable produce in addition to the rice crops on which they depended for subsistence. van den bosch became governor-general of java and its dependencies in 1830. before leaving holland he had made his proposals known, and obtained the approval of the netherlands government. he took with him newly appointed officials free from colonial traditions, and his reforms inspired such confidence, that a number of well-educated and intelligent persons were willing to emigrate with their families to java in order to take up the business of manufacturing the produce grown under the new system. upon his arrival in the island, a special branch cf the colonial administration was created. the first work of the new department was to found the sugar industry. it was necessary to supply the manufacturers with both capital and income. accordingly, a sum amounting to £14,000 was placed to the credit of each manufacturer in the books of the department. of this sum he was allowed to draw up to £125 per month for the expenses of himself and his family during the first two years. from the third year onwards he paid back one-tenth annually. thus at the end of twelve years the capital was repaid. the manufacturer was to apply the capital so advanced to the construction of the sugar-mill, which was to be fitted with the best european machinery, and worked by water-power. free labour, and timber from the government plantations, was supplied; and the customs duties upon the machinery and implements imported were remitted. the building of the mills was supervised by the _contrôleurs_, the officials of the new department, and had to be carried out to their satisfaction. the department also undertook to see that the peasants in the neighbourhood of each mill should have from seven hundred to a thousand acres planted with sugar-canes by the time the mills were in working order. in java, as in other eastern countries, the landlord has the right of selecting the crop which the tenant is to plant, and therefore the peasants saw nothing unusual in this action of the government. the contrôleurs ascertained, in the case of each village, how much rice land was necessary for the subsistence of the village, and they then ordered the remainder, usually one-fifth, to be planted with sugar-canes. at the same time, they explained that the value of the crop of sugar would be much greater than that of the rice crop, and promised that the peasants should be paid not only for the crops, but also for the labour of cutting the canes and carrying them to the mill. when, at the end of two years, the mills had been built and the plantations established, another advance was made by the department to the manufacturers. this was capital sufficient to pay for the value of the sugar crop, estimated as it stood, for the wages of the peasants, and generally for the expenses of manufacture. this second advance was at once repaid by the produce of the mill. at first the department required the manufacturer to deliver the whole amount of produce to them at a price one-third in excess of the cost of production. subsequently he was allowed the option of delivering the whole crop to government, or of delivering so much of the produce only as would pay for the interest on the crop advance, together with the instalment of the original capital annually due. working on these terms, large profits were made by the manufacturers, and there soon came to be a demand for such new contracts as the government had at their disposal. [illustration: a produce mill. _page_ 156.] as for the peasants, they were undoubtedly benefited by the introduction of the system. while the land rent continued to be calculated as before, on a basis of the produce of ricefields, the value of the sugar crop was so much greater than that of the rice, which it partially displaced, that the money received for it amounted on the average to twice the sum paid to government for land rent on the whole of the village land. moreover, although the estimated price of the crop was paid to the wedanas, or village chiefs, the wages for cutting and carrying were paid to the peasants individually. the value of the crop, the rate of wages, and the relations between the peasants and the manufacturers generally, were settled by the contrôleurs. in 1871, when the culture system was in full operation, there were 39,000 _bouws_, or 70,000 acres, under sugar-cane, giving employment to 222,000 native families, and ninety-seven sugar-mills had been started. one-third of the produce was delivered to government at the rate of eight florins per picul,[17] and the remaining two-thirds were sold by the manufacturers in open market. in the five years 1866-1870 the government profit on sugar amounted to rather more than 25,000,000 florins. [footnote 17: the picul = 135 lbs.] subsequently the cultivation of coffee, indigo, cochineal, tobacco, pepper, tea, and cinchona was added to that of sugar. the system pursued was not identical in the case of all produce. cochineal, indigo, tea, and tobacco were cultivated in a manner similar to that adopted for sugar. but in the case of coffee, cinnamon, and pepper it was not found necessary to have any manufacturers between the contrôleurs and the peasants. of these coffee, the most important, is grown on lands having an elevation of from 2000 to 4500 feet. each head of a family is required to plant a certain number of trees in gardens (the maximum was fixed in 1877 at fifty a year), and to keep a nursery of young trees to replenish the plantations. these gardens and nurseries are all inspected by native and european officials. the process of harvesting the berry is similarly supervised, but after that is accomplished the peasants are left to dry, clean, and sort the berries by themselves, and are allowed to deliver the crop at the coffee stores at their own convenience. finally, private persons contract for periods of two or three years to pack and transport the coffee to the central stores at the ports. of the coffee produced on government account, one-fifth only is sold in java, and the remainder is sent home to europe and sold there. the culture system was so successful as a financial expedient, that between the years 1831 and 1875 the colonial revenue yielded surpluses to holland amounting to 725,000,000 florins. this total seems the more remarkable when we know that from 1838 onwards, the colonial revenue was charged with 200,000,000 florins of the public debt of holland, being the proportion borne by belgium before the separation of the two countries, which took place at that date. in 1876, however, the long series of surpluses ceased, and they have since been replaced by deficits almost as continuous. these deficits are due to three well-ascertained causes: (1) the achin war, (2) public works, and (3) the fall in the price of sugar and coffee. in order to show that this remarkable change in the financial fortunes of java is in no way due to the culture system, it is necessary to go somewhat more into detail. (1) before the outbreak of the achin war in 1873, the average expenditure of the colonial government for military purposes was 30,000,000 florins annually. during the period 1873-1884 this expenditure rose to an average of 50,000,000 florins, and the total cost of the war during that period amounted to 240,000,000 florins. since 1884 the expenditure has been reduced by confining the operations of the troops to such as are purely defensive; even then the average annual expenditure has reached 40,000,000 florins. (2) since 1875 the construction of railways and of other public works, notably the harbour works at tanjong priok, the port of batavia, has been undertaken by government. since the cost has been paid out of current revenue, and not raised by loans, these works have necessitated a further annual expenditure of 8,000,000 florins. the total sum spent in public works between the years 1875-1884, amounting to 75,000,000 florins, is almost exactly equivalent to the deficit incurred during the same period. (3) in suffering from the competition of france in sugar, and of brazil in coffee, java has not been peculiar. the british west indian colonies are at the present time most disastrously affected by the bounty-fed sugar industry of france, and ceylon is only just learning how to compensate itself for the diminution of its coffee export by the introduction of a new industry--tea. as for the general progress of the island, it is sufficiently indicated by the fact that since the date (1831) of the introduction of the system, the population has increased from six to twenty-three millions, and the revenue from thirty million florins to one hundred and thirty-two. although the culture system has yielded such satisfactory results, it has been gradually abandoned since 1871. the reason for this change of policy is the feeling that the system, though necessary originally to develop the resources of the island, is at variance with the best interests of the natives, and hinders the introduction of private enterprise and capital. increased commercial prosperity is expected to compensate for the loss of revenue caused by the withdrawal of the government from the work of production. in the mean time, it has been found necessary to impose various new and direct taxes. the most important of these is a poll tax on the natives, which has taken the place of the personal services formerly rendered by them on the government plantations. originally imposed in 1871, it yielded two and a half million florins in 1886. another compensating source of revenue is the growth of the verponding. as already mentioned, this is a tax of three-fourths per cent, on the capital value of house property and industrial plant. it is assessed every three years, and therefore is an accurate test of the growth of private wealth invested in the colony. in the fifteen years from 1871 to 1886, the amount yielded by this tax showed a growth of seventy-five per cent. it is not necessary to detail the various steps by which the dutch have carried out this policy of abandonment. it is sufficient to note the general result. to-day all industries, with the exception of coffee, opium, and salt, are free. in the production of the two latter, opium and salt, the colonial government maintains a complete monopoly; in the case of coffee they compete with the planters. the extent of the shares respectively taken by the government and private enterprise in the trade of the island is exhibited by the following returns for 1889:- imports. exports. government 13,009,445 florins 33,072,175 florins private persons 160,375,326 " 164,590,439 " ---------- ---------- total 173,384,771 " 197,662,614 " the government still produces two-thirds of the coffee crop. in 1889 the amount produced respectively by the government and the planters was 578,000 and 356,000 piculs. of the two chief industries of the island, sugar and coffee, the exports in 1890 amounted in value to fifty and fifteen million florins respectively. to these must be added two new industries--tea and cinchona bark. the former is only in its infancy, and is confined to the immediate neighbourhood of soekaboemi, the head-quarters of the planting interest in java. here there are two important estates, sinagar and parakan salak, which are from 12,000 to 15,000 acres in extent. the latter industry is especially hopeful. in 1890 the area of cinchona plantations was 22,500 acres, and 6,000,000 pounds of bark, containing four per cent, of sulphate of quinine, was exported. this amount is equivalent to half the world's supply for the year. of the import trade it is not necessary to say more than that the most important item is that of the various cotton goods, coming mainly from this country, which serve the natives with material for clothing suitable for their tropical climate. it is also important to remember that there are a quarter of a million chinese residents in the island, by whom all the retail, and part of the wholesale, trade is conducted. last year the administration of java was the subject of a severe criticism in the netherlands parliament. the complaints were chiefly directed against the conduct of the achin war, the opium monopoly, and the continued interference of the government in the coffee industry. the reply of baron mackay, the colonial minister at the hague, was in substance as follows:-the achin war, he said, was the result of unavoidable circumstances, and neither the colonial nor the home government could be regarded as responsible for the loss of revenue involved in it. he added, however, that "excellent results were expected from the blockade system" now adopted, and that there were already signs that the atchinese would before long be brought to terms. with regard to the sale of opium, he assured the states-general that "every possible means were being taken to reduce the sale of the drug, and to remedy its evil effects." he frankly recognized the importance of the question of coffee-culture, but at the same time urged the advisability of maintaining the system for the present. it was not certain, in the first place, that the existing system could be changed with advantage; and, in the second, "no product in the immediate future could be looked for to replace coffee as a source of revenue." undoubtedly the resources of java are at the present time subjected to a heavy strain. on the other hand, it must not be forgotten that (1) the burden of the achin war may be at any time removed, and (2) all public works are being paid for out of current revenue without recourse to loans. there is, therefore, no reasonable ground for supposing that the present financial difficulties of the colonial government are more than temporary. a glance at the balance-sheet of the island for the year 1889 shows to what an extent the difficulties are due to an increasing sense of responsibility towards the natives, and to an intention to eventually open all the industries of this singularly fertile island to private enterprise. heads of revenue and expenditure for 1889 in million florins. _revenue._ _expenditure._ taxes 40 instruction 10 monopolies 31 army and navy 40 sale of produce (of this public works (of this coffee contributes 37, railways cost 10) 20 sugar 2) 49 administration, etc. 60 other sources (railways, school fees, etc.) 14 -- -- in round numbers 134 130 when the natives have been educated and the industries of the island freed from unnatural restrictions, financial and commercial prosperity will return to java. chapter x. on a coffee plantation. the tji wangi bungalow--coffee plantations- cinchona--native labour--a wayang--country-bred ponies--bob and the ducks--loneliness of a planter's life. horace's remark,[18] "those that cross the sea change temperature, not temperament," is especially true of the englishman out of england. the room in which i was now seated differed in scarcely anything from the regulation "den" of every englishman, whether in scotland or timbuctoo. from the french windows i could see smooth lawns and bright flower-beds, while beyond appeared the dark green plantations surmounted with grey mountain heights. photographic groups and etchings shared the task of decorating the walls with riding-gear and indian knives. the writing-table was strewn with photograph-frames of all sorts and sizes. the black "boy" who brought tea and whisky and apollinaris, alone gave a hint of "foreign parts." the house itself stood 3500 feet above sea-level; but some of the estate (which covered 800 acres) rose nearly 1000 feet higher still. at this altitude the temperature was never excessively hot: at midday it averaged 70°; certainly it never approached the heat of batavia; and that night i did what i had not done before in java--slept with a blanket over me. [footnote 18: "coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt."] the next morning, two handsome sandalwood ponies were brought round, and h---took me over the estate. we rode between coffee and cinchona plantations on roads of various widths cut in zigzags or curves up the mountain sides, sometimes with the sun blazing full above us, sometimes shaded by the light foliage of the albizzias, until we reached a rough stone monument which marked the highest point. in the higher ranges we sometimes came upon a piece of bush with the tall rosamala trees still standing; or caught a glimpse of wide plains, bounded in the far-off distance by lofty mountains. [illustration: rosamala trees. _page_ 170.] on more than one occasion h---stopped to talk to the natives. they were engaged in weeding--the heaviest work on the plantation, since, in the hothouse atmosphere of java, continual labour is required to keep down the rapidly growing plants of all kinds, which would otherwise impoverish the soil and choke the coffee trees. he usually addressed the _mandors_, or native foremen, but once or twice he spoke sharply to an idle or careless worker. his method, he explained, was to treat them with strict justice, but merciless severity: both were necessary to secure their respect, adding that it was useless for a man who was not respected to have anything to do with native labour. it was during many such rides, supplemented by visits to the factory and long after-dinner talks with many different persons, that i learnt something of the ins and outs of a planter's life. although the dutch government are gradually abandoning the "culture" or "government-plantation" system, the change is too recent to permit as yet of the full development of private enterprise in the island. even now there are government plantations in every village, in which the natives are compelled to work without wages. of course, it is easy to undersell the planters by produce raised on these conditions. in addition to the direct government competition, they complained of export duties on their coffee and cinchona, and of _ad valorem_ property taxes upon their plantations and buildings. altogether, i gathered, the planters considered themselves very badly treated; but they had just formed an association in order to maintain their interests, and to take concerted action against the assistant-residents and the officials generally, who sometimes failed to appreciate the benefit conferred upon the country by the making of roads and other similar improvements. the average size of the javan coffee plantations is from 400 to 500 acres. at tji wangi there were 500 acres laid down in coffee, and 300 in cinchona. part of the plantation was new, and h---had done some clearing since he had taken over the estate. he described the process. the first thing to be done was to clear the forest. the trees were felled; the light timber--underwood and branches--was removed or burnt, but the huge trunks, bare and blackened, were left upon the ground. indeed, i saw many such trunks, affording a curious contrast to the young plants growing around them. after this, he had formed plantations of albizzias (a slight, tall tree, with a foliage resembling that of the accacia), and planted the young trees, when they were sufficiently grown, at intervals upon the ground he had just cleared. finally, the coffee trees, which had been grown from seedlings, and had remained in the nurseries for a year, were planted in rows, six or seven feet apart, under the shelter thus provided for them by the albizzias. the coffee trees do not bear until their third year. at the fifth year they reach maturity, and then continue in their prime for as long as ten or fifteen years. those grown upon the higher, and therefore cooler, ranges will sometimes remain in first-rate condition for even a longer time. h---gathered a branch to show me the berry. it was like an acorn with the cup taken off in shape, and of a reddish-brown colour. these berries are harvested ordinarily at the beginning of the dry monsoon, _i.e._ in april or may. as the coolies are paid in proportion to the amount they gather, the whole crop is first of all measured. it is then put into a pulping-machine, and the husk or outer covering removed. the coffee is now said to be in the parchment, _i.e._ the two lobes of the bean are still covered by a parchment-like skin, and in this condition the bean is washed down into the fermenting-tanks, where it remains for thirty-six hours. after a final washing, it is dried in the sun in large wooden trays running on wheels, or else on concrete platforms. most of the javan coffee is sent off to europe while it is still in the husk, in order that it may present a better appearance in the european markets. at tji wangi, however, the whole work of preparation was done on the estate. as is well known, the civilized world is indebted for its increased supply of quinine to mr. charles ledger, the naturalist. in a subsequent chapter i have given mr. ledger's interesting account of the manner in which he succeeded, after various adventures, in the course of which occurred the death of his faithful indian servant, manuel, in procuring a small quantity of _cinchona calisaya_ seed from bolivia, part of which was sold to the british and part to the dutch east india governments. it is from the nurseries thus formed that the plantations of java and ceylon were stocked. in java the cinchona is ordinarily grown by grafting slips from a hybrid or _ledgeriana_ of known quality on to the _succirubra_ stem. the succirubra grows fast, but yields only a small percentage of quinine; the hybrid contains from ten to sixteen per cent. of sulphate of quinine. by this device a combination of quick growth and good bearing qualities is obtained, since the hybrid thus formed bears as freely as the graft. the cinchona crop is harvested whenever it is convenient, independently of the seasons, but generally at the same time as the coffee. the quinine is contained in the bark of the tree. the first crop of a plantation consists of branch bark. after the plants have been growing for about six years, a whole row is taken out. in this case the trees are entirely removed not 'barked' at all, and the whole of the bark, even that of the roots, is utilized. it is separated from the wood by beating the stems with sticks or wooden hammers. this is done by women, who sit in circles round large trays, into which they drop the bark as it falls off. it is then left to dry, and afterwards collected and placed in long wooden troughs, where it is stamped fine with heavy wooden stampers. in this condition it is packed into round bales. finally, both coffee and cinchona are transported by coolies to the nearest railway station. [illustration: women barking cinchona.] it is in respect of labour that the javan planters have an advantage over those of ceylon. at tji wangi from 125 to 600 coolies were employed according to the season of the year. they were paid at the rate of 20, 15, and 10 cents (or 4d., 3d., and 2d.) respectively for a man, woman, or child per day; the mandors, or foremen, however, received from 30 to 40 cents per day. yet so simple and cheap are the necessaries of life in java, that in this district a good master has no difficulty in getting javanese or sundanese natives to work for him at this rate of payment, and the plantation cooly, in spite of his low wages, manages to enjoy his two days' holiday every week in the year. h---said that the average cost of living per head among his coolies was not more than 10 cents, or 2d., per day. it should be added, however, that the rate of wages varies in the different residencies. in those in which there are large towns, especially in the eastern districts, the native workers, both coolies and artisans, are paid at a considerably higher rate than they are in the preanger regencies. i have already mentioned the wayang as one of the most popular amusements of the natives, and i shall have something more to say about it in connection with the native literature. at tji wangi i had an opportunity of witnessing this performance in its simplest form, _i.e._ the wayang _klitik_, in which the puppets are exhibited themselves to the audience instead of being made to project shadows on a transparent screen. here, as at most plantations, it was customary for the weekly market, held after pay-day, to be followed by a wayang. when i reached the factory i found that the wages were being paid. the coolies were seated (or rather squatted) on the ground in rows inside the coffee-washing shed, while h---sat at a table, with his manager and foremen standing round him. after receiving their wages, the crowd of natives flocked through the factory gates to an open space in front of the storehouse. here the different itinerant vendors had already arranged their goods on stalls or on the ground. there were all manner of cottons and silks, trinkets and hardwares. in addition to these, queer edibles were to be seen--little dishes of pickled vegetables and cured fish, fruits and cakes, even gold-fish. these latter were kept in vessels filled with water, so that the fish could be put back into the ponds again if they were not sold. [illustration: a dalang. _page_ 179.] it was a pretty scene, this crowd of bright-coloured humanity. the skin of the javanese is little darker than that of the italian, and his clothes are gloriously picturesque. as usual, the hats, jackets, scarfs, and sarongs displayed every shade of colour and variety of pattern. the wayang did not begin until the evening. the chief performer, called the _dalang_, or manager, squatted on the ground before two poles of bamboo placed horizontally at a height of about three feet, into which he stuck the puppets, taking them from a box placed by his side. he chanted a long legendary tale taken from the ancient javan literature, and dealing with the times before the european occupation of the island. at intervals he broke into a dialogue, when he worked the puppets' arms and legs with wires, so that they seemed to be acting their several parts. behind the dalang was a _gamelan_, or series of gongs mounted on a wooden frame much like an ordinary couch. these gongs were struck with wooden hammers by other members of the company, and thus served as an orchestra. it was interesting to observe the deep attention with which the audience followed the movements of the puppets, and listened to the recitations and dialogue. h---said they would sit there listening for hours, far into the night, without getting tired. owing to the restrictive trade policy of the government, the planters, as a class, are much more identified with the native princes than with the dutch officials. in a subsequent chapter i shall have occasion to speak of the development of horse-racing in java, and of the support which is given to the movement by the native princes. at tji wangi i was shown a recent importation from sydney--lonely, who was destined to lower the colours of the regent of tjandjoer recently carried to victory by thistle, also an australian horse. the stables (like everything else in java) were built of bamboo. they were kept in first-rate order. the stalls were occupied chiefly by country-bred ponies, the progeny of the native races of the neighbouring islands of sandalwood and timor. h---said modestly that his stud was a very small one, but that if i would visit a dutch neighbour i should see a stud of fifteen racers, beside brood mares. race meetings and the various social gatherings connected with them are among the most important resources of the planter's life. h----'s nearest european neighbours were seven miles away, and he said that he could seldom entertain visitors at tji wangi, because of the scarcity of game in the neighbourhood. indeed, the loneliness of the life is its great objection. the case of the dutch planters is rather different. they are often married, and with their managers, form quite a little society of their own. but an englishman rarely has the courage to bring a wife so far from home. in most cases it is the near prospect of returning with a fortune which alone makes so isolated an existence bearable. under these circumstances, it was not strange that h---should keep a number of canine pets. among them bob, an english bulldog, was his favourite. he was as good-natured as he was ugly, seldom misbehaving, even when tempted beyond doggish endurance by the proximity of dark skins and waving drapery. on one occasion, however, he did give way to anger; but it must be admitted that he had provocation. h---had some black ducks which he had carefully reared to ornament the little lake in the garden. one afternoon, when master bob was taking his siesta in the neighbourhood of the kitchen, with his small white teeth protruding, after the manner of bulldogs, from his black lips, and gleaming in the light, an unfortunate duck came by. seeing the white oblong-masses in the region of bob's mouth, she very naturally concluded that they were grains of rice left by the careless quadruped. acting upon this theory, she hastily essayed to seize the morsel. the impact of her bill upon his nose woke bob in terrible indignation. a short scuffle and a plaintive quack, and that duck's career was ended. but that was not all. so serious did the bulldog consider this insult to his dignity that, in spite of repeated castigations, he never rested until he had killed the whole of the remaining brood of ducks.[19] [footnote 19: whenever i think of bob and the ducks i remember that line of virgil, in which he tells of juno's hatred of the trojans--"æternum servans sub pectore vulnus."] bob's predecessor in office had been poisoned by a native cook. "but i got her two months," h---added, "and told my people that i had sent for another bulldog from england, and that if they poisoned _him_ i should send for six more." "but you once told me you had your house broken into. how did that happen?" this was in one of our talks in the smoking-room after dinner. "it wasn't a very exciting business," he replied. "all i know was that the money was gone the next morning. the night before i was very tired and slept soundly; when i woke up i found my despatch-box gone. i summoned my people and set them to look for it; it was found about a hundred yards away, with the papers in it, but the money gone. about a month afterwards i discovered that one of the natives had been spending more money than he could account for, and, by the help of the native police, i got him convicted and sentenced to transportation for four years. there were three men concerned, but the others escaped through insufficient evidence. one of the stable boys had pulled up the bolts of the front door, and the thieves had quietly walked in, taken the box outside, and broken it open. it was a mere accident--my putting the money into the despatch-box instead of into the safe; but, of course, i took precautions against a repetition of the affair. i had my safe fastened into the ground, and the two safes at the office were built into the wall, as you saw. "now, you see, they know there's always a revolver here"--pointing to the desk--"and another by my bedside at night. there are a couple of guns there, but of course they would not be any good, although the bowie-knife hanging by them would. i always have two dogs in the house, one here and one in my bedroom, and there are five or six outside." [illustration: coffee berries.] chapter xi. animal and plant life. mr. wallace and the malay archipelago--animals- birds--general characteristics of plants--european flora in mountains--darwin's explanation--fruits- history of cinchona introduction--mr. ledger's story--indiarubber. no less than eight years (1854--1862) were employed by mr. wallace, the naturalist, in "the study of man and nature" in the malay archipelago. during this period he collected a vast number of specimens of animals and plants, and, some years after his return to england, gave the results of his travels to the world in his "malay archipelago." the general conclusions which mr. wallace was led to form are of such interest, that i shall endeavour very briefly to lay them before the reader. in the first place, the evidence supplied by the nature of the distribution of the various plants and animals is such as to point to the belief that the whole archipelago is composed of fragments of two separate continents. the malay islands must, therefore, be divided into two groups. of these groups the first, roughly consisting of sumatra, java, borneo, and the philippines, once formed part of the continent of asia; while in the second, the celebes, flores, timor, the moluccas, and new guinea, we have fragments of a great pacific continent, which has been gradually and irregularly broken up. the inhabitants of the former region, to which mr. wallace gives the name indo-malayan, are malays; those of the latter, the austro-malayan, are papuans. secondly, the intervening seas, which surround the various islands which have now taken the place of these former continental tracts, have been formed by the subsidence of land from which the foundations have been withdrawn by the continued activity of a long volcanic chain which traverses the archipelago from end to end. and therefore, strange as it may seem at first sight, the fertile island of java, with its rich plains and abundant vegetation--so unlike the traditional barrenness of a volcanic region--is the work of this subterranean energy. "the island of java contains more volcanoes, active and extinct, than any other known district of equal extent. they are about forty-five in number, and many of them exhibit most beautiful examples of the volcanic cone on a large scale, single or double, with entire or truncated summits, and averaging 10,000 feet high."[20] [footnote 20: "malay archipelago."] thirdly, not only did sumatra, java, and borneo once form part of the continent of asia, but the subsidence of land which caused their separation from the continent, and from each other, is of very recent date--recent, that is, in the scale of geological eras. this is shown by the fact that the separating seas are so shallow that to-day ships can anchor anywhere in them. we shall, therefore, expect a strong similarity, almost amounting to a complete identity, to exist between the animals and plants of sumatra, java, and borneo and those of southern india, burmah, and the malay peninsular. such, according to mr. wallace, is the fact. "the elephant and tapir of sumatra and borneo, the rhinoceros of sumatra and the allied species of java, the wild cattle of borneo, and the kind long supposed to be peculiar to java, are now all known to inhabit some part or other of southern asia.... birds and insects illustrate the same view, for every family and almost every genus of these groups found in any of the islands occurs also in the asiatic continent, and in a great number of cases the species are exactly identical." in addition to the rhinoceros and wild cattle mentioned above, the wild animals of java include the jackal, the tiger, and several species of monkeys. snakes and alligators are also to be found in the island. there is a good supply of domestic animals with the exception of sheep. this useful animal was so entirely unknown to the natives, that when the dutch attempted to introduce it into the island it was necessary to find a name for it. it was accordingly called a "dutch goat;" nor is there at the present time any other term in the malay language by which the animal can be designated. i have already spoken of the utility of the javan horses. they are imported in large numbers from the neighbouring island of sandalwood, and great attention is being paid to the production of country-breds. an attempt is also being made to improve the breed by the importation of english and australian thoroughbreds. i was also informed that in recent years a number of cattle had been introduced from india. as in most eastern countries, the ox is used in java for drawing carts and for other agricultural purposes; but the buffalo is the most valuable of all animals to the natives, by whom it is especially employed in the cultivation of the ricefields. the only dangerous animal is the tiger, and the sport of tiger-hunting still forms one of the recreations of the native princes. the birds of java are distinguished for their variety and for the rich plumage with which they are adorned. during a single month passed in ardjoeno, a mountain situated in the regency of paseroean, in the east of the island, mr. wallace collected ninety-eight species of birds. among these he mentions the javan peacock, of which he obtained two specimens more than seven feet long; the jungle fowl (_gallus furcatus_); the jungle cock (_gallus bankiva_), called by the natives bekéko; various species of woodpeckers and kingfishers; a hornbill (_buceros lunatus_) more than four feet long; and a "pretty little lorikeet (_loriculus pusillus_) scarcely more than as many inches." when he visited the west of the island, he found still more valuable specimens in the preanger regencies, twenty miles south of buitenzorg. among the mountains of this neighbourhood, and at an elevation of 4000 feet, he collected in a fortnight forty species of birds, "almost all of which were peculiar to the javanese fauna." in these were included the "elegant yellow-and-green trogon (_harpactes reinwardti_); the gorgeous little minivet flycatcher (_pericrocotus miniatus_), which looks like a flame of fire as it flutters among the bushes; and the rare and curious black-and-crimson oriole (_analcipus sanguinolentus_)." mr. wallace also speaks of the rare and beautiful butterflies which he captured here. in particular he secured a specimen of the calliper butterfly, "remarkable for having on each hind wing two curved tails like a pair of callipers." it is in this neighbourhood that the large javan wood-pigeons which i saw at tji wangi are to be found. as they are excellent eating, they are shot by the planters, though it is often difficult to get within range of them owing to the height of the rosamala trees in which they settle. there are certain characteristic developments of plant-life which arrest the attention of the traveller in java. in the towns he cannot fail to be impressed with the large-leaved and gorgeously coloured shrubs which surround the houses of the european residents; he will notice, too, that the streets and open spaces are planted with waringin and tamarind trees, and when he travels into the interior he will find that the roads which traverse the island are still lined by the same trees. of these the former is a species of _ficus_; the latter, the tamarind, has been introduced from madagascar. towards the end of the year it is covered with orange blossoms, which finally develop into a somewhat acid fruit. in the country the dwellings of the javan peasants are almost universally surrounded by palms, bananas, and bamboos. while the palms and bananas supply the native with fruit, from the bamboo he has learnt to make numberless useful articles, ranging from a house or a boat to a drinking-vessel or a musical instrument. cooking-utensils, baskets, hats, and all manner of tools are constructed out of the material provided by this useful tree. while i was staying at a friend's house at weltevreden i had a singular illustration of the variety of uses to which the bamboo could be put by observing the method of cutting the grass adopted by a native gardener. he was squatting on the ground, and had by his side about half a dozen sections into which he had split some bamboo rods about two feet in length. these he rapidly passed over the grass backwards and forwards with a semicircular sweep, and their sharp edges mowed the grass down as cleanly as the blade of a scythe. in this way he cleared a space around him, and, gradually advancing, eventually trimmed off the whole plot of grass. the tropical forests, again, are characterized by a remarkable uniformity and sombreness which gives them an aspect quite unlike that of european woods. the vast cylindrical trunks of the great forest trees, rising like pillars from the midst of ferns and lesser growths, support a lofty roof of leaves. beneath this screen innumerable forms of plant-life develop without let or hindrance, and the whole abundant foliage is bound into an inextricable mass by parasites and creepers. on every side the eye is met by one monotonous tone of verdure, for the supremely favourable conditions for plant-life which obtains tend to produce a total effect, not of variety, but of sameness. one of the most interesting facts connected with the javan flora is the appearance of european flowers upon the higher levels of the mountains. the phenomenon is the more remarkable in the face of the consideration that the seeds of such flowers are so heavy, and the distance from their present habitat so great, as to negative the supposition that they have been carried by the wind; nor can their presence be satisfactorily referred to the agency of birds. at first sight, therefore, the existence of flowers such as the violet, the buttercup, and the honeysuckle in an island south of the equator, and surrounded by vegetation of a totally different order, appeared to be so inexplicable that the hypothesis of a separate and distinct origin was advanced. a more satisfactory explanation has, however, been furnished by darwin, which is now generally accepted. very briefly, this is as follows. it is supposed that at the time of the glacial epoch the depression of temperature was so great as to admit of the prevalence in the tropics of forms of plants now peculiar to the temperate regions of the north. as the heat increased, such plants retreated from the tropics, for the most part northwards, but not exclusively. following the snow-line, they also climbed to the cool heights of the lofty mountains of central india and of abyssinia, and even crossed the equator. they now linger upon the summits of the javan mountains, and furnish by their presence an additional proof of the original union of the western islands of the archipelago with the continent of asia. during his stay at buitenzorg, mr. wallace ascended the mountains pangerango and gedé. he describes this expedition as "by far the most interesting incident" of his visit to java, and gives a full account of the various european plants which he found growing at different altitudes. in particular he mentions the royal cowslip (_primula imperialis_), "which is said to be found nowhere else in the world but on this solitary mountain summit," and the stem of which he found sometimes growing to a height of over three feet. the list of families of european plants growing upon pangerango and gedé given by another scientific traveller, mr. motley, includes, among others, such familiar names as the violet, the buttercup, the primula, the lily of the valley, the honeysuckle and the wood-sorrel. i have already mentioned the fact that it is found possible to grow all european plants (but not fruits) in the mountain garden which is established on the slopes of gedé, and which forms part of the government gardens. of the tropical fruits in general i am inclined to think that their excellences have been very much over-estimated. there is nothing to equal or approach a fine jargonelle pear, a peach, or hothouse grapes. the orange, cocoanut, banana, and mango are so well known as to need no special description. in addition to these, the commonest fruit are the pomelo, the mangosteen, the duku, the rambutan, and the durian. the pomelo is six or seven inches in diameter, with a smooth green exterior, not unlike that of a water-melon; the fruit is pink in colour, and easily breaks up into sections. it tastes like a very dry and rather acid orange, and the peel makes an excellent bitter in sherry. the rambutan resembles a horse-chestnut in size and appearance, except that its shaggy exterior is red instead of green. the duku and mangosteen, on the other hand, are smooth and green, and in other respects resemble a walnut. all three, rambutan, duku, and mangosteen, provide a gelatinous substance with a delicate acid flavour. the durian is as large as a cocoa-nut, and its exterior is armed with spikes; the fruit is soft and pulpy, tasting like a custard in flavour, but it has a horrible smell, and possesses strong laxative qualities. mr. wallace devotes several pages to a description of its various qualities, remarking that "to eat durians is a new sensation, worth a voyage to the east to experience." _credat judæus non ego._ there is also a species of green orange, with a very thin skin and fine acid flavour, to be obtained in java. a general view of the products of the island has already been given in junghuhn's table in chapter ii., and some of the more important have been subsequently described at length. any account of the plants of java would, however, be incomplete without a narrative of the introduction of cinchona into the east indies. this plant, from the bark of which quinine is obtained, is a native of peru, and for a long time the peruvian government jealously maintained exclusive possession of it. forty years ago, the dutch colonial government despatched haskarl, one of the officials of the buitenzorg gardens, to peru for the purpose of procuring cinchona seed. he succeeded in obtaining some seed of a very inferior quality, and the plantations produced from it were practically useless. in 1866, however, both the british and dutch indian governments purchased small quantities of seed from mr. charles ledger. from this seed the very valuable plantations of java and ceylon have been propagated. i have already described the method of cultivating _cinchona ledgeriana_ adopted by the planters, and how advantage is taken of the extreme liability of the cinchona plant to hybridization. the manner in which the seed was secured forms an interesting episode in the history of scientific botany. the story is told by mr. ledger in a letter to his brother published in the _field_ of feb. 5, 1881, in which it will be seen that these seeds were obtained at the cost of the life of manuel, the naturalist's faithful indian servant. "while engaged in my alpaca enterprise of 1856, a bolivian indian, manuel tucra mamami, formerly and afterwards a cinchona bark-cutter, was accompanying me with two of his sons. he accompanied me in almost all my frequent journeys into the interior, and was very useful in examining the large quantities of cinchona bark and alpaca wool i was constantly purchasing. he and his sons were very much attached to me, and i placed every confidence in them. sitting round our camp-fire one evening, as was our custom after dinner, conversing on all sorts of topics, i mentioned what i had read as to mr. clement r. markham's mission in search of cinchona seeds. now, manuel had been with me in three of my journeys into the cinchona districts of the yungas of bolivia, where i had to go looking after laggard contractors for delivery of bark. it was while conversing on the subject of mr. markham's journey, and wondering which route he would take, etc., that manuel greatly surprised me by saying, 'the gentleman will not leave the yungas in good health if he really obtains the _rogo_ plants and seeds.' manuel was always very taciturn and reserved. i said nothing at the time, there being some thirty more of my indians sitting round the large fire. the next day he reluctantly told me how every stranger on entering the yungas was closely watched unobserved by himself; how several seed-collectors had their seed changed; how their germinating power was destroyed by their own guides, servants, etc. he also showed me how all the indians most implicitly believe, if, by plants or seeds from the yungas, the cinchonas are successfully propagated in other countries, all their own trees will perish. such, i assure you, is their superstition. although there are no laws prohibiting the cinchona seed or plants being taken out of the country, i have seen private instructions from the prefect in la paz ordering strictest vigilance to prevent any person taking seed or plants out of the country. more than half a dozen times i have had my luggage, bedding, etc., searched when coming out of the valley of the yungas. "you are aware how i am looked upon as a doctor by the indians. well, one day i said, 'manuel, i may some day require some seed and flowers of the famous white flower, _rogo cascarrilla_, as a remedy; and i shall rely upon you not deceiving me in the way you have told me.' he merely said, 'patron, if you ever require such seed and flowers, i will not deceive you. and i thought no more about it. "manuel was never aware of my requiring seed and leaves for propagating purposes; he was always told they were wanted to make a special remedy for a special illness. for many years, since 1844, i had felt deeply interested in seeing europe, and my own dear country in particular, free from being dependent on peru or bolivia for its supply of life-giving quinine. remembering and relying on manuel's promise to me in 1856, i resolved to do all in my power to obtain the very best cinchona seed produced in bolivia. "his son santiago went to australia with me in 1858. in 1861, the day before sending back to south america santiago and the other indians who had accompanied me there as shepherds of the alpacas, i bought 200 spanish dollars, and said to him, 'you will give these to your father. tell him i count on his keeping his promise to get me forty to fifty pounds of rogo cinchona (white flower) seed. he must get it from trees we had sat under together when trying to reach the mamore river in 1851: to meet me at tacna (peru) by may, 1863. if not bringing pure, ripe rogo seed, flowers, and leaves, never to look for me again.' "i arrived back in tacna on the 5th of january, 1865. i at once sent a message to manuel, informing him of my arrival. at the end of may he arrived with his precious seed. it is only now, some twenty-four years after poor manuel promised not to deceive me, manifest how faithfully and loyally he kept his promise. i say _poor_ manuel, because, as you know, he lost his life while trying to get another supply of the same class of seed for me in 1872-3. you are aware, too, how later on i lost another old indian friend, poor poli, when bringing seed and flowers in 1877. "i feel thoroughly convinced in my own mind that such astonishingly rich quinine-yielding trees as those in java are not known to exist (in any quantity) in bolivia. these wonderful trees are only to be found in the caupolican district in eastern yungas. the white flower is specially belonging to the cinchona 'rogo' of apolo. "you will call to mind, no doubt, the very great difficulties you had to get this wonderful 'seed' looked at, even; how a part was purchased by mr. money for account of our east indian government for £50 under condition of 10,000 germinating. though 60,000 plants were successfully raised from it by the late mr. mciver, i only received the £50. "the seed taken by the netherlands government cost it barely £50. "such, then, is the story attaching to the now famous _cinchona ledgeriana_, the source of untold wealth to java, ceylon, and, i hope, to india and elsewhere. i am proud to see my dream of close on forty years ago is realized; europe is no longer dependent on peru or bolivia for its supply of life-giving quinine." before closing this chapter i may mention that there is a considerable plantation of gutta-percha trees in the horticultural garden at buitenzorg. the best producer of gutta-percha, _pelaguium_ (_isonandra_) _gutta_, grows nowhere on the island naturally, but seeds were obtained from two specimens of this plant which had been placed in the botanical garden, and the plantation was established some years ago at the suggestion of dr. treub. in view of the recent development of electrical engineering and the increased demand for indiarubber generally which has arisen in the last few years, the fact that an unlimited supply of this valuable plant can be obtained in java is one of some importance to the commercial world. chapter xii. social life. dutch society in the east--batavian etiquette- english residents--clubs--harmonie--concordia- lawn-tennis--planters--horse-racing. boston is not the only place in the world which has decided upon insufficient evidence that it is the centre of the universe. we all of us have a weakness for the special form of civilization with which we are most familiar, and to discover excellences of character and manners essentially identical with those we have been taught to associate with a cherished society in our own country, in places where we least expect them, is part of the discipline of travel. in the dutch over-sea settlements society is more exclusive and regulated by a more rigid code of etiquette than it is in holland. nor will it seem strange, when the special conditions of javan life are remembered, that the persons composing this society should be indolent, luxurious, and imperious. on the other hand, an abundance of leisure, and a consciousness of racial superiority acquired by habits of command exercised for several generations, endow it with some of the finer qualities associated with ancient society based upon the institution of slavery. nor must we forget that the dutch are not mere "birds of passage" in java, as is the case with the english in india. on the contrary, the majority of the dutch residents are persons whose families have been settled in the island for many generations, and who look upon java as their home. one has only to look round in the streets of weltevreden to realize the fact that batavia is a colony, not merely a possession. from seven to eight in the morning, troops of boys and girls are to be seen going to school. the little girls are dressed in light materials; they do not wear either hats or bonnets, and rarely carry sunshades. the boys wear brown holland trousers and jackets, and the military cap of a continental school. although children are sent to holland for social reasons, the climate of java does not require that painful separation of parents and children which is one of the disagreeable accidents of indian life. on the contrary, the dutch race appears to have developed favourably in java, and the colonial-born women are famous for the beauty of their complexions and for the fineness of their physique. another test of the social condition of a community is its shops. in batavia there are excellent shops. not merely can the newest books, and the cleverest etchings, and all the numberless refinements of bond street be obtained, but the manners of the tradespeople indicate that they are accustomed to deal with persons who require to be served promptly, and with the best. in addition to the native and chinese population, there are seven thousand europeans resident in batavia. as most of these latter are persons whose various employments allow them a good deal of "leisure," there is a corresponding amount of social activity. this is regulated by the rules of old-fashioned continental society, with such innovations as have been rendered necessary or merely suggested by the special conditions of the place and climate. as the official class is the basis upon which batavian society rests, it is not surprising that ceremony should play an important part in its system. among european communities in warm countries, a considerable licence is generally allowed in the matter of dress; but in batavia, etiquette requires a man to wear a frock coat and white gloves for paying a call. moreover, before a call which is intended to initiate an acquaintance can be made, notice of the caller's intention, and of the day proposed, must first be sent. these formal calls are made from seven to eight in the evening, and it is not considered polite to leave before the hour has expired. during this period iced water is handed round in elegant glasses, furnished with silver trays and tortoiseshell covers. again, after introduction to an unmarried lady at a dance, a man is required to properly legitimize the acquaintance. in order to do this, he must be presented to the parents of the lady, if this has not already been done, and he is expected also to make the acquaintance of such of her relatives as are resident in the neighbourhood. at the date of my visit (1890), the english community in batavia consisted of fifty or sixty men and five ladies. up to the last ten years there has been an english chaplain at batavia; but there is some difficulty in raising the necessary stipend, and so the interesting little church is at present deserted. it is only quite recently that the english residents have received any sort of recognition in batavian society. now, however, they have succeeded in establishing two institutions--a paper-chase (on horseback) and a lawn-tennis club, which are likely to modify the rigour of its etiquette. the dutch are famous for their clubs. these institutions flourish in java, and in batavia they contribute materially to the social life of the place. among many others, the societeit harmonie and the concordia are the most considerable. at both of them frequent concerts and dances are held. in connection with this latter amusement, it was interesting to find that all the dancing at batavia was done on marble. i was told that it was not considered unpleasant, and that the only wooden floor in the island was in the governor-general's palace at buitenzorg. the harmonie is a large square building, surrounded on two sides with porticos and verandahs, standing at the corner of ryswyk. the main entrance leads into an extensive hall with white walls and a lofty roof supported by ranges of pillars. on the marble floor are arranged a number of small tables for light refreshments. to the right and left of this hall is the billiard-room and the reading-room. the former contains some twenty or thirty french and english tables; and the latter is well supplied with european papers and magazines. the two rooms are separated from the hall by light wooden screens, which allow the air to circulate freely from one to another, and in this way the whole building is kept pleasantly cool. the harmonie was founded in 1815 during the british occupation. in 1889, shortly before my visit, a dinner was held commemorating the foundation of the club, and on each menu card an account of the event was printed, taken from the british government _gazette_ published at the time. compared with the concordia, it is a civilian club; for, although this latter does not by any means restrict its membership to officers in the forces, the management is entirely in the hands of the military, who make the neighbourhood of the waterloo plain, where the club stands, a sort of military quarter. the concordia gives an open-air concert every saturday evening and every alternate wednesday afternoon. i went to one of the saturday evening concerts, and enjoyed it very much. the air was warm and calm, and it was very pleasant to sit under the wide-spreading waringin trees and gaze up at the twinkling brightness of the stars through the screen of leaves. there was quite a crowd of members and their friends promenading or sitting in easy groups round the little iron tables. the kiosks were brilliantly lighted, but through the branches of the waringin trees the soft radiance of the moon could be seen shining upon the dull blue vault of the sky. the performance was given by the staff band, which never leaves batavia, and is said to be the best in the east indies. i give the programme:- i. 1. fur's vaterland marsch _c. millöcker._ 2. wiener frauen walzer _j. strauss._ 3. ouverture jelva _f. reisiger._ 4. gruss aus der ferne intermezzo _j. verhulst._ 5. marsch und chor a. d. oper. die zauberflöte _w. a. mozart._ 6. fantaisie la reine de saba _ch. gounod._ ii. 7. ouverture die frau meisterin _fr. v. suppé._ 8. die muhle im schwarzwald _r. eilenberg._ 9. finale a. d. oper. ariele die tochter der luft _e. bach._ on sunday afternoon a military band plays in the centre of the waterloo plain, and all batavia turns out in carriages or on horseback to listen--all batavia, that is, with the exception of the very select few who keep to themselves almost entirely, or, if they attend a concordia concert, never leave their carriages. this select few includes the highest officials and their families, personages such as the general and admiral, and the members of the east india council. there is an interesting fact in connection with the admiral that recalls the time when the supremacy of the sea was the pride of the dutch nation. the governor-general, the general of the forces, and the admiral of the fleet all enjoy the title of "excellency," while they reside in java; but, whereas the two former cease to be entitled to it when their term of command is over, the admiral is "his excellency" to the end of his days. as i mentioned before, the strictness of batavian etiquette is likely to be modified by the introduction of a pastime so essentially english as lawn-tennis. the courts of the bataviasche lawn-tennis club are in the zoological gardens, south of the king's plain. the club holds numerous tournaments in the course of the year, and competitions are established for both a ladies' and gentlemen's championship. the great majority of the men who play are english, but the ladies are, from the small number of english women in batavia, almost exclusively dutch. the holder of the championship of batavia, and the secretary of the club, in 1890, was an englishman, mr. r. l. burt. in addition to this club, the old batavia cricket club, which has an excellent ground on the king's plain, has been practically converted into a men's lawn-tennis club. i was told that as many as six double courts were to be seen in full play on ladies' days at this club. so that it would appear that the dutch ladies, at all events, have taken very kindly to lawn-tennis. the style of living in batavia is very similar to that of european society in india. the cheapness of labour and consequent number of servants give a certain air of luxury to even moderate establishments. the malay cooks are particularly skilful in the matter of curreys, and in a good house a "rice-table" is a thing to be remembered. the neatness and quickness of the natives generally make them very suitable for the duties of domestic and body servants. a batavian dinner is served at a late hour in a lofty and spacious apartment, which is one of a series of chambers through which the air freely circulates from the front to the back of the house. from this room the outside world is excluded only by partially drawn blinds, and through the open windows the perfumes of flowers or the sounds of music are borne in upon the guests. after dinner the party return to the portico in the front, which is almost as completely furnished as an inside room, and the rest of the evening is spent practically in the open air. beside the officials who are scattered over java and the dutch possessions in the east, the planters form an important element in the social life of the island. they are by no means exclusively dutch, but the class includes a considerable number of englishmen. such men are usually drawn from the higher classes in holland or in england, and are fairly wealthy and refined. like the sheep farmers of australia, they are exceedingly hospitable, and their bungalows are often convenient and even luxurious. often, too, these latter are set in the midst of mountain scenery, and surrounded by charming gardens. the planters are the representatives of the principle of free commerce, and the natural opponents of the official class. everywhere among them complaints are heard of the prejudice displayed against private enterprise, and of unnecessary obstacles placed in their way by the contrôleurs and assistant-residents. as i have already mentioned, a planters' union has lately been established for the purpose of protecting the planting interests. it meets at soekaboemi, and it is hoped that, by means of concerted action, such grievances will be brought more effectively before the government. after all, the planters are the real producers of the island, and their importance increases every year in proportion as the area of government plantations is reduced. in many respects the planters are allied with the native princes. to a large extent the two classes lead the same life and share the same pursuits. they are both brought into close connection with the natives, and they both find their chief recreation in various forms of sport. horse-racing in particular has of late years developed very considerably. the principal meetings are held at buitenzorg and at bandong, the former in june and september, the latter in july. at bandong the native princes turn out in force, and the native population hold a carnival in the town. one of the greatest patrons of the turf is the regent of tjandjoer. at the time of my visit he was the owner of the premier horse in the island--thistle, whose sire was teviot of west australia. the planters round soekaboemi are also among the principal supporters of horse-racing in java. in java, as elsewhere, they had a grievance. it was said that the owners of big studs of country-breds dominated the arrangements for events, and that the programmes were made up in favour of such native-bred horses to the exclusion of imported stock. such a policy was regarded as unfavourable to the best interests of horse-racing in java, since, instead of encouraging the importation of thoroughbreds from australia and europe, it tends to perpetuate the native race. the country-bred horse is undoubtedly a handsome-looking animal, but he exhibits a tendency to become weedy and razor-chested, and fails to carry a heavy weight from deficiency of bone. it is also found that the progeny of imported stock decline in quality both in size and stamina. this is the joint effect of climate and inferior food. horses are trained merely on fresh grass and paddy (_i.e._ the ear and part of the stalk of the rice plant). bandaging, i was told, was almost unknown; at the same time the animals were generally sound in feet and legs. the average height of the country-bred horse is 14.3 to 15 hands; and good time over a mile is between 1 min. 52 sec. and 1 min. 55 sec., carrying at the rate of 75 lbs. (dutch) for 4 feet, and one pound for every quarter of an inch in advance. in other words, a fifteen-hand horse carries about nine stone. there is no system of handicapping, but horses carry weight for inches; so that a horse may defeat a rival any number of times without effecting a change in the weights, and a known winner carries less weight than his defeated rival if the latter is an inch or two above him. there are no recognized steeplechases, but generally one or two events at each meeting are reserved for gentlemen riders, and private matches are sometimes arranged. in 1888 the commandant at buitenzorg offered a prize for a cross-country race for the purpose of encouraging riding among the officers. the event, however, was won by an english planter. the buitenzorg meetings are attended by all the best people in the island, and on the first day the governor-general appears in state. the racing is fixed for the morning, and lasts from nine to twelve. it is a rather curious fact that in java the starter has discarded the universal red flag, and waves a dutch tricolour instead. chapter xiii. the hindu javanese literature. the hindu javanese literature concerned with the past--javanese alphabet--extent of javanese works- kavi dialect--krama and ngoko--the mahabharata and the ramayana in kavi--native kavi works--the arjuna vivaya--the bharata yuddha--episode of salya and satiavati--ethical poems--the paniti sastra- localization of hindu mythology in java. the literature of a country reflects its life, but under certain conditions. the literature of java is mainly, but not entirely, concerned with the distant past, when the quiet tide of eastern life had received as yet no disturbing impulse from the stream of mohammedan and european conquest. this hindu javanese literature tells us of a people far advanced in the essentials of civilization, and reveals the existence of a social system which, though undoubtedly primitive, was at the same time complete and homogeneous. from the date of the mohammedan conquest onwards, that is to say, for the last four centuries, the national life has been directed by alien forces. during this period but little or nothing has been added to the literature of the country, since the fresh ideas which have been introduced have come from mohammedan conquerors, who were themselves provided with a sufficient medium of expression, and one which they sought, as a matter of policy, to impress upon the subject races of the island. beyond enlightening us upon the social system prevalent many hundred years ago, it would seem that a knowledge of their literature could contribute but slightly towards a comprehension of the javanese. this opinion, however, is modified by the fact that the kavi literature has been popularized by translation into modern javanese, and that the mass of the population are still acquainted with its main features by means of these versions accompanied by the representations of the theatre and the wayang. the ideals of conduct conveyed in these epics, romances, legends, and ethical treatises will, therefore, be those with which the javanese are still familiar, and presumably such as still enlist their sympathies. besides this general insight into native methods of thought, there are also certain features of their life and of their present relationship to their european conquerors upon which interesting lights are thrown by an acquaintance with the traditions and beliefs enshrined in the ancient literature. the javan alphabet, according to the native idea, consists of only twenty consonants. but as a matter of fact, each of these consonants is credited with an inherent vowel sound of _a_ (often written _o_) as in _water_; and there are five vowel signs which are attached to the consonants, and so vary the inherent _a_. there are also twenty auxiliary consonant forms, corresponding to the original twenty consonants, which are used in all combinations of consonants. even this does not exhaust the list, for there still remain a number of double letters, while modifications of the letters of the alphabet are employed for numbers. speaking of this alphabet as a whole, crawfurd says[21] that it reaches perfection, since "it expresses every sound in the language, and every sound invariably with the same character, which never expresses but one." he concludes, "in splendour or elegance the alphabet of the arabs and persians is probably superior to that of the javanese; but the latter, it may be safely asserted, surpasses in beauty and neatness all other written characters." some idea of the extent of the javanese literature may be gained from the fact that m. vreede's recently issued account of the javanese manuscripts in the leiden university library[22] gives the names of some five hundred manuscripts, containing no less than one hundred and fifty separate works. and--to come nearer home--the collection of the royal asiatic society contains as many as forty-four javanese manuscripts, for which the society is mainly indebted to the generosity of lady raffles. no little interest and learning have been displayed by continental scholars in the study of these works; but, unfortunately, their valuable treatises, written in german, french, and dutch, are not easily accessible to english readers. in order to find an account of the javanese literature in english, we have to go back more than half a century to the works of raffles and crawfurd. fortunately, the former has enriched his "history" with unusually full and interesting extracts from javanese works. but since raffles was in java immense advances have been made, not only in our general knowledge of oriental languages, but especially in the interpretation of literature by means of antiquarian remains. it is not that his account is rendered worthless by these recent researches. on the contrary, in this latest work, vreede's "catalogue," we find frequent quotations from raffles' appendices. at the same time, when we see how much he achieved with his inadequate materials, it is difficult to suppress a feeling of regret that the fuller information, which is available to-day, was not at the disposal of the author of a "history of java." as i have embodied in the text some extracts from raffles' translations, it may be well to say a word as to the value of these versions. what vreede says of a particular passage is true of these renderings in general: "they are not literal translations, but the spirit of the work is well rendered." [footnote 21: "indian archipelago."] [footnote 22: "catalogus van de javaansche en madoereesche handschriften der leidsche universiteits-bibliotheek door a. c. vreede. leiden: 1892."] in the present chapter we are concerned only with those hindu javanese works which are properly entitled to be classed as "literature." they are written in the kavi or literary language. the term "kavi" means the language of poetry, and this dialect is composed, to a great extent, of words of sanscrit origin. although the knowledge of kavi was gradually lost after the hindu supremacy was overthrown by the mohammedans, modern javanese contains but few arabic words, especially differing in this respect from malay. two forms of modern javanese are employed in everyday speech. first, the language of ceremony, called krama; and, secondly, the common speech, or ngoko (meaning literally the thou-ing speech). the krama contains a considerable number of words derived from sanscrit and introduced through the kavi, and an admixture of malay. it is used by the peasants and artisans in addressing the native princes. the ngoko is spoken by the common people among themselves, and by the native princes in communication with their inferiors. the existence of this double language explains the fact (of which i have already spoken) that the dutch have established malay, and not javanese or sundanese, as the medium of communication between europeans and natives. the modified hinduism which existed at the epoch of the mohammedan conquest (1400-1500, a.d.) retreated very gradually in an easterly direction before the new religion. at the end of the eighteenth century there were still hindus in java, and to-day the ancient religion lingers in bali, a small island off the south-eastern coast. in bali, therefore, it is natural that we should find the fullest remains of such parts of the kavi literature as are most closely identified with that of continental india. only fragments of the two great indian epics, the mahabharata, or "great war of the sons of king bharata," and the ramayana, or "adventures of rama," are found in java; but in bali kavi versions of both appear. neither of these versions, however; bears the indian title of the original work. the mahabharata, which, with its 220,000 lines, is the longest epic in the world, and which sir monier williams calls "a vast cyclopædia of hindu mythology," is known as "the parvas." of the eighteen parvans, or divisions, of the original, eight only are in existence in the kavi version. of these the first, _adiparva_, is the best preserved, says dr. van der tuuk; "but this also," he adds, "abounds in blunders, and especially the proper names have been so altered from their indian originals as to be hardly recognizable."[23] as the name "war of the bharatas" is applicable, strictly speaking, to only one-fifth part of the whole poem, it is probable that the great epic was not yet known under this title at the time when it was transported from india to java. [footnote 23: in the _journal of the royal asiatic society_, xiii. n.s. 1881.] the ramayana appears in a slightly changed form in the kavi version. the original indian epic is divided into seven _kandas_, or volumes, which are again subdivided into chapters. the kavi version, entitled "the kandas," contains the narrative of the first six kandas. the seventh, the _uttara-kanda_, or supplementary volume, which gives an account of the descendants of rama after his death, appears in the kavi as an entirely separate work. it would appear, therefore, that neither of the two indian epics had reached their final form when they were carried by hindu colonists to java. that part of the mahabharata which afterwards gave the poem its distinctive title had not yet been written, or at least added to the central myth; and the ramayana then contained only the history of rama. both poems appear, however, to have acquired a reputation for unusual sanctity. in java and bali both "the kandas" and "the parvas" are used as synonymous terms, and mean "the sacred books." the difference between the kavi and indian versions of these epics seems to afford additional evidence--if any such were needed--that neither the mahabharata nor the ramayana is the work of a single mind, but that both are a collection or compilation of myths. it is noticeable also that, in spite of the love of dramatic representation manifested so universally among the javanese, the indian dramas were not transplanted to java. dr. friederich[24] offers an explanation of this. "most of the indian dramas," he says, "are of late times, and perhaps, at the time the brahmans came to java, were exclusively found at the courts of the princes." [footnote 24: in the _journal of r. a. s._ vii. n.s.] we come now to the consideration of what may be called, by contradistinction to the direct versions of the indian epics, the native kavi works. the character of these poems--for all the kavi literature is alike written in metre--is in the main mythological and romantic; but there are also to be found among them certain ethical and religious works. although the subjects, the heroes, and even the metre in many cases, are still indian, these subjects and heroes have been so completely identified with the local life that the poems are essentially javanese. of the native kavi works the "arjuna vivaya," which gives an account of the ascent of arjuna to indra, and of his love for the nymph urvasi, deserves to stand first from the purity of the dialect in which it is composed. the indian hero arjuna, the son of pandu, who is called by sir monier williams, "the real hero of the mahabharata," was adopted by the javanese, and his name was given to one of their mountains. the metre of the poem is indian in form, and not javanese, and the date of its composition is fixed by professor kern in his "kawistudien" as the first half of the eleventh century of our era. the fact that it contains but slight traces of buddhistic thought is important as giving some hint of the date at which buddhism was introduced in the island. in this respect it differs from the "arjuna vijaya," a later poem celebrating the triumph of the same hero over ravan, the demon king of ceylon. the "bharata yuddha," or war of the bharatas, is so closely connected with the sacred parvas, that it is generally placed by the javanese at the head of the native kavi works. it is esteemed the greatest work in the javanese literature, but it yields in point of antiquity to the "arjuna vivaya." its language also is less pure, and contains a certain admixture of ordinary high javanese or krama. a definite date (1195, a.d.) is assigned to it, and the name of its author is said to be hempu, or m'pu, s'dah. the subject of the poem is identical with that of four of the parvans of the mahabharata, but the scene is changed from india to java. it contains an account of the struggle between the pandavas, or five sons of pandu, and the kauravas, or hundred sons of dhritavashtra, in which the latter are ultimately defeated in their attempt to obtain the kingdom of ngastina. the scene is laid in the plains around the city ngastina, or in the city itself. the poem opens with the following lines:--[25] "in war 'tis the prayer of the brave to annihilate the foe; to see the braids of fallen chiefs scattered like flowers before the wind; to rend their garments, and burn alike their altars and their palaces; boldly to strike off their heads while seated in their chariots, and thus to obtain renown." the episode of king salya, one of the kaurava princes, and satiavati, his queen, is singularly romantic, and reveals a high ideal of wifely devotion. the poem relates how salya steals away from his wife, and sacrifices himself on the field of battle. then satiavati wanders over this same field of battle by night in quest of his corpse. a flash of lightning is sent to direct her steps, and when she has found the body of her husband, she addresses the corpse in a speech in which she declares her intention of following his spirit. "but earth has lost its fleeting charms for me and, happy spirit, i will follow thee." she continues- "though widadaris[26] should obey thy call reserve for me a place above them all," and finally stabs herself. to her faithful maid sagandika she says- "tell them to think of satiavati's fate, and oft the story of her love relate." but sagandika also kills herself. "then did their happy spirits wing their way to the fair regions of eternal day." i conclude the episode by a quotation from the prose rendering given by raffles, which keeps more exactly to the original, and gives a characteristically eastern picture of heaven. "the astonished spirit of prince salya quickly said- "'uneasy and impatient have i waited for thee among the clouds, with many widadaris, panditas, and diwas.' "having taken the princess in his arms, he returns with her by the road which leads to heaven. "there arrived, they find it extremely beautiful. "of silk were the houses, and brilliant were the precious stones. "amusing herself, the princess was delighted with the abundance of food which was there. "great being the bounty of the almighty to mankind. and there was no difference susceptible in the ages of those that were there." [footnote 25: i am indebted for this and the subsequent versions in the text to raffles' "history of java."] [footnote 26: angels.] i have already mentioned that among the kavi poems are contained various ethical works. of these the "paniti sastra," or manual of wisdom, will serve as an example. raffles, in his account of this work, says that it contains one hundred and twenty-three stanzas, and that it is said to be contemporary with the bharata yuddha. vreede, in his "catalogue," says in a note,[27] "winter mentions the 'niti sastra kawi,' and as its author prabu vidayaka, in the time of aji saka." as saka was the commencement of all things in java, to refer the work to the time of aji saka, is practically to say that it is of unknown antiquity. it belongs to the second class of _tuturs_, or sacred writings, _i.e._ those which were not kept secret by the priests, but which might be read by other castes beside the brahmans; and there are several versions and translations of it in modern javanese. the following lines are taken from the kavi text of this work:- "as the suraya flower floats in the water, so does the heart exist in a pure body; but let it not be forgotten that the root of the flower holds to the ground, and that the heart of man depends upon his conduct in life. "as the moon and the stars shed their light by night, and the sun giveth light by day, so should the sayings of a wise man enlighten all around him. "deprive not another of the credit which is due to him, nor lower him in the opinion of the world; for the sun, when he approaches near the moon, in depriving her of her light, adds nothing to his own lustre." [footnote 27: page 262.] there is a modern javanese version of the "niti sastra," of which the following passages are specimens:- "a man who is ignorant of the sacred writings, is as one who has lost his speech; for when these become the conversation of other men, he will be under the necessity of remaining silent. "no man can be called good or bad until his actions prove him so. "it is well known that a man cannot take the goods of this world with him to the grave, and that man, after this life, is punished with heaven or hell, according to the merits of his actions in this life: a man's duty, therefore, requires him to remember that he must die; and if he has been merciful and liberal in this life to the poor, he will be rewarded hereafter." one and the same principle governs the composition of the mythological and romantic literature of the hindu epoch, and that of those somewhat similar works in modern javanese composed after the mohammedan conquest. the authors of both alike set one main object before them--to exalt the reigning princes by identifying them with the heroes or princes of an anterior epoch; only in the case of the kavi poems, this anterior epoch is fixed in the cloud-land of hindu mythology, while after the mohammedan conquest it becomes merely the preceding era of the hindu supremacy in java, which is used as a ladder by which the hindu cloud-land may be reached. but the nature of the _babads_, or chronicles, the medium by which this object was subsequently effected, and the interesting question of their historical value, are subjects which i must reserve for the succeeding chapter. chapter xiv works of the mohammedan period. uncertainty about the history of the hindu kingdoms given by the chronicles--character of the _babad_, or chronicle--its historical value--brumund's treatment of the babads--account of the babad "mangku nagara"- prose works--the niti praja--the surya ngalam- romances--the johar manikam--dramatic works--the panjis--wayang plays--arabic works and influence--the theatre--the wayang. the works of the mohammedan javanese period include, in addition to translations and versions of all kinds both from the kavi literature and the arabic, romances, dramatic works, and plays, intended both for the theatre and the wayang, ethical and legal compilations, and, lastly, the _babads_, or chronicles. it will be convenient to consider these latter first; but before doing so it is necessary to revert for a moment to the historical account which i gave in my opening chapter. it will be remembered that in that account the two hindu kingdoms of pajajaran and majapahit, respectively founded in the west and east of the island, were mentioned as being especially celebrated in the native chronicles. these chronicles, it is true, give us the names and dates of various earlier kingdoms, and a variety of information about their respective dynasties; but for all practical purposes the history of the hindu period, as at present revealed, may be summed up in a sentence of crawfurd. from the latter part of the twelfth century to the overthrow of majapahit (1478), "a number of independent states existed in java, and the religion of the people was a modified hinduism." antiquarian research further tells us that this series of hindu states commenced in the centre of the island, and that it was closed by the western kingdom of pajajaran, which existed as early as the first half of the eleventh century, and the eastern kingdom of majapahit, which was itself succeeded by the first mohammedan empire of demak. remains of the capital cities of both these hindu kingdoms are in existence. those of pajajaran, which are to be found forty miles from batavia, are exceedingly meagre, and appear to be the work of a primitive epoch. those of majapahit, close by soerabaia, are numerous and magnificent. but the chronicles which make these kingdoms the subject of their narratives were not composed until the mohammedan period was well advanced; or, at least, if they had a previous existence, they were then remodelled under the direction of the susunans, or emperors. they have, therefore, to be regarded with considerable suspicion. in the case of the chronicles which relate contemporary events, we are on surer ground. but such is the nature of the javanese, and such the literary character of the babad, that even here we are by no means certain to meet with actual facts. the babad is a poem composed in a common javanese measure, which purports to give an account of historical persons and events. sometimes it relates the fortunes of empires; sometimes it degenerates into a mere genealogical tree. every javan "prince" has his "babad," in which the names of his ancestors and their deeds are recounted. remembering the fertility of the eastern imagination, and the despotic character of eastern rulers, it is easy to understand that such babads were more often than not reduced in point of veracity to the standard of an average fairy tale. m. brumund, whose remarks on this subject are embodied in leemans' work on the boro-boedoer temple, deals very severely with the babads. he cannot away with them, and goes near to denying their claims for credence altogether. but surely a distinction should be made between the family babad, which is altered to suit the whims of a single prince, and those babads which relate events affecting the interests of several competing princes, or in which no single prince is especially interested. the homeric poems, we are told, were kept reasonably free from interpolations by the jealousy of the various hellenic communities. may not an influence of the same kind have operated in java, and have preserved some of these chronicles from corruption? that the babad is capable of being approached from two different points of view is apparent from the following extracts, in which i have compared m. brumund's treatment of a babad of only fifty years ago with mr. nieman's account of an earlier babad in the possession of the royal asiatic society. m. brumund says- "let us take, for example, dhipa negoro, the chief of the revolt in java, which lasted until 1830; well, the babad represents him to us as enveloped in the clouds of the supernatural. there he is, surrounded by hundreds of enemies; he is about to be captured, but he calls to his aid the miraculous power which is at his disposal, and this power causes him to pass freely, safe and sound, through the threatening host, who suffer him to pass in their amazement, and who dare not even lift a finger against him. another day he gives orders to have some cocoa-nut trees felled, and to have them covered with a white flag; he sets himself to pray, the flag is removed, and behold, the cocoa-nut trees are changed into pieces of artillery of the finest casting. he needs counsel; forthwith he is carried through the air to the southern shore and to the great spirit of the south, only to return forthwith after the conference. he wishes to pray at mecca; scarcely has he formed the wish before his person is found upon the borders of the city, and, as a proof that he has really been there, he carries off a cake from the sacred city, all smoking hot." mangku nagara, who is the subject of the babad discussed by mr. nieman, was a javan prince who played a leading part, first in the chinese war of 1745, and afterwards in the revolt of the javan princes against the dutch and the reigning susunan, known as "the java war," which lasted from the close of the chinese war to the year 1758. in the latter he fought for some time in alliance with mangku bumi, a younger brother of the susunan. after a time, however, this personage made terms with the dutch on his own account, and mangku nagara, thus deserted, was compelled to submit to the susunan, and accept a modified territory for his administration. it was in this war that the dutch obtained the deed of abdication mentioned in chapter i. from the susunan pakubuona ii., in the year 1849. the conduct of the war cost the company more than four million florins, but at its termination they had secured the virtual control of the island. mr. nieman first gives some particulars about the manuscript.[28] it is entitled, he says, the "babad mangku nagara." its date is 1802; it is written in metre; its language is modern javanese, but it contains some kavi words, and one whole passage is written in the literary dialect. he then continues- "mangku nagara is always depicted, not only as a brave and valiant, but also as a very religious man. his soldiers, and those of mangku bumi, who was at one time his ally, were steady adherents of the rites of islam, so far as they were enabled to observe them, such as ablutions, prayer, the fast of ramadan, and other practices of the moslem. his confidence in the power of allah, and his submission to his will when in distress, are praised, and his character is contrasted with that of the cruel mangku bumi, who put two of his wives to death for the most trifling offences, such as neglecting to offer him his coffee. mangku nagara, on the contrary, is described as greatly attached to his wives and children, carefully providing for their safety, and visiting them at their places of concealment, whenever he could snatch a temporary interval from his duties as a warrior. attachment to his family, and attention to religious observances, seem to have been thought quite compatible with a strong attachment to the sex generally; we find him at the village of zamenang, engaged for two months in copying the koran and other religious works, and yet frequently amusing himself with the bedaya, or dancing girls, from whom he was unable to separate himself in his retirement. mangku bumi had the impudence to deprive him of two of these women, whom he had previously presented to him as a mark of kindness; and, although he subsequently restored one of them to mangku nagara, the prince could not pardon the offence. the one that mangku bumi did not restore appears to have been especially a favourite of mangku nagara, whose grief and resentment were aggravated by some other offences; and the dutch governor of samarang took advantage of this disposition to urge him to forsake the cause of mangku bumi. his efforts were at first successful, and mangku nagara made peace with the dutch, and declared war against mangku bumi; but this state of things did not continue long. war soon recommenced between the dutch and mangku nagara, from some cause which does not fully appear. it is believed that the latter was unable to prevent his adherents from quarrelling with and attacking the dutch; but the fact is, the mangku bumi, finding himself unable to resist the united forces of mangku nagara and of the dutch, found means to effect a reconciliation with the latter, and by their mediation received from the susunan zaku buwana nearly a half of the empire of mataram, assumed the title of sultan, and fixed his residence at jotjokarta, the susunan residing at solo, or surakarta. this division of the empire took place in a.d. 1755. from this epoch the power of the unfortunate mangku nagara declined. mangku bumi made common cause with the dutch and the susunan against him, and the desertion of several of his adherents, who now joined his relentless enemies, left him no rest. he was hunted from place to place like a wild beast, until he resolved, in his despair, to fall upon his numerous foes, in the persuasion that he should perish in the strife. forty of his bravest friends joined in this resolution; their example encouraged the few troops who remained with him; they attacked their enemies with desperate courage, and unexpectedly gained a great victory. the dutch were wholly defeated; nearly a hundred of them were left dead on the field of battle; and, better than all, his brave and indefatigable enemy, van der zoll, the dutch commander, perished in the fight. mangku nagara's success, however, was not permanent; he was defeated in the next battle, and, although the war continued with varying success, sometimes to the advantage of one side, and sometimes of the other, his cause gradually declined. it was a guerilla war; mangku nagara was now flying to the mountains of kerdenz, and now issuing forth to fall upon and harass his enemies; but upon the whole his losses were predominant, and the manuscript ends with an account of the peace he was compelled to submit to, and the conditions on which it was concluded. all this may be read in raffles' "history." [footnote 28: _journal of the r. a. s._ xx. 1863.] the existence of such babads as this of mangku nagara would seem to point to the conclusion that a consecutive and reliable account of the hindu period could be produced by careful sifting and comparison of the various babads dealing with this epoch. for this purpose they require to be examined by the methods of scientific history, and the results thus obtained must be checked by the faithful records of the antiquarian remains. among the prose works in modern javanese, two, the "niti praja" and the "surya ngalam," are especially interesting as throwing light upon javanese customs and thought. the former is one of a number of similar works, containing rules of conduct and instructions on points of eastern etiquette especially intended for the information of the princes and nobility. it is said to have been "compiled" by the sultan agung of mataram. according to vreede, the language of the "niti praja" is not kavi, but it is written in the "stiff and artificial language common to the ethical treatises." the following passages are taken from translations which appear in raffles' account of the work:- "a good prince must protect his subjects against all unjust persecutions and oppressions, and should be the light of his subjects, even as the sun is the light of the world. his goodness must flow clear and full like the mountain stream, which, in its course towards the sea, enriches and fertilizes the land as it descends. "when a prince gives audience to the public, his conduct must be dignified. he must sit upright, and not in a bending posture, and say little, neither looking on one side or the other, because, in this case, the people would not have a sight of him." the following paragraph, which deals with the duty of a prime minister, is conceived in a spirit more suitable for the court of a constitutional monarch than for that of an eastern potentate. "it is a disgrace to a prime minister for any hostile attack to be made in the country entrusted to his charge without his knowledge, or that he should be careless or inattentive to the same, rather thinking how to obtain the favour of his prince than to secure the safety of the country." an ambassador is directed to use all means within his power for obtaining information concerning the country to which he is sent. then follow some directions which are specially characteristic of eastern life. "the letter must be carried on the shoulder, and in his gait and speech he must conduct himself with propriety. in delivering the letter he must present himself with dignity, approach first, and then retire from the person to whom the letter is directed, speak with him at a distance, and not too familiarly." the "surya ngalam" is the most important of a group of legal treatises. its author, or rather compiler, from whom it takes its title, was a sultan of demak, the first of the mohammedan states founded in java. it is a compendium of mohammedan law. the modern version of the "surya ngalam" commences, "there was a certain raja of the west, named sang probu suria alem, who, being duly qualified, did, in the establishment of divine justice, frame a code of judicial regulations, consisting of one thousand five hundred and seven articles, which being afterwards digested and reduced to the number of one hundred and forty-four, were by him made known and explained to all the people of the countries under his authority, thereby diffusing knowledge and righteousness where ignorance and wickedness before prevailed." i have already mentioned the jaksa,[29] as receiving information of offences, and sitting in the courts as assessor to the european judge-president. there are some very drastic punishments provided for this official in the section of the "surya ngalam" which treats of his duties. "in the first place, he must possess a sufficient knowledge of the law, to know how to act in regard to cases which may come before him.... if the jaksa be found ignorant of these matters, he shall have his tongue cut out.... in the third place, any incorrect statement in writing shall be punished by the loss of both hands." [footnote 29: in chapter iii.] among the modern javanese works there appear a number of romances, of which the "johar manikam," which is taken from the arabic, is an example. she was a sort of javan una, and the poem tells of her various deliverances from dangers, moral and physical. it commences with a sentence which is subtle enough for the nineteenth-century era. i quote this and the two following lines:- "that is true love which makes the heart uneasy. there was a woman who shone like a gem in the world, for she was distinguished by her conduct, and her name was jowar manikam. pure was her conduct like that of a saint, and she never forgot her devotions to the deity: all evil desires were strangers to her heart." the dramatic works fall naturally into two divisions. the circle of poems, partly historical, which recount the adventures of panji, the "knight" or national hero of java, and which are called, after his name, "the panjis;" and the wayang plays. the panjis are important as alone supplying the javan theatre with subjects for its representations. among the titles of the various works included in the group are such as these: "the marriage of panji and angreni," "the history of the lady kurana, princess of bali," and "panji and his amours." there appears to be great uncertainty as to the origin and date of these poems. vreede, after giving raffles' account of the "angrene"--the title under which the panjis appear to have been then (1819) known--says that he has quoted the account of raffles _verbatim_ "because, notwithstanding the palpable inaccuracies of his conclusions, seeing our faulty information about the origin, the date, the authors, and the compilation of the panji narratives, his indications may have, for all we know, great value." as to the works directly due to the introduction of the arabic language and literature simultaneously with the establishment of the mohammedan power in the island, it is certainly remarkable, considering the completeness of the mohammedan conquest and its long duration, that the javanese language should show such few signs of arabic influences as it does at the present time. the koran was rendered into javan verse a century and a half ago. beside the various adaptations from the arabic, there are a large number of arabic treatises current in java. long ago arabic schools were established in the island, and of these schools that in the district of pranaraga at one time boasted of having as many as fifteen hundred scholars. i shall conclude this account of the javanese literature with a short description of the native theatre, and of the wayang. as i have already mentioned, the subjects of the _topeng_, or javan drama, are invariably taken from the group of panji poems. the actors are dressed in the costumes of ancient times, and are gaudily decked with cheap jewellery, velvet, leather, and gold-embroidered cloths. a special characteristic of the native theatre is the fact that the actors wear masks and do not themselves speak, but the words of the play are recited by the dalang, or manager. the only occasion on which they depart from this practice is when the performance is given before one of the native princes, and in this case they also appear without their masks. in the performance of their somewhat limited functions they display considerable skill and histrionic capacity, but the piece resembles a ballet rather than a drama.[30] the recitations of the dalang are accompanied by the music of the gamelan, which, as in the case of the wayang, forms the orchestra. a topeng company numbers eleven persons--the dalang, six actors, and four gamelan musicians. [footnote 30: see p. 56.] the subjects of the wayang plays are taken from the kavi poems, from the panjis, and especially from the chronicles. some of these plays, or _lampahans_, are in metre, others are in prose. both alike consist of summaries of the original poems on which they are based, and are intended for the use of the dalang. it is noticeable, however, that the wayang commands a far wider range of subjects than the theatre. in the true wayang the figures themselves are not seen, but only their shadows. the dalang places a transparent curtain, stretched over a frame ten feet long by five high, between himself and the audience. he then fixes his figures in the bamboo bar immediately in front of him, and throws their shadows on to the curtain by placing a lamp behind them. at the same time he moves the arms with wires in order to produce the effect of action. the wayang dolls are singularly grotesque. there is an interesting tradition which ascribes this distortion to a deliberate purpose. according to this account, after the mohammedan conquest and the subsequent conversion of the javanese to islamism, it became necessary to reconcile the continued enjoyment of the national pastime with the precept of the new religion which forbade the dramatic representation of the human form. a means of escaping from the dilemma was discovered by the susunan of that day, who ordered the wayang figures to be distorted to their present grotesque shapes. his line of argument was ingenious. the world, he said, would now no longer recognize the figures of the wayang as representations of humanity. the javanese, however, would recognize the persons whom the figures were intended to reproduce from their knowledge of the national traditions. even if _they_ should eventually come to forget the nature of the originals good would arise, for they would then believe that it was only since their conversion to the faith of the prophet that their ancestors had assumed a human shape. there are two forms of the shadow wayang, the _purva_ and the _gedog_. the subjects of the first are taken from the various mythological works of the hindu period, and from the bharata yuddha. in presenting this wayang, the dalang first recites a few verses in kavi, and then continues the narrative in a modern javanese version. this wayang is especially useful as serving to keep alive some knowledge of the literary dialect among the common people. the wayang gedog differs from the former in so far as its subjects belong to a later period, and no kavi verses are recited. the gamelan also which accompanies the dalang is somewhat different. pangi is the favourite hero of the wayang gedog, though he is not represented so exclusively as in the theatre. in both of these wayangs the dalang often improvises the dialogue with which the narrative is interspersed. i have described the wayang klitik in my account of my visit to tji wangi. the performance is given without the intervention of a curtain, and the figures in the wayang are slightly smaller and not nearly so skilfully constructed as in the two former. the wayang klitik takes its subjects from the period of the mohammedan invasion. the dalangs are held in great respect by the common people, and many of them possess their own sets of wayang puppets. it is customary for the native princes to keep a dalang at their palaces; in this case, of course, the figures and gamelan do not belong to the dalang, but to the prince. [illustration: a wayang figure.] chapter xv. singapore. batavia and singapore--raffles' arrival in the east- determines to oppose the dutch supremacy in the archipelago--occupation of java--is knighted--returns from england--foundation of singapore--uncertainty whether the settlement would be maintained--his death--description of singapore--epilogue. a fortnight after my visit to tji wangi i left java. as the train took us from batavia to the port, i caught a glimpse of the sea over the palm-trees, and i felt something of the exultation which prompted the remnant of the ten thousand greeks to exclaim, "the sea! the sea!" i had tired of the steamy atmosphere of batavia, and that line of blue seemed full of revivifying power. three days later we reached singapore. here everything was bright and new and english--miles of wharfs crowded with shipping, broad streets, the cathedral spire _en evidence_, tall warehouses, and handsome government buildings. watering-carts replaced the bamboo buckets in the streets, and english iron and stone work the quaint lamps and antiquated masonry. there the dutch lived by themselves; the wide streets, education, christianity, were for them exclusively. here it was otherwise. even the native streets were well drained and lighted; for the englishman shares his civilization with the native races. the glory of the place is its splendidly turfed and tree-clad esplanade; and in the centre of the broad carriage-road there stands the statue of sir stamford raffles, for five years lieutenant-governor of java and the founder of singapore. the british occupation of singapore arose so directly out of the cession of java, that a description of the circumstances which led to this event will suitably complete my account of that country. [illustration: the esplanade, singapore. _page_ 264.] after some years' service as a clerk in the east india house in london, raffles was despatched in 1805, when only twenty-three years of age, to the east, as assistant-secretary to the government of penang, where a settlement was then being formed by the company. in this capacity he so distinguished himself as to attract the notice of lord minto, then governor-general of india. in particular raffles made himself acquainted, as no other european had done before, with the circumstances and character of the malay races. subsequently, in view of the annexation of holland by napoleon, it became desirable for the indian government to take some measures to prevent the establishment of the french in the dutch possessions in the east. when, as a means to this end, it was determined to occupy java, it was to raffles that lord minto applied for the necessary information upon which the operations of the expedition could be based. the capture of java was considered of such importance that the governor-general himself accompanied the expedition. raffles' information was found to be so accurate, and his suggestions so valuable, that after the capitulation of general jansens on september 18, 1811, lord minto entrusted the island to his charge. up to the present, raffles had been acting first as agent and afterwards as chief secretary to the governor-general; he was now appointed lieutenant-governor of java and its dependencies. i have already written of the principles upon which raffles based his measures during the five years of his administration, and of the criticism which was directed against them. the whole of raffles' public acts as a servant of the company were reviewed by the court of directors in 1826. the verdict of this very competent authority, with reference to the financial expedients and the general reforms which he adopted in his administration of the island, was entirely favourable, if we except what refers to the sale of lands, which it characterized as a "questionable proceeding." it is worthy of note, however, that this "questionable proceeding" had been pronounced by the governor-general to be "an able expedient in a moment of great emergency." raffles was bitterly disappointed when the news reached him that, under the settlement effected by the treaty of london, the british government had consented to restore java to the dutch. for a moment the announcement of napoleon's escape from elba seemed to bring a chance of a reprieve. but this transient gleam of hope was soon dispelled, and in march, 1816, raffles relinquished the government to the imperial officer appointed to carry out the transference of the island. lord minto had secured for him the residency of bencoolen, a settlement on the western coast of sumatra; but his state of health was so unsatisfactory that it became necessary for him to proceed to england without delay. after a stay of only fifteen months' duration, during which he received the honour of knighthood from the king, raffles again set sail for india in october, 1817. he was appointed to the government of bencoolen, with the title of lieutenant-governor of fort marlborough, and it is in this capacity that he signed his singapore proclamations. it appears, however, that he was in some way commissioned by the home government to exercise a general supervision over british interests in the further east. in a letter written in 1820 he says that he "had separate instructions from the court to watch the motions of foreign nations, and particularly the dutch, in the archipelago generally, and to write to the court and the secret committee."[31] on his arrival at bencoolen in march, 1819, he set himself once more to achieve that object for which he had incessantly worked ever since his first appearance in the east--the establishment of british influence in malaya and the eastern archipelago. with this object in view raffles resolved to proceed to calcutta, in order that he might personally confer with lord hastings, who had succeeded lord minto as governor-general, and secure the co-operation of the bengal government in his plans. he arrived at calcutta early in july of the same year. lord hastings expressed a high appreciation of the value of raffles' services in java, and gave him general assurances of his further support. although the bengal government were not prepared to endorse the extension of the british authority in sumatra, they and the british merchants at calcutta were at least rendered sensible by raffles' arguments of the importance of endeavouring to check the progress of the dutch in the malay peninsula. of the two channels which alone gave access to the archipelago, one was already in the hands of the dutch, and the other soon would be. in short, unless some immediate and energetic measures were taken, the trade of the whole eastern archipelago would be closed against the english merchants. in his own words, raffles asked for neither territory nor people; all he wanted was "permission to anchor a line-of-battle ship and hoist the english flag." [footnote 31: "memoir of sir stamford raffles, by his widow." 1830.] in short, the result of raffles' visit to calcutta was that the bengal government resolved, if possible, to keep the command of the straits of malacca, and he was despatched as their agent to effect this purpose. it appears that the bengal government hoped to sufficiently command the straits by an establishment at achin, in the extreme north of sumatra, and by taking possession of rhio, a small island south of singapore. raffles, however, foresaw--what indeed happened--that the dutch would anticipate him in the occupation of rhio, while achin seemed scarcely suitable for the purpose. when he left calcutta he had another plan in view. on december 12, 1818, he writes from on board the _nearchus_, at the mouth of the ganges, to his frequent correspondent marsden, the sumatran traveller- "we are now on our way to the eastward, in the hope of doing something, but i much fear the dutch have hardly left us an inch of ground to stand upon. my attention is principally turned to johore, and you must not be surprised if my next letter to you is dated from the site of the ancient city of singapura." in carrying out the difficult task which had been entrusted to him, raffles encountered not only the opposition of the dutch, which he naturally expected, but that of the government of penang. the authorities at penang had a double reason for their opposition. in the first place, they regarded the establishment of a station further east as detrimental to the interests of their own settlement; and, in the next, they had themselves unsuccessfully endeavoured to acquire a similar position, and now maintained that the time had gone by for such measures. fortunately, however, raffles had already secured the services of colonel farquhar and a military force. this officer was in command of the troops at bencoolen, which, at the time raffles left calcutta, were on the point of being relieved. raffles had written from calcutta, instructing him to proceed to europe by the straits of sunda, where he would receive further instructions. singapore, the spot which raffles' knowledge of the malay states enabled him to secure for his settlement, is a small island, twenty-seven miles long by fourteen broad, immediately south of the malay peninsula, from which it is separated by a channel of less than a mile in width. no situation could be imagined better calculated to secure the objects which the new settlement was intended to effect. not only does the island completely command the straits of malacca, the gate of the ocean highway to china and the eastern archipelago, but, lying at a convenient distance from the chinese, the indian, and the javanese ports, it was admirably adapted to serve as an _entrepôt_ and centre of english trade. the island at this time formed part of the territory of the sultan of johore, and it contained the remains of the original maritime capital of the malays. it was within the circuit of these malay fortifications, raised more than six centuries ago, that, on the 29th of february, 1819, raffles planted the british flag at singapore. from the very first raffles fully realized the value of the acquisition. on the 19th of february, 1819, he writes that he has found "at singapore advantages far superior to what rhio afforded." and in the same letter he says, "in short, singapore is everything we could desire, and i may consider myself most fortunate in the selection; it will soon rise into importance, and with this single station alone, i would undertake to counteract all the plans of mynheer." raffles was not able to remain for more than a few days at singapore. he hurried on to achin, and, after completing the object of his mission there, returned to his residency at bencoolen. but the new settlement rapidly progressed under colonel farquhar's able administration. a year afterwards, this officer writes to raffles that "nothing can possibly exceed the rising trade and general prosperity of this infant colony." he adds, "merchants of all descriptions are collecting here so fast that nothing is heard in the shape of complaint but the want of more ground to build on." in spite of this immediate assurance of prosperity, it remained for a long time uncertain whether the british government would maintain the settlement. the right of possession was from the first disputed by the dutch. raffles himself succinctly states in a letter to marsden the basis upon which this rested. it appears, from his letter, that the dutch had secured the cession of rhio from the sultan of lingen, whom they recognized as the sultan of johore. on his arrival at singapore, raffles was visited by one of the two chief hereditary officials of johore, who represented to him that an elder brother of the sultan of lingen was the legal successor to that throne, adding, that as the dutch had negotiated with an incompetent authority, it was still open to the english to effect a settlement on the territory of johore. this elder brother was subsequently recognized by the nobles at the court of johore, and it was with this personage, in his capacity of sultan of johore, that raffles concluded his treaty, and obtained permission to establish his settlement. the dutch, on the other hand, maintained that the sultan of lingen had been legally invested with the sovereignty of johore at the time of the occupation; and, therefore, that the permission accorded to raffles was worthless. in a letter bearing date july 19, 1820, a correspondent writes to him from london- "you are probably aware of the obstacles which have been opposed to the adoption of your measures, and even threatened your position in the service. your zeal considerably out-stepped your prudence, and the first operations of it became known at an unfavourable juncture. it was thought that the state of affairs in europe required that they should be discountenanced. "the acquisition of singapore has grown in importance. the stir made here lately for the further enlargement of the eastern trade fortified that impression. it is now accredited in the india house."[32] [footnote 32: "memoir of sir stamford raffles."] undoubtedly the dutch were making strong endeavours at this time to procure the removal from the east of a man who had shown himself so resolute and capable an opponent of their commercial system. raffles himself writes from bencoolen in july, 1820, "after all, it is not impossible the ministry may be weak enough to abandon singapore, and to sacrifice me, honour, and the eastern archipelago to the outrageous pretensions of the dutch." fortunately he had powerful friends, and he was not immediately recalled. meanwhile he continued to hold the settlement on his personal responsibility against the efforts of both the british and dutch east india governments. in eighteen months it had grown from an insignificant fishing village to a port with a population of 10,000 inhabitants. during the first two and a half years of its existence singapore was visited by as many as 2889 vessels, with an aggregate burden of 161,515 tons. the total value of its exports and imports for the year 1822 amounted to no less than 8,568,172 dollars.[33] [footnote 33: the mexican dollar, which varies in value, but is worth about four shillings.] raffles returned to singapore on the 10th of october, 1822, on his way to england. he remained in the settlement for nine months, and during this time employed himself in laying-out the city, and in drawing up rules and regulations for the government of its people. in one of his letters he expresses a hope "that, though singapore may be the first capital established in the nineteenth century, it will not disgrace the brightest period of it." the position of raffles in respect to singapore was indeed remarkable. though a servant of the company for five years, he was personally responsible for the administration of the settlement, and neither the bengal government nor the court of directors in london would relieve him. in the report which he sent to the bengal government before returning to england, he states the main principles upon which he has based the regulations which he framed. at the head of them stands a declaration of the principle of free trade. "first i have declared that the port of singapore is a free port, and the trade thereof open to ships and vessels of every nation, free of duty, equally and alike to all." it was a hatred of their monopolist policy which had especially inspired raffles in his opposition to the dutch. in respect of the question of the authority of his legislation, he writes that he considered himself justified in thus provisionally legislating for the settlement by reason of the existence of "an actual and urgent necessity for some immediate and provisional arrangements." he further states that in framing these regulations he has, while giving due weight to local considerations, "adhered as closely as possible to those principles which from immemorial usage have ever been considered the most essential and sacred parts of the british constitution." before he left singapore, raffles selected twelve merchants and appointed them to act as magistrates for a year. he also provided for a succession of such magistrates, who were to be chosen from a list kept by the resident. raffles' career was cut short by his sudden and premature death, which took place on the 5th of july, 1826. he had lived, however, long enough to see the merit of his public conduct established by the judgment of the court of directors, which i have already mentioned, and which was pronounced in the preceding april. the fortunes of singapore were secured two years previously to this event, when the island was formally ceded to the british government by the sultan of johore, in pursuance of the terms of an arrangement then concluded between the dutch and english governments. subsequently it formed part of the consolidated government of penang, singapore, and malacca. in 1867 these settlements were converted into a crown colony under the name of the straits settlements. at the present time the colony so constituted is administered by a governor, and an executive council of eight members, assisted by a legislative council consisting of these eight official, and seven other unofficial, members. the town of singapore has fully realized the expectations of its founder. its rapid and continuous growth is sufficiently indicated by the fact that at the present time it possesses a population of 182,650 inhabitants; while the importance of its trade is demonstrated by the fact that more than three million tons of shipping entered the port in the year 1889. in connection with the growing recognition of the necessity for an organized system of naval defence for the empire, the strategical value of singapore has of late years been greatly emphasized, and the defences of the port have been strengthened and improved. batteries have been constructed by the colony at a cost of £100,000, which have been furnished with guns at the expense of the imperial government. at the same time a new harbour, including the tanjong pagar wharf and docks, has been added three miles to the westward, where the largest ocean-going steamships can find ample space. the original "fort" is still conspicuous in the centre of the town, and behind it are the gently rising hills on which the bungalows of the english residents are for the most part built. at evening the blinds are drawn up to welcome the reviving breath of the sea, and from the open windows of these bungalows appears a panoramic scene of singular extent and beauty, and one which forms a fitting background to the eastern viands and chinese servants which give a singapore dinner-party a character of its own. [illustration: the cavanagh bridge, singapore. _page_ 282.] the ricsha furnishes the streets with an additional element of picturesqueness. these charming vehicles are not used, however, by europeans during the day. then the anglo-saxon instinct for respectability (or some more subtle reason) prescribes the use of the ghari, which is practically a four-wheeled cab with venetian blinds substituted for windows. the ricsha is especially used by the chinese, who, as in java, have contrived to get most of the retail trade into their hands, and many of whom are extremely wealthy and greatly attached to the british connection. in addition to the public offices, the most noticeable buildings are the government house, which stands on a slight elevation and is surrounded by a park, the cathedral, and the raffles museum. near the cavanagh bridge--a handsome iron suspension bridge which spans the river--is the hospitable and commodious singapore club; and just outside the town there is a fine race-course. the esplanade together with this latter provide the english residents with the means of outdoor recreation which are so essential in the tropics. i have already spoken of the great advantage which singapore possesses over batavia in the singular healthiness of its climate. almost the first sight which i saw on my arrival was that of an english crowd surrounding the tennis courts on the esplanade, where a very considerable tournament was proceeding. it is by such pursuits as these, polo, golf, cricket, and tennis, that the insidious languor of the east can alone be resisted. * * * * * there are times when, among the prosaic surroundings of this work-a-day world, our senses are unexpectedly stirred by some undetected stimulus which sets in motion a train of memories. such memories penetrate even the gloomy recesses of temple chambers. sometimes they bring with them a waft of perfume from the warm pine woods that clothe the slopes of table mountain; sometimes a vision of glassy waters walled by the sheer mountain heights of new zealand sounds; or it may be a sense of calm swan-like motion over the sunlit reaches of the hawkesbury. not least interesting among such memories i count the recollection of a time when life was lived on a verandah, in the twilight of palm leaves, and its needs were served by dusky ministers whose footfall brought no disturbing sound. it is not so very long ago since mr. lucy wrote that a man in search of "pastures new" might do worse than try japan. i would add that, having tried japan (and who has not?), he might do worse than take to java. here, in an island where the business of the great world is heard only as the murmur of a neighbouring stream, he will find an ancient and interesting civilization still existing, some vast hindu ruins, and the gardens of buitenzorg. printed by william clowes and sons, limited. london and beccles. d. & co. transcriber's notes: inconsistencies in the hyphenation of words preserved. (cocoanut, cocoa-nut; crosspiece, cross-piece; ricefields, rice-fields) footnote 4, the text in the footnote refers to an "appendix" but the title at the actual location is "annex". original word "appendix" is retained. pg. 37, "buitenzong" changed to "buitenzorg". (hotel belle vue at buitenzorg) pg. 275, "propably" changed to "probably". (you are propably aware) annex to chapter v, table showing the alternative routes to the hindu temples. row starting "bandong to cheribon", comma in last column is changed to a doublequote mark which is here serving as a ditto mark. row starting "cheribon to tegal", a doublequote mark is added to the last column to serve as a ditto mark. the hidden force a story of modern java by louis couperus translated by alexander teixeira de mattos jonathan cape eleven gower street london first published 1922 all rights reserved printed in great britain by turnbull & spears, edinburgh translator's note the hidden force gives a picture of life in the dutch east indies in the last year of the nineteenth and the first year of the twentieth century. conditions have altered slightly since then--dutch ladies no longer wear "sarong" and "kabaai" so generally, and there are other minor changes--but the relations between the europeans and the natives remain very much as they were. i have translated nearly all the malay and javanese words scattered through the text, agreeing with my publisher that the sense of colour throughout the book is strong enough without insisting on these native terms, and i have done my best to reduce foot-notes to a minimum. alexander teixeira de mattos chelsea, 20th november 1921 contents page translator's note 5 chapter one 9 chapter two 19 chapter three 26 chapter four 39 chapter five 46 chapter six 54 chapter seven 59 chapter eight 69 chapter nine 78 chapter ten 94 chapter eleven 102 chapter twelve 111 chapter thirteen 116 chapter fourteen 123 chapter fifteen 129 chapter sixteen 140 chapter seventeen 150 chapter eighteen 153 chapter nineteen 165 chapter twenty 174 chapter twenty-one 188 chapter twenty-two 193 chapter twenty-three 204 chapter twenty-four 214 chapter twenty-five 225 chapter twenty-six 234 chapter twenty-seven 244 chapter twenty-eight 251 chapter twenty-nine 258 chapter thirty 275 chapter thirty-one 287 chapter thirty-two 294 chapter one the full moon wore the hue of tragedy that evening. it had risen early, during the last glimmer of daylight, in the semblance of a huge, blood-red ball, and, flaming like a sunset low down behind the tamarind-trees in the lange laan, it was ascending, slowly divesting itself of its tragic complexion, in a pallid sky. a deathly stillness lay over all things like a veil, as though, after the long mid-day siesta, the evening rest were beginning without an intervening period of life. over the town, whose white villas and porticoes lay huddled amid the trees of the lanes and gardens, hung the windless oppression of the evening air, as though the listless night were weary of the blazing day of eastern monsoon. the houses, from which not a sound was heard, shrank away, in deathly silence, amid the foliage of their gardens, with their evenly-spaced, gleaming rows of great whitewashed flower-pots. here and there a lamp was already lit. suddenly a dog barked and another answered, rending the muffled silence into long, ragged tatters: the dogs' angry throats sounded hoarse, panting, harshly hostile; then they, too, suddenly fell silent. at the end of the lange laan the residency lay far back in its grounds. low and vivid in the darkness of the banyan-trees, it lifted the zig-zag outline of its tiled roofs, one behind the other, against the dark background of the garden, with one crude line of letters and numerals that dated the whole: a roof over each gallery and verandah, a roof over each room, receding into one long outline of irregular roofs. in front, however, rose the white pillars of the front verandah, and the white pillars of the portico, gleaming tall and stately, set far apart, with a large, welcoming spaciousness, making the roomy entrance impressive as a palace doorway. through the open doors the central gallery was seen in dim perspective, running through to the back, lit by a single flickering light. a native messenger was lighting the lanterns beside the house. semicircles of great white pots with roses and chrysanthemums, with palms and caladiums, curved widely to right and left in front of the house. a broad gravel path formed the drive to the white-pillared portico; next came a wide, parched lawn, surrounded by flower-pots, and, in the middle, on a carved stone pedestal, a monumental vase, holding a tall latania. the only fresh green was that of the meandering pond, on which floated the giant leaves of a victoria regia, huddled together like round green tea-trays, with here and there a bright lotus-like flower between them. a path wound beside the pond; and on a circular space paved with pebbles stood a tall flag-staff, with the flag already hauled down, as it was every day at six o'clock. a plain gate divided the grounds from the lange laan. the vast grounds were silent. there were now burning, slowly and laboriously lit by the lamp-boy, one lamp in the chandelier in the front verandah and one indoors, turned low, like two night-lights in a palace which, with its pillars and its vanishing perspective of roofs, was somehow reminiscent of a child's dream. on the steps of the office a few messengers, in their dark uniforms, sat talking in whispers. one of them stood up after a while and walked, with a quiet, leisurely step, to a bronze bell which hung high, by the messengers' lodge, in the extreme corner of the grounds. when he had reached it, after taking about a hundred paces, he sounded seven slow, reverberating strokes. the clapper struck the bell with a brazen, booming note; and each stroke was prolonged by an undulating echo, a deep, thrilling vibration. the dogs began to bark again. the messenger, boyishly slender in his blue cloth jacket with yellow facings and trousers with yellow stripes, slowly and quietly, with supple step, retraced his hundred paces to the other messengers. a light now shone in the office and also in the adjoining bedroom, from which it filtered through the venetian blinds. the resident, a tall, heavy man, in a black jacket and white duck trousers, walked across the room and called to the man outside: "messenger!" the chief messenger, in a cloth uniform jacket edged with broad yellow braid, approached with bended knees and squatted before his master. "call miss doddie." "miss doddie is out, excellency," whispered the man, while with his two hands, the fingers placed together, he sketched the reverential gesture of the salaam. "where has she gone?" "i did not ask, excellency," said the man, by way of excuse for not knowing, again with his sketchy salaam. the resident reflected for a moment. then he said: "my cap. my stick." the chief messenger, still bending his knees as though reverently shrinking into himself, scuttled across the room, and, squatting, presented an undress uniform cap and a walking-stick. the resident went out. the chief messenger hurried after him, carrying in his hand a long, burning slow-match, of which he waved the glowing tip from side to side so that the resident might be seen by any one passing in the dark. the resident walked slowly through the garden to the lange laan. along this lane, an avenue of tamarind-trees and flamboyants, lay the villas of the more important townsfolk, faintly lighted, deathly silent, apparently uninhabited, with their rows of whitewashed flower-pots gleaming in the vague dusk of the evening. the resident first passed the secretary's house; then, on the other side, a girls' school; then the notary's house, an hotel, the post-office, and the house of the president of the criminal court. at the end of the lange laan stood the catholic church; and, farther on, across the river-bridge, lay the railway-station. near the station was a large european store, which was more brilliantly lighted than the other buildings. the moon had climbed higher, turning a brighter silver in its ascent, and now shone down upon the white bridge, the white store and the white church, all standing round a square, treeless, open space, in the middle of which was the town-clock, a small monument with a pointed spire. the resident met nobody; now and then, however, an occasional javanese, like a moving shadow, appeared out of the darkness; and then the messenger waved the glowing point of his wick with great ostentation behind his master. as a rule, the javanese understood and made himself small, cowering along the edge of the road and passing with a scuttling gait. now and again an ignorant native, just arrived from his village, did not understand, but went by, looking in terror at the messenger, who merely waved his wick, and, in passing, sent a curse after the fellow, behind his master's back, because he, the village yokel, had no manners. when a cart or trap approached he waved his little fiery star again and again through the darkness and made signs to the driver, who either stopped and alighted or squatted in his little carriage, and, so squatting, drove on along the farther side of the road. the resident went on gloomily, with the smart step of a resolute walker. he had turned off to the right of the little square and was now walking past the protestant church, making straight for a handsome villa adorned with slender, fairly correct ionian plaster pillars and brilliantly lighted with paraffin lamps set in chandeliers. this was the concordia club. a couple of native servants in white jackets sat on the steps. a european in a white suit, the steward, passed along the verandah. but there was no one sitting at the great gin-and-bitters-table; and the wide cane chairs opened their arms expectantly but in vain. the steward, on seeing the resident, bowed; and the resident, raising his finger to his cap, went past the club and turned to the left. he walked down a lane, past dark little houses, each in its own little demesne, turned off again and walked along the mouth of the river, which was like a canal. proa after proa lay moored to the banks; the monotonous humming of maduran seamen crept drearily across the water, from which rose a smell of fish. past the harbour-master's office the resident made for the pier, which projected some way into the sea and at the end of which a small lighthouse, a miniature eiffel tower, stood like an iron candlestick, with its lamp at the top. here the resident stopped and filled his lungs with the night air. the breeze had suddenly freshened, the north-east wind had risen, blowing in from the offing, as it did daily at this hour. but sometimes it suddenly dropped again, unexpectedly, as though its fanning wings had been stricken powerless; and the roughened sea fell again, until its curdling, foaming breakers, white in the moonlight, were replaced by smooth rollers, slightly phosphorescent in long, pale streaks. a mournful and monotonous rhythm of dreary singing approached over the sea; a sail loomed darkly, like a great night-bird; and a fishing proa with a high, curved stem, suggesting an ancient galley, glided into the channel. a melancholy resignation to life, an acquiescence in all the small, obscure things of earth beneath that infinite sky, upon that remote, phosphorescent sea, was adrift in the night, conjuring up an oppressive mystery.... the tall, sturdy man who stood there, with straddling legs, breathing in the loitering, fitful wind, tired with his work, with sitting at his writing-table, with calculating the duiten-question, that important matter, the abolition of the duit, [1] for which the governor-general had made him personally responsible: this tall, sturdy man, practical, cool-headed, quick in decision from the long habit of authority, was perhaps unconscious of the mysterious shadow that drifted over the native town, over the capital of his district, in the night; but he was conscious of a yearning for affection. he vaguely felt a longing for a child's arms around his neck, for shrill little voices about him, a longing for a young wife awaiting him with a smile. he did not give definite expression to this sentimentality in his thoughts; it was not his habit to give way to musing upon his individual needs; he was too busy, his days were too full of interests of all kinds for him to yield to what he knew to be his moments of weakness, the suppressed ebullitions of his younger years. but, though he did not reflect, the mood upon him was not to be thrown off; it was like a pressure on his sturdy chest, like a morbid tenderness, like a sentimental discomfort in the otherwise highly practical mind of this superior official, who was strongly attached to his sphere of work, to his territory, who had its interests at heart, in whom the almost independent power of his post harmonized entirely with his authoritative nature, and who was accustomed with his strong lungs to breathe an atmosphere of spacious activity and extensive, varied work, even as he now stood breathing the spacious wind from the sea. a longing, a desire, a certain nostalgia filled him more than was usual that evening. he felt lonely, not merely because of the isolation which nearly always surrounds the head of a native government, who is approached either with formality and smiling respect, for purposes of conversation, or curtly, with official respect, for purposes of business. he felt lonely, though he was the father of a family. he thought of his big house, he thought of his wife and children. and he felt lonely and borne up merely by the interest which he took in his work. that was the one thing in his life. it filled all his waking hours. he fell asleep thinking of it; and his first thought in the morning was of some district interest. tired with casting up figures, at this moment, breathing the wind, he inhaled together with the coolness of the sea its melancholy, the mysterious melancholy of the indian seas, the haunting melancholy of the seas of java, the melancholy that rushes in from afar on whispering, mysterious wings. but it was not his nature to yield to mystery. he denied mystery. it was not there: there was only the sea and the cool wind. there was only the sea-fog, with its mingled savour of fish and flowers and seaweed, a savour which the cool wind was blowing away. there was only the moment of respiration; and such mysterious melancholy as he, nevertheless, irresistibly felt stealing that evening through his somewhat softened mood he believed to be connected with his domestic circle: he would have liked to feel that this circle was a little more compact, fitting more closely around the father and husband in him. if there was any cause for melancholy, it was that. it did not come from the sea, nor from the distant sky. he refused to yield to any sudden sensation of the uncanny. and he set his feet more firmly, flung out his chest, lifted his fine, soldierly head and snuffed up the smell of the sea and the fragrance of the wind.... the chief messenger, squatting with his glowing wick in his hand, peeped attentively at his master, as though thinking: "how strange, those hollanders!... what is he thinking now?... why is he behaving like this?... just at this time and on this spot?... the sea-spirits are about now.... there are caymans under the water, and every cayman is a spirit.... look, they have been sacrificing to them there: bananas and rice and meat dried in the sun and a hard-boiled egg, on a little bamboo raft, down by the foot of the light-house.... what is the sahib doing here?... it is not good here, it is not good here, alas, alas!..." and his watching eyes glided up and down the back of his master, who simply stood and gazed into the distance: what was he gazing at?... what did he see blowing up in the wind?... how strange, those hollanders, how strange!... the resident turned, suddenly, and walked back; and the messenger, starting up, followed him, blowing the tip of his slow-match. the resident walked back by the same road; there was now a member sitting in the club, who greeted him; and a couple of young men were strolling in the lange laan. the dogs were barking. when the resident approached the entrance to the residency, he saw before him, standing by the other gate, two white figures, a man and a girl, who vanished into the darkness under the banyans. he went straight to his office; another messenger came up and took his cap and stick. then he sat down at his writing-table. he had time for an hour's work before dinner. chapter two a few of the lamps had been lit. really the lamps were burning everywhere; but in the long, broad galleries it was only just light. in the grounds and inside the house there were certainly no fewer than twenty or thirty paraffin-lamps burning in chandeliers and lanterns; but they yielded no more than a vague, yellow twilight glimmering through the house. a flood of moonshine poured into the garden, making the flower-pots gleam brightly and shimmering in the pond; and the banyans were like soft velvet against the luminous sky. the first gong had sounded for dinner. in the front verandah a young man was swinging up and down in a rocking-chair, with his hands behind his head. he was bored. a young girl came along the middle gallery, humming to herself, as though in expectation. the house was furnished in accordance with the conventional type of up-country residencies, with commonplace splendour. the marble floor of the verandah was white and glossy as a mirror; tall palms stood in pots between the pillars; groups of rocking-chairs stood round the marble tables. in the first inner gallery, which ran parallel with the verandah, chairs were drawn up against the wall as though in readiness for an eternal reception. the second inner gallery, which ran from front to back, showed at the end, where it opened into a cross-gallery, a huge red satin curtain hanging from a gilt cornice. in the white spaces between the doors of the rooms hung either mirrors in gilt frames, resting on marble console-tables, or lithographs--pictures as they call them in india--of van dyck on horseback; paolo veronese received by a doge on the steps of a venetian palace, shakespeare at the court of elizabeth and tasso at the court of este; but in the biggest panel, in a crowned frame, hung a large etching, a portrait of queen wilhelmina in her coronation-robes. in the middle of the central gallery was a red satin ottoman, topped by a palm. there were also many chairs and tables, and everywhere great chandeliers. everything was very neatly kept and distinguished by a commonplace pomp, an uncomfortable readiness for the next reception, with not a single home-like corner. in the half-light of the paraffin-lamps--one lamp was lit in each chandelier--the long, wide, spacious galleries stretched in tedious vacancy. the second gong sounded. in the back-verandah, the long table--too long, as though always expecting guests--was laid for three persons. the native butler and half-a-dozen boys stood waiting by the servers' tables and the two sideboards. the butler at once began to fill the soup-plates; and two of the boys placed the three plates of soup on the table, on top of the folded napkins which lay on the dinner-plates. then they waited again, while the soup steamed gently. another boy filled the three tumblers with large lumps of ice. the girl came in, humming a tune. she was perhaps seventeen, and resembled her divorced mother, the resident's first wife, a good-looking half-caste, who was now living in batavia, where she was said to keep a discreet gaming house. the young girl had a pale olive complexion, sometimes just touched with a peach-like blush; she had beautiful black hair, curling naturally at the temples and wound round her head in a heavy coil; her black pupils and sparkling irises swam in humid bluish-whites, over which her thick lashes flickered up and down, and up again. her mouth was small and a little full; and her upper lip was just shadowed by a dark, downy line. she was not tall and was already too fully formed, like a hasty rose that has bloomed too soon. she wore a white piquã© skirt and a white linen blouse with lace insertions; and round her throat was a bright yellow ribbon that accorded well with her olive pallor, which sometimes flushed up, suddenly, as with a rush of warm blood. the young man came sauntering in from the front verandah. he was like his father, tall, broad and fair-haired, with a thick, fair moustache. he was barely twenty-three, but looked quite five years older. he wore a suit of white russian linen, but with a shirt-collar and tie. van oudijck also came at last: his firm step approached as though he were always busy, as though he were now coming just to have some dinner in the midst of his work. "when does mamma arrive to-morrow?" asked theo. "at half-past eleven," replied van oudijck; and, turning to his body-servant behind him, "kario, remember that the mem-sahib is to be fetched from the station at half-past eleven to-morrow." "yes, excellency," murmured kario. the fish was served. "doddie," asked van oudijck, "who was with you at the gate just now?" "at ... the gate?" she asked slowly, in a very soft accent. "yes." "at ... the gate?... nobody.... theo perhaps." "were you at the gate with your sister?" asked van oudijck. the boy knitted his thick, fair eyebrows: "possibly.... don't know.... don't remember...." they were all three silent. they hurried through dinner: sitting at table bored them. the five or six servants, in white cotton jackets with red linen facings, moved softly on their flat toes, waiting quickly and noiselessly. steak and salad was served, and a pudding, followed by dessert. "everlasting rumpsteak!" theo muttered. "yes, that cook!" laughed doddie, with her little throaty laugh, clipping her sentences in the half-caste fashion. "she always gives steak, when mamma not here; doesn't matter to her, when mamma not here. she has no imagination. too bad though!" they had been twenty minutes over their dinner when van oudijck went back to his office. doddie and theo sauntered towards the front of the house. "tedious," doddie yawned. "come, we play billiards?" in the first inner gallery, behind the satin portiã¨re, was a small billiard-table. "come along," said theo. they played. "why am i supposed to have been with you at the gate?" "oh ... tut!" said doddie. "well, why?" "papa needn't know." "who was with you? addie?" "of course!" said doddie. "say, band playing to-night?" "i think so." "come, we go, yes?" "no, i don't care to." "oh, why not?" "i don't want to." "come along now?" "no." "with mamma ... you would, yes?" said doddie, angrily. "i know very well. with mamma you go always to the band." "what do you know ... you little minx!" "what do i know?" she laughed. "what do i know? i know what i know." "huh!" he said, to tease her, fluking a cannon. "you and addie, huh!" "well ... and you and mamma!" he shrugged his shoulders: "you're crazy." "no need to hide from me. besides, every one says." "let them say." "too bad of you though!" "oh, go to the devil!" he flung his cue down in a temper and went towards the front of the house. she followed him. "i say, theo ... don't be angry now. come along to the band." "no." "i'll never say it again," she entreated, coaxingly. she was afraid that he would continue to be angry and then she would have nothing and nobody, then she would die of boredom. "i promised addie and i can't go by myself...." "well, if you won't make any more of those idiotic remarks...." "yes, i promise. theo dear, yes, come then...." she was already in the garden. van oudijck appeared on the threshold of his office, which always had the door open, but which was separated from the inner gallery by a large screen: "doddie!" he called out. "yes, papa?" "will you see that there are flowers in mamma's room to-morrow?" his voice was almost embarrassed and his eyelids blinked. "very well, papa ... i'll see to it." "where are you going to?" "with theo ... to the band." van oudijck became red and angry: "to the band? but you might have asked my leave first!" he exclaimed, in a sudden temper. doddie pouted. "i don't like you to go out, without my knowing where you go. you were out this afternoon too, when i wanted you to come for a walk with me." "well, doesn't matter then!" said doddie, bursting into tears. "you can go if you want to," said van oudijck, "but i insist on your asking me first." "no, i don't care about it now," said doddie, in tears. "doesn't matter! no band." they could hear the first strains in the distance, coming from the concordia garden. van oudijck returned to his office. doddie and theo flung themselves into two rocking-chairs in the verandah and swung furiously to and fro, skating with the chairs over the smooth marble. "come," said theo, "let's go. addie expects you." "no," she pouted. "don't care. i'll tell addie to-morrow papa so unkind. he spoils my pleasure. and ... i'll put no flowers in mamma's room." theo grinned. "say," whispered doddie, "that papa ... eh? so in love, always. he blushed when he asked me about the flowers." theo grinned once more and hummed in unison with the band in the distance. chapter three next morning theo went in the landau to fetch his step-mother from the station at half-past eleven. van oudijck, who was in the habit of taking the police-cases at that hour, had made no suggestion to his son; but, when from his office he saw theo step into the carriage and drive off, he thought it nice of the boy. he had idolized theo as a child, had spoilt him as a lad, had often come into conflict with him as a young man; but the old paternal fondness still often flickered up in him, irresistibly. at this moment he loved his son better than doddie, who had maintained her sulky attitude that morning and had put no flowers in his wife's room, so that he had ordered kario to see to them. he now felt sorry that he had not said a kind word to theo for some days and he resolved to mend matters at once. the boy was scatter-brained: in three years he had been employed on at least five different coffee-plantations; now he was once more without a berth and was hanging around at home, looking out for something else. theo had not long to wait at the station before the train arrived. he at once saw mrs. van oudijck and the two little boys, renã© and ricus--two little half-castes, as compared with himself--whom she was bringing back from batavia for the long holidays, and her maid, oorip. theo helped his step-mother to alight; the station-master offered a respectful greeting to the wife of his resident. she nodded in return with her queenly smile. still smiling, a trifle ambiguously, she allowed her step-son to kiss her on the cheek. she was a tall woman, with a fair complexion and fair hair; she had turned thirty and possessed the languid dignity of women born in java, daughters of european parents on both sides. something about her attracted attention at once. it was perhaps her white skin, her creamy complexion, her very light fair hair, her strange grey eyes, which were sometimes a little pinched and always wore an ambiguous expression, or it might be her eternal smile, sometimes very sweet and charming and often insufferable and tiresome. one could never tell at the first sight of her whether she concealed anything behind that glance, whether there was any depth, any soul behind it, or whether it was merely her look and her laugh, both of them slightly equivocal. soon, however, one perceived an observant indifference in her smiles, as though there were very little that she cared for, as though it would hardly matter to her should the heavens fall, as though she would watch the event with a smile. her gait was leisurely. she wore a pink piquã© skirt and bolero, a white satin ribbon round her waist and a white sailor-hat with a white satin bow; and her summer travelling-costume was very smart, compared with that of a couple of other ladies on the platform, lounging in stiffly starched washing-frocks that looked like night-dresses, with tulle hats topped with feathers! and, in her very european aspect, perhaps that leisurely walk, that languid dignity was the only indian characteristic that distinguished her from a woman newly arrived from holland. theo had given her his arm and she let him lead her to the carriage, the "chariot," followed by the two dark little brothers. she had been away two months. she had a nod and a smile for the station-master; she had a nod for the coachman and the groom; and she took her seat slowly, a languid, fair sultana, still smiling. the three step-sons followed her into the carriage; the maid rode behind in a dog-cart. mrs. van oudijck looked out once or twice and thought labuwangi unchanged. but she said nothing. she turned away slowly, languidly leaning back. her face displayed a certain satisfaction, but especially that radiant, laughing indifference, as though nothing could harm her, as though she were protected by a mysterious force. there was something strong about this woman, something powerful in her sheer indifference; there was something invulnerable about her. she looked as though life would have no hold on her, neither on her complexion nor on her soul. she looked as though she were incapable of suffering; and it seemed as though she smiled and were thus contented because no sickness, no suffering, no poverty, no misery existed for her. an irradiation of glittering egoism encompassed her. and yet she was, for the most part, lovable. she was charming and prepossessing because she was so pretty. this woman, with her sparkling self-satisfaction, was loved, whatever people might say about her. when she spoke, when she laughed, she was disarming and, even more, engaging. this was despite, and, perhaps, just because of her unfathomable indifference. she took an interest only in her own body and her own soul: everything else, everything, was totally indifferent to her. unable to give anything of her soul, she was incapable of feeling save for herself, but she smiled so peacefully and enchantingly that she was always thought lovable, adorable. it was perhaps because of the contour of her cheeks, the strange ambiguity of her glance, her ineffaceable smile, the elegance of her figure, the tone of her voice and her knack of always hitting on the right word. if at first one thought her insufferable, she did not notice it and simply made herself absolutely charming. if anyone was jealous, she did not notice it and just praised, intuitively, indifferently--for she did not care in the least--something in which that other had thought herself deficient. she could admire with the sweetest expression on her face a dress which she thought hideous; and, because she was so completely indifferent, she betrayed no insincerity afterwards and did not gainsay her admiration. her vital power was her boundless indifference. she had accustomed herself to do everything that she felt inclined to do, but she smiled as she did it; and, however people might talk behind her back, she remained so correct in her behaviour, so bewitching, that they forgave her. she was not loved while she was not seen; but so soon as people saw her, she had won back all that she had lost. her husband worshipped her; her step-children--she had no children of her own--could not help being fond of her, despite themselves; her servants were all under the influence of her charm. she never grumbled; she gave an order with a word and the thing was done. if something went wrong, if something was broken, her smile died away for a moment ... and that was all. and if her own moral or physical interests were in danger, she was generally able to avoid the danger and settle things to her advantage, without even allowing her smile to fade. but she had gathered this personal interest so closely about her that she could usually control its circumstances. no destiny seemed to weigh upon this woman. her indifference was radiant, was absolutely indifferent, devoid of contempt, or envy, or emotion: it was merely indifference. and the tact with which, instinctively, without ever giving much thought to it, she guided and ruled her life was so great that possibly if she had lost everything that she now possessed--her beauty, her position, for instance--she would still contrive to remain indifferent, in her incapacity for suffering. the carriage drove into the residency-grounds just as the police cases were beginning. the native assessor was already with van oudijck in the office; the chief constable and the police led the procession of the accused; the natives tripped along, holding on to the corners of one another's jackets; but the few women among them walked alone. they all squatted in waiting under a banyan tree, at a short distance from the steps of the office. a messenger, hearing the clock in the verandah, struck half-past twelve on the great bell by the lodge. the loud stroke reverberated like a brazen voice through the scorching mid-day heat. but van oudijck had heard the sound of the carriage-wheels and let the native magistrate wait: he went to welcome his wife. his face brightened; he kissed her tenderly, effusively, asked how she was. he was glad to see the boys back. and, remembering what he had been thinking about theo, he found a kind word for his first-born. doddie, her little mouth still pouting and sulky, kissed mamma. mrs. van oudijck allowed herself to be kissed, resignedly, smilingly; she returned the kisses calmly, without coldness or warmth, just doing what she had to do. her husband, theo and doddie admired her perceptibly, and audibly said that she was looking well; doddie asked where mamma had got that pretty travelling-dress. in her room she noticed the flowers, and, as she knew that van oudijck always saw to these, she gently stroked his arm. the resident went back to his office, where the assessor was waiting; the hearing began. pushed along by a policeman, the accused came one by one and squatted on the steps, outside the office-door, while the assessor squatted on a mat and the resident sat at his writing-table. during the first case, van oudijck was still listening to his wife's voice in the middle gallery, when the prisoner, defending himself, gave a loud cry of: "no, no!" the resident knitted his brows and listened attentively.... the voice in the middle gallery ceased. mrs. van oudijck had gone to take off her things and put on her native dress for lunch. she wore the dress gracefully: a solo sarong, a transparent kabaai, jewelled pins, white leather slippers with a little white bow. she was just ready when doddie came to her door and said: "mamma! mamma!... mrs. van does is here!" the smile died away for a moment; the soft eyes looked dark. "i'll come at once, dear...." but she sat down instead; oorip, the maid, sprinkled some scent on her handkerchief. mrs. van oudijck put up her feet and lay musing, after the fatigue of her journey. she found labuwangi desperately dull after batavia, where she had spent two months staying with relations and friends, free and untrammelled by obligations. here, as the wife of the resident, she had certain duties, though she delegated most of them to the secretary's wife. she felt tired in herself, out of sorts, dissatisfied. despite her complete indifference, she was human enough to have her silent moods, in which she wished everything at the bottom of the sea. at one time she suddenly longed to do something mad, at another she vaguely longed for paris.... she would never let any one see all this. she was able to control herself; and she controlled herself now, before making her appearance again. her vague bacchanalian longings melted away in her fatigue. she stretched herself out at greater ease. she mused, with eyes almost closed. through her almost superhuman indifference a curious fancy sometimes crept, hidden from the world. she preferred to live in her bedroom her life of fragrant imagination, especially after her month in batavia. after one of those months of perversity, she felt a need to let her vagrant, rosy imaginings rise like a whirling mist before her half-closed eyes. there was in her otherwise utterly barren soul as it were an unnatural growth of little azure flowers, which she cherished with the only feeling that she could ever experience. she felt for no living creature, but she felt for those little flowers. it was delicious to dream like this of what she would have liked to be if she were not compelled to be what she was. her fancies rose in a whirling mist: she saw a white palace, with little cupids everywhere.... "mamma ... do come! mrs. van does is here, mrs. van does, with two stoppered bottles...." it was doddie, at the door. lã©onie van oudijck stood up and went to the back verandah, where the indian lady was sitting, the wife of the postmaster. she kept cows and sold milk. but she also drove other trades. she was a stout woman, rather dark-skinned, with a prominent stomach; she wore a very simple little kabaai with a narrow band of lace round it; and she sat stroking her stomach with her fat hands. in front of her, on the table, stood two small phials, with something glittering in them. what was it, mrs. van oudijck wondered: sugar, crystals? then she suddenly remembered.... mrs. van does said that she was glad to see her again. two months away from labuwangi. too bad, mrs. van oudijck! and she pointed to the bottles. mrs. van oudijck smiled. what was inside them? with a great air of mystery, mrs. van does laid a fat, double-jointed forefinger on one of the jam-pots and said: "diamonds!" "oh, really?" said mrs. van oudijck. doddie, wide-eyed, and theo, greatly amused stared at the stoppered bottles. "yes ... you know ... that lady's, of whom i spoke to you.... she doesn't want her name mentioned. poor thing, her husband once a great swell ... and now ... yes, so unfortunate; she has nothing left! all gone. only these two little bottles. had all her jewels unset and keeps the stones in the bottles. all counted. she trusts them to me to sell. know her through my milk-business. will you look at, mrs. van oudijck, yes? lovely stones! the residã¨n he buy for you, now you back home again. doddie, give me a bit of black stuff: velvet best...." doddie sent the seamstress to fetch a bit of black velvet from a cupboard of odds and ends. a boy brought glasses with tamarind-syrup and ice. mrs. van does, holding a little pair of tongs in her double-jointed fingers, laid a couple of stones carefully on the velvet: "ah!" she cried. "look at that water, mevrouw! ser-per-len-did!" mrs. van oudijck looked on. she gave her most charming smile and then said, in her gentle voice: "that stone is not real, dear mevrouw." "not real?" screamed mrs. van does. "not real?" mrs. van oudijck looked at the other stones: "and those others, mevrouw," stooping attentively: then, in her most charming tones, "those others ... they too are paste." mrs. van does looked at her with delight. then she said to doddie and theo, archly: "that mamma of yours ... oh, so shrewd! she sees at once!" and she laughed aloud. they all laughed. mrs. van does returned the stones to the bottle: "a joke, yes, mevrouw? i only wanted to see if you understood. i give you my word, of course: i should never have sold them to you.... but there ... look!..." and now solemnly, almost religiously, she opened the other little phial, which contained only a few stones, and placed them lovingly on the black velvet. "that one would be splendid ... for a pendant," said mrs. van oudijck, gazing at a very large brilliant. "there, what did i tell you?" said the indian lady. and they all gazed at the diamonds, at the real ones, which came out of the "real" bottle, and held them up carefully to the light. mrs. van oudijck saw that they were all real: "i really have no money, dear mevrouw!" she said. "this big one ... for a pendant ... six hundred guilders. [2] ... a bargain, i assure you, mevrouw!" "oh, mevrouw, never!" "how much then? you are doing a charity if you buy. poor thing, her husband once a great swell, indian council." "two hundred." "oh dear! what next? two hundred guilders!" "two hundred and fifty, but no more. i really have no money." "the residã¨n!" whispered mrs. van does, catching sight of van oudijck, who, now that the cases were finished, was coming to the back verandah. "the residã¨n ... he buy for you!" mrs. van oudijck smiled and looked at the sparkling drop of light on the black velvet. she liked jewels, she was not altogether indifferent to diamonds. and she looked at her husband: "mrs. van does is showing us a lot of beautiful things," she said, caressingly. van oudijck felt an inward shock. he was never pleased to see mrs. van does in his house. she always had something to sell: at one time, richly embroidered counterpanes; at another time, a pair of woven slippers; at another, magnificent but very expensive table-slips, with golden flowers in batik on yellow glazed linen. mrs. van does always brought something with her, was always in touch with the wives of erstwhile "great swells," whom she helped by selling their things for a very high commission. a morning call from mrs. van does cost him each time at least a few rix-dollars and very often fifty guilders, for his wife had a calm habit of always buying things which she did not need but which she was too indifferent to refuse to buy of mrs. van does. he did not see the two bottles at once, but he saw the drop of light on the black velvet and he understood that the visit would cost him more than fifty guilders this time, unless he was very firm: "mevrouwtje!" he exclaimed, in dismay. "it's the end of the month: there's no question of buying diamonds to-day! and bottles full too!" he added, with a stare, when he now saw them glittering on the table, among the glasses of tamarind-syrup. "oh, that residã¨n!" laughed mrs. van does, as though a resident were bound to be always well off. van oudijck hated that little laugh. his household cost him every month a few odd hundred guilders above his salary; and he was living beyond his income, was in debt. his wife never troubled herself with money matters; for these more especially she reserved her most smiling indifference. she made the diamond sparkle in the sun and shoot forth a blue ray. "it's a beauty ... for two hundred and fifty," said mrs. van oudijck. "for three hundred then, dear mevrouw...." "three hundred?" she asked, dreamily, playing with the gem. whether it cost three hundred or four or five hundred was all one to her. it left her wholly indifferent. but she liked the stone and meant to have it, at whatever price. and therefore she quietly put the stone down and said: "no, dear mevrouw, really ... it's too expensive; and my husband has no money." she said it so prettily that there was no guessing her intention. she was adorably self-sacrificing as she spoke the words. van oudijck felt a second inward shock. he could refuse his wife nothing. "mevrouw," he said, "you can leave the stone ... for three hundred guilders. but for god's sake take your bottles away with you!" mrs. van does looked up delightedly: "there, what did i tell you? i knew for certain the residã¨n would buy for you!..." mrs. van oudijck looked up in gentle reproach: "but, otto!" she said: "how can you?" "do you like the stone?" "yes, it's beautiful.... but such a lot of money! for one diamond!" and she drew her husband's hand towards her and suffered him to kiss her on the forehead, because he had been permitted to buy her a three-hundred-guilder diamond. doddie and theo stood winking at each other. chapter four lã©onie van oudijck always enjoyed her siesta. she only slept for a moment, but she loved after lunch to be alone in her cool bedroom till five or half-past five. she read a little, mostly the magazines from the circulating library, but as a rule she did nothing but dream. her dreams were vague imaginings, which rose before her as in an azure mist during her afternoons of solitude. nobody knew of them and she kept them very secret, like a secret vice, a sin. she committed herself much more readily--to the world--where her liaisons were concerned. these never lasted long; they counted for little in her life; she never wrote letters; and the favours which she granted afforded the recipient no privileges in the daily intercourse of society. hers was a silent, correct depravity, both physical and moral. for her imaginings too, despite their poetical insipidity, were depraved. her pet author was catulle mendã¨s: she loved all those little flowers of azure sentimentality, those rosy, affected little cupids, with one little finger in the air and their legs gracefully hovering around the most vicious themes and motives of perverted passion. in her bedroom hung a few engravings: a young woman lying on a lace-covered bed and being kissed by two sportive angels; another: a lion with an arrow through its breast at the feet of a smiling maiden; lastly, a large coloured advertisement of some scent or other: a sort of floral nymph whose veils were being drawn on either side by playful little cherubs, of the kind which we see on soap-boxes. this "picture" in particular she thought splendid; she could imagine nothing with a greater ã¦sthetic appeal. she knew that the plate was monstrous, but she had never been able to prevail upon herself to take the horrible thing down, though it was looked at askance by everybody: her friends, her step-children, all of whom walked in and out of her room with the indian casualness which makes no secret of the toilet. she could stare at it for minutes on end, as though bewitched; she thought it perfectly charming; and her own dreams resembled this print. she also treasured a chocolate-box with a keepsake picture on it, as the type of beauty which she admired, even above her own: the pink flush on the cheeks, the brown eyes under unconvincing golden hair, the bosom showing through the lace. but she never committed herself in respect of this absurdity, which she vaguely suspected; she never spoke of these prints and boxes, just because she knew that actually they were hideous. but she thought them lovely; for her they were delightful, were artistic and poetical. these were her happiest hours. here, at labuwangi, she dared not do what she did in batavia; and here, at labuwangi, people hardly believed what people in batavia said. nevertheless, mrs. van does averred that this resident and that inspector--the one travelling for his pleasure, the other on an official circuit--staying for a few days at the residency, had found their way in the afternoon, during the siesta, to lã©onie's bedroom. but all the same at labuwangi any such actual occurrences were the rarest of interludes between mrs. van oudijck's rosy afternoon visions. still, this afternoon it seemed as though, after dozing a little while and after all the dullness caused by the journey and the heat had cleared away from her milk-white complexion--it seemed, now that she was looking at the romping angels of the scent-advertisement, that her thoughts were no longer dwelling on those rosy, tender, doll-like forms, but as though she were listening to the sounds outside.... she was wearing nothing but a sarong, which she had pulled up under her arms and hitched in a twist across her breast. her beautiful fair hair hung loose. her pretty little white feet were bare: she had not even put on her slippers. and she looked through the slats of the shutters. between the flower-pots, which, standing on the side steps of the house, masked her windows with great masses of foliage, she could see an annexe consisting of four rooms, the spare-rooms, one of which was theo's. she stood peering for a moment and then set the shutter ajar. and she saw that the shutter of theo's room also opened a little way.... then she smiled; she knotted her sarong more closely and lay down upon the bed again. she listened. in a moment she heard the gravel grating slightly under the pressure of a slipper. her shutters, without being closed, were drawn to. a hand now opened them cautiously.... she looked round smiling: "what is it, theo?" she asked. he came nearer. he was dressed in pyjamas and he sat on the edge of the bed and played with her soft white hands and suddenly he kissed her fiercely. at that instant a stone whizzed through the bedroom. they both started, looked up, and in a moment were both standing in the middle of the room. "who threw that?" she asked. "one of the boys, perhaps," he said: "renã© or ricus, playing about outside." "they aren't up yet." "or something may have fallen from above...." "but it was thrown...." "a stone so often gets loose...." "but this is gravel." she picked up the little stone. he looked outside cautiously: "it's nothing, lã©onie. it must really have fallen out of the gutter ... and then bounced up again. it's nothing." "i'm frightened," she murmured. he laughed almost aloud and asked: "but why?" they had nothing to fear. the room lay between lã©onie's boudoir and two large spare-rooms, which were reserved exclusively for residents, generals and other highly-placed officials. on the other side of the middle gallery were van oudijck's rooms--his office and his bedroom--and doddie's room and the room of the boys, ricus and renã©. lã©onie was therefore isolated in her wing, between the spare-rooms. it made her cynically insolent. at this hour, the grounds were quite deserted. for that matter, she was not afraid of the servants. oorip was wholly to be trusted and often received handsome presents: sarongs; a gold clasp; a long diamond kabaai-pin, which she wore as a jewelled silver plaque on her breast. as lã©onie never grumbled, was generous in advancing wages and displayed an apparently easy-going temperament--although everything always happened as she wished--she was not disliked; and, whatever the servants might know about her, they had never yet betrayed her. it made her all the more insolent. a curtain hung before a passage between her bedroom and boudoir; and it was arranged, once and for all, between theo and lã©onie, that at the least danger he would slip away quietly behind this hanging, go out through the garden-door of the boudoir and pretend to be looking at the rose-trees in the pots on the steps. this would make it appear as though he had just come from his own room and were merely inspecting the roses. the inner doors of the boudoir and bedroom were usually locked, because lã©onie declared frankly that she did not like to be interrupted unawares. she liked theo, because of his fresh youthfulness. and here, at labuwangi, he was her only vice, not counting a passing inspector and the little pink angels. the two were now like naughty children; they laughed silently, in each other's arms. it was past four by this time; and they heard the voices of renã© and ricus in the garden. they were taking possession of the grounds for the holidays. they were thirteen and fourteen years old; and they revelled in the garden. they ran about barefoot, in blue striped pyjamas, and went to look at the horses, at the pigeons; they teased doddie's cockatoo, which tripped about on the roof of the outhouses. they had a tame squirrel. they hunted geckos, those large-headed lizards, which they shot with a blow-pipe, to the great vexation of the servants, because the geckos bring luck. they bought roasted monkey-nuts at the gate of a passing chinaman and then mocked him, imitating his accent, his difficulty with his r's: "loasted monkey-nuts!... chinaman kaput!" they climbed into the flamboyant and swung in the branches like monkeys. they flung stones at the cats; they incited the neighbour's dogs to bark themselves hoarse and bite one another's ears to pieces. they splashed about with the water in the pond, made themselves unpresentable with mud and dirt and dared to pluck the victoria regias, which was strictly forbidden. they tested the bearing-power of the flat, green victoria-leaves, which looked like tea-trays, and tried to stand on them and tumbled in. then they took empty bottles, set them in a row and bowled at them with rounded flints. then, with bamboos, they fished up all sorts of unspeakable floating things from the ditch beside the house and threw them at each other. their inventive fancy was inexhaustible; and the hour of the siesta was their special hour. they had caught a gecko and a cat and were making them fight each other; the gecko opened its jaws, which were like a small crocodile's, and hypnotized the cat, which slunk away, withdrawing from its enemy's beady, black eyes, arching its back and bristling with terror. and after that the boys ate themselves ill with unripe mangoes. lã©onie and theo had watched the fight between the cat and gecko through the slats of the shutter and now saw the boys quietly eating the unripe mangoes on the grass. but it was now the hour when the prisoners, twelve in number, worked in the grounds, under the supervision of a dignified old native overseer, with a little cane in his hand. they fetched water in tubs and watering-cans made out of paraffin-tins, sometimes in the actual paraffin-tins themselves, and watered the plants, the grass and the gravel. then they swept the grounds with a loud rustle of coco-nut-fibre brooms. renã© and ricus, behind the overseer's back, for they were afraid of him, threw half-eaten mangoes at the prisoners and called them names and made faces and grimaces at them. doddie appeared after her nap, carrying her cockatoo on her wrist. it cried, "kaka! ka-ka!" and raised its yellow crest with swift movements of its neck. and theo now stole behind the curtain into the boudoir, and, at a moment when the boys were running and bombarding each other with mangoes, and when doddie was strolling towards the pond with the loitering gait and the swing of the hips peculiar to the creole, he came from behind the plants, smelling at the roses and behaving as though he had been walking in the garden before going to take his bath. chapter five van oudijck felt in a more pleasant mood than he had done for weeks: his house seemed to have recovered after those two months of dull boredom; he thought it jolly to see his two rascals of boys romping round the garden, even though they did all sorts of mischief; and above all he was very glad that his wife was back. they were now sitting in the garden, in undress, drinking tea, at half-past five. it was very strange, but lã©onie at once filled the great house with a certain home-like feeling of comfort, because she liked comfort herself. at other times van oudijck would hurriedly swallow a cup of tea which kario brought him in his bedroom: to-day this afternoon tea made a pleasant break in the day; cane chairs and long deck-chairs were placed outside, in front of the house; the tea-tray stood on a cane table; there were roasted bananas; and lã©onie, in a red silk japanese kimono, with her fair hair hanging loose, lay back in a cane chair playing with doddie's cockatoo and feeding it with pastry. it was different at once, van oudijck thought: his wife, so sociable, charming, pretty, telling scraps of news about their friends in batavia, the races at buitenzorg, a ball at the viceroy's, the italian opera; the boys merry, healthy and jolly, however dirty they might make themselves in playing. he called them to him and romped with them and asked them about the grammar-school--they were both in the second class--and even doddie and theo seemed different to him: doddie was now plucking roses from the potted trees, looking delightfully pretty and humming a tune; and theo was communicative with mamma and even with him. a pleased expression played around van oudijck's moustache. his face was quite young still; he hardly looked forty-eight. he had a quick, bright glance, a way of looking up suddenly with an acute, penetrating air. he was rather heavy of build, with a tendency to become still heavier, but yet he had retained a soldierly briskness and he was indefatigable on his circuits: he was a first-rate horseman. tall and powerfully built, content with his house and his family, he wore a pleasant air of robust virility, with a jovial laughing expression around his moustache. and, relaxing himself, stretched out at full length in his cane chair, he drank his cup of tea, and gave utterance to the thoughts which generally welled up in him at such moments of satisfaction. yes, it was not a bad life in india, [3] when all was said, in the b.b. [4] at least it had always been good for him; but then he had been pretty lucky. promotion nowadays was a desperate business: he knew any number of assistant-residents who were his contemporaries and who had no chance of becoming residents for years to come. and that certainly was a desperate position, to continue so long in a subordinate office, to be compelled at that age to hold one's self at the orders of a resident. he could never have stood it, at forty-eight! but to be a resident, to give orders on his own initiative, to rule as large and important a district as labuwangi, with such extensive coffee-plantations, with such numbers of sugar-factories, with so many leased concessions: that was a delight, that was living, that was a life grander and more spacious than any other, a life with which no life or position in holland was to be compared. his great responsibility delighted his authoritative nature. his activities were varied: office work and circuit; the interest of his work varied: a man was not bored to death in his office-chair; after the office there was out-of-door life; and there was always a change, always something different. he hoped in eighteen months to become a resident of the first class, if a first-class residency fell vacant: batavia, samarang, surabaya, or one of the vorstenlanden. [5] and yet it would go to his heart to leave labuwangi. he was attached to his district, for which he had done so much during the past five years, which in those five years had attained its highest prosperity, in so far as prosperity was possible in these times of general depression, with the colonies poor, the population impoverished, the coffee-crops worse than ever, sugar perhaps threatened with a serious crisis in two years' time. india was in a languishing condition; and even in the industrial eastern portion of the island inertia and lack of vitality were spreading like a blight; but still he had been able to do much for labuwangi. during his administration the people had thrived and prospered; the irrigation of the corn-fields was excellent, after he had succeeded in tactfully winning over the engineer, who at first was always in conflict with the b.b. miles and miles of steam tramway had been laid down. the secretary, his assistant-residents and controllers were his willing coadjutors, though he kept them hard at work. but he had a pleasant way with them, even though the work was hard. he knew how to be jolly and friendly with them, resident though he was. he was glad that all of them--controllers and assistant-residents--represented the wholesome, cheerful type of b.b. official, pleased with their life, liking their work, though nowadays given much more than formerly to studying the government almanack and the colonial list with an eye to their promotion. and it was van oudijck's hobby to compare his officials with the judicial functionaries, who did not represent the same alert type: there was always a slight jealousy and animosity between the two orders.... yes, it was a pleasant life, a pleasant sphere of activity: everything was all right. there was nothing to beat the b.b. his only regret was that his relations with the regent [6] were not easier and more agreeable. but it was not his fault. he had always very conscientiously given the regent his due, had left him in the enjoyment of his full rights, had seen to it that he was duly respected by the javanese population and even by the european officials. oh, how intensely he regretted the death of the old pangã©ran, the regent's father; the old regent, a noble, cultivated javanese! van oudijck had always been in sympathy with him, had at once won him by his tact. had he not, five years ago, when he arrived at labuwangi to take over the administration, invited the pangã©ran--the type of the genuine javanese noble--to sit beside him in his own carriage, rather than allow him to follow in a second carriage, behind the resident's carriage, as was usual? and had not this civility toward the old prince at once won all the javanese heads and officials and flattered them in their respect and love for their regent, the descendant of one of the oldest javanese families, the adiningrats, who were sultans of madura in the company's time?... but sunario, his son, now the young regent, he was unable to understand, unable to fathom. this he confessed only to himself, in silence, seeing him always enigmatic--that marionette, that puppet, as he called him--always stiff, keeping his distance towards him, the resident, as though he, the prince, looked down upon him, the dutch burgher, and wholly absorbed in all sorts of superstitious observances and fanatical speculations. he never said as much openly, but something in the regent escaped him. he was unable to place that delicate figure, with the fixed, coal-black eyes, in the practical life of human beings, as he had always been able to place the old pangã©ran. the latter had always been to him, in accordance with his age, a fatherly friend; in accordance with etiquette, his "younger brother"; but always the fellow-ruler of his district. but sunario seemed to him unreal, not a functionary, not a regent, merely a fanatical javanese who always shrouded himself in mystery: "such nonsense!" thought van oudijck. he laughed at the reputation for sacrosanctity which the populace bestowed upon sunario. he thought him unpractical, a degenerate javanese, a crazy javanese dandy. but his lack of harmony with the regent--a lack of harmony in character only, which had never developed into actual fact: why, he could twist the mannikin round his finger!--was the only great difficulty which had arisen during all these years. and he would not have exchanged his life as a resident for any other life whatever. why, he was already fretting about what he would do later, when he was pensioned off! what he would have preferred was to continue as long as possible in the service, as a member of the indian council, as vice-president of the council. the object of his unspoken ambition, in the far-away future, was the throne of buitenzorg. but nowadays they had that strange mania in holland for appointing outsiders to the highest posts--men sent straight from holland, newcomers who knew nothing about india--instead of remaining faithful to the principle of selecting old indian servants, who had made their way up from subcontroller and who knew the whole official hierarchy by heart.... yes, what would he do, pensioned off? live at nice? with no money? for saving was impracticable: his life was comfortable, but expensive; and instead of saving he was running up debts. well, that didn't matter now: the debts would be paid off in time, but later, later.... the future, the existence of a pensioned official, was anything but an agreeable prospect for him. to vegetate at the hague, in a small house, with a gin-and-bitters at the club, among the old fogeys: br-r-r! the very idea of it made him shudder. he wouldn't think about it; he preferred not to think about it at all: perhaps he would be dead by that time. but it was all delightful now: his work, his house, india. there was absolutely nothing to compare with it. lã©onie had listened to him smilingly: she was accustomed to his quiet enthusiasm, his rhapsodizing over his post; as she put it, his adoration of the b.b. she also valued the luxury of being a resident's wife. the comparative isolation she did not mind; she usually was sufficient unto herself. and she answered smilingly, contented and charming with her creamy complexion, which showed still whiter under the light coat of rice-powder against the red silk of her kimono and looked so delightful amidst the surrounding waves of her fair hair. that morning she had felt put out for a moment: labuwangi, after batavia, had depressed her with the tedium of an up-country capital. but since then she had acquired a large diamond; since then she had got theo back. his room was close to hers. and it was sure to be a long time before he could obtain a berth. these were her thoughts, while her husband sat blissfully reflecting after his pleasant confidences. her thoughts went no deeper than this: anything like remorse would have surprised her in the highest degree, had she been capable of feeling it. it began to grow dark slowly; the moon was already rising and shining brightly; and behind the velvety banyans, behind the feathery boughs of the coco-palms, which waved gently up and down like stately sheaves of dark ostrich-feathers, the last light of the sun cast a faintly stippled, dull-gold reflection, against which the softness of the banyans and the pomp of the coco-palms stood out as though etched in black. from the distance came the monotonous tinkle of the native orchestra, mournfully, limpid as water, like a xylophone, with a deep dissonance at intervals.... chapter six van oudijck, in a pleasant mood because of his wife and children, suggested a drive; and the horses were put to the landau. van oudijck had a pleased and jovial look, under the broad, gold-laced peak of his cap. lã©onie, seated beside him, was wearing a new mauve muslin frock, from batavia, and a hat with mauve poppies. a lady's hat in the up-country districts is a luxury, a colossal elegance; and doddie, facing her, but dressed inland fashion, without a hat, was secretly vexed and thought that mamma might just as well have told her she was going to "take" a hat, to use doddie's idiom. she now looked such a contrast to mamma; she couldn't stand them now, those softly swaying poppies. of the boys, renã© was with them, in a clean white suit. the chief messenger sat on the box beside the coachman, holding against his side the great golden umbrella, the symbol of authority. it was past six, it was already growing dark; and over labuwangi there hung at this hour the velvety silence, the tragic mystery of the twilit atmosphere that marked the days of the eastern monsoon. sometimes a dog barked, or a wood-pigeon cooed, breaking the unreality of the silence, as of a deserted town. but now there was also the rattle of the carriage driving right through the silence; and the horses stamped the silence into tiny shreds. no other carriages were met; an absence of all signs of human life cast a spell upon the gardens and verandahs. a couple of young men on foot, in white, took off their hats. the carriage had left the wealthier part of the town and entered the chinese quarter, where the lights were burning in the little shops. business was almost finished: the chinamen were resting, in all sorts of limp attitudes, with their legs dangling or crossed, their arms round their heads, their pigtails loose or twisted around their skulls. when the carriage approached, they rose and remained standing respectfully. the javanese for the most part--those who were well brought up and knew their manners--squatted. along the road stood the little portable kitchens, lit by small paraffin lamps, of the drink-vendors and pastry-sellers. the motley colours showed dingy in the evening darkness, lit by innumerable little lamps. the chinese shops, crammed with goods, displayed red and gold signboards and red and gold placards with inscriptions; in the background was the domestic altar with the sacred print; the white god seated, with the black god grimacing behind him. but the street widened, became suddenly more considerable: rich chinese houses loomed white in the dusk; the most striking was the gleaming, palatial villa of an immensely wealthy retired opium-factor, who had made his money in the days before the opium monopoly: a gleaming palace of graceful stucco-work with numberless outbuildings. the porticos of the verandah were in a monumental style of imposing elegance and in many soft shades of gold; in the depth of the open house the immense domestic altar was visible, with the print of the gods conspicuously illuminated; the garden was laid out with conventional winding paths, but beautifully filled with square pots and tall vases of dark blue-and-green glazed porcelain, containing dwarf trees, handed down as heirlooms from father to son; and all was kept with a radiant cleanliness, a careful neatness of detail, eloquent of the prosperous, spick-and-span luxury of a chinese opium-millionaire. but not all the chinese houses were so ostentatiously open: most of them lay hidden with closed doors in high-walled gardens, tucked away in the secrecy of their domestic life. but suddenly the houses came to an end and chinese graves stretched along a broad road, rich graves, each grassy mound with a stone entrance--the door of death--raised in the form of the symbol of fecundity--the door of life--and all surrounded with a wide space of turf, to the great vexation of van oudijck, who reckoned out how much ground was lost to cultivation by these burial-places of the wealthy chinese. and the chinese seemed to triumph in life and death in this mysterious town which was otherwise so silent; the chinese gave it its real character of busy traffic, of trade, of money-making, of living and dying; for, when the carriage drove into the arab quarter--a district of ordinary houses, but gloomy, lacking in style, with life and prosperity hidden away behind closed doors; with chairs in the verandah, but the master of the house gloomily sitting cross-legged on the floor, following the carriage with a black look--this quarter seemed even more mysterious than the fashionable part of labuwangi and seemed to radiate its unutterable mystery like an atmosphere of islam that spread over the whole town, as though it were islam that had poured forth the dusky, fatal melancholy of resignation which filled the shuddering, noiseless evening.... they did not feel this in their rattling carriage, accustomed to that atmosphere as they were from childhood and no longer sensitive to the gloomy secret that was like the approach of a dark force which had always breathed upon them, the foreign rulers with their creole blood, so that they should never suspect it. perhaps, when van oudijck now and again read about pan-islam in the newspapers, he was dimly conscious in his deepest thoughts of this dark force, this gloomy secret. but at moments like the present--driving with his wife and children, amidst the rattling of his carriage and the trampling of his fine walers; the messenger with the furled umbrella, which glittered like a furled sun, on the box--he was too intensely aware of his individuality, his authoritative, overbearing nature, to feel anything of the dark secret, to divine anything of the black peril. and he was now in far too pleasant a mood to feel or see anything melancholy. in his optimism he did not see even the decline of his town, which he loved; he was not struck, as they drove past, by the immense porticoed villas, the witnesses to the prosperity of former planters, now deserted, neglected, standing in grounds that had run wild, one of them taken over by a timber-felling company, which allowed the foreman to live in it and stacked the logs in the front-garden. the deserted houses gleamed sadly with their pillared porticos, which, amid the desolate grounds, loomed spectral in the moonlight, like temples of evil. but they did not see it like that: enjoying the rocking of the smooth carriage-springs, lã©onie smiled and dozed; and doddie, now that they were approaching the lange laan again, looked out to see whether she could catch sight of addie.... chapter seven the secretary, onno eldersma, was a busy man. the post brought a daily average of some two hundred letters and documents to the residency-office, which employed two senior clerks, six juniors and a number of native writers and clerks; and the resident grumbled whenever the work fell into arrears. he himself was an energetic worker; and he expected his subordinates to show the same spirit. but sometimes there was a perfect torrent of documents, claims and applications. eldersma was the typical government official, wholly wrapped up in his minutes and reports; and eldersma was always busy. he worked morning, noon and night. he allowed himself no siesta. he took a hurried lunch at four o'clock and then rested for a little. fortunately he had a sound, robust, frisian constitution; but he needed all his blood, all his muscles, all his nerves for his work. it was not mere scribbling, mere fumbling with papers: it was manual labour with the pen, muscular work, nervous work; and it never ceased. he consumed himself, he spent himself, he was always writing. he had not another idea left in his head; he was nothing but the official, the civil servant. he had a charming house, a most charming and exceptional wife, a delightful child, but he never saw them, though he lived, vaguely, amid his home surroundings. he just slaved away, conscientiously, working off what he could. sometimes he would tell the resident that it was impossible for him to do any more. but on this point van oudijck was inexorable, pitiless. he himself had been a district secretary; he knew what it meant. it meant work, it meant plodding like a cart-horse. it meant living, eating, sleeping with your pen in your hand. then van oudijck would show him this or that piece of work which had to be finished. and eldersma, who had said that he could do no more than he was doing, somehow got it done, and therefore always did do something more than he believed that he could do. then his wife, eva, would say: "my husband has ceased to be a human being; my husband has ceased to be a man; my husband is an official." the young wife, very european, now in india for the first time, had never known, before her two years at labuwangi, that it was possible to work as hard as her husband did, in a country as hot as labuwangi was during the eastern moonson. she had resisted it at first; she had at first tried to stand upon her rights; but once she saw that he really had not a minute to spare, she waived them. she had very soon come to realize that her husband could not share her life, nor could she share his: not because he was not a good husband and very fond of his wife, but simply because the post brought two hundred letters and documents daily. she had soon seen that there was nothing for her to do at labuwangi and that she would have to console herself with her house and, later, with her child. she arranged her house as a temple of art and comfort and racked her brains over the education of her little boy. she was an artistically cultivated woman and came from an artistic environment. her father was van hove, the great landscape-painter; her mother was stella couberg, the famous concert-singer. eva, brought up in an artistic and musical home whose atmosphere she had breathed since her babyhood, in her picture-books and childish songs, eva had married an east-indian civil servant and had accompanied him to labuwangi. she loved her husband, a good-looking frisian and a man of sufficient culture to take an interest in many subjects. and she had gone, happy in her love and filled with illusions about india and all the orientalism of the tropics. and she had tried to preserve her illusions, despite the warnings which she had received. at singapore she was struck by the colour of the naked malays, like that of a bronze statue, by the eastern motley of the chinese and arab quarters and the poetry of the japanese tea-houses, which unfolded like a page of loti as she drove past. but, soon after, in batavia, a grey disappointment had fallen like a cold, drizzling rain upon her expectation of seeing everything in india as a beautiful fairy-tale, a story out of the arabian nights. the habits of their narrow, everyday existence damped all her unsophisticated longing to admire; and she saw everything that was ridiculous even before she discovered anything else that was beautiful. at her hotel, the men in pyjamas lay at full length in their deck-chairs, with their lazy legs on the extended leg-rests, their feet--although carefully tended--bare and their toes moving quietly in a conscientious exercise of big toe and little toe, even while she was passing. the ladies were in sarong and kabaai, the only practical morning-dress, which is easily changed two or three times a day, but which suits so few, the straight, pillow-case outline at the back being peculiarly angular and ugly, however elegant and expensive the costume.... and then the commonplace aspect of the houses, with all their whitewash and their rows of fragile and meretricious flower-pots; the parched barrenness of the vegetation, the dirt of the natives! and, in the life of the europeans, all the minor absurdities: the half-caste accent, with the constant little exclamations; the narrow provincial conventionality of the officials: only the indian council allowed to wear top-hats. and then the rigorous little maxims of etiquette: at a reception, the highest functionary is the first to leave; the others follow in due order. and the little peculiarities of tropical customs, such as the use of packing-cases and paraffin-tins for this, that and the other purpose: the wood for shop-windows, for dust-bins and home-made articles of furniture; the tins for gutters and watering-cans and all kinds of domestic utensils.... the young and cultured little woman, with her arabian nights illusions, was unable, amid these first impressions, to distinguish between what was colonial--the expedients of a european acclimatizing himself in a country which is alien to his blood--and what was really poetic, genuinely indian, purely eastern, absolutely javanese; and, because of these and other little absurdities, she had at once felt disappointed, as every one with artistic inclinations feels disappointed in colonial india, which is not at all artistic or poetic and in which the rose-trees in their white pots are conscientiously manured with horse-droppings as high as they will bear, so that, when a breeze springs up, the scent of the roses mingles with a stench of freshly-sprinkled manure. and she had grown unjust, as does every hollander, every newcomer to the beautiful country which he would like to see with the eyes of his preconceived literary vision, but which impresses him at first by its absurd colonial side. and she forgot that the country itself, which was originally so absolutely beautiful, was not to blame for all this absurdity. she had had a couple of years of it and had been astonished, occasionally alarmed, then again shocked, had laughed sometimes and then again been annoyed; and at last, with the reasonableness of her nature and the practical side of her artistic soul, had grown accustomed to it all. she had grown accustomed to the toe-exercises, to the manure around the roses; she had grown accustomed to her husband, who was no longer a human being, no longer a man, but an official. she had suffered a great deal, she had written despairing letters, she had been sick with longing for the home of her parents, she had been on the verge of making a sudden departure, but she had not gone, so as not to leave her husband in his loneliness, and she had accustomed herself to things and made the best of them. she had not only the soul of an artist--she played the piano exceptionally well--but also the heart of a plucky little woman. she had gone on loving her husband and she felt that, after all, she provided him with a pleasant home. she gave serious attention to the education of her child. and, once she had become accustomed to things, she grew less unjust and suddenly saw much of what was beautiful in india; admired the stately grace of a coco-palm, the exquisite, paradisal flavour of the indian fruits, the glory of the blossoming trees; and, in the inland districts, she had realized the noble majesty of nature, the harmony of the undulating hills, the faery forests of gigantic ferns, the menacing ravines of the craters, the shimmering terraces of the flooded rice-fields, with the tender green of the young paddy; and the character of the javanese had been a very revelation to her: his elegance, his grace, his salutation, his dancing; his aristocratic distinction, so often evidently handed down directly from a noble race, from an age-old chivalry, now modernized into a diplomatic suppleness, worshipping authority by nature and inevitably resigned under the yoke of the rulers whose gold-lace arouses his innate respect. in her father's house, eva had always felt around her the cult of the artistic and the beautiful, even to the verge of decadence; those with her had always directed her attention, in an environment of perfectly beautiful things, in beautiful words, in music, to the plastic beauty of life, and perhaps too exclusively to that alone. and she was now too well-trained in that school of beauty to persist in her disappointment and to see only the white-wash and flimsiness of the houses, the petty airs of the officials, the packing-cases and the horse-droppings. her literary mind now saw the palatial character of the houses, so typical of the official arrogance, which could hardly have been other than it was; and she saw all these details more accurately, obtaining a broader insight into all that world of india, so that revelation followed upon revelation. only she continued to feel something strange, something that she could not analyse, a certain mystery, a dark secrecy, which she felt creeping softly over the land at night. but she thought that it was no more than a mood produced by the darkness and the very dense foliage, that it was like the very quiet music of stringed instruments of a kind quite strange to her, a distant murmur of harps in a minor key, a vague voice of warning, a whispering in the night--no more--which evoked poetic imaginings. at labuwangi, a small inland capital, she often astonished the acclimatized up-country elements because she was somewhat excitable, because she was enthusiastic, spontaneous, glad to be alive--even in india--glad of the beauty of life, because she had a healthy nature, softly tempered and shaded into a charming pose of caring for nothing but the beautiful: beautiful lines, beautiful colours, artistic ideas. those who knew her either disliked her or were very fond of her: few felt indifferent to her. she had gained a reputation in india for unusualness: her house was unusual, her clothes unusual, the education of her child unusual; her ideas were unusual and the only ordinary thing about her was her frisian husband, who was almost too ordinary in that environment, which might have been cut out of an art-magazine. she was fond of society and gathered around her as much of the european element as possible: it was, indeed, seldom artistic; but she imparted a pleasant tone to it, something that reminded everybody of holland. this little clique, this group admired her and instinctively adopted the tone which she set. because of her greater culture, she ruled over it, though she was not a despot by nature. but they did not all approve of this; and the rest called her eccentric. the clique, however, the group, remained faithful to her, for she awakened them, in the soft languor of indian life, to the existence of music, ideas, and the joie de vivre. so she had drawn into her circle the doctor and his wife, the chief engineer and his wife, the district controller and his wife, and sometimes a couple of outside controllers, or a few young fellows from the sugar-factories. this brought round her a gay little band of adherents. she ruled over them, organized amateur theatricals for them, picnicked with them and charmed them with her house and her frocks and the epicurean and artistic flavour of her life. they forgave her everything that they did not understand--her ã¦sthetic principles, her enthusiasm for wagner--because she gave them gaiety and a little joie de vivre and a sociable feeling in the deadliness of their colonial existence. for this they were fervently grateful to her. and thus it had come about that her house became the actual centre of social life at labuwangi, whereas the residency, on the other hand, withdrew with dignified reserve into the shadow of its banyan-trees. lã©onie van oudijck was not jealous on this account. she loved her repose and was only too glad to leave everything to eva eldersma. and so lã©onie troubled about nothing--neither entertaining nor musical societies nor dramatic societies nor charities--and delegated to eva all the social duties which as a rule a resident's wife feels bound to take upon herself. lã©onie had her monthly receptions, at which she spoke to everybody and smiled upon everybody, and gave her annual ball on new year's day. with this the social life of the residency began and ended. apart from this she lived there in her egoism, in the comfort with which she had selfishly surrounded herself, in her rosy dreams of cherubs and in such love as she was able to evoke. sometimes, periodically, she felt a need for batavia and went to spend a month or two there. and so she, as the wife of the resident, led her own life; and eva did everything and eva set the tone. it sometimes gave rise to a little jealousy, as for instance between her and the wife of the inspector of finances, who considered that the first place after mrs. van oudijck belonged to her and not to the secretary's wife. this would occasion a good deal of bickering over the indian official etiquette; and stories and tittle-tattle would go the rounds, enhanced, aggravated, until they reached the remotest sugar-factory in the district. but eva took no notice of all this gossip and preferred to devote herself to providing a little social life in labuwangi. and, to keep things going properly, she and her little circle ruled the roost. she had been elected president of the thalia dramatic society and she accepted, but on condition that the rules should be abolished. she was willing to be queen, but without a constitution. everybody said that this would never do: there had always been rules. but eva replied that, if there were to be rules, she must refuse to be president. and they gave way: the constitution of the thalia was abolished; eva held absolute sway, chose the plays and distributed the parts. and it was the golden age of the society: rehearsed by her, the members acted so well that people came from surabaya to attend the performances at the concordia. the pieces played were of a quality such as had never been seen at the concordia before. and the result of this again was that people either loved her or did not like her at all. but she went her way and provided a little european civilization, so that they might not grow too "stuffy" at labuwangi. and people descended to all sorts of trickery to get invited to her little dinners, which were famous and notorious. for she stipulated that her men should come in dress-clothes and not in their singapore jackets, without shirts. she introduced swallow-tails and white ties; and she was inexorable. the women were low-necked, as usual, for the sake of coolness, and thought it delightful. but her poor men struggled against it, puffed and blew at first and felt congested in their tall collars; the doctor declared that it was unhealthy; and the veterans protested that it was madness and opposed to all the good old indian customs. but when they had puffed and blown a few times in their dress-coats and tall collars, they all found mrs. eldersma's dinners charming, precisely because they were so european in style. chapter eight eva was at home to her friends once a fortnight: "you see, resident, it's not a reception," she always said, in self-defence, to van oudijck. "i know that no one's allowed to 'receive' in the interior, except the resident and his wife. it's really not a reception, resident. i shouldn't dare to call it that. i'm just at home to everybody once a fortnight; and i'm glad if our friends care to come.... it's all right, isn't it, resident, as long as it's not a 'reception'?" van oudijck would laugh merrily, with his jovial laugh shaking his military moustache, and ask if little mrs. eldersma was pulling his leg. she could do anything, if she would only continue to provide a little gaiety, a little acting, a little music, a little pleasant intercourse. that was her duty, once and for all: to look after the social element at labuwangi. there was nothing indian about her at-home days. for instance, at the resident's, the receptions were regulated according to the old inland practice: all the ladies sat side by side, on chairs along the walls; mrs. van oudijck walked past them and talked to each for a moment in turn, standing, while they remained sitting; the resident chatted to the men in another gallery. the male and female elements kept apart; gin-and-bitters, port and iced water were handed round. at eva's, people strolled about, walked through the galleries, sat down wherever they pleased; everybody talked to everybody. there was not the same ceremony as at the resident's, but there was all the chic of a french drawing-room, with an artistic touch to it. and it had become a habit for the ladies to dress more for eva's days than for the resident's receptions: at eva's they wore hats, a symbol of extreme elegance in india. fortunately, lã©onie did not care; it left her totally indifferent. lã©onie was now sitting in the middle gallery, on a couch, and remained sitting with the raden-aju, the wife of the regent. she liked that: everybody came up to her, whereas at her own receptions she had to do so much walking, past the row of ladies along the wall. now she took her ease, remained sitting, smiling on those who came to pay her their respects. but, apart from this, there was a restless movement of guests. eva was here, there and everywhere. "do you think it's pretty here?" mrs. van der does asked lã©onie, with a glance at the middle gallery. and her eyes wandered in surprise over the dull arabesques, painted in distemper on the pale-grey walls, like frescoes; over the teak wainscoting, carved by skilful chinese cabinetmakers after a drawing in the studio: over the bronze japanese vases, on their teak pedestals, in which branches of bamboo and bouquets of gigantic flowers cast their shadows right up to the ceiling. "odd ... but very pretty! unusual!" murmured lã©onie, to whom eva's taste was always a conundrum. withdrawn into herself as into a temple of egoism, she did not mind what others did or felt, or how they arranged their houses. but she could not have lived here. she liked her own lithographs--veronese and shakespeare and tasso: she thought them distinguished--liked them better than the handsome carton photographs after italian masters which eva had standing here and there on easels. above all, she loved her chocolate-box and the scent-advertisement with the little angels. "do you like that dress?" mrs. van der does asked next. "yes, i do," said lã©onie, smiling pleasantly. "eva's very clever: she painted those blue irises herself, on chinese silk...." she never said anything but kind, smiling things. she never spoke evil; it left her indifferent. and she now turned to the raden-aju and thanked her in kindly, drawling sentences for some fruit which the latter had sent her. the regent came to speak to her and she asked after his two little sons. she talked in dutch and the regent and the raden-aju both answered in malay. the regent of labuwangi, raden adipati surio sunario, was still young, just turned thirty: a refined javanese face like the conceited face of a puppet; a little moustache, with the points carefully twisted; and, above all, a staring gaze that struck the beholder, a gaze that stared as though in a continual trance; a gaze that seemed to pierce the visible reality and to see right through it; a gaze that issued from eyes like coals, sometimes dull and weary, sometimes flashing like sparks of ecstasy and fanaticism. among the population, which was almost slavishly attached to its regent and his family, he enjoyed a reputation for sanctity and mystery, though no one ever knew the truth of the matter. here, in eva's gallery, he merely produced the impression of a puppet-like figure, of a distinguished indian prince, save that his trance-like eyes occasioned surprise. the sarong, drawn smoothly around his hips, hung low in front in a bundle of flat, regular pleats, which fluttered open; he wore a white starched shirt with diamond studs and a little blue tie; over this was a blue cloth uniform-jacket, with gold uniform buttons, with the royal "w" and the crown; his bare feet were encased in black, patent-leather pumps turning up at the pointed toes; the kerchief carefully wound about his head in narrow folds imparted a feminine air to his refined features, but the black eyes, now and then weary, constantly sparkled as in a trance, an ecstasy. the golden kris was stuck in his blue-and-gold waist-band, right behind, in the small of his back; a large jewel glittered on his tiny, slender hand; and a cigarette-case of braided gold wire peeped from the pocket of his jacket. he did not say much--sometimes he looked as though he were asleep; then his strange eyes would flash up again--and his replies to what lã©onie said consisted almost exclusively of a curt, clipped "saja, yes...." he uttered the two syllables with a hard, sibilant accent of politeness, laying equal stress upon each. he accompanied his little word of civility with a brief, automatic nod of the head. the raden-aju too, seated beside lã©onie, answered in the same way: "saja...." but she always followed it up with a little embarrassed laugh. she was very young still, possibly just eighteen. she was a solo princess; and van oudijck could not tolerate her, because she introduced solo manners and solo expressions into labuwangi, in her conceited arrogance, as though nothing could be so distinguished and so purely aristocratic as what was done and said at the court of solo. she employed court phrases which the labuwangi population did not understand; she had forced the regent to engage a solo coachman, with the solo state livery, including the wig and the false beard and moustache, at which the people stared wide-eyed. her yellow complexion was made to appear yet paler by a light layer of rice-powder applied moist; her eyebrows were slightly arched in a fine black streak; jewelled hairpins were stuck in her glossy chignon and a kenanga-flower in her girdle. over an embroidered garment which, according to the custom of the solo court, was long and trailing in front, she wore a kabaai of red brocade, relieved with gold braid and fastened with three large gems. two stones of fabulous value, moreover, in heavy silver settings, dragged her ears down. she wore light-coloured open-work stockings and gold embroidered slippers. her little thin fingers were stiff with rings, as though set in brilliants; and she held a white marabou fan in her hand. "saja ... saja," she answered, civilly, with her embarrassed little laugh. lã©onie was silent for a moment, tired of carrying on the conversation by herself. when she had spoken to the regent and the raden-aju about their sons she could not find much more to say. van oudijck, after eva had shown him round the galleries--for there was always something new to admire--joined his wife; the regent rose to his feet. "well, regent," asked the resident, in dutch, "how is the raden-aju pangã©ran?" he was enquiring after sunario's mother, the old regent's widow. "very well ... thank you," murmured the regent, in malay. "but mamma didn't come with us ... so old ... easily tired." "i want to speak to you, regent." the regent followed van oudijck into the front verandah, which was empty. "i am sorry to have to tell you that i have just had another bad report of your brother, the regent of ngadjiwa.... i am informed that he has lately been gambling again and has lost large sums of money. do you know anything about it?" the regent shut himself up, as it were, in his puppet-like stiffness and kept silence. only his eyes stared, as though gazing through van oudijck at distant objects. "do you know anything about it, regent?" "tida, no...." "i request you, as head of the family, to look into it and to keep a watch upon your brother. he gambles, he drinks; he does your name no credit, regent. if the old pangã©ran could have guessed that his second son would go to the dogs like this, it would have pained him greatly. he held his name high. he was one of the wisest and noblest regents that the government ever had in java; and you know how greatly the government valued the pangã©ran. even in the company's days, holland owed much to your house, which was always loyal to her. but the times seem to be altering.... it is very regrettable, regent, that an old javanese family with such lofty traditions as yours should be unable to remain faithful to those traditions...." raden adipati surio sunario turned pale with a greenish pallor. his hypnotic eyes pierced the resident through; but he saw that the latter too was boiling with anger. and he veiled the strange glitter of his gaze with a drowsy weariness. "i thought, resident, that you had always felt an affection for my house," he murmured, almost plaintively. "and you thought right, regent. i loved the pangã©ran. i have always admired your house and have always tried to uphold it. i want to uphold it still, together with yourself, regent, hoping that you see not only, as your reputation suggests, the things of the next world, but also the realities about you. but it is your brother, regent, whom i do not love and cannot possibly esteem. i have been told--and i can trust the words of those who told me--that the regent of ngadjiwa has not only been gambling ... but also that he has failed this month to pay the heads at ngadjiwa their salaries...." they looked at each other fixedly; and van oudijck's firm and steady glance met the regent's gaze, the gaze of a man in a trance. "the persons who act as your informants may be mistaken...." "i am assuming that they would not bring me such reports without the most incontestable certainty.... regent, this is a very delicate matter. i repeat, you are the head of your family. enquire of your younger brother to what extent he has misapplied the money of the government and make it all good as soon as possible. i am purposely leaving the matter to you. i will not speak to your brother about it, in order to spare a member of your family as long as i can. it is for you to admonish your brother, to call his attention to what in my eyes is a crime, but one which you, by your prestige as the head of the family, are still able to undo. forbid him to gamble and order him to master his passion. otherwise i foresee very grievous things and i shall have to propose your brother's dismissal. you yourself know how i should dislike to do that. for the regent of ngadjiwa is the second son of the old pangã©ran, whom i held in high esteem, even as i should always wish to spare your mother, the raden-aju pangã©ran, any sorrow." "i thank you," murmured sunario. "reflect seriously upon what i am saying to you, regent. if you cannot make your brother listen to reason, if the salaries of the heads are not paid at the earliest possible date, then ... then i shall have to act. and, if my warning is of no avail, then it means your brother's ruin. you yourself know, the dismissal of a regent is such a very exceptional thing that it would bring disgrace upon your family. help me to save the house of the adiningrats from such a fate." "i promise," murmured the regent. "give me your hand, regent." van oudijck pressed the thin fingers of the javanese: "can i trust you?" he asked. "in life, in death." "then let us go indoors. and tell me as soon as possible what you have discovered." the regent bowed. a greenish pallor betrayed the silent, secret rage which was working inside him like the fire of a volcano. his eyes, behind van oudijck's back, stabbed with a mysterious hatred at the hollander, the low-born hollander, the base commoner, the infidel christian, who had no business to feel anything, with that unclean soul of his, concerning him, his house, his father, his mother, or their supremely sacred aristocracy and nobility ... even though they had always bowed beneath the yoke of those who were stronger than they.... chapter nine "i have counted on your staying to dinner," said eva. "of course," replied van helderen, the controller, and his wife. the reception--not a reception, as eve always said in self-defence--was nearly over: the van oudijcks had been the first to go; the regent followed. the eldersmas were left with their little band of intimates: dr. rantzow and doorn de bruijn, the senior engineer, with their wives, and the van helderens. they sat down in the front verandah with a certain sense of relief and rocked comfortably to and fro. whiskies-and-soda and glasses of lemonade, with great lumps of ice in them, were handed round. "always chock full, reception at eva's," said mrs. van helderen. "fuller than other day at resident's...." ida van helderen was the type of the white-skinned half-caste. she always tried to behave in a very european fashion, to talk dutch nicely; she even pretended to speak bad malay and not to care for native dishes. she was short and plump all over; she was very white, a dead white, with big, black, astonished eyes. she was full of little mysterious fads and hatreds and affections; all her actions were the result of mysterious little impulses. sometimes she hated eva, sometimes she doted on her. she was absolutely unreliable; her every action, her every movement, her every word might be a surprise. she was always in love, tragically. she took all her little affairs very tragically, on a very large and serious scale, with not the least sense of proportion, and then unbosomed herself to eva, who laughed and comforted her. her husband, the controller, had never been in holland: he had been educated entirely in batavia, at the william iii. college and the indian department. and he was very strange to see, this creole, apparently quite european, tall, fair and pale, with his fair moustache, his blue eyes, expressing animation and interest, and his manners, which displayed a finer courtesy than could be found in the smartest circles of europe, but with not a vestige of india in thought, speech or dress. he would speak of paris and vienna as though he had spent years in both capitals, whereas he had never been out of java; he was mad on music, although he found it difficult to appreciate wagner, at least as eva played him; and his great illusion was that he must really go to europe on leave next year, to see the paris exhibition. [7] there was a wonderful distinction, an innate style about young van helderen, as though he were not the offspring of european parents who had always lived in india, as though he were a foreigner from an unknown country, of a nationality which you could not place at once. his accent barely betrayed a certain softness, resulting from the climate; he spoke dutch so correctly that it would have sounded almost stiff amid the slovenly slang of the mother-country; and he spoke french, english and german with greater facility than most dutchmen. perhaps he owed to a french mother that exotic and courtly politeness, so innate, pleasant and natural. in his wife, who was also of french extraction, springing from a creole family in rã©union, this exoticism had become a mysterious medley which had never developed beyond a sort of childishness and a jumble of petty emotions and petty passions, while she tried, with those great, sombre eyes of hers, to read tragedy into her life, though she did no more than just dip into it as into an ill-written magazine-story. she now imagined herself to be in love with the senior engineer, the oldest of the little band, a man already turning grey, with a black beard; and, in her tragic fashion, she pictured scenes with mrs. doorn de bruijn, a stout, placid, melancholy woman. dr. rantzow and his wife were germans: he fat, fair-haired, vulgar, pot-bellied; she, with a serene german face, pleasant and matronly, talking dutch vivaciously with a german accent. this was the little clique over which eva eldersma reigned. in addition to frans van helderen the controller, it consisted of quite ordinary indian and european elements, people without artistic sense, as eva said; but she had no other choice at labuwangi, and therefore she amused herself with ida's little tragedies and made the best of the others. onno, her husband, tired as usual with his work, did not join much in the conversation, sat and listened. "how long was mrs. van oudijck at batavia?" asked ida. "two months," said the doctor's wife. "a very long visit, this time." "i hear," said mrs. doorn de bruijn, placid, melancholy and quietly venomous, "that this time one member of council, one head of a department and three young business-men kept mrs. van oudijck amused at batavia." "and i can assure you people," said the doctor, "that, if mrs. van oudijck did not go to batavia regularly, she would miss a beneficial cure, even though she takes it on her own and not ... by my prescription." "let us speak no evil!" eva interrupted, almost entreatingly. "mrs. van oudijck is beautiful--with a tranquil junoesque beauty and the eyes of a venus--and i can forgive anything to beautiful people about me. and you, doctor," threatening him with her finger, "mustn't betray professional secrets. you doctors, in india, are often far too outspoken about your patients' secrets. when i'm unwell, it's never anything but a headache. will you make a careful note of that, doctor?" "the resident seems preoccupied," said doorn de bruijn. "could he know ... about his wife?" asked ida, sombrely, her great eyes filled with black velvet tragedy. "the resident is often like that," said frans van helderen. "he has his moods. sometimes he's pleasant, cheerful, jovial, as he was lately, on circuit. then again he has his gloomy days, working, working and working and grumbling that nobody does any work except himself." "my poor, unappreciated onno!" sighed eva. "i believe he's overworking himself," said van helderen. "labuwangi is a tremendously busy district. and the resident takes things too much to heart, both in his own house and outside, in his relations with his son and his relations with the regent." "i should sack the regent," said the doctor. "but, doctor," said van helderen, "you know enough about conditions in java to know that things can't be done just like that. the regent and his family are closely identified with labuwangi and too highly considered by the population...." "yes, i know the dutch policy. the english in british india deal with their indian princes in a more arbitrary and high-handed fashion. the dutch treat them much too gently." "the question might arise which of the two policies is the better in the long run," said van helderen, drily, hating to hear a foreigner disparage anything in a dutch colony. "fortunately, we know nothing here of the continual poverty and famine that prevail in british india." "i saw the resident speaking very seriously to the regent," said doorn de bruijn. "the resident is too susceptible," said van helderen. "he allows himself to be greatly dejected by the gradual decline of this old javanese family, which is doomed to go under, though he'd like to hold it up.... the resident, cool and practical though he may be, is a bit of a romantic in this, though he might refuse to admit it. but he remembers the adiningrats' glorious past, he remembers that last fine figure, the noble old pangã©ran, and he compares him with his sons, the one a fanatic, the other a gambler...." "i think our regent--not the ngadjiwa one: he's a coolie--delightful!" said eva. "he's a living figure out of a puppet-show. except his eyes: they frighten me. what terrible eyes! sometimes they're asleep and sometimes they're like a maniac's. but he is so refined, so distinguished! and the raden-aju too is an exquisite little doll: 'saja ... saja!' she says nothing, but she looks very decorative. i'm always glad when they adorn my at-home day and i miss them when they're not there. and the old raden-aju pangã©ran, grey-haired, dignified, a queen...." "a gambler of the first water," said eldersma. "they gamble away all they possess," said van helderen, "she and the regent of ngadjiwa. they're no longer rich. the old pangã©ran used to have splendid insignia of rank for state occasions, magnificent lances, a jewelled betel-box, spittoons--useful objects, those!--of priceless value. the old raden-aju has gambled them all away. i doubt if she has anything left but her pension: two hundred and forty guilders a month, i believe. and how our regent manages to keep all his cousins, male and female, in the kabupaten, [8] according to the javanese custom, is beyond me." "what custom is that?" asked the doctor. "every regent collects his whole family around him like parasites, clothes them, feeds them, provides them with pocket-money ... and the natives think it dignified and smart." "sad ... that ruined greatness!" said ida, gloomily. a boy came to announce dinner and they went to the back verandah and sat down to table. "and what have you in prospect for us, mevrouwtje?" asked the senior engineer. "what are the plans? labuwangi has been very quiet lately." "it's really terrible," said eva. "if i hadn't all of you, it would be terrible. if i weren't always planning something and having ideas, it would be terrible, this living at labuwangi. my husband doesn't feel it; he works, as all you men do: what else is there to do in india but work, regardless of the heat? but for us women! what a life, if we didn't find our happiness purely in ourselves, in our home, in our friends ... when we have the good fortune to possess those friends! nothing from the outside. not a picture, not a statue to look at; no music to listen to. don't be cross, van helderen. you play the 'cello charmingly, but nobody in india can keep up to date. the italian opera plays il trovatore. the amateur companies--and they're really first-rate at batavia--play ... il trovatore. and you, van helderen ... don't object. i saw you in an ecstasy when the italian company from surabaya were here lately, at the club, playing ... il trovatore. you were enchanted." "there were some beautiful voices among them." "but twenty years ago, they tell me, even then people were enchanted with ... il trovatore. oh, it's terrible! sometimes, suddenly, it crushes me. sometimes, all of a sudden, i feel that i have not grown used to india and that i never shall; and i began to long for europe, for life!" "but eva," eldersma began, in alarm, dreading lest she should really go home one day, leaving him alone in what would then be his utterly joyless working-life at labuwangi: "sometimes you do appreciate india: your house, the pleasant, spacious life...." "materially...." "and don't you appreciate your own work--i mean the many things which you are able to do here?" "what? getting up parties? arranging theatricals?" "it's you who are the real rezidente [9]," said ida, gushingly. "thank goodness, we're coming back to mrs. van oudijck," said mrs. doom de bruijn, teasingly. "and to professional secrecy," said dr. rantzow. "no," sighed eva, "we want something new. dances, parties, picnics, trips into the mountains ... we've exhausted all that. i know nothing more. the indian depression's coming over me. i'm in one of my dejected moods. those brown faces of my 'boys' around me suddenly strike me as uncanny. india frightens me at times. do none of you feel the same? a vague dread, a mystery in the air, something menacing.... i don't know what it is. the evenings are sometimes so full of mystery and there is something mysterious in the character of the native, who is so remote from us, who differs from us so...." "artistic feelings," said van helderen, chaffingly. "no, i don't feel like that. india is my country." "you type!" said eva, chaffing him in return. "what makes you what you are, so curiously european? i can't call it dutch." "my mother was a frenchwoman." "but, after all, you're a creole: born here, brought up here.... and you have nothing of a creole about you. i think it's wonderful to have met you: i like you as a change.... help me, can't you? suggest something new. not a dance, not a trip into the mountains. i want something new. else i shall get a craving for my father's paintings, for my mother's singing, for our beautiful, artistic house at the hague. if i don't have something new, i shall die. i'm not like your wife, van helderen, always in love." "eva!" ida entreated. "tragically in love, with her beautiful, sombre eyes. always, first with her husband and then with somebody else. i am never in love. not even any longer with my husband. he is ... with me. but i have not an erotic temperament. there's a great deal of love-making in india, isn't there, doctor?... well, we've ruled out dances, excursions into the mountains and love-making. what then, in heaven's name, what then?" "i know of something," said mrs. doorn de bruijn; and a sudden anxiety came over her placid melancholy. she gave a side-glance at mrs. rantzow; the german woman grasped her meaning. "what is it?" asked the others, eagerly. "table-turning," whispered the two ladies. there was a general laugh. "oh dear!" sighed eva, disappointed. "a trick, a joke, an evening's amusement. no, i want something that will fill my life for at least a month." "table-turning," repeated mrs. rantzow. "listen to me," said mrs. doorn de bruijn. "the other day, for a joke, we tried making a gipsy-table turn. we all promised not to cheat. the table ... moved, spelt out words, tapping them out by the alphabet." "but was there no cheating?" asked the doctor, eldersma and van helderen. "you'll have to trust us," declared the two ladies, in self-defence. "all right," said eva. "we've finished dinner. let's have some table-turning." "we must all promise not to cheat," said mrs. rantzow. "i can see that my husband will be ... antipathetic. but ida ... a great medium." they rose. "must we have the lights out?" asked eva. "no," said mrs. doorn de bruijn. "an ordinary gipsy-table?" "a three-legged wooden table." "the eight of us?" "no, we must begin by choosing: for instance, yourself, eva, ida, van helderen, and mrs. rantzow. the doctor's antipathetic; so is eldersma. de bruijn and i will relieve you." "fire away, then!" said eva. "a new diversion for labuwangi society. and no cheating...." "we must give one another our word of honour, as friends, not to cheat." "done!" they all said. the doctor sniggered. eldersma shrugged his shoulders. a boy brought a gipsy-table. they sat round the little wooden table and placed their fingers on it lightly, looking at one another expectantly and suspiciously. mrs. rantzow was solemn, eva amused, ida sombre, van helderen smilingly indifferent. suddenly a strained expression came over ida's beautiful half-caste face. the table quivered.... they exchanged frightened glances; the doctor sniggered. then slowly, the table tilted one of its three legs and carefully put it down again. "did anybody move?" asked eva. they all shook their heads. ida had turned pale. "i feel a trembling in my fingers," she murmured. the table once more tilted its leg, described an angry, grating semicircle over the marble floor and put its leg down with a violent stamp. they looked at one another in surprise. ida sat as though bereft of life, staring, with fingers outspread, ecstatically. and the table tilted its leg for the third time. it was certainly very curious. eva doubted for a moment whether mrs. rantzow was lifting the table, but, when she questioned her with a glance, the german doctor's wife shook her head and eva saw that she was playing fair. they once more promised absolute honesty. and, when they were now certain of one another, in full confidence, it was most curious how the table continued to describe angry, grating semicircles, tilting one leg and tapping on the marble floor. "is there a spirit present, revealing itself?" asked mrs. rantzow, with a glance at the leg of the table. the table tapped once: "yes." but, when the spirit was asked to spell its name, to tap out the letters of its name by the letters of the alphabet, all that came was: "z x r s a." the manifestation was incomprehensible. suddenly, however, the table began spelling hurriedly, as though it had something at its heels. the taps were counted and spelt: "lã© ... onie ou ... dijck...." "what about mrs. van oudijck?" a coarse word followed. the ladies started, excepting ida, who sat as though in a trance. "the table has spoken.... what did it say?... what is mrs. van oudijck?" cried the voices, all speaking at once. "it's incredible!" murmured eva. "are we all playing fair?" they all protested their honesty. "let us really be honest, else there's no fun in it.... i wish i could be certain." they all wished that: mrs. rantzow, ida, van helderen, eva. the others looked on eagerly, believing; but the doctor did not believe and sat sniggering. again the table grated angrily and tapped: and the leg began to spell, "a...," and repeated the coarse word. "why?" asked mrs. rantzow. the table began to tap. "write it down, onno!" said eva to her husband. eldersma fetched a pencil and paper and wrote the message down. three names followed: one of a member of council, one of a departmental head, and one of a young business-man. "when people aren't backbiting in india, the tables begin to backbite!" said eva. "the spirits," murmured ida. "they are generally mocking spirits," said mrs. rantzow, didactically. but the table went on tapping. "write it down, onno!" said eva. eldersma wrote it down. "a-d-d-i-e!" the leg tapped out. "no!" the voices all cried together, in vehement denial. "this time the table's mistaken!... at least, young de luce has never yet been mentioned in connection with mrs. van oudijck." "t-h-e-o!" said the table, correcting itself. "her step-son!... it's terrible!... that's different!... everybody knows that!" cried the voices in assent. "yes, we know that!" said mrs. rantzow, with a glance at the leg of the table. "come, tell us something that we don't know. come, table! come, spirit! please!..." she addressed the table-leg in coaxing, wheedling accents. everybody laughed. the table grated. "be serious!" mrs. doorn de bruijn said, in warning. the table bounced down on ida's lap. "oh my!" cried the pretty half-caste, waking out of her trance. "right against my stomach!" they laughed and laughed. the table turned round fiercely and they rose from their chairs, with their hands on the table, and accompanied its angry, waltzing movements. "next ... year ..." the table rapped out. eldersma wrote it down. "frightful ... war." "between whom?" "europe ... and ... china." "it sounds like a fairy-tale!" grinned the doctor. "la-bu-wangi," tapped the table. "what about it?" they asked. "is ... a ... beastly ... hole...." "say something serious, table, do!" mrs. rantzow implored, pleasantly, in her best german-matron manner. "dan ... ger," the table tapped out. "where?" "threat ... ens," the table continued, "la-bu-wangi." "danger threatens labuwangi?" "yes!" said the table, with one tap, angrily. "what danger?" "rebellion." "rebellion? who's going to rebel?" "in ... two months ... sunario." they became thoughtful. but the table, suddenly, unexpectedly, fell over again into ida's lap. "oh my! oh dear!" cried the little woman. the table refused to go on. "tired," it tapped out. they continued to hold their hands on it. "leave off," said the table. the doctor, sniggering, laid his short, broad hand on it, as though to compel it. "go to blazes!" cried the table, grating and turning. "bounder!" and worse words followed, aimed at the doctor, as though by a street-boy: obscene words, senseless and incoherent. "who's suggesting those words?" asked eva, indignantly. obviously no one was suggesting them, neither the three ladies nor van helderen, who was always very punctilious and who was manifestly indignant at the mocking spirit's coarseness. "it really is a spirit," said ida, looking very pale. "i'm going to leave off," said eva, nervously, lifting up her fingers. "i don't understand this nonsense. it's quite amusing, but the table's not accustomed to polite society." "we've got a new resource for labuwangi!" said eldersma. "no more picnics, no dances ... but table-turning!" "we must practise!" said mrs. doorn de bruijn. eva shrugged her shoulders. "it's inexplicable," she said. "i'm bound to believe that none of us was cheating. it's not the sort of thing van helderen would do, to suggest such words as those." "madam!" said van helderen, defending himself. "we must do it again," said ida. "look, there's a hadji leaving the grounds." she pointed to the garden. "a hadji?" asked eva. she looked towards the garden, expecting to see a mecca pilgrim. there was nothing. "oh no, it's not!" said ida. "i thought it was a hadji. it's nothing, only the moonlight." it was late. they said good-night, laughing gaily, wondering, but finding no explanation. "i do hope this hasn't made you ladies nervous?" said the doctor. no, considering all things, they were not nervous. they were more amused, even though they did not understand. it was two o'clock when they went home. the moonlight was streaming down on the town, which lay deathly still, slumbering in the velvet shadows of the gardens. chapter ten next day, when eldersma had gone to the office and eva was moving about the house, in sarong and kabaai, on her domestic duties, she saw frans van helderen coming through the garden. "may i?" he called out. "certainly," she called back. "come in. but i'm on my way to the godown." and she held up her bunch of keys. "i'm due at the resident's in half an hour, but i'm too early ... so i just looked in." she smiled. "but i'm busy, you know!" she said. "come along to the godown with me." he followed her; he was wearing a black alpaca jacket, because he had to go to the resident presently. "how's ida?" asked eva. "did she sleep well after her sã©ance of last night?" "only fairly well," said frans van helderen. "i don't think she ought to do any more. she kept waking with a start, falling on my neck and begging me to forgive her, i don't know what for." "it didn't upset me at all," said eva, "though i don't understand it in the least." she opened the godown, called the cook and gave the woman her orders. the cook was latta; [10] and eva loved teasing the old thing. "la ... la-illa-lala!" she cried. and the cook gave a start and echoed the cry and recovered herself the next moment, begging for forgiveness. "throw down, cook, throw down!" cried eva, in malay. and the cook, acting on the suggestion, flung down a tray of litchis and mangosteens and, at once recovering, stooped and picked up the scattered fruits from the floor, imploring to be forgiven and shaking her head and clicking her tongue. "come, we'd better go!" said eva to frans. "else she'll be breaking my eggs presently. "out of this, cook, outside!" "out of this, outside!" echoed the latta cook. "oh, mem sahib, beg pardon, mem sahib, oh, enough, enough, mem sahib!" "come and sit down for a little," said eva to van helderen. he went with her: "you're so cheerful," he said. "aren't you?" "no, i've been feeling sad, lately." "i too. i told you so yesterday. it's something in the labuwangi air. there's no telling what this table-turning has in store for us." they sat down in the back verandah. he sighed. "what's the matter?" she asked. "i can't help it," he said. "i care for you so. i love you." she was silent for an instant. "again?" she then said, reproachfully. he did not answer. "i have told you, mine is not a passionate nature. i am cold. i love my husband and my child. let's be friends, van helderen." "i'm fighting against it; but it's no use." "i'm fond of ida; i wouldn't make her unhappy for the world." "i don't believe i was ever fond of her." "van helderen!..." "if i was, it was only for her pretty face. but white though ida may be, she's a half-caste ... with her whimsies and her childish little tragedies. i didn't see it so much at first, but i see it now, of course. i'd met women from europe before i met you. but you were a revelation to me, a revelation of all the charm and artistic grace that a woman can possess.... and the exotic side in you appeals to my own exotic side." "i value your friendship highly. let things remain as they are." "sometimes it's just as though i were mad, sometimes i dream ... that we're travelling in europe together, that we're in italy or paris. sometimes i see us sitting together over a fire, in a room of our own, you talking of art, i of the modern, social developments of our time. but, after that, i see us together ... more intimately...." "van helderen!..." "it's no longer any use your warning me. i love you, eva, eva...." "i don't believe there's another country where there's so much love going about as in india! i suppose it's the heat...." "don't crush me with your sarcasm. no other woman ever made such an appeal to my whole soul and body as you do, eva...." she shrugged her shoulders: "don't be angry, van helderen, but i can't stand these commonplaces. let us be sensible. i have a charming husband, you have a dear little wife. we're all good, pleasant friends together." "you're so cold!" "i don't want to spoil the happiness of our friendship." "friendship!" "friendship is what i said. there is nothing i value so highly, except my domestic happiness. i couldn't live without friends. i am happy in my husband and my child; next to these i need friends, above all things." "so that they can admire you, so that you can rule over them!" said he, angrily. she looked him in the face: "perhaps," she said, coolly. "perhaps i have a need of admiration and of ruling over others. we all have our weaknesses." "i have mine," he said, bitterly. "come," she said, in a kinder tone, "let us remain friends." "i am terribly unhappy," he said, in a dull voice. "i feel as if i had missed everything in life. i have never been out of java and i feel there's something lacking in me because i have never seen ice and snow. snow: i think of it as a sort of mysterious unknown purity, which i long for, but which i never seem to meet. when shall i see europe? when shall i cease to rave about il trovatore and manage to visit bayreuth? when shall i come within range of you, eva? i'm feeling for everything with my antennã¦, like a wingless insect.... what is my life?... with ida, with three children, whom i foresee growing up like their mother!... i shall remain controller for years and then--possibly--be promoted to assistant-resident ... and so remain. and then at last i shall receive my dismissal--or ask for it--and go to sukabumi to live, to vegetate on a small pension. i feel everything in me longing for idleness...." "you like your work, for all that; you're a first-rate official. eldersma always says that in india a man who doesn't work and who doesn't love his work is lost." "your nature is not made for love and mine is not made for work: not for that and nothing else. i can work for an aim that i see before me, a beautiful aim; but i can't work ... just for work's sake and to fill the emptiness in my life." "your aim is india...." "a fine phrase," he said. "it may be so for a man like the resident, who has succeeded in his career and who never has to sit studying the colonial list and calculating on the illness of this man or the death of that ... so that he may get promoted. it's all right for a man like van oudijck, who, in his genuine, honest idealism, thinks that his aim is india, not because of holland, but because of india herself, because of the native whom he, the official, protects against the tyranny of the landlords and planters. i am more cynical by nature...." "but don't be so lukewarm about india. it's not merely a fine phrase: i feel like that myself. india is our whole greatness, the greatness of us hollanders. listen to foreigners speaking of india: they are all enchanted with her glory, with our methods of colonization.... don't have anything to do with the wretched dutch spirit of our people at home, who know nothing about india, who always have a sneering word for india, who are so petty and stiff and bourgeois and narrow-minded...." "i didn't know that you were so enthusiastic about india. only yesterday you were full of wretched anxieties, and i was standing up for my country...." "oh, it gives me a sort of shudder, the mystery in the evenings, when something seems to threaten i don't know what! i'm afraid of the future; there's danger ahead of us!... i feel that i, personally, am still very remote from india, though i don't want to be; that i miss the art amid which i was educated; that i miss here, in our everyday life, the plastic beauty which both my parents always pointed out to me.... but i am not unjust. and i think that india, as our colony, is great; i think that we, in our colony, are great...." "formerly, perhaps it was so. nowadays, everything is going wrong; nowadays, we are no longer great. you have an artistic nature; you are always looking for artistic perfection in india, though you seldom find it. and then your mind is confronted with that greatness, that glory. that's the poetry of it. the prose of it is a gigantic but exhausted colony, still governed from holland with one idea: the pursuit of gain. the reality is not an india under a great ruler, but an india under a petty, mean-souled blood-sucker; the country sucked dry; and the real population--not the hollander, who spends his indian money at the hague, but the population, the native population, attached to the native soil--oppressed by the disdain of its overlord, who once improved it with his own blood, and now threatening to revolt against this oppression and disdain.... you, as an artist, feel the danger approaching, vaguely, like a cloud in the sky, in the indian night; i see the danger as something very real, something rising--before holland--if not from america and japan, then out of the soil of india herself...." she smiled: "i like you when you talk like this," she said. "i should end by falling in with your views." "if i could achieve that by talking!" he laughed, bitterly, getting up. "my half hour is over: the resident is expecting me and he doesn't like waiting a minute. goodbye ... and forgive me." "tell me," she said, "am i a flirt?" "no," he replied. "you are what you are. and i can't help it: i love you.... i am always stretching out my poor antennã¦. that is my fate...." "i shall help you to forget me," said she, with affectionate conviction. he gave a little laugh, bowed and went away. she saw him cross the road to the grounds of the resident's house, where a messenger met him. "really life, when all is said, is one long self-deception, a wandering amid illusions," she thought, sadly, drearily. "a great aim, an universal aim ... or even a modest aim for one's self, for one's own body and soul: o god, how little it all is! and how we roam about, knowing nothing! and each of us seeks his own little aim, his illusion. the only happy people are merely exceptions, like lã©onie van oudijck, who lives no more than a beautiful flower does, or a beautiful animal." her child came toddling up to her, a pretty, fair-haired, plump little boy. "sonny," she thought, "how will it be with you? what will be your portion? oh, perhaps nothing new! perhaps a repetition of what has so often been before. life is a story which is always being repeated.... oh, when we feel like this, how oppressive india can be!..." she kissed her boy; her tears trickled over his fair curls. "van oudijck has his residency; i my little circle of ... admirers and subjects; frans his love ... for me: we all have our playthings, just like my little onno playing with his little horse. how small we are, how small!... all our lives we make believe, pretending, imagining all sorts of things, thinking that we are giving a path or a direction to our poor, aimless little lives. oh, why am i like this, sonny? sonny, sonny, how will it be with you?" chapter eleven the patjaram sugar-factory was fourteen miles from labuwangi and twelve from ngadjiwa and belonged to the half-eurasian, half-solo family of de luce, a family who had once been millionaires, but were no longer so very well off, owing to the recent sugar-crisis, though they still supported a numerous household. this family, which always kept together--the old mother and grandmother, a solo princess; the eldest son, the manager; three married daughters and their husbands, clerks in the factory, all living in its shadow; three younger sons employed in the factory; the many grandchildren, playing round and about the factory; the great-grandchildren springing up round and about the factory--this family maintained the old indian traditions which, at one time universal, are now becoming rarer, thanks to the more frequent intercourse with europeans. the mother and grandmother was the daughter of a solo prince and had married a young and enterprising bohemian adventurer, ferdinand de luce, a member of a french titled family of mauritius, who, after wandering about for many years in search of his place in the sun, had sailed to india as a ship's steward, and, after all sorts of vicissitudes, had found himself stranded in solo, where he achieved fame by means of a dish prepared with tomatoes and another consisting of stuffed chilies. thanks to these recipes, ferdinand de luce won the favour of the solo princess, whose hand he afterwards obtained, and even that of the old susuhunan. after his marriage he became a landowner, and, according to the national usage, a vassal of the susuhunan of solo, whom he supplied daily with rice and fruits for the household of the palace. then he had launched out into sugar, divining the millions which a lucky fate held in store for him. he had died before the crisis, laden with wealth and honours. the old grandmother, in whom there was not a trace left of the young princess whom ferdinand de luce had wedded to promote his fortunes, was never approached by the servants or the javanese staff save with a cringing reverence; and everybody gave her the title of raden-aju pangã©ran. she did not speak a word of dutch. wrinkled like a shrivelled fruit, with her clouded eyes and her withered, betel-stained mouth, she was peacefully living her last years, always dressed in a dark silk kabaai, the neck and the light sleeves of which were fastened with precious stones. before her sun-bitten gaze there hovered the vision of her former palace grandeur, which she had abandoned for love of that french nobleman-cook who had pandered to her father's taste with his dainty recipes; in her ears buzzed the constant murmur of the centrifugal separators, like the thrashing of screw propellers, throughout the milling-season, which lasted for months on end; around her were her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren: the sons and daughters addressed as raden and raden-adjeng by the servants; all of them still surrounded by the pale halo of their solo descent. the eldest daughter was married to a full-blooded, fair-haired dutchman; the son who followed her to an armenian girl; the two others were married to eurasians, both brown; and their brown children--who were also married and also had children--mingled with the fair-haired family of the eldest daughter; and the pride of the whole family was the youngest son and brother, adrien, or addie, who made love to doddie van oudijck and who was constantly at labuwangi, the busy milling-season notwithstanding. in this family, traditions were still maintained, now quite obsolete, such as people remembered in the indian families of long ago. here you still saw, in the grounds, in the back verandah, the numberless babus, [11] one grinding rice into a fine face-powder, another preparing incense, another pounding diverse condiments, all with dreamy eyes, all with slender, nimbly-moving fingers. here the habit still prevailed of an endless array of dishes at lunch, with a long row of servants, one after the other, solemnly handing round one more vegetable, one more sauce, one more dish of chicken, while, squatting behind the ladies, the babus pounded each a different condiment in an earthenware mortar, according to the several tastes and requirements of the sated palates. here it was still the custom, when the family attended the races at ngadjiwa, for each of the ladies to appear followed by a babu, moving slowly, lithely, solemnly; one babu carrying a betel-pot, another a bonbonniã¨re filled with peppermints, or a pair of race-glasses, or a fan, or a scent-bottle; the whole resembling a ceremonial procession bearing the insignia of state. here, too, you still found the old-fashioned hospitality: the row of spare-rooms open to any one who cared to knock; here all could stay as long as they pleased; no one was asked the object of his journey or the date of his departure. a great simplicity of mind, an all-embracing, spontaneous, innate cordiality prevailed, together with an unbounded weariness and tedium, a life of no ideas and but few words, the ready, gentle smile making good the lack of both; a material life, full and sated: a life of cool drinks and native pastry and fruit-salad handed round all day, three babus being specially appointed to make fruit-salad and pastry. any number of animals were scattered over the estate: there was a cage full of monkeys; a few lories; dogs, cats, some tame squirrels and an exquisite little dwarf deer, which ran about loose. the house, built on to the factory, quaking all through the milling-season with the noise of machinery--like the throbs of screw propellers--was spacious and furnished with the old, old-fashioned furniture: the low wooden bedsteads with four carved bed-posts hung with curtains; the heavy-legged tables; the rocking-chairs with peculiarly round backs: all things which are now no longer obtainable; nothing that betrayed the least touch of modernity, except--and this only during the milling-season--the electric light in the front verandah! the occupants were always in indoor dress: the men in white or blue-and-white striped pyjamas; the ladies in sarong and kabaai, toying with a monkey or a lory or a doe, in simplicity of mind, with ever the same pleasant jest, drawling and drowsy, and the same gentle little laugh. the passions, which were certainly there, slumbered in that gentle smile. then, when the milling-season was over; when all the bustle was over; when the files of sugar-carts, drawn by the superb oxen, with glossy brown hides, had brought an ever-increasing store of canes over the fibre-covered road, which was cut to pieces by the broad cart-ruts; when the seed had been bought for next year and the machines were stopped: then came the sudden relaxation after the incessant labour, the long, long holiday, the many months' rest, the craving for festivity and enjoyment; the big dinner given by the lady of the house, followed by a ball and tableaux-vivants; the whole house full of visitors, who stayed on and on, known and unknown; the old, wrinkled grandmamma, the landowner, the raden-aju, mrs. de luce, whatever you liked to call her, always amiable, with her dull eyes and her betel-stained mouth, amiable to one and all, with always an anak-mas, a "golden child," a poor little adopted princess at her heels, carrying a gold betel-box behind the great princess from solo: a slender little woman of eight years old, her front hair cut into a fringe, her forehead whitened with moist rice-powder, her already rounded little breasts confined in the little pink silk kabaai, with the miniature gold sarong round the slender hips; a doll, a toy for the raden-aju, for mrs. de luce, for the dowager de luce. and for the compounds there were the popular rejoicings, a time-honoured lavishness, in which all patjaram shared, according to the age-old tradition which was always observed, despite any crisis or unrest. the milling-season and the rejoicings were now over. there was comparative peace indoors; and a languorous indian calm had set in. but mrs. van oudijck, theo and doddie had come over for the festivities and were staying on a few days longer at patjaram. a great circle of people sat round the marble table covered with glasses of syrup, lemonade and whisky-and-soda; they did not speak much, but rocked luxuriously, exchanging an occasional word. mrs. de luce and mrs. van oudijck spoke malay, but were not talkative. a gentle, good-humoured boredom drifted down on all these rocking people. it was strange to see the different types: the pretty, milk-white lã©onie beside the yellow, wrinkled raden-aju-dowager; theo, pale and fair as a dutchman, with his full, sensual lips, which he inherited from his half-caste mother; doddie, already looking like a ripe rose, with the sparkling irises and black pupils of her black eyes; the manager's son, achille de luce, brown, tall and stout, whose thoughts ran only on his machinery and his seed; the second son, roger, brown, short and thin, the book-keeper, whose thoughts ran only on the year's profits, with his little armenian wife; the eldest daughter, old already, brown, stupidly ugly, with her full-blooded dutch husband, who looked like a peasant; the other sons and daughters, in every shade of brown, not easily to be distinguished one from the other; around them the children, the grandchildren, the little, golden-skinned adopted children, the babus, the lories and the dwarf deer; and over all these people and children and animals, as though shaken down upon them, lay a good-hearted solidarity; and over all these people there also lay a common pride in their solo ancestors, crowning all their heads with a pale halo of javanese aristocracy; and the armenian daughter-in-law and the bucolic dutch son-in-law were not least proud of this descent. the liveliest of all these elements, which were melting into one another, as it were, through long communal life under the patriarchal roofs, was the youngest son, adrien de luce, addie, in whom the blood of the solo princess and that of the french adventurer had blended harmoniously. the admixture, it is true, had given him no brains, but it had given him the physical beauty of a young eurasian, with something of the moor about it, something southern and seductive, something spanish, as though in this last child the two alien racial elements had for the first time mingled harmoniously, for the first time been wedded in absolute mutual sympathy; as though in him, this last child after so many children, adventurer and princess had for the first time met in harmony. addie seemed to possess not a jot of intellect or imagination; he was unable to unite two ideas into one composite thought; he merely felt, with the vague good-nature which had descended upon the whole family. for the rest, he was like a beautiful animal, degenerating in soul and brain, but degenerating into nothing, to a great nullity, to one great emptiness, while his body was like a renewal of his race, full of strength and beauty, while his marrow and his blood and his flesh and his muscles were all one harmony of physical seductiveness, so purely, stupidly, beautifully sensual that its harmony had for a woman an immediate appeal. the lad had but to appear, like a beautiful, southern god, for all the women to look at him and take him into the depths of their imagination, to recall him to their minds again and again; the lad had but to go to a race-ball at ngadjiwa for all the girls to fall in love with him. he plucked love where he found it, in plenty, in the patjaram compounds. and everything feminine was in love with him, from his mother to his little nieces. doddie van oudijck was infatuated with him. from a child of seven she had been in love, a hundred times and more, with every one who passed before the glance of her flashing pupils, but never yet as with addie. her love shone so strongly from her whole being that it was like a flame, that everybody saw it and smiled. the milling-feast had been to her one long delight ... when she danced with him; one long martyrdom ... when he danced with others. he had not asked her to marry him, but she thought of asking him and was prepared to die if he refused. she knew that the resident, her father, would object: he did not like those de luces, that solo-french crew, as he called them; but, if addie was willing, her father would consent, rather than see her die. to this child of love that lovable lad was the world, the universe, life itself. he made love to her, he kissed her on the lips, but this was no more than he did to others, unthinkingly; he kissed other girls as well. and, if he could, he went further, like a devastating young god, an unthinking god. but he still stood more or less in awe of the resident's daughter. he possessed neither pluck nor effrontery; his passions were not markedly selective; he looked on a woman as a woman and was so much sated with conquest that obstacles did not stimulate him. his garden was full of flowers which all lifted themselves up to him; he stretched out his hand, almost without looking; he merely plucked. as they sat rocking about the table they saw him come through the garden; and the eyes of all these women turned to him as to a young tempter, arriving in the sunshine, which touched him as with a halo. the raden-aju dowager smiled and gazed at him, enamoured of her son, her favourite; squatting on the ground behind her, the little golden adopted child stared with wide-open eyes; the sisters looked out, the little nieces looked out, and doddie turned pale and lã©onie van oudijck's milky whiteness became tinged with a rosy shade which mingled with the glamour of her smile. she glanced at theo mechanically; their eyes met. and these souls of sheer love, love of the eyes, of the lips, love of the glowing flesh, understood each other; and theo's jealousy of lã©onie blazed so fiercely that the rosy shade died away and she became pale and fearful, with a sudden, unreasoning fear which shuddered through her usual indifference, while the tempter, in his halo of sunshine, came nearer and nearer.... chapter twelve mrs. van oudijck had promised to stay at patjaram a few days longer; and she disliked the prospect, really not feeling quite at home in these old-fashioned indian surroundings. but when addie appeared she thought better of it. in the deepest secrecy of her heart this woman worshipped her sensuality, as in the temple of her egoism: here the milk-white creole offered up all the most intimate dreams of her rosy imagination and unquenchable longing; and in this cult she had achieved as it were an art, a knowledge, a science, that of deciding, for herself, at a glance, what it was that attracted her in the man who approached her, in the man who passed her by. in one it was his bearing, his voice; in another it was the set of his neck on his shoulders; in a third it was the way his hand rested on his knee; but, whatever it was, she saw it directly, at a glance; she knew it immediately, in an instant; she had judged the passer-by in an indivisible moment; and she at once knew those whom she rejected--they were the majority--and those whom she approved--they were many. and the few whom she rejected in that indivisible moment of her supreme judgement, with that single glance, in that single instant, need cherish no hope: she, the priestess, did not admit them to the temple. to the others, the temple was open, but only behind the curtain of her conventionality. however shameless, she was always correct, her love was always secret; to the world, she was nothing but the charming, smiling wife of the resident, a little indolent in her ways, but winning everybody with her smile. when people did not see her, they spoke ill of her; when they saw her, she conquered them at once. among all of those with whom she shared the secret of her love there reigned a certain freemasonry, a mystery of worship; scarcely, when two of them met, would they whisper a word or two, at a similar recollection. and lã©onie could sit smiling, milk-white, tranquil, in the great circle, around the marble table, with at least two or three men who knew her secret. it did not disturb her tranquillity nor mar her smile. she smiled to the pitch of boredom. scarcely would her glance glide from one to the other, while she judged them once again, with her infallible knack of judgement. scarcely would the memories of past hours rise hazily within her, scarcely would she think of the assignation for the following day. the secret lay wholly in the mystery of the meeting and indeed was never uttered before the profane world. if a foot in the circle sought to touch her foot, she drew hers away. she never flirted; she was even sometimes a little tedious, stiff, correct, smiling. in the freemasonry between herself and the initiated she disclosed the mystery; but, before the world, in the circles about the marble tables, she vouchsafed not a glance, not a pressure of the hand or knee. she had been bored during these days at patjaram, for which she had accepted the invitation to the milling-feast because she had refused it in past years; but now that she saw addie approaching she was bored no longer. of course she had known him for years; and she had seen him grow from a child into a boy, into a man; and she had kissed him even as a boy. she had long ago judged him, the tempter. but now, as he came forward with his halo of sunshine, she judged him once more: his comely, slender animalism and the glow of his tempter's eyes in the dusky brown of his young moorish face; the pouting curves of his lips, formed for kissing, with the young down of his moustache; the tigerish strength and litheness of limbs which don juan might have envied: it all dazzled her, made her blink her eyes. as he greeted his mother's visitors and sat down, a volley of wordy gaiety ran round that circle of languid conversation and drowsy thoughts, as though he were casting a handful of his sunshine, of the gold-dust of his temptation over them all, over all those women, mother and sisters and nieces and doddie and lã©onie van oudijck. lã©onie looked at him, as they all looked at him, and her glance fell upon his hands. she could have kissed those hands of his; she suddenly became smitten with the shape of his fingers, with the brown, tigerish strength of the hands themselves: she suddenly became smitten with all the young wild-animal vigour which breathed like a fragrance of manhood from the whole of his boyish frame. she felt her blood throbbing, almost uncontrollably, despite her great art of remaining cool and correct in the circles around the marble tables. but she was no longer bored. she had found an object to fill the next few days. only ... her blood throbbed so violently that theo had noticed her blush and the quivering of her eyelids. enamoured of her as he was, his eyes had penetrated her soul. and, when they rose to go to lunch in the back verandah, where the babus had been squatting, grinding everybody's different admixture of spices with pestles, in little stone mortars, he whispered two words between his teeth: "take care!" she started; she felt that he was threatening her. this had never happened before: all who had shared in the mystery had always respected her. she started so violently, she was so indignant at this wrenching away of the temple-curtain, in a verandah full of people, that her tranquil indifference seethed with anger and she was roused to rebellion in her ever-serene self-mastery. but she looked at him and she saw him broad and tall and fair, a younger edition of her husband, his indian blood showing only in his sensuous mouth; and she did not want to lose him: she wanted to preserve his type beside the type of the moorish tempter. she wanted them both; she wanted to taste the different charm of their respective types, that white-skinned dutch type, so very slightly indian, and addie's wild-animal type. her soul quivered, her blood thrilled, while the long array of dishes was solemnly handed round. she was in a revolt such as she had never experienced before. the awakening from her placid indifference was like a rebirth, like an unknown emotion. she was surprised to remember that she, at thirty, was feeling for the first time. a feverish depravity blossomed up within her, as though bursting into heady crimson flowers. she looked at doddie, sitting beside addie: the poor child, glowing with love, was hardly able to eat.... oh, the tempter, who had only to appear!... and lã©onie, in this fever of depravity, rejoiced at being the rival of a step-daughter so many years younger than herself. she would look after her; she would even warn van oudijck. would it ever come to a match? what did she care: what harm could marriage do to her, lã©onie? oh, the tempter! never had she dreamt of him thus, the supreme lover, in her rosy hours of siesta! this was no charm of little cherubs; this was the stark radiance of tigerish enchantment: the golden glitter of his eyes, the sinewy litheness of his stealthy paw.... and she smiled at theo, with just one glance of self-surrender, a very exceptional thing at the luncheon-table. as a rule she gave nothing of herself in public. now she surrendered herself, for a moment, pleased by his jealousy. she was madly fond of him too. she thought it delightful, that he should look pale and angry with jealousy. and round about her the afternoon was one blaze of sunlight and the hot spices stung her dry palate. faint beads of perspiration stood on her forehead and trickled down her bosom under the lace of her kabaai. and she would fain have clasped them both, theo and addie, in one embrace, in one blending of different lusts, pressing them both to her amorous woman's body.... chapter thirteen the night was like a veil of softest velvet dropping slowly from the heavens. the moon, in its first quarter, displayed a very narrow, horizontal sickle, like a turkish crescent, between whose points the unlit portion of the disk was faintly washed in against the sky. a long avenue of tjemara-trees stretched in front of the house, their trunks straight, their leafage like drawn plush or ravelled velvet, showing like blots of cotton-wool against the clouds, which, drifting low, announced the approaching rainy monsoon fully a month beforehand. wood-pigeons cooed at intervals and a gecko was calling, first with two rattling, preliminary notes, as though tuning up, then with his call of "tokkã¨! tokkã¨!" four or five times repeated: first loudly, then submissively and more faintly. a night watchman, in his hut in front of the house, on the high-road, where the sleeping market-place now showed its empty stalls, struck eleven blows on his hollow block of wood; and as yet one more belated cart drove past, he cried, in a hoarse voice: "who goes there?" the night was like softest velvet dropping slowly from the heavens, like a whirling mystery, like an oppressive menace of the future. but, in that mystery, under the frayed black blots, the ravelled plush of the tjemaras, there was an inexorable incitement to love, in the windless night, like a whisper that this hour should not be wasted.... true, the gecko was gibing like a mocking imp, with a sort of dry humour; and the watchman, with his "who goes there?" startled the hearer; but the wood-pigeons cooed softly and the whole night was like a world of softest velvet, like a great alcove curtained by the plush of the tjemaras, while the distant, sultry rain-clouds, hanging all that month on the horizon, ringed the skies with an oppressive spell. mystery and enchantment hovered through the velvety night, drifting down in the twilit alcove; and at their touch all thought was dissolved; the very soul dissolved, leaving only a warm, sensuous vision.... the gecko fell silent, the watchman dropped asleep; the velvety night reigned like an enchantress crowned with the sickle of the moon. they came walking slowly, two youthful figures, their arms about each other's waists, lips seeking lips under the tyranny of the enchantment. they were as shadows under the drawn velvet of the tjemaras; and softly, in their white garments, they dawned on the beholder like an eternal pair of lovers who are forever and everywhere repeating themselves. and here above all were lovers inevitable, in this enchanted night, were one with the night, conjured up by the all-powerful spell; here they were inevitable, unfolding like a twin flower of predestined love, in the velvet mystery of the compelling heavens. and the tempter seemed to be the son of that night, the son of that inexorable queen of the night, bearing with him the yielding girl. in her ears the night seemed to sing with his voice; and her small soul melted in tender compliance, under these magic powers. she walked on against his side, feeling the warmth of his body sinking into her yearning maidenhood; and she lifted her brimming gaze to him, with the languid light of her sparkling pupils glittering like diamonds in her eyes. he, drunk with the power of the night, the enchantress, who was as his mother, thought first of leading her still farther, no longer conscious of reality, no longer feeling any awe of her or of any one whatever; thought of leading her still farther, past the slumbering watchman, across the high road, into the compound, which lay hidden yonder between the stately plumes of the coco-palms that would form a canopy to their love; of leading her to a hiding-place, a house which he knew, a bamboo hut the door of which would be opened to him ... when suddenly she stopped ... and started ... and gripped his arm and pressed herself still more tightly against him and implored him to go no farther. she was frightened. "why not?" he asked, gently, in his soft voice, which was as deep and velvety as the night. "why not to-night, to-night at last?... there is no danger." but she shuddered and shook and entreated: "addie, addie, no ... no.... i daren't go any farther.... i'm frightened that the watchman will see us ... and then ... there's a hadji walking over there ... in a white turban...." he looked out at the road: on the farther side the kampong lay waiting, under the canopy of the coco-palms, with the bamboo hut whose door would be opened to him. "a hadji?... where, doddie? i don't see any one...." "he crossed the road; he looked back at us; he saw us: i saw his eyes gleaming; and he went into the compound, behind those trees." "darling, i saw nothing, there's no one there." "yes, there is! yes, there is! addie, i daren't go: oh, do let us go back!" his handsome moorish face became overcast; he already saw the door of the little hut opened by the old woman whom he knew, who worshipped him as every woman worshipped him, from his mother to his little nieces. and he again tried to persuade her, but she refused, stood still, and clung to the ground with her little feet. then they turned back and the clouds were sultrier, low on the horizon, and the velvety darkness fell more thickly, like warm snow, and the ravelled tjemaras were fuller and blacker than before. the house loomed up before them, sunk in sleep, with not a light showing. and he entreated her, he implored her not to leave him that night, saying that he would die, that night, without her.... already she was yielding, promising, with her arms around his neck ... when again she started and again cried: "addie! addie!... there he is again!... that white figure!..." "but you seem to see hadjis everywhere!" he said, banteringly. "look for yourself then ... over there!" he looked, and now really saw a white figure approaching them in the front-verandah. but it was a woman. "mamma!" cried doddie, in dismay. it was indeed lã©onie, slowly coming towards them: "doddie," she said, gently, "i have been hunting for you everywhere. i was so frightened, i didn't know where you were. why do you go out walking so late? addie," she continued gently, in kind, motherly tones, as though addressing two children, "how can you behave like this and be out with doddie so late? you really mustn't do it again: i mean it! i know that there's nothing in it; but suppose any one saw you! you must promise me never to do it again! you'll promise, won't you?" she begged this prettily, in tones of engaging reproach, as though to show that she quite understood him, quite realized that they were yearning for each other in that velvet night of enchantment, forgiving them at once in the words which she uttered. she looked like an angel, with her round, white face in the loose, waving, fair hair, in the white silk kimono which hung round her in supple folds. and she drew doddie to her and kissed the girl and wiped away her tears. and then, gently, she pushed doddie before her, to her room in the annexe, where she slept safely amidst so many other rooms full of the daughters and grandchildren of old mrs. de luce. and, while doddie, softly crying, went to the solitude of her room, lã©onie continued to speak words of gentle reproach to addie, warning him, prettily now, as a sister might do, while he, brown and handsome, with his moorish look, stood before her, bantering yet embarrassed. they were in the dusk of the dark front verandah; and the night outside exhaled its inexorable breath of luxuriance, love and velvety mystery. and she reproached him and warned him and said that doddie was a child and that he mustn't take advantage of her. he shrugged his shoulders, defended himself, in his bantering manner. his words fell upon her like gold-dust, while his eyes glittered like a tiger's. as she argued persuasively that he must really spare doddie in the future, she seized his hand, that hand of which she was enamoured, his fingers, his palm, which she could have kissed that morning in her confusion; and she pressed it and almost cried and implored him to have mercy on doddie.... he suddenly realized it, he looked at her suddenly with the lightning of his wild-animal glance and he found her beautiful, was aware of her as a woman, white as milk, and he knew her for a priestess full of secret knowledge. and he too spoke of doddie, coming closer to lã©onie, touching her, pressing her hands between his two hands, giving her to understand that he understood. and, still pretending to weep and entreat and implore, she led him on and opened the door of her room. he saw a faint light and her maid, oorip, who disappeared through the outer door and lay down to sleep there, like a faithful dog, on a little mat. then she gave him a laugh of welcome; and he, the tempter, was amazed at the glowing laugh of this white, fair-haired temptress, who flung off her silken kimono and stood before him, like a nude statue, spreading out her arms.... oorip, outside, listened for a moment. and she was about to lie down to sleep, smiling, dreaming of the lovely sarongs which the mem sahib would give her to-morrow, when she started as she saw walking through the grounds and disappearing in the night a hadji in a white turban.... chapter fourteen that day the regent of ngadjiwa, sunario's younger brother, was to pay a visit at patjaram, because mrs. van oudijck was leaving on the following day. they sat waiting for him in the front verandah, rocking about the marble table, when his carriage came rattling down the long avenue of tjemaras. they all stood up. and now it appeared more plainly than ever how highly respected the old raden-aju, the dowager, was, how closely related to the susuhunan himself, for the regent alighted and, without taking another step, squatted on the lowest stair of the verandah and salaamed respectfully, while behind his back a retainer, holding up the closed gold-and-white umbrella like a furled sun, made himself still smaller and shrank together in self-annihilation. and the old woman, the solo princess, who once more saw the palace gleaming before her, went to meet him and welcomed him with all the courtesy of palace javanese, the language spoken among princely equals, till the regent rose and, following her, approached the family circle. and the manner in which he then, for the first time, bowed to the wife of his resident, however polite, was almost condescending, compared with his obsequiousness of a moment ago.... he now sat down between mrs. de luce and mrs. van oudijck; and a drawling conversation began. the regent of ngadjiwa was a different type from his brother sunario; taller, coarser, without the other's look of a marionette in a puppet-show; though younger, he looked the older of the two, with his eyes seared with passion: the passion for women, and wine, the passion for opium, the passion, above all, for gambling. and a silent thought seemed to flash up in that listless, drawling conversation, with few words and no ideas, ever and again interrupted by the courtly "saja, saja," behind which they all concealed their secret longing.... they spoke malay because mrs. van oudijck did not dare to speak javanese, that refined, difficult language, full of shades of etiquette, on which hardly a single hollander ventures when speaking to javanese persons of rank. they spoke little; they rocked gently; a vague, courteous smile showed that all were taking part in the conversation, though only mrs. de luce and the regent exchanged an occasional word.... until at last the de luces--the old mother, her son roger, her brown daughters-in-law--were no longer able to restrain themselves, even in mrs. van oudijck's presence, and laughed shyly while drinks and cakes were being handed round; until, notwithstanding their courtesy, they rapidly consulted one another, over lã©onie's head, in a few words of javanese; until the old mother, no longer mistress of herself, at last asked her whether she would mind if they had a little game of cards. and they all looked at her, the wife of the resident, the wife of the high official who, they knew, hated the gambling which was ruining them, which was destroying the grandeur of the javanese families whom he wished to uphold in spite of themselves. but she was too indifferent to think of preventing them with a single word of tactful jest, for her husband's sake; she, the slave of her own passion, allowed them to be the slave of theirs, in the luxury of their enslavement. she merely smiled and readily permitted the players to withdraw to the twilight of the spacious, oblong inner gallery, the ladies counting their money into their handkerchiefs, alternating with the men, until they were sitting close together, and, with their eyes on the cards or spying into one another's eyes, gambled and gambled endlessly, winning, losing, paying or receiving, just opening and closing the handkerchiefs containing the money, with never a word nor a sound but the faint rustle of the cards in the twilight of the inner room. what game were they playing? lã©onie did not know, did not care, indifferent to their passion and glad that addie had remained beside her and that theo was glaring at him jealously. did he know, did he suspect anything? would oorip always hold her tongue? she enjoyed the emotion and she wanted them both; she wanted both white and brown; and the fact that doddie was sitting on the other side of addie and almost swooning as she rocked to and fro afforded her an acute and wicked delight. what else was there in life but to yield to one's luxurious cravings? she had no ambition and was indifferent to her exalted station; she, the first woman in the residency, who delegated all her duties to eva eldersma, who was quite unmoved when hundreds of people, at the receptions at labuwangi, ngadjiwa and elsewhere, greeted her with a ceremony not far short of royal honours, who, in her rosy, perverse day-dreams, with a novel by catulle mendã¨s in her hands, silently laughed at the exaggerated ideas that ruled up-country, where the wife of a resident is treated as a queen. she had no other ambition than to be loved by the men whom she selected, no other emotional life than the worship of her body, like an aphrodite who chose to be her own priestess. what did she care if they played cards in there, if the regent of ngadjiwa was ruining himself! on the contrary, she thought it interesting to read that ruin on his seamed face; and she would take care to be even more carefully groomed, to let oorip massage her face and limbs, to make oorip prepare even more of the white moist rice-powder, the wonderful cream, the magic salve of which oorip knew the secret and which kept her flesh firm and unwrinkled and white as a mangosteen. she thought it exciting to see the regent of ngadjiwa burning away like a candle, foolishly, brutalized by women, wine, opium and cards; perhaps most of all by cards; by that bewildered glaring at them; by high play, and the calculation of chances which defied calculation, superstitiously reckoning by sacred omens the day and the hour when he should play in order to win, the number of the players, the amount of his stake.... now and then she took a furtive glance at the faces of the players in the inner gallery, darkened by twilight and the lust of gain, and reflected on what van oudijck would say, how angry he would be if she told him about it.... what did it matter to him if the regent's family ruined themselves? what did his policy matter to her, what did the whole dutch policy matter, which aims at securing the position of the javanese nobility, through whom it governs the population? what did it matter to her that van oudijck, thinking of the noble old pangã©ran, was grieved by his children's visible decline? none of it mattered to her; what mattered was only herself and addie and theo. she must really tell her step-son, her fair-haired lover, that afternoon, not to be so jealous. it was becoming obvious; she was sure that doddie noticed it.... didn't she save the poor child yesterday? but how long would that yearning last? hadn't she better warn van oudijck, like a kind, solicitous mother?... her thoughts wandered languidly; it was a sultry morning, in those last, scorching days of the eastern monsoon, which cover the limbs with trickling moisture. a shiver ran through her body; and, leaving doddie with addie, she carried theo off and reproached him for looking so savage with impotent jealousy. she pretended to be a little angry and asked him what he wanted. they had gone to the side of the house, to the long side-verandah; there were monkeys here in a cage, with skins strewn all around from the bananas which the animals had eaten, fed to them by the children. the luncheon-gong had already sounded twice; the babus were squatting in the back-verandah, pounding everybody's spices. but the people around the card-table seemed to hear nothing. only the whispering voices became louder and shriller, so that lã©onie and theo, as well as addie and doddie, pricked up their ears. a dispute seemed suddenly to break out between roger and the regent, notwithstanding mrs. de luce's attempts to hush it. they spoke javanese, but they let all courtesy go to the winds. like two coolies, they abused each other for cheats, constantly interrupted by the soothing efforts of old mrs. de luce, supported by her daughters and daughters-in-law. but the chairs were roughly thrust back; a glass was broken. roger seemed to dash his cards down in anger. all the women in the inner room took part in the soothing process, their voices raised, or muffled, or whispering, with little outcries, little shrieks of apology and indignation. the servants, innumerable, were listening in every corner of the house. then the dispute abated, but long, explanatory arguments still continued between the regent and roger; the women tried to hush them down--"ssh!... ssh!"--embarrassed because of the resident's wife, looking out to see where she might be. and at last all was quiet and they sat down in silence, hoping that not too much of the dispute had reached her ears. until at length, very late--it was almost three o'clock--old mrs. de luce, with the gambling-passion still blazing in her dim eyes, summoning all her distinction and her princely prestige, went to the verandah and, as though nothing had happened, asked mrs. van oudijck if she would not come in to lunch. chapter fifteen yes, theo knew. he had spoken to oorip after lunch; and although the maid had at first tried to deny everything, afraid of losing the sarongs, she had been unable to continue lying and had contented herself with feeble little protests of "no ... no."... and, still early that same afternoon, raging with jealousy, he sought out addie. but theo was calmed by the indifferent composure of the good-looking youth, with his moorish face, already so fully sated with his conquests that he himself never felt any jealousy. theo was calmed by the complete absence of thought in this tempter, who at once forgot everything after an hour of love; forgot so gracefully that he looked up with eyes of ingenuous surprise when theo, red and boiling with fury, burst into his room and, standing before his bed--where he was lying quite naked, as was his habit during his siesta, with the magnificence of a bronze statue, sublime as an ancient sculpture--declared that he would strike him across the face. and addie's surprise was so artless, his indifference so harmonious, he seemed to have so utterly forgotten his hour of love of the night before, he laughed so serenely at the idea of fighting about a woman that theo quieted down and came and sat on the edge of his bed. and then addie, who was a couple of years younger but possessed incomparable experience, told him that he really mustn't do it again--get so angry about a woman, a mistress who gave herself to another. and addie patted him on the shoulder with almost fatherly compassion; and now, since they understood each other, they went on confidentially pumping one another as they chatted. they exchanged further confidences, about women, about girls. theo asked if addie was going to marry doddie. but addie said that he wasn't thinking of marrying and that the resident wouldn't be willing either, because he didn't care for addie's family and thought them too indian. then, in a single word, he let slip his pride in his solo descent and his pride in the halo which shone dimly behind the heads of all the de luces. and addie asked if theo knew that he had a young brother running wild in the compound. theo knew nothing about it. but addie assured him that it was so: a young son of papa's, mark you, from the time when the governor was still controller at ngadjiwa; a fellow of their own age, a regular eurasian: the mother was dead. perhaps the old man himself didn't know that he still had a son in the compound, but it was true; everybody knew it: the regent knew, the native councillor knew, the head of the district knew, and the meanest coolie knew. there was no actual proof; but a thing like that, which was known the whole world over, was as true as that the world itself existed.... what did the fellow do? nothing, except curse and swear, declaring that he was a son of the kandjeng tuan residã¨n, who allowed him to rot in the compound.... what did he live on? on nothing, on what he got by shameless begging, on what people gave him and then ... by all sorts of practices: by going round the districts, through all the villages, and asking if there were any complaints and then drawing up little petitions; by encouraging people to go to mecca and let him book their passages with very cheap little steamship-companies of which he was the unofficial agent: he would go to the remotest village and display coloured posters representing a steamer full of mecca pilgrims and the kaaba and the sacred tomb of mohammed. he would mess around like this, sometimes mixed up in rows, once in a robbery, sometimes dressed in a sarong, sometimes in an old striped calico suit; and he slept anywhere. and, when theo showed surprise and said that he had never heard of this half-brother of his and expressed curiosity, addie suggested that they should go and look him up, if he was to be found in the compound. and addie gaily and quickly took his bath and put on a clean white suit; and they went across the road and along the rice-fields into the compound. it was already dusk under the heavy trees: the bananas lifted the cool green paddles of their leaves; and under the stately canopy of the coco-palms the little bamboo houses hid, romantically oriental, idyllic, with their palm-leaf roofs, their doors often already closed, or, if open, framing a little black inward vista, with the vague outline of a bench on which squatted a dark figure. the scabby, hairless dogs barked; the children, naked, with bells dangling from their stomachs, ran indoors and stared out of the houses; the women kept quiet, recognizing the tempter and vaguely laughing, blinking their eyes as he passed in his glory. and addie pointed to the little house where his old babu lived, tidjem, the woman who helped him, who always opened her door to him when he wanted the use of her hut, who worshipped him as his mother and his sisters and his little nieces worshipped him. he showed theo the house and thought of his walk last night with doddie under the tjemaras. tidjem the babu saw him and ran up to him delightedly. she squatted down beside him, she pressed his leg against her withered breast, she rubbed her forehead against his knee, she kissed his white shoe, she gazed at him in rapture, her beautiful prince, her raden, whom she had rocked as a little chubby boy in her already infatuated arms. he tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a rix-dollar and asked her if she knew where si-oudijck was, because his brother wished to see him. tidjem stood up and beckoned to him to follow: it was some way to walk. and they stepped out of the compound into an open road with rails along it, by which the bamboo baskets filled with sugar were removed to the proas that lay moored at a landing-stage yonder, in the brantas. the sun was going down in a fan-shaped glory of orange sheaves; and the distant rows of trees that outlined the paddy-fields were washed in with dark, soft, velvety touches against their arrogant glow. these fields were not yet planted, but their dark, earth-coloured expanse lay as broken by the plough. from the factory came a few men and women, making their way home. beside the river, by the landing-stage, a small market of portable kitchens had been set up under a sacred, five-fold banyan-tree, with its five trunks merging into one another and its wide-spreading roots. tidjem called the ferry-man and he put them across, across the orange brantas, amidst the last yellow rays of the sun, outspread fanwise like a peacock's tail. when they were on the other bank, the night fell over everything, like the hasty fall of a gauze curtain; and the clouds, which all through november had threatened the low horizons, hung oppressively on the sultry air. and they entered another compound, lit here and there by a paraffin-lamp, set down on the ground, with a long lamp-glass but no globe. at last they came to a little house, built partly of bamboo, partly of old packing-cases, and roofed partly with tiles, partly with palm-leaves. tidjem pointed to it and, once more squatting on the ground and embracing and kissing addie's knee, asked permission to depart. addie knocked at the door; a grumbling and rumbling within was the only answer; but, when addie called out, the door was kicked open and the two young men stepped into the one room of which the hut consisted: half bamboo, half deal boards from packing-cases; a couch with a couple of dirty pillows in a corner, and a limp chintz curtain dangling in front of it; a crazy table with a chair or two; on the table, a paraffin-lamp without a globe; and a litter of oddments stacked on a packing-case in a corner. everything was permeated with an acrid odour of opium. and si-oudijck was sitting at the table with an arab, while a javanese woman squatted on the couch, preparing a leaf of betel for herself. a few sheets of paper lay on the table between the arab and the young half-caste. the last-named, evidently annoyed by the unexpected visit, hurriedly crumpled the papers together. but he recovered his composure and, assuming a jovial air, cried: "hullo, adipati! susuhunan! sultan of patjaram! sugar-lord! how are you, my god of beauty, the ruin of all good women?" his jovial torrent of greetings continued without ceasing, while he scrambled the papers together and made a sign to the arab, who disappeared through the other door, at the back. "and who's that with you, raden mas adrianus, my bonnie lucius?" "it's your little brother," said addie. si-oudijck looked up suddenly: "oh, is it really?" said he, speaking broken dutch, javanese and malay in the same breath. "i can see it is: my legitimate one. and what does the fellow want?" "he's come to see what you're like." the two brothers looked at each other: theo inquisitively, rejoicing at having made this discovery, as a weapon against the old man, if the weapon ever became necessary; the other, si-oudijck, secretly restraining, behind his brown, crafty, leering face, all his jealousy, all his bitterness and hatred. "is this where you live?" asked theo, for the sake of saying something. "no, i'm just staying with her for the time being," replied si-oudijck, with a jerk of his head towards the woman. "has your mother been dead long?" "yes. yours is still alive, isn't she? she lives in batavia. i know her. do you ever see her?" "no." "h'm.... prefer your step-mother?" "pretty well," said theo, drily. and, changing the subject, "i don't believe the old man knows that you exist." "yes, he does." "i doubt it. have you ever spoken to him?" "yes, formerly. years ago." "well?" "no use. he says i'm not his son." "it must be difficult to prove." "legally, yes. but it's a fact and everybody knows it. it's known all over ngadjiwa." "have you no sort of evidence?" "only the oath which my mother took when she was dying, before witnesses." "come, tell me things," said theo. "walk a bit of the way with us: it's stuffy in here." they left the hut and sauntered back through the compounds, while si-oudijck told his story. they strolled beside the brantas, which wound vaguely in the evening dusk under a sky powdered with stars. it did theo good to hear about all this, about that housekeeper of his father's, in the days of his controllership, dismissed for an infidelity of which she was guiltless; the child born later and never recognized, never maintained; the boy wandering from compound to compound, romantically proud of his inhuman father, whom he watched from a distance, following him with his furtive glance when the father became assistant-resident and resident, married, divorced his wife and married again; by slow degrees learning to read and write from a native scrivener of his acquaintance. it did the legitimate son good to hear about all this, because in his innermost self, fair-haired and fair-skinned though he might be, he was more the son of his mother, the half-caste, than of his father; because in his innermost self he hated his father, not for this or that reason, but from a secret antipathy in his blood, because, despite the appearance and behaviour of a fair-haired and fair-skinned european, he felt a secret kinship for this illegitimate brother, felt a vague sympathy for him. were they not both sons of the self-same motherland, for which their father felt nothing except as a result of his acquired development, the artificially cultivated, humane love of the ruler for the territory which he governs. from his childhood theo had felt like that, far removed from his father; and later that antipathy had grown into a slumbering hatred. it gave him pleasure to hear the legend of his faultless parent demolished; the impeccable, magnanimous man, a functionary of the highest integrity, who loved his domestic circle, loved his residency, loved the javanese, and was anxious to uphold the regent's family, not only because his official instructions prescribed that the javanese nobility should be respected, but because his own heart told him as much, when he thought of the noble old pangã©ran.... theo knew that his father was all this: blameless, high-minded, upright, magnanimous; and it did him good, here, in the mysterious evening beside the brantas, to hear that blamelessness, that high-minded, upright magnanimity torn to ribbons; it did him good to meet an outcast who in one moment spattered that high-throned paternal figure with mud and filth, dragging him from his pedestal, making him appear no higher than another, sinful, wicked, heartless, mean. it filled him with a wicked joy, even as he was filled with a wicked joy at possessing his father's wife, whom his father adored. what to do with this dark secret he did not yet know, but he clutched at it as a weapon; he was whetting it there, that very evening, while he listened to the end to what this furtive-eyed half-caste, ranting and working himself up, had to say. and theo hid his secret, hid his weapon deep in his heart. grievances rose in his mind; and he too now, the legitimate son, abused his father; declared that the resident did no more to help him, his own lawful son, to get on than he would do for any of his clerks; told him how his father had once recommended him to the manager of an impossible undertaking, a rice-plantation, where he had been unable to stay longer than a single month; how afterwards he had left him to his fate, thwarting him when he went hunting after concessions, even in other residencies, even in borneo, until he was now obliged to remain hanging about and sponging at home, unable to find a job, thanks to his father, and merely tolerated in that house where he disliked everything. "except your step-mother!" si-oudijck interpolated, drily. but theo went on, growing confidential in his turn and telling his brother that it would be no great advantage for him even if he were acknowledged and legitimatized. and in this way they both became excited, glad to have met each other, to have grown intimate in this brief hour. and beside them walked addie, surprised by this quick mutual attraction, but otherwise empty of thought. they had crossed a bridge and by a circuitous route had come out behind the patjaram factory-buildings. here si-oudijck said good-night, shaking hands with theo, who slipped a couple of rix-dollars into his palm. they were accepted greedily, with a flicker of the furtive glance, but not a word of thanks. and addie and theo went past the factory, now silent, to the house. the family were strolling, outside, in the garden and in the tjemara-avenue. and, as the two young men approached, the golden, eight-year-old child came running towards them, the old grandmother's little foster-princess, with her fringe of hair and her whitened forehead, in her rich little, doll-like dress. she came running up to them and suddenly stopped in front of addie and looked up at him. addie asked her what she wanted, but the child did not answer and only looked up at him and then, putting out her little hand, stroked his hand with it. it was all so clearly the result of an irresistible magnetism in the shy child, this running up, stopping, looking up and stroking, that addie laughed aloud and stooped and kissed her lightly. the child skipped back contentedly. and theo, still excited by his evening, first by his conversation with oorip and then by his explanation with addie, his meeting with his half-brother, his own confidences about his father--theo, feeling bitter and interesting, was so greatly irritated by this trivial behaviour of addie and the child, that he exclaimed, almost angrily: "oh, you ... you'll never be anything but a woman's man!..." chapter sixteen things had gone well with van oudijck upon the whole. born of a simple dutch family, with no money, he had found his youth a hard though never cruel school of precocious earnestness, of early strenuous work, of immediate looking forward to the future, to a career, to the honourable position which he hoped--with the least possible delay--to fill among his fellow-men. his years of oriental study at delft had been just gay enough to enable him later to believe that he had once been young; and, because he had taken part in a masquerade, he even thought that he had spent quite a dissolute life, with much squandering of money and riotous living. his character was based on a good deal of quiet dutch respectability and an earnest outlook upon life, a rather gloomy, disillusioned outlook, though intelligent and practical: he was accustomed to visualize his honourable position among his fellow-men; and his ambition had developed rhythmically and steadily into a temperate thirst for position, but only on the lines along which his eyes were always wont to gaze: the hierarchical lines of the indian civil service. things had always gone well with him. displaying great capacity, he had been greatly valued; he had become an assistant-resident earlier than most and a resident while still young; and his ambition was now really satisfied because his authoritative office was in complete harmony with his nature, whose love of rule had progressed with its ambition. he was now really satisfied; and, though his eyes looked still much farther ahead and saw glimmering before them a seat on the indian council, and even the throne at buitenzorg, he had days when, sober and contented, he declared that to become a resident of the first class--putting aside the higher pension--had little in its favour except at samarang and surabaya, but that the vorstenlanden were absolutely a burden, while batavia occupied such a peculiar and almost derogatory position, in the thick of so many higher officials, members of council and directors. and, though his eyes thus looked farther ahead, his practical and temperate nature would have been quite satisfied if any one should have prophesied to him that he would die as resident of labuwangi. he loved his district and loved india; he never yearned for holland, nor for the pageant of european civilization, even though he himself had remained very dutch and above all hated anything that was half-caste. this was the inconsistency in his character, for he had married his first wife, herself a half-caste, purely out of affection; and, as for his children, in whom the indian blood was eloquent--outwardly in doddie, inwardly in theo, while renã© and ricus were two thorough little eurasians--he loved them with an intense feeling of paternity, with all the tenderness and sentiment that slumbered in the depths of his nature: a need to give much and receive much in the circle of his domestic life. gradually this need had extended to the circle of his district: he took a paternal pride in his assistant-residents and controllers, among whom he was popular and beloved. it had happened only once in the six years during which he had been resident of labuwangi that he had been unable to get on with a controller: then the man was a half-caste, and he had had him transferred: had him sacked, as he put it. and he was proud that, despite his strict discipline, despite his stern insistence on work, he was beloved by his officials. he was all the more grieved by the constant secret enmity of the regent, his "younger brother," to use the javanese title, in whom indeed he would gladly have found a younger brother to govern his native population under himself, the elder brother. it grieved him that matters had fallen out thus; and he would then think of other regents, not only of this one's father, the fine old pangã©ran, but of others whom he knew: the regent of d---, a cultivated man, speaking and writing dutch correctly, contributing lucid dutch articles to newspapers and magazines; the regent of s---, a trifle frivolous and vain, but very rich and very benevolent, figuring as a dandy in european society and polite to the ladies. why should things have fallen out just so in labuwangi, with this silent, spiteful, secretive, fanatical puppet, with the reputation of a saint and sorcerer, stupidly idolized by the people, in whose welfare he took no interest and who adored him only for the glamour of his ancient name, a man in whom he always felt an antagonism, never uttered in words, but plainly palpable under his icy correctness of demeanour? and then at ngadjiwa too there was the brother, the card-player, the gambler: why should just he be so unlucky in his regents? van oudijck was in a gloomy mood. he was accustomed to receiving, at regular intervals, anonymous letters, venomous libels spewed forth from quiet corners, bespattering at one time an assistant-resident, at another a controller, besmirching now the native head-men and now his own family; sometimes taking the form of a friendly warning, sometimes displaying a malicious delight in wounding; very, very anxious to open his eyes to the shortcomings of his officials and to his wife's misconduct. he was so completely used to this that he did not count the letters, reading them hastily or hardly at all and carelessly destroying them. accustomed as he was to judging for himself, these spiteful warnings made no impression on him, though they reared their heads like hissing snakes among all the letters which the post brought him daily; and as regards his wife he was so blind, he had always been so much in the habit of picturing lã©onie in the tranquillity of her smiling indifference and in the home-like sociability which she most certainly attracted round her--in the hollow void of the residency, whose chairs and ottomans seemed always arranged for a reception--that he could never have credited the most trivial of all these slanders. he never mentioned them to her. he loved his wife; he was in love with her; and, as he always saw her almost silent in society, as she never flirted or coquetted, he never glanced into the slough of corruption that was her soul. at home, indeed, he was absolutely blind. at home he displayed that utter blindness which is often seen in men who are very capable and efficient in their business or profession; who are accustomed to scan with sharp eyes the wide perspective of their official duties, but who are near-sighted at home; who are wont to analyse things in the lump, but not their psychological details; whose knowledge of mankind is based on principles, and who divide mankind into types, as in the caste of an old-fashioned play; who can at once plumb the capacity of their subordinates, but are utterly unable to realize the intricate complex, like a tangled arabesque, like rankly-growing tendrils, of the psychic involution of those who form their own household: always gazing over their heads, failing to grasp the inner meaning of their speech, and taking no interest in the kaleidoscopic emotions of hatred and jealousy and life and love that shine with prismatic hues right before their eyes. he loved his wife and he loved his children, because the feeling and the fact of paternity were necessities of his being; but he knew neither his wife nor his children. he knew nothing about lã©onie; and he had never realized that theo and doddie had secretly remained faithful to their mother, so far away in batavia, ruined by her unspeakable mode of life, and that they felt no love for him. he thought that they did give him their love; and, as for him ... when he thought of them, a slumbering affection awoke within him. he received these anonymous letters daily. they had never made an impression on him; yet of late he no longer destroyed them, but read them attentively and put them aside in a secret drawer. he could not have said why. they contained accusations against his wife, they contained imputations against his daughter. they sought to intimidate him by threatening that he might be stabbed in the dark. they warned him that his spies were utterly untrustworthy. they told him that his divorced wife was suffering from poverty and hated him, they told him that he had a son whom he had left unprovided for. they stealthily grubbed up all the secret or obscure passages in his life and his career. the thing depressed his spirits in spite of himself. it was all very vague; and he had nothing with which to reproach himself. in his own eyes and the world's, he was a good official, a good husband and a good father, he was a good man. that he should be blamed for having judged too unjustly and unfairly here, for having acted cruelly there, for having divorced his first wife, for having a son running wild in the compound; that people should throw mud at lã©onie and doddie: it all depressed him nowadays. for it was unaccountable that people should do just this. to this man, with his practical good sense, the vagueness was just the most vexatious part of it. he would not fear an open fight, but this mock battle in the dark was upsetting his nerves and his health. he could not conceive why it was happening. there was nothing to tell him. he could not conjure up the face of an enemy. and the letters came day after day; and enmity lurked daily in the shadows about him. it was too mystical and too much opposed to his nature not to embitter and depress and sadden him. then paragraphs appeared in the lesser papers, utterances of a mean and hostile press, vague accusations or palpable falsehoods. hatred was seething all about him. he could not fathom the reason of it, he became ill from brooding over it. and he discussed it with nobody and hid his suffering deep down within himself. he did not understand it. he could not imagine why it was, why it should be so. there was no logic in it all. logically he should be loved, not hated, however strict and authoritative he might be considered. indeed, did he not often temper his authoritative strictness with the jovial laugh under his thick moustache, with a friendly, genial warning and exhortation? was he not on circuit a pleasant resident, who regarded the circuit with his officials as a relaxation, as a delightful trip on horseback through the coffee-plantations, touching at the go-downs in each; as a jolly excursion, which relaxed one's muscles after all those weeks of office-work: the big staff of district heads following on their little horses, riding their skittish animals like nimble monkeys, with flags in their hands; with the native orchestra tinkling out its blithe crystal notes of welcome wherever he went; with the carefully prepared dinner in the dak-bungalow in the evening and the rubber till late at night? had not his officials, in informal moments, told him that he was a regular sport of a resident, an indefatigable rider, jovial at meals and so young that he would actually take the scarf from the nautch-girl and dance with her for a moment, very cleverly performing the lissom ritual movements of the hands and feet and hips, instead of buying himself off with a rix-dollar and leaving her to dance with the district head? never did he feel so happy as on circuit. and now that he was gloomy and depressed, dissatisfied, not knowing what hidden forces were opposing him in the dusk--straight, honest man that he was, a man of simple principles, a serious worker--he thought that he would go on circuit soon and, by that diversion, rid himself of the gloom that was oppressing him. he would ask theo to go with him, for the sake of a few days' change. he was fond of his boy, even though he considered him stupid, thoughtless, reckless, lacking in perseverance, never satisfied with his superiors, tactlessly opposing his manager, until he had once more made himself impossible in the coffee-plantation or sugar-factory at which he happened to be employed. he considered that theo ought to make his own way, as his father had done before him, instead of relying entirely on the resident's protection. he did not hold with nepotism. he would never favour his son above any one else who had the same rights. he had often told nephews of his, keen on obtaining concessions in labuwangi, that he would rather have no relations in his district and that they must expect nothing from him except absolute impartiality. that was how he had got on; that was how he expected them to get on ... and theo too. nevertheless, he silently watched theo, with all a father's love, with an almost sentimental tenderness; he regretted, silently but profoundly, that theo was not more persevering and did not look more closely to his future, to his career, to an honourable situation among his fellow-men, from the standpoint of either money or position. the lad just lived from day to day, without a thought of the morrow.... perhaps he was a little cold to theo, outwardly: well, he would have a confidential talk with him some day, would advise him; and now, in any case, he would ask theo to go with him on circuit. and the thought of riding for five or six days in the pure air of the mountains, through the coffee-plantations, inspecting the irrigation-works, doing what most of all attracted him in his official duties, the thought of this relieved his soul, brightened his outlook, till he ceased to think about the letters. he was made for a plain, simple life: he found life natural, not complex and involved; his life had followed a perceptible ascent, open and gradual, looking out towards a glittering summit of ambition; and the things that teemed and swarmed in the shadow and the darkness, the things that bubbled up from the abyss: these he had never been able or anxious to see. he was blind to the life that underlies the visible life. he did not believe in it, any more than a mountaineer who has lived long on a quiescent volcano believes in the inner fire which persists in its mysterious depths and which escapes only in the form of hot steam and a sulphurous stench. he believed neither in the force above things nor in the force of things themselves. he did not believe in dumb fate nor in silent inevitability. he believed only in what he saw with his own eyes: in the harvest, in the roads, districts and villages and in the welfare of his province; he believed only in his career, which he saw before him like an ascending path. and, in the unclouded clarity of his simple, masculine nature, in the universally perceptible obviousness of his upright love of authority, his legitimate ambition and his practical sense of duty, there was only one weak point: his affection, his deep, almost effeminate, sentimental affection for the members of his domestic circle ... into whose soul he could not see, being blind and seeing only in the light of his fixed principle, seeing his wife and children as they ought to be. experience had taught him nothing. for he had loved his first wife also as he now loved lã©onie.... he loved his wife because she was his wife, because she belonged to him, because she was the principal person in his circle. he loved the circle as such and not as so many individuals who formed its links. experience had taught him nothing. his thoughts were not in accordance with the changing hues of his life; they accorded with his ideas and principles. they had made a man and a force of him and also a good official. they had also allowed him as a rule to be a good man, according to his lights. but, because he possessed so much affection, unconscious, unanalysed and merely very deeply felt, and because he did not believe in the hidden force, in the life within life, in the force that teemed and swarmed like volcanic fires under the mountains of majesty, like troubles under a throne, because he did not believe in the mysticism of tangible things, life sometimes found him weak and unprepared when, serene as the gods and more powerful than men, it deviated from what he regarded as logical. chapter seventeen the mysticism of concrete things in that island of mystery which is java!... outwardly the docile colony with the subject race, which was no match for the rude trader who, in the golden age of his republic, with the young strength of a youthful people, greedy and eager for gain, stout and phlegmatic, planted his foot and his flag on the crumbling empires, on the thrones which tottered as though the earth had been in seismic labour. but, deep in its soul, it was never subjected, though smiling in proud, contemptuous resignation and bowing submissively beneath its fate; deep in its soul, despite a cringing reverence, it lived in freedom its own mysterious life, hidden from western eyes, however these might seek to fathom the secret--as though with a philosophic intention of maintaining before all a proud and smiling tranquillity, pliantly yielding and to all appearances courteously approaching--but deep within itself divinely certain of its own views and so far removed from all its rulers' ideals of civilization that no fraternization between master and servant will ever take place, because the difference which ferments in soul and blood remains insuperable. and the european, proud in his might, in his strength, in his civilization and his humanity, rules arrogantly, blindly, selfishly, egoistically, amidst all the intricate cog-wheels of his authority, which he slips into gear with the certainty of clockwork, controlling its every movement, till to the foreigner, the outside observer, this overlordship of tangible things, this colonizing of territory alien in race and mind, appears a masterpiece, a very world created. but beneath all this show the hidden force lurks, slumbering now and unwilling to fight. beneath all this appearance of tangible things the essence of that silent mysticism threatens, like a smouldering fire underground, like hatred and mystery in the heart. beneath all this peace of grandeur the danger threatens and the future mutters like the subterranean thunder in the volcanoes, inaudible to human ears. and it is as though the subject race knew it and were leaving matters to the latent force of things and awaiting the divine moment that is to come if there be any truth in the calculations of the mystics. as for the native, he reads his overlord with a single penetrating glance; he sees in him the illusion of civilization and humanity and he knows that they are non-existent. while he gives him the title of lord and the homage due to the master, he is profoundly conscious of his democratic, commercial nature and despises him for it in silence and judges him with a smile which his brother understands; and he too smiles. never does he offend against the form of slavish servility; and, with his salaam, he acts as though he were the inferior, but he is silently aware that he is the superior. he is conscious of the hidden, unuttered force; he feels the mystery borne upon the surging winds of his mountains, in the silence of the secret, sultry nights; and he foresees events that are as yet remote. what is will not always be; the present is disappearing. dumbly he hopes that god will lift up those who are oppressed, some time, some time in the distant advent of the dawning future. but he feels and hopes and knows it in the innermost depths of his soul, which he never unlocks to his ruler, which he would not even be able to unlock, which always remains an indecipherable book, in the unknown, untranslatable tongue in which the words indeed are the same but the shades of meaning expressed by them are different and in which the manifold hues of the two ideals show different spectra: spectra in which the colours differ as though given forth by two separate suns, rays from two separate worlds. and never is there the harmony that understands; never does that love blossom forth which is conscious of unity; and between the two there is always the gap, the chasm, the abyss, the distance, the width whence looms the mystery wherefrom, as from a cloud, the hidden force will one day flash forth.... so it was that van oudijck did not feel the mysticism of tangible things. and the serene life, as of the gods, might well find him weak and unprepared.... chapter eighteen ngadjiwa was a gayer place than labuwangi: there was a garrison; managers and employers often came down from the coffee-plantations in the interior for a few days' amusement; there were races twice a year, accompanied by festivities which filled a whole month: the reception of the resident, a horse-raffle, a battle of flowers and an opera, two or three balls, distinguished by the revellers as the fancy-dress ball, the ceremonial ball and the soirã©e dansante; it was a time of early rising and late retiring, of losing hundreds of guilders in a few days at ã©cartã© and in the totalizator.... the longing for pleasure and the cheery joy of life were freely indulged during those days; coffee-planters and young men from the sugar-factories looked forward to them for months ahead; people saved up for them during half the year. the two hotels were filled with guests from all directions, every household entertained its visitors; people betted furiously, while champagne flowed in torrents, all, including the ladies, knowing the race-horses as thoroughly as though they were their own property, feeling quite at home at the dances, everybody knowing everybody, as at family-parties, while the waltzes and washington posts and grazianas were danced with the languorous grace of the eurasian dancers, to a swooning measure, the trains gently floating, a smile of quiet rapture on the parted lips, with that dreamy voluptuousness which the indian settlers express so charmingly in their dances, especially those who have javanese blood in their veins. dancing with them is not a rough diversion, all bumping against one another with rude leaps and loud laughter, not the wild whirl of the lancers as at dutch boy-and-girl balls, but represents, especially to the eurasians, nothing but courtesy and grace: a serene blossoming of the poetry of motion; a gracefully designed curve of precise steps to a pure measure over the club-room floors; an almost eighteenth-century harmony of youthful nobility, waving and trailing and swaying in the dance, despite the primitive boom-booming of the indian musicians. this was how addie de luce danced, with the eyes of every woman and girl fixed upon him, following him, imploring him with their glances to take them with him also in that waving and undulating motion; which was like a dream upon the water.... this came to him with his mother's blood, this was a survival of the grace of the dancing princesses among whom his mother had spent her childhood; and the mingling of modern european and ancient javanese gave him an irresistible charm. and now, at the last ball, the soirã©e dansante, he danced like this with doddie and, after her, with lã©onie. it was late at night, or rather early in the morning: the day was dawning outside. a fatigue hung over the ball-room; and van oudijck at last intimated to the assistant-resident, vermalen, with whom he and his family were staying, that he was ready to go home. at that moment he was in the front verandah of the club, talking to vermalen, when the native councillor suddenly ran up to him from the shadow of the garden and, suffering from obvious excitement, squatted, salaamed and said: "excellency! excellency! please advise me, tell me what to do! the regent is drunk, he is walking along the street and forgetting all his dignity." the guests were taking their departure. the carriages drove up; the owners stepped in; the carriages drove away. in the road outside the club the resident saw a javanese: the upper part of the man's body was bare; he had lost his head-dress; and his long, black hair floated loosely, while he talked aloud, with violent gestures. groups gathered in the dusky shadow, looking on from a distance. van oudijck recognized the regent of ngadjiwa. already at the ball the regent had behaved without self-control, after losing heavily at cards and mixing all sorts of wines. "hasn't the regent been home yet?" asked van oudijck. "surely, excellency!" replied the councillor, plaintively. "i took the regent home as soon as i saw that he was no longer able to control himself. he flung himself on his bed; i thought he was sound asleep. but see, he woke and got up; he left the palace and came back here. see how he's behaving! he is drunk, he is drunk and he forgets who he is and who his fathers were!" van oudijck went outside with vermalen. he walked up to the regent, who was making violent gestures and delivering an unintelligible speech in a loud voice. "regent!" said the resident. "don't you know where and who you are?" the regent did not recognize him. he ranted at van oudijck, he called down all the curses of heaven upon his head. "regent!" said the assistant-resident. "don't you know who's speaking to you and to whom you're speaking?" the regent swore at vermalen. his bloodshot eyes flashed with drunken fury and madness. assisted by the councillor, van oudijck and vermalen tried to help him into a carriage; but he refused. splendid and sublime in his fall, he gloried in the madness of his tragedy, he stood, as though some explosive force had made him beside himself, half-naked, with floating hair and great gestures of his crazy arms. he was no longer coarse and bestial but became tragic, heroic, fighting against his fate, on the edge of the abyss.... the excess of his drunkenness seemed with a strange force to raise him out of his gradual bestialization; and, fuddled as he was, he drew himself up, towering high, dramatically, above the europeans. van oudijck gazed at him in stupefaction. the regent was now coming to blows with the councillor, who addressed him in beseeching tones. on the road, the population collected, silent, dismayed; the last guests were leaving the club, where the lights were growing dim. among them were lã©onie van oudijck, doddie and addie de luce. all three still bore in their eyes the weary voluptuousness of the last waltz. "addie," said the resident, "you're an intimate friend of the regent's. just see if he knows you." the young man spoke to the tipsy madman, in soft javanese accents. at first the regent kept on with his words of objurgation, with his gigantic, raving gestures; then, however, the softness of the language seemed to hold a well-known memory for him. he gave addie a long look. his gestures subsided, his drunken glory evaporated. it was as though his blood suddenly understood that young man's blood, as though their souls recognized each other. the regent nodded dolefully and began a long lament, with his arms raised on high. addie tried to help him into a carriage, but the regent resisted and refused. then addie took his arm in his own with gentle force and walked on with him slowly. the regent, still lamenting, with tragic gestures of despair, suffered himself to be led. the councillor followed with one or two underlings, who had run after the regent out of the palace, helplessly. the procession vanished in the darkness. lã©onie, wearily smiling, stepped into the assistant-resident's carriage. she remembered the gambling-quarrel at patjaram; she took pleasure in observing the gradual deterioration which was occurring so visibly, this visible degradation by a passion controlled by neither tact nor moderation. and where she was concerned she felt stronger than ever, because she enjoyed her passions and controlled them and made them the slaves of her enjoyment.... she despised the regent; and it gave her a romantic satisfaction, an artistic pleasure, to watch the successive phases of that deterioration. in the carriage she glanced at her husband, who sat in gloomy silence. and his gloom delighted her, because she thought him sentimental, with his championing of the javanese nobility, the result of a sentimental instruction, which van oudijck took even more sentimentally. and she delighted in his sorrow. and from her husband she glanced at doddie, detecting in the dance-weary eyes of her step-daughter a jealousy due to that last, that very last waltz of lã©onie's with addie. and she rejoiced in this jealousy. she felt happy, because sorrow had no hold upon her, any more than passion. she played with the things of life and they glided off her and left her as unperturbed and calmly smiling and unwrinkled and creamy white as before. van oudijck did not go to bed. with his head aflame, with a fury of mortification in his heart, he at once took a bath, dressed himself in pyjamas and had coffee served on the verandah outside his room. it was six o'clock; the air was steeped in a delightful coolness of morning freshness. but he suffered from so fierce an anger that his temples throbbed as though with congestion, his heart thumped in his chest, his every nerve quivered. the scene of that night and morning was still flickering before his eyes, ticking on like a cinematograph, with whirling changes of posture. what angered him above all was the impossibility of it all, the illogicality, the unthinkableness of it. that a javanese of high birth, forgetful of all the noble traditions in his blood, should have been able to behave as the regent of ngadjiwa had behaved that night would never have seemed to him possible. he would never have believed it, if he had not seen it with his own eyes. to this man of predetermined logic the fact was simply monstrous, like a nightmare. extremely susceptible to surprise, which he did not consider logical, he was angry with reality. he wondered whether he had not been dreaming, whether he himself had not been drunk. that the scandal should have occurred made him furious. but, as it was so, well, he would recommend the regent for dismissal. there was no alternative. he dressed, spoke to vermalen and went to the palace with him. they both forced their way in to the regent, notwithstanding the hesitation of the retainers, notwithstanding the breach of etiquette. they did not see the wife, the raden-aju. but they found the regent in his bedroom. he was lying on his bed, with his eyes open, recovering gloomily, not yet sufficiently restored to life fully to realize the strangeness of this visit, of the presence of the resident and assistant-resident by his bedside. he recognized them nevertheless, but did not speak. while the two of them tried to bring home to him the gross impropriety of his behaviour, he stared shamelessly in their faces and persisted in his silence. it was all so strange that the two officials looked at each other and exchanged glances to ask whether the regent was not mad, whether he was really responsible. he had not spoken a single word, he remained silent. though van oudijck threatened him with dismissal, he remained dumb, staring with shameless eyes into the resident's eyes. he did not open his lips, he maintained the attitude of a deaf-mute. at the most, an ironical smile formed about his lips. the officials, really thinking that the regent was mad, shrugged their shoulders and left the room. in the gallery they met the raden-aju, a short, downtrodden little woman, like a whipped dog, a beaten slave. she approached, weeping; she begged, she implored for forgiveness. van oudijck told her that the regent refused to speak, for all his threats, that he was silent with an inexplicable but obviously deliberate silence. then the raden-aju whispered that the regent had consulted a native physician, who had given him a talisman and assured him that, if he only persisted in maintaining complete silence, his enemies would obtain no hold upon him. terrified, she implored for help, for forgiveness, gathering her children round her as she spoke. after sending for the councillor and enjoining him to keep a strict watch on the regent, the two officials went away. often though van oudijck had encountered the superstition of the javanese, it always enraged him, as opposed to what he called the laws of nature and life. yes, nothing but his superstition could induce a javanese to depart from the correct path of his innate courtliness. whatever they might now wish to put before him, the regent would remain silent, would persist in the absolute silence prescribed by the physician. in this way he believed himself protected against those whom he considered his enemies. and this preconceived notion of hostility in one whom he would so gladly have regarded as his younger brother and fellow-ruler was what disturbed van oudijck most of all. he returned to labuwangi with lã©onie and doddie. once at home, he felt for a moment the pleasantness of being back in his own house, an enjoyment of domesticity that always soothed him greatly: the material pleasure of seeing his own bed again, his own writing-table and chair, of drinking his own coffee, made as he was accustomed to have it. these minor amenities put him in a good humour for a little while, but he at once felt all his bitterness awaken when he perceived, under a pile of letters on his desk, the disguised handwritings of a couple of furtive correspondents. automatically he opened these first and felt sick when he read lã©onie's name coupled with that of theo. nothing was sacred to those scoundrels: they concocted the most monstrous calumnies, the most unnatural libels, the most loathsome imputations, down to that of what was almost incest. all the filth flung at his wife and son only set them higher in his love, girt them with a greater purity, placed them on an inviolable summit and made him cherish them with a deeper and more fervent affection. but his bitterness, once stirred up, brought back all his mortification. its actual cause was that he had to propose the regent of ngadjiwa's dismissal and did not enjoy the prospect. but this one necessity embittered his whole being, upset his nerves and made him ill. if he could not follow the path which he had determined upon, if life strayed from the possibilities which he, van oudijck, had a priori fixed, this reluctance, this rebellion upset his nerves and made him ill. he had once and for all resolved, after the death of the old pangã©ran, to raise up the declining race of the adiningrats, alike because of his affectionate memory of that excellent javanese prince, because of his instructions as resident and because of a sense of lofty humanity and hidden poetry in himself. and he had never been able to do so, he had at once been thwarted--unconsciously, by force of circumstances--by the old raden-aju pangã©ran, who gambled away everything, who was ruining herself and her kin. as a friend he had exhorted her. she had always been accessible to his advice, but her passion had proved too strong for her. van oudijck had from the first, even before the father's death, judged her son, sunario, the regent of labuwangi, unfitted for the actual position of regent. the fellow was petty and insignificant, insufferably proud of his descent, never in touch with the actualities of life, devoid of any talent for ruling or any consideration for his inferiors, a great fanatic, always occupied with native doctors, with sacred calculations, with talismans, always reticent and living in a dream of obscure mysticism and blind to what would spell welfare and justice for his javanese subjects. and the population adored him nevertheless, both because of his noble birth and because he was reputed to possess sanctity and a far-reaching power, a divine magic. silently, secretly, the women of the kabupaten sold bottles of the water that had flowed over his body in the bath, as a healing remedy for various diseases. there you had the elder brother; and the younger had quite forgotten himself last night, frenzied by cards and drink. in these two sons the once so brilliant race was tottering to its fall. their children were young; a few cousins were native councillors in labuwangi and the adjoining residencies, but their veins contained not a drop of the noble blood. no, van oudijck had always failed, glad though he would have been to succeed. the very men whose interests he defended were opposing his efforts. their day was over. but why this must be so he could not understand; and it all upset him and embittered him. and he had pictured to himself a very different path, a beautiful ascending path, even as he saw his own life before him, whereas with them the path of life wound tortuously downwards. and he did not understand what it was that was stronger than he when he put forth his will. had it not always happened in his life and his career that the things for which he had fervently wished came to pass with the logic which he himself, day after day, had attributed to the things that were about to take place? his ambition had now established the logic of the ascending path, for his ambition had established as its aim the revival of this javanese family.... would he fail? to fail in striving for an aim which he had set himself as an official: he would never forgive himself! hitherto he had always succeeded in achieving what he had willed. but what he now wanted to achieve was, unknown to himself, not merely an official aim, a part of his work. what he now wanted to achieve was an aim the idea of which sprang from his humanity, from the noblest part of himself. what he now wanted to achieve was an ideal, the ideal of the european in the east and of the european who sees the east as he wishes to see it and as he could but see it. and that there were forces that gathered into one force, which threatened him, mocking at his proposals, laughing at his ideals, and which was all the stronger through lying more deeply hidden: this he would never admit. it was not in him to acknowledge them; and even the clearest revelation of them would be a riddle to his soul and would remain a myth. chapter nineteen van oudijck had been to the government-building that day. lã©onie met him the moment he returned. "the raden-aju pangã©ran is here," she said. "she has been here quite an hour, otto. she wishes to speak to you badly. she has been waiting for you." "lã©onie," he said, "i want you to look through these letters. i often get libels of this sort and i've never mentioned them to you. but perhaps it's better that you should not be left in ignorance. perhaps it's better for you to know. but please don't take them to heart. i needn't assure you that i don't for a moment believe one word of all this filth. so don't get upset about it and give me back the letters presently yourself. don't leave them lying about.... and send the raden-aju pangã©ran to my office...." lã©onie, carrying the letters in her hand, went to the back-verandah and returned with the princess, a distinguished-looking, grey-haired woman, with a proud, royal bearing in her still slender figure. her eyes were a sombre black; her mouth, which was widened in outline by betel-nut-juice and which grinned with filed, black, lacquered teeth, was like a grimacing mask and spoilt the proud nobility of her expression. she wore a black satin kabaai fastened with jewelled buttons. it was above all her grey hair and her sombre eyes that gave her a peculiar admixture of venerable dignity and smouldering passion. tragedy hung over her old age. she herself felt that fate was pressing tragically upon her and hers; and she placed her only hope in the far-reaching, divinely-appointed power of her first-born, sunario, the regent of labuwangi. while the old princess preceded van oudijck into the office, lã©onie examined the letters in the middle gallery. they were lampoons couched in foul language, about her and addie and theo. always wrapped in the selfish dream of her own life, she never troubled greatly about what people thought or said, especially as she knew that she could always and immediately win every one again with her personality, with her smile. she possessed a tranquil charm which was irresistible. she herself never spoke ill of others, out of indifference; she made amiable excuses for everything and everybody; and she was loved ... when people saw her. but she considered these dirty letters, spat out from some dark corner, tiresome and unpleasant, even though van oudijck did not believe them. suppose that one day he began to believe things? she must be prepared for it. she must above all retain for that possible day her most charming tranquillity, all her invulnerability, all her inviolability. who could have sent the letters? who hated her so much, who could be interested in writing like this to her husband? how strange that the thing should be known!... addie? theo? how did people know? was it oorip? no, not oorip.... but who then? and was everything actually known? she had always thought that what happened in the secret chambers would never be known on the housetops. she had even believed--it was simple of her--that the men never discussed her with one another, that they might discuss other women, but not herself. her mind harboured such simple illusions, despite all her experience, in a simplicity which harmonized with the half-perverse, half-childish poetry of her rose-hued imagination. could she then not always keep hidden the secrets of her mystery, the secrets of reality? it annoyed her for a moment, that reality, which was being revealed despite her superficial correctness.... thoughts and dreams always remained secret. it was the actions that were so troublesome. for an instant she thought of being more careful in future, of refraining. but she saw before her, in imagination, theo and addie, her fair love and her dark love; and she felt that she was too weak for that. she knew that in this she could not conquer her passions, though she controlled them. would they end by proving her destruction, notwithstanding all her tactfulness? but she laughed at the thought: she had a firm faith in her invulnerability. life always glided off her shoulders. still she wanted to prepare herself for what might happen. she had no higher ideal in life than to be free from pain, free from grief, free from poverty and to make her passions the slaves of her enjoyment, so that she might possess this enjoyment as long as possible, lead this life as long as possible. she reflected what she should say and do if van oudijck suddenly questioned her, suspicious because of these anonymous letters. she reflected whether she had better break with theo. addie was enough for her. and she lost herself in her calculations, as in the vague combinations of a play about to be enacted. then, suddenly, she heard the raden-aju pangã©ran's voice sounding loudly in the office, in between her husband's calmer accents. she listened, inquisitively, foreseeing a tragedy, and was quietly relieved that this tragedy also was gliding away from her. she crept into van oudijck's bedroom; the communicating-doors were always left open for coolness and only a screen separated the bedroom from the office. she peeped past the screen. and she saw the old princess more greatly excited than she had ever seen any javanese woman. the raden-aju was beseeching van oudijck in malay; he was assuring her in dutch that what she asked was impossible. lã©onie listened more closely. and she now heard the old princess imploring the resident to show mercy to her second son, the regent of ngadjiwa. she entreated van oudijck to remember her husband, the pangã©ran, whom he had loved as a father, who had loved him as a son, with a mutual affection more intense than that of an "elder and younger brother"; she conjured him to think of their famous past, of the glory of the adiningrats, ever loyal friends of the company, its allies in war, its most faithful vassals in peace; she conjured him not to decree the downfall of their race, on which a doom had descended since the pangã©ran's death, driving it into an abyss of fatal destruction. she stood before the resident like a niobe, like a tragic mother, flinging up her arms in the vehemence of her protestations, while tears poured from her sombre eyes and only the wide mouth, painted with brown betel-juice, was like the grimace of a mask. but from this grimace the fluent phrases of protestation and conjuration were pouring forth; and she wrung her hands in entreaty and beat her breast in contrition. van oudijck answered in a firm but gentle voice, telling her that certainly he had loved the old pangã©ran most sincerely, that he respected the old race highly, that no one would be better pleased than he to uphold their lofty position. but then he grew more severe and asked her whom the adiningrats had to blame for the fate that was now pursuing her. and, with his eyes looking into hers, he said that it was she! she fell back, flaring up with rage; but he repeated it again and yet again. her sons were her children: bigoted and proud and incurable gamblers. and it was gambling, that low passion, which was wrecking their greatness. their race was staggering to its downfall through their insatiable greed of gain. how often did it not happen that a month went by at ngadjiwa before the regent paid the native heads their salaries? she protested that it was true: it was at her instigation that her son had taken the money of the treasury, to pay gambling debts. but she also swore that it would never happen again. and where, asked van oudijck, had a regent, descended from an ancient race, ever behaved as the regent of ngadjiwa had at the race-ball? the mother lamented: it was true, it was true; fate dogged their footsteps and had clouded her son's mind; but it would never, never happen again. she swore by the soul of the old pangã©ran that it would never happen again, that her son would win back his dignity. but van oudijck grew more vehement and reproached her with never having exercised a good influence over her sons and nephews, with being the evil genius of her family, because a demon of gambling and greed held her fast in its claws. she began to shriek with anguish, she, the old princess, who looked down upon the resident, the hollander without birth or breeding, shrieking with anguish because he dared to speak like this and was entitled to do so. she flung out her arms, she begged for mercy; she begged him not to urge her son's dismissal by the government, which would act as the resident suggested, which would follow the advice of such a highly esteemed official; she begged him to have pity and show patience a little longer. she would speak to her son; sunario would speak to his brother; they would bring him back to his senses, which had been bewildered by drink and play and women. oh, if the resident would only have pity, if he would only relent! but van oudijck remained inexorable. he had shown patience for so long. it was now exhausted. since her son, at the instigation of the native physician, relying on his talisman, had resisted him with his insolent silence, which, as he firmly believed, made him invulnerable to his enemies, he would prove that he, the spokesman of the government, the representative of the queen, was the stronger, physician and talisman notwithstanding. there was no alternative: his patience was at an end; his love for the pangã©ran did not allow of further indulgence; his feeling of respect for their race was not such that he could transfer it to an unworthy son. it was settled: the regent would be dismissed. the princess had listened to him, unable to credit his words, seeing the abyss yawn before her. and, with a yell like that of a wounded lioness, with a scream of pain, she pulled the jewelled hairpins from her head, till her long grey hair fell streaming about her face; with a rending tug she tore open her satin kabaai; beside herself with anguish, she threw herself before the feet of the european, took firm hold of his foot with her two hands, planted it, with a movement which made van oudijck stagger, on her bowed neck and cried aloud and screamed that she, the daughter of the sultans of madura, would for ever be his slave, that she swore to be nothing but his slave, if only he would have mercy on her son this time and not plunge her house into the abyss of shame which she saw yawning around her. and she clutched the european's foot, as though with the strength of despair, and held that foot, like a yoke of servitude, with the sole and heel of the shoe pressed upon her flowing grey hair, upon her neck bowed to the floor. van oudijck trembled with emotion. he realized that this high-spirited woman would never humble herself like that, with evident spontaneity, to the lowest depths of humiliation that she could conceive, would not resort to the most vehement utterance of actual grief that a woman could ever display, with her hair unbound and the ruler's foot planted on her neck, if she had not been shaken to the very depths of her soul, if she did not feel desperate to the pitch of self-destruction. and he hesitated for a moment. but only for a moment. he was a man of considered principles, of fixed, a priori logic, immovable when he had come to a decision, wholly inaccessible to impulse. with the utmost respect, he at last released his foot from the princess' clinging grasp. holding out both hands to her, with visible compassion, visible emotion, he raised her from the floor. he made her sit down; and she fell into a chair, broken, sobbing aloud. for a moment, perceiving his gentleness, she thought that she had won. but when he calmly but decidedly shook his head in denial, she understood that it was over. she panted for breath, half-swooning, her kabaai still open, her hair still unbound. at that moment lã©onie entered the room. she had seen the drama enacted before her eyes and felt a thrill of artistic emotion. she experienced something like compassion in her barren soul. she approached the princess, who flung herself into her arms, woman seeking woman in the unreasoning despair of that inevitable doom. and lã©onie, turning her beautiful eyes on van oudijck, murmured a single word of intercession and whispered: "give in! give in!" and for the second time van oudijck wavered. never had he refused his wife anything, however costly, for which she asked. but this meant the sacrifice of his principle never to reconsider a decision, always to persist in what he had resolved should happen. then had he always controlled the future. thus things always happened as he willed. then had he never shown any weakness. and he answered that it was impossible. in his obstinacy, he did not divine the sacred moments in which a man must not insist upon his own will, but must piously surrender to the pressure of the hidden forces. these moments he did not respect, acknowledge or recognize; no, never. he was a man with a clear, logically deduced, simple, masculine sense of duty, a man of a plain and simple life. he would never know that, lurking under the simple life, are all those forces which together make the omnipotent hidden force. he would have laughed at the idea that there are nations which have a greater control over that force than the western nations have. he would shrug his shoulders--and continue his own road--at the mere supposition that among the nations there are a few individuals in whose hands that force loses its omnipotence and becomes an instrument. no experience would teach him. he would perhaps for an instant be nonplussed. but immediately afterwards he would grasp the chain of his logic in his virile hand and link up the iron actualities together.... he saw lã©onie lead the old princess from his office, bowed and sobbing. a deep emotion, an utterly agitating compassion, brought the tears to his eyes. and before those tearful eyes rose the vision of that javanese whom he loved like a father. but he did not give in. chapter twenty reports arrived from ternate and halmaheira that a terrible submarine earthquake had visited the surrounding group of islands, that whole villages had been washed away, that thousands of inhabitants had been rendered homeless. the telegrams caused greater consternation in holland than in india, where people seemed more used to the convulsions of the sea, to the volcanic upheavals of the earth. they had been discussing the dreyfus case for months, they were beginning to discuss the transvaal, but ternate was hardly mentioned. nevertheless a central committee was formed at batavia; and van oudijck called a meeting. it was resolved to hold a charity-bazaar, at the earliest possible date, in the club and the garden attached to it. mrs. van oudijck, as usual, delegated everything to eva eldersma and did not trouble herself at all. for a fortnight labuwangi was filled with excitement. in this silent little town, full of eastern slumber, a whirlwind of tiny passions, jealousies and enmities began to rise. eva had her club of faithful adherents, the van helderens, the doorn de bruijns, the rantzows, with which all sorts of tiny sets strove to compete. one was not on speaking terms with the other; this one would not take part because that one did; another insisted on taking part only because mrs. eldersma must not think that she was everybody; and this one and that one and the other considered that eva was much too pretentious and need not fancy that she was the most important woman in the place because mrs. van oudijck left everything to her. eva however had spoken to the resident and declared that she was willing to organize everything provided she received unlimited authority. she had not the slightest objection to his appointing some one else to set the ball rolling; but, if he appointed her, unlimited authority was an express condition, for to take twenty different tastes and opinions into account would mean that one would never get anywhere. van oudijck laughingly consented, but impressed upon her that she must not make people angry and that she must respect every one's feelings and be as conciliatory as possible, so that the charity-bazaar might leave pleasant memories behind it. eva promised: she was not naturally quarrelsome. to get a thing done, to set a thing going, to put a thing through, to employ her artistic energies was her great delight: it was life to her, was the only consolation in her dreary life in india. for, though she had grown to love and admire many things in java, the social life of the country, save for her little clique, lacked all charm for her. but now to prepare an entertainment on a large scale, the fame of which would reach as far as surabaya, flattered alike her vanity and her love of work. she sailed through every difficulty; and, because people saw that she knew best and was more practical than they, they gave way to her. but, while she was busy evolving her stalls and her tableaux-vivants, while the bustle of the preparations occupied the leading families of labuwangi, something seemed also to occupy the soul of the native population, but something less cheerful than charitable entertainment. the chief of police, who brought van oudijck his short report every morning, usually in a few words--that he had gone his rounds and that everything was quiet and orderly--had of late had longer conversations with the resident, seemed to have more important things to communicate; the messengers whispered more mysteriously outside the office, the resident sent for eldersma and van helderen; the secretary wrote to ngadjiwa, to vermalen the assistant-resident, to the major-commandant of the garrison; and the district controller went round the town with increased frequency and at unaccustomed hours. amid all their fussing the ladies perceived little of these mysterious doings; and only lã©onie, who took no part in the preparations, noticed in her husband an unusual silent concern. she was a quick and keen observer; and, because van oudijck, who was accustomed often to mention business in the domestic circle, had been mute for the last few days, she asked suddenly where the regent of ngadjiwa was, now that he had been dismissed by the government at van oudijck's instance, and who was going to replace him. he made a vague reply; and she took alarm and became anxious. one morning, passing through her husband's bedroom, she was struck by the whispered conversation between van oudijck and the chief of police and she stopped to listen, with her ear against the screen. the conversation was muffled because the garden-doors were open; the messengers were sitting on the garden-steps; a couple of gentlemen who wished to speak to the resident were walking up and down the side-verandah, after writing their names on the slate which the chief messenger brought in to the resident. but they had to wait, because the resident was engaged with the chief of police.... lã©onie listened from behind the screen. and she turned pale at the sound of a word or two which she overheard. she returned silently to her room, feeling anxious. at lunch she asked if it would be really necessary for her to attend the fancy-fair, for she had had such a toothache lately and wanted to go to surabaya, to the dentist. it would probably mean a few days: she had not been to the dentist for ever so long. but van oudijck, sterner than usual, in his sombre mood of secret concern and silence, told her that it was impossible, that on an evening like that of the fancy-fair she was bound to be present as the resident's wife. she pouted and sulked and held her handkerchief to her mouth, so that van oudijck became distressed. that afternoon she did not sleep, did not read, did not dream, as a result of this unusual agitation. she was frightened, she wanted to get away. and at tea, in the garden, she began to cry, said that the toothache was making her head ache, that it was making her quite ill, that it was more than she could bear. van oudijck, distressed and careworn, was touched; he could never endure to see her tears. and he gave in, as he always did to her, where her personal affairs were in question. next day she went off to surabaya, staying at the resident's and really having her teeth attended to. it was always a good thing to do, once a year or so. this time she spent about five hundred guilders on the dentist. after this, incidentally, the other ladies also seemed to guess something of what was happening at labuwangi behind a haze of mystery. for ida van helderen, the tragic white half-caste, her eyes starting out of her head with fright, told eva eldersma that her husband and eldersma and the resident too were fearing a rebellion of the population, incited by the regent and his family, who would never forgive the dismissal of the regent of ngadjiwa. the men, however, were non-committal and reassured their wives. but a dark swirling tide continued to stir under the apparent calmness of their little up-country life. and gradually the gossip leaked out and alarmed the european inhabitants. vague paragraphs in the newspapers, commenting on the dismissal of the regent, contributed to their alarm. meanwhile the bustle of preparation for the fancy-fair went on, but people no longer put their hearts into the work. they led a fussy, restless life and were becoming ill and nervous. at night they bolted and barred their houses, placed arms by their bed-sides, woke suddenly in terror, listening to the noises of the night, which sounded faintly in space outside. and they condemned the hastiness shown by van oudijck, who, after the scene at the race-ball, had been unable to restrain his patience any longer and had not hesitated to recommend the dismissal of the regent, whose house was firmly rooted in the soil of labuwangi, was one with labuwangi. the resident had ordered, as a festival for the population, an evening market on the square outside the regent's palace, to last for a few days, coinciding with the bazaar. there would be a people's fair, numbers of little stalls and booths and a malay theatre, with plays drawn from the arabian nights. he had done this in order to give the javanese inhabitants a treat which they would value greatly, while the europeans were enjoying themselves on their side. it was now a few days before the fancy-fair, on the previous day to which, as it chanced, the monthly council was to be held in the palace. the anxiety, the fuss and a general nervousness filled the otherwise quiet little town with an emotion which made people almost ill. mothers sent their children away and themselves were undecided what to do. but the fancy-fair made people stay. how could they avoid going to the fancy-fair? there was so seldom any amusement. but ... if there really were a rising! and they did not know what to do, whether to take the lowering menace, which they half-divined, seriously or make a light-hearted jest of it. the day before the council, van oudijck asked for an interview with the raden-aju pangã©ran, who lived with her son. his carriage drove past the huts and booths in the square and through the triumphal arches of the market, formed of bamboo-stems bending towards each other, with a narrow strip of bunting rippling in the wind, so much so that, in javanese, the decorations are known as "ripplings." this evening was to be the first evening of the fair. every one was busy with the final preparations; and, in the bustle of hammering and arranging, the natives sometimes neglected to cower at the passing of the resident's carriage and paid no attention to the golden umbrella which the messenger on the box held in his hands like a furled sun. but, when the carriage turned by the flagstaff and up the drive leading to the palace and they saw that the resident was going to the regent's, groups huddled together and spoke in eager whispers. they crowded at the entrance to the drive and stared. but the natives saw nothing save the empty market-place looming beyond the shadow of the banyans, with the rows of chairs in readiness. the chief of police, suddenly passing on his bicycle, caused the groups to break up as though by instinct. the old princess was awaiting the resident in the front-verandah. her dignified features wore a serene expression and betrayed no trace of what was raging within her. she motioned the resident to a chair; and the conversation opened with a few ordinary phrases. then four servants approached in a crouching posture: one with a bottle-stand; the second with a tray full of glasses; the third with a silver ice-pail full of broken ice; the fourth salaamed, without carrying anything. the princess asked the resident what he would drink; and he replied that he would like a whisky-and-soda. the fourth servant came crouching through the other three to prepare the drink, poured in the measure of whisky, opened the bottle of soda-water with a report as of a gun and dropped into the tumbler a lump of ice the size of a small glacier. not another word was said. the resident waited for the drink to grow cold; and the four servants crouched away. then at last van oudijck spoke and asked if he might speak to her in entire confidence, if he could say what he had in his mind. she begged him, civilly, to do so. and in his firm but hushed voice he told her, in malay, in very courteous sentences, full of friendliness and flowery politeness, how great and exalted his love had been for the pangã©ran and still was for that prince's glorious house, although he, van oudijck, to his intense regret, had been obliged to act counter to that love, because his duty commanded him so to act. and he asked her--presuming that it was possible for her, as a mother--to bear him no grudge for this exercise of his duty; he asked her, on the contrary, to show a motherly feeling for him, the european official, who had loved the pangã©ran as a father, and to cooperate with him, the official--she, the mother of the regent--by employing her great influence for the happiness and welfare of the population. sunario had a tendency, in his piety and his remote gaze at things invisible, to forget the actual realities that lay before his eyes. well, he, the resident, was asking her, the powerful, influential mother, to cooperate with him in ways which sunario overlooked, to cooperate with him in love and unity. and, in his elegant malay, he opened his heart to her entirely, describing the turmoil which for days and days had been seething among the inhabitants, like an evil poison which could not do other than make them wicked and drunk and would probably lead to things, to acts, which were bound to have lamentable results. he made her feel his unspoken view that the government would be the stronger, that a terrible punishment would overtake all who should prove guilty, high and low alike. but his language remained exceedingly cautious and his speech respectful, as of a son addressing a mother. she, though she understood him, valued the tactful grace of his manner; and the flowery depth and earnestness of his language made him rise in her esteem and almost surprised her ... in a low hollander, without birth or breeding. but he continued. he did not tell her what he knew, that she was the instigatress of this obscure unrest; but he excused that unrest, said that he understood it, that the population shared her grief in respect of her unworthy son, himself a scion of the noble race, and that it was only natural that the people should sympathize deeply with their old soveran, even though the sympathy was ignorant and illogical. for the son was unworthy, the regent of ngadjiwa had proved himself unworthy and what had happened could not have happened otherwise. his voice, for a moment, became severe; and she bowed her grey head, remained silent, seemed to agree. but his words now became gentler again; and once more he asked for her cooperation, asked her to use her influence for the best. he trusted her entirely. he knew that she held high the traditions of her family, loyalty to the company, unimpeachable loyalty to the government. well, he asked her to direct her power and influence, to use the love and reverence which the people bore her in such a way that she, in concert with him, would allay what was seething in the darkness; that she would move the thoughtless to reflection; that she would assuage and pacify what was secretly threatening, thoughtlessly and frivolously, against the firm and dignified authority of the government. and, while he flattered and threatened her in one breath, he felt that she--although she hardly spoke a single word and merely punctuated his words with her repeated saja--he felt that she was falling under his stronger influence, the influence of the man of tact and authority, and that he was giving her food for reflection. he felt that, as she reflected, her hatred was subsiding, her vindictiveness losing its force and that he was breaking the energy and pride of the ancient blood of the maduran sultans. under all the flowers of his speech, he allowed her to catch a glimpse of utter ruin, of terrible penalties, of the undeniably greater power of the government. and he bent her to the old pliant attitude of yielding before the might of the ruler. he reminded her, in her impulse to rebel and throw off the hated yoke, that it was better to be calm and reasonable and to adapt herself placidly to things as they were. she nodded her head softly in assent; and he felt that he had conquered her. and this aroused a certain pride within him. and now she also spoke and gave the required promise, saying, in her broken, inwardly weeping voice, that she loved him as a son, that she would do what he wished and would assuredly use her influence, outside the palace, in the town, to still these threatening troubles. she denied her own complicity and said that the unrest arose from the unreflecting love of the people, who suffered with her, because of her son. she now echoed his own words, save that she did not speak of unworthiness. for she was a mother. and she repeated once again that he could trust her, that she would act according to his wish. then he informed her that he would come to the council next day, with his subordinates and with the native head-men; and he said that he trusted her so completely that all of them, the europeans, would be unarmed. he looked her in the eyes. he threatened her more by saying this than if he had spoken of arms. for he was threatening her--without a threatening word, merely by the intonation of his malay speech--with the punishment, with the vengeance of the government, if a hair was injured of the least of its officials. he had risen from his seat. she also rose, wrung her hands, entreated him not to speak like that, entreated him to have the fullest confidence in her and in her son. she sent for sunario. the regent of labuwangi entered; and van oudijck again repeated that he hoped for peace and reason. and he felt, by the tone of the old princess in speaking to her son, that she wished for peace and reason. he felt that she, the mother, was omnipotent in the palace. the regent bowed his head, agreed, promised, even said that he had already taken pacifying measures, that he had always regretted this excitement of the populace, that it grieved him greatly, now that the resident had noticed it, in spite of his, sunario's, attempts at pacification. the resident did not go further into this insincerity. he knew that the discontent was fanned from the kabupaten, but he knew also that he had won. once more, however, he impressed upon the regent his responsibility, if anything happened in the market-place, next day, during the council. the regent entreated him not to think of such a thing. and now, to part on friendly terms, he begged van oudijck to sit down again. van oudijck resumed his seat. in so doing, he knocked as though by accident against the tumbler, all frosted with the chill of the ice, which he had not yet put to his lips. it fell clattering to the ground. he apologized for his clumsiness. the raden-aju pangã©ran had remarked his movement and her old face turned pale. she said nothing, but beckoned to an attendant. and the four servants appeared again, crouching along the floor, and mixed a second whisky-and-soda. van oudijck at once lifted the glass to his lips. there was a painful silence. to what degree the resident's movement in upsetting the glass was justified would always remain a problem. he would never know. but he wished to show the princess that, when coming here, he was prepared for anything, before their conversation, and that, after this conversation, he meant to trust her utterly and completely, not only in respect of the drink which she offered him, but next day, at the council, where he and his officials would appear unarmed, and in respect of her influence for good, which would bring peace and tranquillity to the people. and, as though to show him that she understood him and that his confidence would be wholly justified, she rose and whispered a few words to an attendant whom she had beckoned to her. the javanese disappeared and soon returned, crouching all the way through the front-verandah and carrying a long object in a yellow case. the princess took it from him and handed it to sunario, who took a walking-stick from the yellow silk case and offered it to the resident as a token of their fraternal friendship. van oudijck accepted it, understanding the symbol. for the yellow silk case was of the colour and the material of authority, yellow or gold and silk; the stick was of a wood that serves as a protection against snake-bites and ill-luck; and the heavy knob was wrought of the metal of authority, gold, in the form of the ancient sultan's crown. this stick, offered at such a moment, signified that the adiningrats submitted anew and that van oudijck could trust them. and, when he took his leave, he felt very proud and esteemed himself highly. for by exercising tact, diplomacy and knowledge of the javanese he had won; he would have allayed the rebellion merely by words. that would be a fact. that was so, that would be so: a fact. on that first evening of the public fair, lighted gaily with a hundred paraffin-lamps, scented alluringly with the trailing odours of cooking food, full of the motley whirl of the holiday-making populace, that first evening was wholly given up to rejoicing; and the people discussed with one another the long and friendly visit which the resident had paid to the regent and his mother; for they had seen the carriage with the umbrella waiting a long time in the drive and the regent's attendants had told of the present of the walking-stick. that was so: the fact existed and had happened as van oudijck had planned it in advance and compelled it to happen. and that he should be proud of this was human. but what he had not compelled or planned in advance was the hidden forces, which he never divined, whose existence he would deny, always, in his simple, natural life. what he did not see and hear and feel was the very hidden force, which had indeed subsided, but was yet smouldering, like a volcanic fire, under the apparently peaceful meadows of flowers and amity and peace; the hatred which would possess a power of impenetrable mystery, against which he, the european, was unarmed. chapter twenty-one van oudijck was fond of certain effects. he did not say much about his visit to the palace that day, nor in the evening, when eldersma and van helderen came to speak to him about the council which would be held next morning. they felt more or less uneasy and asked if they should go armed. but van oudijck very firmly and decidedly forbade them to take arms with them and said that no one was allowed to do so. the officials gave way, but nobody felt comfortable. the council, however, took place in complete peace and harmony; only, there were more people moving about among the booths in the market-place, there were more police at the ornamental arches, with the rippling strips of bunting. but nothing happened. the wives indoors were anxious and felt relieved when their husbands were safely back home again. and van oudijck had obtained his effect. he now paid a few visits, feeling sure of his grip on things, relying on the raden-aju pangã©ran. he reassured the ladies and told them to think of nothing now except the fancy-fair. but they were none too confident. some families, in the evening, bolted all their doors and remained in the middle gallery with their visitors and children and babus, armed, listening, on their guard. theo, to whom his father had spoken in an outburst of confidence, planned and played a practical joke with addie. the two lads, one evening, went round the houses of those whom he knew to be most fidgety and made their way into the front-verandah and shouted to have the doors opened; and they could hear the cocking of fire-arms in the middle galleries. they had a merry evening of it. then at last the fancy-fair took place. eva had organized a series of three tableaux from the arthurian legend on the stage of the club: vivien and guinevere and lancelot; in the middle of the garden was a madura proa, fitted up like a viking's ship, in which iced punch was served; a neighbouring sugar-factory, always full of fun, famed for its jovial tone, had provided a complete dutch fritters-stall, as a nostalgic memory of holland, with the ladies dressed as frisian peasant-girls and the young fellows from the factory as cooks; and the excitement over the transvaal was represented by a majuba hill with ladies and gentlemen in fantastic boer costumes. there was not a word about the tremendous seaquake at ternate, although one half of the receipts was destined for the devastated districts. under the glowing festoons of chinese lanterns slung across the gardens, a great sense of fun prevailed, coupled with a readiness to spend pots of money, especially on behalf of the transvaal. but amid the merriment there yet quivered a fear. groups assembled, peering glances were cast at the road outside, where eurasians, javanese, chinese and arabs stood round the steaming portable kitchens. and the visitors, while tossing off a glass of champagne or toying with a plate of fritters, turned their ears in the direction of the square, where the public fair was in full swing. when van oudijck appeared with doddie, received with the national anthem, generously scattering rixdollars and banknotes, he was constantly asked whispered questions. and, when it was seen that mrs. van oudijck was not coming, people began to ask one another where she was. she had been suffering so with her teeth, said one; she had gone to surabaya to see the dentist. they did not think it nice of her; they did not like her when they did not see her. she was much discussed that evening; the most horrible scandals were told about her. doddie took up her stand in the madura proa as a saleswoman; and van oudijck, with eldersma, van helderen and a couple of controllers from other districts, went round and treated the members of his council. when people asked their mysterious questions, with anxious glances at the road, with ears pricked towards the popular market, he reassured them with a majestic smile; nothing was going to happen, he pledged his word on it. they considered him extremely trusting, mightily sure of himself; but the jovial smile around his thick moustache was comforting. he urged all who belonged to his good town of labuwangi to think of nothing but enjoyment and benevolence. and, when suddenly the regent, raden adipati sunario, and his wife, the young raden-aju, appeared at the entrance and paid for bouquets, programmes and fans with a hundred-guilder-note, the tension was relaxed throughout the garden. everybody soon knew about the hundred-guilder-note. and they all breathed again, realizing that there was now no occasion for anxiety, that there would be no insurrection that night. they made much of the regent and his smiling young wife, who glittered with her beautiful jewels. out of sheer relief and relaxation of their tense anxiety, out of sheer craziness, they spent more and more money, trying to vie with the few wealthy chinese--those dating from before the opium-monopoly, the owners of the white marble and stucco palaces--as these with their wives, in embroidered grey and green chinese costumes, their shiny hair stuck full of flowers and precious stones, smelling strongly of sandalwood, distributed rixdollars broadcast. money flowed like water, dripped as though in silver drops into the collecting-boxes of the delighted saleswomen. and the fancy-fair was a success. and, when van oudijck at last, little by little, here and there, said a word to doorn de bruijn, to rantzow, to the officials from other residencies about his visit, about his interview with the raden-aju pangã©ran--assuming an air of humility and simplicity, but nevertheless, despite himself, beaming with happy pride, with delight in his triumph--then he attained his greatest effect. the story ran round the garden, of the tact, the cleverness of the resident, who had laid the spectre of insurrection merely with a word. he received a sort of ovation. and he filled every glass with champagne, he bought up every fan, he purchased all the tickets in the tombola that remained unsold. it was his apotheosis, his greatest moment of success and popularity. and he joked with the ladies and flirted with them. the entertainment was prolonged until daylight, until six o'clock in the morning. the merry cooks were drunk and danced around their fritters-stove. and, when van oudijck went home at last, he felt an inner mood of self-satisfaction, of strength, he was delighted, enraptured with himself. he felt a king in his little world and a diplomatist into the bargain and beloved by all whose quiet and peace he had assured. that evening made him rise in his own esteem and he valued himself more highly than he had ever done before. never had he felt as happy as he felt now. he had sent the carriage away and he walked home with doddie. a few early salesmen were going to market. doddie, dog-tired and half-asleep, dragged herself along on her father's arm ... until some one passed close beside her and, feeling rather than seeing, she suddenly shuddered. she looked up. the figure had passed. she looked round and recognized the back of the hadji, hurrying away.... she turned cold and felt as though she would faint. but then, wearily, walking in her sleep, she reflected that she was half dreaming, dreaming of addie, of patjaram, of the moonlit night under the tjemaras, where the white hadji had startled her at the end of the avenue.... chapter twenty-two eva eldersma was in a more listless and dejected mood than she had yet experienced in java. after her efforts, after the fuss and the success of the fancy-fair, after the shuddering fear of a rising, the little town conscientiously went to sleep again, as though well content to be able to slumber as usual. it was december and the heavy rains had begun, as usual, on the fifth of the month: the rainy monsoon invariably opened on st. nicholas' day. the clouds which, for the past month, continually swelling, had piled themselves upon the lower horizons now rose curtain-wise, like water-laden sails higher against the skies, rent open as by a sudden fury of far-flashing lightning, pouring and lashing down as though this wealth of water could no longer be upheld, now that the swollen sails were torn apart, as though all their wanton abundance came streaming down from a single rent. of an evening, eva's front-verandah was invaded by a crazy swarm of insects, which, drunk with light, rushed upon their destruction in the lamps, as in an apotheosis of fiery death, filling the lamp-chimneys and strewing the marble tables with their fluttering, dying bodies. eva inhaled a cooler air, but a miasma of damp, arising from earth and leaves, soaked the walls, seemed to ooze from the furniture, dimming the mirrors, staining the silk hangings and covering boots and shoes with mildew, as though nature's frenzied downpour were bent on the ruin of all that was fine and delicate, sparkling and graceful in human achievement. but the trees and foliage and grass shot up and expanded and rioted luxuriantly upwards, in a thousand shades of fresh green; and, in the reviving glory of verdant nature, the crouching human community of open-fronted villas, wet and humid with fungi, all the whiteness of the lime-washed pillars and flower-pots turned to a mouldy green. eva watched the slow and gradual ruin of her house, her furniture, her clothes. day by day, inexorably, something was spoilt, something rotted away, something was covered with mildew or rust. and none of the ã¦sthetic philosophy with which she had at first taught herself to love india, to appreciate the good in india, to seek in india for external plastic beauty and inward beauty of soul, was able to withstand the streaming water, the cracking of her furniture, the staining of her frocks and gloves, the damp, mildew and rust that wrecked the exquisite environment which she had designed and created all around her, as a comfort, to console her for living in india. all her logic, all her feeling of making the best of things, of finding something attractive and beautiful after all in the land of all-prevailing nature and of people eager for money and position, all this failed her and came to naught, now that she was every moment irritated and incensed as a housewife, as an elegant woman, an artistic woman. no, it was impossible in india to surround one's self with taste and exquisiteness. she had been here for only two years and she was still able to make a certain fight for her western culture; but nevertheless she was now already better able than in the first days after her arrival to understand the laisser-aller of the men, after their hard work, and of the women, in their housekeeping. true, the servants with their soundless movements, working with gentle hands, willing, never impertinent, were to her thinking far superior to the noisy, pounding maids in holland; but nevertheless she felt in all her household an eastern antagonism to her western ideas. it was always a struggle not to surrender to that laisser-aller, to the running to waste of the over-large grounds, invariably hung at the back with the dirty washing of the servants and strewn with nibbled mangoes; to the gradual spoiling and fading of the paint of the house, which was also too large, too open, too much exposed to wind and weather to be cared for with dutch cleanliness; to the habit of sitting and rocking, undressed, in sarong and kabaai, with one's bare feet in slippers, because it was really too hot, too sultry to dress one's self in a frock or tea-gown, which only became soaked in perspiration. it was for her sake that her husband always dressed for dinner, in a black jacket and stand-up collar; but, when she saw his tired face, with that more and more fixed, overtired office expression above that stand-up collar, she herself begged him not to trouble to dress next time after his second bath and allowed him to dine in a white jacket, or even in pyjamas. she thought it terrible, thought it unspeakably dreadful; it shocked all her ideas of correctness; but really he was too tired and it was too sultry and oppressive for her to expect anything more from him. and she, after only two years in india, understood more and more easily that laisser-aller--in dress, in body and in soul--now that every day she lost something more of her fresh, dutch blood and her western energy, now that she admitted, certainly, that in india men worked perhaps as in no other country, but that they worked with one sole object before their eyes: position, money, retirement, pension ... and home, back home to europe. true, there were others, born in india, who had been out of india only once, for barely a year, who would not hear of holland, who adored their land of sunshine. she knew that the de luces were like this; and there were others as well, she knew. but in her own circle of civil servants and planters every one had the same object in life: position, money ... and then off, off to europe. every one calculated the years of work still before him. every one saw before him in the future the illusion of that european retirement. an occasional friend, like van oudijck, an occasional civil servant, who perhaps loved his work for his work's sake and because it suited his nature, feared the coming pensioned retirement, which would mean a stupid, vegetating existence. but van oudijck was an exception. the majority worked in the service and on the plantations for the sake of the rest to come. her husband also, for instance, was toiling like a slave to become assistant-resident and, after some years, to draw his pension; he slaved and toiled for his illusion of rest. at present she felt her own energy leaving her with every drop of blood that she felt flowing more sluggishly through her weary veins. and, in these early days of the wet monsoon, while the eaves of the house incessantly discharged the thick, plashing shafts which irritated her with their clatter, while she watched the gradual ruin of all the material surroundings which she had selected with so much taste as her artistic consolation in india, she reached a more discordant mood of listlessness and dejection than she had ever gone through before. her child was still too small to mean much to her, to be a kindred spirit. her husband did nothing but work. he was a kind and thoughtful husband to her, a dear fellow in every way, a man of great simplicity, whom she had accepted--perhaps only because of this simplicity, because of the quiet serenity of his smiling, fair-skinned, frisian face and the burliness of his broad shoulders--after one or two excited, juvenile romances of enthusiasm and misunderstanding and soulful discussions, romances dating from her girlhood. she, who was herself neither simple nor serene, had sought the simplicity of her life in a simple romance. but his qualities failed to satisfy her. now especially, when she had been longer in india and was suffering defeat in her contest with the country that did not harmonize with her nature, his serene conjugal love failed to satisfy her. she was beginning to feel unhappy. she was too versatile a woman to find all her happiness in her little boy. he certainly filled a part of her life, with the minor cares of the present and the thought of his future. she had even worked out a whole educational system for him. but he did not fill her life entirely. and a longing for holland encompassed her, a longing for her parents, a longing for the beautiful, artistic home where you were always meeting painters, writers, musicians, the artistic salon--an exception in holland--that gathered together for a brief moment the artistic elements which in holland usually remained isolated. the vision passed before her eyes like a vague and distant dream, while she listened to the approaching thunders that filled the air, sultry to bursting-point, while she gazed at the downpour that followed. here she had nothing. here she felt out of place. here she had her little clique of adherents, who collected around her because she was cheerful; but she found no sort of deeper sympathy, no serious conversation ... except in van helderen. and with him she meant to be careful, so as to give him no illusions. there was only van helderen. and she thought of all the other people around her at labuwangi. she thought of people, people everywhere. and, very pessimistic in these days, she found in all of them the same egoism, the same self-complacency, the same unattractiveness, the same self-absorption: she could hardly express it to herself, distracted as she was by the terrific force of the pelting rain. but she found in everybody conscious and unconscious traits of unloveliness ... even in her faithful adherents ... and in her husband ... and in the men, young wives, girls, young men around her. there was nothing in any of them but his own ego. not one of them had sufficient harmony of mind for himself and another. she disapproved of this in one, hated that in another; a third and a fourth she condemned entirely. this critical attitude made her despondent and melancholy, for it was against her nature: she preferred to like others. she liked to live, in spontaneous harmony, with a number of associates: originally she had a profound love of people, a love of humanity. great questions moved her. but nothing that she felt met with any echo. she found herself empty and alone, in a country, a town, an environment in which all and everything, large and small, offended her soul, her body, her character, her nature. her husband worked. her child was already becoming thoroughly indian. her piano was out of tune. she stood up and tried the piano, with long scales that ended in the feuerzauber of valkyrie. but the roar of the rain was louder than her playing. when she got up again, feeling desperately dejected, she saw van helderen standing before her. "you startled me," she said. "may i stay to lunch?" he asked. "i am all by myself at home. ida has gone to tosari for her malaria and has taken the children with her. she went yesterday. it's an expensive business. how i'm to keep going this month i do not know." "send the children to us, after they've had a few days in the hills." "won't they bother you?" "of course not. i'll write to ida." "it's really awfully good of you. it would certainly make things easier for me." she laughed softly. "aren't you well?" he asked. "i feel deadly," she said. "how do you mean?" "i feel as if i were dying by inches." "why?" "it's terrible here. we've been longing for the rains; and, now that they've come, they are driving me mad. and ... i don't know what: i can't stand it here any longer." "where?" "in india. i have taught myself to see the good, the beautiful in this country. it's all no use. i can't go on with it." "go to holland," he said gently. "my people would be glad to see me, no doubt. it would be good for my boy, because he's forgetting his dutch daily, though i had begun to teach it to him so conscientiously, and he speaks malay ... or gibberish. but i can't leave my husband here all alone. he would have nothing here without me. at least, i think so: that is one more sort of illusion. perhaps it's not so at all." "but, if you fall ill...?" "oh, i don't know!" her whole being was filled with an unusual fatigue. "perhaps you're exaggerating!" he began, cheerfully. "come, perhaps you're exaggerating! what's upsetting you, what's making you so unhappy? let's draw up an inventory together." "an inventory of my misfortunes? very well. my garden is a marsh. three chairs in my front-verandah are splitting to pieces. the white ants have devoured my beautiful japanese mats. a new silk frock has come out all over stains, for no reason that i can make out. another is all unravelled, simply with the heat, i believe. to say nothing of various minor miseries of the same order. to console myself i took refuge in the feuerzauber. my piano was out of tune; i believe there are cockroaches walking among the strings." he gave a little laugh. "we're idiots here," she continued, "we europeans in this country! why do we bring all the paraphernalia of our costly civilization with us, considering that it's bound not to last? why don't we live in a cool bamboo hut, sleep on a mat, dress in a cotton sarong and a chintz kabaai, with a scarf over our shoulders and a flower in our hair. all your civilization by which you propose to grow rich ... is a western idea, which fails in the long run. our whole administration ... is so tiring in the heat. why--if we must be here--don't we live simply and plant paddy and live on nothing?" "you're talking like a woman," he said, with another little laugh. "possibly," she said. "perhaps i don't mean quite all i say. but that i feel here, opposing me, opposing all my western notions, a force which is antagonistic to me ... that is certain. i am sometimes frightened. i always feel ... that i am on the point of being conquered, i don't know what by: by something out of the ground, by a force of nature, by a secret in the soul of these black people, whom i don't know.... i feel particularly afraid at night." "you're overwrought," he said, tenderly. "possibly," she replied, wearily, seeing that he did not understand and too tired to go on explaining. "let's talk about something else. that table-turning's very curious." "very," he said. "the other day, the three of us: ida, you and i...." "it was certainly very curious." "do you remember the first time? addie de luce: it seems to be true about him and mrs. van oudijck.... and the insurrection ... the table foretold it." "may we not have suggested it unconsciously?" "i don't know. but to think that we should all be playing fair and that that table should go tapping and talking to us by means of an alphabet!" "i shouldn't do it often, eva, if i were you." "no, i think it inexplicable, and yet it's already beginning to bore me. one grows so accustomed to the incomprehensible." "everything's incomprehensible." "yes ... and everything's a bore." "eva!" he said, with a soft, reproachful laugh. "i give up the fight. i shall just sit in my rocking-chair ... and look at the rain." "there was a time when you used to see the beautiful side of my country." "your country? which you would be glad to leave to-morrow to go to the paris exhibition!" "i've never seen anything." "how humble you are to-day!" "i am sad, because of you." "oh, please don't be that!" "play something more." "well, then, have your gin-and-bitters. help yourself. i shall play on my out-of-tune piano; it will sound as melodious as my soul, which is also all of a tangle...." she went back to the middle gallery and played something from parsifal. he remained sitting outside and listened. the rain was pouring furiously. the garden stood clean and empty. a violent thunder-clap seemed to split the world asunder. nature was supreme; and in her gigantic manifestation the two people in that damp house were diminished, his love was nothing, her melancholy was nothing and the mystic music of the grail was as a child's ditty to the echoing mystery of that thunder-clap, whereat fate itself seemed to sail with heavenly cymbals over these doomed creatures in the deluge. chapter twenty-three van helderen's two children, a boy and girl of six and seven, were staying at eva's; and van helderen came in regularly once a day for a meal. he no longer spoke of his intense feeling, as though unwilling to disturb the pleasant intimacy of their daily intercourse. and she accepted his daily visits, was powerless to keep him at a distance. he was the only man in her immediate circle with whom she could speak and think aloud; and he was a comfort to her in these days of dejection. she did not understand how she had come to this, but she gradually lapsed into an absolute apathy, a sort of annihilating condition of thinking nothing necessary. she had never been like this before. her nature was lively and cheerful, seeking and admiring the beautiful in poetry and music and painting, things which, from her early childhood, from her childish books, she had seen about her and felt and discussed. in india she had gradually come to lack everything of which she felt a need. in her despair she succumbed to a sort of nihilism that made her ask: "what is the reason of anything?... why the world and the people in it and the mountains?... why all this tiny whirl of life?" and then, when she read of the social movements, of the great social problems in europe, of the eurasian question in java, which was becoming more and more urgent, she thought to herself: "why should there be a world, if man eternally remains the same, small and suffering and oppressed by all the misery of his humanity?" she did not see the purpose of it all. half of mankind was suffering poverty and struggling upwards out of that darkness ... to what? the other half was stagnating stupidly and dully amid its riches. between the two was a scale of gradations, from black poverty to dismal wealth. over them stood the rainbow of the eternal illusions, love, art, the great notes of interrogation of justice and peace and an ideal future.... she felt that it was much ado about nothing, she failed to see the purpose and she thought of herself: "why is it all so?... and why the world and poor humanity?" she had never felt like this before, but there was no struggling against it. gradually, from day to day, india was making her so, making her sick at her very soul. frans van helderen was her only consolation. the young controller, who had never been to europe, who had received all his education at batavia, who had passed his examinations at batavia, with his distinguished manners, his supple courtesy, his strange, enigmatic nationality, had grown dear to her in friendship because of his almost exotic development. she told him how she delighted in this friendship; and he no longer replied by offering his love. there was too much charm about their present relation. there was something ideal in it, which they both needed. in their everyday surroundings, that friendship shone before them like an exquisite halo of which they were both proud. he often called to see her, especially now that his wife was at tosari; and they would walk in the evening twilight to the beacon which stood by the sea like a small eiffel tower. these walks were much talked about, but they did not mind that. they sat down on the foundation of the beacon, looked out to sea and listened to the distance. ghostly proas, with sails like night-birds' wings, glided into the canal, to the droning sing-song of the fishermen. a melancholy of resignation, of a small world and small people hovered beneath the skies filled with twinkling stars, where gleamed the mystic diamonds of the southern cross or the turkish crescent of the horned moon. and above that melancholy of the droning fishermen, of crazy proas, of small people at the foot of the little light-house, drifted a fathomless immensity of the skies and the eternal stars. and from out the immensity drifted the unutterable, as it were the superhumanly divine, wherein all that was small and human sank and melted away. "why attach any value to life when i may die to-morrow?" thought eva. "why all this confusion and turmoil of mankind, when to-morrow perhaps everything may have ceased to exist?" and she put the question to him. he replied that each of us was not living for himself and the present age, but for all mankind and for the future. but she gave a bitter laugh, shrugged her shoulders, thought him commonplace. and she thought herself commonplace, to think such things that had so often been thought before. but still, notwithstanding her self-criticism, she continued under the obsession of the uselessness of life, when everything might be dead to-morrow. and an humiliating littleness, as of atoms, overcame them, both of them, as they sat gazing into the spaciousness of the skies and the eternal stars. yet they loved those moments, which were everything in their lives; for, when they did not feel their pettiness too keenly, they spoke of books, music, painting and the big, important things of life. and they felt that, in spite of the circulating library and the italian opera at surabaya, they were no longer in touch with the world. they felt the great, important things to be very far from them. and both of them now became seized with a nostalgia for europe, a longing to feel so very small no longer. they would both have liked to get away, to go to europe. but neither of them was able. their petty, daily life held them captive. then, as though spontaneously, in mutual harmony, they spoke of what was soul and being and all the mystery thereof. all the mystery. they felt it in the sea, in the sky; but they also quietly sought it in the rapping leg of a table. they did not understand how a soul or spirit could reveal itself through a table on which they earnestly laid their hands and which through their magnetic fluid was transformed from dead to living matter. but, when they laid their hands upon it, the table lived and they were forced to believe. the letters which they counted out were often confused, according to some strange alphabet; and the table, as though directed by a mocking spirit, constantly showed a tendency to tease and confuse, to stop suddenly or to be coarse and indecent. sometimes they read books on spiritualism and did not know whether to believe or not. these were quiet days of quiet monotony in the little town swept by the rustling rain. their life in common seemed unreal, like a dream that rose through the rain like a mist. and it was like a sudden awakening for eva when, one afternoon, walking outside in the damp avenue waiting for van helderen, she saw van oudijck coming in her direction. "i was just on my way to you!" he cried, excitedly. "i was just coming to ask a favour. will you help me once more?" "in what, resident?" "but first tell me: aren't you well? you've not been looking very fit lately." "it's nothing serious," she said, with a dreary laugh. "it'll pass. what can i help you in, resident?" "there's something to be done, mevrouwtje, and we can't manage without you. my wife herself was saying this morning, 'better ask mrs. eldersma.'" "but tell me what it is." "you know mrs. staats, the station-master's widow. the poor woman has been left without a thing, except her five children and some debts." "he committed suicide, didn't he?" "yes, it's very sad. and we really must help her. there's a lot of money needed. sending round a subscription-list won't bring in much. people are very generous, but they've already made such sacrifices lately. they went mad at the fancy-fair. they can't do much for the moment, so near the end of the month. but, early next month, in the first week of january, mevrouwtje, some theatricals by your thalia society: you know, nothing elaborate, a couple of drawing-room sketches and no expenses. seats at a guilder and a half, two guilders and a half, perhaps, and, if you set it going, the hall will be full; people will come over from surabaya. you must help me, you will, won't you?" "but, resident," said eva, wearily, "we've just had those tableaux-vivants. don't be angry with me, but i don't care to be always acting." "yes, yes, you must this time," van oudijck insisted, a little imperiously, greatly excited about his plan. she became peevish. she liked her independence; and in these days of dejection particularly she was too disconsolate, in these days of dreaming she felt too much confused to accede at once with a good grace to his authoritative request: "really, resident, i can think of nothing this time," she answered, curtly. "why doesn't mrs. van oudijck do it herself?" she was startled when she had made this peevish remark. walking beside her, the resident lost his composure; and his face clouded over. the animated, cheerful expression and the jovial smile around his thick moustache suddenly disappeared. she saw that she had been cruel; and she felt remorse for it. and for the first time, suddenly, she saw that, in love with his wife though he was, he did not approve of her withdrawing herself from everything. she saw that it gave him pain. it was as though this side of his character were being made clear to her: she was seeing it plainly for the first time. he did not know what to reply: seeking for his words, he remained silent. then she said, coaxingly: "don't be angry, resident. it wasn't nice of me. i know that all that sort of bustle only bores mrs. van oudijck. i am glad to relieve her of it. i will do anything you wish." her eyes were filled with nervous tears. he was smiling now and gave her a penetrating sidelong glance: "you're a bit overstrung. but i knew that you had a good heart ... and would not leave me in the lurch ... and would consent to help poor old mother staats. but don't throw away any money, mevrouwtje: no expense, no new scenery. just your wit, your talent, your beautiful elocution: french or dutch, as you please. we're proud of all that at labuwangi, you know; and all the beautiful acting--which you give us free of charge--is quite enough to make the performance a success. but how overstrung you are, mevrouwtje! why are you crying? aren't you well? tell me: is there anything i can do for you?" "don't work my husband so hard, resident. i never see anything of him." he made a gesture to show that he could not help himself: "it's true," he admitted. "there's an awful lot to do. is that the trouble?" "and make me see the good side of india." "is that it?" "and a lot besides." "are you becoming homesick? don't you care for india any longer, don't you care for labuwangi, where we all make so much of you?... you misjudge india. try to see the good side of it." "i have tried." "is it no use?" "no." "you are too sensible not to perceive the good in this country." "you are too fond of it to be impartial. and i don't know how to be impartial. but tell me the good things." "which shall i begin with? the satisfaction of being able, as an official, to do good to the country and the people. the fine, delightful sense of working for this country and this people; the ample hard work that fills a man's life out here.... i'm not speaking of all the office-work of your husband, who is district secretary. but i'm speaking of later on, when he becomes an assistant-resident!" "it will be so long before that happens!" "well, then, the spacious material life?" "the white ants gnaw everything." "that's a poor joke, mevrouw." "very possibly, resident. everything is out of tune with me, inside and out: my wit, my piano and my poor soul." "nature, then?" "i don't feel it all. nature is conquering me and devouring me." "your own activities?" "my activities? one of the good things in india?" "yes. to inspire us material, practical people with your wit, now and again." "resident! you're paying me compliments!... is this all on account of the theatricals?" "and to do good to mother staats with that wit of yours!" "couldn't i do good in europe?" "certainly, certainly," he said, bluffly. "go to europe, mevrouw, by all means. go and live at the hague; join the charity organization society ... with a collecting-box at your door and a rix-dollar ... how often?" she laughed: "now you're becoming unjust. they do a lot of good in holland too." "but do they ever do in holland for one distressed person ... what we, what you are now going to do for mother staats? and don't tell me that there's less poverty here." "well?" "well, then, there is a great deal of good for you here. your special activities. your material and moral work for others.... don't let van helderen get too much smitten with you, mevrouw. he's a charming fellow, but he puts too much literature into his monthly reports.... i see him coming and i must be off. so i can rely on you?" "absolutely." "when shall we have the first meeting, with the committee and the ladies?" "to-morrow evening, resident, at your house?" "right you are. i shall send round the subscription-lists. we must make a lot of money, mevrouw." "we'll do our best for mother staats," she said, gently. he shook her hand and went away. she felt limp, she did not know why: "the resident has been warning me against you, because you're too literary!" she said to van helderen, teasingly. she sat down in the front verandah. the skies burst asunder; a white curtain of rain descended in perpendicular streams. a plague of locusts came hopping along the verandah. a cloud of tiny flies hummed in the corners like an ã�olian harp. eva and van helderen placed their hands on the little table and it tilted its leg with a jerk, while the beetles buzzed around them. chapter twenty-four the subscription-lists went round. the plays were rehearsed and performed in three weeks' time; and the committee handed the resident a sum of nearly fifteen hundred guilders for mother staats. her debts were paid; a little house was rented for her; and she was set up in a small milliner's shop, which eva stocked from paris. all the ladies in labuwangi gave mother staats an order; and in less than a month not only was the woman saved from utter ruin, but her mode of life was established, her children were going to school again and she was enjoying a pleasant livelihood. all this had happened so swiftly and unostentatiously; the subscriptions were so munificent; the ladies so readily ordered a dress or a hat which they did not need that eva was astounded. and she had to confess to herself that the egoism, the self-absorption, the unlovable qualities which she often observed in their social life--in their intercourse, conversation, intriguing and gossip--had been suddenly thrust into the background by a common gift for doing the right thing, quite simply, because it had to be done, because there was no question about it, because the woman had to be assisted. roused from her depression by the bustle of the rehearsals, stimulated to brisk action, she appreciated the better and finer side of her environment and wrote of it so enthusiastically to holland that her parents, to whom india was a closed book, smiled. but, although this episode had awakened a soft and gentle and appreciative feeling in her, it was only an episode; and she remained the same when the emotion of it was over. and, notwithstanding that she felt the disapproval of labuwangi around her, she continued to find the main interest of her life in van helderen's friendship. for there was so little else. her little circle of adherents, which she had gathered round her with so many illusions, which she invited to dinner, to which her doors were always open: what did it actually amount to? she now accepted the doorn de bruijns and the rantzows as indifferent acquaintances, but no longer as friends. she suspected mrs. doorn de bruijn of insincerity; dr. rantzow was too common, too vulgar; his wife was an insignificant german hausfrau. true, they joined in the table-turning, but they relished the absurd ineptitudes, the indecent conversation of the mocking spirit. she and van helderen took the whole thing seriously, though she thought the table rather comical. and so no one but van helderen remained to interest her. but van oudijck had won her admiration. she had suddenly obtained a glimpse of his character; and, though it entirely lacked the artistic charm which had hitherto exclusively attracted her in men, she saw the fine quality also in this man, who was not at all artistic, who had not the least conception of art, but who had so much that was beautiful in his simple, manly idea of duty and in the calmness with which he endured the disappointment of his domestic life. for eva saw that, though he adored his wife, he did not approve of lã©onie's indifference to all the interests of which his own life was built up. if he saw nothing more, if he was blind to all the rest that went on in his domestic circle, this disappointment was his secret pain, to which he was not blind, deep down in himself. and she admired him; and her admiration was as it were a revelation that art does not always stand highest in the affairs of this life. she suddenly understood that the exaggerated importance attaching to art in our time was a disease from which she had suffered and was still suffering. for what was she, what did she do? nothing. her parents, both of them, were great artists, true artists; and their house was like a temple and their bias was comprehensible and pardonable. but what of her? she played the piano pretty well; and that was all. she had a few ideas, a little taste; and that was all. but in her time she had gushed with other girls; and she now remembered all that foolish gushing, that trick of exchanging letters crammed with cheap philosophy and written in a modern style distantly aping that of the poets kloos and gorter. and thus, for all her depression, her meditation carried her a stage further and she underwent a certain development. for it seemed incredible that she, the child of her parents, should not always place art above everything else. and she had in her that play and counterplay of seeking and thinking in order to find her way, now that she was quite lost in a country alien to her nature, among people on whom she looked down, without letting them perceive it. she strove to find the good in the country, in order to make it her own and cherish it; she was glad to find among the people those few who roused her sympathy and her admiration; but the good remained incidental to her, the few people remained exceptional; and, despite all her seeking and thinking, she did not find her way and retained the moodiness of a woman who was too european, too artistic, notwithstanding her self-knowledge and her consequent denial of her artistic capacity, to live quietly and contentedly in an up-country javanese town, beside a husband wrapped up in his office-work, in a climate that upset her health, amid natural surroundings that overwhelmed her and among people whom she disliked. and, in the most lucid moments of this play and counterplay, there was the obvious fear, the fear which she felt most definitely of all, the fear which she felt slowly approaching, she knew not whence, she knew not whither, but hovering over her head as with the thousand veils of a fate gliding through the sultry, rain-laden skies.... in these inharmonious moods, she had refrained from gathering her little clique around her, for she herself did not care to take the trouble and her friends did not understand her well enough to seek her out. they missed the cheerfulness in her which had attracted them at first. envy and hostility were now given more rein; people began to speak freely of her: she was affected, pedantic, vain, proud; she had the pretention always to aim at being the leading person in the town; she behaved just as though she were the resident's wife and ordered every one about. she was not really pretty, she had an impossible way of dressing, her house was preposterously arranged. and then her relation with van helderen, their evening walks to the light-house! ida heard about it at tosari, amid the band of gossips at the small, poky hotel, where the visitors are bored when they are not going on excursions and therefore sit about in their poky little verandahs, almost in one another's pockets, peeping into one another's rooms, listening at the thin partitions; ida heard about it at tosari and it was enough to rouse the little indian woman's instincts, the instincts of a white half-caste, and induce her suddenly, without stating any cause, to remove her children from eva's charge. van helderen, when he went up for the week-end, asked his wife for an explanation, asked her why she insulted eva by taking the children away, without a reason, and having them up in the hills, thus increasing the hotel-bills. ida made a scene, talking loudly, with hysterics that rang through the little hotel, made all the visitors prick up their ears and, like a gale of wind, whipped the cackling chatter into a storm. and, without further explanation, ida broke with eva. eva withdrew into herself. even in surabaya, where she went to do some shopping, she heard the scandalous chatter; and she became so sick of her world and her friends that she silently shrank back into herself. she wrote to van helderen not to call any more. she entreated him to become reconciled with his wife. she gave up seeing him. and she was now all alone. she felt that she was not in the mood to find comfort in any one around her. there was no sympathy and no understanding in india for such moods as hers. and so she shut herself up. her husband was working hard, as usual. but she devoted herself more zealously to her little boy, she immersed herself in her love for her child. she withdrew herself into her love for her house. well, this was her life of never going out, of never seeing any one, of never hearing any other music than her own. this was seeking comfort in her house, her child and her books. this was the personality that she had become, after her early illusions and strivings. she now constantly felt the yearning for europe, for holland, for her parents, for people of artistic culture. and now it developed into hatred for the country which she had at first seen in the overwhelming grandeur of its beauty, with its majestic mountains and the softly-creeping mystery that lurked in nature and humanity. now she hated nature and humanity; and their mystery terrified her. she filled her life with thoughts of her child. her boy, little otto, was three years old. she would guide him, make a man of him. from the day of his birth she had had vague illusions of later seeing her son a great artist, by preference a great writer, famous throughout the world. but she had learnt much since then. she felt that art does not always stand supreme. she felt that there are higher things, which sometimes, in her despondency, she denied, but which were there nevertheless, radiant and great. these things had to do with the shaping of the future; these things had to do above all with peace, justice and brotherhood. oh, the great brotherhood of the poor and the rich! now, in her loneliness, she contemplated this as the highest ideal at which one can work, as sculptors work on a monument. justice and peace would follow. but human brotherhood must be aimed at first; and she wished her son to work at it. where? in europe? in india? she did not know; she did not see it before her. she saw it in europe rather than in india, where the inexplicable, the enigmatical, the fearful remained in the foreground of her thoughts. how strange it was, how strange!... she was a woman made for ideals. perhaps this by itself was the simple explanation of what she felt and feared ... in india.... "your impressions of india are altogether mistaken," her husband would say. "you see india quite wrongly. quiet? you think it's quiet here? why should i have to work so hard in india, if things were quiet at labuwangi?... we have hundreds of interests at heart, of europeans and javanese alike. agriculture is studied as eagerly in this country as anywhere. the population is increasing steadily.... declining? a colony in which there is always so much going on? that's one of van helderen's imbecile ideas: speculative ideas, mere vapourings, which you just echo after him.... i can't understand the way in which you regard india nowadays.... there was a time when you had eyes for all that was beautiful and interesting here. that time seems to be past. you ought to go home for a bit, really...." but she knew that he would be very lonely without her; and for this reason she refused to go. later, when her boy was older, she would have to go to holland. but by then eldersma would certainly be an assistant-resident. at present he still had seventeen controllers and district secretaries above him. it had been going on like this for years, that looking towards promotion in the distant future. it was like yearning after a mirage. of ever becoming a resident he did not so much as think. assistant-resident for a couple of years or so; and then to holland, on a pension.... she thought it a heart-breaking existence, slaving one's self to death like that ... for labuwangi!... she was down with malaria; and her maid, saina, was giving her massage, kneading her aching limbs with supple fingers. "it's a nuisance, saina, when i'm ill, for you to be living in the compound. you'd better move into the house this evening, with your four children." saina thought it troublesome, a great fuss. "why?" and the woman explained. her cottage had been left to her by her husband. she was attached to it, though it was in an utterly dilapidated condition. now that the rainy monsoon was on, the rain often came in through the roof; and then she was unable to cook and the children had to go without their food. to have it repaired was difficult. she had a rix-dollar a week from the mem-sahib. sixty cents of that went on rice. then there were a few cents daily for fish, coconut oil, betel-pepper; a few cents for fuel.... no, repairs were out of the question. she would be much better off with the mem-sahib, much better off on the estate. but it would be such a fuss to find a tenant for the cottage, because it was so dilapidated; and the mem-sahib knew that no house was allowed to remain unoccupied in the compound: there was a heavy fine attached to that.... so she would rather go on living in her damp cottage. she could easily stay and sit up with the mem-sahib at night; her eldest girl would look after the little ones. and, resigned to her small existence of petty miseries, saina passed her supple fingers, with a firm, gentle pressure, over her mistress' ailing limbs. and eva thought it heart-rending, this living on a rix-dollar a week, with four children, in a house which let in the rain, so that it was impossible to cook there. "let me look after your second little daughter, saina," said eva, a day or two after. saina hesitated, smiled: she would rather not, but dared not say so. "yes," eva insisted, "let her come to me: you will see her all day long; she will sleep in cook's room; i shall provide her clothes; and she will have nothing to do but to see that my room is kept tidy. you can teach her that." "so young still, mem-sahib; only just ten." "no, no," eva insisted. "let me do this to help you. what's her name?" "mina, mem-sahib." "mina? that won't do," said eva. "that's the seamstress' name. we'll find another for her." saina brought the child, looking very shy, with a streak of moist rice-powder on her forehead; and eva dressed her prettily. she was a very attractive little thing, with a soft brown skin covered with a downy bloom, and looked charming in her new clothes. she sedulously piled the sarongs in the press, with fragrant white flowers between the layers: the flowers were changed for fresh ones daily. for a joke, because she arranged the flowers so prettily, eva called her melati, after the east-indian jasmine. two days later, saina crouched down before her njonja. "what is it, saina?" might the little girl come back to the damp cottage in the compound? saina asked. "why?" asked eva, in amazement. "isn't your little girl happy here?" yes, she was, said saina, bashfully, but she preferred the cottage. the mem-sahib was very kind, but little mina would rather be in the cottage. eva was angry and let the child go home, with the new clothes, which saina took away with her as a matter of course. "why wasn't the child allowed to stay?" eva asked of the latta cook. cook at first dared not say. "come, cook, why wasn't she?" asked eva, insisting. "because the mem-sahib called the little girl melati.... names of flowers and fruits ... are given only ... to dancing-girls," explained the cook, as though expounding a mystery. "but why didn't saina tell me?" asked eva, greatly incensed. "i had not the least idea of that!" "too shy," said cook, by way of excusing saina. "beg pardon, mem-sahib." these were trivial incidents in the daily domestic life, little episodes of her housekeeping; but they made her feel sore, because she felt behind them as it were a wall that always existed between her and the people and things of india. she did not know the country, she would never know the people. and the minor disappointment of the episodes filled her with the same soreness as the greater disappointment of her illusions, because her life, amid the daily trivialities of her housekeeping, was itself becoming more and more trivial. chapter twenty-five the early hours of the day were often cool, washed clean by the abundant rains; and in the young sunshine of these morning hours the earth emitted a tender haze, a blue softening of every hard line and colour, so that the lange laan, with its villa-residences and fenced gardens, seemed to be surrounded with the vagueness and beauty of a dream-avenue: the dream-columns rose insubstantially, like a vision of pillared tranquillity; the lines of the roofs acquired distinction in their indefiniteness; the hues of the trees and the outlines of their leafy tops were etherealized into tender pastels of misty rose and even mistier blue, with a single brighter gleam of morning yellow and a distant purple streak of dawn. and over all this matutinal world fell a cool dew, like a fountain that rose from that drenched ground and fell back in pearly drops in the child-like gentleness of the first sunbeams. it was as though every morning the earth and her people were newly created, as though mankind were newly born to a youth of innocence and paradisal unconsciousness. but the illusion of the dawn lasted but a minute, barely a few moments: the sun, rising higher in the sky, shone forth from the virginal mist; boastfully it unfurled its proud halo of piercing rays, pouring down its burning gold, full of godlike pride because it was reigning over its brief moment of the day, for the clouds were already mustering, greyly advancing, like battle-hordes of dark phantoms, pressing eerily onwards: deep bluish-black and heavy lead-grey phantoms, overmastering the sun and crushing the earth under white torrents of rain. and the evening twilight, short and hurried, letting fall veil upon veil of crape, was like an overwhelming melancholy of earth, nature and life, in which one forgot that paradisal moment of the morning; the white rain rustled down like a flood-tide of melancholy; the road and the gardens were dripping, drinking up the falling torrents until they shone like marshy pools and flooded meadows in the dusky evening; a chill, spectral mist rose on high with a slow movement as of ghostly draperies, which hovered over the puddles; and the chilly houses, scantily lit with their smoking lamps, round which clouds of insects swarmed, falling on every hand and dying with singed wings, became filled with a yet chillier sadness, an over-shadowing fear of the menacing world out of doors, of the all-powerful cloud-hordes, of the boundless immensity that came whispering on the gusty winds from the far-off unknown, high as the heavens, wide as the firmament, against which the open houses appeared unprotected, while the inmates were small and petty for all their civilization and science and soulful feelings, small as wriggling insects, insignificant, abandoned to the play of the giant mysteries blowing up from the distance. lã©onie van oudijck, in the half-lit back-verandah of the residency, was talking to theo in a soft voice: and oorip squatted beside her. "it's nonsense, oorip!" she cried, peevishly. "really not, mem-sahib," said the maid. "it's not nonsense. i hear them every evening." "where?" asked theo. "in the banyan-tree behind the house, high up, in the top branches." "it's wild cats," said theo. "it's not wild cats, sahib," the maid insisted. "come, come! as if oorip didn't know how wild cats mew! kriow, kriow: that's how they go. what we hear every night is the ghosts. it's the little children crying in the trees. the souls of the little children, crying in the trees." "it's the wind, oorip." "come, come, mem-sahib: as if oorip couldn't hear the wind! boo-ooh: that's how the wind goes; and then the branches move. but this is the little children, moaning in the top boughs; and the branches don't move then. this is a bad omen, mem-sahib." "and why should it be a bad omen?" "oorip knows but dares not tell. the mem-sahib is sure to be angry." "come, oorip, tell me." "it's because of the excellency, sahib, because of the residã¨n." "why?" "the other day, with the evening-market in the square and the fancy-fair for the white people in the gardens." "well, what about it?" "the day wasn't well-chosen, according to the portents. it was an unlucky day.... and with the new well...." "what about the new well?" "there was no sacrifice. so no one uses the new well. every one fetches water from the old well.... the water's not good either. for from the new well the woman rises with the bleeding hole in her breast.... and miss doddie...." "what of her?" "miss doddie has seen the white hadji going by! the white hadji is not a good hadji. he's a ghost.... miss doddie saw him twice: at patjaram and here.... listen, mem-sahib!" "what?" "don't you hear? the children's little souls are moaning in the top boughs. there's no wind blowing at this moment. listen, listen: that's not wild cats. the wild cats go kriow, kriow, when they're courting! these are the little souls!" they all three listened. lã©onie mechanically pressed closer to theo. she looked deathly pale. the roomy back-verandah, with the table always laid, stretched away in the dim light of a single hanging lamp. the half-swamped back-garden gleamed wet out of the darkness of the banyan-trees, full of pattering drops but motionless in the impenetrable masses of their velvety foliage. and an inexplicable, almost imperceptible crooning, like a gentle mystery of little tormented souls, whimpered high above their heads, as though in the sky or in the topmost branches of the trees. now it was a short cry, then a moan as of a sick child, then a soft sobbing as of little girls in misery. "what sort of animal can it be?" asked theo. "is it birds or insects?" the moaning and sobbing was very distinct. lã©onie looked white as a sheet and was trembling all over. "don't be so frightened," said theo. "of course it's animals." but he himself was white as chalk with fear; and, when they looked each other in the eyes, she understood that he too was afraid. she clutched his arm, nestled up against him. the maid squatted low, humbly, as though accepting all fate as an impenetrable mystery. she did not wish to run away. but the eyes of the white man and woman held only one idea, the idea of escaping. suddenly, both of them, the step-mother and the step-son, who were bringing shame upon the house, were afraid, as with a single fear, afraid as of a threatening punishment. they did not speak, they said nothing to each other; they leant against each other, understanding each other's trembling, two white children of this mysterious indian soil, who from their childhood had breathed the mystic air of java and had unconsciously heard the vague, stealthily approaching mystery, as an accustomed music, a music which they had not noticed, as though mystery were an accustomed thing. as they stood thus, trembling and looking at each other, the wind rose, bearing away with it the secret of the tiny souls, bearing away with it the little souls themselves; the interlacing branches swayed angrily and the rain began to fall once more. a shuddering chill came fanning up, filling the house; a sudden draught blew out the lamp. and they remained in the dark, a little longer, she, despite the openness of the verandah, almost in the arm of her step-son and lover; the maid crouching at their feet. but then she flung off his arm, flung off the black oppression of darkness and fear, filled with the rustling of the rain; the wind was cold and shivery and she staggered indoors, on the verge of fainting. theo and oorip followed her. the middle gallery was lighted. van oudijck's office was open. he was working. lã©onie stood irresolute, with theo, not knowing what to do. the maid disappeared, muttering. it was then that she heard a whizzing sound and a small round stone flew through the gallery, fell somewhere near at hand. she gave a cry; and, behind the screen which divided the gallery from the office where van oudijck sat at his writing-table, she flung herself once more into theo's arms, abandoning all her caution. they stood shivering in each other's arms. van oudijck had heard her: he stood up, came from behind the screen. his eyes blinked, as though tired with working. lã©onie and theo had recovered themselves. "what is it, lã©onie?" "nothing," she said, not daring to tell him of the little souls or of the stone, afraid of the threatening punishment. she and theo stood there like criminals, both of them white and trembling. van oudijck, his mind still on his work, did not notice anything. "nothing," she repeated. "the mat is frayed and ... and i nearly stumbled. but there was something i wanted to tell you, otto." her voice shook, but he did not hear it, blind to what she did, deaf to what she said, still absorbed in his papers: "what's that?" "oorip has suggested that the servants would like to have a sacrifice, because a new well has been built in the grounds...." "that well which is two months old?" "they don't make use of the water." "why not?" "they are superstitious, you know; they refuse to use the water before the sacrifice has been offered." "then it ought to have been done at once. why didn't they tell kario at once to ask me? i can't think of all that nonsense myself. but i would have given them the sacrifice then. now it's like mustard after meat. the well is two months old." "it would be a good thing all the same, papa," said theo. "you know what the javanese are like: they won't use the well as long as they've not had a sacrifice." "no," said van oudijck, unwillingly, shaking his head. "to give them a sacrifice now would have no sense in it. i would have done so gladly; but now, after two months, it would be absurd. they ought to have asked for it at once." "do, otto," lã©onie entreated. "i should give them the sacrifice. you'll please me if you do." "mamma half-promised oorip," theo insisted gently. they stood trembling before him, white in the face, like petitioners. but he, weary and thinking of his papers, was seized with a stubborn unwillingness, though he was seldom able to refuse his wife anything. "no, lã©onie," he said, firmly. "and you must never promise things of which you're not certain." he turned away, went round the screen and sat down to his work. they looked at each other, the mother and the step-son. slowly, aimlessly, they moved away, to the front-verandah, where a moist, dripping darkness drifted between the stately pillars. they saw a white form coming through the swamped garden. they started, for they were now afraid of everything, thinking at the sight of every figure of the chastisement that would overtake them like some strange thing, if they remained in the paternal house which they had covered with shame. but, when they looked more closely, they saw that it was doddie. she had come home; she said, trembling, that she had been at eva eldersma's. actually she had been walking with addie de luce; and they had sheltered from the rain in the compound. she was very pale, she was trembling; but lã©onie and theo did not notice it in the dark verandah, even as she herself did not see that her step-mother and theo were pale. she was trembling like that because in the garden--addie had brought her to the gate--stones had been thrown at her. it must have been some impudent javanese, who hated her father and his house and his household; but, in the dark verandah, where she saw her step-mother and her brother sitting side by side in silence, as though in despair, she suddenly felt, she did not know why, that it was not an impudent javanese.... she sat down by them, silently. they looked out at the damp, dark garden, over which the spacious night was hovering as on the wings of a gigantic bat. and, in the mute melancholy which drifted like a grey twilight between the tall white pillars, all three of them--doddie singly, but the step-mother and step-son together--felt frightened to death and crushed by the strange thing that was about to befall them.... chapter twenty-six and, despite their anxiety, the two sought each other all the oftener, feeling themselves now bound by indissoluble bonds. in the afternoon he would steal to her room; and, despite their anxiety, they lost themselves in wild embraces and then remained close together. "it must be nonsense, lã©onie," he whispered. "yes, but then what is it?" she murmured in return. "after all, i heard the moaning and heard the stone whizz through the air." "and then?" "what?" "if it is something ... suppose it is something that we can't explain?" "but i don't believe in it!" "nor i.... only...." "what?" "if it's something ... if it's something that we can't explain, then...." "then what?" "then ... it's not because of us!" he whispered, almost inaudibly. "why, oorip said so herself! it's because of papa!" "oh, but it's too silly!" "i don't believe in that nonsense either." "the moaning ... of those animals." "and that stone ... must have been thrown by some wretched fellow ... one of the servants, a beggar who is putting himself forward ... or who has been bribed...." "bribed? by whom?" "by ... by the regent...." "why, theo!" "oorip said the moaning came from the palace...." "what do you mean?" "and that they wanted to torment papa from there...." "to torment him?" "because the regent of ngadjiwa has been dismissed." "does oorip say that?" "no, i do. oorip said that the regent had occult powers. that's nonsense, of course. the fellow's a scoundrel. he has bribed people ... to worry papa." "but papa notices none of it...." "no.... we mustn't tell him either.... that's the best thing to do.... we must ignore it." "and the white hadji, theo, whom doddie saw twice.... and, when they do table-turning at van helderen's, ida sees him too...." "oh, another tool of the regent's, of course!" "yes, i expect that's true.... but it's wretched all the same, theo.... theo darling, i'm so frightened!" "of that nonsense? come, come!" "if it's anything, theo ... it has nothing to do with us, you say?" he laughed: "what next? what could it have to do with us? i tell you, it's a practical joke of the regent's." "we oughtn't to be together any more." "no, no, i love you, i'm mad with love for you!" he kissed her fiercely. they were both afraid. but he rallied lã©onie: "come, lã©onie, don't be so superstitious!" "when i was a child, my babu told me...." she whispered a story in his ear. he turned pale: "lã©onie, what rot!" "strange things happen here, in india.... if they bury something belonging to you, a pocket-handkerchief or a lock of hair, they are able--simply by witchcraft--to make you fall ill and pine away and die ... and not a doctor can tell what the illness is...." "that's rubbish!" "it's really true!" "i didn't know you were so superstitious!" "i used never to think of it. i've begun to think of it just lately.... theo, can there be anything!" "there's nothing ... but kissing." "no, theo, don't, be quiet, i'm frightened!... it's quite late. it gets dark so quickly. papa has finished his sleep, theo. go away now, theo ... through the boudoir. i want to take my bath quickly. i'm frightened nowadays when it gets dark. there's no twilight, with the rains. the evenings come all of a sudden.... the other day, i had not told them to bring a light into the bathroom ... and already it was so dark ... at only half-past five ... and two bats were flying all over the place: i was so afraid that they would catch in my hair.... hush! is that papa?" "no, it's doddie: she's playing with her cockatoo." "go now, theo." he went through the boudoir, and wandered into the garden. she got up, flung a kimono over the sarong which she had knotted loosely under her arms and called to oorip: "bring the bath-things." "yes, mem-sahib." "where are you, oorip?" "here, mem-sahib." "where were you?" "here, outside the garden-door, mem-sahib.... i was waiting," said the girl, meaningly, implying that she was waiting until theo had gone. "is the excellency sahib up?" "yes ... had his bath, mem-sahib." "then fetch the things for my bath.... light the little lamp in the bathroom.... yesterday evening the glass was broken and the lamp not filled...." "the mem-sahib never used to have the lamp lit in the bathroom." "oorip ... has anything happened ... this afternoon?" "no, everything has been quiet.... but oh, when the night comes!... all the servants are frightened, mem-sahib.... cook says she won't stay...." "oh, what a fuss!... oorip, promise her five guilders ... as a present ... if she stays...." "the butler is frightened too, mem-sahib." "oh, what a fuss!... i've never known such a fuss, oorip...." "no, mem-sahib." "i have always been able to arrange matters so well.... but these are things...!" "what can one do, mem-sahib?... things are stronger than men...." "mightn't it really be wild cats ... and a man throwing stones?" "come, come, mem-sahib!" "well, bring my bath-things.... don't forget to light the little lamp...." the maid left the room. the dusk began to fall softly through the air, soft as velvet after the rain. the great residency stood still as death amid the darkness of its giant banyans. and the lamps were not yet lit. in the front-verandah, van oudijck, by himself, lay in his pyjamas on a wicker chair, drinking tea. in the garden, the dense shadows were gathering like strips of immaterial velvet falling heavily from the trees. "lamp-boy!" "yes, mem-sahib." "come, light the lamps! why do you begin so late? light the lamp in my bedroom first...." she went to the bathroom. she went past the long row of store-rooms and servants' rooms which shut off the back-garden. she looked up at the banyan-tree in whose top branches she had heard the little souls moaning. the branches did not move, there was not a breath of wind, the air was sultry and oppressive with a threatening storm, with rain too heavy to fall. in the bathroom, oorip was lighting the little lamp. "have you brought everything, oorip?" "yes, mem-sahib." "haven't you forgotten the big bottle with the white toilet-water?" "isn't this it, mem-sahib?" "yes, that's right.... but do give me a fine towel for my face in future. i'm always telling you to give me a fine towel. i hate these coarse ones...." "i'll run and fetch one." "no, no! stay here, stay and sit by the door." "yes, mem-sahib." "and you must have the keys seen to by a locksmith.... we can't lock the bathroom-door.... it's too silly, when there are visitors." "i'll remember to-morrow." "mind you don't forget." she shut the door. the maid squatted down outside the closed door, patient and resigned under the big and little things of life, knowing nothing but loyalty to her mistress, who loaded her with pretty sarongs and paid her wages in advance as often as she wanted them. in the bathroom the little nickel lamp gleamed faintly over the pale-green marble of the wet floor; over the water brimming in the square sunk bath. "i'll have my evening bath a little earlier in future," thought lã©onie. she removed her kimono and sarong; and, standing naked, she glanced in the mirror at her soft, milk-white contours, the rounded outlines of an amorous woman. her fair hair shone like gold; and a pearly lustre spread from her shoulders over her bosom and vanished in the shadow of her small, round breasts. she lifted her hair, admiring herself, examining herself for a chance wrinkle, feeling whether her flesh was hard and firm. one of her hips arched outwards, as she rested her weight on one leg; and a long white high-light curved caressingly past her thigh and knee, disappearing at the instep. but she gave a start as she stood thus absorbed in admiration: she had meant to hurry. she quickly tied her hair into a knot, covered herself with a lather of soap and, taking the scoop, poured the water over her body. it flowed heavily down her in long smooth streams; and her gleaming shoulders, breasts and hips shone like marble in the light of the little lamp.... yes, she would bathe earlier in future. it was already dark outside. she dried herself hurriedly, with a rough towel. she just rubbed herself, briskly, with the white ointment which oorip always prepared, her magic elixir of youth, suppleness and firm whiteness.... at that moment, she saw on her thigh a small red spot. she paid no attention to it, thinking that there must have been something in the water, a tiny leaf, a dead insect. she rubbed it off. but, while rubbing herself, she saw two or three larger spots, deep scarlet, on her chest. she turned suddenly cold, not knowing what it was, not understanding. she rubbed herself down again; and she took the towel, on which the spots had left something slimy, like clotted blood. a shiver ran over her from head to foot. and suddenly she saw. the spots came out of the corners of the bathroom--how and where she did not see--first small, then large, as though spat out by a dribbling, betel-chewing mouth. cold as ice, she gave a scream. the spots, now closer together, became full, like blobs of purple saliva spat against her. her body was soiled and filthy with a grimy, dribbling redness. one spot struck her in the eye...." the slimy blobs of spittle marked the greenish white of the floor and floated in the water that had not yet run off. they also fouled the water in the bath and dissolved in filth. she was all red, stained and unclean, as though defiled by a foul scarlet shame which invisible betel-chewing mouths hawked and spat upon her from the corners of the room, aiming at her hair, her eyes, her breasts, her flanks. she uttered yell upon yell, driven crazy by the strangeness of what was happening. she rushed to the door, tried to open it, but there was something amiss with the handle. for the key was not turned in the lock, the bolt was not shot. she felt her back spat upon again and again; and the red dripped off her. she screamed for oorip and heard the girl outside the door, pulling and pushing. at last the door yielded. and, desperate, mad, distraught, insane, naked, befouled, she threw herself into her maid's arms. the servants came running up. she saw van oudijck, theo and doddie hastening from the back-verandah. in her utter madness, with her eyes staring widely, she felt ashamed not of her nudity but of her defilement. the maid had snatched the kimono, also befouled, from the handle of the door and threw it round her mistress. "keep away!" lã©onie yelled, desperately. "don't come any nearer!" she screamed, madly. "oorip, oorip, take me to the swimming-bath! a lamp, a lamp ... in the swimming-bath!" "what is it, lã©onie?" she refused to say: "i've ... trodden ... on a ... toad!" she screamed. "i'm afraid ... of itch!... don't come any nearer! i've got nothing on!... keep away! keep away!... a lamp, a lamp ... a lamp, i tell you ... in the swimming-bath!... no, otto! keep away! keep away! i'm undressed! keep away!... bring a la-amp!" the servants scurried past one another. one of them brought a lamp to the swimming-bath. "oorip! oorip!" she clutched her maid: "they've spat at me ... with betel-juice!... they've spat ... at me ... with betel-juice!... they've spat ... at me ... with betel-juice!" "hush, mem-sahib!... come along ... to the swimming-bath!" "wash me, oorip!... oorip, my hair, my eyes!... o god, i can taste it in my mouth!..." she sobbed despairingly; the maid dragged her along. "oorip! first look ... look and see ... if they're spitting ... in the swimming-bath too!" the maid went in, shivering: "there's nothing there, mem-sahib." "quick then, oorip, bathe me, wash me." she flung off the kimono; her beautiful body became visible in the light of the lamp, as though soiled with dirty blood. "oorip, wash me.... no, don't go for soap: water will do!... don't leave me alone! oorip, wash me here, can't you?... burn the kimono! oorip!" she ducked in the swimming-bath and swam round desperately; the maid, half-undressed, went in after her and washed her. "quick, oorip! quick: only the worst places!... i'm frightened! presently ... presently they'll be spitting here!... in the bedroom next, oorip!... call out that there's to be no one in the garden! i won't put the kimono on again! quickly, oorip, call out! i want to get away!" the maid called across the garden, in javanese. lã©onie, all dripping, stepped out of the water and, naked and wet, flew past the servants' rooms, with the maid behind her. inside the house, van oudijck, frantic with anxiety, came running towards her. "go away, otto! leave me alone! i've ... i've got nothing on!" she screamed. and she rushed into her room and, when oorip had followed her, locked all the doors. in the garden, the servants crept together, under the sloping roof of the verandah, close to the house. the thunder was muttering softly and a silent rain was beginning to fall.... chapter twenty-seven lã©onie kept her bed for a couple of days with nervous fever. people at labuwangi said that the residency was haunted. at the weekly assemblies in the municipal garden, when the band played and the children and the young people danced on the open-air stone floor, there were whispered conversations around the refreshment-tables touching the strange happenings in the residency. dr. rantzow was asked many questions, but could only tell what the resident had told him, what mrs. van oudijck herself had told him, of her being frightened in the bathroom by an enormous toad, on which she had trodden and stumbled. there was more known through the servants, however; though, when one spoke of the throwing of stones and the spitting of betel-juice, another laughed and called it all babu-talk. and so uncertainty prevailed. nevertheless, the papers throughout the country, from surabaya to batavia, contained curious, hinting paragraphs, which were not very lucid but which suggested a good deal. van oudijck himself discussed the matter with nobody, neither with his wife and children nor with the officials or the servants. but on one occasion he came out of the bathroom looking deathly pale, with eyes staring wildly. he went indoors quietly, however, and pulled himself together; and no one noticed anything. then he spoke to the chief of police. there was an old graveyard next to the residency-grounds. this was now watched day and night; also the outer wall of the bathroom. the bathroom itself was no longer used; they took their baths instead in the visitors' bathroom. as soon as mrs. van oudijck had recovered, she went to stay with friends at surabaya. she did not return. she had gradually, and unostentatiously, without a word to van oudijck, made oorip pack up her clothes and all sorts of knick-nacks to which she was attached. trunk upon trunk was sent after her. when van oudijck happened to go to her bedroom one day, he found it empty of all but the furniture. numberless things had disappeared also from her boudoir. he had not observed the dispatch of the trunks, but he now understood that she would not return. he cancelled his next reception. it was december; and renã© and ricus were to come from batavia for the christmas holidays, for a week or ten days; but he cancelled the boys' visit. then doddie was invited to stay at patjaram, with the de luce family. although, with the instinct of a full-blooded hollander, he did not like the de luces, he consented. they were fond of doddie there: she would have a better time than at labuwangi. he had given up his idea, the hope that doddie would not become indianized. suddenly, theo also went away: through lã©onie's influence with commercial magnates at surabaya, he obtained a well-paid berth in an export-and-import business. van oudijck was left all alone in his big house. as the cook and the butler had run away, eldersma and eva constantly asked him to meals, both to lunch and dinner. he never mentioned his house at their table and it was never discussed. what he discussed confidentially with eldersma, as secretary, and with van helderen, as controller, these two never mentioned, treating it all as an official secret. the chief of police, who had been accustomed daily to make his brief report--that nothing particular had happened, or that there had been a fire, or that a man had been wounded--now made long, secret reports, with the doors of the office locked, to prevent the messengers outside from listening. gradually all the servants ran away, departing stealthily in the night, with their families and their household belongings, leaving their huts in the compound empty and dirty. they did not even stay in the residency. van oudijck let them go. he kept only kario and the messengers; and the prisoners tended the garden daily. thus the house remained apparently unaltered, outside. but, inside, where nothing was looked after, the dust lay thick on the furniture, white ants devoured the mats, mildew and patches of moisture came through the walls. the resident never went about the house, occupying only his bedroom and his office. his face began to wear a look of gloom, like a bitter, silent doubt. he worked more conscientiously than ever and stimulated his subordinates more actively, as though he were thinking of nothing but the interests of labuwangi. in his isolated position, he had no friend and sought none. he bore everything alone, on his own shoulders, on his own back, which grew bent with approaching age: the heavy burden of his house, which was being destroyed, and of his family life, which was breaking up amid the strange happenings that escaped his police, his watchmen, his personal vigilance and his secret spies. he discovered nothing. nobody told him anything. no one threw any light on anything. and the strange happenings continued. a mirror was smashed by a great stone. calmly he had the pieces cleared away. it was not his nature to believe in the supernatural character of possibilities; and he did not believe in it. he was secretly enraged at being unable to discover the culprits and an explanation of the events. but he refused to believe. he did not believe when he found his bed soiled and kario, squatting at his feet, swore that he did not know how it had happened. he did not believe when the tumbler which he lifted broke into shivers. he did not believe when he heard a constant, irritating hammering overhead. but his bed was soiled, his glass did break, the hammering was a fact. he investigated all these facts, as punctiliously as though he were investigating a criminal case, and nothing came to light. he remained unperturbed in his relations with his european and native officials and with the regent. no one remarked anything in his behaviour; and in the evenings he worked on, defiantly, at his writing-table, while the hammering continued and the night fell softly in the garden, as by enchantment. on the steps outside, the messengers crept together, listening and whispering, glancing round timorously at their master who sat writing, with a frown of concentration on his brows: "doesn't he hear it?" "yes, yes, he's not deaf." "he must hear it." "he thinks he can find it out through detectives." "there are soldiers coming from ngadjiwa." "from ngadjiwa!" "yes, he does not trust the detectives. he has written to the major sahib." "to send soldiers?" "yes, there are soldiers coming." "look at him frowning." "and he just goes on working!" "i'm frightened. i should never dare to stay, if i hadn't got to." "i'm not afraid to stay, as long as he's there." "yes ... he's brave." "he's plucky." "he's a brave man." "but he doesn't understand it." "no, he doesn't know what it is." "he thinks it's rats." "yes, he has had a search made for rats upstairs, under the roof." "these hollanders don't know things." "no, they don't understand." "he smokes a lot." "yes, quite twelve cigars a day." "he doesn't drink much." "no ... only his whisky-and-soda of an evening." "he'll ask for it presently." "no one has stayed with him." "no. the others understood. they've all left." "he goes to bed very late." "yes, he's working hard." "he never sleeps at night, only in the afternoon." "look at him frowning." "he never stops working." "messenger!" "he's calling." "yes, excellency?" "bring whisky-and-soda." one of the messengers rose, to fetch the drink. he had everything ready to hand, in the visitors' wing, to avoid having to go through the house. the others pressed closer together and went on whispering. the moon pierced the clouds and lit up the garden and the pond as with a humid vapour of silent enchantment. the messenger had mixed the drink; he returned, squatted and offered it to the resident. "put it down," said van oudijck. the messenger stood the tumbler on the writing-table and crept away. the other messengers whispered together. "messenger!" cried van oudijck. "excellency." "what have you put in this glass?" the man trembled and shrank away at van oudijck's feet: "excellency, it's not poison; i swear it by my life, by my death; i can't help it, excellency. kick me, kill me: i can't help it, excellency!" the glass was a dull yellow. "fetch another tumbler and fill it before me." the messenger went away, trembling. the others sat close together, feeling the contact of one another's bodies through the sweat-soaked cloth of their liveries, and stared before them in dismay. the moon rose from its clouds, laughing and mocking like a wicked fairy; its moist and silent enchantment shone silver over the wide garden. in the distance, from the garden at the back, a plaintive cry rang out, as though a child were being throttled. chapter twenty-eight "and how are you, mevrouwtje? how's the depression? is india suiting you any better to-day?" his words sounded cheerful to eva, as she saw him coming through the garden, on the stroke of eight, for dinner. his tone expressed nothing more than the gay greeting of a man who has been working hard at his desk and is delighted to see a pretty woman at whose table he is about to sit. she was filled with surprise and admiration. there was not a suggestion of a man who is plagued all day long, in a deserted house, by strange and incomprehensible happenings. there was hardly a shadow of dejection on his wide forehead, hardly a care seemed to rest upon his broad, slightly bowed back; and the jovial, smiling line about his thick moustache was there as usual. eldersma came up; and eva divined in his greeting, in his pressure of the hand, a silent freemasonry of things known, of confidences shared in common. and van oudijck drank his gin-and-bitters in a perfectly normal manner, spoke of a letter from his wife, who was probably going on to batavia, said that renã© and ricus were staying in the preanger [12] with friends who had a plantation there. he did not speak of the reason why they were not with him, why he had been entirely abandoned by his family and servants. in the intimacy of their circle, which he now visited twice a day for his meals, he had never spoken of this. and, though eva did not ask any questions, it was making her extremely nervous. so close to the house, the haunted house, whose pillars she could see by day in the distance, gleaming through the foliage of the trees, she became more and more nervous daily. all day long, the servants whispered around her and peered timidly at the haunted residency. at night, unable to sleep, she strained her ears to hear whether she could detect anything strange, the moaning of the little children. the indian night was so full of voices that it could but make her shudder on her bed. through the imperious bellowing of the frogs for rain and rain and more rain still, the constant croaking on the one bellowing note, she heard thousands of ghostly sounds that kept her from sleeping. through it all the lizards and geckos emitted their clockwork strokes, like strange mysterious time-pieces. she thought of it all day long. eldersma did not speak of it either. but, when she saw van oudijck come to lunch or dinner, she had to compress her lips lest she should question him. and the conversation touched upon all sorts of topics, but never upon the strange happenings. after lunch, van oudijck went across to the residency again; after dinner, at ten o'clock, she saw him once more vanish into the haunting shadow of the garden. with a calm step, every evening he went back, through the enchanted night, to his wretched, deserted house, where the messengers and kario sat squatting close together outside his office; and he worked until late in the night. he never complained. he pursued his enquiries closely, all through the district, but nothing came to light. everything continued to happen in impenetrable mystery. "and how does india suit you this evening, mevrouwtje?" it was always more or less the same pleasantry; but each time she admired his tone. courage, robust self-confidence, a certainty in his own knowledge, a belief in what he knew for certain: all these rang in his voice with metallic clearness. miserable though he must feel--he, the man of profoundly domestic inclinations and of cool, practical sense--in a house deserted by those who belonged to him and full of inexplicable happenings, there was not a trace of doubt or dejection in his unfailing masculine simplicity. he went his way and did his work, more conscientiously than ever; he continued his investigations. and at eva's table he always kept up an animated conversation, on politics in india and the new craze for having india ruled from holland by lay-men who did not know even the a.b.c. of the business. and he talked with an easy, pleasant vivacity, free from all effort, till eva came to admire him more and more. but with her, a sensitive woman, it became a nervous obsession. and once, in the evening, as she was walking a little way with him, she asked him if it wasn't terrible, if he couldn't leave the house, if he couldn't go on circuit, for a good long time. she saw his face clouding at her questions. but still he answered kindly, saying that it was not so bad, even though it was all inexplicable, and that he would back himself to get to the bottom of the conjuring. and he added that he really ought to be going on circuit, but that he would not go, lest he should seem to be running away. then he hurriedly pressed her hand and told her not to upset herself and not to think about it any more or talk about it. the last words sounded like a friendly admonition. she pressed his hand again, with tears in her eyes. and she watched him walk away, with his calm, firm step, and disappear in the darkness of his garden, where the enchantment must be creeping in through the croaking of the frogs. but standing there like that made her shudder; and she hurried indoors. and she felt that her house, that roomy house of hers, was small and unduly open and defenceless against the vast indian night, which could enter from every side. but she was not the only person obsessed by the mysterious happenings. their inexplicable nature lay like an oppression over the whole town, so completely did it clash with the things of everyday life. the mystery was discussed in every house, but only in a whisper, lest the children should be frightened and the servants perceive that people were impressed by the javanese conjuring, as the resident himself had called it. and the uneasiness and depression were making everybody ill with apprehension and nervous listening when the darkness was teeming with voices in the night, which drifted down on the town in a dense, velvety greyness; and the town seemed to be hiding itself more deeply than ever in the foliage of its gardens, seemed, in these moist evening twilights, to be shrinking away altogether in dull, silent resignation, bowing before the mystery. then van oudijck thought it time to take strong measures. he wrote to the major commanding the garrison at ngadjiwa to come over with a captain, a couple of lieutenants and a company of soldiers. that evening, the officers, with the resident and van helderen, dined at the eldersmas'. they hurried through their meal; and eva, standing at the garden-gate, saw them all--the resident, the secretary, the controller and the four officers--go into the dark garden of the haunted house. the residency-grounds were shut off, the house surrounded and the churchyard watched. the men went to the bathroom by themselves. they remained there all through the night. and all through the night the grounds and house remained shut off and surrounded. they came out at about five o'clock and went straight to the swimming-bath and bathed, all of them together. what had happened to them they did not say, but they had had a terrible night. that morning the bathroom was pulled down. they had all promised van oudijck not to speak about that night; and eldersma would not tell anything to eva, nor van helderen to ida. the officers too, on their return to ngadjiwa, were silent. they merely said that their night in the bathroom was too improbable for any one to believe the story. at last one of the young lieutenants allowed a hint of his adventures to escape him. and a tale of betel-juice-spitting and stone-throwing, of a floor that heaved, while they struck at it with sticks and swords, and of something more, something unutterably horrible that had happened in the water of the bath, went the rounds. every one added to it. when the story reached van oudijck's ears, he hardly recognized it as an account of the terrible night, which had been terrible enough without any additions. meanwhile eldersma had written a report of their united vigil; and they all signed the improbable story. van oudijck himself took the report to batavia and delivered it to the governor-general with his own hands. thenceforth it slumbered in the secret archives of the government. the governor-general advised van oudijck to go to holland on leave for a short period, assuring him that this leave would have no influence on his promotion to a residency of the first class, which was nearly due. he refused this favour, however, and returned to labuwangi. the only concession that he made was to move into eldersma's house until the residency should be thoroughly cleaned. but the flag continued to wave from the flagstaff in the residency-grounds. on his return from batavia, van oudijck often met sunario, the regent, on matters of business. and, in his intercourse with the regent, the resident remained stern and formal. then he had a brief interview, first with the regent and afterwards with his mother, the raden-aju pangã©ran. the two conversations did not last longer than twenty minutes. but it appeared that those few words were of great and portentous moment. for the strange happenings ceased. when everything had been cleaned and repaired, under eva's supervision, van oudijck compelled lã©onie to come back, because he wished to give a great ball on new year's day. in the morning, the resident received all his european and native officials. in the evening, the guests streamed into the brightly lit galleries from every part of the town, still inclined to shudder and very inquisitive and instinctively looking around and above them. and, while the champagne went round, van oudijck himself took a glass and offered it to the regent with a deliberate breach of etiquette; and, in a tone of solemn admonition mingled with good-humoured jest, he uttered these words, which were seized upon and repeated on every hand and which continued to be repeated for months throughout labuwangi: "drink with an easy mind, regent. i give you my word of honour that no more glasses will be broken in my house, except by accident or carelessness." he was able to say this because he knew that--this time--he had been too strong for the hidden force, merely through his simple courage as an official, a hollander and a man. but in the regent's gaze, as he drank, there was still a very slight gleam of irony, intimating that, though the hidden force had not conquered, this time, it would yet remain an enigma, forever inexplicable to the short-sighted eyes of the europeans.... chapter twenty-nine labuwangi came to life again. it was as though people unanimously agreed not to discuss the strange affair any further with outsiders, because it was so excusable that any one should refuse to believe in the thing; and they, at labuwangi, believed. and the up-country town, after the mystic oppression under which it had lain cowering during those unforgettable weeks, came to life again, as though shaking off all its obsession. party followed upon party, ball upon ball, theatricals upon concert: all threw open their doors to entertain their friends and make merry, in order to feel natural and normal after the incredible nightmare. people so accustomed to the natural and tangible life, to the spacious and lavish material existence of india--to good cooking, cool drinks, wide beds, roomy houses, to everything that represents physical luxury to the european in the east--such people breathed again and shook off the nightmare, shook off the belief in strange happenings. if and when they discussed the thing nowadays, they commonly called it that incomprehensible conjuring--echoing the resident--the regent's conjuring-tricks. for that the regent had something to do with it was certain. that the resident had held a terrible threat over him and his mother, if the strange happenings did not cease, was certain. that, after this, order had been restored in everyday life was certain. so it was conjuring. all were now ashamed of their credulity and their fears and of having shuddered at what had looked like mysticism and was only clever conjuring. and all breathed again and made up their minds to be cheerful; and entertainment followed upon entertainment. lã©onie, amid all this dissipation, forgot her irritation at having been recalled by van oudijck. and she too was determined to forget the scarlet pollution of her body. but something of its terror lingered in her. she now bathed early of an afternoon, as early as half-past four, in the newly-built bathroom. her second bath always gave her a certain shudder. and, now that theo had a job at surabaya, she got rid of him, also, from terror. she could not get rid of the idea that the enchantment had threatened to punish both of them, the mother and son, who were bringing shame on the home. in the romantic side of her perverse imagination, in her rosy fancy full of cherubs and cupids, this idea, inspired by her fears, struck too precious a note of tragedy for her not to cherish it, for all that theo might say. she would go no further. and it made him furious, because he was mad with love for her, because he could not forget the shameful happiness which he had enjoyed in her arms. but she steadily refused him and told him of her dread and said that she was certain that the witchcraft would begin again if they two loved each other, he and his father's wife. her words drove him scarlet with fury, on the one sunday which he spent at labuwangi: he was furious with her non-compliance, with the motherly attitude which she now adopted and with the fact, of which he was well aware, that she saw addie often, that she often went to stay at patjaram. addie danced with her at parties and hung over her chair at concerts, in the improvised residential box. true, he was not faithful to her, for it was not his nature to love one woman--he loved women wholesale--but still he was as faithful to her as he was able to be. he inspired her with a more lasting passion than she had ever felt before; and this passion roused her from her usual passive indifference. often, in company, suffering and inflicting boredom, enthroned in the brilliance of her white beauty, like a smiling idol, with the langour of her years in india gradually filling her blood until her movements had acquired that lazy indifference for anything that did not spell love and caresses, until her voice had assumed a drawling accent in any word that was not a word of passion: often the flame which addie shed over her would transfigure into a younger woman, livelier in company, gayer, flattered by the persistent homage of this youth, on whom every girl was mad. and she delighted in monopolizing him as much as she could, to the vexation of all the girls and of doddie in particular. in the midst of her passion, she also took an evil pleasure in tantalizing, merely for tantalizing's sake: it gave her an exquisite enjoyment; it made her husband jealous--perhaps for the first time, for she had always been very careful--and made theo and doddie jealous; she aroused the jealousy of every young married woman and every girl; and, since she stood above all of them, as the resident's wife, she had an ascendancy over all of them. when of an evening she had gone too far, she delighted in winning back, with a smile, with a gracious word, the place in their affection which she had lost through her flirtations. and, strange though it might seem, she succeeded. the moment they saw her, the moment she spoke, smiled and exerted herself to be amiable, she won back all she had lost and was forgiven everything. even mrs. eldersma allowed herself to be conquered by the strange charm of this woman who was neither witty nor intelligent, who merely became just a little livelier, who roused herself a little from her boring lethargy, who triumphed only through the lines of her body, the contour of her face, the glance of her strange eyes, restful and yet full of hidden passion, and who was conscious of all her charm because she had meditated upon it since her childhood. together with her indifference, this charm constituted her strength. fate seemed to have no hold upon her. for it had indeed touched her with a strange magic, until she thought that a chastisement was about to descend upon her, but it had gone its way again, drifted away. but she accepted the warning. she had done with theo and henceforth affected a motherly attitude towards him. it made him furious, especially at these parties, now that she had grown younger, livelier and more seductive. his passion for her began to burn to hatred. he hated her now, with all the instinct of a fair-haired native, for that was what he really was, despite his white skin. for he was his mother's son rather than his father's. oh, he hated her now, for he had felt his fear of the punishment only for an instant and he ... he had forgotten everything by now! and his one idea was to injure her--how he did not yet know--but to injure her so that she might feel pain and suffer. the process of thinking it over imparted a satanic gloom to his small, murky soul. although he did not think about it, he felt unconsciously that she was as though invulnerable; he even felt that she boasted inwardly of her invulnerability and that it made her daily more brazen and indifferent. she was constantly staying at patjaram, on any excuse that offered. the anonymous letters which van oudijck still often showed her no longer disturbed her; she was growing accustomed to them. she returned them to him without a word; once she even forgot them, left them lying about in the back-verandah. once theo read them. in a sudden flash of light, due to he knew not what, suddenly he seemed to recognize certain characters, certain strokes. he remembered, in the compound, near patjaram, the hut, half bamboo, half packing-case-boards, where he and addie de luce had been to see si-oudijck and the papers hastily raked together by an arab. he had a vague recollection of seeing those same characters, those strokes, on a scrap of paper on the floor. it passed vaguely and quick as lightning through his head. but it was no more than a lightning-flash. his small, murky soul had room for nothing but dull hatred and troubled calculation. but he had not sense enough to follow out that calculation. he hated his father by instinct and innate antipathy; his mother, because she was a half-caste; his step-mother, because she had finished with him; he hated addie and doddie into the bargain; he hated the world, because it made him work. he hated every berth he had ever had: he now hated his office at surabaya. but he was too lazy and too muddle-headed to do harm. rack his brains as he might, he could not discover how to harm his father, addie and lã©onie. everything about him was vague, turbid, dissatisfied, indistinct. the object of his desire was money and a fine woman. beyond this, he had nothing in him but the dull-witted gloom and discontent of the fat, fair-haired eurasian that he was. and he continued to brood impotently over his murky thoughts. until now, doddie had always been very fond of lã©onie, instinctively. but she was no longer able to conceal the fact from herself: what she had first thought an accident--mamma and addie always seeking each other with the same smile of allurement, one drawing the other the length of the great room, as though irresistibly--was not an accident at all! and she too hated mamma now, mamma with her beautiful calmness, her sovereign indifference. her own violent passionate nature was coming into collision with that other nature, with its milk-white, creole languor, which now for the first time, late in the day, because of the sheer kindliness of fate, was letting itself go as it pleased, without reserve. she hated mamma; and her hatred resulted in scenes, scenes of nervous, loud-voiced temper in doddie contrasting with the irritating calmness of mamma's indifference, scenes caused by all sorts of little differences of opinion: a visit, a ride on horse-back, a dress, a spice or condiment which the one liked and the other did not. then doddie wanted to have her cry out on papa's breast, but van oudijck would not admit that she was in the right and said that she must show more respect to mamma. but once, when doddie had come to him for consolation and he reproached her for going for walks with addie, she screamed out that mamma herself was in love with addie. van oudijck angrily ordered her out of the room. but it all agreed too closely--the anonymous letters, his wife's new-born flirtations, doddie's accusations and what he himself had noticed at the last few parties--not to give him food for reflection and even to worry him. and, once he began to worry and reflect upon it all, memories came suddenly darting into his mind like lightning-flashes: memories of an unexpected visit; of a locked door; of a moving curtain; of a whispered word and a timidly averted glance. he pieced it all together and he quite suddenly recollected those same subtle memories in combination with others, of an earlier date. it all at once aroused his jealousy, a husband's jealousy of the wife whom he loves as his most personal possession. this jealousy burst upon him like a gust of wind, blowing its way through his concentration upon his work, confusing his thoughts as he sat writing, making him suddenly run out of his office, during the police-cases, and search lã©onie's room and lift a curtain and even look under the bed. and now he no longer consented to have lã©onie staying at patjaram, advancing as his pretext that the de luces should not be encouraged in the hope of getting doddie as a wife for addie. for he dared not speak to lã©onie of his jealousy.... that addie should ever get doddie for his wife!... true, there was native blood in his daughter too; but he wanted a full-blooded european as his son-in-law. he hated anything half-caste. he hated the de luces and all the up-country, indian, half-solo traditions of that patjaram of theirs. he hated their gambling, their hobnobbing with all sorts of indian headmen, people whom he accepted officially, allowing them their rights, but, apart from this, regarded as unavoidable instruments of the government policy. he hated all their posing as an old indian family and he hated addie: an idle youth, who was supposed to be employed in the factory but did nothing at all, except run after every woman, girl and maid-servant in the place. he, the older, industrious man, was unable to understand that kind of existence. so lã©onie had to do without patjaram; but in the mornings she went quietly to mrs. van does and met addie in this lady's little house while mrs. van does herself went out peddling, in a little cart, with two jam-pots filled with diamonds and a bundle of embroidered bedspreads. then, in the evenings, addie would stroll out with doddie and listen to her passionate reproaches. he laughed at her tempersome displays, took her in his arms till she hung panting on his breast, kissed the reproaches from her mouth till she melted away amorously on his lips. they went no further, feeling too much afraid, especially doddie. they strolled behind the compounds, on the irrigation-dikes of the rice-fields, while swarms of fire-flies whirled about them in the dark like tiny lanterns; they strolled arm-in-arm, they walked hand-in-hand, in enervating, caressing love, which never dared to push matters any further. when she came home again, she was furious, raging at mamma, in whom she envied the calm, smiling satiety as she lay musing, in her white tea-gown, with a touch of powder on her face, in a cane chair. and the house, newly painted and whitewashed after the strange happenings, which were now past, the house was filled with a hatred that rose on every hand, as it were the very demoniacal bloom of that strange secret; a hatred centering upon that silent woman, who was too languid to hate and only delighted in silent tantalizing; a jealous hatred of the father for the son, when he saw him too often sitting beside his step-mother, begging, in spite of his own hatred, for something, the father did not know what; a hatred of the daughter for the mother; a hatred in which all this family-life was being wrecked. how it had all gradually come about van oudijck did not know. he sadly regretted the time when he was blind, when he had seen his wife and children only in the light in which he wished to see them. that time was past. like the strange happenings of not so long ago, a hatred was now rising out of life, like a miasma out of the ground. and van oudijck, who had never been superstitious, who had worked on coolly and calmly in his lonely house, with the incomprehensible witchcraft all about him; who had read reports while the hammering went on above his head and his whisky-and-soda changed colour in his glass; van oudijck for the first time in his life--now that he saw the gloomy glances of theo and doddie; now that he suddenly discovered his wife, growing more brazen daily, sitting hand-in-hand with young de luce, her knees almost touching his--became superstitious, believing in a hidden force which lurked he knew not where, in india, in the soil of india, in a deep-seated mystery, somewhere or other, a force that wished him ill because he was a european, a ruler, a foreigner on the mystic, sacred soil. and, when he saw this superstition within himself, something so new to him, the practical man, something so strange and incredible to him, a man of single-minded, masculine simplicity, he was afraid of himself, as of a rising insanity which he began to perceive deep down within himself. and, strong though he had proved himself to be at the time of the strange happenings, which he had been able to exorcize with a single word of threatening force, this superstition, which came as an aftermath of those events, found a weakness in him, a vulnerable spot as it were. he was so much surprised at himself that he did not understand and was afraid lest he might be going mad; and still he worried. his health was undermined by an incipient liver-complaint; and he kept on examining his jaundiced complexion. suddenly he had an idea that he was being poisoned. the kitchen was searched, the cook subjected to a cross-examination; but nothing came to light. he realized that he had been frightened by nothing. but the doctor declared that he had an enlarged liver and prescribed the usual diet. a thing which otherwise he would have thought quite natural, a far from uncommon illness, now of a sudden struck him as strange, a mysterious event; and he worried over it. and it got on his nerves. he began to suffer from sudden weariness when working, from throbbing headaches. his jealousy upset him; he was overcome by a shuddering restlessness. he suddenly reflected that, if there were now any hammering above his head, if betel-juice were now spat at him, he would not be able to stay in the house. and he began to believe in a hatred rising slowly all around him out of the hostile soil, like a miasma. he believed in a force deep-hidden in the things of india, in the nature of java, in the climate of labuwangi, in the conjuring--as he continued to call it--which sometimes makes the javanese cleverer than the european and gives him the power, a mysterious power, not to release himself from the yoke, but to cause illness, lingering illness, to plague and harass, to play the ghost most incredibly and hideously: a hidden force, a hidden power, hostile to our temperament, our blood, our bodies, our souls, our civilization, to all that seems to us the right thing to do and be and think. it had flashed before him as in a sudden light, it was not the result of thought, it had flashed out before him as in a dreadful revelation, which was utterly in conflict with all the logic of his methodical life, his methodical mode of thought. in a vision of terror, he suddenly saw it before him, as the light of his approaching old age, as men who are growing old do sometimes suddenly perceive the truth. and yet he was young still and hale. and he felt that, if he did not divert his maddening thoughts, they might make him ill, weak and miserable, for ever and ever.... to him, above all, a simple, practical man, this change of mental attitude was almost unbearable. what a morbid mind might have contemplated in quiet meditation now flashed upon him as a sudden terror. never would he have thought that there might be somewhere, deeply hidden in life, things which were stronger than the power of the human will and intellect. nowadays, after the nightmare which he had so courageously defeated, it seemed to him that the nightmare had sapped his strength nevertheless and inoculated him with every sort of weakness. it was incredible, but now, as he sat working late in the day, he would listen to the evening voices in the garden, or to the rat that rustled overhead. and then he would suddenly get up, go to lã©onie's room and look under the bed. when he at last discovered that many of the anonymous letters by which he was persecuted came from the pen of a half-caste who described himself as his son and was even known in the compound by his own surname, he felt too doubtful to investigate the matter, because of what might come to light that he had himself forgotten, dating from his controllership, from the old days, at ngadjiwa. he was doubtful now of things of which he had once been certain and positive. nowadays he was no longer able so positively to order his recollections of that period as to swear that he had not a son, begotten almost unconsciously in those days. he did not clearly remember the housekeeper who had looked after him before his first marriage. and he preferred to let the whole business of the anonymous letters smoulder in the dusky shadows, rather than stir it up and enquire into it. he even caused money to be sent to the native who called himself his son, so that the fellow might not abuse the name which he arrogated to himself and demand presents all over the compound: chickens and rice and clothes, things which si-oudijck exacted from ignorant villagers, whom he threatened with the vague anger of his father the sahib, yonder at labuwangi. in order that there might be no more threats of this anger, van oudijck sent him money. it was weak of him: he would never have done it in the old days. but now he had an inclination to hush things up, to gloss over things, to be less stern and severe and rather to mitigate anything unduly strict by half-measures. eldersma was sometimes amazed when he saw the resident, who used to be so firm, hesitating, when he saw him yielding in matters of business, in differences with crown tenants, as he had never done before. and slack methods of work would gradually have found their way automatically into the office, if eldersma had not taken the work out of van oudijck's hands and given himself even more to do than he already had. it was generally stated that the resident was ill. and, in fact, his skin was yellow; his liver was painful; the least thing set his nerves quivering. it unsettled the house, in conjunction with doddie's tempers and outbursts and theo's jealousy and hatred, for theo was at home again, had already thrown up surabaya. lã©onie alone continued her triumphant career, ever beautiful, white, calm, smiling, contented, happy in the lasting passion of addie, whom she knew how to hold, amorous expert, love's sorceress that she was. fate had warned her and she kept theo at a distance; but for the rest she was happy and contented. then suddenly batavia fell vacant. the names of two or three residents were mentioned, but van oudijck had possessed the best chance. and he worried about it, was afraid of it: he did not care for batavia as a residency. he would not have been able to work in batavia as he worked here, at labuwangi, zealously and devotedly fostering so many different interests connected with agriculture and the people. he would rather have been appointed to surabaya, where there was plenty going on; or to one of the vorstenlanden, where his tact in dealing with the native princes would have been turned to good purpose. but batavia! it was the least interesting of all districts, from the official point of view, and, what with the arrogant atmosphere of the place, the least flattering to one in the position of resident, in close contact with the governor-general, surrounded by the highest officials, so that the resident, who was almost supreme anywhere else, was at batavia no more than yet another high official among so many members of council and directors. and it was much too near buitenzorg, with its arbitrary secretariat, whose bureaucratic and red-tape methods were always clashing with the practical administrative methods of the residents themselves. the prospect of being appointed unsettled him entirely, harassed him more than ever, with the thought of leaving labuwangi in a month's time, of selling up his furniture. it would break his heart to leave labuwangi. in spite of all that he had gone through there, he loved the town and especially his district. during all those years, he had left traces of activity throughout his district, traces of his devoted labour, of his ambition, of his affection. and now, within a month, he would probably have to transfer all this to a successor, to tear himself away from everything that he had so lovingly cherished and fostered. it filled him with a sombre melancholy. he cared not a straw for the fact that the promotion also brought him nearer to his pension. that unoccupied future, with the boredom of approaching old age, was a very nightmare to him. and his successor would perhaps make all manner of changes, would disagree at every single point. in the end, the chance of his promotion became such a morbid obsession with him that the improbable thing happened and he wrote to the director of the b.b. and to the governor-general, begging to be left at labuwangi. the secret of these letters was pretty well kept: he himself concealed them entirely, both from his family and from his subordinates, so that, when a younger second-class resident was appointed resident of batavia, people said that van oudijck had been passed over, but not that this had happened at his own request. and, in seeking the cause, they raked up all the old gossip about the dismissal of the regent of ngadjiwa and the strange happenings thereafter, but without finding in either any particular reason why the government should have passed over van oudijck. he himself recovered a strange sort of peace, a peace due to weariness, to laisser-aller, to becoming rooted in his familiar labuwangi, to not having to be transferred, old up-country veteran that he was, to batavia, where things were so very different. when the governor-general, at his last audience, had spoken to him about going to europe on leave, he had felt afraid of europe, afraid of no longer feeling at home there; and now he felt afraid even of batavia. and yet he knew all that there was to know about the would-be western humbug of batavia; yet he knew that the capital of java only pretended to be exceedingly european and in reality was only half-european. in himself--and unknown to his wife, who regretted that dispelled illusion of batavia--he chuckled silently at the thought that he had succeeded in remaining at labuwangi. but, while he chuckled, he nevertheless felt changed, aged, belittled, felt that he was no longer glancing at that upward path--the prospect of constantly winning a higher place among his fellow-men--which had always been his path of life. what had become of his ambition? what had happened to decrease his love of authority? he put it all down to the influence of the climate. it would certainly be a good thing to refresh his blood and his mind in europe, to spend a couple of winters there. but the idea immediately evaporated, wiped out by his lack of resolution. no, he did not want to go to europe; it was india that he loved. and he indulged in long meditations, lying in a long-chair, enjoying his coffee, his light clothing, the gentle relaxation of his muscles, the aimless drowsiness of his thoughts. the only obvious thing in his drowsy mood was his ever-increasing suspicion; and now and again he would suddenly wake from his languor and listen to the vague sounds, the soft, suppressed laughter which he seemed to hear in lã©onie's room, even as at night, when, suspicious of ghosts, he listened to the muffled sounds in the garden and to the rat scurrying overhead. chapter thirty addie was sitting with mrs. van does, in the little back-verandah, when they heard a carriage rattle up in front of the house. they smiled at each other and rose from their seats: "i shall leave you to yourselves," said mrs. van does. and she disappeared, to drive round the town in a dog-cart and do business among her friends. lã©onie entered: "where is mrs. van does?" she asked, for she always behaved as though it were the first time. it was her great charm. he knew this and answered: "she has just gone out. she will be sorry to have missed you." he spoke like this because he knew that she liked it: the ceremonial opening each time, to preserve above all things the freshness of their liaison. they now sat down in the little, shut-in middle gallery, side by side on a settee. the settee was covered with a cretonne displaying many-coloured flowers; on the white walls were a few cheap fans and kakemonos; and on either side of a little looking-glass stood a console-table with an imitation bronze statue, two nondescript knights, each with one leg advanced and a spear in his hand. through the glass door the musty little back-verandah showed, with its damp, yellow-green pillars, its flower-pots, also yellow-green, with a few withered rose-trees; and behind this was the damp, neglected little garden, with a couple of lean coco-palms, hanging their leaves like broken feathers. he now took her in his arms and drew her to him, but she pushed him away gently: "doddie is becoming unbearable," she said. "something must be done." "how so?" "she must leave the house. she is so irritable that there's no living with her." "you tease her, you know." she shrugged her shoulders; she had been put out by a recent scene with her step-daughter: "i never used to tease her. she was fond of me and we got on all right together. now she flies out at the least thing. it's your fault. those everlasting evening walks, which lead to nothing, upset her nerves." "perhaps it's just as well that they lead to nothing," he murmured, with his little laugh, the laugh of the tempter. "but i can't break with her, you know: it would make her unhappy. and i can't bear to make a woman unhappy." she laughed scornfully: "yes, you're so good-natured. from sheer good-nature you would scatter your favours broadcast. anyway, she'll have to go." "go? where to?" "don't ask such silly questions!" she exclaimed, angrily, roused out of her usual indifference. "she'll have to go, somewhere or other, i don't care where. you know, when i say a thing, it's done. and this is going to be done." he was now clasping her in his arms: "you're so angry. you're not a bit pretty like that." in her temper, she at first refused to let him kiss her: but, as he did not like these tempers and was well aware of the irresistible power of his comely, moorish virility, he mastered her with rough, smiling violence and held her so tight to him that she was unable to stir: "you mustn't be angry any longer." "yes, i will. i hate doddie." "the poor girl has done you no harm." "possibly." "on the contrary, it's you who tease her." "yes, because i hate her." "why? surely you're not jealous!" she laughed aloud: "no! that's not one of my failings." "then why?" "what does it matter to you? i myself don't know. i hate her. i love tormenting her." "are you as wicked as you are beautiful?" "what does wicked mean? i don't know or care! i should like to torment you too, if i only knew how." "and i should like to give you a good smacking." she again gave a shrill laugh: "perhaps it would do me good," she admitted. "i seldom lose my temper, but doddie...!" she contracted her fingers and, suddenly calming down, nestled against him and locked her arms about his body: "i used to be very indifferent," she confessed. "latterly i have been much more easily upset, after i had that fright in the bathroom ... after they spat at me so, with betel-juice. do you believe it was ghosts? i don't. it was some practical joke of the regent's. those beastly javanese know all sorts of things.... but, since then, i have, so to speak, lost my bearings. do you understand that expression?... it used to be delightful: i would let everything run off me like water off a duck's back. but, after being so ill, i seem to have changed, to be more nervous. theo one day, when he was angry with me, said that i've been hysterical since then ... and i never used to be. i don't know: perhaps he's right. but i'm certainly changed.... i don't care so much what people think or say; i think i'm growing quite shameless.... they're gossiping too more spitefully than they used to.... van oudijck irritates me, prying about as he does. he's beginning to notice something.... and doddie! doddie!... i'm not jealous, but i can't stand her evening walks with you.... you must give it up, do you hear, walking with her! i won't have it, i won't have it!... and then everything bores me in this place, at labuwangi. what a wretched, monotonous life!... surabaya's a bore too.... so's batavia.... it's all so dull and stodgy: people never think of anything new.... i should like to go to paris. i believe i have it in me to enjoy paris thoroughly...." "do i bore you too?" "you?" she stroked his face with her two hands and passed them over his chest and down his thighs: "i'll tell you what i think of you. you're a pretty boy, but you're too good-natured. that irritates me too. you kiss everybody who wants you to kiss them. at patjaram, you are always pawing everybody, including your old mother and your sisters. i think it's horrid of you!" he laughed: "you're growing jealous!" he exclaimed. "jealous? am i really getting jealous? how horrid if i am! i don't know: i don't think i am, all the same. i don't want to be. after all, i believe there's something that will always protect me." "a devil...." "possibly. un bon diable." "are you taking to speaking french?" "yes. with a view to paris.... there's something that protects me. i firmly believe that life can do me no injury, that nothing can touch me." "you're becoming superstitious." "oh, i was always that! perhaps i've become more so.... tell me, have i changed, lately?" "you're touchier." "not so indifferent as i was?" "you're livelier, more amusing." "used i to be a bore?" "you were a little quiet. you were always beautiful, exquisite, divine ... but rather quiet." "perhaps it was because i minded people more then." "don't you now?" "no, not now. they gossip just the same.... but tell me; haven't i changed more than that?" "yes, you have: you're more jealous, more superstitious, more touchy.... what more do you want?" "physically: haven't i changed physically?" "no." "haven't i grown older?... am i not getting wrinkled?" "you? never!" "listen. i believe i have still quite a future before me, something very different...." "in paris?" "perhaps.... tell me, am i not too old?" "what for?" "for paris.... how old do you think i am?" "twenty-five." "you're fibbing. you know perfectly well that i'm thirty-two. do i look thirty-two?" "rather not!" "tell me, don't you think india a horrible country?... have you never been to europe?" "no." "i was there from ten to fifteen.... properly speaking, you're a brown native and i a white creole...." "i love my country." "yes, because you think yourself a bit of a solo prince.... that's your patjaram nonsense.... as for me, i hate india, i loathe labuwangi. i want to get away. i want to go to paris.... will you come too?" "no. i should never want to go...." "not even when you reflect that there are hundreds of women in europe whom you have never loved?" he looked at her: something in her words, in her voice, made him glance up; a crazy hysteria, which had never struck him in the old days, when she had always been the silently passionate mistress, with half-closed eyes, who always wanted to forget everything at once and to become conventional again. something in her repelled him. he loved the soft, pliant surrender of her caresses, the smiling indolence which she used to display, but not these half-mad eyes and this purple mouth, which seemed ready to bite. she seemed to feel this, for she suddenly pushed him from her and said, brusquely: "you bore me.... i know all there is to know in you.... go away...." but this he would not do. he did not care for futile rendez-vous and he now embraced her and solicited her.... "no," she said, curtly. "you bore me. every one bores me here. everything bores me." he, on his knees, put his hands about her waist and drew her to him. she, smiling a little, became slightly more yielding, rumpling his hair nervously with her hand. a carriage pulled up in front of the house. "hark!" she said. "it's mrs. van does." "how soon she's back!" "i expect she's sold nothing." "then it'll cost you a ten-guilder note." "i dare say." "do you pay her much ... for allowing us to meet here?" "oh, what does it matter?" "listen," she said again, more attentively. "that's not mrs. van does." "no." "it's a man's footstep.... it wasn't a dog-cart either: it was much too noisy." "i expect it's nothing," said she. "some one who has mistaken the house. nobody ever comes here." "the man's going round," he said, listening. they both listened for a moment. and then, suddenly, after two or three strides through the cramped little garden and along the little back-verandah, his figure, van oudijck's, appeared outside the closed glass door, visible through the curtain. and he had pulled it open before lã©onie and addie could change their position, so that van oudijck saw them both, her sitting on the couch and him kneeling before her, while her hand still lay, as though forgotten, on his hair. "lã©onie!" roared her husband. her blood under the shock of the surprise broke into stormy waves and seethed through her veins and, in one second, she saw the whole future: his anger, the trial, the divorce, her alimony, all in one whirling vision. but, as though by the compulsion of her nervous will, the tide of blood within her at once subsided and grew calm; and she remained quietly sitting there, her terror showing for but a moment longer in her eyes, until she could turn them hard as steel upon van oudijck. and, by pressing her finger softly on addie's head, she suggested to him also to remain in the same attitude, to remain kneeling at her feet, and she said, as though self-hypnotized, listening in astonishment to her own slightly husky voice: "otto ... adrien de luce is asking me to put in a word with you for him.... he is asking ... for doddie's hand...." they all three remained motionless, all three under the influence of these words, of this thought which had come ... whence lã©onie herself did not know. for, sitting rigid and erect as a sibyl and still with that gentle pressure on addie's head, she repeated: "he is asking ... for doddie's hand...." she was still the only one to speak. and she continued: "he knows that you have certain objections. he knows that you do not care for his family ... because they have javanese blood in their arteries." she was still speaking as though some one else were speaking inside her; and she had to smile at that word arteries, she did not know why: perhaps because it was the first time in her life that she had used the word arteries, for veins, in conversation. "but," she went on, "there are no financial drawbacks, if doddie likes to live at patjaram.... and the children have been fond of each other ... so long." she alone was speaking still: "doddie has so long been overstrung, almost ill.... it would be a crime, otto, not to consent." gradually her voice became more musical and the smile formed about her lips; but the light in her eyes was still hard as steel, as though she were threatening van oudijck with her anger if he refused to believe her. "come," she said, very gently, very kindly, patting addie's head softly with her trembling fingers. "get up ... addie ... and go ... to ... papa." he rose, mechanically. "lã©onie, what were you doing here?" asked van oudijck, hoarsely. "here? i was with mrs. van does." "and he?" pointing to addie. "he?... he happened to be calling.... mrs. van does had to go out.... then he asked leave to speak to me.... and then he asked me ... for doddie's hand...." they were again all three silent. "and you, otto?" she now asked, more harshly. "what brought you here?" he looked at her sharply. "is there anything you want to buy of mrs. van does?" she asked. "theo told me you were here...." "theo was right...." "lã©onie...." she rose and, with her eyes hard as steel, she intimated to him that he must believe her, that she insisted on his believing her: "in any case, otto," she said; and her manner was once more gently kind, "do not leave addie any longer in his uncertainty. and you, addie, don't be afraid ... and ask papa for doddie's hand.... i have nothing to say where doddie is concerned ... as i have often told you." they now all three stood facing one another, in the narrow middle gallery; breathing with difficulty, oppressed by their accumulated emotions. then addie said: "resident, i ask you ... for your daughter's hand." a dog-cart pulled up at the front of the house. "that's mrs. van does," said lã©onie, hurriedly. "otto, say something before she comes...." "i consent," said van oudijck, gloomily. he made off at the back before mrs. van does had entered and did not see the hand which addie held out to him. mrs. van does came in trembling, following by a babu carrying her bundle, her merchandise. she saw lã©onie and addie standing stiff and hypnotized: "that was the residã¨n's chariot!" stammered the indian lady, pale in the face. "was it the residã¨n?" "yes," said lã©onie, calmly. "oh dear! and what happened?" "nothing," said lã©onie, laughing. "nothing?" "or rather, something did happen." "what?" "addie and doddie are ..." "what?" "engaged!" and she shrieked the words with a shrill outburst of uncontrollable mirth at the comedy of life and took mrs. van does, who stood with the eyes starting out of her head, and spun her round and kicked the bundle out of the babu's hands, so that a parcel of embroidered bedspreads and table-slips fell to the ground and a little jam-pot full of glittering crystals rolled away and broke. "oh dear!... my brilliants!" one more kick of frolicsome wantonness; and the table-slips flew to left and right and the diamonds lay glittering scattered among the legs of the tables and chairs. addie, his eyes still filled with terror, crawled about on his hands and feet, raking them together. mrs. van does repeated: "engaged!" chapter thirty-one doddie was rapt into the seventh heaven of delight when van oudijck told her that addie had asked her hand in marriage; and, when she heard that mamma had been her advocate, she embraced lã©onie boisterously, with the emotional spontaneity of her temperament, once more surrendering to the attraction which lã©onie had exercised upon her for years. doddie now at once forgot everything that had annoyed her in the excessive intimacy between mamma and addie, when he used to hang over her chair and whisper to her. she had never believed what now and again she had heard, because addie had always assured her that it was not true. and she was ever so happy that she was going to live with addie, he and she together, at patjaram. for patjaram was her ideal of what a home should be. the big house, full of sons and daughters and children and animals, on all of whom the same kindness and cordiality and boredom were lavished, while behind those sons and daughters shone the halo of their solo descent: the big house built on to the sugar factory was to her the ideal residence; and she felt akin with all its little traditions: the spices, crushed and ground by a babu squatting behind her chair, while she sat at lunch, represented to her the supreme indulgence of the palate; the races at ngadjiwa, attended by the leisurely dawdling procession of all those women, with the babus behind them, carrying the handkerchief, the scent-bottle, the opera-glasses, were her non plus ultra of elegance; she loved the old dowager raden-aju; and she had given herself to addie, entirely, without reserve, from the first moment of seeing him, when she was a little girl of thirteen and he a boy of eighteen. it was because of him that she had resisted with all her energy whenever papa proposed to send her to europe, to boarding-school in brussels; because of him she had never cared for any place except labuwangi, ngadjiwa or patjaram; because of him she was prepared to live and die at patjaram. it was because of him that she had felt all her little jealousies, when her girl-friends told her that he was in love with this one or carrying on with that one; because of him she would always know those jealousies great and small, her whole life long. he would be her life, patjaram her world, sugar her interest, because it was addie's interest. because of him she would long for many children, very many children, who would be really brown: not white, like papa and mamma and theo, but brown, because her own mother was brown; and she herself was a delicate brown, while addie was a beautiful bronze colour, a moorish brown; and, after the example set at patjaram, her children, her numerous children, would be brought up in the shadow of the factory, in an atmosphere of sugar, with a view to their planting the fields, when they grew up, and milling the sugar-cane and restoring the fortunes of the family to their former brilliancy. and she was as happy as a girl in love could imagine herself to be, seeing her ideal, addie and patjaram, so closely attainable and not for a second realizing how her happiness had come about, through the word which lã©onie, almost unconsciously, had uttered, as though by autosuggestion, at the supreme moment. oh, now she need no longer seek the dark corners, the dark rice-fields with addie; now she was constantly kissing him in broad daylight, leaning radiantly against him, feeling his warm, virile body, which was hers and would soon be hers entirely; now her eyes yearned up to him, for all to see, for she no longer had the maidenly power of hiding her feelings from others; now he was hers, hers, hers! and he, with the good-natured surrender of a young sultan, suffered her to caress his shoulders and knees, suffered her to kiss him and stroke his hair, suffered her arm around his neck, accepting it all as a tribute due to him, accustomed as he was to that feminine tribute of love, he who had been fondled and caressed from the time when he was a little, chubby boy, from the time when he was carried by tidjem, his babu, who was in love with him, from the time when he used to romp, in his little pyjamas, with little sisters and cousins, all of whom were in love with him. all this tribute he accepted good-naturedly, though secretly surprised and shocked by what lã©onie had done.... and yet, he argued, it would perhaps anyhow have happened of itself, some day, because doddie was so fond of him. he would rather have remained unmarried: though unmarried, he nevertheless had all the home life at patjaram that he wanted and retained his liberty to bestow abundant love upon women, in his good-natured way. and he was already ingenuously reflecting that it would not do, that it would never do to remain faithful to doddie long, because he was really too good-natured and the women were all so crazy. doddie must get used to it later on, must learn to accept it; and, he reflected, after all, in solo, in the palace, it was the same thing, with his uncles and cousins.... had van oudijck believed what lã©onie said? he himself did not know whether he did or not. doddie had accused lã©onie of being in love with addie; theo, that morning, when van oudijck asked him where lã©onie was, had answered, curtly: "at mrs. van does' ... with addie." he had glared at his son, but asked no further questions; he had merely driven straight to mrs. van does' house. and he had actually found his wife with young de luce, found him on his knees before her; but she had said so quietly: "adrian de luce is asking me for your daughter's hand." no, he himself did not know whether he believed her or not. his wife had answered so quietly; and now, during the first few days of the engagement, she was so calm, smiling just as usual.... he now for the first time saw that strange side of her, that invulnerability, as though nothing could harm her. did he suspect, behind this wall of invulnerability, the ironical feminine secrecy of her silently smouldering inner life? it was as though, with his recent nervous suspicion, with his restless mood, in the rankness of superstition that led him to pry and listen to the haunting silence, he had learnt to see around him things to which he had been blind in his burly strength as a ruler and high and mighty chief official. and his longing to make certain of the mysteries at which he was guessing became so violent, in his morbid irritability, that he grew more pleasant and kinder to his son, though this time it arose not from the spontaneous paternal affection which, when all was said, he had always felt for theo, but from curiosity, to hear all that he had to say, to make theo speak out. and theo, who hated lã©onie, who hated his father, who hated addie, who hated doddie, in his general hatred of all those about him, who hated life with the stubborn ideas of a fair-haired eurasian, longing for money and beautiful women, angry because the world, life, riches, happiness--as he pictured it to himself in his petty fashion--did not come rushing to him, falling into his arms, falling on his neck: theo was willing enough to squeeze out his words drop by drop, like gall and wormwood, silently revelling in the sight of his father's suffering. and he allowed van oudijck to divine, very gradually, that it was true, after all, about mamma and addie. in the intimacy that sprang up between the father and son out of suspicion and hatred, theo spoke of his brother in the compound, said that he knew papa sent him money and therefore acknowledged that the thing was true. and van oudijck, no longer certain, no longer knowing the truth, admitted that it might be so, admitted that it was so. then, remembering the anonymous letters--which had only lately ceased, since he had been sending money to that half-caste who ventured to assume his name--he also remembered the libels which he had often read in them and which, at the time, he had always cast from him as so much filth; he remembered the two names, those of his wife and of theo himself, which had so constantly been coupled in them. his distrust and suspicion blazed up like flames, like a now inextinguishable fire, which scorched every other thought or feeling ... until at last he was no longer able to restrain himself and spoke roundly to theo on the subject. he did not trust theo's indignation and denial. and he now trusted nothing and nobody, he distrusted his wife and his children and his officials; he distrusted his cook.... chapter thirty-two then, like a clap of thunder, the rumour ran through labuwangi that van oudijck and his wife were going to be divorced. lã©onie went to europe, very suddenly, really without any one's knowing why and without taking leave of anybody. and it caused a great scandal in the little town: people talked of nothing else and talked of it even as far away as surabaya, as far away as batavia. van oudijck alone was silent; and, with his back a little more bowed, went his way, working on, leading his ordinary life. he had abandoned his principles and assisted theo to obtain a job, in order to be rid of him. he preferred to have doddie staying at patjaram, where the de luce women would help her with her trousseau. he preferred doddie to get married quickly and to get married at patjaram. in his great, empty house he now longed for nothing but solitude, a spacious, cheerless solitude. he would no longer have the table laid for him: they brought him a plateful of rice and a cup of coffee in his office. and he felt ill, his zeal lessened; a dull indifference gnawed at his vitals. he delegated all the work, all the district to eldersma; and, when eldersma, after not sleeping for weeks, half-crazy with nervous strain, told the resident that the doctor wanted to send him to europe with a certificate of urgency, van oudijck lost all his courage. he said that he too felt ill and done for. and he applied to the governor-general for leave and went to batavia. he said nothing about it, but he felt certain that he would never return to labuwangi. and he went away, quietly, with not a glance at what he was leaving behind him, at his great field of activity, which he had so lovingly organized. the administration remained in the hands of the assistant-resident at ngadjiwa. it was generally believed that van oudijck wished to see the governor-general about certain questions of importance, but suddenly the news arrived that he was proposing to retire. it was not credited at first, but the report was confirmed. van oudijck did not return. he had gone, without casting a glance behind him, in a strange indifference, an indifference which had gradually corroded the very marrow of this once so robust and practical man, who had always remained young in his capacity for work. he felt this indifference for labuwangi, which, when there was a question of his promotion to resident of the first class, he had thought himself incapable of leaving except with the greatest regret; he felt this indifference for his domestic circle, which no longer existed. his soul was filled with a gradual blight; it was withering, dying. it seemed to him that all his powers were melting away in the tepid stagnation of this indifference. at batavia he vegetated for a while in his hotel; and it was generally assumed that he would go to europe. eldersma had already gone, sick almost unto death; and eva had been unable to accompany him, with the little boy, because she was down with a bad attack of malarial fever. when she was more or less convalescent, she sold up her house, with a view to going to batavia and staying there for three weeks with friends before her boat sailed. she left labuwangi with mixed feelings. she had suffered much there, but had also reflected much; and she had cherished a deep feeling for van helderen, a pure, radiant feeling such as could, she was sure, shine forth only once in a lifetime. she took leave of him as of an ordinary friend, in the presence of others, and gave him no more than a pressure of the hand. but she felt so profoundly sad because of that pressure of the hand, that commonplace farewell, that the sobs rose in her throat. that evening, left to herself, she did not weep, but sat in her room at the hotel, staring for hours silently before her. her husband was gone, was ill: she did not know how he would be when she saw him, whether indeed she would ever see him again. europe, it was true, after her years in india, stretched its shores smilingly before her, held forth the vision of its cities, its culture, its art; but she was afraid of europe. an unspoken fear lest she should have lost ground intellectually made her almost dread the circle in her parents' house, to which she would have returned in a month's time. she trembled at the thought that people would consider her colonial in her manners and ideas, in her speech and dress, in the education of her child; and this made her feel shy in anticipation, despite all her pose as a smart, artistic woman. certainly she no longer played the piano as well as she did; she would not dare to play at the hague. and she thought that it might be a good thing to stay in paris for a fortnight and brush off her cobwebs a little, before showing herself in the hague.... but eldersma was too ill.... and how would she find him, her husband, so much changed, her once robust frisian husband, now tired out, worn out, yellow as parchment, careless of his appearance, muttering gloomily when he spoke?... but a gentle vision of a refreshing german landscape, of swiss snows, of music at bayreuth, of art in italy dawned before her staring gaze; and she was herself reunited to her sick husband. no longer united in life, but united under the yoke of life, the yoke which they had shouldered together, once and for all.... then there was the education of her child! oh, to save her child, to get him away from india! and yet he, van helderen, had never been out of india. but then he was himself, he was an exception.... she had bidden him good-bye.... she must make up her mind to forget him.... europe was waiting for her ... with her husband ... and her child.... two days later she was at batavia. she hardly knew the city; she had been there once or twice, years ago, when she first came out. at labuwangi, in that little, outlying district, batavia had gradually become glorified in her imagination into an essentially eurasian capital, a centre of eurasian civilization, a dim vision of stately avenues and squares, surrounded by great, wealthy, porticoed villas, thronged with smart carriages and horses. she had always heard so much about batavia.... she was now staying with friends. the husband was at the head of a big commercial firm; their house was one of the handsomest villas on the koningsplein. and she had at once been very strangely impressed by the funereal character, by the deadly melancholy of this great town of villas, where thousands of varied lives are waging a silent, feverish battle for a future of moneyed repose. it was as though all those houses, gloomy despite their white pillars and their grand fronts, were frowning like faces careworn with troubles that sought to hide themselves behind a pretentious display of broad leaves and clustering palms. the houses, however much exposed, amidst their pillars, however seemingly open, remained closed; the occupants were never seen. only in the mornings, as she went on her errands along the shops in rijswijk and molenvliet, which, with a few french names among them, tried to give the impression of a southern shopping-centre, of european luxury, eva would see the exodus to the old town of the white men, white-faced, dressed in white; and even their eyes seemed pale with brooding anxieties, fixed upon a future which they all calculated in so many decades or lustres: so much made, in this year or that; and then away, away home from india to europe. it was as though it were not malaria that was undermining them, but another fever; and she felt clearly that it was undermining their unacclimatized constitutions, their souls, as though they were trying to skip that day and reach the to-morrow, or the day after, days which brought them a little nearer to their goal, because they secretly feared to die before that goal was attained. the exodus filled the trams with its white burden of mortality. many, already well off, but not yet rich enough for their purpose, drove in their victorias or buggies to the harmonie club and there took the tram, to spare their horses. and in the old town, in the old, aristocratic houses of the first dutch merchants, still built in the dutch style, with oak staircases leading to upper floors which now, during the eastern monsoon, were stagnant with a dense, oppressive heat, like a tangible element, which stifled the breath, the white men bent over their work, constantly beholding between their thirsty glance and the white desert of their papers the dawning mirage of the future, the refreshing oasis of their materialistic illusion: within such and such a time, money and then off ... off ... to europe.... and, in the city of villas, around the koningsplein, along the green avenues, the women hid themselves, the women remained unseen, the whole livelong day. the hot day passed, the time of beneficent coolness came, the time from half-past five to seven. the men returned home dog-tired and sat down to rest; and the women, tired with their housekeeping, with their children and with nothing at all, with a life of doing nothing, a life without any interest, tired with the deadliness of their existence, rested beside the men. that hour of beneficent coolness meant rest, rest after the bath, in undress, around the tea-table, a short, momentary rest, for the fearsome hour of seven was at hand, when it was already dark, when one had to go to a reception. a reception implied dressing in stuffy european clothes, implied a brief but dreadful display of european drawing-room manners and social graces, but it also implied meeting this person and that and striving to achieve yet one advance towards the mirage of the future: money and ultimate rest in europe. and, after the town of villas had lain in the sun all day, gloomy and wan, like a dead city--with the men away in the old town and the women hidden in their houses--a few carriages now passed one another in the dark, round the koningsplein and along the green avenues, a few european-looking people, going to a reception. while, around the koningsplein and in the green avenues, all the other villas persisted in this funereal desolation and remained filled with gloomy darkness, the house where the party was given shone with lamps among the palm-trees. and for the rest the deadliness lingered on every hand, the sombre brooding lay over the houses wherein the tired people were hiding, the men exhausted with work, the women exhausted with doing nothing.... "wouldn't you like a drive, eva?" asked her hostess, mrs. de harteman, a little dutchwoman, white as wax and always tired out by her children. "but i'd rather not come with you, if you don't mind: i'd rather wait for harteman. else he'd find nobody at home. so you go, with your little boy." so eva, with her little man, went driving in the de hartemans' "chariot." it was the cool hour of the day, before darkness set in. she met two or three carriages: mrs. this and mrs. that, who were known to drive in the afternoon. in the koningsplein she saw a lady and gentleman walking: the so-and-sos; they always walked, as all batavia knew. she met no one else. no one. at that beneficent hour, the villa-town remained desolate as a city of the dead, as a vast mausoleum amid green trees. and yet it was a boon, after the overwhelming heat, to see the koningsplein stretching like a gigantic meadow, where the parched grass was turning green with the first rains, while the houses showed so far away, so very far away, in their hedged-in gardens, that it was like being in the country, amid wood and fields and pastures, with the wide sky overhead, from which the lungs now breathed in air, as though for the first time that day, breathed in oxygen and life: that wide sky, displaying every day as it were a varying wealth of colours, an excess of sunset fires, a glorious death of the scorching day, as though the sun itself were bursting into torrents of gold between the lilac-hued and threatening rain-clouds. and it was so spacious and so delightful, it was such an immense boon that it actually made up for the day. but there was no one to see it except the two or three people who were known in batavia to go driving or walking. a violet twilight rose; then the night fell with one deep shadow; and the town, which had been deathlike all day, with its frown of brooding gloom, dropped wearily asleep, like a city of care.... it used to be different, said old mrs. de harteman, the mother-in-law of eva's friend. they were gone nowadays, the pleasant houses with their indian hospitality, their open tables, their sincere and cordial welcomes, as if the colonist's character had in some sense altered, had in some way been overcast by the vicissitudes of chance, by his disappointment at not speedily achieving his aim, his material aim of wealth. and, he being thus embittered, it seemed that his nerves became irritable, just as his soul became overcast and gloomy and his body lethargic and unable to withstand the destructive climate.... and eva did not find batavia the ideal city of eurasian civilization which she had pictured it at labuwangi. in this great money-grubbing centre, every trace of spontaneity had vanished and life became degraded to an everlasting seclusion in the office or at home. people never saw each other save at receptions; any other conversation took place over the telephone. the abuse of the telephone for domestic purposes killed all agreeable intimacy among friends. people no longer saw one another; they no longer had any need to dress and send for the carriage, the "chariot"; for they chatted over the telephone, in sarong and kabaai, in pyjamas, almost without stirring a limb. the telephone was close at hand and the bell was constantly ringing in the back-verandah. people rang one another up for nothing, for the mere fun of ringing up. young mrs. de harteman had an intimate friend, a young woman whom she never saw and to whom she telephoned daily, for half an hour at a time. she sat down to it, so it did not tire her. and she laughed and joked with her friend, without having to dress and without moving. she did the same with other friends: she paid her visits by telephone. she did her shopping by telephone. eva had not been accustomed at labuwangi to this everlasting tinkling and ringing up, which killed all conversation and, in the back-verandah, revealed one half of a dialogue--the replies being inaudible to any one sitting away from the instrument--in the form of an incessant, one-sided jabbering. it got on her nerves and drove her to her room. and, amid the boredom of this life, full of care and inward brooding for the husband and penetrated by the chatter of the wife's telephonic conversations, eva would be surprised suddenly to hear of a special excitement: a fancy-fair and the rehearsals of an amateur operatic performance. she herself attended one of these rehearsals during her visit and was astonished by the really first-rate execution, as though those musical amateurs had put the strength of despair into it, to dispel the tedium of the batavian evenings. for the italian opera had left; and she had to laugh at the heading "amusements" in the javabode, which amusements as a rule were limited to a choice of three or four meetings of shareholders. this too used to be different, said old mrs. de harteman, who remembered the excellent french opera of twenty-five years ago, which, it was true, cost thousands, but for which the thousands were always forthcoming. no, people no longer had the money to amuse themselves at night. they sometimes gave a very expensive dinner, or else went to a meeting of shareholders. eva, in truth, considered labuwangi a much livelier place. true, she herself had largely contributed to the liveliness, at the instigation of van oudijck, who was glad to make the capital of his district a pleasant, cheerful little town. and she came to the conclusion that, after all, she preferred a small, up-country place, with a few cultured, agreeable european inhabitants--provided that they harmonized with one another and did not quarrel overmuch in the intimacy of their common life--to this pretentious, pompous, dreary batavia. the only life was among the military element. only the officers' houses were lit up in the evening. apart from this, the town lay as though moribund, the whole long, hot day, with its frown of care, with its invisible population of people looking towards the future: a future of money, a future perhaps even more of rest, in europe. and she longed to get away. batavia suffocated her, notwithstanding her daily drive round the spacious koningsplein. she had only one wish left, a melancholy wish: to say good-bye to van oudijck. her peculiar temperament, that of a smart, artistic woman, had, very strangely, appreciated and felt the fascination of his character, that of a simple, practical man. she had perhaps, only for a moment, felt something for him, deep down within herself, a friendship which formed a sort of contrast with her friendship for van helderen, an appreciation of his fine human qualities rather than a feeling of platonic community of souls. she had felt a sympathetic pity for him in those strange, mysterious days, for the man living alone in his enormous house, with the strange happenings creeping in upon him. she had felt intensely sorry for him when his wife, kicking aside her exalted position, had gone away in an insolent mood, arousing a storm of scandal, nobody knew exactly why: his wife, at one time always so correct in her demeanour, notwithstanding all her depravity, but gradually devoured by the canker of the strange happenings until she was no longer able to restrain herself, baring the innermost secrets of her profligate soul with cynical indifference. the red betel-slaver, spat as it were by ghosts on her naked body, had affected her like a sickness, had eaten into the marrow of her bones, like a disintegration of her soul, of which she might perhaps die, slowly wasting away. what people now said of her, of her mode of life in paris, represented something so unutterably depraved that it was not to be mentioned above a whisper. eva heard about it at batavia, amid the gossip at the evening-parties. and, when she asked after van oudijck--where he was staying, whether he would soon be going to europe, after his unexpected resignation, a thing that had surprised the whole official world--they were unable to tell her, they asked one another if he was no longer at the hã´tel wisse, where he had been seen only a few weeks ago, lying on his chair in his little verandah, with his legs on the rests, staring fixedly before him without moving a limb. he had hardly gone out at all, taking his meals in his room and not at the table-d'hã´te, as though he--the man who had always been accustomed to dealing with hundreds of people--had became shy of meeting his fellow-creatures. and at last eva heard that van oudijck was living at bandong. as she had to pay some farewell visits, she went to the preanger. but he was not to be found at bandong: all that the hotel-proprietor was able to tell her was that van oudijck had stayed a few days at his place, but had since gone, he did not know whither. then at last, by accident, she heard from a man whom she met at dinner that van oudijck was living near garut. she went to garut, feeling pleased to be on his track. the people in the hotel were able to direct her to where he lived. she could not decide whether she should first write to him and announce her visit. something seemed to warn her that, if she did, he would make some excuse and that she would not see him. and she, now that she was on the point of leaving java for good, wanted to see him, from motives of mingled affection and curiosity. she wished to see for herself how he looked, to get out of him why he had so suddenly sent in his resignation and thrown up his enviable position in life, a position instantly seized by the next man after him, in the great push for promotion. so, next morning, very early, without sending him word, she drove away in a carriage belonging to the hotel. the landlord had explained to the coachman where he was to go. and she drove a very long way, along lake lellã¨s, the sombre sacred lake with the two islands containing the age-old tombs of saints, while above it hovered, like a dark cloud of desolation, an ever-circling flock of enormous black bats, flapping their demon wings and screeching their cry of despair, wheeling round and round incessantly: a black, funereal swirl against the infinite blue depths of the ether, as though they, the demons who had once dreaded light, had triumphed and no longer feared the day, because they obscured it with the shadow of their sombre flight. and it was all so oppressive: the sacred lake, the sacred tombs and above them a horde as of black devils in the deep blue ether, because it was as though a part of the mystery of india were being suddenly revealed, no longer hiding itself, a vague, impalpable presence, but actually visible in the sunlight, rousing dismay with its menacing victory.... eva shuddered; and, as she glanced up timidly, she felt as though the black multitude of screening wings might beat down ... upon her.... but the shadow of death between her and the sun only whirled dizzily around, high above her head, and only uttered its despondent cry of triumph.... she drove on; and the plain of lellã¨s lay green and smiling before her. and that second of revelation had already ticked past: there was nothing now but the green and blue luxuriance of the javanese landscape; the mystery was already hidden away among the delicate, waving bamboos or merged in the azure ocean of the sky. the coachman was driving slowly up a steep hill. the liquid rice-fields rose in terraces like stairs of looking-glass, pale-green with carefully-planted blades of paddy; then, suddenly, there came as who should say an avenue of ferns: gigantic ferns, waving their fans on high, with great fabulous butterflies fluttering around them. and between the diaphanous foliage of the bamboos there appeared a small house, built half of stone, half of wattled bamboo, surrounded by a little garden containing a few white pots of roses. a very young woman in sarong and kabaai, with cheeks gleaming like pale gold and coal-black eyes inquisitively peeping, looked out in surprise at the carriage, which was approaching very slowly, and fled indoors. eva alighted and coughed. and she suddenly caught a glimpse of van oudijck's face, peering round a screen in the middle gallery. he disappeared at once. "resident!" she cried, in a coaxing tone. but no one appeared and she grew confused. she dared not sit down and yet she did not want to go away. but round the corner of the house, outside, there peeped a little face, two little brown faces, the faces of very young half-caste girls, and vanished again, giggling. inside the house, eva heard a greatly excited, very nervous whispering: "sidin! sidin!" she heard somebody call, in a whisper. she smiled, took courage and stayed and walked about in the little front-verandah. and at last there came an old woman, not perhaps so very old in years, but old in wrinkled skin and eyes that had grown dim, wearing a coloured chintz sabaai and dragging her slippers; and, beginning with a few words of dutch and then taking refuge in malay, smiling politely, she requested eva to be seated and said that the resident would be there at once. she herself sat down, smiled, did not know what to talk about, did not know what to answer when eva asked her about the lake, about the road. all that she could do was to fetch syrup and iced-water and wafers; and she did not talk, but only smiled and looked after her visitor. when the young half-caste faces peeped round the corner, the old woman angrily stamped her slippered foot and scolded them with a hasty word; and then they disappeared, giggling and running away with an audible patter of little bare feet. then the old woman smiled again with her eternally smiling wrinkled face and looked at the lady timidly, as though apologizing. and it was a very long time before van oudijck at last entered the room. he welcomed eva effusively, excused himself for keeping her waiting. it was obvious that he had shaved in a hurry and put on a clean white suit. and he was evidently glad to see her. the old woman departed, with her eternal smile of apology. in that first cheerful moment, van oudijck seemed to eva exactly the same as usual; but, when he had calmed down and taken a chair and asked her whether she had heard from eldersma and when she herself was going to europe, she saw that he had grown older, an old man. it did not show in his figure, which, in his well-starched white suit, still preserved its broad, soldierly air, a sturdy build, with only the back a little more bowed, as though under a burden. but it showed in his face, in the dull, uninterested glance, in the deep furrows of the careworn forehead, in the colour of his skin, which was dry and yellow, while the thick moustache, about which the jovial smile still flickered at intervals, had turned quite grey. his hands shook nervously. and, when she told him what people had said at labuwangi, he listened without interrupting, betraying a lingering curiosity about the people yonder, about the district of which he had once been so fond. she discussed it all vaguely, glossing over things, putting the best face on them and, above all, saying nothing of the gossip: that he had taken french leave, that he had run away, nobody quite knew why. "and you, resident," she asked, "are you going to europe too?" he stared in front of him and gave a painful laugh before replying. and at last he said, almost shyly: "no, mevrouwtje. i don't think i'll go home. you see, i've been somebody out here, in india; i'd be nobody over there. i'm nobody now, i know; but still i feel that india has become my country. it has got the upper hand of me; and i belong to it now. i no longer belong to holland, and i have nothing and nobody in holland that belongs to me. i'm finished, it's true; but still i'd rather drag out my existence here than there. in holland i should certainly not be able to stand the climate ... or the people. here the climate suits me and i have withdrawn from society. i have helped theo for the last time; and doddie is married. and the two boys are going to europe, to school...." he suddenly bent towards her and, in a changed voice, he almost whispered, as though about to make a confession: "you see, if everything had gone normally, then ... then i should not have acted as i did. i have always been a practical man and i was proud of it and proud of living the normal life, my own life, which i lived in accordance with principles that i thought were right, until i reached a high place among my fellow-men. i have always been like that and things went well like that. everything went swimmingly with me. when others were worrying about their promotion, i passed over the heads of five men at a bound. it was all plain sailing for me, at least in my official career. i have not been lucky in my domestic life, but i should never have been weak enough to break down on the road with grief because of that. a man has so much outside his domestic life. and yet i was always very fond of my family-circle. i don't think it was my fault that everything went as it did. i loved my wife, i loved my children, i loved my home, my home surroundings, in which i was the husband, and father. but that feeling in me was never fully satisfied. my first wife was a half-caste whom i married because i was in love with her. because she could not get the upper hand of me with her whim-whams, things became impossible after a few years. i was perhaps even more in love with my second wife than with my first: i am simply constituted in these matters. but i was never allowed to have a pleasant home-circle, a pleasant, kindly wife, children climbing on your knees and growing up into men and women who owe their lives to you, their existence, in short, everything that they have and possess. that is what i should have liked to have. but, as i say, though i did not get it, that would never have pulled me under...." he was silent for a moment and then continued in an even more mysterious whisper: "but that, you see, the thing that happened.... i never understood; and it's that which brought me to where i am. that ... all that ... which clashed and interfered with my practical, logical ideas of life ... all that"--he struck the table with his fist--"all that damned nonsense, which ... which happened all the same: that did the trick. i did not shirk the fight, but my strength was no use to me. it was something against which nothing availed.... i know: it was the regent. when i threatened him it stopped.... but, my god, mevrouwtje, tell me, what was it? do you know? you don't, do you? nobody knew and nobody knows. those terrible nights, those inexplicable noises over head, that night in the bathroom with the major and the other officers! it wasn't any hallucination: we saw it, we heard it, we felt it, it spat at us, it covered us from head to foot; the whole bathroom was full of it! it is easy for other people, who didn't experience it, to deny it. but i ... and all of us ... we saw it, heard it and felt it! and we none of us knew who it was.... and since then i have never ceased to feel it. it was all around me, in the air, under my feet.... you see," he whispered very softly, "that--and that alone--did it. that made it impossible for me to stay there. that caused me to be struck stupid, to become a sort of idiot in the midst of my normal life, in the midst of my practical good sense and logic, which suddenly appeared to me in the light of an ill-constructed theory of life, of the most abstract speculation, because, right through it, things were happening that belonged to another world, things that escaped me and everybody else. that, that alone, did it! i was no longer myself. i no longer knew what i was thinking, what i was doing, what i had done. everything in me was tottering. that ruffian in the compound is no child of mine: i'll stake my life on it. and i ... i believed it. i sent him money. tell me, do you understand me? i don't suppose you do. it's not to be understood, that strange, unnatural business, if you haven't experienced it, in your flesh and in your blood, till it finds its way into your marrow...." "i do believe that i also experienced it, once in a way," she whispered. "when i was walking with van helderen by the sea ... and the sky was so far and the night so deep ... or the rains came rustling towards us from so very far away and then fell ... or when the nights, silent as death and yet brimful of sounds, quivered about one, always with a music which one could not catch and could scarcely hear.... or simply when i looked into the eyes of a javanese, when i spoke to my babu and it seemed as though nothing of what i said reached her mind and as though what she replied concealed her real, secret answer...." "that, again, is another thing," he said. "i can't understand that: as far as i was concerned, i knew my native through and through. but possibly every european feels it in a different way, according to his nature and his temperament. to one it is perhaps the dislike which he begins by feeling for the country that attacks him in the weak point of his materialism and continues to oppose him ... whereas the country itself is so full of poetry, i might almost say mysticism. to another it is the climate, or the character of the native, or what you will, that is antagonistic and incomprehensible. to me ... it was the facts which i could not understand. and until then i had always been able to understand a fact ... at least, i thought so. now it appeared to me as though i no longer understood anything.... in this way, i became an incompetent official and then i realized that it was all over. and then i quietly resigned my post. and now i'm here ... and here i mean to stay. and do you know the strange part of it? perhaps i have--at last--found my family-circle here...." the little brown faces were peeping round the corner. and he called to them, beckoned to them kindly, with a broad fatherly gesture. but they pattered away again, audibly, on their bare feet. he laughed: "they're very timid, the little monkeys," he said. "it's lena's little sisters; and the woman you saw just now is her mother." he was silent for a second, quite simply, as though she was bound to understand who lena was: the very young woman, with the golden bloom on her cheeks and the coal-black eyes, of whom she had caught a fleeting glimpse. "and then there are some little brothers, who go to school in garut. well, you see, that's my domestic circle. when i came to know lena, i adopted the whole family. i admit it costs me a lot of money, for i have my first wife at batavia, my second in paris, and renã© and ricus in holland. it all costs me money. and now my new 'home-circle' here. but now at least i have my circle.... it's a very indian kettle of fish, you'll say: that indian quasi-marriage to the daughter of a coffee-overseer, with the old woman and the little brothers and sisters included in the bargain. but i'm doing a little good. the family haven't a cent and i'm helping them. and lena is a dear child and is the comfort of my old age. i can't live without a wife; and so it happened of itself.... and it works very well: i lead a cabbage-life and drink first-rate coffee; and they look after the old man...." he was silent and then continued: "and you ... you are going to europe? poor eldersma, i hope he'll be better soon! it's all my fault, isn't it? i worked him too hard. but it's like that in india, mevrouw. we all work too hard here ... until we stop working altogether. and you are going ... in a week? how glad you will be to see your father and mother and to hear some good music? i am still always grateful to you. you did much for us, you stood for poetry in labuwangi. poor india! how they rail at her! after all, the country can't help it that we freebooters have invaded their territory, barbarian conquerors that we are, only working to grow rich and get away! and then, when they don't grow rich, they start railing: at the heat, which god gave it from the beginning; at the lack of nourishment for mind and soul: mind and soul of the freebooter! the poor country railed at like this may well say in itself, 'you could have stayed away!' and you ... you didn't like india either." "i tried to grasp the poetry of it. and now and then i succeeded. for the rest, it's my fault, resident, and not the fault of this beautiful country. like your freebooter, i should have stayed away. all my depression, all the melancholy from which i suffered in this beautiful land of mystery, is my own fault. i don't rail at india, resident." he took her hand and, almost with emotion, almost with a gleam of moisture in his eyes, said, softly: "i thank you for saying so. those words are like you, the words of a sensible, cultivated woman, who doesn't rave and rant, as a silly dutchman would at not finding in this country exactly what corresponded with his petty ideals. your temperament suffered much here, i know. it was bound to. but it was not the fault of the country." "it was my own fault, resident," she repeated, with her soft, smiling voice. he thought her adorable. that she did not burst into imprecations, that she did not fly into ecstasies because she was leaving java in a few days' time gave him a sense of comfort. and, when she rose to go, saying that it was getting late, he felt very sad: "and so i shall never see you again?" "i don't think that we shall be coming back." "it's good-bye for ever, then!" "perhaps we shall see you in europe." he made a gesture of denial: "i am more grateful to you than i can say for coming to look the old man up. i shall drive with you to garut." he called out something indoors, where the women were keeping out of sight and the little sisters giggling. he stepped into the carriage by her side. they drove down the avenue of ferns; and suddenly they saw the sacred lake of lellã¨s, overshadowed by the circling swirl of the bats ever flapping round and round: "resident," she whispered, "i feel it here...." he smiled: "they are only bats," he said. "but at labuwangi ... it was perhaps only a rat." he just wrinkled his brows; then he smiled again, with the jovial smile about his thick moustache, and looked up with inquisitive eyes: "what?" he said, softly. "really? do you feel it here?" "yes." "well, i don't. it's different with everybody." the giant bats shrilled their triumph in shrieks of desolation. the little carriage drove on and passed a little railway-halt. and, in the otherwise lonely region, it was strange to see a whole populace, a swarm of motley sundanese, streaming towards the little station, eagerly gazing at a slow train which was approaching, belching black clouds of smoke amidst the bamboos. all their eyes were staring crazily, as though anticipating the bliss of the first glance, as though their first impression would be a treasure for their souls. "that's a train full of new hadjis," said van oudijck. "they're all pilgrims newly returned from mecca." the train stopped; and from the long third-class carriages, solemnly, slowly, very devoutly and conscious of their dignity, the hadjis alighted, in their rich white-and-yellow turbans, their eyes gleaming with pride, their lips pursed with conceit, in brand-new, shiny coats and gold-and-purple skirts which fell in stately folds to just above their feet. and, humming with rapturous excitement, sometimes with a rising cry of ecstasy, the waiting multitude pressed closer and stormed the narrow doorways of the long railway-coaches.... the hadjis solemnly alighted. and their brothers and friends vied with one another in grasping their hands and the hems of their gold-and-purple skirts and kissed that sacred hand or that sacred garment, because it brought them something of mecca the holy. they fought, they hustled one another around the hadjis, to be the first to give the kiss. and the hadjis, conceited and self-conscious, seemed unaware of the struggle, maintained a peaceful dignity and a solemn stateliness amid the struggle, amid the billowing, buzzing multitude, and surrendered their hands, surrendered the hem of their garments to the fanatical kiss of all who approached. and, in this land of profound, secret, slumbering mystery, in this people of java, which, as always, hid itself in the secrecy of its impenetrable soul, suppressed indeed, but visible, it was strange to see an ecstasy rising to the surface, to see an intoxicated fanaticism, to see a part of that impenetrable soul revealed in its deification of those who had beheld the tomb of the prophet, to hear the soft humming of a religious rapture, to hear, suddenly, unexpectedly, a shout of glory, not to be suppressed, quavering on high, a cry which instantly sank again, drowned in the hum, as though itself fearful, because the sacred era had not yet arrived.... and van oudijck and eva, on the road behind the station, slowly driving past the busy multitude which still buzzed about the hadjis, respectfully carrying their luggage, obsequiously offering their little carts: van oudijck and eva suddenly looked at each other and, though neither of them cared to express it in words, they told each other with a glance of understanding, that they felt it, that they felt that, both of them, both together this time, in the midst of this fanatical multitude.... they both felt it, the unutterable thing, the thing that lurks in the ground, that hisses under the volcanoes, that slowly draws near with the far-travelled winds, that rushes onwards with the rain, that rattles by in the heavy, rolling thunder, that is wafted from the far horizon of the boundless sea; the thing that flashes from the black, mysterious gaze of the secretive native, that creeps in his heart and cringes in his humble salutation; the thing that gnaws like a poison and a hostile force at the body, soul and life of the european, that silently attacks the conqueror and saps his energies, causing him to pine and perish, sapping his energies very slowly, so that he wastes away for years; and in the end he dies of it, perhaps by a sudden, tragic death: they both felt it, both felt the unutterable thing.... and, in feeling it, together with the sadness of their leave-taking, which was so near at hand, they failed to see, amid the waving, billowing, buzzing multitude which reverently hustled the yellow-and-purple dignity of the hadjis returned from mecca, they failed to see that one, tall, white hadji rising above the crowd and peering with a grin at the man who, though he had lived his life in java, had been weaker than that.... the end notes [1] the duit, or doit, was a coin of the dutch east india company, a little lower in value than the cent, of which latter a hundred go to the guilder or florin (1s. 8d.). the survival of the duit complicated the official accounts considerably. [2] â£50. [3] the dutch always speak of the dutch east indies--java, sumatra, celebes, etc.--as india. [4] the binnenlandsch bestuur, or inland administration. [5] the native states of surakarta and djokjakarta are known as the vorstenlanden, or principalities. [6] the native regent, or rajah. [7] of 1900. [8] the regent's palace. [9] resident's wife. [10] a nervous disorder which is manifested by sudden periods of intense suggestibility, resulting in mimicry. recovery is commonly instantaneous. [11] maid-servants. [12] the chief coffee-growing district of java. [illustration: book cover] [illustration] the boy travellers in the far east _part second_ * * * * * adventures of two youths in a journey to siam and java with descriptions of cochin-china, cambodia, sumatra and the malay archipelago by thomas w. knox author of "camp-fire and cotton-field" "overland through asia" "underground" "john" etc. illustrated new york harper & brothers, franklin square 1882 entered according to act of congress, in the year 1880, by harper & brothers, in the office of the librarian of congress, at washington. preface the favorable reception accorded to "the boy travellers in japan and china" has led to the preparation of the present book. frank and fred have continued their journey under the guidance of doctor bronson, and the plan of their travels and observation is identical with the one they followed through the celestial empire and the land of the mikado. the incidents in the narrative were mainly the experiences of the author at a recent date; and the descriptions of countries, cities, temples, people, manners, and customs are nearly all from his personal observations and notes. he has endeavored to give a faithful account of siam, java, and the adjacent countries as they appear to-day, and trusts that the only fiction of the book is in the names of the individuals who tell the story. in a few instances the narrative has been slightly interrupted, in order to introduce matters of general interest to young readers. the details of the progress of naval architecture and the accounts of submarine operations, together with the wonderful adventures of marco polo, may be classed as digressions. it is hoped they will meet the same welcome that was accorded to the episode of a whaling voyage in the first record of the travels of frank and fred. the publishers have kindly allowed the use of some illustrations that have already appeared in their publications relative to the far east, in addition to those specially prepared for this volume. the author has consulted the works of previous travellers in the east to supplement his own information, and to some of them he is under obligations. especially is he indebted to mr. frank vincent, jr., author of that excellent and well-known book, "the land of the white elephant," not only for details respecting cambodia and adjacent regions, but for some of the admirable engravings that adorn his volume. other authorities are credited with the text of their work or in foot-notes to the pages where quotations are made. the author is not aware that any book describing siam, java, cochin china, cambodia, and the malay archipelago, and especially addressed to the young, has yet appeared. consequently he hopes that this volume will meet with as warm a welcome as was given to "the boy travellers in japan and china," by adult as well as juvenile members of many families throughout the united states. t. w. k. contents. chapter i. page departure from hong-kong. 13 chapter ii. voyage to saigon.--arrival in cochin china. 23 chapter iii. historical and descriptive.--first sights and scenes in anam. 34 chapter iv. a wonderful temple.--ruins of nagkon wat and angkor. 47 chapter v. cambodia.--its capital and king. 61 chapter vi. departure from saigon.--visiting a chinese junk. 73 chapter vii. the wonderful story of marco polo. 86 chapter viii. arrival in siam.--first day in bangkok. 106 chapter ix. temples at bangkok.--the founder of buddhism. 119 chapter x. ascending the menam, from bangkok to ayuthia. 131 chapter xi. visiting the prince of the elephants.--ayuthia.--something about crocodiles. 143 chapter xii. stories of elephant-hunting.--scenes of the chase. 161 chapter xiii. bang-pa-in to bangkok.--studies in natural history and botany. 177 chapter xiv. the king in his state barge.--betel and tobacco. 190 chapter xv. women, hair-cutting, and slavery. 202 chapter xvi. cremation in siam.--trade, taxes, and birds. 215 chapter xvii. presentation to the king.--dinner at the palace. 228 chapter xviii. the white elephant.--visit to the second king of siam. 237 chapter xix. leaving siam.--life under the ocean wave. 249 chapter xx. light under water.--pearl-fishing and turtle-hunting. 262 chapter xxi. incidents of a sea-voyage.--singapore. 280 chapter xxii. sights and scenes in singapore. 294 chapter xxiii. crossing the equator.--adventure with malay pirates. 311 chapter xxiv. sumatra and its peculiarities.--snakes and orang-outangs. 326 chapter xxv. arrival in java.--sights and scenes in batavia. 343 chapter xxvi. batavia to buitenzorg.--tropical scenes.--birds of paradise. 358 chapter xxvii. a chapter on political economy.--the dutch culture system in java. 374 chapter xxviii. rice culture in java.--military and social matters. 387 chapter xxix. a post ride in java.--from buitenzorg to bandong. 400 chapter xxx. visiting a tea plantation.--preparation of tea. 411 chapter xxxi. eastern java, lombock, timor, and the aru islands. 422 chapter xxxii. wanderings in the malay archipelago.--good-bye. 435 illustrations scene on the headwaters of the menam river _frontispiece_ map _to face page_ 13 page hong kong, from kellet's island 13 mary and effie reading frank's letter 15 arrival of the french mail steamer 18 private parlor of the "yuen fat hong" 20 a chinese boatwoman 21 frank's dream 22 hurricane during the change of the monsoon 23 a favoring monsoon 24 running before the trade-wind 25 rice-fields on the mekong 28 a native woman 30 street in the chinese quarter 31 plants in the botanical garden 32 a new acquaintance 33 a mosquito of saigon 33 native gentleman at saigon 35 view of the french quarter of saigon 37 native soldiers at saigon 39 the king of the beggars 41 view of cholon 43 a chinese family at cholon 44 a cab for two 45 cambodian female head-dress. ancient sculpture 47 plan of the temple at nagkon 49 unfinished pillars 50 columns in the temple 51 sculptures on the walls of nagkon wat 52 view from the central tower of the temple 54 gallery of sculptures 56 ancient tower overgrown with poh-trees 58 huts of the priests 59 stone with ancient sculptures 60 a cambodian idol 61 fishing-village on lake thalysap 62 panompin, the capital of cambodia 64 specimen of cambodian gold-work 66 the king of cambodia 67 queen of cambodia and royal children 69 the harbor of oodong, cambodia 70 a girl of oodong 71 house in the suburbs 72 a chinese junk 74 outline of modern ship, showing compartments 76 a junk sailor at breakfast 77 chinese river boat 78 ship of the fourteenth century 79 "the great harry" 80 the "tennessee" 81 the public highway of the future 82 the bomb ferry 83 moonlight at sea in the tropics 84 a story of the sea 85 marco polo 87 the great khan delivering a tablet to the elder polo brothers. from a miniature of the fourteenth century 88 arms of the polo family 88 nicolo polo. father of marco 89 portrait of kublai-khan. from a chinese engraving 91 marco polo's galley in battle 93 alan shuts up the caliph of baudas in his treasure-tower 96 dog-headed men of angamanain 97 mediæval tartar huts and wagons 99 the roc, from a persian drawing 100 roc's egg, now in the british museum. 100 chinese bank-note of the ming dynasty 101 chinese conjuring extraordinary 103 captain clanchy at work 104 come to dinner! 105 a natural shower-bath 106 flying-fish 107 view near paknam 108 native hut on the menam river 110 a village pathway in siam 111 chinese field-laborers 112 general view of bangkok 114 house in the foreign part of bangkok 115 a siamese priest 118 bird's-eye view of bangkok 120 temple of wat chang 121 temple of the sleeping idol 123 brass idol in a temple 124 priests playing chess 126 gate-way of a temple at bangkok 128 temple of the emerald idol 129 private garden near bangkok 133 a siamese forest scene 135 parasite and palm 138 the bamboo-tree 139 the boat they narrowly missed 140 scene at bang-pa-in 141 a river scene 142 the young prince 144 portrait of "chang" 145 macedonian coin, with ancient goad 146 modern goad 146 a war elephant 147 near the palace 149 in the ruined city 150 crocodiles at home 152 taking a bite 153 the doctor's crack shot 154 the trochilus 155 alligator and crane 155 trochilus and crocodile 156 the alligator and the bear 158 just hatched 159 coming out to sun himself 160 an elephant fence 161 form of a corral 161 beginning the drive 162 driving into the corral 163 securing the captives 165 siribeddi's prize 166 the prisoners tied up 168 a little head work 169 in a heap of trouble 170 refusing to move on 171 sliding down hill 173 elephant-hunting on foot 174 the hunter hunted 175 taking a nap 176 cocoa-nuts full grown and just forming 178 the bread-fruit 179 pineapple 180 star-apple 180 a new kind of fruit 181 tailor-bird and nest 182 a climbing-fish 183 the snake and the squirrel 185 monkeys at home 187 monkeys 188 eagle capturing a monkey 189 state barge of the king of siam 191 a body of the royal guards 192 the king visiting a temple 194 the front of the temple 195 the tobacco-plant 197 sir walter raleigh and his pipe 197 pipes of all nations 199 young america 200 the east 201 the west 201 siamese gentleman and lady 203 a young prince of the royal house, with his attendant 205 female head-dress and costume 206 minister of foreign affairs 207 lakon girls 209 a native band of music 210 a siamese theatrical performance 211 scene on a small canal near bangkok 216 burial-mounds 217 urn containing ashes 217 jessamine flowers 218 buddhist priest 219 characters in the procession 220 haunts of sea-birds on the coast 223 edible swallows' nests 224 siamese water birds 225 pheasant and young 227 court-yard of the royal palace at bangkok 229 chulalonkorn i., supreme king of siam 231 prime-minister of siam 233 the king of siam in his state robes 234 a younger brother of the king 235 the hour-glass 236 a white elephant worshipping the sun and moon. from a chinese drawing 237 white monkey in elephant stables 240 how an elephant feeds 241 elephants' trunks 242 elephants drinking 243 fred's tormentor 244 the second king of siam, in state robes 247 the doctor getting ready 249 coast of siam, near the mouth of the river 251 water-fowl of siam 252 a wreck among the breakers 253 pearl fisher attacked by a shark 253 nests of the water-spider 254 divers in their armor 255 divers at work 256 diving over the side of a steamer 257 coral-fishing in the mediterranean 259 the coral-worm 260 cup-coral and brain-coral 260 an atoll in the pacific ocean 261 submarine observations 263 the bellows-fish, or angler 264 a curious home 265 crabs in a quarrel 266 sea-anemones 267 the sponge at home 268 how sponges are speared 269 cleopatra dissolving the pearl 270 pearl-bearing shells 271 sizes of pearls 272 pearl-fishery at bahrein 273 persian gulf diver 274 m. jaquin's experiment 275 the bleak 276 the doctor's discovery 276 the turtle at home 278 turtle-hunting 279 on a frail raft 282 the rescue 283 gulf-weed 284 haunts of the sea-birds 285 in the harbor 286 boatmen at singapore 287 a chinese contractor 289 chinese tailors at singapore 290 a group of jacoons 291 garri with a load of sailors 292 full dress at the straits 293 chinese garden at singapore 296 maternal care 297 rural scene in singapore 298 fruit-sellers at singapore 299 a bungalow 300 chinese gentleman's garden 301 the god of gamblers 302 malay boy in the bird-market 303 head of black cockatoo 304 ejecting an intruder 306 a new type of mankind 308 klings and chinese 312 native nurses and children 313 coaling at the dock 314 carrying coal on board 315 servants on duty 316 scene on the sumatra coast 317 crossing the line on a man-of-war 319 chief's house in a pirate village 322 harbor of pirates 323 the pirates' victim 324 sinews of war 325 a trading-station on the coast 327 a bayou on the palembang river 328 arab houses at palembang 329 lounging under a mango-tree 330 alligators taking sun and air 331 view in a sumatran village 332 chased by a tiger 333 treed by a bear 334 shooting a boa-constrictor 335 a snaky creek 336 monkey examining a tortoise 337 female orang-outang. from a photograph 338 natives of borneo fighting with an orang-outang 339 a flying-frog 341 a sumatran butterfly 342 arrival in port 344 the carriage at the custom-house 345 the national taste 346 their servant 347 the mango 348 a trifle too peppery 349 after breakfast 349 an early call 350 native house on the river that feeds the canal 352 family party in batavia 354 fan-palm in the botanical garden 355 chinese porters 356 goddess of sailors and her assistants 357 some of the third-class passengers 359 view in a private garden 360 native village near the railway 361 tropical growths along the line 362 "mangosteens!" 363 veranda of the hotel bellevue 365 view from the veranda at buitenzorg 366 a bad road 367 the vanda lowii 368 a tree growing in mid-air 369 group of birds in the malay archipelago 371 magnificent bird of paradise 372 superb bird of paradise 372 six-shafted bird of paradise 373 long-tailed bird of paradise 373 the yankee elephant 375 the chinese elephant 375 the operatic elephant 375 the elephant in love 376 ancient bas-relief--java 376 a monster volcano 377 peasant farm-houses 379 home of a prosperous contractor 380 coffee-plantation in the mountains 381 "old government java" 382 a javanese chief 383 an improved sugar estate 384 retainers of a javanese regent 385 "good-night" 386 the house at the spring 388 pounding coffee 389 dutch overseers 390 foot-bridge over a mountain stream 392 rewards for good conduct 394 pirate prisoners on a colonial gun-boat 395 passport office 396 ordered out of the country 398 no admittance 399 starling on the journey. 401 by the roadside 402 lodgings of the stable-men 403 just imported 404 the waiter at sindinglaya 406 sleeping-room in the sanitarium 407 a mountain cascade 409 javanese boys 410 train of coffee-carts 412 seed-pods of the tea-plant 413 gathering tea-leaves 415 drying tea in the sun 416 drying over charcoal 416 roasting tea 417 handy with his feet 418 roasting green tea 419 tea regions of the united states 420 roasting-basket 421 volcano in eastern java 423 ruins near sourabaya 424 an island port 425 wild fig-tree 425 a village in lombock 426 view near mataram 427 where the great spirit and the rajah met 428 gun-boring in lombock 430 natives of timor 431 delli, portuguese timor 432 natives of aru shooting the great bird of paradise 433 a native anchor 434 great street of dobbo in the trading-season 436 wearing the cangue 437 a native of aru 438 sea-cucumber 439 a papuan pipe 439 a bird of amboyna 440 sago club 440 preparing sago 441 sago oven 442 sugar-palm of macassar 442 climbing the mountain 443 coming down the mountain 445 "good-bye!" 446 [illustration: _map to accompany "the boy travellers of the far east"_] the boy travellers in the far east. chapter i. departure from hong-kong. "there she comes!" shouted frank bassett, as he pointed away to the eastward. doctor bronson and his nephew fred were standing close beside frank, and their eyes eagerly followed the direction of his hand. "yes, there she is!" fred responded; "what a splendid sight!" they were on the lookout platform on victoria peak, 1800 feet above the harbor of hong-kong. the city, the island, the surrounding waters, and the neighboring coast of china all lay before them like a map. they had been studying the scene, and the doctor had explained to the boys its remarkable resemblance to the view from the summit of the rock of gibraltar. [illustration: hong-kong, from kellet's island.] their geographical observations were interrupted by the announcement of the sergeant in charge of the signal-station that the pacific mail steamer _city of peking_ was just outside the harbor, and would shortly enter through the ly-ee-moon pass. hong-kong harbor has two entrances; the one to the eastward is known as the ly-ee-moon, while that to the west is called the lama passage. both are easy of navigation, and admit ships of the largest class to one of the finest harbors in the world. the great steamer ploughed steadily forward; and as she passed kellet's island, which is a fortified rock near the ly-ee-moon, she turned gracefully, and headed straight for her anchorage. our friends watched her till she came to her resting-place, and her engines had ceased working; then they said good-bye to the signal-station, and proceeded to the sedan-chairs which were waiting for them. the chair-coolies had also seen the steamer, and, as they were anxious to reach the city before the passengers could come ashore, they made the best possible time on their way down the mountain. they ran rather than walked, and two or three times the boys narrowly escaped a fall in the sudden bends of the zigzag road. the adventures of doctor bronson, frank bassett, and fred bronson, and their reasons for being in hong-kong, have been narrated in a previous volume.[1] [1] "the boy travellers in the far east. adventures of two youths in a journey to japan and china." by thomas w. knox. published by harper & brothers, new york, 1880. they expected the _city of peking_ to bring letters that would determine their future movements. is it any wonder they were in a hurry to have her mails landed, and the precious letters delivered? their letters were addressed in care of the banking-house on which their credits were drawn, and very naturally the boys were eager to go at once to that establishment. the doctor suggested that it would be quite time enough to go there after lunch; and, as the appetites of the trio had been sharpened by the excursion up the mountain, the proposal met no opposition whatever. the meal was served in the dining-room of the hotel, and as soon as it was ended the party walked leisurely to the banking-house. in a little while their letters were handed to them, and greatly rejoiced were the boys at the arrival of these precious missives from home. the return to the hotel was a rapid one on the part of the youths, who left the good doctor far behind, in their eagerness to be once more in their rooms, where they could be safe from interruption while they read the messages from their friends. the letters were full of good news. [illustration: mary and effie reading frank's letter.] the parents of both the boys expressed their delight at the good use which frank and fred had made of their time, and the interesting accounts they had given of their experiences in japan and china, and their voyage over the pacific ocean. mary and miss effie had received the presents which frank bought for them in japan, and mary confessed in her letter that since the arrival of the precious box they had thought and talked of nothing else. they had dressed themselves in japanese garments, and miss effie was sure that, if their eyes were properly sloped at the corners, they could readily pass for residents of tokio or kioto. the doctor reached the hotel while they were in the midst of their reading. his package of letters was quite as large as that of either of the boys, and among them there was a very portly letter, which had required a liberal amount of stamps to pay for its transportation. this he opened first, and, after perusing it carefully, he smiled, and laid it aside. evidently the contents were pleasing. frank and fred were through with their letters about the same time, and as soon as they were at liberty they began comparing notes. both were a good deal disappointed, as they had received no indication of their future course. would they go directly back across the pacific ocean, or would they proceed on a journey around the world? perhaps the doctor could tell them; but just then he was occupied, and they did not wish to disturb him. there was a rap at the door, followed by the entrance of a servant bringing a letter, which had been overlooked at the banker's. it was for mr. frank bassett; and that young gentleman was not long in breaking the seal and possessing himself of its contents. his air of melancholy changed to one of delight. he threw his arms around fred, and made a start in the direction of the doctor, as if intending to favor him with an embrace, but speedily checked himself, and confined his demonstrations to a quiet leap over a chair that stood in the middle of the room; then he held out the letter for fred to read. fred's delight at the intelligence conveyed in the document was quite equal to frank's. the question was settled; they were to continue on their journey around the world. the necessary letters of credit would be sent in care of doctor bronson, and should be in the mail brought by the _city of peking_. frank saw the large letter on the table in front of the doctor, and at once divined that it was the important missive containing papers similar to the one with which he was provided before he left home. there was yet a goodly amount remaining on his letter of credit, but not enough to carry him to america by way of europe. fred was in a similar predicament, and therefore a permission to go forward would be of no great use if unaccompanied by the necessary cash or its equivalent. doctor bronson relieved their doubt by handing them the letters of credit which had come in the bulky parcel in question. they were considered too valuable to be intrusted to the ordinary mail, and therefore they had been "registered." and from their experience with the post-office in china and other eastern countries, our three friends were unanimously of the opinion that all valuable letters going there should be sent by registered post. the japanese postal service was the most perfect one they found in their travels, and the doctor declared that some of our officials at home might learn what would be to their advantage if they would visit the post-office at yokohama and see how admirably it was conducted. "well, boys," said dr. bronson, "it's all settled." the boys had a moment of standing on tiptoe in their exuberant delight, and then frank asked, "where are we to go, doctor, and when are we to start?" "that is what we must determine now," was the reply. "we have several routes open to us, and each has its advantages." "i think," answered frank, "that we could not do better than leave the selection of the route to doctor bronson. he has proved such an excellent guide and friend thus far, that we have the most implicit confidence in his judgment, and are quite willing to adopt his suggestions without question." this was said as if frank had been addressing himself to his cousin rather than the doctor. fred instantly accepted the proposal, and it was promptly agreed that the whole matter should be left in doctor bronson's hands to arrange. the latter thanked the youths for the expression of their confidence in him, and then proceeded to designate on the map the routes leading westward from hong-kong. "the regular mail steamers," said he, "go from here to singapore, which you see is down close to the equator, and at the entrance of the straits of malacca. the english steamers go directly there without stopping; but the french ones touch at saigon, in cochin china, which is a colony of the french government." "i have thought out a plan," he continued, "while we have been waiting, and what i propose is this: "we will go from here to saigon by one of the french ships, and then make a stay in cochin china long enough to see what we wish of the country. then we can find a trading-ship of some kind to take us to siam, and once there, we shall have no trouble in getting to singapore, as there is a regular line between that city and bangkok, the capital of siam. there is much to be seen in siam, as well as in cochin china; and i think this route will be far preferable to the direct one by the mail steamers, though it will not be so comfortable. we must be prepared to "rough it" a little both on shore and at sea, but our privations will be more than compensated by the abundance of interesting sights on the way." the boys agreed at once to the proposal, and the conversation came to an end. the doctor went to arrange for the proposed journey, and the youths brought out their writing materials, and devoted the rest of the afternoon to the preparation of letters in answer to those they had just received. [illustration: arrival of the french mail steamer.] the french steamer arrived from shanghai in the evening, and her great hull loomed majestically in the light of the full-moon as she came to anchor. it is a condition of the contracts for the transportation of the mails, that a steamer is not to lie more than twenty-four hours at any of the stopping-places along the route unless detained by unforeseen accidents. consequently, when one of these ships arrives, it is pretty certain that her departure will occur within the time above specified; and it was shortly announced that the ship in question would leave at noon the next day. the mail service between europe and the far east is performed almost as regularly as that across the atlantic, and the arrivals at the various points can be guessed with tolerable accuracy. the english and french steamers perform each a fortnightly service both ways, and, as they run alternately, the residents of china and japan have weekly mail-days for sending and receiving their letters. doctor bronson engaged passage for the party by the french steamer as far as saigon, and then went to the office of the "yuen fat hong" to ascertain if there was a vessel for bangkok by way of cochin china. in the last few years the chinese merchants have gone somewhat extensively into the business of running steamships. there is a company with a capital of two million dollars that owns several lines of steamers along the coast and on the great river of china, the yang-tse-kiang, and its officers and stockholders are all of them chinese. there are several smaller companies, and there are chinese commission-houses that act as agents for english and other steamers in the eastern trade. the yuen fat hong was one of these commission-houses, and it managed the business of a line of english ships running between hong-kong and bangkok, with an occasional call at saigon. [illustration: private parlor of the "yuen fat hong."] doctor bronson found the office without any difficulty, and was shown into a neatly-arranged parlor, where four well-dressed chinese were sitting. three of them were holding fans in their hands, while the fourth was indulging in the luxury of a pipe. plants in pots stood near the walls, and there was a table in the centre of the room, where the oldest and most serious of the oriental gentlemen was seated. evidently it was a time of relief from labor, and so there was no delay in attending to the inquiries of the doctor. the information he obtained was entirely satisfactory. the house was to send a ship in a week or ten days to bangkok by way of saigon; it would stop two or three days in the latter port, and if the party would be satisfied with the limited accommodations, they could secure passage from there to siam. it was secured at once, and then the doctor returned to the hotel. [illustration: a chinese boatwoman.] the next morning the boys were up early; and long before the hour fixed for their departure from the hotel they had all their baggage in readiness. the trunks and valises were delivered to the porters and carried to the landing-place, whence they were to be transported in a small boat to the great steamer that lay smoking in the harbor. the boat that the party engaged was a reminder of canton, as it was occupied by an entire family; two or three children were quietly seated in a sort of box at the stern, and the crew consisted of two women and a man. one of the women was evidently captain; at least frank thought so, when he observed her air of authority in giving directions for the movement of the boat. the harbor service of hong-kong is nearly all performed by chinese from the famous boat-population of canton; they are not forbidden to live on shore as they are at canton, but from long habit, and also from motives of economy, they continue to make their homes on the boats. while on the way to the ship, fred made a sketch of the younger of the two women, and declared his intention was rather light in complexion for an inhabitant of southern china; her hair was covered by a thick kerchief, tied in a knot under her chin, and her jacket or blouse was buttoned in front, and hung loosely down like a silk wrapper. as soon as she discovered that she was the subject of a sketch she put on her sweetest smile, and was evidently proud of the honor that fred was showing her. less than an hour after they reached the ship they were under way for saigon. our friends spent the afternoon on deck, where they had plenty of occupation watching the irregular line of the coast, and observing the play of light and shade on the water. there were but few passengers, so that they had an abundance of room; the weather was delightful, and both frank and fred declared that none of their travel by sea up to that time had been more agreeable. they abandoned all ideas of being sea-sick; and when the bell called them to dinner they were promptly in their places at table. suddenly fred turned to his cousin and asked if he was aware that china was the worst country in the world for wheeled vehicles. frank said he knew the celestial empire was very badly off for means of locomotion, but he was not certain that it was the most unfortunate in this respect. "it is a great country," said fred, "and has an enormous population: we are going to saigon, which is the capital of cochin china." "well," replied frank, "what has that to do with the matter of wheeled vehicles?" "don't you see?" responded fred, "there is only one coach in china!" "that is a very good conundrum," remarked the doctor, who had been listening to the dialogue between the boys; "but it is as old as it is good. i heard it when i first came to china, years ago." fred confessed that he found the conundrum in question in a book on china which he had picked up in hong-kong, and thereupon it was agreed that no more jokes should be made until they were again on shore. at an early hour the boys retired to their rooms, and it did not require a long time for them to fall asleep. fred made no report of any unusual occurrence during his sleeping hours, but it was otherwise with frank. in the morning he intimated that the letters from home had set him to dreaming, and that all his relatives and friends had congratulated him on his pleasant and prosperous journey. fred asked if any one had been more profuse in congratulations than any one else, and the young dreamer admitted that such was the case. he mentioned no names, but the doctor and fred had no difficulty in determining who that one was. [illustration: frank's dream.] chapter ii. voyage to saigon.--arrival in cochin china. the voyage from hong-kong to saigon was neither long nor unpleasant. the weather was fine, and the wind favored the progress of the steamer. the doctor explained that the north-east monsoon was blowing at that season of the year, and it was to be relied on with such certainty that the steamship companies arranged their time-tables with reference to it. the boys had heard something about the monsoons before this, and fred determined that he would study the subject sufficiently to have a clear understanding of it. so he questioned the doctor, and examined all the books he could find that had anything to say about the monsoons, and when he thought his information was complete he proceeded to put it on paper. [illustration: hurricane during the change of the monsoon.] here is fred's essay on the winds of the eastern seas: "the word 'monsoon' comes from the arabic _musim_, which means 'season,' and the winds are so called because they blow in alternate seasons, first in one direction and then in the other. on the coast of china the wind is from the south-west from april to october, and is then called the south-west monsoon; for the other half of the year it blows from the north-east, and is then called the north-east monsoon. there is generally a period of about two weeks when the winds are irregular at each change from one monsoon to the other, and at this time the ship-masters are very fearful of severe storms, with heavy rain and much thunder and lightning. [illustration: a favoring monsoon.] "the monsoon winds are known all over the eastern seas, from the coast of china to the shores of arabia. their periods of blowing are so well understood that the steamship captains know exactly when they may be expected, and their voyages are arranged accordingly. on the printed time-tables of all the steamship companies you will find 'monsoon allowances;' and on the coast of india there are certain ports where the ships cannot touch at all when the monsoon is unfavorable. the peninsular and oriental steam navigation company allows four days for its ships between suez and shanghai when the monsoon is against them, and one day on the voyage between hong-kong and yokohama. the french mail steamers have the same allowances. in august, when the south-west wind is blowing, a steamer goes from hong-kong to yokohama in seven days; but in april, when the wind is the other way, she is allowed eight days for the voyage. "the monsoons are caused just like all other winds--by the heated air rising and cold air rushing in to fill its place. in summer, when the sun is over asia and the ground becomes heated to a high degree, the air rises, and the cooler air from the south comes to fill up the space. this makes the south-west monsoon; and when the seasons change, and it becomes summer in the southern hemisphere and winter in the northern, then the air goes the other way, and the wind blows from the north-east. this is the north-east monsoon. [illustration: running before the trade-wind.] "the monsoons should not be mistaken for the trade-winds which blow in the atlantic and pacific oceans, and also in the southern part of the indian ocean. the monsoons change every half year, as i have explained, but the trade-winds blow regularly all the year round in the same direction. they are caused by the warm air rising from the vicinity of the equator, owing to the great heat, and the cool air rushing in from the south and from the north. the trade-winds have been so named because they have been of great assistance to commerce; sailing-ships can calculate their voyages with great accuracy by means of these winds, and i have read and heard of ships in the trade-winds that sailed for twenty or thirty days without moving a rope or altering the position of a sail. they went along ten or twelve miles an hour, and the sailors had nothing to do but lie around the deck or in the forecastle, and amuse themselves in any way they liked." fred read his production to the doctor and frank as they sat on deck, the second day of the voyage from hong-kong. frank wanted a copy, but took the precaution to ask the doctor if it was all correct. the latter said it was entirely, so far as he knew, but it did not tell the whole story. thereupon frank set at work to find something additional, and in the course of an hour or so he offered the following post-script to the essay of his cousin: "in studying about the trade-winds and the monsoons, i find that they do not blow directly north or directly south, as we might suppose they would if they came in to fill up the vacancy caused by the rising of the heated air. north of the equator the trade-winds blow from the north-east, and south of it they are from the south-east. the inclination to the east is caused by the rotary motion of the earth from east to west. the earth slips from under the wind while turning on its axis, and it is really the earth that makes the slope of the wind, and not the wind itself. something like it may be seen when a boat crosses a river. the boatman may try to pull straight across, but if he does so the current carries him down, and he is unable to land opposite his starting-point. the only way he can do so is by going obliquely against the stream. "the monsoons get their direction in the same way as the trade-winds get theirs; with this difference, that the south-west monsoon starts near the equator, and not in the southern hemisphere, like the south-east trade-wind. the rotary motion of the earth is greater at the equator than it is in the northern latitudes, and so the wind gets a westerly inclination instead of an easterly one, as in the case of the trade-wind. some of the scientific men say that the north-east monsoon is not a monsoon at all, but only the north-east trade-wind taking its regular course, which has been disturbed by the more powerful wind from the south-west." "very good," remarked the doctor, when frank read what he had written. "i am a little fearful, however, that it will not be understood by everybody, and so we will drop the dry subject and think of something easier." the boys admitted that the topic was a dry one, but nevertheless it was interesting; and they thought they would not be doing their duty in their journey if they failed to comprehend the great winds that so materially help or hinder the movements of ships in asiatic waters. on their third day from hong-kong the boys heard with delight that land was visible. at first it was like a dark cloud on the horizon; but, as they approached it, the scene changed, and the cloud was resolved into a tropical shore, backed by a line of hills in the distance. the steamer headed for a little promontory, and by-and-by a light-house was revealed that marked the entrance of the river which they were to ascend. a boat came out from the mouth of the river, and a pilot boarded the steamer. he was a weather-beaten frenchman, who had lived more than twenty years in cochin china, and was thoroughly familiar with the channel of the river, or rather of its various channels. the mekong empties into the china sea, very much as the mississippi discharges into the gulf of mexico; it has several mouths, and the whole lower part of its course is divided into canals and bayous, that are very convenient for the natives in the matter of local navigation. saigon, the destination of the steamer and of our friends, is on one of these lower branches of the mekong, about thirty miles from the sea. the river is not more than five or six hundred feet wide, and the channel is very crooked. the boys were reminded of their trip up the peiho, from taku to tien-tsin, when they were on their way to peking, but they voted that the present voyage was the more agreeable of the two, inasmuch as the steamer did not follow the example of their ship on the peiho, by occasionally running her nose into the bank. their progress was steady but slow, and they had plenty of time to study the scenery of the new country they were entering. [illustration: rice-fields on the mekong.] on both banks of the river the land is quite flat, and they were told that, in times of unusual freshets, it was overflowed for long distances. for this reason, it is not very thickly populated, although the soil is rich, and could be made to produce abundantly. all along the banks there was a thick fringe of mangrove-trees, and sometimes they appeared to extend over many square miles of land. here and there were rice-fields that appeared to have the most careful cultivation; and sometimes a village, with its temple rising above the modest dwellings of the inhabitants, was revealed to the eyes of the young wanderers. the number of the villages increased; and by-and-by a larger collection of houses than they had yet seen was visible. this was the last village before saigon, and finally the city itself came into view. the steamer stopped in front of it, and hardly was her anchor down before she was surrounded by a crowd of native boats. some of them were exactly of the model of those at hong-kong and canton, and others were new to the eyes of our friends. a great many chinese have come here from canton, and brought their manners and customs with them; and they have also brought their boats, or caused the construction of some exactly similar to those they left behind. as soon as convenient the doctor engaged a boat for the party, and the three travellers went on shore. there are several hotels at saigon not far from the landing-place, and it was not long before the strangers were comfortably quartered--at least comfortably for cochin china. after their experiences at peking and other places, they were not inclined to be fastidious about their lodgings. [illustration: a native woman.] as soon as they had arranged matters at the hotel, the party went out for a stroll. they found saigon was well laid out, with broad streets that ran straight as sunbeams for long distances. most of them were macadamized, and shaded with double rows of trees, and they had deep gutters to carry off the heavy rains that fall in this latitude. the boys were greatly interested in observing the hats worn by the natives; those of the men were conical in shape, and came down over the shoulders like an extinguisher over a candle. the women wore hats that resembled baskets, about six inches deep by not less than two feet across. the hats for both men and women are made of leaves, closely plaited together, and serve to keep off the rain as well as the sun. the hat of the man is particularly useful as an umbrella, as the wearer need only bring it down over his head to make his shelter very nearly complete. when walking on the road, he must keep it well tilted up in front in order to enable him to see his way. as they walked along, the doctor explained that the most of the people they met were not the original inhabitants of the country. saigon was a small fishing-village in 1861, when it was captured by the french and occupied as a military post. the captors determined to make it a city of consequence, and the french government has expended a great deal of money in this endeavor. they have constructed roads and streets on the same scale that the english have adopted at shanghai, and they have built dock-yards where ships can be repaired. they have maintained a large garrison of soldiers, and several times have been called on to suppress insurrections that cost a great deal of money and blood. "now," said the doctor, "when the french established themselves here, they opened the port for anybody to come and live in saigon, as they wanted to build up its trade as fast as possible. a great many chinese came here from canton and singapore, and the result was that the place grew very rapidly. the chinese came much faster than the emigrants from france and other european countries, and also faster than the natives of cochin china from other parts of the conquered provinces. consequently, here is a french city with a foreign population greater than the native one, and greater than that from france itself. "nearly all the business of saigon is in the hands of the chinese," the doctor continued, "and they have managed to drive out most of the foreigners who were established here. they can live so much more cheaply, and transact business for a smaller profit, that the foreigner cannot compete with them. the number of foreign houses in saigon is diminishing every year, and it looks as though the chinese would have it pretty nearly all to themselves by the end of another ten years." [illustration: street in the chinese quarter.] they found some parts of saigon so much chinese in character that they seemed to be carried back to canton or shanghai. chinese signs abounded; chinese shops were open, and the men doing business both behind and before the counters were chinese. chinese eyes were upon them, and frequently chinese peddlers approached them with articles for sale. chinese were at worship in the temples, walking, talking, trading, and pursuing their ordinary avocations, and for every foreigner the boys encountered they met a hundred inhabitants of the flowery kingdom. the roads were dry and dusty, and after a walk of a couple of hours our friends returned to the hotel. late in the afternoon they went out again to hear one of the military bands play, and to see the people on their daily promenade. the band plays at a stand on the street parallel to the river, and everybody who can come out to see and be seen is sure to be there. frank found the crowd so variegated that he suggested to fred that it was like looking through a kaleidoscope. there were frenchmen, germans, englishmen, spaniards, and portuguese among the foreigners; while the asiatics included chinese, anamese, cambodians, malays, siamese, and a variety of other nationalities the boys were unable to determine. in fact, they would not have been able to recognize all the people mentioned above if it had not been for the assistance of the doctor, who was skilled in the study of faces and the sound of languages. fred thought that the confusion of tongues was enough to give one a faint idea of what the tower of babel must have been at the time the builders suspended work. [illustration: plants in the botanical garden.] they finished their explorations of the day with a visit to the botanical garden, just as the sun was sinking in the west. the garden contains a good variety of the tropical plants peculiar to the country, and also some that the french have imported, with a view to distributing them through the province in case the cultivation should prove advantageous. there are also some wild animals carefully kept in cages, with the exception of the elephants, which have no greater restriction than being fastened with chains. the most interesting of these animals, in the eyes of the boys, were some tigers which came from the upper regions of the mekong river, and were larger than any they had ever seen in america. [illustration: a new acquaintance.] the evening was devoted to a study of the geography and history of the country they were in, and before the boys went to bed they had a pretty clear idea of cochin china and the regions that surround it. in the morning they complained of numerous visits from the mosquitoes that abound in saigon the entire year, and are as attentive as the mosquitoes of the united states or any other country. [illustration: a mosquito of saigon.] chapter iii. historical and descriptive.--first sights and scenes in anam. the boys made a division of labor in looking up information about the country. frank was to find what he could concerning its natural features and extent, while fred undertook to learn something about the french occupation, and the reasons that led to it. when they were ready, the essays were read to the doctor for his approval or rejection; and there was a brief discussion to determine who should be first to read, or rather last, as each preferred not to be the beginner. the doctor settled the question by deciding that the natural features of the country existed before the french came there, and, therefore, it was the duty of frank to open the subject. thus assured, frank produced his note-book, and read: "the countries of birmah, siam, and anam are known to geographers as 'indo-china,' for the reason that they lie between india and china, and have some of the characteristics of both. the empire of anam is the one we are now considering, and we will leave the others until we get to them in the course of our travels. it is erroneously called cochin china, from a province of that name which is included in the empire. the proper divisions of anam are cambodia, tonquin, tsiampa, and cochin china, and more than three-fourths of its boundaries are washed by the sea. it is about nine hundred miles long, and its width varies a great deal, owing to the indentations of the coast. cochin china proper is only some ninety miles long by twenty broad, and it is really the smallest of the provinces. cambodia is the largest and most populous, and the soil is said to be more productive than that of the other parts of the empire. the number of inhabitants is not known, but it is generally thought to be from twelve to fifteen millions. [illustration: native gentleman at saigon.] "the people resemble the malays and chinese, and are sometimes called the connecting link between the two. they are smaller than the chinese, but not so dark as the malays; their dress resembles the chinese, but they do not shave their heads as the latter do. they are not very ingenious, and have comparatively few manufactures; their chief employments are in agriculture, and they raise a great deal of rice, which is exported to china and other countries. they also export sugar, raw silk, cinnamon, dye-stuff, elephants' hides and bones, together with a good many gums and spices. the dye known as gamboge comes from cambodia, and the name of the country is said to be derived from this article. on the coast the people engage in fishing, and all through the country the food of the people consists of fish and rice. the natives will eat a great deal when they have the opportunity, but they are able to live on a very small allowance of food when necessity compels them. buddhism is the prevailing religion, but they are not very earnest in it; they have great respect for the dead, and resemble the chinese in their veneration for their ancestors. "the country near the coast is generally flat, but farther inland it becomes mountainous. there are tribes in the interior that are more than half savage in their character; they live mostly on wild fruits, and are widely scattered. some sleep in the trees, and some build small huts, but they rarely have permanent villages, and never get together in great numbers. sometimes the cambodians make war on these hill-tribes, and those that they capture are sold as slaves. "the principal river is the mekong, and it is one of the largest streams in south-eastern asia. it rises in china, and has a general course of about one thousand seven hundred miles to the south, and it falls into the sea by several mouths between the ninth and tenth degrees of north latitude. there are many villages and towns along its banks, and in its lower course the river is navigable for the largest ships." frank paused, and said that was all he had been able to obtain about anam, but he hoped to have more by-and-by. the doctor pronounced his essay an excellent one, as it gave a good general description of the country, and contained the information that every traveller and reader ought to have. now it was fred's turn to read. he had been uneasily twisting his note-book between his fingers, evidently dreading the ordeal of delivery; but as soon as he was through with the first line, his embarrassment vanished, and his voice was as firm as ever. "nearly a hundred years ago," said fred, "france opened relations with anam, and arranged to give the latter country certain assistance against its enemies in return for commercial and missionary privileges. it was about the time of the famous french revolution. only a small part of the promised assistance was given by france, and she was too busy with affairs at home to demand all that had been agreed upon on the part of anam. the french missionaries were protected in the exercise of their religious duties, and a small trade was carried on until about the year 1831. the old king died, and a new one went on the throne; he was opposed to the french and spanish missionaries, and endeavored to drive them out of the country. many of them were killed, and the native christians were persecuted, so that christianity threatened to disappear. "things went on in this way for twenty years. in 1851 the french determined to interfere, both for the protection of the missionaries and to demand the concessions that were promised when relations were first opened with anam. shortly before they came, an order had been issued that all missionaries should be drowned in the river, and any native who concealed, or in any way assisted a missionary, was to be cut in two. the war was a slow one, and the invaders were several times held back by fortifications that had been built by the french engineers who came here in 1795. the persecutions were partially stopped, and in 1857 the french went away. "new orders against the missionaries were then issued, and more of them were killed. in august, 1858, there was a combined french and spanish expedition against anam, which captured the chief seaport and several important places. the war was kept up till 1862, when there was a treaty of peace. this treaty compelled anam to pay five million dollars to france as compensation for the war, and to promise that every native should be free to adopt any religion that he liked. the missionaries were not to be disturbed, and the principal cities were to be open to french merchants to trade in whatever they chose to buy and sell. a french protectorate was established over the province of cochin china, and afterwards over other provinces, and--" [illustration: view of the french quarter of saigon.] "stop a moment," said the doctor; "you had better explain what a protectorate is." fred was evidently prepared for the question, as he answered promptly, "a protector is one who defends or shields from injury. in government matters a protector is a person who has the care of a kingdom during the minority or illness of the king; or it may mean a cardinal or other high official who looks after the interests of a religious body. a protectorate is a government by a protector, or it may be the authority assumed by a superior power over a weaker or a dependent one. "the case of france and anam is that the treaty provided that the french should take the management of the affairs of the conquered country, and that the governor-general they sent here should be really the highest officer in the land. the anamese can do nothing in the way of making and enforcing laws without the consent of the french; in fact, they are exactly in the condition of a colony, and the country where we now are is called the french colony of eastern asia." "quite right," said the doctor, when fred had concluded. "now we will hear what the french have done in the way of colonization." "they have followed their old policy of making no interference with the local laws, except with such as had a character of oppression or cruelty. they required the native authorities to swear to be loyal to france, and when they did so they sustained them until there were complaints that they did not manage affairs properly. in such cases they have investigated the complaints, and done what they thought right in the matter, either by removing or sustaining the official. they have lowered the taxes and established regulations regarding civil marriages, and, on the whole, their presence has been a benefit to the people of anam. in the matter of marriages they have followed the rule that they long ago adopted in algeria; a native may be married under the native laws if he likes, and can divorce his wife at a moment's notice, and without giving any reason; but if he marries her in a french court, he is under french laws, and must abide by them. a great many of the natives of the better class insist upon having their daughters married in the french courts, as they know they will be better treated than under the old system. "several times there have been insurrections against the french, and some of them have cost a great deal of money and fighting. but they have always resulted in victories for the french, and in the addition of new provinces to the territory under their control. at present they have a protectorate over more than half of the peninsula; some of the smaller provinces in the north are nominally independent, while in some portions of the country held by the french the natives do very little more for the foreign government than pay a small tax to it every year. "the population of the country under the french protectorate is said to be not far from four millions. there is an army of ten or twelve thousand men, of whom nearly if not quite half are natives. the natives are said to make good soldiers, particularly in the artillery. a great part of the garrison duty in the forts on the coast and in the interior is performed by the native troops, and they are said to get along very well with the french. in cambodia many of the soldiers are from manilla, as they are considered more warlike, and besides the king says it is cheaper to hire them from other countries than to use his own people. the army of cambodia is smaller in proportion than that of the other parts of the country, and the french allow the king to do pretty much as he likes." fred had reached the end of his chapter, and consequently came to a pause. the doctor complimented him on his excellent account of the invasion and occupation of anam, and after a little general talk on the subject, the party broke up. [illustration: native soldiers at saigon.] as they were naturally interested in the subject of native troops in the french service, frank took the first opportunity to make a sketch of a couple of them that he saw on duty. he found that they wore a blue blouse with white trousers--or, rather, that the trousers had been white at some former date--and their heads were protected from the heat of the sun by flat hats made of pith or cork, while their feet were bare. the men that he saw were armed with breech-loading rifles of french manufacture, and they carried their cartridges at the waist-belt, after the european fashion. strolling by the river-bank, the boys saw three or four light gun-boats at anchor in the stream. they learned that the government had about twenty of these boats, which were used for transporting troops wherever they were needed, and also for the purpose of protecting the natives against pirates, and to enforce the laws generally. they observed that the police were not of the same nationality as the soldiers, and found, on inquiry, that the policemen were all malays from singapore, under the supervision of french chiefs. they are said to be very efficient, and one great advantage of employing them is that they are not likely to be involved in any of the native conspiracies. by the end of their second day in saigon, it occurred to the boys that it was about time to begin a letter to friends at home. "we will write it as we did the letters from kioto and hong kong," said frank; "that is, provided you are willing." fred assented to the proposal, and so it was agreed that they would make up a single letter, in which each should describe some of the things they had seen, and they would so arrange it that nothing should be described twice. they devoted all the time they could spare from sight-seeing to the production of this letter, and here is the result: "we have been walking and riding around saigon, and have seen a great many things that are new to us. this morning we started early for a walk to cholon, about three miles away, and had a very pleasant time on the road. we met crowds of people coming to town with basketsful of fresh vegetables for the market; they were nearly all women, and their dress was much like that of the women we saw in canton, except that they had great hats like circular trays. part of the way the road follows the bank of a ditch, which the french call 'the grand canal;' but there is not much grandeur about it, as it is half-choked with weeds, and when the tide is out there is not water enough to float a boat of any size. there has been no rain for weeks, and the dust was so thick that sometimes we could hardly see across the road, and were in danger of being run over. [illustration: the king of the beggars.] "near the door of a house, in the edge of the city, we saw three beggars standing, while a man with his finger raised was talking to them. doctor bronson says the man who talked was their chief; and he was telling them what to do and where to go for the day. begging is a regular business in china, and the beggars have their associations, like other trades. "we met a long line of carts just after we got outside the city; each cart was drawn by a pair of bullocks, and they had ropes through their noses, just as we put them through the noses of bulls at home. the foremost pair was led by a boy, and all the other bullocks were fastened to the carts immediately in front of them. how they get on without pulling some of their noses out, when a cart in the middle of the line breaks down, we cannot imagine. perhaps the cord gives way before the nose does. "there were lots of half-wild dogs that seemed to belong to nobody; they barked at us, and some of them threatened to bite; but we showed tight, and they concluded to leave us. these brutes are known as 'pariah' dogs all through the east: 'pariah,' as applied to a man, means an outcast; and a pariah dog is a dog that has no master and no home. they are not so abundant here as at constantinople or damascus, but doctor bronson says there are quite enough of them to go around, and they go around all night and all day. "such a noise as the cart-wheels made you never heard in all your lives. grease must be scarce in cochin china, or the people must be fond of music; at all events, they do not try to stop the squeaking, and a native will go to sleep in one of these carts when it is moving along the road, just as calmly as he would in a pullman car. doctor bronson says that these carts are loaded with gamboge and other dye-stuffs, and also with hides and horns of cattle, and perhaps with the tusks of elephants that have been killed for the sake of their ivory. "about half-way along the road, we came to what the french call '_la plaine des tombeaux_,' which is nothing more nor less than an enormous cemetery. it is said to cover several square miles of ground; whether it does so or not we cannot say, but certainly it is very large, and, as the doctor remarked, very densely inhabited. there is nothing very remarkable about the tombs, as they are nothing but square enclosures, with little spires like those of the temples. in one part of the cemetery some priests were at work laying out a place for a grave; doctor bronson says that they perform a lot of ceremonies to determine where a grave shall be made, and are very particular to bring it under good influences, and shield it from bad ones. the same superstitions that prevail in china are to be found here; and even the most intelligent of the native or chinese merchants in saigon would not think of undertaking any important enterprise without first consulting the gods, and ascertaining that the 'fung shuey' was in their favor. "it was an odd sight to see the telegraph-poles along the road, and skirting the edge of this ancient cemetery. it was bringing the past and the present close together, and from all we can see the present is having the best of it. [illustration: view of cholon.] "well, we reached cholon after a leisurely walk, and went down to the bank of the river, where great numbers of boats were moored. there were hundreds, and perhaps thousands of these boats, and at the place where they are moored they are tied very close together. they are rather long and narrow, and the best of them have a roof over the centre to protect the occupants from the sun and rain. some of them are hewn out of single logs, and others are built of planks, as in other countries. many are permanently fastened to the bank and are occupied as houses, like some of the boats in canton; and altogether there is a pretty large water population. near the water's edge there are huts built on platforms, and so arranged that the refuse of the kitchen falls into the river. the owner is under no expense for drainage, and the whole cost of his building does not exceed five dollars. living is cheap in cholon, if you are willing to occupy a grass-roofed hut, six feet square, on the bank of the river, and eat nothing more costly than boiled rice and fish. we saw two or three huts of the kind we describe, occupied by half a dozen persons each. they must have found the quarters rather close at times, but probably did not mind a trifle like that. a single plank served as the roadway to the shore, and in some instances it was so shaky that it required a steady head and careful stepping to avoid being thrown into the water. [illustration: a chinese family at cholon.] "more than half the people we saw were chinese, and not the natives of the country, and nearly all the business in the shops appeared to be done by the former. we peeped into some of the houses where the chinese live, and they did not seem to care how much we looked at them. we saw one group that was quite interesting, in spite of the poverty of the habitation and the scarcity of furniture; there were five persons in all, or perhaps we should say eight, as there were three cats under the table that acted as though they were as good as anybody else. two men and two children were at a table, and a woman was standing up behind them to see that everything was all right. on the table there was a small tub that contained stewed fish and some kind of vegetables, and there was a bowl for each one to eat from. they were better off than some other parties we saw at breakfast, who had only one bowl for the whole lot, and everybody helped himself with his chop-sticks. [illustration: a cab for two.] "we saw something that reminded us of shanghai; it was nothing more nor less than a wheelbarrow, but, unlike the shanghai one, it had no passengers. wouldn't it be funny to see a wheelbarrow in america for carrying passengers, just as we have cabs and coaches? you must come to china for a sight like that, and also for a regular ride in a wheelbarrow, and you can have the consolation of knowing that it is very cheap and also very uncomfortable. the wheelbarrow has no springs, and so you get the benefit of every jolt, however small; and as the vehicle is somewhat weak in the joints, and the man who pushes it is far from powerful, you feel all the time as though you were liable to be spilled out. the wheel is large and clumsy, and the frame has a sort of rest in the centre, where you can put your arms. two men can occupy one of these coaches, and they are very popular among the natives, but less so among the foreigners. "on our way back we wandered off into the forest of tropical plants that stood on each side of the road in many places, and suddenly came on a little village which was entirely concealed until we were within twenty yards of it. the natives like to hide their residences as much as they can, on account of the shade they get from the surrounding trees, and also to be undisturbed by too many visitors. the dogs barked at us, and if it had not been for some of the natives that called them off it is quite possible we should have been bitten. there were half a dozen children lying around in the dust, and as they were entirely naked, they did not seem to be afraid of soiling their clothes. the men and women were not heavily clothed, as the weather is hot, and they want to be as comfortable as possible. in one house a man was lying on a bench just inside the wide door-way, and a little girl was fanning him; the doctor says the girl was undoubtedly a slave, and that she cost her owner not far from thirty dollars. "children are bought and sold here the same as in china, and a good many of the foreigners are said to own slaves while they live in the country, but they do not try to carry them away. slaves prefer foreign masters to native ones, as they are more likely to be kindly treated, and to receive their freedom in a few years. "some of the houses in the village were well built, and raised a yard or so from the ground upon pillars of brick. the interior consists of three or four rooms, and the general appearance of the house is like a chinese one. there is an ornamental framework carved in wood to support the roof, which is covered with thick tiles, and there is generally a veranda on each side of the door, where the master sleeps in the afternoon and lounges away a great deal of his time. we should call the people lazy if they were in america; but it is the custom of the country to be indolent, and perhaps they are not to blame. very little will support a man, as he can gather fruit from the trees, and an acre of ground is all that he needs for maintaining a large family. the heat that prevails all the year round does not encourage activity, and a good many foreigners, who are very enterprising when they first come here, become as idle as the natives by the end of their second year in the country." chapter iv. a wonderful temple.--ruins of nagkon wat and angkor. what with sight-seeing, writing letters to friends at home, and filling their note-books with information for future use, the boys had enough to occupy their time during their stay in saigon. in the course of their studies of the country and its characteristics, they became interested in its ancient history, and were desirous of seeing some of the ruins that remain from the early days of anam and cambodia. but as the time at their disposal was too short, and the expense and difficulties of a journey to the interior would be very great, they were obliged to forego the pleasure they would derive from an actual visit to some of the most stupendous ruins in the world. [illustration: cambodian female head-dress. ancient sculpture.] but the doctor came to their relief in a great measure by giving them a full account of the wonders they were unable to contemplate. "it is not generally known," said he, "that cambodia contains the ruins of a temple that was greater in its time than the very famous one of thebes in egypt." frank and fred opened their eyes in astonishment, as they had always believed there was nothing in the world that could surpass the egyptian temples of old. "i will describe them to you," he continued, "and make comparison between the work of the egyptian builders and those of cambodia. when i have finished, you will be able to judge which is the more magnificent. "the great temple i refer to in cambodia is known as the nagkon wat. wat, in the malay language, means temple, and the place in question is designated by the name 'nagkon.' the province where it is situated is really in the territory of siam--as it was taken from cambodia near the end of the last century and annexed to the rival kingdom. if you want to find the ruins on the map, you must look in about latitude 13° 30' north, and longitude 104° east. it is not known who built the temple, as the inscriptions on the stones are in a language that is not understood at the present day. the general belief is that it was erected twelve or fifteen hundred years ago, but the estimates of its age vary all the way from five hundred to two thousand years. "it is far more modern than the temples of ancient egypt, and probably not nearly as ancient as some of the famous edifices of syria. in course of time some one will be able to read the inscriptions, and then we will learn all about its age and the reasons for its erection." [illustration: fig. 1. plan of inner temple at nagkon. fig. 2. plan of area enclosed by outer wall of nagkon wat.] "here is a map of the ruins as they exist to-day," said the doctor. "you perceive that the general shape of the work is a square, and that there are altogether three squares, the smaller inside the greater." the boys looked at the map, and indicated that they observed the outline of the temple. "well," continued doctor bronson, "the outer wall, which is not shown in the plan, is more than half a mile square; if you should undertake to walk around it you would have a promenade of nearly three miles. "outside the wall there is a wide ditch that was evidently of considerable depth when first made, but it is filled in many places with weeds and trees, and there is a forest of palm-trees between the outer wall and the body of the temple. "the main entrance is by a causeway, which you see extending upward from the foot of the map. the whole length of this causeway, from its beginning beyond the outer wall to the entrance of the temple, is nearly two thousand feet, and more than half this distance is within the wall. the building itself, as you see it on the map, is oblong in shape, being eight hundred feet long by five hundred and ninety wide; it rises in three terraces to a central tower two hundred and fifty feet high, and there are four other towers at the corners of the inner temple that are each one hundred and fifty feet from the ground. [illustration: unfinished pillars.] "the causeway was paved with blocks of sandstone, and the edifice throughout is of the same material. all the stone for the work was brought from a quarry thirty miles away, and the transportation alone was an enormous affair. the blocks were brought in a rough state, and were not finished until they had been put in the positions where they were to remain. the temple was never completely finished, as there are several columns that remain just as they came from the quarry, and a careful observer can indicate the exact spot where the workman turned away from his labor. it is supposed that the stone was brought on boats in a canal, as there is no road that could have served for purposes of transit. [illustration: columns in the temple.] "it is impossible to describe in detail all the halls, and corridors, and sculptured walls of this wonderful temple. there are several halls composed of rows of solid columns, like the great hall of the temple at thebes. i remember standing astonished at thebes as i looked at the great hall, with its one hundred and thirty-four columns, and learned that, originally, the temple contained nearly three hundred columns of different sizes. in the cambodian temple of nagkon wat, one thousand five hundred and thirty two solid columns have been counted; and it is estimated that there are not less than six thousand columns in the entire mass of ruins in and around the temple. most of these columns are made from single blocks of stone, and all of them are beautifully carved, just as the egyptian ones are beautifully painted. [illustration: sculptures on the walls of wagkon wat.] "it would not be at all difficult for a stranger to lose his way in nagkon wat, and wander for hours, unable to find an exit. he might spend days and days in the study of the beautiful sculptures that adorn the place; and when i tell you that the walls are covered with sculptures from one end of the temple to the other, and you remember the enormous size of the building, you can understand what a gigantic picture-gallery it is. the scenes represented are mostly from the hindoo mythology; they illustrate battles and triumphal processions, sacrifices and festivals, and also the contests of some of the hindoo deities with each other, and with mortals. there is one gallery alone that has half a mile of pictures cut in stone, and it is estimated that at least one hundred thousand human figures are engraved there. here is a picture of some of them, and you may judge by it of the general excellence of the work throughout." the boys devoted several minutes to the contemplation of the photograph which the doctor showed them. frank remarked that the lightness of the wheels of the chariot would seem to indicate that it was made of metal, and consequently the ancient cambodians must have been familiar with the use of iron or brass, perhaps both. the soldiers at the bottom of the picture were marching in a manner that denoted military discipline, but he could not make out the nature of their weapons. certainly they were not rifles, as fire-arms were unknown in those days, and they did not seem to be spears or bows and arrows. the men were provided with shields, and in this respect their customs resembled those of many people of the present day. the doctor explained that the ancient cambodians made use of spears; but the principal weapons they employed were clubs, not altogether unlike those of the south sea islanders. sometimes the club was made straight, and at others it was curved at the end farthest from the hand of its owner. it was wielded with the right hand, and the shield was carried in the left. fred called attention to the fact that there was an elephant in the picture, and the man on his back was in the act of discharging an arrow from a bow. therefore they must have employed bowmen, and evidently they were an important part of the service, as they were mounted on elephants. "you are quite right in your conclusions," doctor bronson responded; "the bowmen were considered of the highest importance, and their arrows often did great execution. the elephant had a prominent place in all the armies of the east, as you know from history, and the cambodians were no exception to the rule. no eastern king would consider his retinue complete without a large number of war-elephants in his stables." "there is a tradition," he continued, "that the king of ancient cambodia had an army of half a million of men, with a hundred thousand elephants, which he could lead to war at a few days' notice. this is undoubtedly an exaggeration; but he probably had a good supply of these very useful animals, and his army presented a fine appearance when it was called to the field." frank observed that the men did not wear armor, and, in fact, had very little clothing anyway. he wondered that this was the case, as the king was evidently very rich and powerful, and ought to have had his army equipped and dressed in the best possible style. fred replied that armor, in a hot country like cambodia, would be a very inconvenient thing for a soldier, and render him practically useless. frank had not thought of that, and as soon as his attention was called to it he quite agreed with fred. "a gentleman who visited the temple of nagkon wat," the doctor remarked, "has given a very good account of the general character of the sculptures on the walls. i refer to mr. thomson, and cannot do better than quote a few lines from him. [illustration: view from the central tower of the temple.] "the bass-reliefs," says mr. thomson, "which are sculptured on the walls of the galleries of nagkon wat are extremely interesting. they are contained in eight compartments, measuring each from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet in length, with a height of six and a half feet, and in a square space of six and a half feet the average number of men and animals depicted is sixty. the majority of these representations are executed with such care and skill, and are so well drawn, as to indicate that art was fostered, and reached a high state of perfection among the 'khamen-te-buran,' or ancient cambodians. "the chief subjects represented are battle scenes, taken from the epic poems, ramayana and mahabarata--which the siamese are said to have received from india about the fourth or fifth century. disciplined forces are depicted marching to the field, and possessing distinct characteristics soon lost in the confusion of battle. in the eager faces and attitudes of the warriors, as they press forward past bands of musicians, we see that music then, as now, had its spirit-stirring influence. we also find humane actions represented--a group bending over a wounded comrade to extract an arrow, or remove him from the field. there are also the most animated scenes of bravery--soldiers saving the lives of their chiefs; chiefs bending over their plunging steeds, and measuring their prowess in single combat; and, finally, the victorious army quitting the field laden with spoil, and guarding the numerous captives with cavalry in front and rear. "perhaps the most wonderful subject of all the bass reliefs is what the siamese call the battle of 'ramakean.' this is one of the leading incidents of the ramayama, of which coleman says, 'the grecians had their homer, to render imperishable the fame acquired by their glorious combats in the trojan war; the latins had virgil, to sing the prowess of æneas; and the hindoos have their valmac, to immortalize the deeds of rama and his army of monkeys.' the ramayama--one of the finest poems extant--describes the scenes of rama's life, and the exploits of the contending foes. [illustration: gallery of sculptures.] "in the sculptures of nagkon wat, many of the incidents of the life of rama are depicted; such as his final triumph over the god ravana, and the recovery of his wife sita. the chief illustration of the poem, however, is the battle scene which ensues after the ape-god hanuman had performed several of the feats which formed the every-day incidents of his life, such as the construction of what is now known as adam's bridge, between ceylon and india. this he accomplished by a judicious selection of ten mountains, each measuring sixty-four miles in circumference; and being short of arms, but never of expedients, when conveying them to ceylon, he poised one of them on the tip of his tail, another on his head, and with these formed his celebrated bridge, over which his army of apes passed to lanka. "in another compartment the subject appears to be the second avatar of vishnu, where that god is represented as a tortoise supporting the earth, which is submerged in the waters. the four-armed brama is seated above. a seven-headed snake is shown above the water, coiled around the earth, and extending over the entire length of the bass-relief. the gods on the right and the _dinytas_ on the left are seen contending for the serpent. hanuman is pulling at the tail, while above a flight of angels are bearing a cable to bind the reptile after the conflict is over. "in another compartment we find various mechanical appliances that are in use to-day. there are double-handled saws; and there are knives, levers, wedges, pestles and mortars, and a number of other contrivances that are more or less familiar to us." the boys listened with much interest to the reading of the preceding account. when the doctor concluded, frank ventured to ask if the temple was in a good state of preservation, and whether it was in use at the present time. [illustration: ancient tower overgrown with poh-trees.] "it has greatly decayed," replied doctor bronson; "but there are so many of its walls and galleries standing, that the most careless visitor cannot fail to be impressed with its grandeur, and be able to trace out every part of the original plan. in many places the weeds and grass and other vegetation are so luxuriant that the work of the architects is concealed, and can only be found by searching. there is one tree, called the 'poh,' that is a great destroyer of walls and stone floorings. the whole temple was constructed without the use of cement, and in many instances the junction of the stones is so perfect that only a slender line can be perceived. the roots of the poh-tree insinuate themselves into the smallest crevice; then they grow and expand, and by so doing they gradually force the stones apart. this tree has been of great injury to the temple we have been considering, and to many other edifices in these tropical countries of the east. [illustration: huts of the priests.] "in reply to your second question, i can say that the temple is still used, though not to the extent it was in its early days. a few priests live there, and perform services at regular periods; they are supported by the contributions of the followers of buddha, who visit the place, and by donations from the inhabitants of the country round there. they do not live in the temple itself, but in small huts erected inside the enclosure that surrounds the great building. these huts are of thatched grass, and stand on posts as a security against the snakes that abound in the neighborhood. they are shaded by the palm-trees that have grown up in what was once a clear space around the temple, and in hot afternoons their protection is very grateful." fred inquired about the other ruins in cambodia, and wished to know how extensive they were. "as to that," the doctor explained, "i cannot speak positively, and i doubt if there is any one who can. about three miles from nagkon wat there are the ruins of a city which was known as angkor, which was evidently a very important city in its day. it was the capital of cambodia, and, according to the description of a chinese official, who visited it in the year 1295, it was something remarkable. it was then in the height of its glory; but three hundred years later, when it was visited by a portuguese missionary, it was almost in ruins, and had ceased to be of any consequence. then there was another period of nearly three hundred years in which nothing was heard of or from angkor; it was not till the year 1855 that any writer seems to have gone there, and as for the cambodians themselves, they are sublimely ignorant of the history of this once great city. "in the year i last mentioned, m. mouhot, a french explorer, passed through cambodia and made a careful survey and description of the ruins. he subsequently died in the northern part of siam, and it was feared that the result of his labors would be lost, but fortunately his journal was saved and has since been published. since mouhot's time several persons have written about the ruins, so that a fair amount of knowledge concerning them is accessible. but every year new remains are discovered among the trees of the thick forest, and it is difficult to say when all of the ancient walls and statues and temples will be brought to light." at the conclusion of the doctor's remarks, a servant entered with the announcement that dinner was on the table. thereupon the mental feast on the antiquities of eastern asia was abandoned for the more practical feast on the edible productions of the country. frank thought that the dinner would receive a high compliment if it proved as enjoyable as their talk about nagkon wat and the ruins of angkor--an opinion which fred lost no time in sharing. [illustration: stone with ancient sculptures.] chapter v. cambodia.--its capital and king. having studied ancient cambodia, frank and fred were desirous of learning something of the modern country of that name. at the hotel where they were stopping they found a gentleman who had recently been at panompin, the cambodian capital, and had spent sufficient time there to be able to give a good account of it. as soon as he found that his young acquaintances were anxious to hear about cambodia, he promptly consented to enlighten them. he was at leisure one evening after dinner, and, by mutual consent, the party gathered on the veranda in front of the hotel, and an hour was pleasantly passed in conversation regarding the little-known country. [illustration: a cambodian idol.] "if you think," said the gentleman, "that panompin is a large city, as one naturally thinks of the capital of a country, you would be greatly disappointed if you went there. "its population is not more than twenty or twenty-five thousand, and is made up of several nationalities. there are siamese, chinese, anamese, and manilla men among the inhabitants, as well as the native cambodians, and there are no long streets of fine buildings, such as you would expect a capital to contain. it is situated on the banks of the mesap, a small river of cambodia that empties into the mekong: the greater part of panompin is on the right bank of the stream, but there is a small portion of it on the opposite shore, and another on an island near the junction of the mesap with the mekong. to locate it on the map, you must put your finger at about latitude 11° 30' north, and longitude 105° east, and if your map is a good one, you will find a large lake not far off. [illustration: fishing-village on lake thalysap.] "this is lake thalysap, and it is a body of water of no small importance. it is about ninety miles long, and varies from eight to twenty-five miles in width. it is very shallow except in a few places, and in the wet season the country around it is so flooded with water that the lake is then a hundred miles and more in length. there are many villages along the shores of the lake, and at all seasons of the year you can see whole fleets of boats going to and fro over the water. great quantities of fish are caught in the lake, and those not intended to be eaten in the vicinity are dried or salted for export to other parts of asia. there are also many fish caught for their oil; the villages along the lake make a considerable business by preparing this oil, and the stench is often so great that your nose will tell you the location of a village before your eyes do. "in the lower part the lake narrows steadily until it forms a river, and this river is the mesap, which i have mentioned to you; consequently you have only to follow the current to come to panompin. it has only been the capital within the last ten years; until that time the seat of government was at oodong, and the change was made on account of the supposed unhealthiness of the latter place. the real fact is that panompin is better situated for commercial and political purposes, as it is at the end of the great lake, and close by the river mekong. if you could see the two places you would understand it at once. "you can have little idea of the quantity of fish caught in the lake and river till you see them. lots of towns and villages are entirely occupied with the fish business, and some of these towns contain as many as four hundred houses, though the most of them are smaller. some of the fish are eight or ten feet long and three feet thick, and their bodies are so full of oil that one of them is a good prize to his captor. it is very funny to see a native struggling with one of these large fish; and sometimes it requires a hard fight to bring him in. i have seen a man dragged into the water and nearly drowned; and though i enjoyed the performance, i presume it was no fun at all to the man. [illustration: panompin, the capital of cambodia.] "panompin consists, for the most part, of bamboo huts, without much pretence of architecture, and the streets are so bad that though the king has several carriages he rarely rides out. the principal street is about three miles in length, and somewhat irregular in its course, as though the instruments of the surveyor who laid it out were not in the best order. there are a few stores and shops of brick, and there are some temples whose spires rise above the buildings that surround them. the palace of the king is the finest edifice in the place; it was designed by a french architect, and the construction was supervised by him, but all the actual work was performed by natives. it is like a fine dwelling-house in the neighborhood of new york or london, and the internal arrangement of the rooms is entirely european in character. the palace has some large halls for receptions, and it has dining-rooms, sleeping-rooms, and all the usual apartments that a dwelling should contain. the king lives there; and, as he rarely goes out, he determined to have a residence as comfortable as could be made. he is very proud of it; and if you should visit him he would consider it a great politeness if you admired it all you possibly could--and a little more. "not far from the king's palace is the barrack, where the french troops are quartered for the preservation of order, and to see that the king does nothing that would be against the interest of his protectors. there is generally a french gun-boat or two lying in the river opposite the barracks, and in the river farther down there are two or three small gun-boats and steamers that belong to the king, and are kept near his palace. "as the city has so much dependence on the river for its support, there is a tendency on the part of the inhabitants to crowd near the stream; consequently panompin stretches about three miles along the bank, and less than half a mile away from it. this is where you find the street i have mentioned; it is not more than thirty feet wide, and paved with a concrete mass of broken brick mixed with sand. you find a straggling line of low huts of bamboo or other light material along the whole length of this street, and in the busy hours of the day the assemblage of people is pretty dense. the chinese are great gamblers, and a goodly portion of these huts are gambling-shops, whose proprietors pay a license for the privilege of running the business. in several of these eastern countries the money received from gambling forms an important item in the public revenue; and if it should be stopped, the treasury would suffer in consequence." "what an outrageous piece of business!" said frank. "to think that a government would derive any part of its revenue from gambling!" "but remember we are in asia," fred remarked; "and we can't expect these people to be civilized." the doctor smiled at this outburst of indignation, and when it was ended he reminded the boys that several governments of europe did exactly what they thought so reprehensible when done by asiatics. "not governments of any consequence," said frank. "well," answered the doctor, "i hardly think we could say that. italy, spain, and austria are certainly of some consequence, and in all of them the lottery, which is a form of gambling, is a government institution. it is only a few years ago that the gambling-tables at baden-baden, in germany, were stopped, and there was serious talk, at the time, of allowing the gamblers that were suppressed in germany to open their business at geneva, in switzerland. "and furthermore," doctor bronson continued, "we cannot throw many stones at the chinese and other eastern people for gambling when we have so much of it in america. in all our large cities the vice exists in defiance of the law; and in some of the states, particularly in kentucky and louisiana, the lottery is a recognized institution, and the drawings are supervised by officers appointed by the governor." frank and fred both declared that this information was new to them, and hereafter they would not be too hasty to condemn other countries, lest they might find that the thing they objected to prevailed in their own. the description of panompin was resumed: "there are some manufactures in the cambodian capital," their informant continued, "but they are not numerous. the people are famous for their manufactures of silk, which is an important article of export, both in its raw and in its finished state. they are skilful workers of gold and silver, and i could show you some exquisite specimens of their production. wait a moment and i will bring one." [illustration: specimen of cambodian gold-work.] he went to his room, which was situated just off the veranda, and returned in a few moments with a small box resembling a flattened orange, or, more properly, a melon. the boys took it to the light, and examined it with care. the gold, as well as the workmanship, was cambodian; some of it was the natural color of the metal, and other parts were stained to various degrees of redness. on the top there was a cluster of leaves, and the end of the stem contained a topaz, which had been purposely left unfinished. the leaves were in fine filigree, and some of the wires were so delicate that they resembled golden hairs. the whole surface of the box was covered with flowers and leaves in the most tasteful designs; and both the boys were of opinion that the jewellers of new york would not find it easy to imitate this production of the asiatic barbarians. "the king has a fine collection of these things," the gentleman continued, "and he generally gives one of them to any stranger of importance who visits him. it is lucky for his treasury that it is not easy to go to panompin, as otherwise he might find these presents a serious expense. [illustration: the king of cambodia.] "and if you wish to know about the king, here is his photograph. you perceive that it is taken in european dress, which he wears on grand occasions, and has adopted since the french protectorate was established in cambodia. he is an amiable gentleman of pleasing manners, and makes an agreeable impression on those who come in contact with him. he has quite a collection of english and french books, maps, and albums, and is fond of showing them; and he has a fine lot of japanese and chinese vases--enough to stock a fair-sized museum. then he has european clocks, music-boxes, and the like; and he has a billiard-table, on which he plays very well. he also has a piano, but those who have heard him perform on it say that he is better at billiards than at music. "the carpets, furniture, and other adornments of his palace are mostly from europe, but he has some fine specimens of native embroidery that are fully equal to any of his foreign importations. he sleeps in a bed of european manufacture, and the netting that protects him from mosquitoes is from an english or french loom. he has travelled to hong-kong and shanghai, where he spent much time in learning all he could about the productions of the western part of the world, and, on his return, he endeavored to give his people the benefit of his knowledge. he is much liked by his people; and, on the whole, they could hardly hope for a better ruler. [illustration: queen of cambodia and royal children.] "the queen of cambodia, like most of the asiatic queens, is rarely seen in public. she has not adopted the foreign dress, but adheres to the _panoung_, a sort of loose wrapper falling a little below the knees, and gathered at the centre. here is her portrait, with two of the royal children; and you will observe that she wears heavy anklets of gold, and does not think it necessary to cover her feet with shoes. her hair is cut in the national way, and sticks up in the centre like a shoe-brush. great importance is attached to the ceremony of hair-cutting when a royal child reaches the age of seven years, and it is generally performed by the king himself in the presence of all the dignitaries of the land." "what a funny idea!" said fred, "that the king shall act as a barber, and handle the shears over the head of one of his children. i wonder if he is as skilful as a regular professional?" "as to that," was the reply, "i presume it does not make much difference. he only takes off a lock or two, and the hair-dresser of the palace does the rest. you will hear more of this curious ceremony when you get to siam, as the custom prevails there no less than in cambodia. "in panompin there is an artificial mound, which is called for politeness' sake a mountain, where the hair-cutting ceremony is performed. it stands near the palace, and is as high as the building itself. it is built partly of earth and partly of bamboo, and the sides are colored so as to represent stone, silver, and gold, the last color being near the top. a winding path leads up to a platform on the summit, and here the king stands while he goes through the solemnities of the occasion. the path goes through tunnels and arches, and occasional grottoes and valleys, and the whole structure is intended to represent a mountain in miniature. the platform is a favorite resort of the king in the evening, as the air is generally cooler there than on the ground below, and not infrequently he meets his ministers on the top of the mountain to discuss matters of public importance. "but it is getting late, and i think i have told you as much about panompin and the king of cambodia as you will be likely to remember. so i will say good-night." the boys thanked the gentleman for his kindness, and the doctor added his acknowledgments to theirs. then the party separated. frank and fred sat up till their eyelids were heavy to take down in writing a summary of what they had heard. they realized the necessity of making their notes at once, through fear that if they waited till the next day something would be forgotten. frank wrote the description of panompin and the country generally; and fred devoted himself to the royal family, the scenes in the palace, and the curious story of cutting the youthful hair. thus the labor was divided to the satisfaction of both. in the morning the doctor informed them that they were to depart that day for siam. the steamer _danube_ had arrived, and her captain had been early on shore to arrange for the delivery of what cargo was to be landed, and to receive what he should take away. he did not expect to be long in port, and they must be prepared to leave at a few hours' notice. their baggage was put in readiness, and the rest of the time on shore was devoted to the preparation of letters for america. the french mail steamer from singapore was due that day on her way to hong-kong and shanghai, and when she left she carried a goodly budget from the boys. in due time the letters were safely delivered; and for a fortnight there was little else talked of in the bassett and bronson households than the adventures of frank and fred, in cochin china. [illustration: the harbor of oodong, cambodia.] the boys made good use of their time up to the last moment. fred found a copy of the book of m. mouhot, who has been mentioned heretofore, and the last hour of his stay in saigon was devoted to writing out the description which that gentleman gives of oodong, the former capital of cambodia. the visit of m. mouhot was made in 1860, and is thus described: "on approaching the capital the prospect becomes more diversified; we passed fields of rice, cottages encircled by fruit-gardens, and country-houses belonging to the cambodian aristocracy, who come here in the evening for the sake of breathing a purer air than they can find in the city. as we drew closer to the gates, i found the place to be protected by a palisade three metres high--about ten feet. the houses are built of bamboo or planks, and the market-place occupied by the chinese is as dirty as all the others of which i have made mention. the largest street, or, rather, the only one, is about a mile in length; and in the environs reside the agriculturists, as well as the mandarins and other government officers. the entire population numbers about twelve thousand. [illustration: a girl of oodong.] "the many cambodians living in the immediate vicinity, and still more the number of chiefs who resort to oodong for business or pleasure, or are passing through it on their way from one province to another, contribute to give animation to the capital. every moment i met mandarins, either borne in litters or on foot, followed by a crowd of slaves carrying various articles; some yellow or scarlet parasols, more or less according to the rank of the person; others, boxes with betel. i also encountered horsemen mounted on pretty, spirited animals, richly caparisoned and covered with bells, ambling along, while a troop of attendants, covered with dust and sweltering with heat, ran after them. light carts, drawn by a couple of small oxen, trotting along rapidly and noiselessly, were here and there to be seen. occasionally a large elephant passed majestically by. on this side were numerous processions to the pagoda, marching to the sound of music; there, again, was a band of ecclesiastics in single file, seeking alms, draped in their yellow cloaks, and with the holy vessels on their backs." [illustration: house in the suburbs.] chapter vi. departure from saigon.--visiting a chinese junk. when the party went on board the _danube_, the boys found that they were not to have the comforts of the great steamers that had brought them from shanghai and hong-kong. the _danube_ was a small ship, and her builders did not design her for carrying passengers; she was constructed in england, and, after she arrived in china, a little cabin was built on her deck, so that a couple of passengers might have a room to share between them. the dining-saloon was about six feet long, and as many wide, and its cushioned sofas could be used as beds. consequently, she could carry four passengers with comparative comfort, and, in emergencies, another could sleep on the table when the sea was smooth, or under it in rough weather. the captain was a jolly englishman, who gave a hearty greeting to the american strangers, and before they had been ten minutes on board they felt quite at home. their heavy baggage was sent below, and there was plenty of room under the bunks in the cabin for stowing all the articles they needed on the voyage. the _danube_ moved from her anchorage and turned her prow down the river. "hurrah!" shouted frank, "now we are off for siam." fred joined his cousin in raising a cheer. "don't be in too great a hurry," said captain clanchy, "we are not off yet. we are to go along-side that chinese junk you see just at the bend of the river, and will take some cargo from her. we shall probably be two or three hours about it, and then we will be off for siam." frank's face fell at this intelligence, but only for a moment. "we shall have an opportunity of seeing a junk and going on board of it," he remarked, "and that will repay us a dozen times over for the delay." fred was equally happy at the prospect, and both the boys were impatient to be on the deck of the strange craft. [illustration: a chinese junk.] in a little while their wishes were gratified, and they were able to step from the _danube_ to the great junk. before they did so fred suggested that he had just thought why these chinese ships were called junks. "why is it?" frank asked. "because," was the reply, "you can see from the shape of them how they are built. the chinese make a ship a mile or two long, and when they want one they cut off a junk, or chunk, just as you like to spell it. then they stick masts into it, and it is ready to sail away. it is square at both ends, and resembles a chunk out of a log more than anything else." there was a laugh all around at fred's humorous description of the chinese process of shipbuilding, and by the time the joke had ceased to amuse they were ready to go over the side. captain clanchy accompanied them, and pointed out several objects of interest that otherwise might have escaped their attention. "you observe," said the captain, "that the deck of the junk is lumbered up with all sorts of stuff. how the men manage to get around is a mystery, and it is a wonder that they can keep the craft on her course with everything in such confusion." the boys were equally puzzled, and thought there must be a good many junks lost every year. the captain said such was the case; but, on the other hand, there was such a great number of these craft that a few more or less made no perceptible difference. "except to the owners and the men that are lost with the junks," remarked the doctor. "it must be a very serious affair to them." "sometimes these junks last to a great age," the captain continued. "there are junks now navigating the china seas that are more than a hundred years old; at least so i am informed." "how long have the chinese had this model for their ships?" frank asked of the captain. "nobody knows how long," was the reply. "we are ignorant of the early history of china, and can only guess at many things. but we have reason to believe that the chinese were the first people that ever built ships to be propelled by the force of the wind alone. they began with the model they now have, and have stuck to it ever since." "where is the captain of this junk?" fred asked. "i would like to see him." "she has probably half a dozen captains," clanchy replied; "perhaps a dozen." "a dozen captains! how can that be?" "they build these junks in compartments," said the doctor, in response to fred's inquiry, "and each compartment has a captain." [illustration: outline of modern ship, showing compartments.] "i thought the plan of building ships in compartments was of modern invention, and had only been applied to ocean steamers in the last thirty years. seems to me i heard so," frank remarked. "in one sense you are right," the doctor answered; "it is only about thirty years ago that the english and american ship-builders began the adoption of this principle. nearly all the great steamers now navigating the atlantic ocean are divided into compartments--generally five or six; and even should two of these spaces become filled with water from any accident, the ship will continue to float. several steamers have been saved after collision with icebergs, or with other ships, by reason of being thus constructed. had they been of the old model, they would have infallibly gone to the bottom. "but the chinese are ahead of us, as they have built their ships in this way for centuries. six hundred years ago marco polo visited the east, and on his return wrote a book about the country and people. he describes the compartment ships that the chinese built at that time, and explains their advantages. the wonder is that it took the european builders so long to copy the idea. not till well into this century was it adopted." "but how about the half-dozen captains?" fred asked. "why should a ship like this have so many, when the _great eastern_ or the _city of chester_ can get along with one?" "the way of it is," said captain clanchy, "that the junk has a lot of compartments--anyway from six to a dozen--and each compartment is let out to a merchant. he is captain of that compartment and all it contains; and if there are ten compartments, he is one-tenth captain of the whole. the crew is under a chief who gets his orders from the merchants, and they have a great deal to say as to how the junk shall sail. sometimes they want her to go to half a dozen places at once, and in as many directions, and not infrequently they get into frightful rows about it. don't understand me to say that this is always the case, or anything like it, as a good many of their junks are managed pretty much as an english ship would be. we will see how the matter stands on this one." a little inquiry revealed the fact that there were two men on board equally interested in the cargo, and with equal authority over the movements of the junk. but they were evidently working in perfect harmony, and so there was no chance that the strangers would be compelled to witness a row among the commanders. [illustration: a junk sailor at breakfast.] the boys found the deck of the junk covered with a very complex arrangement of ropes, windlasses, tubs, and baskets. some of the crew were sitting around waiting for orders, and others were at breakfast. as soon as the _danube_ was made fast along-side, they were set at work to remove the cargo from one of the compartments and transfer it to the steamer. the steamer's crew assisted in the work, and in a little while it was accomplished. during this time the great sail of matting was flapping against the mast, and the ropes were swinging as though they would become hopelessly entangled. but no accident happened; and when the _danube_ had moved away, the sails were run up and the junk began to push slowly through the water. this gave the boys an opportunity to see her general shape and mode of construction. they found that she was built of heavy planking, and that many of the planks retained the shape of the tree from which they were taken. these planks, as they were told, were fastened together by wooden tree-nails; in fact, there was very little metal about the fastenings; and, as a further security, there were a good many lashings of ropes to hold the outside timbers to the frame. the stern rose high out of water, and was cut off square, and the same was the case with the bow. the funniest thing was a pair of great staring eyes, to enable the ship to see her way, and to frighten off the demons that infest the waters and have a particular hostility to sailors. every boat and ship of chinese construction is provided with eyes, and the larger the eye the better the craft can take care of herself. [illustration: chinese river boat.] the junk in question had three masts, and there was a gay assortment of flags and streamers flying from them. the mat sails were held up by a great many ropes--there being a rope to each section where the bamboo poles ran across. there was a great advantage in this arrangement, as it enabled the sailors to shorten sail in case of an increasing wind by simply lowering it till one of the sections could be taken in. and when they wish to furl the sail altogether, they have only to let go and the whole thing comes "down with a run." the construction of the sails can be better understood by reference to the picture here presented of a boat such as the chinese use for river navigation. as the _danube_ steamed on down the river and out to sea the conversation between the boys and doctor bronson turned very naturally upon ships and their peculiarities. [illustration: ship of the fourteenth century.] "the difference between us and the chinese in the matter of ships is that we have progressed, while they have remained stationary. their junks are of the same pattern as they were a thousand years ago, while we are making changes every year. look at a picture of a european ship of the fourteenth century, and see how closely it resembles a chinese junk. both the bow and stern are very far out of water, and the arrangement of the sails is quite chinese in its character. about the year 1520 the english built a war ship which they called the _the great harry_, and it was considered a wonderful specimen of naval architecture. who would venture to sail in her now, and how long would it take a war steamer of 1880 to send her to the bottom? compare _the great harry_ with the _tennessee_, which is one of the recent american ships, and observe the progress that has been made in three centuries and a half. the bow and stern have been brought to a level, and the shape of the hull is such that the ship glides through the water instead of ploughing over it. navigators have found that the ship that makes the least 'fuss' while in motion is the best, and they have devoted a great deal of study to finding the proper shape for the least resistance." [illustration: "the great harry."] "yes," remarked captain clanchy, who was standing near, "and it took them a long time to find that the shape of the stern of a ship was almost as important as that of her bow, in regulating her speed. a square stern makes a great boiling and depression in the water, while a long tapering stern allows the water to close silently and with the least possible resistance. you can easily illustrate what i mean by taking a stick of wood that is square at both ends, and tying a string to it so as to drag it endwise in the water. you find that it moves easier when the forward end is sharpened than when both ends are blunt, and then if you sharpen both of them you find it moves still more easily. this is what the naval architects were a long time discovering, and the most of them are wondering why they did not think of it before." [illustration: the "tennessee."] "then, too," said doctor bronson, "it was found that by lengthening a ship of the old model a great deal was gained. this has been done in the last ten or fifteen years, and many of the steamers now running between new york and england have been lengthened in this way. they have not been built on at either end, but have been cut in two in the centre, and had a new section built in. a ship to be lengthened would be placed on the ways, and then cut open in the middle. if she was to be extended a hundred feet, the two ends would be drawn apart for that distance, and then the space would be filled up. she might be two hundred feet long when taken on the ways, and without any change of bow or stern her length would be increased to three hundred feet. with this addition to her tonnage she is much more valuable than before, and her original speed can be maintained with only a small addition to her power. then there have recently been great improvements in the construction of engines; and i think it safe to say that what with changes in length, engines, and some other things, a ship of a given number of tons can be run for half the expense that was required twenty years ago. steam navigation is now so economical that it is rapidly driving sailing vessels from the ocean. the number of sailing ships on long voyages is diminishing every year, and that of steamers is increasing." "what is the greatest speed that steamers can make nowadays, with all these improvements?" frank asked. "there is much dispute," doctor bronson replied, "over the performances of ships at sea, and it is not at all easy to get at the actual facts. take the great steam lines between new york and liverpool, and there are two or three of them that claim to have done better than any of their rivals. the managers of the white star line can show that their ships have made the voyage quicker than the inman steamers, and the inman managers can as readily prove that their ships have surpassed all others. there are several steamers afloat that have made more than four hundred miles in twenty-four hours, but they can only do it when all the circumstances are favorable. there are many men who believe that steamers will be built before the end of this century that will make five hundred miles in a day, and if we judge of the future by the past, i see no reason to doubt that the feat will be accomplished. we may yet come to the speed of a railway train on the water, and more than one inventor believes that he can do so. the prediction that we will yet cross the atlantic in three days is no wilder than would have been the prediction, at the beginning of this century, that we could travel on land or sea at our present rate, and that intelligence could be flashed along a wire in a few seconds of time from one end of the world to the other. the railway, the ocean steamer, the telegraph, the telephone, and many other things that seem almost commonplace to us, would have been regarded as the emanations of a crazy brain a hundred years ago." "perhaps," said fred, "the year 3000 may find us travelling in the air as freely as we now travel on land." [illustration: the public highway of the future.] "not at all impossible," the doctor answered. "we, or our descendants, may be able to go through the air at will, and show the birds that we can do as much as they can. not long ago i was reading a sketch which was supposed to be written a thousand years hence. the writer describes his travels, and gives a picture of the public highway. an omnibus supported by balloons, and drawn by a pair of them--harnessed as we would harness horses--is represented on its way through the air. the driver is on his box and the conductor at the door, while the passengers are looking out of the windows. a bird, who has doubtless become thoroughly familiar with the aërial craft, has seized the hat of a passenger and flies away with it, and the victim of the theft is vainly stretching his hands towards his property. balloons are sailing through the air, and in one a man is seated, who is evidently out for a day's sport. he has a rod and line, and is industriously occupied in birding, just as one might engage in fishing from the side of a boat. a string of birds hangs from the seat of his conveyance, and he is in the act of taking a fresh prize at the end of his line. [illustration: the bomb ferry.] "there is another picture representing the ferry of the future. it consists of an enormous mortar, from which a couple of bombs have been fired; they are connected by a chain, and each bomb is large enough to contain several persons. the passengers are supposed to be quite comfortable, and to be whizzed through the air at the speed of a cannon-shot." "but, of course, such a thing is impossible," said fred; "nobody could stand it to be shot through a tube at that rate." "but something very much like it has been proposed in all seriousness; a few years ago an inventor in new york had a scheme for a line of tube four or five feet in diameter, and extending to the principal cities of the land. his cars were to consist of hollow globes or spheres, and they were to be propelled at a very rapid rate by exhausting the air in front of them. his plan was regarded as quite visionary, but it is not at all impossible that it may yet come into use. small pneumatic tubes are in successful operation for the transmission of letters and little parcels; and in london there is a tube four feet in diameter from the general post-office to a railway station more than two miles away. the mail-bags are transported through this tube, and on several occasions men have taken their places in the carriages and enjoyed the sensation of this novel mode of travel." [illustration: moonlight at sea in the tropics.] the steamer held her tortuous way down the mekong, and at length she passed the light-house and went out to sea. the weather was delightful, though a trifle warm, and the three passengers found the cabin oppressive at times on account of the closeness of the atmosphere. a good deal of their time was passed on deck both by day and by night, and, as the moon was then at the full, the night on deck was thoroughly enjoyable. occasionally they were joined by the captain, and, as he possessed a good fund of marine stories, the boys picked up a great deal of information of a varied character. as they were bound for siam, they overhauled their trunks for all the books they possessed on that country, and happily they found several volumes in the captain's library that were of use to them. among them was the account of marco polo and his travels in the east. what our friends found in the work in question we will reserve for the next chapter. [illustration: a story of the sea.] chapter vii. the wonderful story of marco polo. [illustration: marco polo.] "what do you make out of marco polo's book?" said the doctor to the boys, after they had devoted a sufficient time to its perusal. "we find it very interesting," frank replied. "the style is quaint, and the information it contains is curious. evidently it is a true story, and the man must have actually gone over the ground he describes, or it would never be so accurate." "it is some time since i read it," responded doctor bronson, "and perhaps you had best tell me about it. by so doing you will refresh my memory, and at the same time fix the information in your own minds." thus encouraged, the boys proceeded to tell the story of marco polo to doctor bronson, just as though he had never heard it. the doctor was a patient listener, and both frank and fred showed, by the completeness of their account, that they had thoroughly read the book. "to begin with," said frank, "marco polo was a venetian adventurer. his father was named nicolo polo, and he--marco--had an uncle named maffeo. marco was born in the year 1254, and six years later his father and uncle started on a journey to constantinople and the southern part of russia. they were merchants, and their business carried them into central asia, and then to cathay, where they spent some time with the khan, or emperor, of that country." "and what is cathay?" said dr. bronson, with a smile. "cathay is the ancient name for china," fred answered, "and even to-day it is sometimes called so. do you remember how tennyson, in one of his poems, says, "'better fifty years of europe than a cycle of cathay;' "and i am sure you once told me that the russian name of china is 'kitie,' with the accent on the last syllable. that is pretty near the sound of cathay, and undoubtedly came from it." "quite correct," the doctor responded; "you have a good memory both for facts and poetry." "kublai-khan, the emperor of cathay," frank continued, "had never before seen a gentleman from europe. he was delighted with the venetians, and greatly interested in the stories they told him about europe and its countries and customs. how long they remained there we do not know, but it is certain that the emperor, kublai-khan, determined to send them as ambassadors to the pope, who was then the greatest monarch of europe. accordingly, he wrote letters to the pope asking him to send a large number of educated missionaries to cathay to convert the people to christianity. these he intrusted to the two polos, and sent with them an officer of his own court. [illustration: the great khan delivering a tablet to the elder polo brothers. (from a miniature of the fourteenth century.)] "before they started on their mission he gave them a golden tablet, upon which there was inscribed an order for them to receive everything they might desire for their comfort and convenience in the countries through which they might pass; and his last order to them was 'to bring back to him some oil of the lamp which burns on the sepulchre of our lord at jerusalem.' on the road the tartar prince who accompanied them fell sick, and they were obliged to leave him behind. if the truth were known, it is quite probable he did not wish to make the journey, and was glad of an excuse for avoiding it. [illustration: arms of the polo family.] "in 1269 the brothel's arrived at acre, in palestine, and found that the pope, clement iv., had died the year before, and no new one had been chosen. so they went to venice to see how matters stood in that city, and to get some news of their families. nicolo found that his wife had died during his absence, and his son marco was a fine youth of fifteen years. "they waited at venice for two years; but the college of cardinals could not agree on a new pope, and consequently the church was without any head to whom they could deliver their letters. fearing that the great khan would be displeased at their long absence, and believe them faithless to their trust, they determined to return to him and explain the state of affairs. accordingly, they started in 1271, taking young marco with them, and in due time were once more at acre. before they left the coast for the interior, they learned that a new pope had been chosen. the man on whom the choice fell was then in syria, and so they were able to carry out the khan's commission, and get a reply. but he was only able to give them two priests to accompany them to cathay, and these soon found a reason for declining to go to the strange land. so the three polos set out alone for the dominions of the great khan. [illustration: nicolo polo, father of marco.] "with the letters, presents from the pope to the khan, and the holy oil from jerusalem, they took the route by sivas, mosul, and bagdad to hormuz, where they turned north and went through bokhara, persia, and by way of kashgar, yarkand, and khoten. then they went to the desert of gobi, and, after crossing it, reached the territories of the khan near the great wall of china. they had been three years and a half on the journey, and the date of their arrival at the khan's court is supposed to be 1275. "the khan was greatly pleased to see them, and he was especially delighted with young marco, to whom he seemed to take very kindly. marco, in his turn, sought to win the favor of the emperor by making himself as useful as possible; he studied the oriental languages, and in a little while he could speak and write no less than four of them. "the emperor soon began to employ him in the public service, and he acquitted himself so well that he was sent in charge of missions to distant countries. his first mission was to the province of yunnan, and in going there he was obliged to pass through several other provinces. he had noticed, during his stay at court, that the emperor was very fond of hearing about strange countries and their manners and customs, and so he took good care to bring back as much information as possible. the khan complimented him for his learning, and found him a great contrast to the commissioners, who could never tell anything except the business on which they had gone. "we don't know much about the details of his employment while he was at the court of the emperor," said frank, "but we are told that he was for three years governor of the great city of yangtchoo; and we also learn that he was in tangut for a year or more, and that he went on missions to mongolia, to cochin china, and other regions, and commanded expeditions to the indian seas. what his father and uncle were doing all this time we do not know, except that the evidence shows they were making themselves rich. perhaps they were able to obtain good contracts through the influence of marco; and if they could get a monopoly of government contracts for a few years, they would have no difficulty in piling up a large fortune. "thus they remained at the court of the khan for eleven years, and by-and-by they wanted to go home and enjoy their wealth. but the khan would not listen to it, and perhaps they would never have been heard of again if it had not been for an accident. "arghun-khan of persia, a great-nephew of kublai-khan, had lost his wife, and her dying injunction was that her place should be filled by a lady of her own kin--the mongol tribe of bayaut. an embassy came to kublai's court with the request, and the choice fell on lady kukachin, who is described as a most beautiful woman. the overland road to persia was considered dangerous, and it was determined to send her by sea. accordingly, the khan fitted out an expedition in fine style, and, as the venetians were well acquainted with navigation, while the tartars were ignorant of it, the khan concluded to send the polos with the fleet. he was reluctant to let them go; but having once determined to do so, he gave them a great many fine presents, and intrusted them with messages to the various sovereigns of europe, including the king of england. they appear to have sailed from the port of zayton in the early part of 1292. the voyage was long and unfortunate, and the greater part of the embassy and suite perished on the way. the lady and the three venetians arrived safely in persia, where it was found that her intended husband had died, and so she was compelled to marry his son. [illustration: portrait of kublai-khan. (from a chinese engraving.)] "as soon as their mission had ended, the polos proceeded to venice, which they reached in the year 1295. their long absence had caused them to be well-nigh forgotten, and very few people could be found who remembered anything about the polos. they had changed much in their complexions, had almost forgotten their own language; all their utterances had a decidedly tartar accent; and they were so travel-stained and shabby that they had difficulty in being received in their own house, which was now occupied by relatives. "in order to establish their identity, the wanderers invited their relatives to a grand banquet. when the time came for sitting down at table, the three appeared in robes of crimson satin; a little later they exchanged these for robes of crimson damask, and these again for the richest velvet of the same color. afterwards they dressed in clothing like that of the rest of the company, and each of the crimson robes, as soon as it was laid aside, was cut up and given to the servants. "just as the dinner was breaking up, marco rose from the table and retired for a moment. when he returned, he brought the shabby dresses they had worn on their arrival, and the three polos then went to work with knives to rip open these apparently worthless garments. as they cut away the seams, showers of great diamonds of the purest water, and also emeralds, pearls, rubies, sapphires, and carbuncles, fell on the table. "there could be no further doubt about the relationship; everybody at table was ready to swear that he was father, son, and brother all at once to any of the trio. relatives poured in on them in great numbers, and all venice rushed to do them honor. they were appointed to offices of high trust, and the young men of venice came to hear marco tell of the wonders he had seen in his long absence. they were the most popular men in the city, and received more invitations to dinner than they could accept. "there is a tradition that the wife of one of the polos one day gave a beggar an old coat belonging to her husband, as she considered it too shabby for him to wear any longer. when he asked for it the next day, in order to put away the jewels it contained, she told him she had given it to a poor man whom she did not know. the tradition says, 'he went to the bridge of rialto, and stood there turning a wheel, to no apparent purpose, but as if he were a madman; and to all who crowded around to see what prank was this, and asked him why he did it, he answered, "he'll come, if god pleases." so, after two or three days, he recognized his old coat on the back of one of those who came to stare at his mad proceeding, and got it back again. [illustration: marco polo's galley in battle.] "soon after his return, an expedition was sent from venice against genoa, and marco was placed in command of one of the ships or galleys. a great battle was fought; the venetians were defeated; marco was captured, placed in irons, and lodged in a prison at genoa. while in captivity, he told the story of his travels to a fellow-prisoner named rusticiano or rustichello, of pisa, and the latter committed it to writing. it was fortunate for us, though not so for him, that marco polo was in prison, as otherwise we might never have had an account of his travels. after his release, he led a quiet life at venice, and seems to have died not far from the year 1325. he was buried in the church of san lorenzo; but all trace of his tomb was lost when that edifice was rebuilt. "now it is fred's turn," said frank; "i have told the history of marco polo, and shown why and how he went to the east; fred will give you an account of what the great traveller saw in his absence from europe of nearly twenty years." fred drew his note-book from his pocket and proceeded to his share of the entertainment. "marco polo's work," said fred, "consists of four divisions or books and a prologue. the prologue opens as follows: "'great princes, emperors, and kings, dukes and marquises, counts, knights, and burgesses, and people of all degrees, who desire to get knowledge of the various races of mankind, and of the diversities of the sundry regions of the world, take this book and cause it to be read to you. for ye shall find therein all kinds of wonderful things, and the divers histories of the great hermenia, and of persia, and of the land of the tartars, and of india, and of many another country of which our book doth speak particularly, and in regular succession, according to the description of messer marco polo, a wise and noble citizen of venice, as he saw them with his own eyes. some things, indeed, there be therein which he beheld not; but these he heard from men of credit and veracity. and we shall set down things seen as seen, and things heard as heard only, so that no jot of falsehood may mar the truth of our book; and that all who read it or hear it read may put full faith in the truth of all its contents.' "it is hardly worth while to read the whole prologue to you," fred remarked, "as it is long, and we can only give a general glance at the contents of the whole work. a great many editions of the travels of marco polo have been published; the most valuable of all is the latest, which is by colonel yule, an english officer who spent a long time in india. he has made a careful study of the subject, and his work, with explanatory notes, is as complete as years of labor could make it. indeed, there are more pages taken up with the explanatory notes than with the original text of marco polo. "the four divisions or books give an account of the various countries he visited in his years of wandering, and of the wonderful sights he beheld. the route he followed can be traced by geographers without difficulty, and the cities he visited have most of them been identified. many have had their names changed, and some have disappeared altogether, so that in a few instances the localities are in dispute. but, taken as a whole, the story is a truthful one, and shows marco polo to have been the greatest traveller of his time. "some of the stories that seem at first to be the wildest fiction are known to be founded in fact, if not literally correct. in speaking of syria, he says: 'there is a great lake at the foot of a mountain, and in this lake are found no fish, great or small, throughout the whole year till lent comes. on the first day of lent they find in it the finest fish in the world, and great store, too, thereof; and these continue to be found till easter-eve. after that they are found no more till lent comes round again; and so 'tis every year.' "colonel yule is unable to locate the particular lake mentioned, but says there are several lakes in different parts of the east that are deserted by the fish for certain periods of the year. it would not be at all strange if such were the case, and a very little exaggeration of the story would make the fish appear in lent, and go away at other times. [illustration: alau shuts up the caliph of baudas in his treasure-tower.] "while describing baudas--the modern bagdad--he tells how an army, under prince alau, captured the city, and found the greatest accumulation of treasure that ever was known. the prince was enraged at seeing so much wealth, and asked the caliph why he did not take the money to hire soldiers to defend the city. 'the caliph,' says marco, 'wist not what to answer, and said never a word. so the prince continued, "now then, caliph, since i see what a love thou hast borne thy treasure, i will e'en give it thee to eat." so he shut the caliph up in the treasure-tower, and bade that neither meat nor drink should be given him, saying, "now, caliph, eat of thy treasure as much as thou wilt, since thou art so fond of it, for never shalt thou have aught else to eat!"' "so the caliph lingered four days in the tower, and then died. the story has been used by several poets both in england and america, and it has been made the basis of an eastern romance. "some of the more fanciful stories he tells are about the men of lambri, and of angamanain. here is what he says of the former: "'now you must know that in this kingdom of lambri there are men with tails; these tails are of a palm in length, and have no hair on them. these people live in the mountains, and are a kind of wild men. their tails are about the thickness of a dog's. there are also plenty of unicorns in the country, and abundance of game in birds and beasts.' "the story is not very definite," frank suggested, "as there is a great difference in the size of dogs' tails. the range from a terrier or pug to a mastiff or a siberian blood-hound is pretty wide. it reminds me of the stone thrown at a man, that was described by a witness as about the size of a piece of chalk." "by the island of angamanain," fred continued, "polo probably meant the andaman islands. here is what he says of them: [illustration: dog-headed men of angamanain.] "'the people are without a king, and are idolaters, and no better than wild beasts. and i assure you that all the men of this island of angamanain have heads like dogs, and teeth and eyes likewise! in fact, in the face they are just like big mastiff dogs! they have a quantity of spices; but they are a most cruel generation, and eat everybody they can catch, if not of their own race. they live on flesh and rice and milk, and have fruits different from ours.' "now, the fact is," fred explained, "that the natives of the andaman islands have a bad reputation. down to the present time they have been repeatedly charged with murdering the crews of ships that were wrecked there; and it is only recently that their cannibalism has been denied. they are very black, and not at all handsome in face or figure; and out of these facts i suppose the story came that they had heads like dogs. "he describes a fountain in the kingdom of mosul, 'from which oil springs in great abundance, insomuch that a hundred ship loads might be taken from it at one time. this oil is not good to use with food, but 'tis good to burn, and is also used to anoint camels that have the mange.' evidently they had petroleum in asia six hundred years ago, as we have it in america to-day, and thought we had made a new discovery. "he speaks of oxen 'that are all over white as snow, and very large and handsome. when they are to be loaded they kneel like the camel; once the load is adjusted, they rise. then there are sheep as big as asses; and their tails are so large and fat that one tail shall weigh more than thirty pounds. they are fine fat beasts, and afford capital mutton.' these fat-tailed sheep are known in asia and africa, and the weight he gives is said not to be excessive. "in one place there is an account of the posting system of the great khan of tartary, which seems to have been more perfect than the posting system of europe at the same date. from kambaluc, the capital--now known as peking--the roads branched in all directions, and 'each road,' says marco, 'is known by the name of the province to which it leads. and the messengers of the emperor, in travelling from kambaluc, be the road whichsoever they will, find at every twenty-five miles of the journey a station which they call _yamb_, or, as we would say, the post-horse-house. and at each of those stations used by the messengers there is a large and handsome building for them to put up at, in which they find all the rooms furnished with fine beds, and all other necessary articles in rich silk, and where they are provided with everything they can want. if even a king were to arrive at one of these, he would find himself well lodged. at some of these stations there shall be posted more than 400 horses, standing ready for the use of messengers; and at some 200, according to the requirements.... there are more than 300,000 kept at all these posts, and more than 10,000 great buildings for the use of messengers.'" "how much china has declined since the days of marco polo," frank remarked. "the great buildings and the silk beds do not exist; and as for the horses, we were unable to find them at the posting-stations, or even to find any stations where they might be kept." fred took breath during this interruption, and then went on with the story of what marco polo claimed to have seen. [illustration: mediæval tartar huts and wagons.] "'the houses of the tartars,' says marco, 'are made of wands covered with felt. these are carried along with them whithersoever they go. they also have wagons covered with black felt so efficaciously that no rain can get in. these are drawn by oxen and camels, and the women and children travel in them. they eat all kinds of flesh, including horses and dogs and pharaoh's rats. their drink is mares' milk.' this account is confirmed by other writers; and the houses of the tartars are made to-day as polo describes, though they are not drawn about on wheels. one ancient writer says that he measured one of the tartar wagons, and found that the wheels were twenty feet apart, and it was drawn by twenty-two oxen, eleven abreast. [illustration: the roc, from a persian drawing.] "he has a good deal to say," fred continued, "about the famous bird known as the roc, or rukh. he does not claim to have seen one of these birds, but was informed by persons who had done so. according to his account, 'it was for all the world like an eagle, but one, indeed, of enormous size; so big, in fact, that its wings covered an extent of thirty paces, and its quills were twelve paces long, and thick in proportion; and it is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him up in the air and drop him, so that he is smashed to pieces; having so killed him, the bird swoops down on him and eats him at leisure.' [illustration: roc's egg, now in the british museum.] "in a note explaining this story, colonel yule says there was once a bird in madagascar, where polo places the roc, that was much larger than any known bird of the present day. its eggs have been found in a fossil state, and one of them is preserved in the british museum. it measures thirteen and a quarter by six and a half inches (length and width), and the capacity of the shell is nearly three and a half gallons. it was undoubtedly from this bird that the fable of the roc arose." frank ventured to ask fred if he had found from marco polo's book what kind of money was used in china at the time he visited that country. [illustration: chinese bank-note of the ming dynasty.] "i am just coming to that," fred answered. "polo says that the great emperor, kublai-khan, was a wonderful man. 'he transformed the bark of the mulberry-tree into something resembling sheets of paper, and these into money, which cost him nothing at all, so that you might say he had the secret of alchemy to perfection. and these pieces of paper he made to pass current universally, over all his kingdoms and provinces and territories, and whithersoever his sovereignty extended; and nobody, however important he thought himself, dared to refuse them on pain of death." "history repeats itself," said doctor bronson; "for many a modern government has made the same laws in order to compel the circulation of its promises to pay." "and with the same result," fred responded; "for we learn farther on from marco polo that, in spite of the death penalty, the legal-tender issue of the great khan was only worth half its nominal value in silver; and the more money he issued, the greater was the depreciation. but the khan was not the inventor of paper-money, for it was known at least four centuries before his time. its origin is disputed, but the probabilities are that it came from the east. "some of the stories that are told about supernatural appearances are very interesting," continued fred. "in the desert of gobi, polo says that the traveller who lags behind his party at night will hear spirits talking, and will suppose them to be his comrades. sometimes the spirits will call him by name, and thus shall a traveller oft-times be led astray, so that he never finds his party; and in this way many have perished. and sometimes you shall hear the sound of a variety of musical instruments, and still more commonly the sound of drums. "he says, in another place, 'when the great khan, seated on a platform some eight cubits above the pavement, desires to drink, cups filled with wine are moved from a buffet in the centre of the hall, a distance of ten paces, and present themselves to the emperor without being touched by anybody.' [illustration: chinese conjuring extraordinary.] "polo describes other magical performances, some of which are partially explained by colonel yule. another traveller relates that a juggler performed some remarkable tricks in his presence; and among them is the following: 'he took a wooden ball with several holes in it, through which loose thongs were passed, and, laying hold of one of these, slung it into the air. it went so high that we lost sight of it altogether. there now remained only a little of the end of a thong in the conjurer's hand, and he desired one of the boys who assisted him to lay hold of it and mount. he did so, climbing by the thong, and we lost sight of him! the conjurer then called to him three times; but getting no answer, he snatched up a knife as if in a great rage, laid hold of the thong, and disappeared also. by-and-by he threw down one of the boy's hands; then a foot; then the other hand, and then the other foot; then the trunk; and, last of all, the head. then he came down himself, all puffing and panting, and, with his clothes all bloody, kissed the ground, and said something in chinese. then he took the lad's limbs, laid them together, gave a kick, when, presto! there was the boy, who got up and stood before us.'" "the indian jugglers are said to do the same trick, or one very much like it," said doctor bronson. "i have read a description of one of their performances, in which they took a long chain and threw one end of it in the air, where it remained as if fastened to something. a dog was then brought forward, and ran up the chain and disappeared in the air. in the same way a hog, a panther, a lion, and a tiger were sent up the chain one after the other, and all disappeared at its upper end. finally they took down the chain, rolled it up and put it in a bag, no one being able to discover how the trick was performed." "we must come to a stop now," said fred, "though we haven't heard a tenth part of the strange things in marco polo's story of his travels. his account of the court of kublai-khan would take a long time to tell, and perhaps you would get tired of it before i came to the end. so, if you want to know more, you must do as i have done--read for yourself." the interesting session of the party over the travels of the famous venetian were brought to a close. the doctor complimented the boys on the excellent work they had done in making a condensed account of the book, and said he was so pleased with them that he would give them a similar piece of employment whenever the opportunity occurred. "it is a capital way," said fred, "to fix in mind what we have read. i find that i read with greater care when i know i must make a summary of a book than if i am to throw it down when through and think no more of it. i'm very glad we had to go through marco polo's history in this way." "and i too," frank added. "but it is what we used to dislike so much at school." "what was that?" fred asked. "why, writing compositions, to be sure," frank responded. "don't you remember how we used to detest it?" "of course i do," was the answer; "but we always did it without an object. the teacher told us to write something about 'spring,' or 'the beauties of nature,' or some other subject that was not at all definite. now if he had given us an interesting book to read, and said he wanted us to do with it as we have done with this, we should have 'written a composition' with some relish." "it will be eight bells soon," the captain interrupted, "and if you want to see me take the sun you had better come forward." [illustration: captain clanchy at work.] the boys had familiarized themselves with the process of finding a ship's position; but anything at sea that varies the monotony is always welcome. so they went forward with captain clanchy, and stood by the rail till that brief performance was ended. then they retired to the cabin, and watched the operation of working up the steamer's position; and by the time this was over, the steward announced that dinner was ready. [illustration: come to dinner!] chapter viii. arrival in siam.--first day in bangkok. the boys found a novel way of taking fresh-water baths during their voyage from saigon to bangkok. nearly every day there was a heavy shower of rain, and sometimes two or three showers in the course of twenty-four hours. the rain came literally in torrents; it poured as though great gates had been suddenly opened in the sky, to allow the passage of the water by dozens of barrels at a time. neither frank nor fred had ever seen the rain fall so fast; the doctor assured them that showers of this kind were very common in the tropics, especially during the change of the monsoons. [illustration: a natural shower-bath.] whenever the clouds indicated a coming shower, the boys generally went to the cabin and soon appeared in their bathing-suits. covering their heads with straw hats, to protect them from the pelting of the great drops, they would sit in the rain and enjoy the luxury of the earliest form of shower-bath ever known. one night, when they were sleeping on deck, they were suddenly awakened by the pouring of the rain in their faces, and, before they could gather their clothing and escape to shelter, they were treated to a bath they had not bargained for. it is one of the inconveniences of sleeping on deck in the tropics that you are liable to have your slumbers disturbed in this way, just as you are dreaming of pleasant things, and in no mood for waking. though they were not in sight of land, our friends realized that they were in a comparatively small body of water, and not in the open ocean. the swell and heaving of the atlantic and pacific waves were altogether absent; though the steamer was a diminutive one in comparison with the great ships on which they had travelled hitherto, she rolled and pitched very little, and sometimes her motion was as steady as though she was navigating a river. the gulf of siam does not occupy a large place on the map, and for a great part of the year it is as peaceful as a lake. the captain told them that it was rarely disturbed by typhoons or severe gales, and was about five hundred miles long by two hundred and fifty in width. [illustration: flying-fish.] porpoises and flying-fish appeared occasionally, and their lively leaps from the water were a source of much amusement to the youths. the first indication of their approach to the coast of siam was the appearance of a dark line on the northern horizon. as they steamed on, this line developed into a fringe of tropical trees; but before they could make anything more of it than the merest fringe, the steamer came to anchor. as they were still a long way from land, the boys could not understand the reason for stopping, and fred ventured to ask the captain why they did not go on. "the principal reason," the captain answered, "is because we can't. the approach to the river is very shallow, and our steamer cannot cross the bar till high-tide. we must wait here till the tide serves, and we have a pilot to take us in." the pilot came to the ship soon after they anchored, and in a few hours he announced that it was time to move on. the anchor was lifted, and the _danube_ steamed slowly onward towards the shore. very soon it was apparent to the boys that the waters along this part of the coast were very shallow, as the steamer stirred the mud from the bottom and left a dirty streak behind her. the bar at the mouth of the menam prevents the passage of large ships, and there was a fleet of half a dozen or more lying outside and receiving their cargo from lighters. vessels drawing less than fifteen feet can go up without difficulty; and once they have passed the bar, there is no trouble in proceeding on to bangkok. "i wonder if that is bangkok?" said fred, as he pointed to a conical tower that rose just ahead of them, and apparently a short distance above the mouth of the river. "oh no," the captain replied, "that is not bangkok at all. the city is thirty miles up the river, and what you see now is paknam. we shall stop in front of it to get the permit from the custom-house to allow us to proceed up the river. [illustration: view near paknam.] "the tower that you see is a temple on a small island opposite paknam. it is used on festival days, and once in awhile the king comes down here to worship. on such occasions they have boat-races, and a good time generally; some of the boats are rowed entirely by girls, and the sport is very exciting." a boat came from the custom-house, and an officer mounted to the deck of the steamer. his visit was a brief one, as the _danube_ was a regular visitor at the port, and did not require any unusual formalities. after a short delay, the steamer moved on under charge of the pilot, though the captain remained on the bridge and kept a sharp watch over the movements of his vessel. it is a curious feature of maritime law that when a ship is in charge of a pilot her captain's authority ceases; but in case of accident he comes in for a liberal share of censure. the boys found that the menam was as crooked as the mekong, and not unlike the latter in its general features. the channel appeared to be free of sand-bars or other impediments to navigation, though some of the bends of the stream were rather short for a large ship to turn in with ease. at one place there was a channel or canal that saved a great distance for small boats; but it was impracticable for the _danube_, which was obliged to follow the winding of the river. a little tow-boat entered this canal just as they passed the entrance; she steamed leisurely through, and as the _danube_ rounded the bend frank discovered that the tow-boat was several miles ahead of them. [illustration: native hut on the menam river.] the river was full of native boats, some going in one direction and some in another. now and then a house was visible in the dense foliage, and there was an occasional cluster of dwellings large enough to be called a village. many of the houses were built so that a platform in front overhung the water; and the whole structure was on piles, in order to form a refuge against snakes and wild beasts, and also to secure the inhabitants against being suddenly driven out by an inundation. but what impressed the young travellers more than anything else was the richness of the tropical vegetation along the banks of the river. here were palms in great variety, and many huge trees whose names were unknown to them; and there was a dense growth of underbrush, through which it would be very difficult for a man to penetrate unless armed with a hatchet, and not at all easy even then. many of the trees were covered with creeping and climbing plants, so that not a particle of the surface or foliage of the original tree could be seen, and very often the burden of parasites was so great that the trees had fallen beneath it. "i have read," said frank, "about the vines that destroyed a tree, but have never fairly seen an instance of it till now." "nor i either," fred responded. "look at that fine tree that has been quite broken down by the weight of the plants that cling to it. and observe, too, the bright blossoms that the vine has spread out, as if it was exulting over the destruction it had caused." some of the creeping vines had a scarlet flower of a very gaudy pattern, and it seemed as if it was their season for blooming, as the vines in several instances were completely covered with blossoms. [illustration: a village pathway in siam.] now and then there were little openings in the forest that looked like pathways. the doctor told his young companions that these paths undoubtedly led to villages or single houses that were hid away in the dense foliage. the doctor's belief was confirmed by the glimpse of an occasional figure among the trees, and by dusky faces that contemplated the steadily moving steamer. but it was not all a tropical forest with occasional villages. there were sugar plantations, some of them of considerable extent; and there were rice-fields where dozens and dozens of men were at work. frank contemplated a lot of these laborers with the captain's glass, and remarked that the siamese resembled the chinese so much that it was impossible to distinguish between them. the doctor laughed, and then gave this explanation: "the men that you see are chinese, and not the people of siam. nearly all these rice and sugar plantations employ chinese laborers; and of the five millions of people in siam not less than two millions are chinese. they come here, just as they go to america or to australia, in search of employment; and, though the wages are low, they are quite content. if you could go to every part of siam you would hardly ever be out of sight of the chinese, as they are scattered everywhere through the kingdom. there, now, we will have a good view of some of these laborers." [illustration: chinese field-laborers.] as he spoke, the steamer swung quite close to the bank, where there was a group of laborers evidently just ready to depart for the rice-field. some were squatted, and some were standing; some were fully and some only partially clothed; and all appeared as though they had the good digestion that comes from hard work. it did not need a long study of the assemblage to convince our friends that the men were exactly like those they had seen in canton and hong-kong, and the captain told them that probably every one of the crowd was from the quang-tung province of china. [illustration: general view of bangkok.] they were still in the midst of cocoa and other tropical trees, when the captain told them they were at bangkok. there was a saw-mill and a dock-yard among the trees on one side of the river, and farther on was a large house, with an open space of an acre or more between it and the river. they had reached what may be called the foreign portion of the city; the native part is nearly three miles farther on, and quite concealed by a bend in the stream. we will see what the boys had to say of bangkok in their letters to friends at home. here is what frank wrote: "my dear mother,--we had a charming voyage from saigon to this port. the weather was fine, and we amused ourselves in various ways; one thing we did was to read up the story of marco polo's travels six hundred years ago, and then tell it over to the doctor. sometimes it was so hot that we slept on deck, and when it was raining hard we used to go out in our bathing-suits and have a shower-bath that was simply perfect. we had a picturesque ride up the menam to this city; and we have seen lots of curious things since we landed. "we came ashore with the captain, and he took us at once to the only hotel in the place. it is a funny sort of a hotel, as you have to go out-of-doors to pass from the dining-room to the sleeping-rooms and the parlor, where we sit when we want to rest. the rooms are not more than ten feet square, and i don't think fred's will measure as much as that. i made the remark that you couldn't swing a cat around there; and the landlord said he had no cat, and even if he had one he didn't want to swing her anyway. you ought to see the landlord; he is a german, and as jolly as you could wish. he was formerly a sea-captain, and everybody calls him 'captain salje.' he must weigh pretty nearly three hundred pounds, and when he laughs he shakes all over. he speaks english as well as german, and he also speaks the language of the country and that of java, where he lived a long time. when things don't get along well in the kitchen, he goes in among his servants, and you hear his voice ringing out all over the house. he is a capital landlord, and we like his table better than that of any hotel we have seen since we left san francisco. [illustration: in the foreign part of bangkok.] "the hotel stands on the bank of the river, and you can step from a boat directly to the veranda of the house. the river is the broadway of bangkok, and all the travelling to and fro, or the greater part of it, is done on the water. in this part of bangkok is where the foreigners live, and their houses are scattered along the banks for at least a mile. nobody wants to live where he would be without a front on the river, as it would be just like living off from the street in an american city. the merchants have their warehouses so that goods can be rolled from boats directly inside the doors; but the houses where people live are set back a little, and have a good large yard in front and all around them. they have plenty of trees in the yards, and the houses look very pretty; and as the verandas are wide, there is an abundance of shade. most of the houses are of two stories, and built of stuccoed brick; and a good many of the floors are of brick or stone. wood is not very durable in this climate, as the air is moist and rots it; and, besides, they have certain kinds of insects that eat it full of holes, and make it turn to powder. some woods decay much faster than others, and they have one kind called teak, that the insects never attack. "as i look from the veranda where i am writing i can see half a dozen ships anchored in the river below here, and as many more up above. most of them belong to siam, as we can see by the flag; and there are two or three german ships, one english, and one american. the siamese flag is red, and has a white elephant on it; we are in the country of the white elephant, and don't intend leaving until we have seen the sacred beast. i am told that the white elephants at the king's palace have fine stables and lots of attendants, and that they are worshipped and petted till they are quite spoiled in their dispositions. "we have hired a boat by the day, and it is to be kept for our use as long as we stay here; just as we might keep a carriage in another country. there is a little cabin where you have to stoop as you go in; and there are cushioned seats for four persons, and windows with sliding lattices all around. it takes four men to row it--two on the bow, and two on the stern--and they all row with their faces the way the boat is going. the boat is quite comfortable, and we enjoy it very much. "the people make use of the river for all sorts of business. it is the great highway for transporting merchandise, and for promenading on the water; and it is the place where people go on shopping excursions. a great many of the houses are built on rafts of bamboo-poles, and they rise and fall with the tide. the raft is somewhat larger than the house, and forms a platform all around it; and when you want to go in at the front of a house, you have only to bring your boat along-side the raft and step off. the bamboo seems almost to have been designed by nature for the purpose of making these rafts. you know it is hollow, and very light, and that it has joints at regular intervals. now each joint forms a water-tight compartment, and the wood will resist the water for a very long time, so that a bamboo raft has no chance of sinking. perhaps it was the bamboo that gave the chinese the idea of building ships in water-tight compartments, as marco polo says they did six hundred years ago. who knows? "as you go along the river you see the fronts of the houses open towards the water, and if they have anything to sell it is put where it can be seen, exactly as it would be in a shop on broadway. the houses are divided generally into only two rooms--the men occupying one, and the women the other; and the siamese rarely make houses of more than one story. the reason is that they wish to avoid having anybody walking over their heads, which is considered an indignity. it is said that when the city was first built along the banks of the river there was a great deal of cholera, on account of the bad drainage, and many people died. the king then gave orders for the people to build on the river itself, which would make the drainage perfect, and thus improve the public health. the order was obeyed, and from it we find the floating houses that seem so curious to us. there are not far from fifteen thousand of these houses and shops, and they are strung along on both sides of the river for several miles, altogether. then there are many houses built on piles, to overhang the water, just like those we described at saigon. "one of the books we have with us tells us that bangkok is called 'the venice of the east,' and i can easily understand why. venice is full of canals, as you know, and so is bangkok. they run off from the river in all directions, and you can go almost anywhere by them when the tide is up. this is why nearly everybody has a boat, as it would be difficult to go about without one. you see boats of all sizes, from a little dug-out, just large enough for one person--and a small one at that--up to the great house-boat, or barge, that will hold twenty or more. the people spend a good deal of their time on the water, and very often in it; for they swim like otters, and are not at all disturbed when one of their boats overturns with them. this afternoon, when we were out on the river, a steamboat passed us. it did us no harm, though we tossed around for a moment; but there was a small skiff close by that was filled with water by the swell from the steamer. two boys were in it, and as the skiff went down under them, they took hold of it with their hands and swam to the shore. they soon had the water out of it, and paddled off as merrily as ever. "where the largest of the canals branches off there is a pretty dense collection of houses, and this continues for quite a distance. the streets are irregular, and not very wide or clean; perhaps the most of the people living in this quarter are chinese, and they are not very particular about dirt. most of the shops are kept by chinese, and they have a great number of gambling-houses, for which they pay a fixed sum to the government. gambling is a monopoly, and so is the sale of intoxicating spirits; the licenses are sold by the government, just as an american city gives a man a license to sell liquor when he pays the sum agreed on. the chinese that come here are just as great gamblers as they are at home, and they are just as fond of smoking opium. "the city is said to contain half a million inhabitants, and it is little more than a hundred years old. it was founded in 1769, when the siamese capital (ayuthia) was captured and plundered by the burmese. the king lives here, and the royal palace is well worth seeing. we are going there to-morrow, or perhaps next day, and we are going to see some curious temples. there are lots of temples in bangkok, and the city contains not less than twenty thousand priests of the buddhist religion. we will tell you more about the priests and the temples in another letter." [illustration: a siamese priest.] chapter ix. temples at bangkok.--the founder of buddhism. a letter from fred was in the same mail with frank's. the dutiful boy remembered his mother, and wrote as follows: "frank has told all about our arrival in bangkok, and what we saw on our first day in the city. i know you will hand our letters around for both families to read, and so i will try to avoid repeating what he has said. "one of the first things we wanted to see was the temples, for which bangkok is famous. you must know that siam is a country where the buddhist religion has a very strong hold; and the king is supposed to be the defender of the ancient faith. a large part of the annual revenue of the country is expended in the repair of the temples now in existence, or the construction of new ones; and also in processions and other religious ceremonies. we are fortunate in coming here at the season of the year when the king goes to make his visits to all the temples; and, as there are many of them in the city, he has enough to do for two or three weeks. we have seen one of these processions, and expect to see more: as the one we have seen is not the grandest of them, i will keep the description of this part of our sights in bangkok for another letter. [illustration: birds-eye view of bangkok.] "the first temple we went to was the one known as _wat seh kate_. it has the general appearance of a pyramid, and is about two hundred and fifty feet high, with a winding pathway that leads to the top. from the platform, on the summit, there is a fine view of bangkok, or rather the form of the city can be seen, though the most of the houses are concealed by the trees. it is a curious sight, as the trees are nearly all tropical ones, and wherever you look you see palms in some form or other, with their long leaves bending in the wind, and their stems rising, often as straight as arrows, for fifty or a hundred feet. off in the distance there are rice-fields, some of them of great extent; and close below you is a bewildering mass of temples, and palaces, and pagodas, with the river shining here and there, and forming a sharp contrast to the dark green of the foliage. some of the spires of the temples look as pointed as needles; and though you might think they would fall down with the first high wind, i am told they have stood for a long time, and are apparently as firm as ever. "i enclose a picture representing a view from one of the temples, so that you can see what bangkok is like. "some foreigners have been talking of proposing to the government to convert this temple into a reservoir for water, which would be brought into the city by an aqueduct, just as water is supplied to new york and other american cities. wouldn't that be a novel idea? the city has no aqueduct whatever, but all the water that the people use must be taken from the river or caught in cisterns during the rainy season. [illustration: temple of wat chang.] "the temple is not yet finished, and therefore the view from the top is the most interesting thing about it. on the other side of the river is another remarkable temple known as _wat chang_; it stands in a large enclosure, perhaps fifteen or twenty acres in extent, and this enclosure contains small gardens, the houses of the priests, and a great quantity of stone statues, some of them very grotesque in character. there are some nice fish-ponds full of fish; and in two or three places we saw grottoes of stone and brick that were very pretty. i should think that the priests had considerable taste, and were not the lazy fellows one often finds around these temples. perhaps they did not do the work themselves, but only laid it out for others; even if that is the case, they deserve some credit for their good taste. "the general shape of _wat chang_ is that of a bell; and there is a spire at the top that would make a very good handle, if some one could be found large and strong enough to take it up and ring it. doctor bronson guessed that the building was two hundred and fifty feet high, and about the same in diameter; it is built of brick, and the outside is covered with plaster, which was stuck full, while it was moist, with all sorts of curious things. these include plates, and cups and saucers, and all manner of dishes with as many colors as the rainbow, and arranged into a mosaic that forms figures of animals, fruits, flowers, and other things, some of them hideous and unnatural. as you might suppose would be the case in the land of the white elephant, the largest animal that we know of is frequently represented. sometimes he has only one head, as he has in actual life; but occasionally they give him three heads, which the doctor says is to symbolize the buddhistic trinity. besides these mosaics, there are other elephants in the form of statues, which are set in niches half-way to the summit. the sun was shining brightly when we visited this temple, and at every step the rays were flashed into our eyes till they almost ached with pain. [illustration: temple of the sleeping idol.] "we went to the 'temple of the sleeping idol,' which is one of the wonders of bangkok. it is not a great ways from the royal palace, and gets its name from the fact that there is a statue of buddha in a horizontal position that fills the most of the interior of the building. the figure is one hundred and sixty feet long, and lies on its side; the soles of the feet are sixteen feet long, and each of them is inlaid with mother-of-pearl as delicately as though it was a finger-ring. the figures represented by this inlaid work are entirely fruits and flowers; doctor bronson says the fable is that fruits and flowers sprung from the earth wherever buddha planted his footsteps. the figure of buddha is built of brick, and then heavily gilded, so that you might easily suppose it was of gold. when i tell you that the arm at the elbow is six feet in diameter, you will get an idea of the greatness of the work. "the sleeping idol is not the only wonder of this temple. there are nearly a thousand other idols there, most of them of life size, and they are so thickly packed as to make you think they would be liable to get in each other's way. the temple itself is about two hundred feet long, and has a high roof with sharp peaks at the ends, and three stages rising one above another. the eaves are supported by tall columns, and thus quite a veranda is formed between them and the doors of the building; and there is a high wall around the temple, so that it would not be easy to get in without permission. the enclosure contains the houses of the priests, and some small pagodas and temples; and the priests evidently have an eye to business, as they would not open the doors till we had paid a tical for each person of our party. the tical is the siamese coin in which everything is reckoned; it is worth about sixty cents of our money, and consequently the price of admission to the temple seemed rather dear to us. [illustration: brass idol in a temple.] "there is another temple that has a statue of brass nearly fifty feet high, and, like most of the statues, it is intended to represent the divine buddha. it is in a sitting posture, with the legs crossed, and the pedestal on which it sits is of the same material, and delicately ornamented. in front of the altar there are cups and flower-vases in great variety--some of brass, others of copper, and others again of bronze thickly covered with gold. offerings of fruit and flowers were lying on the altar, and on each side of the figure of buddha there was the statue of a priest, standing erect, and with his hands folded in the attitude of prayer. we could not help admiring the beauty of the work, and regretting that so much money and labor had been devoted to the worship of a heathen god. the temple of the sleeping idol is said to have cost not less than a million of dollars, and probably ten millions would not cover the expense of the temples within half a mile of the royal palace, to say nothing of the others in the city. "the chinese that live in bangkok have a great many temples of their own, but none of them are as fine as the siamese ones. the temples that the chinese build must be paid for out of their own contributions; while those of the siamese are erected by the government, and the priests that take care of them have an official character. there were formerly thirty or forty thousand priests in bangkok: they were so numerous that the father of the present king determined to compel them to work for a living, and so he took away the government support and turned them out. for a few years after he did so they were not very numerous; but they have gradually increased, until their number is now reckoned at twenty thousand. they can be recognized by their yellow robes, and they have their heads shaved as smooth as door-knobs. they live about the temples, and every morning they go around begging. "this morning we started out early, in order to see the priests on their begging missions; and it was a curious sight, you may believe. "each begging priest has a boat, and generally a boy to paddle it. in front of the priest there is a basket with a cover, and as the boat is rowed up to a house the priest says not a word, but raises the cover of the basket. on the platform in front of the door there is a kettle of freshly boiled rice, and somebody, generally a woman, lifts out a quart or so of the rice with a ladle and pours it into the basket. when the operation is completed, the priest moves on; he never says 'thank you,' and the giver never speaks. if another priest comes a moment after, he gets the same quantity, and the same silence is preserved. charity is enjoined by the buddhist religion, and what is given is given from a sense of religious duty. captain salje says that nobody need starve in bangkok, as it is the privilege of every one to go to the temples and be fed. the priests receive from the people, and are expected in turn to give to those that need. but if you went to the temples you would get nothing more than boiled rice, with an occasional fish; and, as i should tire of those things in a short time, i don't think either frank or myself will become a mendicant in the capital of siam. [illustration: priests playing chess.] "the priests have a very lazy life of it. they lie around the temples and spend much of their time in sleep; some of them study the sacred books of their religion, and for those who are inclined to read there is a library attached to each of the principal temples. they are fond of games like chess, and several times we have found groups of them seated around tables and completely absorbed in their sport. their chessmen are like buttons, and they hold them in little baskets, which are kept under the hands of the players. many of them are great smokers, and when a party is at chess they usually have their pipes where they can be ready for use at a moment's notice. "talking about the priests naturally leads up to the religion of the country. doctor bronson says it is buddhism of the purest character, and was brought to siam from ceylon hundreds of years ago. there is considerable difference in the authorities about the origin of the religion, but the statement most generally received is that it began about two thousand three hundred years ago in india. prince gautama, who afterward became buddha, was famous for the goodness of his disposition and his care for the happiness of his fellow-men. the religion of his time was mixed up with a great deal of cruelty, and he determined to reform it. with his title of prince, he belonged to a very rich family near benares, which was then considered one of the most sacred cities in india; and it remains so to this day in the eyes of the native people. he became a wanderer, and for five years he travelled over the country, living on charity, and doing all the good that he could. "at the end of five years he came back to benares to establish a new religion, and dispute with the teachers of the old. the people were ready to listen to him, and in a short time, under his new name of buddha, he had many converts. among them were his father and brothers, and other members of his family; and in a few years he was able to send out apostles to all parts of india and to ceylon, and other countries. conversions were made very fast, and the histories say that in less than two hundred years from the time buddha began his work five hundred millions of people in asia had embraced the new doctrines. temples were erected everywhere, and priests became numerous; but the new religion led to a bitter war with the old, which lasted for centuries. buddhism was finally driven out of the most of india, and the only places where it now exists are the countries to which it was carried by the missionaries. "an english author and journalist, edwin arnold, who lived some time in india, has written a poem, entitled 'the light of asia,' in which he endeavors to portray the life and character of prince gautama of india, the founder of buddhism. in the preface to his interesting and highly instructive production, mr. arnold says: "'a generation ago little or nothing was known in europe of this great faith of asia, which had nevertheless existed during twenty-four centuries, and at this day surpasses, in the number of its followers and the area of its prevalence, any other form of creed. four hundred and seventy millions of our race live and die in the tenets of gautama; and the spiritual dominions of this ancient teacher extend, at the present time, from nepaul and ceylon over the whole eastern peninsula to china, japan, thibet, central asia, siberia, and even swedish lapland. india itself might fairly be included in this magnificent empire of belief; for, though the profession of buddhism has for the most part passed away from the land of its birth, the mark of gautama's sublime teaching is stamped ineffaceably upon modern brahminism, and the most characteristic habits and convictions of the hindoos are clearly due to the benign influence of buddha's precepts. more than a third of mankind, therefore, owe their moral and religions ideas to this illustrious prince, whose personality, though imperfectly revealed in the existing sources of information, cannot but appear the highest, gentlest, holiest, and most beneficent, with one exception, in the history of thought.' "another authority says that the real name of buddha was sakya muni, and he was the son of the rajah of kapila, a small territory north of benares. according to some of the accounts, he acquired his divine character by silent meditation; and it is one of the principles of his creed that any one can, by meditation and good works, become equal to divinity. he was said to be thirty-five years old when he attained these powers, and it required seven years of meditation to reach this condition. he lived to be nearly eighty years old, and was actively engaged in pushing his new doctrines until the time of his death. [illustration: gate-way of a temple at bangkok.] "there are two reasons why i shall not write much about the religion of this wonderful man. one is that i am afraid you would not be greatly interested in what we call paganism, and the other is that i don't feel able to describe it so that you would understand it. people who have lived here for years say it is full of mysteries, and they are not able to comprehend it. if that is the case, you could hardly expect a traveller who is only a few months in the east to tell you all about the beliefs of the natives, and their modes of worship. i am told that the creed of buddha is a very simple one, and is founded on kindness and benevolence. it is enjoined on all believers to be charitable, and never to inflict pain on anything that lives. this part of the doctrine is not closely observed by the ordinary followers, and its strict observation is specially appropriate for the priests. they are not allowed to kill any animal for the sake of food, but they may eat what others have killed, though they are not expected to do so if vegetable food is to be obtained. they are expected to remain poor, like the monks of the catholic church, and whatever is given to them belongs to the temple they are attached to. the temples are sometimes very rich, but the priests have nothing they can call their own property. "children are instructed in the temples, and one of the duties of the priests is to give instruction when it is required. some of the temples have schools attached to them; and there are buddhist colleges that have acquired considerable reputation for the learning of the men attached to them. "attempts have been made to convert the siamese from their present religion to christianity, and a good many missions have been established here. the roman catholics came to siam three hundred years ago, and began to preach their religion; and in the early part of this century the protestant missions were established. the government allows the missionaries full liberty to preach and teach among the people, and makes them gifts of land when any is wanted for the erection of a church or school-house. some of the missionaries have exercised considerable influence over the high authorities, and it is largely due to their efforts that many reforms have been adopted. [illustration: temple of the emerald idol.] "i will close this letter by telling you something about the last of the temples we visited. it is the _wat p'hza keau_, or the temple of the emerald idol, and is so called on account of an idol of emerald a foot high and eight inches wide. it stands on an altar about fifty feet high, and all over the surface of the altar there are images representing idols, human figures, and animals, the latter including some forms that are very grotesque. the emerald idol stands in a niche which is beautifully ornamented, and the altar terminates in a long spire above the idol's head. there are paintings on the walls superior to anything we saw in the other temples, and we found that the bricks on the floor were of polished brass instead of baked clay. the hair and collar of the idol are of pure gold, and from the way the light fell upon them it looked as though they were thickly set with precious stones. some one who has seen it more closely than we did, says that while the gold was in a melted state a handful of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and other precious stones were stirred into it; perhaps this was so, but i should think it would be injurious to the diamonds to be thrown into melted gold, which must be of a very great heat. "this is the temple where the king comes most frequently to say his prayers. we had hoped to see him there, but were disappointed." chapter x. ascending the menam, from bangkok to ayuthia. doctor bronson had a letter of introduction to the american consul at bangkok, which a friend in new york had given him before his departure. a few mornings after his arrival in siam, he called at the consulate to deliver the letter and make the acquaintance of his country's representative. he found the consul seated in a large arm-chair on the veranda of a spacious building on the east bank of the river, in the foreign portion of the city. a yard with shade-trees and gravelled walks surrounded the building, and near the landing-place there was a tall staff from which the flag of the united states waved in the breeze. the consul was a man of pleasing manners, and he was heartily glad to meet a compatriot, as the visits of americans to bangkok are not at all numerous. "until you arrived," said he to the doctor, "there had not been an american tourist here for nearly eight months. i wish more would come, as we lead rather a lonely life in siam, and are very glad of anything to break the monotony." in a frank, open-hearted way, the consul offered his services to doctor bronson and his young friends, in case there was anything he could do for them. the doctor thanked him for the proffered courtesy, and said they hoped to be able to see his majesty, the king of siam, before their departure. "i think that can be arranged without much difficulty," the consul answered. "the king likes to see strangers who are enough interested in siam to come here out of the beaten track. he is a polite, intelligent, and most agreeable gentleman, and i feel confident that i can promise to present you to him. "just now he is absent from the city, and will not be back here for three or four days. on his return, i will endeavor to arrange what you wish. meantime there is an excursion going up the river to ayuthia, the ancient capital of siam, and i advise you to join it. a party is going to see some elephants driven in from the forest, and the sight will be interesting to you. it can easily be arranged for you to join the excursion, which will start to-morrow morning." doctor bronson assented at once to the proposal, and, after exchanging a few general observations, he departed, promising to come again in the afternoon to learn more fully about the excursion, and to bring the boys with him to introduce to the consul. he had left them at the hotel, busy with their first letters to friends at home. frank and fred were delighted at the plan for going to ayuthia, especially as they would have an opportunity to see with their own eyes the way the siamese catch elephants. they were impatient to be off, and could hardly keep their minds on their letters, as they were filled with thoughts of the novelties in store for them. when they called at the consulate in the afternoon, they found that the whole business had been settled. they were to have a house-boat or barge, large enough for half a dozen persons, and it was to be towed by a steam-launch which had been procured from one of the foreign merchants at bangkok. to economize time, it had been determined to start an hour or two before sunset, and travel during the night; by this means they would reach ayuthia early the next forenoon, and thus have the greater part of the day for sight-seeing. the consul decided to accompany them, as the cares of the consulate were not very heavy at that particular time, and, besides, the vice-consul was there to see that nothing went wrong. a sufficient supply of cooked and canned provisions was procured, and the necessary amount of blankets, overcoats, and other comforts was made ready. the barge came to the front of the hotel at the appointed time, and in a few moments they were steaming up the river. [illustration: private garden near bangkok.] frank and fred thought the sight was one of the strangest they had ever seen. here was a broad river, its surface covered with small boats of a character new to them, and its banks lined with floating houses, such as have been described. junks, and ships, and sloops, and steamers were anchored in the stream; and occasionally a great barge, rowed by twenty or thirty men, and belonging to some member of a noble family, shot past them, or turned into some of the many canals that open out from the menam. houses were just visible through the dense mass of palms and other tropical trees that lined the banks, and the spires of the pagodas rose above like great watch-towers, whose line of vision extended many miles. at a bend in the river the white walls of the royal palace came into view, and as they passed beyond the palace and proceeded up the river their eyes rested upon extensive fields and gardens, and on another fringe of floating houses along the bank. suddenly a practical question occurred to frank, and he asked the consul-"does the river ever freeze over?" "not by any means," was the reply. "the average temperature here is about 82°. april is the hottest month, and the thermometer then goes to 97°, and sometimes above 100°. it rarely falls below 65°, and the lowest ever known is 54°. there are only two seasons--the hot, or wet; and the dry, or cool. the south-west monsoon blows from april till october, and brings heat and rain with it; while from october till april we have the north-east monsoon, which is cool and comfortable. most of the time during the north-east monsoon we have fine weather; there is now and then a shower, but it rarely lasts long. "there is a very good story about the absence of cold in this part of siam. forty or fifty years ago, when the protestant missionaries first came here, some of them were taken before the king, who wanted to see what manner of men they were. up to that time siam had had very little intercourse with foreign countries, and the old king was not very well versed in the geography of other lands, and their climate and productions. so he asked the missionaries, who were from boston, what their country was, and what it produced. "they told him many things about america, described the falls of niagara, the rocky mountains, the mississippi, the fields of cotton and wheat, and other things that the soil produced, the great steamboats on the rivers, and talked of many other matters that they thought would interest him. finally, one of them told him that where they came from the rivers were frozen over two or three months in the year. "'what do you mean by that?' the king asked, through his interpreter. "'why, i mean,' said the missionary, 'that if this palace and the river menam were at boston, your majesty could walk across the water during three months of the year as he could walk on this floor. the water becomes solid, and men cut holes in it with axes and saws.' "'now i _know_ you are lying,' the king replied, as he rose from his seat in great anger. 'i have thought so for some minutes, and now i am certain of it.' and he ordered the reception to end at once, as he wished no further communication with men who talked about a river getting hard enough for a king to walk on." the scenery along the river was much like that below the city. there was the same luxuriance of vegetation that had astonished the boys when they entered the menam, the same trees, and the same creeping and climbing plants. here and there were great fields of rice; and our friends were not surprised to learn that rice was the chief product of the country, and its only export of consequence. there were also fields of sugar, which was extensively cultivated and exported; and the consul told them that there were exports of hemp, pepper, and cotton that sometimes reached a respectable figure. there was little manufacturing industry in siam, and what the people wanted in the way of manufactured goods was brought from europe or america. [illustration: a siamese forest scene.] the consul pointed out various objects of interest as the boat moved along the river, and explained many things that otherwise might have been misunderstood by the boys, or not comprehended at all. frank had a commercial turn of mind, and asked many questions about the trade of siam; and he was much pleased to find that the consul had the whole subject at his command, and was able to give all the desired information. when their dialogue ended, frank had the following facts recorded in his note-book: "in 1876 the exports of siam amounted to $8,350,000, and the imports to $7,070,000--an increase in the volume of trade over the previous year of $686,000. the chief export is rice, and in the year mentioned 4,101,000 piculs of rice were exported. the picul is a chinese weight of 133 pounds. the direct exportation to the united states was 8800 piculs; but there is a large amount that is reshipped from hong-kong, and does not appear on the records of the siamese custom-house as going to america. "in 1857 six foreign ships visited bangkok; twenty years later, the number of foreign ships coming there in a single twelvemonth was more than two hundred. in 1840 there was only one trading-ship flying the siamese flag; while in 1874 there were one hundred and twenty-nine native ships entered at the custom-house of bangkok, and one hundred and seventy seven cleared from the port. these ships are nearly all native built and manned, and they go to singapore, hong-kong, and the ports of java. they have not yet ventured on voyages to europe and america, and are not likely to do so for a long time to come." fred wished to know what american articles were used in siam, and frank said he was coming to that as soon as he had written down the notes about the shipping. the consul told them it would take a long time to name over all the foreign articles that could be sold in the country; but he would certainly not advise anybody to bring a cargo of heavy woollen blankets and overcoats, as they would not be in demand. "i should say so," answered fred. "with the thermometer as we have seen it since we came here, a heavy blanket or anything of the kind is quite superfluous. we rather want something for keeping cool, and if somebody will invent an ice-machine that you can carry in your pocket or even in your trunk he will make a fortune." "yes," the consul answered, "a thing much needed in the east is a cheap, easily handled, and light ice-machine. ice is worth from three to six cents a pound here, and sometimes it can't be had at any price. there is a machine made by a french company that is somewhat used here, but it gets out of order easily, and has to be sent to paris to be repaired. where is the yankee that will make something to go ahead of it? "but to return to the subject of the things that are made in america and sent here to sell. we have cotton cloths of various kinds; canvas, iron, steel, and lead; glassware in several varieties; lamps, kitchen machinery and utensils; canned fruits and vegetables, together with canned fish and preserves. by-the-way," he continued, "we had a dinner at the consulate last year at christmas-time, when everything edible on the table was of american origin, and brought to siam in cans. the dinner-party was also made up of americans, and you may be sure we had a good time, and could easily imagine we were at home. "some american machinery is used here, but not much, for the very simple reason that there is very little machinery of any kind used in siam. all the weighing apparatus in the custom-house and other government offices is from america, as you will find on going through them." "we passed the custom-house the other day," said frank, "and i remember seeing some scales there which seemed like american ones. i looked for the maker's name, and saw the word which everybody knows at home, 'fairbanks.' i was told that the king had some of these scales in his royal museum, and the only weighing-machines used in siam, at least by the government, were made by fairbanks." "the native merchants are learning the advantages of the american system of weighing, in preference to their primitive one, as they can get along so much faster with the new than with the old," the consul answered. "but the east is conservative, and cannot be expected to adopt anything new very hastily. "there is a good deal of american petroleum burnt here," he continued, "but it comes to siam from singapore, and not directly from america. in fact, about seventy per cent. of all the import and export trade of siam is through singapore, and so the merchants of siam pay more for their goods than if they were brought here direct from the countries where they are produced. the king is desirous of having direct trade with the united states, and so are many private individuals, and it is to be hoped that some of the merchants will yet bring it about. it is a pity that the pacific mail steamship company, or the occidental and oriental, does not see its way clear to a branch line between hong-kong and bangkok, to connect with the regular steamers between hong-kong and san francisco. two small steamers would perform the service, and i am confident it would pay." there were occasional interruptions to this conversation. now and then the boys saw a curious tree or something else that they wished to study, and they were never tired of looking at the native boats that paddled, or sailed, or floated down the river. [illustration: parasite and palm.] one of the trees that attracted their attention as they went along near the shore belonged to the family of parasites, and was not unlike some they had seen as they ascended the river from paknam to bangkok. the doctor explained that in this case the parasite was not a vine, but a distinct tree that grew from a seed deposited by the wind or by the birds on the trunk or among the leaves of a palm. it grows much faster than the palm, and in a few years the palm dies and the parasite lives. it is held in the air by the decaying stem of the parent tree until the latter altogether rots away and falls. when once the parasite has obtained a hold, the destruction of the palm is only a question of time. frank made a sketch of one of these trees while the boat was stopped a few moments to enable the engineer of the steam-launch to arrange something that had got out of order. [illustration: the bamboo-tree.] the bamboo-tree seemed to abound along the menam, as it does everywhere in the east. in some places the stalks stood singly, and shot up straight as arrows; while in others they were in clusters so dense that the stems could not be distinguished one from another. while frank was busy over his sketch of the parasite, fred managed to secure a good picture of one of the most useful trees in the world. it is said that there are more than a hundred uses for the bamboo among the chinese, and it is possible that a few others might be added in siam and java. [illustration: the boat they narrowly missed.] several times they had narrow escapes from collisions with the native boats, as the men who managed the latter were not very skilful in handling the rudder. one that passed so close to them as almost to scrape her sides against the boat of our friends, was a chinese craft not unlike what they had seen between hong-kong and canton. it was running before the wind, and had a great sail of matting that was kept in place by a dozen or more cords gathered in a single line at the stern. she had a high cabin, that seemed rather top-heavy with the wind on the beam, but was all right before it; and there was a little deck forward of the mast, where a couple of men were seated. the narrowness of the escape did not appear to disturb these natives in the least, and they kept their places as though nothing had happened. [illustration: scene at bang-pa-in.] night came upon them, but there was a good moon, and they kept steadily on their way. they were going against the current, and as the boat was considerably larger than the steam-launch, the progress was not rapid. at nine o'clock in the morning they passed bang-pa-in, where the king has a summer palace on a very pretty island in the most picturesque part of the river. the palace is built in european style, and was completed only a few years ago; the grounds are handsomely laid out, and there is an abundance of shade-trees, in irregular groves, from one end of the island to the other. ayuthia is ten miles above bang-pa-in; and soon after passing the picturesque island frank discovered some ruins of a temple close to the river's bank. the consul told him they would soon see an abundance of ruins, and sure enough at the next turn of the river they came in sight of what seemed to be a deserted village. then they saw a number of floating houses tied to the shore, and farther on the towers and domes of ayuthia were visible. the boat was stopped in front of a rude wharf, and the party stepped ashore in the ancient capital of siam. [illustration: a river scene.] chapter xi. visiting the prince of the elephants.--ayuthia.--something about crocodiles. the party went ashore as soon as the boat was made fast. frank was first to scramble up the bank, closely followed by fred; then came the doctor and the consul together, and behind them the interpreter of the consulate. at the consulates generally throughout the east it is the custom to have an interpreter, to facilitate dealings with the native officials and others; he is usually a native who has been taught english in some of the mission-schools, or he may be of american or european parentage, and familiar from his youth with the language of the country where he lives. in the present instance the interpreter was an intelligent young siamese, who was educated by the missionaries, and spoke english with great fluency. he was of much service to the doctor and his young companions, as he could tell them many things of interest concerning siam and what it contained. "we will first go," said the consul, "to call on the prince of the elephants. he lives in that house you see up there," he continued, as he pointed to a light structure of poles and matting, a hundred yards or so from the bank. the interpreter was sent on ahead to herald the arrival of the strangers, and returned in a few minutes with the announcement that the prince was ready to receive them. the consul and doctor bronson went forward, while frank and fred brought up the rear. frank thought the house was not a very sumptuous palace for a prince, especially one who had the title of the prince of the elephants. fred was of the same opinion, but said they might as well reserve their judgment until they had seen what was within. externally, the house was like a rough shed of poles for a framework, with its sides covered with matting, to allow a free circulation of air. some of the mats were rolled up, while others were closed; and it was certainly a very convenient house for a climate as hot as that of siam. they were received in the upper story, to which they ascended by a rough stairway, which could be removed as readily as a ladder. what the lower floor contained they did not know, as all the mats around it were closed. they found the prince just inside the door-way, and seated, or rather squatted, on a bench about two feet high. chairs had been placed for the strangers, and they were invited to be seated. the interpreter remained standing, and, after a moment's pause, the prince asked who the visitors were. the interpreter explained; and while he did so, frank made good use of his eyes to see what the prince was like and how he lived. [illustration: the young prince.] his royal highness appeared to be about fifty years old, or perhaps fifty-five. he was dressed in the native costume, without any gold-lace or other ornament to designate his high rank; the boys were somewhat disappointed at this, as they had expected to see a great personage covered with fine clothes, and ornamented with an abundance of diamonds and other precious stones. a youth, whom they supposed to be his son, stood near him, and occasionally leaned against the bench in a familiar way. servants were creeping about the floor, and it made a strange impression on the youths to see the humble attitudes of half a dozen or more of the attendants as they waited for orders in a corner of the room. this is the position of respect in siam, and, until the present king was crowned, it would have been as much as one's life was worth to venture into the presence of any member of the royal family in the european manner. when he ascended the throne, he commanded that the old custom of creeping, and bowing the head to the floor in the presence of the king, should cease; it was a great innovation, but, as it was by royal command, it could not be opposed. the rule is enforced at the king's palace, but not at the palaces of the subordinate princes; and thus it happened that frank and fred were witnesses of what to them was a curious custom, and by no means an agreeable one. the prince in whose presence they were was the uncle of the king. his name was chow phan alah, and the boys learned from the consul that he was a man of marked ability, who had been prominent in public affairs for a long time. socially, he adhered to the old customs of the country, as was evident in the creeping and crouching of those around him; but in politics he was progressive, and a good deal of the advancement that siam had made in the past twenty years was due to his energy and shrewdness. the interview lasted about a quarter of an hour. while the party was in the reception-hall, the prince ordered cigars and fruit to be served, and when they retired he sent a basket of fruit after them as a present. the consul had suggested that doctor bronson and the youths would like to see the stables of the elephants, and also wished to attend the elephant-hunt that was to come off about that time. the first request was granted at once; and the prince sent one of his officers to show the stables and their occupants, and also the corral close by, where the wild elephants were caught. he regretted to say that the hunt had been postponed a few days on account of the swollen condition of some of the rivers, which made it difficult to drive the animals through the forest. the boys were disappointed to hear this, but they were consoled with the reflection that they could see the spot where the hunt would take place, and the doctor promised to explain to them how it was conducted. [illustration: portrait of "chang."] the elephant-stable was only a huge shed, with the earth for a floor. it contained three or four elephants, all the others being out in the forest with the hunting-party. the largest of the elephants was brought out for their inspection; he was named "chang," and was thought to be not far from seventy years old. as the elephant lives to the age of one hundred and fifty years and upwards, old chang was just in the prime of life when the boys saw him, and his step was as elastic as that of a youth of twenty. he was not overjoyed to meet the strangers, and flourished his trunk in a menacing way; but at a sign from his keeper he ceased his demonstrations, and became thoroughly obedient. [illustration: macedonian coin, with ancient goad.] chang had been at work hauling timber during the cool hours of the morning, and his harness was still on his back. it consisted of a stout breastplate of ropes and leather, which was held in place by a pad on his back. just below his shoulder a stout ring was inserted in the breastplate, and to this the ropes by which the timber was drawn were attached. the driver sat on his neck, and directed him by means of an iron goad that had a hook near the end. frank could not at first understand the use of this iron, but he soon found out. the officer asked the boys if they would like to take a ride on the beast, and we may be sure they assented at once. chang was directed to a place at the side of a high wall, to which a sloping path led. the boys mounted to the top of the wall, and were thus enabled to take their places on the elephant's back. [illustration: modern goad.] the driver said something in siamese, and the elephant at once moved off. he did not go fast enough to suit the driver, and then the goad came into play. his neck was prodded with it, and the hook was inserted into his ear in a way that made him understand and obey. the goad has been in use without any modification of shape for two thousand years or more, as is shown by ancient coins of a date prior to the christian era. as soon as chang found that the driver was determined to use the goad he made no further opposition, and went along as peaceably as an obedient horse. the elephant generally obeys through affection for his driver; and instances have been known where one of these huge beasts has shown great grief at the loss of his favorite keeper, and refused all food until he literally starved to death. very often the driver talks to the elephant, and the beast seems to understand perfectly what is said to him. chang's driver did so, and hardly had he begun speaking before the elephant swung his trunk from side to side, and gave little grunts of satisfaction. the boys could not understand the language; but the interpreter told them that the driver was praising chang for his good conduct, and asking him why he behaved so badly when the strangers came so far to see him. and with an eye to his own pocket, he said, "they are very nice gentlemen, and will certainly give some ticals to buy bananas for good old chang." of course the interpreter told what had been said, and the boys, when the ride was over, fulfilled the promise that had been made on their behalf. [illustration: a war elephant.] one of chang's companions was led out from the stable, and assigned to doctor bronson and the consul. the interpreter had mounted with the boys, and so the officer who came by the command of the prince took a place with the others. he told the consul that the animal they were riding was trained for war purposes; and though he was occasionally put at work, like chang, whenever timber was to be hauled, he ordinarily had nothing to do. each of his tusks had three rings of silver encircling it, and he was evidently proud of his ornaments. the famous white elephants in the royal stables at bangkok have rings of pure gold on their tusks; they are not always sensible of the honor that is shown them, and when the rings are being put in place they manifest their displeasure in the most emphatic ways. on one occasion two of the court jewellers were killed by an elephant that objected to be ornamented after the customary manner of the country, and it was only after a long time that he submitted to the operation. when used for war, these elephants are equipped with a howdah, or basket, on their backs, and two or three soldiers are seated in it. they have a plentiful supply of weapons, and frequently so many as to encumber them greatly when they come to close quarters with the enemy. elephants are not used in battle as much as in ancient times; the great body of the beast makes a magnificent mark for a rifle, and when wounded an elephant is more dangerous to his friends than to the enemy. formerly a great number of elephants was kept for fighting purposes, but since the introduction of fire-arms the value of this huge beast for anything in war beyond the transportation of supplies has ceased to be apparent. consequently, they are not at all numerous; and probably, if the siamese were to indulge in war at the present time, they would not bring a single elephant into the battle-field. thus mounted, our friends went through the ruins of the ancient capital of siam. it was a novel promenade, and one that the boys were not likely to forget in a hurry. "the funniest thing yet," said frank. "we went through tokio and kioto in jinrikishas; we rode on a wheelbarrow in shanghai; we were carried in sedan-chairs in canton and hong-kong; and here we are seeing the ruins of ayuthia from the back of an elephant. wonder what we shall do next in the way of novel travelling!" but though greatly enjoying their ride, they did not forget that they were out for an excursion through a city, or rather through what was once a city. and the magnitude and extent of the ruins impressed them greatly, and showed what a magnificent place ayuthia must have been in the days of its glory. [illustration: near the palace.] the streets and yards, and even the houses, were overgrown with tropical trees that had been undisturbed for a hundred years and more; that they had made good use of their time, was everywhere apparent in the crumbling walls and the fallen towers that rose before the eyes of the visitors wherever they were turned. in several instances the bushes and climbing plants had completely covered the towers of the temples, and made them appear more like a great mass of verdure than a structure of brick and mortar. [illustration: in the ruined city.] at one place the party descended from their elephants and went to the top of a wing of the former palace of ayuthia. from the summit the view was extensive, and of a character not easy to describe. frank thought it was not greatly unlike the view from the tower of wat seh kate at bangkok, as the abundance of trees made it difficult to see much more than the spires of the pagodas; and this was the most that could be seen in ayuthia. but as he looked directly below him, he saw that the streets and court-yards were desolate, and he missed the throng of people that made the streets of bangkok alive. many parts of the palace were in a good state of preservation, and it seemed a pity that the city could not be repaired and peopled as it was of old. it is said that when the burmese overran siam and captured her capital in 1769, the walls were so massive, and the buildings so excellent in construction, that the destruction of ayuthia occupied nearly two months. many parts of the walls are still in existence, and it is not at all difficult to trace the boundaries of the city. the distance it is necessary to travel to pass around the city by following its walls, is variously stated at from five to ten miles; and as our friends did not make the journey, they have left the question undecided. a ruined city is a melancholy spectacle in any land and under any sky, and the boys were not at all sorry when the excursion through ayuthia was over. they had more reasons than sentimental ones, as they found the motion of the elephant was not particularly agreeable when continued for a long time, and it required a good deal of attention to keep from falling off the back of their new-fashioned steed. when they dismounted at the stables, they were obliged to stretch themselves two or three times to make sure that their backbones were in the proper place, and both were positive that they had all the elephant-riding they cared for--for that day at least. "it is nothing when you get used to it," said the consul. "if you had a journey of several days or weeks to make on an elephant, you would become accustomed to the motion in a short time, and could then endure it indefinitely." the doctor confirmed this view of the matter, and said the motion of the elephant was not nearly as hard as that of the camel for a beginner, and much easier to endure. "a camel," said he, "shakes you violently forward and back without cessation, while the motion of the elephant is not unlike that of a horse at a walk. if you have not mounted a horse for a long time, you will find yourself very sore and stiff after your first day's travel on the gentlest steed that was ever used, and this feeling will continue for two or three days. by degrees you get accustomed to it, and then you pay no farther attention to aches or pains, for the reason that you do not have them. it is just the same with an elephant or a camel, only the camel is much the worse. "in some respects the elephant is a most remarkable animal. he possesses great intelligence, and can be taught to do many things that border upon reason. books of natural history are full of incidents of the elephant's high order of intellect; the stories may sometimes be exaggerated, but there is no question that the majority of them are correct. in nothing is this more apparent than in the capture of his wild kindred; and it is a curious fact that the elephant, after being thoroughly domesticated, manifests no desire to return to his forest-life, and seems to take pleasure in assisting at the capture of others. we will talk about this business by-and-by, and meantime will complete our study of ayuthia." so far as the actual inspection of the ruined city was concerned, the study to which the doctor referred was already completed, and the party returned to the boat. frank asked if it was not possible to go farther up the river, and make a general exploration of siam. fred seconded him in the question, which was anxiously propounded to the consul and doctor bronson. "there are several reasons why we cannot do it," the former answered. "in the first place, we are limited for time of using the steam-launch and barge; secondly, i cannot spare the time to go farther; thirdly, we have not the necessary provisions and equipments for a wild journey; and, fourthly--" "never mind the other reasons," said the doctor; "those you have given are quite sufficient. we will go back, and be thankful that we have seen so much. only a few visitors to siam ever have the opportunity of coming to ayuthia and seeing its wonderful ruins." as the boat moved off, on her return to bangkok, the consul explained to the boys that the menam was about nine hundred miles in length, and had a general course from north to south. it flows through an exceedingly fertile country, and the siamese are very proud of it. its name in siamese means "mother of waters;" and though it is not to the country what the nile is to egypt, it is certainly of great importance. from the source of the river to its mouth, the forest is dense and luxurious, except where clearings have been made for purposes of agriculture. teak, sapan, and other tropical trees grow to a great size, and the underbrush is so thick that it is next to impossible to walk about until a path has been opened. fred thought it would be nice to have a bath in the menam; and proposed that they should try a swim in its waters the first time they had an opportunity. [illustration: crocodiles at home.] "i would advise you not to try it," the consul answered. "it is safe enough at bangkok, where there is so much movement of boats, and you might bathe there without danger. but in this part of the river there are plenty of crocodiles, and the higher up you go the more of them do you find. m. mouhot, who explored the upper menam in 1861, and died at the village of louang prebang in that year, says that in some instances he found the banks covered with crocodiles basking in the sun, and they were so unused to attacks that they were not at all disturbed by the presence of his boat. they frequently swallow incautious swimmers who venture into the parts of the river where they abound; and sometimes cattle going to the river to drink are seized by them. in such fights the crocodile is generally the victor, as he is thoroughly at home in the water, and his jaws have an enormous amount of strength." [illustration: taking a bite.] "what is the difference between the alligator and the crocodile?" one of the boys asked. "there is no material difference," the doctor answered, "between the two. the alligator is american, and the crocodile asiatic; and there is a slight difference in the formation of the head, and in the number and arrangement of the scales. the habits of the two are similar; they live in the water for the greater part of the time, but do not suffer any inconvenience when removed from it. they live mainly on fish, but have no prejudice against swallowing other game. hence their fondness for men, and also for pigs, sheep, dogs, cattle, and anything else that comes in their way. the tastes of both are identical; and i presume that if you brought a crocodile and an alligator together, and put them to live in the same tank, they would acknowledge their relationship, and dwell in peace and quietness. on the other hand, they might indulge in a deadly combat; and in this, again, their similarity would be shown, as they are not always of an amiable disposition, and often indulge in fierce battles." fred asked if it was possible for them to stop on the way down the river and have a hunt for crocodiles. frank retorted that they had no fire-arms for shooting this kind of game or any other; and it was his opinion that their captures would not be numerous under the present circumstances. [illustration: the doctor's crack shot.] "to shoot a crocodile," said the doctor, "you must first have him where you can shoot, and then you must have the weapon ready. it must be a powerful rifle, carrying a large ball; and there are very few places on the reptile's body where your shot will have any effect. if you are an expert with the rifle, you may hit him in the eye when he is swimming across a stream; the bullet penetrates the brain, and causes speedy death; but if you strike him an inch away from the eye, your shot is wasted. i once killed a large alligator in this way; it was the first i had ever shot, and i was very proud of my achievement. the next day and the next i tried to repeat the performance, and i kept it up for a week without result. i was unable to get a similar chance, as not one of the reptiles made his appearance, though the bayou was full of them. [illustration: alligator and crane.] "the alligator makes great use of his tail in fighting, and in sweeping his game into his mouth. a blow of the tail from even a small alligator will break a man's leg, and i have known it to cut off a tree two inches in diameter. when the fellow wishes to capture anything, he tries to creep along-side, and when within reach he opens his mouth and sweeps his great tail around at the same instant, and the prize disappears down his capacious throat. once i saw an alligator lying on a bank where some cranes were feeding not far away. he was motionless as a log--which he much resembled--but i could see that he had his eye open, and was on the lookout for a breakfast. by-and-by one of the cranes wandered near him, and like a flash his tail swept the bird into his mouth. then he stretched out and 'set himself again,' as my guide said, for another crane. [illustration: the trochilus.] "it is a curious circumstance, mentioned by herodotus, and greatly discussed since his time, that there is a small bird called the _trochilus_ that fearlessly enters the mouth of the crocodile, and relieves it of the leeches and flies that disturb it. the bird and the crocodile seem to be on the most friendly terms; and it is thought by some writers that the bird performs the additional service of sentinel to its huge friend, and warns him of the approach of danger." [illustration: trochilus and crocodile.] fred suggested that it was just possible that the bird was only an inquisitive fellow, and finding the crocodile's mouth open, he looked in to see what sort of a house it would make. and the crocodile, on his part, did not think the little bird was large enough to pay him for shutting his jaws on it; and so the intruder escaped solely on account of his diminutive size. "when you see a crocodile or an alligator asleep on a bank," the doctor continued, "you can, perhaps, get a good shot by creeping near enough to send a bullet under his fore-leg. the skin there is not protected by scales, and a bullet will penetrate it. especially if you have explosive balls that burst on the moment of concussion, you can tear a great hole inside your game, and seriously interfere with his digestion. i shot one once in this way on a sand-bar in the nile, a few miles above the first cataract; he was nearly twenty feet long, and it took my men a whole day to remove his skin. i was within thirty paces of him when i fired, and, as i had good aim, i sent the bullet exactly where i wished, he gave a few convulsive movements with his tail, and then stretched out stiff and dead." the doctor paused; and the consul took up the conversation with an account a friend had given him of a fight between a bear and an alligator in western louisiana. "my friend was out hunting one day," said the consul, "and was suddenly startled by a loud roaring in the bushes not far off. he cautiously crept near, expecting to see a couple of bulls preparing for combat; what was his astonishment to see a large bear and a full-grown alligator eying each other, and poising themselves for an encounter. "bruin was on his hind legs, his mouth was covered with foam, and there were several streams of blood on his black coat. the alligator was on the tiptoes of all his legs, and he lashed his tail furiously, and kept his great jaws moving as if trying their ability to close on the bear at the proper moment. [illustration: the alligator and the bear.] "the bear growled, and the alligator roared like a bull; and it was his roaring that had attracted my friend's attention. they had evidently indulged in a clinch before he saw them, and were making ready for a second round. for fully a minute they remained in the attitudes in which he first beheld them, and neither could make up his mind how to take the best hold. finally bruin dropped on all fours, and ran at the alligator; the latter met him by throwing his head and body to one side, and delivering a blow with his tail that knocked the bear over on the ground, and rolled him several yards away. the blow sounded as though it had been given with a club with the force of half a dozen men, and it is safe to say that the strongest man would have been killed by it. "the bear was not discouraged, for he picked himself up and ran once more at the alligator. he did it three times in succession, and with the same result; the alligator knocking him over each time. "bruin now saw that he must change his tactics. he made his next run in such a way as to avoid the tail, and he was fairly on the alligator's body before the blow could be given. the great tail was lashed furiously from side to side, but to no purpose, as it could not hit the bear either way. the force of the charge upset the alligator, and turned him completely over; the bear's jaws closed on one of his fore-legs, while the shaggy paws were clasped around the scaly body. the reptile was in a bad way, as his great weapon of warfare, the tail, was useless; and his neck was not flexible enough to enable him to bite. he roared in despair, and then bethought himself of a new trick. "his tail, as he lashed it around, happened to hit a small tree; he pushed against this tree as with a lever, and by using it as a fulcrum he managed to wriggle along to the bank. then another convulsive movement threw him and his antagonist into the water. "the bank from which they fell was about four feet high, and they tumbled in with a loud splash. they disappeared below the surface, and were out of sight for nearly two minutes. the bear came up, and, after scrambling to the shore, he gave a brief glance at the stream, to make sure that there was no chance of renewing the combat; then, shaking the water from his skin, he hurried off into the forest. my friend could have shot the bear with the utmost ease, but in consideration for the courage and determination he had shown he did not do so." "he was right," said frank; "such bravery should command respect." "but how about the alligator's part of the fight?" the doctor asked. "as to that," responded the youth, "the alligator deserves no credit. when he found he could not conquer the bear on equal terms, he sneaked into the river. he could live in the air or in the water, while the bear could not fight below the surface of the stream, and could not even live there. all the alligator had to do was to sink in the water, and the bear must drown or let go his hold. i like the bear's bravery, but don't think much of the other fellow." "no more do i," fred chimed in; "and it is a pity that the alligator could not have been shot before he rolled from the bank. all the race of crocodiles is a cruel one, and ought to be exterminated." "they are fast being driven from existence," said the doctor. "twenty-five years ago they were numerous in the nile below luxor; while to-day they are rarely seen below the first cataract, which is more than a hundred miles above luxor. they are also becoming scarce in the rivers of india; and the alligators in the southern parts of the united states are not nearly as numerous as they were. still, there are enough for all the demand that is likely to be made for them, and anybody who will invent a way of killing them rapidly will confer a benefit upon the human race." [illustration: just hatched.] "in regions where these reptiles abound, the natives have adopted the sensible plan of destroying the eggs whenever they find a nest. the nests are made in the sand or on a bank of earth, and the female alligator usually lays from twenty to forty--rarely more than the latter number. they are hatched by the heat of the sun: the mother does not sit on the nest like a hen, but she stays in the neighborhood and fights for their protection. when the chicks emerge from the shell they hurry off to the water, or to a hiding-place in the mud; and they seem to understand that they will be subject to many dangers until they get large enough to defend themselves. cranes and fish are fond of them in their tender youth, and even the fathers of the alligator family seem to mistake them for frogs, and eat them with apparent delight. "in some parts of india the natives dig a circular pit, and cover it with sticks and leaves. the pit surrounds a little island or mound of earth, and is close to a stream where crocodiles abound. on the mound they fasten a young goat, and his bleatings during the night attract the crocodiles, who break the slight floor of sticks with their heavy bodies, and fall into the pit prepared for them. heavy stakes are set in the bottom of the pit, and as the reptile falls he is generally impaled on one or more of them. "i have read of a famous old crocodile who defied all the ordinary modes of capture, in one of the rivers of india. finally an english officer hit upon a trick that was successful. he put a pound of powder in a can, and attached it to an electric wire, so that he could explode it at pleasure; then he placed this can inside the carcass of a sheep, and by means of a rope floated it over where the crocodile lay. the crocodile rose and swallowed the bait; the officer, who was standing ready with his electric battery on the shore, completed the connection of the wires, and an instant afterwards the reptile that had been a terror to the neighborhood had ceased to exist. the can of powder exploded in his stomach, and his body, when it came to the surface, was so torn and distorted that it could hardly be recognized as the remains of a crocodile." [illustration: coming out to sun himself.] chapter xii. stories of elephant-hunting.--scenes of the chase. when the topic of crocodiles and their relatives had been exhausted, fred reminded the doctor of his promise to tell them something of the ways of hunting elephants. "i was just coming to that," said doctor bronson, "and have been trying to refresh my memory on the subject. i do not know how they hunt elephants in siam, but from the appearance of the corral near the elephants' stables, i infer that the process is pretty nearly the same in all countries where the elephant is found in a wild state. [illustration: an elephant fence.] "you observed that the corral, or yard, at ayuthia was constructed of upright logs set into the earth in the form of a palisade. in ceylon it is made of heavy posts, with strong timbers placed horizontally, the whole interlaced and bound with withes, and braced with slanting posts on the outside. the fence is generally about fifteen feet high, and the openings in it will easily allow a man to pass through. at ayuthia you saw that the posts of the corral permit the same thing; the fence is like a sieve, that strains men through without difficulty, but catches the elephants. [illustration: form of a corral.] "here is the general appearance of the fence," said the doctor, as he took his pencil and drew on a sheet of paper, "and here is the shape of the corral. the corral is a pen, and the word is derived from the spanish, and means a ring or enclosure. the space enclosed is generally about five hundred feet long by half that width, and at one end there is a gate that can be opened and shut very quickly, and is large enough to permit the passage of but one elephant at a time. there is an avenue, shaped like the letter v, which leads up to the corral, and converges on the side where the gate is placed. it is concealed as much as possible by brushwood, and where it begins it is so slight as to be hardly perceptible. it extends a long distance into the forest, and a great deal of skill is required to construct it successfully. [illustration: beginning the drive.] "when the corral has been arranged, and is ready for occupation, the herd is supposed to be in its vicinity. eight or ten weeks have been spent in driving in the elephants; the forest where they roam has been surrounded very cautiously, and several herds have been driven together so slowly and quietly, that none of the sagacious beasts has any suspicion that he is being entrapped. sometimes hundreds of men are employed in driving in the herds, and an area is surrounded equal to several counties of an american state. day by day the circle grows narrower, and finally the men composing it are able to build fires ten or twelve feet from each other. not till then do they consider the game fairly bagged, and now they throw off all deception and adopt new tactics. where before all was still, is now a scene of wild confusion; the men make a loud noise, with musical and unmusical instruments, and each of them carries a torch, which he waves wildly in the air. they do this on three sides of the herd, while the fourth side, in the direction of the corral, is left conveniently open. [illustration: driving into the corral.] "the elephants are frightened, and rush in the desired direction; they now begin to suspect a snare, and frequently try to break through the line of men and rush back to their forest home. the men pelt them with the torches, and strike them with the burning sticks, till they turn around again and go where they are wanted; gradually they near the end of the corral, and finally a few of them make their way through the gate and are securely trapped. the natives rush forward and close the bars of the gate, and the rest of the herd is permitted to stray a little way back into the woods, but it is carefully kept from going too far. "when they find they are caught, the elephants rush wildly round the corral, trying first one part of the fence and then another, in the hope of escaping. wherever they go, they are met at the fence by men with flaming torches; and they are further terrified by discharges of musketry, and the sound of horns and trumpets. this performance is kept up for several hours of the day, and generally through the night; and at daybreak they make ready to secure the captives, and prepare the corral for a second lot of elephants. "it is in this work that the elephant shows the peculiarity of his nature, in using all his sagacity to assist in the capture of his kindred. he seems to know what is wanted of him, and invariably appears to take great delight in doing it." "elephant nature is not altogether unlike human nature," remarked the consul, with a smile. "not a few of our fellow-men, whenever they fall upon misfortune, are desirous of having others to share it with them." "it is an old adage that misery loves company," said fred. "but i hope it is not a true one," frank responded. "perhaps we had better give the human race the benefit of any doubt on the subject, and say that the quality we have been talking about is elephant nature, and does not belong to us." his proposal was accepted, and the account of elephant-hunting was resumed. "the removal of the captives requires a good deal of skill and caution, both on the part of the tame elephants and on that of the attendants. here is an excellent account of this operation: "the bars which secured the entrance to the corral were cautiously withdrawn, and two trained elephants passed stealthily in, each ridden by his _mahout_--or _ponnekella_, as he is called in ceylon--and one attendant, and carrying a strong collar, formed by coils of rope made from cocoa-nut fibre, from which hung on each side cords of elk's hide, prepared with a ready noose. along with them, and concealed behind them, the head-men of the _cooroowe_, or noosers, crept in, eager to secure the honor of taking the first elephant--a distinction which this class jealously contests with the mahouts of the chiefs and the temples. he was a wiry little man, nearly seventy years old, who had served in the same capacity under the kandyan king, and wore two silver bangles, which had been conferred on him in testimony of his prowess. he was accompanied by his son, named ranghanie, equally renowned for his courage and dexterity. "on this occasion ten tame elephants were in attendance; one of which had been caught only the year before, but was now ready to assist in capturing others. one was of prodigious age, having been in the service of the dutch and english governments in succession, for upwards of a century. the other, called by her keeper 'siribeddi,' was about fifty years old, and distinguished for her gentleness and docility. she was a most accomplished decoy, and evinced the utmost relish for the sport. having entered the corral noiselessly, she moved slowly along with a sly composure and an assumed air of easy indifference; sauntering leisurely in the direction of the captives, and halting now and then to pluck a bunch of grass or a few leaves, as she passed. as she approached the herd, they put themselves in motion to meet her, and the leader, having advanced in front and passed his trunk gently over her head, turned and paced slowly back to his dejected companions. siribeddi followed with the same listless step, and drew herself up close behind him, thus affording the nooser an opportunity to stoop under her and slip the noose over the hind foot of the wild one. the elephant instantly perceived his danger, shook off the rope, and turned to attack the man. the latter would have suffered for his temerity, had not siribeddi protected him by raising her trunk and driving the assailant into the middle of the herd, when the old man, being slightly wounded, was helped out of the corral, and his son, ranghanie, took his place. "the herd again collected in a circle, with their heads towards the centre. the largest male was singled out, and two tame ones pushed boldly in, one on each side of him, till the three stood nearly abreast. he made no resistance, but betrayed his uneasiness by shifting restlessly from foot to foot. ranghanie now crept up; holding the rope open with both hands, its other extremity being made fast to siribeddi's collar, and watching the instant when the wild elephant lifted its hind foot, he succeeded in passing the noose over its leg, drew it close, and fled to the rear. the two tame elephants now fell back; siribeddi stretched the rope to its full length, and while she dragged out the captive, her companion placed himself between her and the herd to prevent any interference. [illustration: securing the captives.] "in order to secure him to a tree, he had to be dragged back some twenty or thirty yards, making furious resistance, bellowing in terror, plunging on all sides, and crushing the smaller timber, which bent like reeds beneath his clumsy struggles. siribeddi drew him steadily after her, and wound the rope round the proper tree, holding it all the time at its fullest tension, and stepping cautiously across it when, in order to give it a second turn, it was necessary to pass between the tree and the elephant. [illustration: siribeddi's prize.] "one after the other the herd was secured, in spite of their resistance; and the whole time consumed in disposing of an elephant, from the moment the decoys approached him till he was secured to a tree, was about three-quarters of an hour. the captives tried all possible ways to escape, but it was of no use; they were fastened to the trees, and the cords were so strong and so well tied that the greatest exertions of the prisoners were of no effect whatever. some of the tricks they practised in endeavoring to escape were very ingenious, and showed that the elephant in his wild state has the full development of the sagacity which he displays in captivity. their strength is enormous, and sometimes they pull down trees in their struggles. [illustration: the prisoners tied up.] "it is a curious circumstance," the doctor continued, "that the tame elephant who is assisting at the capture of his kindred never displays the least sympathy for them; while they, on the other hand, show a great deal of it for each other. when a captive, who is being dragged to a tree, passes one that is already tied up, he will stop and twine his trunk around the other's legs and neck, and manifest in all the ways that he can a deep sorrow for what has happened. [illustration: a little head work.] "when the animals are secured the corral presents a curious spectacle. the great beasts are stretched out in various attitudes, their feet fastened to the trees, and sometimes spread far apart. they moan and bellow for hours together; they seize hold of the trees with their trunks, and exhaust all their ingenuity in endeavoring to get free. when all other means have failed, they will often try to escape by turning somersaults; and it is interesting to see an elephant balancing himself on his head, and endeavoring to throw his heels in the air. for awhile they refuse to eat or drink, and sometimes they literally starve themselves to death. i have heard of several instances where they have refused to move or eat, and remain motionless for days, till they die. it is generally the finest elephant of a herd that kills himself in this way; the natives say he dies of a broken heart, and i am quite inclined to believe that such is the case. and it sometimes happens that after an elephant has been tamed, and is thoroughly obedient to his keeper, he will lie down and die on the very first attempt to harness him. [illustration: in a heap of trouble.] "there is a story of an elephant in ceylon, which was one of the finest that had been taken in a long while. he resisted a good deal when first captured; and when they were removing him from the corral to the stables, a distance of about six miles, he was so obstinate that the journey occupied several hours. he escaped once, but was afterwards recaptured and became very docile; but when he was taken to colombo, he stopped in front of the gate of the fort, and would not enter. while they were trying to persuade him to go inside, he lay down on the ground and died, without the least struggle." frank asked in what way the elephants are tamed, after they have been captured and tied up as the doctor described. "they are subdued," said the doctor, "partly by starvation, and partly by kind treatment. hunger is the great force used, as the elephant is not allowed to have any food until he shows signs of becoming tractable. sometimes he is starved for a week or more; but he is allowed to satisfy his thirst to a limited extent. when he indicates that he has become docile, and is accustomed to the presence of his keeper, he is released and taken to the stables, where he is well fed. no attempt is made to harness him for some time, but he is exercised with the other elephants, and gradually reconciles himself to a captive state. in nine cases out of ten he never shows the least inclination to rebel, but accepts his new condition of life with perfect resignation; and, as i have before told you, he is quite ready and willing to assist in the capture of his former comrades. "in some parts of asia the natives capture elephants by digging deep pits, and covering them with bushes and leaves, so that the trap is quite concealed. the herd is then driven in the direction of the pit, and some of the animals fall into it. a guard is placed over them, and they are kept without food for seven or eight days, and even for a longer period if they do not submit. when they are conquered, the sides of the pit are dug down, and they are led out of the place of their imprisonment. there is a very good story connected with this mode of capture; it is an old one, and evidently the eastern version of the fable of the mouse and the lion, which is in all the story-books." "tell it, please," said fred; and the request was echoed by his cousin. "i will tell it," said the doctor, "though i fear you may consider it too juvenile for you. "hundreds of years ago an elephant was taken in a pit in a forest in india. he bemoaned his fate, and wept aloud. the guard that had been left over him was asleep under a tree, and a priest who was passing heard his lamentations and tried to console him. "'alas!' said the elephant, 'there can be no consolation for me. i must stay in this pit till i am subdued, and then i shall be the slave of man. no one can save me.' "'don't be so sure of that,' replied the priest. 'if you have ever done a good action to anybody, you can call him to your aid, and he will assist you. think of some service you have given, and perhaps it will now be of use to you.' "'i have done services on several occasions,' the elephant answered; 'but those who were favored were so small that they can now do nothing for a great body like me.' "'tell me one of them,' said the priest. "'last year,' said the elephant, 'the prince of this province had captured the king of the rats, and a great many of his subjects. he had them in earthen jars, and was about to drown them; but i came along in the night and broke all the jars, so that the rats ran away and were free. [illustration: refusing to move on.] "'and another time a man had the queen of the tribe of the parrots in a cage, and hung it on a tree where nobody could reach it. i pulled the tree down and broke the cage, so that the queen flew away to her companions.' "just then the scream of a parrot was heard from a neighboring tree, and the priest said to the elephant, "'call that parrot, and ask him to go and tell his queen to come and see her benefactor, who is now in trouble? "the elephant protested that it would be of no use, as the parrot could not help him in any way, no matter how willing she was to do so. but the priest insisted, and the elephant obeyed. "in a little while the queen came, and then the priest told the elephant to send her with a message to the king of the rats. away she flew, and told the rat king how their old benefactor had fallen into a pit. "the king sent out his messengers to all parts of his dominions, and by the next morning they were assembled to the number of several millions. the king ordered them to follow him, and they went to where the elephant was entrapped. the parrot queen was there ahead of them, and she had brought millions of her subjects. the guards were now awake, but the parrot queen talked to them and amused them, and she kept flying off a little way at a time, till she drew them out of sight of the pit. then the rats began scratching at the edge of the pit; and though each of them only threw down a very little earth at a time, there was soon a large path sloping to where the elephant stood. at the same time the millions of parrots began breaking little twigs from the trees, and dropping them into the pit; the elephant piled these twigs and the earth beneath him, and in a few hours he walked out of the pit, and away into the forest, where he joined his companions and told them what had happened. "'who would have thought,' he said to his fellow-elephants, 'that the largest animal in the world could be saved by such insignificant creatures as the parrot and the rat. hereafter i will never despise small things, or despair of being brought out of trouble. good actions will be rewarded, no matter how insignificant may be their recipient.'" "a very pretty story!" exclaimed both the boys in a breath. "it is a story with a moral," doctor bronson answered; "and i leave you to apply it while we have a little more talk about the elephant." "a baby elephant is about the most amusing beast in the world; he is affectionate and playful to a high degree, and there is little difficulty in taming him. very often the young elephants are taken in the corrals with their mothers, whom they follow to the tying-down place, and thence to the stables when the captives are released from their bonds. a gentleman at colombo had one that was sent down to his house from the corral where he was taken, and he very soon became a favorite with everybody about the place. he stayed generally near the kitchen, where he picked up a good many things of which he was fond; and sometimes, when the gentleman was walking in the grounds, the young giant would come to him and twine his trunk around his arm, to indicate that he wanted to be taken to the fruit-trees. he used to be admitted to the dining-room, and helped to fruit at dessert, and he finally got to coming in at odd times when not invited. on two or three occasions he managed to break all the glasses on a sideboard, while reaching for some oranges in a basket, and finally he became so mischievous that he had to be sent away. while he was at the house the grass-cutters occasionally placed their loads of grass on his back, and whenever this was done he strutted off with an air of the greatest pride at the confidence that was shown in him. after he was sent to the government stables he became very docile; and when his turn came for work, he performed it to the satisfaction of everybody. [illustration: sliding down hill.] "it is said that elephants amuse themselves by sliding downhill; but they do not use sleds, like boys in america. natives who claim to have witnessed these performances say that the huge beasts enter into the sport with great enthusiasm, and keep it up for hours. [illustration: elephant-hunting on foot.] "elephants are hunted with the rifle by english and other sportsmen; and thousands of them have been killed in this way for the sake of their tusks, or for mere amusement. their number has been so much diminished by this means, that in india and ceylon the government has taken the elephant under its protection, and it can only be pursued and slaughtered by the express permission of the officials. at present the paradise of elephant-hunters is in africa. the african elephant is much like his asiatic brother; but his ear is nearly three times as large as that of the latter, and his skin has fewer hairs upon it. "he is a vicious brute, and often turns on his hunter and puts him to a rapid flight. i have read of an englishman who was one day chasing an african elephant, and, after a great deal of manoeuvring, got near enough to give him a shot. it was fortunate for the hunter that he was well-mounted and had a firm seat in his saddle, as the wounded elephant turned after the shot was fired and crashed through the bushes in the direction of his assailant. horse and rider had a narrow escape, and the two dogs that accompanied the sportsman came in for a share of the fright. the hunter concluded that he would let the elephant go his way unmolested; and when the enraged animal turned back into the forest he was not followed." "it reminds me," said the consul, "of the story of the army officer in india who was asked if he found tiger-hunting a pleasant amusement. 'hunting the tiger,' said he, 'is very pleasant as long as the tiger is hunted; but when he turns and hunts you, the pleasure ceases altogether.'" [illustration: the hunter hunted.] "it is about the same with the chase of the wild elephant," the doctor remarked. as he said it, the servant announced the readiness of something to eat in the cabin, and the conversation was suspended until the party was seated at table. "in some parts of the east," doctor bronson continued, "it is the custom for princes and kings to give grand entertainments in the shape of elephant fights. sometimes two elephants are matched together; but quite as often they are pitted against some other beast. formerly these fights were carried on till one of the combatants was dead or severely hurt; but at present an effort is made to keep them from injuring each other, and the fight is little more than a series of rather violent pushes from one side of the ring to the other. "mr. crawfurd, who was sent at the head of an embassy from the governor-general of india to siam and cochin china in 1821, was present at a tiger and elephant fight in saigon. his account is interesting in two ways; it shows the manner of conducting one of these fights, and gives us a glimpse at the manners of the far east sixty years ago. after detailing his reception by the governor, he says: "we were invited to be present at an elephant and tiger fight, and for this purpose we mounted our elephants and repaired to the glacis of the fort, where the combat was to take place. a great concourse of people had assembled to witness the exhibition. the tiger was secured to a stake by a rope tied round his loins, and about thirty yards long. the mouth of the unfortunate animal was sewn up, and his nails drawn out; he was of large size, and extremely active. no less than forty-six elephants, all males and of great size, were seen drawn out in line. one at a time was brought to attack the tiger. "the first elephant advanced, to all appearance, with a great show of courage, and we thought, from his determined look, that he would certainly have despatched his antagonist in an instant. at the first effort he raised the tiger on his tusks to a considerable height, and threw him to the distance of at least twenty feet. notwithstanding this, the tiger rallied and sprung upon the elephant's trunk and head, up to the very keeper, who was upon his neck. the elephant took alarm, wheeled about, and ran off, pursued by the tiger as far as the rope would allow him. the fugitive, although not hurt, roared most piteously, and no effort could bring him back to the charge. a little after this, we saw a man brought up to the governor, bound with cords, and dragged into his presence by two officers. "'this was the conductor of the recreant elephant. a hundred strokes of the bamboo were ordered to be inflicted upon him on the spot. for this purpose he was thrown on his face on the ground, and secured by one man sitting astride upon his neck and shoulders, and by another sitting upon his feet, a succession of executioners inflicting the punishment. when it was over, two men carried off the sufferer by the head and heels, apparently quite insensible. "'while this outrage was perpetrating, the governor coolly viewed the combat of the tiger and elephant, as if nothing else particular had been going forward. ten or twelve elephants were brought up in succession to attack the tiger, which was killed at last, merely by the astonishing falls he received when tossed off the tusks of the elephants. the prodigious strength of these animals was far beyond anything i could have supposed. some of them tossed the tiger to a distance of at least thirty feet, after he was nearly lifeless, and could offer no resistance. we could not reflect without horror that these very individual animals were the same that have for years executed the sentence of the law upon the many malefactors condemned to death. upon these occasions, a single toss, such as i have described, is always, i am told, sufficient to destroy life.'" [illustration: taking a nap.] chapter xiii. bang-pa-in to bangkok.--studies in natural history and botany. as they returned down the river the boat stopped at bang-pa-in, to enable the young tourists to have a view of the place. the name means, "city on an island," and is a literal description of the situation. the island is not very wide in proportion to its length, and the boys found that the beauties of the spot were quite up to the expectation they had formed during their journey up the river. they walked through the gardens, which were laid out with exquisite taste, and sat beneath the trees, whose dense foliage afforded a grateful shade; they were shown through the palace, found it furnished in european style, and their sharp eyes caught sight of a piano, which gave a hint of the musical taste of the king. the officer in charge of the place showed an album of monograms which his majesty had arranged, and some pencil sketches that were the work of the royal hands. the boys were consoled for the absence of the king by the reflection that if he had been present the palace would not have been open to visitors, and some of the interesting sights of bang-pa-in would have escaped them. when they reached the landing to continue their journey, they found a native boat along-side their own with fruits and other things to sell. by direction of doctor bronson, the interpreter bought a selection of what was in the market; and, as soon as they were again in motion, the boys employed their eyes and palates in a scientific investigation of the good things before them. the first article that they discussed was a green cocoa-nut. frank wondered what use they could make of it, and fred suggested that they might keep it till it was ripe. one of the servants speedily put an end to their suspense. with a dexterity that was evidently the result of long practice, he cut away the husk, and then made a hole in the shell of the nut large enough for the easy insertion of one's thumb. the opening revealed the interior of the nut, with a slight accumulation of white pulp close to the shell, while all the rest of the enclosed space was filled with milk. when it was thus prepared he handed the nut to frank, and immediately opened another, which he gave to fred. frank laughed, and said, "what shall we do with it?" "drink the milk, and throw away the shell," replied the doctor, as he took one from the hands of the servant, and suited his action to his words. the boys did as they were directed, and the drink was followed by an exclamation of delight. [illustration: cocoa-nuts full grown and just forming.] they found the milk of the cocoa-nut a cool and refreshing beverage; and, on the assurance of the consul that they might take all they wished without fear of injury to their digestion, they proceeded with the demolition of more and more nuts, until the basket was emptied. the consul told them that the juice of the green cocoa-nut was a favorite beverage throughout siam, and was considered by some people as far safer to drink than the water of the river. "there is a good deal of vegetable matter in the river water," said he, "and it is undoubtedly the cause of derangements of the stomach when freely used. but the juice of the nut is pure and healthy, and its slightly acid taste makes it welcome to the palate. it is cool, as you have seen, and the acidity doubtless causes it to seem to be of a lower temperature than the surrounding atmosphere." [illustration: the bread-fruit.] fred asked if the famous bread-fruit was in the lot they had bought, and was rather disappointed at its absence. but a bread-fruit tree was pointed out to him as they floated down the river, and he made note of the fact that it was about forty feet high, and had a leaf nearly two feet long. the fruit resembled a large, very large apple, or perhaps a small melon; and the doctor told him that the outer husk furnished a fibre like that of the cocoa-nut, which could be made into a sort of coarse cloth. the doctor further explained that the bread-fruit was baked in the shell, the same as an oyster is roasted, and that the inner pulp, when thus cooked, resembled a sweet-potato in taste, and was very nutritious. to the touch it was not unlike the soft part of a loaf of bread, and its name was due to this latter quality rather than to its taste. "it forms," said he, "the chief sustenance of the inhabitants of many of the islands of the south pacific ocean, and is to be found nearly everywhere in the tropics. it was introduced into the west indies about a century ago, and its cultivation has been very successful in that region; later it was planted in central america, and has become so well known and used that the natives rely largely upon it for their food. the product of three trees in some of the pacific islands will support a man for a year; and it is no wonder that he becomes lazy when he has nothing to do but pluck his food from a tree." [illustration: pineapple.] when they had finished with the cocoa-nuts, they had a fine pineapple; and they remarked that its freshness made it sweeter and better than any pineapple they had ever eaten at home. frank made a sketch of this fruit, with its long and sharp-pointed leaves, and then he drew the inside of a fruit which, for want of a better name, he called a star-apple. it had a purple skin, and resembled an orange in shape and size; the pulp was white, and, when it was cut across, the cells for the seeds showed the exact form of a star. fruit after fruit was cut, in the hope that one would be found without the star; but the effort was a complete failure. [illustration: star-apple.] of course they had oranges in abundance; and they had half a dozen fruits whose names were quite unknown to them, but which were all delicious. fred lamented that the attempt to tell about the flavor of a strange fruit was like trying to describe the song of a bird, or the perfume of a flower. so they concluded that the best thing for them to do was to eat the fruit and admire it; and if anybody wanted to know what it was like, he would refer him to the article itself, and let him judge of the quality. [illustration: a new kind of fruit.] while seated on the deck of the boat, and engaged in testing the peculiarities of an orange, frank espied something on a tree that grew close to the water. thinking it might be a new kind of fruit, he called the doctor's attention to his discovery; the latter said the strange thing was nothing more nor less than the nest of a bird, and would hardly prove edible. frank's illusion was broken, as the doctor spoke, by a small bird that hopped on a limb in front of the supposed fruit, and at the same instant the head of another bird appeared from a hole in the nest. evidently the nest was constructed of cotton, or something of the sort, as it was nearly snow-white in color; it hung from the limb, so that it swayed in the wind, and it was not at all surprising that frank had mistaken it for a variety of fruit hitherto unknown to him. [illustration: tailor-bird and nest.] "that nest is not so remarkable," said the doctor, "as the one made by the tailor-bird, an inhabitant of siam and the tropical parts of india and malacca. it chooses a leaf on a small twig, and then proceeds to puncture a row of holes along the edge with its beak, just as a shoemaker uses an awl for making holes in a piece of leather. when it has thus perforated the leaf, it takes a long fibre from a plant, and passes it through the holes. the operation of sewing is imitated with great exactness, and the fibre is pulled, like a thread, until the edges of the leaf are drawn towards each other and form a hollow cone. if the bird cannot find a single leaf large enough for its purpose, it sews two leaves together; and instances have been known where three leaves were used. when the framework of the nest is completed, the bird fills the interior with the softest down it can gather from plants, and it thus has a home which it is next to impossible to discover among the leaves. there is another bird that lives near watercourses and marshes, and constructs a nest by sewing the reeds and rushes together; but its work is not so perfect as that of the tailor-bird, and does not entitle him to equal credit." frank was anxious to obtain one of these nests as a curiosity, and was gratified, on his return to bangkok, to find one for sale in the hands of a native. he bought it, and had it carefully packed, so that he could send it home without fear of injury in the next box of curiosities they should despatch to america. from birds the conversation wandered to fishes, and the boys learned something that caused their eyes to open with astonishment. lest it should be forgotten, it was entered in both their note-books, and read as follows: "there is a fish in siam, and other parts of the east, that has the remarkable peculiarity of going overland from one pond to another. when the water where they are dries up, the fishes start for the nearest pond, though it may be several miles away; and they propel themselves by means of their fins, very much as a turtle drags himself with his feet. their instinct is unerring, and they have never been known to make a mistake about heading for the water that is nearest. it is said that you may take one of them up and turn him around half a dozen times, till he is dizzy, but he will not lose his points of compass. when he is put down again he takes the proper direction, and though you put him off the track ever so many times, he always returns to it." "we shall next hear, i suppose, that there are fishes that climb trees," fred remarked, as he finished his note on the fishes that go overland. "quite possibly," frank replied; "let us ask the doctor." they asked the question, and were taken somewhat aback when doctor bronson answered in the affirmative. [illustration: a climbing-fish.] "i don't know," said he, "if there are any fish in siam that climb trees, but there is one in brazil that can perform this feat. he does not ascend a perpendicular tree, but when he finds one that slopes at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and has its roots in the water, he will venture on an excursion in the air. his scales are very large, and he works himself forward by a motion of the lower ones as they press against the bark of the tree. he hugs the tree with his fins in order to maintain his balance; his movements in climbing are very slow, and he certainly appears to better advantage in the water, where he is a rapid and graceful swimmer. you see that a fish out of water is not always the unhappy creature he has been supposed to be by most persons." "i heard somebody say one day," said fred, "that oysters grow on trees in some parts of the world. is that really so?" "certainly," was the doctor's answer; "they do grow on trees, but not in the way you are naturally led to suppose." "how is it, then, doctor?" queried frank. "it is quite simple when you understand it," was the response. "the spawn of the oyster floats in the water, and attaches itself to the first thing with which it comes in contact. it frequently happens that, at high-tide, the water comes up a little way on the trunk of a tree, or it may be that a limb of a tree hangs in the water. the oyster-spawn is attached to the trunk or limb, as the case may be, and when the tide goes away it remains there. it has enough vitality to live until the tide comes again; it retains its hold, and in course of time becomes an oyster growing on a tree. he could not live altogether without water, but he can easily get along during the intervals of the tides. he does not grow on a tree like an apple or an orange, but he certainly makes the tree his home." "do they have oysters in siam?" one of the boys asked. "oysters grow in the gulf of siam," was the reply; "but they are not equal to those of the atlantic coast of the united states. as for that matter, no oysters in any part of the world can or do equal ours; at least in the opinion of residents of the united states. here in the east indies they have some very large oysters; there is one variety that often attains a weight of three hundred pounds; it is not good for anything, however, and you never hear a man in a restaurant calling for a dozen of this variety on the half-shell. "naturalists have described about sixty varieties of oysters in different parts of the world, and it is said that more than two hundred species of fossil oysters have been found by geologists. most of these forms are now extinct, and, therefore, we have no way of determining whether all of them have been good to eat or otherwise. it is often remarked that the first man who ate an oyster must have been very brave, and it is a pity that his name has not come down to us. one version of the story is that he thrust his fingers into an open shell which he saw lying on the sea-shore; the oyster was angry at this intrusion, and immediately closed on the fingers, very much to the man's astonishment. it required a great deal of wrenching to liberate them from the shell, and they were somewhat injured in the operation; the man naturally put his fingers in his mouth to relieve the pain, and in so doing he learned the taste of the oyster. having learned it, he immediately smashed the shell with a stone and devoured the contents, and he continued to eat oysters till he had made a hearty meal. always after that, when he was hungry, he went to the oyster-bank and satisfied his appetite, and from being thin as a skeleton he grew fat and rosy. his neighbors noted the change, and one day when he was proceeding stealthily to his favorite retreat they watched him and found his secret. when it was once out, the news spread with great rapidity, and thus was inaugurated the habit of eating the oyster. when this occurred no one knows; but the fact is that the ancient romans and greeks were fond of the oyster, and esteemed it greatly as an article of food. "another remarkable fact is--" before the doctor could finish the sentence, frank sprung to his feet in an excited manner, and pointed to a tree that stood not twenty feet from the bank of the river. "see that great snake!" he shouted; "and see that squirrel in front of him!" [illustration: the snake and the squirrel.] a snake was coiled around the limb of the tree with his neck bent, and his head slowly waving in the air. his body glistened in the sunlight as it played on his scales, and frank fancied he could see the fire darting from his eyes. a foot or so in front of him was a squirrel, sitting on his haunches, and with his tail erect; his eyes were fixed on the serpent, and he was chattering wildly, and as if greatly alarmed. while they looked at the strange spectacle, the head of the snake was darted forward, and in an instant the poor little squirrel was transfixed by the deadly fangs. frank wished they had been able to save the squirrel by killing the snake, but his wishing was of no avail, as they were moving down the stream; and, besides, they had no fire-arms with which the serpent could have been disturbed in his retreat up the tree. "i suppose the squirrel was charmed by the snake," said fred, as soon as they had passed out of sight of the tree. "as to that," replied doctor bronson, "there is much dispute. many persons who have studied the subject are positive that snakes have the power of charming or fascinating small birds and animals; and others, who have studied it quite as much, deny that any such power exists. i have heard so much on both sides, that i am not able to form a positive opinion. i am inclined, however, to believe that the power is possessed by certain snakes, as i have seen manifestations of it, or something very like it. when i was a boy in the country, i one day saw a large black snake in an apple-tree on my uncle's farm. a bird was hopping around on the limbs in great alarm, as i judged by his twitterings; he seemed to be terribly afraid of the snake, and at the same time unable to get away from him. i watched his movements for nearly half an hour, and observed that each time the bird moved he came nearer to the snake; and the performance ended by his lighting on a branch within a foot of where the latter was coiled. then the snake darted his head forward and seized the bird, precisely as you saw that scaly fellow, a few moments ago, seize the squirrel. "exactly what the process of charming is, if it really exists, it is difficult to say. probably the victim is paralyzed, to some extent, by the horrible appearance of the serpent, and deprived of the use of his limbs. if you suddenly come in contact with a ferocious wild beast, or some terrible danger is presented to you, it is not at all improbable that you will be unable to move from sheer fright. i am inclined to believe that the fascination of birds and small mammals by serpents is something of this sort, but i confess my inability to explain why the victim, in moving around, comes every moment nearer to his destroyer, as though he could not remove his eyes, however much he might wish to do so." "if you travel around much in siam," the consul remarked, "you will find all the snakes you care to see. it is not unusual to see them swimming in the river; and in the rainy season they frequently get into the houses, particularly those that float on the water. most of them are harmless, but there are some poisonous ones, including the famous _cobra di capella_." frank thought he would prefer not to live in a floating house, for the present at least; and his opinion was shared by fred. they were not at all enamored of the idea of having an intimate association with the wandering snakes of siam. [illustration: monkeys at home.] "i think," said the doctor, "that if you were compelled to select some of the inhabitants of the siamese forests as your companions, you would prefer monkeys to snakes. in the region north of here you could find an abundance of them, and of all sizes; they run wild in the forests, and sometimes are found in large droves. they are sociable beings, and very fond of each other's society; and if one of them gets into trouble, his companions are quite likely to come to his relief. a friend of mine was out hunting one day, and saw a monkey on a tree where a fair chance for a shot was presented. he fired and wounded the monkey, who immediately set up a piteous howl; in a few minutes dozens of monkeys were around him, and they seemed to understand that my friend was the cause of the trouble. he fled, and they pursued him; he fired his gun to frighten them, and, after knocking several of them over, he reached an open space of country, and was allowed to go on undisturbed. if he had been without his gun he would not have escaped so easily. [illustration] "monkeys have a good many enemies besides man. wild beasts devour them, and occasionally snakes manage to take them in; the fellows are so active that they can only be captured by strategy, or their own carelessness and curiosity; and they often fall victims to the last-named quality. a tiger will lie down and pretend to be dead; the monkeys see him, and draw near to investigate. they approach cautiously, stop frequently, and do a deal of chattering. if the tiger stirs a muscle, they take the alarm at once and are off; but if he lies perfectly still, they are sure, in a little while, to come so close that one of the boldest will venture to pluck at his hide. as he does so he jumps several feet to one side, and if the tiger should rouse himself he would be baffled of his prey. he continues to lie as if dead; and finally the monkeys, believing he is really nothing but a carcass, proceed to sit on him and hold a coroner's inquest. now is the tiger's chance; and with a sudden spring he has one of the fattest in his jaws, while the rest scamper away to the forest. [illustration] "another enemy of the monkey is the eagle. when the monkeys are playing in the branches of a tree the eagle swoops down with great rapidity, and carries one of the party off in his powerful claws. often there is a fearful struggle in the air, as the monkey is not inclined to die without a protest; and as he has a great deal of strength, and is full of activity, he occasionally comes off victorious and escapes, though he may be killed by the fall from the height where the eagle drops him. a gentleman of my acquaintance once witnessed the capture of a monkey by an eagle; the eagle fastened his claws in the back of the monkey, and, though the latter struggled violently, his hold was not once broken. the eagle flew to the top of a distant tree, where he undoubtedly devoured his victim at his leisure. [illustration: eagle capturing a monkey.] "in seizing a monkey, the eagle always endeavors to grasp him by the back and neck, one claw being in the neck, and the other farther down. the reason of this is that, unless the monkey is firmly held by the neck, he will turn his head and inflict a terrible bite on his assailant; but as long as the neck is thus held he is powerless. it is said that the first thing the eagle does, after taking a monkey, is to put out his eyes with his powerful beak; but in so doing he is in danger of having his head seized by the monkey's paws." "on the whole," said frank, "i don't think i care about forming an intimate acquaintance with the monkey." fred was of the same opinion, and the subject of conversation was changed. chapter xiv. the king in his state barge.--betel and tobacco. on their arrival at bangkok, our friends found that the king had returned, and was to begin on the following day his annual visits to the temples of the city. once a year he goes in state to the temples, and about two weeks are consumed in making the rounds of all of them. the siamese attach much importance to this ceremony, as their country is considered the principal seat of the buddhist religion, and the king is its first defender. therefore it is considered necessary that he should worship officially at the shrines of the leading temples of the capital, in addition to his daily worship in the temples attached to the grand palace. the consul arranged to accompany doctor bronson and the youths to one of the temples the king was to visit, so that they might see the procession, and have a glimpse of the ruler of siam. about ten o'clock in the forenoon they left the hotel in their boat, and a half-hour's pull up and across the river brought them to the spot. they spent a little while in the inspection of the temple and its surroundings: they had visited the same temple in the first days of their stay in bangkok, and therefore many things were familiar to their eyes. but where it had been quiet before all was now activity, and there was a considerable assemblage of people, who had come, like themselves, to witness the ceremony. after a time there was a stir, and the announcement was made that the king was coming. the boys looked up the river in the direction of the palace, and, sure enough, there was the royal procession; and it was a sight that almost took away the breath of both frank and fred. [illustration: state barge of the king of siam.] there was a flotilla of a dozen or more boats and barges of the most gorgeous description our friends had ever seen. the largest of them was occupied by the king, and had a hundred and twenty men to row, or rather to paddle it. the boat was said to be fifty yards in length, but nobody was able to say positively what were its exact dimensions; at any rate, it was long enough and handsome enough to satisfy the most fastidious spectator. the rowers were in a double line, and in scarlet uniforms; at each stroke they raised their paddles high in air, and their movements were so timed that the paddles on both sides were dipped at exactly the same moment. the boat sat quite low in the water, and its stern had a sharp and high curve to it that doubtless made the middle of the craft appear lower than it really was. the bow was bent upwards as high as the stern, and frank thought it could not be less than ten or twelve feet out of the water. it appeared to be much heavier than the stern, and was fantastically carved; the doctor told the boys that the carving was intended to represent the _nagha mustakha sapta_, or seven-headed serpent, which is one of the mythological deities of siam. considerably nearer to the stern than the bow there was a sort of throne elevated on four pillars, and having a gorgeous canopy above it. on this throne the king was seated; the canopy had a spire like that of some of the temples, and consequently the seat in the barge possessed a certain religious character. near him were attendants holding canopies not altogether unlike umbrellas, and at a distance these canopies suggested the appearance of golden cones. the boat was driven rapidly through the water by the powerful arms of its rowers, and their movements were timed by a man waving a huge baton, after the manner of the drum-major of a brass band. the other boats moved at the same speed; they were smaller than that of the king, some of them having no more than thirty or forty rowers; and they belonged to the siamese nobles and ministers of state, who were required to accompany the king on his official visits to the temples. the gilding and bright colors on the boats were fairly dazzling to the eyes of the young travellers. in all their travels hitherto, they had seen nothing half as gorgeous as this spectacle, and frank was inclined to pinch himself to make sure he was not dreaming. he was destined to be still more astonished when told that the king's boat was inlaid with mother-of-pearl and crystal, and with sparkling shells and bright stones, so that it resembled a piece of jewellery for the use of a giant such as the world never saw. he wondered what must have been the cost of such a boat, but there was no one who could tell him. [illustration: a body of the royal guards.] soon the boat was at the little platform which served as a landing-place in front of the temple. a file of soldiers, uniformed somewhat after the european manner, and carrying rifles of foreign manufacture, was drawn up near the path where his majesty would pass on his way to the temple door; they were commanded by an officer whose complexion was of the siamese tint, and who spoke english so fluently that the boys thought he must have had a most excellent teacher, and been a very apt pupil. they were undeceived when they learned that he was a native of philadelphia, and formerly served in the army of the united states. doctor bronson observed that the soldiers were well drilled, as they went through the manual of arms with the precision of a regiment of english or american infantry. the siamese army is drilled after the european manner, and has had drill-masters from the united states and half the countries of europe in the last thirty years. the navy is also under foreign management, and the harbor-master of the port of bangkok is an englishman, who has lived there a long time. several foreigners are in the custom-house and other official service, and the steamers of the navy have european engineers. the foreigners in the siamese service are well paid, and generally get along easily with the natives. some of them are greatly trusted by the king, and have shown themselves fully worthy of the royal confidence. in time of war the entire male population of the country capable of bearing arms is liable to be called out, and every man is bound to serve as a defender of his nation. whenever soldiers are wanted, the king sends a command to the governors of the various provinces, and tells them what their quota will be, and they are expected to comply immediately with the demand. the troops thus levied are fed and clothed and armed at the expense of the government, but they do not receive any pay in money; and when the emergency for which they were wanted is passed they are dismissed and sent home. the standing army in time of peace is quite small, and the soldiers are fed and clothed, and their pay in money is about six dollars a month. the siamese navy contained, at the time our friends were at bangkok, about a dozen steam gun-boats, carrying from two to ten guns each, and several new vessels were on the stocks in the royal dock-yards. a large naval force is not needed in siam, and the king wisely refrains from expending a great deal of money on useless ships of war. [illustration: the king visiting a temple.] the king stepped ashore on the little platform previously mentioned, and mounted a sedan-chair, on which he was to be carried to the temple. his head was protected from the sun by a canopy like a large umbrella; and both the seat and canopy were gayly decorated, and shone with gilding. as the bearers proceeded with their royal burden, the people knelt in homage to their ruler, and the strictest silence was observed. one after another the nobles and high officials landed from their boats, and proceeded to the temple, surrounded or followed by their attendants. it was a novel spectacle to the boys, this procession of dignitaries, and they watched it with great interest. each of the officials had a man to carry his pipe and tobacco, another for his betel-box, another for his tray, holding a teacup and a pot of tea; and some of them had two or three others for the transportation of various things. the betel-boxes were of gold, and most exquisitely wrought, and they must have cost a great deal of money to make. the prime-minister was the last to arrive, and the boys were told that the ceremony would not begin till he had entered the temple. [illustration: the front of the temple.] the strangers were not invited to see the services inside the building, and therefore they remained where they were till the king came out and returned to his boat. the ceremony lasted about half an hour, and consisted of the repetition of prayers by the priests, and responses by the king; it was said to be not unlike the celebration of mass in a catholic church, and it has been remarked by many visitors to the far east that the forms of buddhist worship have a considerable resemblance to those of rome. the king went to his boat, which was drawn up to the platform as before; and as soon as he was seated, the signal was given to the rowers to move on. away they paddled to another temple, situated up one of the canals; and the other boats followed the royal one as rapidly as possible. by taking a path through some gardens near the temple, our friends reached a point on the bank of the canal where they could see all the boats as they went along. after the procession had gone the boys wanted to ramble through the tall grass, but changed their minds when told that possibly they might encounter a cobra or some other deadly snake. cobras are not unfrequently found around the siamese temples; and though accidents are not of common occurrence, there are enough of them to make a stranger careful about his promenades. it was past noon, and the heat of the sun was not of the lightest. the doctor suggested a return to the hotel, and the boys were quite willing to accept it, as they wanted to think over the strange spectacle they had witnessed. they thought they had done quite enough for one day, and considered that they had been very fortunate in seeing the king, and witnessing one of the pageants for which siam is celebrated. on their way back in the boat, frank asked the doctor to tell him something about the use of the betel-nut. they had observed that the king was vigorously chewing the substance, which is to the siamese what tobacco is to many americans, and the ministers of state were following his example. all classes of people indulged in the amusement, and their mouths had a reddish appearance in consequence. "the leaf of the betel-pepper," said the doctor, "and the nut of the areca-palm are prepared as follows: the nut is sliced quite thin, and a little quicklime is sprinkled on it, so as to give it a pungent flavor, and the two substances are then wrapped in the leaf. in this form it is taken into the mouth and chewed, and the operation is generally performed with a very vigorous action of the jaws. the saliva has a reddish tint, and it is so bright that many strangers are deluded into the belief that the natives are spitting blood. the practice of chewing this substance began originally in the malay peninsula, but it has gradually spread all over india, the countries of indo-china, and the malay archipelago. would you like to try it?" the boys had the curiosity to make an experiment with the betel-nut; and, as soon as they reached the hotel, the doctor made their wants known to the landlord. in a little while some of the substance was brought, and the youths ventured to chew it. a very short trial was quite sufficient. they found the taste anything but agreeable; and frank thought the same sensation could be had by dissolving in the mouth a piece of alum as large as a small pea, or a more extensive piece of lime. the delusion might be kept up by adding any common leaf and a few grains of pepper, and fred was confident that it would require a long time for him to be accustomed to it. "of course," said he, "one might learn in time to like betel, just as men in america learn to like tobacco; but, as far as i can judge, the taste of tobacco is the less disagreeable of the two." the astringency of the betel-nut was removed from the tongues of the experimenters by a free use of the milk of green cocoa-nuts; and each of the boys made a quiet promise to himself that he would not learn to chew betel for anything in the world. "and we may as well include tobacco," said frank, "and leave it to rest at the side of betel. i certainly don't like the process of chewing betel, and it is no worse than that of chewing the favorite weed of america." fred agreed with his cousin, and the two concluded that they would not adopt the habit of many of their countrymen. just then it occurred to them that they had not seen any other people than their own using tobacco in this form, and so they asked the doctor if the habit was exclusively an american one. [illustration: the tobacco-plant.] "practically so," was the doctor's answer. "in no other country than ours is the habit of chewing tobacco at all prevalent; a few sailors and others who have lived or been in the united states have adopted and carried it home, and these are virtually the only people not americans who indulge in it. other nations are far greater smokers than ourselves, but we have very nearly a monopoly of chewing the leaf of the famous plant of virginia." [illustration: sir walter raleigh and his pipe.] one of the boys asked if tobacco was not first found in america; he thought he had read that it was used by the indians at the time of the discovery of the western continent by columbus, and was introduced to europe by sir walter raleigh. "i am unable to answer your question with exactness," said the doctor, "for the simple reason that the matter is involved in obscurity. it is said by some historians that the sailors accompanying columbus were one day greatly astonished at seeing smoke issuing from the mouths and nostrils of some of the natives, and they found, on investigation, that it was produced by the combustion of a fragrant herb or plant. on their return they introduced it into spain and portugal. in 1560 jean nicot was ambassador of france at the court of lisbon, and learned the use of tobacco from a merchant who had been in america. when he next went to france, he presented the weed to the queen, and it soon became known throughout europe. from him it was called _l'herbe nicotienne_, or "the nicotian weed," and the name has come down to our times. near the same period sir francis drake introduced it into england, and sir walter raleigh made it fashionable; so rapidly did the use of it spread that in less than twenty years nearly every class of society was addicted to it. "some writers contend that tobacco, or some similar plant, was smoked in asia long before the discovery of america; in proof of this they assert that the pipe in nearly its present form is to be seen on many ancient sculptures; and it is certainly singular that a people so conservative as the chinese and other asiatics should have made the use of tobacco universal in the comparatively short period that has elapsed since its discovery in america. on the other hand, we can infer that it was not known in asia as early as the eighth century, because the tales of the arabian nights, which are supposed to be a perfect picture of the customs of that time, make no mention of smoking." "does marco polo make any mention of it in his travels in asia?" fred asked. "if it had been known in his time, i think he would have been pretty certain to say something about it." "i believe he makes no allusion to it," the doctor responded; "and this fact is quoted by those who contend that the practice was of american origin. but, whatever the origin of smoking tobacco, the custom has spread over the whole globe, and prevails among savages no less than among the most civilized and enlightened nations. all classes of people, from highest to lowest, are smokers; and, though the practice has been the subject of severe penalties, it has continued to spread. laws were passed against it by several governments. in russia, smokers were punished by having a pipe-stem passed through the cartilage of the nose for their first offence; and for a second, they were ordered to be flogged to death. sultan amurath iv. ordered that all smokers should be strangled; and in switzerland it was officially announced that the use of tobacco was one of the sins forbidden by the ten commandments. the popes of rome issued edicts against it; and one of them, urban vii., decreed the excommunication of all who should use tobacco. king james wrote the famous 'counterblast against tobacco,' and other publications were made condemning the importation of sir walter raleigh; but all to no purpose. the practice could not be put down; and to-day there is no article of luxury or dissipation that is so universally known as tobacco. "there are about forty different varieties of tobacco described by botanists which are smoked, or chewed, or snuffed, in various parts of the world. by far the greater part of the tobacco used annually is smoked, and in some countries snuff-taking, like chewing the weed, is practically unknown. in nine cases out of ten in america the use of tobacco begins by smoking, and in other countries the proportion is probably a hundred times as great. the tobacco used in asia and in some parts of europe is much milder than that of america. england is the largest consumer of strong tobacco outside of the united states, and the revenue derived from it by the british custom-house goes far towards paying the expenses of the government. [illustration: pipes of all nations.] "tobacco was first smoked in pipes, and all the early representations of smokers contain no picture of the cigar. sir walter raleigh used a pipe which was much like the one most popular in england at the present day, and it was not till long after his time that the leaf, rolled into a cigar, became fashionable. different nations have adopted different forms for the pipe; and it is noticeable that the more indolent the people the longer is its pipe-stem. with the english and american pipe the smoker can enjoy himself while employed, but with the eastern pipe he can do nothing else while smoking. with a cigar, or a short pipe, a man may write or work; but when he takes the hookah of turkey, or the nargileh of syria and egypt, his occupation, other than smoking, must be limited to conversation and reading. each country has adopted the form best suited to its tastes; and it would be the height of absurdity to give the ragged newsboys of new york an oriental pipe-stem two yards in length, and expect them to enjoy it as they do the short stumps of cigars they gather in the street. on the other hand, the turkish lady reclining on her divan would consider the short dhudeen of the irish apple-woman a wretched substitute for the hookah, with its flexible stem and its bowl of water through which the smoke bubbles on its way to her mouth. [illustration: young america.] "whether tobacco is injurious or otherwise has been a subject of much discussion, and the advocates on each side have said a great deal that their opponents will not admit. it would require more time than i have at my command to tell you even a tenth part of the arguments for and against tobacco, and therefore i will not enter upon the discussion of the subject. volumes have been written upon it, and doubtless other volumes will find their way into print as the years roll on." [illustration: the east.] [illustration: the west.] chapter xv. women, hair-cutting, and slavery. the boys occupied themselves very industriously in writing for their friends at home the accounts of what they had seen and heard in siam. they told of the trip to ayuthia, and the visit to the elephant corral; of their stay at bang-pa-in; of the journey down the river; and, finally, of the flotilla of boats and barges, and the state procession of the king to the temples. when they had brought the story down to the hour of writing, there was a day to spare before the closing of the weekly mail to singapore, and thence to america. frank thought it was time for him to say something specially intended for mary and effie; he remembered his letter from japan about the women of that country, and concluded that a similar missive from siam would be quite in order. then he recollected that he had seen fewer women in his walks and rides about bangkok than when he strolled through the streets of tokio and kioto, and that in all probability he could not tell as much of the siamese as of the japanese women, for the simple reason that he had not learned so much about them. but he was determined to make the effort, and, after talking with the doctor on the subject, he wrote as follows: [illustration: siamese gentleman and lady.] "the dress of the siamese men is so much like that of the women that a stranger cannot tell at first whether he is looking at the one or the other. i will send you a picture, so that you may understand how they look much easier than if i took half a dozen pages in writing to tell it. you see that a gentleman and lady have the same garments, except that the lady wears a scarf over her shoulders, or rather over her left shoulder, and passing under her right arm. the gentleman has a tiny bit of a linen collar on his jacket, while the lady has none, and he also has wristbands, something after the european model. the trousers are like a piece of cloth four or five feet square, and one corner is tucked under a belt in the centre of the waist; the ladies generally wear brighter colors than their husbands, but the cut of the garment is practically the same. "nearly everybody goes barefoot; and when they do put anything on their feet, it is rarely more than a light sandal. the custom of wearing shoes and boots such as we have is never likely to become popular in a country so hot as this is, and where there is no snow or ice. children, up to five or six years of age, have no garments of any consequence; and even when they are older, their clothing would not shield them from the cold if they were compelled to face a new york winter. a tailor would not make a fortune by coming to siam and trying to get the people to wear clothes like american ones; and as for a corn doctor, he would have no chance at all where tight boots, or boots of any kind, are practically unknown. "then, too, they dress their hair in pretty much the same way, so that you cannot tell a man from a woman by looking at their heads, as you can in most other countries of the world. they shave all the lower part of the head, and leave the crown covered with a tuft, or bunch, that reminds you of a shoe-brush. the men have very light beards, like all oriental people; and whenever one of them finds that he can raise a mustache or a beard, he is pretty sure to do so, as he wants to look unlike his neighbors. but as a general thing beards do not become the oriental features, though mustaches do; and when i see a chinese or a japanese or a siamese with a beard, which is not often, i feel like asking him to go home and shave it off. [illustration: a young prince of the royal house, with his attendant.] "the first hair-cutting, at the time a child is twelve or fourteen years old, is a very important ceremony. no matter how poor the parents of a child may be, they manage to have some kind of an entertainment, be it ever so humble, while with the rich a great deal of money is spent on the affair. in the case of a royal child the festivities are on a grand scale, and the whole population is expected to rejoice. we heard something about the ceremony when we were in cochin-china, and we have heard a great deal more about it since we came here. we wish one was to come off now, but unfortunately there is nothing of the kind in prospect. "a few months ago the eldest of the king's children reached the proper age for the so-kan, as the hair-cutting ceremony is called, and for weeks before the event the preparations for it were going on. i cannot do better than copy the account that was published at the time in the siam _daily advertiser_, a newspaper that is printed here by some americans who have lived a long time in bangkok. here it is: "'princess sri wililaxan is the eldest daughter of his majesty the king of siam; her mother is one of the daughters of his excellency chow p'raya kralahome, the prime-minister of siam. this princess is consequently the great-granddaughter of his grace the ex-regent, and the granddaughter of the prime-minister. "'it is said that his majesty has fifteen children. four of these are somdetch chowfas. only one of these somdetch chowfas is a son. "'the somdetch chowfas are the children of the king, and their mothers are princesses. the son, consequently, who is the eldest chow-fa of the present king is by law and the customs of the country the heir-apparent to the throne. "'when the so-kan ceremonies take place they must be of the most imposing kind. in the present instance they were continued six days, and on each day there was an imposing procession. "'the sound of music announced the approach of the procession. [illustration: female head-dress and costume.] "'soon a company of seemingly masked men, representing japanese warriors, made their appearance. then came companies of siamese military and their band. then followed companies of siamese women dressed after the manner of the country, with the right arm and the shoulder bare; and then companies of men and boys and women dressed to represent the contiguous nationalities--malays, peguans, burmans, laos, karens, etc. the groups as they passed were quite grotesque. "'his majesty the king ascended to a prominent hall near the maha prasaht,[2] which was handsomely furnished. in front of him, to his right, were a group of pretty and richly-dressed ladies, holding in their hands a small silver tree. they went through the slow motions of a siamese dance. groups of siamese ladies were seated in a line, with the new palace forming one side of a parallelogram. these were spectators, and evidently persons of rank. on the left of his majesty, forming the second long side of the parallelogram, were crowds of europeans and other foreigners who had been invited to the performance. [2] an immense temple or chapel in the palace enclosure, where the kings are crowned, and where they lie in state for twelve months after their deaths, awaiting the ceremony of cremation. "'the side wall enclosing the maha prasaht, on an elevated part of which was the hall in which his majesty sat, formed the west side of the parallelogram. directly in front of the king was the artificial trailaht, seemingly a mountain of gold, and forming the east side of the parallelogram. [illustration: minister of foreign affairs.] "'at the summit of the trailaht was a beautiful gilt edifice dazzling in the sunshine. as soon as his majesty was seated, a group of gayly-dressed lakon girls descended from the gold mountain from the gilt house, and at the base of the mountain, in full view of the king, performed their dance to the sound of native music, of which there was an abundance. on the lawn to the left of his majesty, and in a temporary and beautiful hall, sat his grace the venerable ex-regent; his excellency the prime-minister; his excellency the foreign minister, and the principal nobles of the country. "'on the lawn were men who danced and made amusement for the masses. "'when the princess sri wililaxan advanced, seated in a grand sedan, heavily weighted with her crown and gold chains of jewellery, followed by a group of ladies bearing her gold salvers and insignia of rank, she was received by her royal father and placed at his side. "'the mountain trailaht cannot be easily described. here and there at its base there were representations of the popular plays and acts of the country. the images were moved by machinery, and went through their performances to the merriment of the crowds, who clamored for a repetition of them. "'one represented a court of justice, where two persons were ordered to dive; the one who could remain longest under water rendered his testimony valid. it was amusing to see the artifice of the one who came up first and found his antagonist still under water. "'there were artificial pools containing representations of fish, whose movements amused the spectators. "'there were artificial trees, with representations of animals--such as squirrels, monkeys, birds, and snakes--and their movements were quite life-like. "'each day the princess receives presents from the noble families. the ceremonies of each day were in some respects similar, but varied enough to interest the vast crowds that visit the palace. abundant refreshments were provided by the government for the active participants and the leading spectators. the noble families from all parts of siam were represented in the assemblage, and the display was the finest that the country has known for years.' "this is what i find in the newspaper, and it seems to be a very good account. there are some things that it will be necessary for me to explain, so that you will get a good understanding of them. in the first place, i am told that the royal top-knot is taken off in a temple close to the artificial mountain on the first day of the ceremony. doubtless they would cut it every day; but even in so fertile a country as siam the hair does not grow fast enough to make a daily cutting feasible. "after this ceremony the hair is allowed to grow in the shoe-brush style that i have described. before that time it is in the shape of a twisted knot, about as large as a silver dollar, but when it takes its new form it covers the greater part of the top of the head. "the trailaht, or golden mountain, where the ceremony takes place, is not really constructed of gold, though it appears to be. it is made of wood and iron for a framework, and is then covered with sheets of lead that have been gilded. the machinery that moves the figures is concealed in the interior of the mountain, and the pathway that runs up the outside is made to look as much like nature as possible. there are valleys, and forests, and grottoes, and miniature rocks on the mountain, and the path is usually arranged so that it goes three times around between the bottom and the top. the siamese pay great attention to the numbers '3' and '9;' they have pagodas and canopies of three stories, and others of nine; and in nearly all their religious ceremonies their movements are in threes and nines. the same is true of all countries where buddhism is the religion; and, if you go as far off as peking, you will find that the temples have triple terraces and triple roofs, while threes, or the multiples of three, may be found in the arrangement of the stones of the steps and pavements, and in the walls of the buildings. [illustration: lakon girls.] "perhaps you did not understand what was meant by the lakon girls that danced before the king as soon as he was seated. in this country there are girls who are trained to dance, like _geishas_ in japan, and just as the girls of the ballet are trained in a theatre in europe and america. dancing is their profession, and they combine singing and acting with it; and some of the princes and great men have troops of these lakon girls to dance and sing for them. it is very common for them to invite their friends to an entertainment, and it generally consists of singing and dancing by these young ladies. those around the palace are the prettiest that can be found in the kingdom, and they have wardrobes that cost a great deal of money, and are as grand as the wardrobes of any actress in america. very often in their acting they wear the most hideous masks that can be imagined, and when they are dressed up to resemble men or demons you can hardly believe that they are really pretty girls. i send you a picture of two of them, so that you may know what they look like. [illustration: a native band of music.] "the native band of music is a curiosity, as it is quite unlike anything you ever saw. the king has a band after the european style, with a french leader, and with instruments imported from london or paris. it plays very well, and can render some of the popular pieces that we are familiar with just as well as any ordinary band in new york or london. when we were passing the palace the other day we heard them playing a selection from faust, and another from the 'grande duchesse;' and one evening we heard the siamese national hymn, which is a very pretty composition, and worthy of a place among the national airs of europe. but the native music is quite another thing. "the performers sit down to their work instead of standing up, and they do not sit on chairs, but on the floor. the only band of the kind i have yet seen consisted of five performers, all women--one of them having a sort of guitar, another a violin, another a drum played with the fingers of one hand, another with a row of bamboo sticks that were struck with a small hammer, and the last of the five had a row of metal cups that were played like the bamboo sticks. there is a good deal of variety to the music in some ways, and very little in others; it seemed to be capable of considerable modulation in time and tune; and while at times it was loud and harsh, at others it became low and plaintive. whether they have any regular tunes or not i am unable to say; they seemed to start off on a measure, and then repeat it over and over again for twenty or thirty minutes. perhaps they would keep it up for a week or two if the weather was not too warm for continuing one's exertions for that length of time. they didn't seem to keep very closely together, and probably there was no occasion for them to do so, as the tune is of such a nature that each player can do pretty much what he likes. [illustration: a siamese theatrical performance.] "these lakon girls are the performers in the theatres of bangkok, or rather at the private theatricals that are given at the houses of the nobles and high officials. these affairs are generally given in a garden or court-yard, where carpets are spread under the trees that grow there. the dialogue is accompanied by music of the kind i have described, and sometimes they have drums like small barrels suspended on triangles or propped up on little frames. the performances are usually historical, but not always so, as the siamese drama abounds in love-plays, which are taken from their literature. in the historic plays the costumes are frequently very hideous, though richly gilded and decorated; they have very little scenery or stage settings, and i think that a first-class theatre of new york or paris would astonish them greatly. when not occupied on the stage, the performers stand or sit around the wings, and the audience is supposed not to see them. "the voices of the singers are very sweet; and doctor bronson says that some of them only need careful training to make excellent performers. they are said to be much more musical than the chinese or the japanese, and much quicker to catch foreign music when it is taught to them. "if you expect that women occupy in siam the same position that they do in america, you will be disappointed. their condition has been greatly improved by the king since he ascended the throne, and he is evidently determined to overcome the prejudices of his people as rapidly as he can do so. he is the first ruler of siam who has ever given his arm to escort a lady to the dinner-table after the european manner, and the first lady to receive this honor was the wife of an american admiral. "the country has never been ruled by a woman, and women have never held a high place in the royal councils. polygamy is customary in siam; and the king has a harem, just as the sultan of turkey has one. he has one chief wife, or queen-consort, and is said to have about two hundred other wives; but nobody knows exactly how many there are--at least nobody outside the palace. like all other monarchs with a harem, he has his favorites; and when one of his wives manages to attract his attention and secure his preference, she is very speedily the envy of the others. probably human nature is the same the world over, and the history of royal and imperial harems everywhere is not greatly varied. "among the common people a man may have several wives if he chooses, and can afford the expense, but ordinarily he has only one. where he has more than one, the first wife is the head of the household, and her authority is generally undisputed, though they sometimes have domestic quarrels, like people in other countries. marriages are commonly arranged between youths of eighteen and girls of fourteen, and not infrequently at earlier ages. the ceremony consists of a feast such as the parties can afford; and though priests are not considered necessary, they are generally present to offer prayers. among the poorer classes there is more approach to equality between husband and wife than with the rich; fashionable society does not permit the wife to eat with the husband, and she is regarded more as a servant than a companion; but the siamese husbands are said to be much more kind to their wives than the chinese, and to treat them with more respect. "a great many wives, both among the nobles and the common people, are bought as slaves, and i am told that probably a quarter of the population is held in slavery. men sell their wives, children, sisters, brothers, and even themselves; and in times past great numbers of slaves were held that had been captured in wars with neighboring countries. slaves are not dear in siam, compared with the prices that were paid in america before the emancipation of the negroes; a child may be bought for a small sum; and when a man wants to purchase a wife, he expects to get her for not more than eighty or a hundred dollars. much of the slavery in siam is the result of gambling; and it is not unusual for a man to gamble away his family, his clothes, and then himself, in a single day or evening. "while we are considering this subject of slavery, i will make an extract or two from the laws of siam concerning the treatment of persons in bondage: "'if the inhabitants in embarrassed circumstances sell temporarily their children, wives, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, relatives, and slaves, males or females, to serve the purchaser, and the slaves be overtaken with a calamity, let the money-master inform the seller that he may come and take care of him at the money-master's house. if the money-master take no care of him, and the slave dies, said money-master cannot claim any refund from the seller, because he abandoned the sick slave. his death must be the loss of the money-master, because he neglected a subject of the state. "'if persons pecuniarily or otherwise embarrassed sell temporarily their children, nephews, nieces, or grandchildren to a purchaser, to be used by him in lieu of interest, and the purchaser or master has business or trouble, and takes his slave to accompany him, and thieves or murderers cut, stab, and kill, or tigers, crocodiles, or other animals kill and devour the slave, the law declares, being the slave of the purchaser who took him with him, the purchaser is entitled to no refund from the seller, because the slave accompanied his master.' "i have copied this from an english translation of the siamese laws, and suppose it is correct. i am told that the slavery of siam is not like what we had in the united states, as the slaves are of the same class and color as their owners, and there is not much difference between a poor free man and a slave. both of them must work for their living; and i am told it sometimes happens that a man will deliberately sell himself, so as to have a master who will give him steady employment and feed him properly. the king has done a good deal towards improving the condition of slaves, and on every festival occasion those who have been a certain number of years in bondage are declared free. it is a common thing for men to pledge themselves and their families or relatives as security for money loaned or to pay interest, and when the debt is discharged they are free. the two sentences i have quoted from the siamese laws relate to this kind of temporary slavery. it very often happens, when a man has thus pledged himself and family for a short time, and is confident that he will soon be free, his hopes are not realized, and he remains a slave for years and years--perhaps for his whole life. his relatives remain in bondage with him, and their happiness or misery depends very much upon whether they have a kind master or a cruel one. "for persons who are not held as slaves, divorce is very easy in siam. the laws are not very strict; and if they simply desert each other, there is generally an end of their marriage. i have been told of a funny sort of divorce among the lower classes, but cannot say if it be true. when a couple have determined to separate, they sit down on the floor in the middle of their house, and each lights a candle. they sit there in silence while the candles burn slowly down, and the property that they owned in common will all belong to the one whose candle lasts the longest. the one whose light goes out first is only entitled to the clothes he or she may have on at the time--which is not much anyway. "what a lot of patent candles we should have if the same custom prevailed in america! ingenious men would puzzle their brains to invent candles that would burn longer than any others; and we might expect to see any morning the advertisement of 'the patent inexhaustible candle that will neither burn nor be blown out!' and somebody would devise a system of making a secret connection between the candle and a gas-pipe, so that the supply of combustible material would never be exhausted. the lawyers would not like this mode of settling matrimonial difficulties, and there is no probability that such a law will ever be made. "to go into mourning, the people shave their heads; and when the king dies, the top-knots are removed from the heads of all his male subjects from one end of siam to the other. the only exception to the rule is in the case of princes who are older than the king; and sometimes this exception gives rise to lively disputes concerning the princely age." chapter xvi. cremation in siam.--trade, taxes, and birds. [illustration: scene on a small canal near bangkok.] one morning, while they were taking a row on the river for the purpose of visiting one of the canals, our friends observed a dense smoke rising from the vicinity of one of the temples. fred was the first to see it, and wondered what it was for. as they neared the temple, they saw that the smoke proceeded from a burning pile, where several persons were standing around. "it is a cremation," said doctor bronson; "we will stop and see it." he directed the boatmen to land in front of the temple, and the three strangers walked to the spot where the fire was burning. on a low mound of earth there was a fire of logs and smaller sticks of wood, and in the midst of the fire lay a body half consumed. it was evidently that of a small person, as the fire was not more than five feet long, and the body was completely wrapped in the flames. a dozen or more buddhist priests were standing near the fire, and about as many other persons who did not appear to belong to the holy order. no ceremony was observed; and the doctor remarked that they had probably arrived too late to witness the funeral-service. not far off were the ashes that remained from similar cremations; and on one heap the fire was still smouldering. they returned to the boat, and continued their journey; and as they did so the doctor explained to the boys the peculiarities of the spectacle they had just witnessed. "cremation, or the destruction of a human body by fire," said he, "is customary in several countries of the eastern world, and there has recently been an effort to make it popular in europe and america. it prevails in siam, but not altogether to the exclusion of the ordinary mode of burial in the earth. cremation is considered the most honorable funeral, and it has a religious significance; it is a ceremony necessary to assist the soul in its passage to a higher state of transmigration, and to its final condition of perfect rest. criminals who are executed by law are not allowed to be burnt; and the same is the case with those dying of small-pox and certain other diseases. [illustration: burial-mounds.] "the ceremony of cremation is considered so important that, where it cannot be performed immediately after the death of the individual--from poverty or for other reasons--the body is first buried, and subsequently exhumed and burnt. when the person has any prominence or wealth, a few of the bones are preserved in the houses of the relatives, or they may be buried in the grounds near the temples. you saw some little monuments, like miniature pyramids, near the temple we just visited; did you not?" "yes," said fred, "we saw them, and wondered what they were." [illustration: urn containing ashes.] "those were monuments where the ashes of the dead are preserved," was the reply. "you will find them near many of the temples." soon they came in sight of another temple, where a ceremony of some sort was just beginning. the doctor told the boatmen to land there; and as soon as they were on shore they found that they had come upon another funeral-party, and evidently that of a person of distinction. [illustration: jessamine flowers.] the body was in a coffin, which rested on a bier; and the coffin and bier together were not less than six feet high. the bier was covered with white cloth--white is the symbol of mourning in siam--and the coffin itself was of a red color, and with a great deal of gold tinsel laid over it. above the coffin was a canopy of white cloth, and it was thickly ornamented with bunches of jessamine flowers, freshly gathered. just as our friends approached the spot, a band, consisting of a gong, two drums, and a sort of flageolet, played a very discordant air as a prelude to the ceremony. then a young priest read a service of prayers from slips of palm-leaf, and, while reading, he occupied a pulpit under a small shed in the court yard of the temple. in front of the pulpit there was a platform occupied by several persons--the majority of them women. they were not at all attentive; and as the prayers were read in the bali language, they were not likely to understand a word of them. the prayers occupied about thirty minutes. [illustration: a buddhist priest.] there was quite a crowd of priests in the yard of the service until near its close. when the reading ended, they came forward and took hold of a strip of white cloth, six or seven yards long, that was attached to the head of the coffin. in this position they repeated some short prayers; and as they finished them the coffin was stripped of its coverings, and the cloth that came from it was distributed among the priests. the body was then taken from the coffin and washed; then it was replaced, and carried three times around the bier, which proved to be a pile of fuel ready prepared for the burning. the sons and daughters, and other relatives of the dead man, were standing near the bier; and though they were quiet and respectful, they did not display the least emotion, with the exception of one young woman, who was said to be a favorite daughter. she wept loudly, and resisted the efforts of the others to comfort her. when the third circuit around the pile was completed, the coffin was placed upon it. the fire was lighted by one of the priests, who uttered a short prayer as he touched the taper to the fuel. meantime small wax-tapers had been distributed to all present, including our friends; and after the priest had kindled the flame, these tapers were placed upon the pile by the persons who held them. doctor bronson and the boys did like the others; and the doctor told his young companions that they would give offence if they refused to comply with the custom. the body was speedily consumed, and the ceremony was over. our friends again returned to their boat, and the conversation about cremation was resumed. "the man whose funeral you have just attended," the doctor continued, "was in good circumstances, and the ceremony was made to conform to his rank and importance. this is the rule in siam, as it is with funerals in pretty nearly all parts of the world; and while the cremation of a poor man will be over in a few hours after his death, that of a king does not take place for a year." "why do they wait so long?" frank asked. "the real reason is," was the reply, "to enable the surviving relatives to make the proper preparations for the funeral, and it has been so long the custom that it is now fixed as a social and religious observance. "immediately after the death of a king, his body is embalmed and laid in state, with a great deal of ceremony, in the maha prasaht. it is the duty of his successor to arrange the funeral ceremonies; and he immediately notifies the governors of four of the northern provinces, where the finest timber of siam is found, that each of them may send a stick to form one of the four corners of the p'hra mane, or funeral pile. the sticks must be perfectly straight, and not less than two hundred feet long; at the same time twelve smaller sticks are called for from as many of the other provinces; and there is also a demand for timber for the construction of halls and other buildings needed for the ceremony. "all the timber must be new, as it would not be proper for royalty to have any wood about its funeral pile that had been used before in any way. several months are required to procure the timber and erect the pile and its various annexes, as they cover at least half an acre of ground. the whole of the work, outside and in, is painted in green and yellow, and a good deal of gold and silver leaf is spread on in various places, so that it appears to be of great richness. a large open dome is in the centre of the edifice, and it contains a small temple, with a platform on which the body is to be placed. around the great building there are sheds and houses to accommodate the priests, who come from all parts of the kingdom to participate in the ceremonies; and outside of these sheds there are twelve small pagodas, that are decorated to represent the large temple. the whole mass of edifices for the funeral costs a great deal of money, and it is evidently an expensive thing in siam for a king to die. [illustration: characters in the procession.] "on the appointed day there is a grand procession of soldiers and others dressed to represent various nationalities--not much unlike the procession at the ceremony of the royal hair-cutting. the entire royal family is out, and usually the procession takes not less than three hours to pass a given point. the festivals last ten days; various amusements are provided during the daytime in the shape of theatricals and other exhibitions, and in the evening they have fireworks, tumbling, rope-dancing, and the like. at certain intervals handfuls of money are thrown among the people, and a very lively scrambling is the result. finally the body is burnt with a great deal of ceremony, the king being the first to apply the torch to the funeral pile of his predecessor. "when the burning is completed, the ashes are thrown into the river, and the bones are placed in an urn and carried to one of the temples in the palace enclosure. then the princes and governors who have come from the various parts of the kingdom, are at liberty to return home; and the same is the case with the priests who have visited the capital on the same mission. there is probably no royal display in any part of europe that can surpass the cremation of a king in siam." "do the widows of the king go on the funeral pile to be burnt?" frank asked. "is the custom in siam the same that it used to be in india?" "not at all," was the reply. "siam has never had that horrid custom of the _suttee_, or widow-burning, that so long disgraced india. it is not allowed there now, and probably there has not been a single case of it in the last ten or twenty years. none of the religious rites of the siamese have ever been accompanied by physical torture." "who pays for all the expense of these ceremonies?" said fred. "nominally the king pays for them," the doctor responded; "but in reality the money comes, as all government expenses come in every part of the world, from the people. the princes and governors, and other high dignitaries who attend a funeral or a hair-cutting, make presents that go in part for defraying the cost of the performances, and, of course, the money for these presents comes from their subjects." "then it is no more than right," frank remarked, "that the people should be amused when they go to these affairs, whether they are funerals or anything else." "but where does the king get all his money?" queried fred. "that is, how does he raise his taxes, and how are they collected?" "taxes in siam," the doctor explained, "are of various kinds. they are direct and indirect, just as they are in other countries; and the object is the same--the production of a revenue. "there is a tax on the sale of spirits, as i have already told you, and there is a tax on gambling. both these taxes are farmed out, and the purchaser generally makes a good thing out of his venture. the purchasers are usually chinese speculators, and they sub-let their privileges to smaller contractors for a round profit on their investments. "there is a tax on fishing in the menam river, and also in the other streams in which fish abound; the buddhist religion forbids the destruction of animal life, but the requirement is rather considered as applying only to the priesthood, and the common people give little attention to it. but no one is allowed to fish within a certain distance of the palace, as all fish in that limit are held to be sacred, and under the protection of the king. on the canal that encloses the palace in the direction farthest from the river there are marks to indicate the limits; inside the line it would be dangerous to the neck of a native to be caught fishing, while outside of it he may do so with impunity. "then there are taxes on shops and on various branches of trade, just as there are in the countries of europe; and there are taxes on fruit-trees and land, and there are customs-duties, and other things. there is a poll-tax on the chinese inhabitants of siam, which is collected by the authorities with the utmost care; and any chinese who neglects to pay it is liable to be compelled to work it out under the eye of a public overseer. every boat that is used as a shop pays a tax, and so do all the shops through the country. then there are certain articles of export that are considered the monopoly of the king, and as he has no competition in buying, and no opposition in selling, he has a good thing of it. the rules about trade are changing every year; and so, if you make a note of what i have told you, it is well to remember that what you have written for the day may not be good for all time." "the consul told us about the imports of siam," said one of the boys, "when we were going up the river to ayuthia. please tell us about the exports. he mentioned rice and sugar as articles that the siamese send to other countries, but did not say what other things they had to sell." "the exports of siam," said the doctor, in answer to the above remark, "comprise a good many things. besides the articles mentioned, the country produces and sends to foreign ports a considerable amount of tin, which is dug from its mines; and it also exports small quantities of other metals. then it produces pepper, tobacco, cardamons, ivory, and various dye-stuffs. it also exports the skins of the rhinoceros, buffalo, ox, elephant, tiger, leopard, bear, snake, and deer; and some of these articles go out in the form of leather. how great are the quantities of these things i am unable to say, as i have not studied the tables of imports and exports very closely." frank was curious to know how the people caught the snakes whose skins they exported. he thought a snake was a disagreeable thing to associate with, and not at all easy to capture. the doctor explained that the matter was by no means as difficult as he imagined. the snakes are fond of chickens, and they come around the houses of the people, particularly those that are built on rafts, in search of their favorite prey. when a native discovers any indications that a snake has been around his premises, he arranges a coop made of strong sticks of bamboo, and, after putting a chicken inside, he leaves an opening in one end large enough for the snake to enter. he goes into the coop and kills the chicken, which he swallows whole, after the manner of snakes in general. he is so gorged that he cannot escape, and is found in his prison in the morning. under these circumstances he is easily killed, and his skin is an ample compensation for the slaughtered fowl. fred had observed little cages on poles rising from the roofs of many of the houses, and naturally inquired their use. "those cages," said doctor bronson, "are intended as traps for birds. if you examine them closely you will perceive that they are double; one half is intended as a trap, and is left open for the wild bird to enter, while the other contains a captive bird who serves as a decoy." naturally the conversation turned upon the birds of siam and their peculiarities. [illustration: haunts of sea-birds on the coast.] "i cannot give you a very good account of the birds of siam," said the genial doctor, "for the reason that the ornithology of the country has not, as far as i am aware, been carefully and exhaustively studied. the birds of prey include the white eagle and also the common brown eagle; and they have, as you have observed, the vulture, which is the same species that is found in india. the kite is very common; and there are two or three varieties of the hawk. as for crows, they have enough in siam to destroy all the corn in the states east of the hudson river; and if the siamese attempted to raise that article, they would doubtless have a hard time of it." frank thought they had seen crows enough around bangkok to supply the wants of the whole of massachusetts. evidently the inhabitants did not molest them, or they would not be as bold as he had found them. "then, too," the doctor continued, "they have the sparrow, the same as in europe and america, and the ornithologists say that siam is the most southerly limit of this bird. as you go south in asia, you will not find the sparrow anywhere else except where he has been introduced by the european inhabitants. [illustration: edible swallows nests.] "some of the trade of siam consists in shipping to china the edible portion of a bird's-nest, and this is the material from which the chinese make their famous 'birds'-nest soup.' in canton and hong-kong it sells for its weight in silver, and sometimes is even dearer than that. it is found on the western coast of the gulf of siam, and also on the east coast of the bay of bengal; the bird makes his nest in caves among the rocks, and the work of collecting the nests is both difficult and dangerous." "what kind of a bird is it?" fred asked. "it is a species of swallow," was the reply; "it is about as large as the common swallow with which you are familiar, and its movements through the air are much like those of the american bird; and in the same way that our swallows like to build in barns and chimneys, and other dark places, the siamese one constructs his dwelling among the rocky caves along the coast." "what is the peculiarity of the bird's-nest that the chinese like so much?" one of the boys inquired. "the peculiarity is in the material of which it is constructed," the doctor answered. "the bird gathers a glutinous weed from the coral rocks, and carries it in its mouth and stomach to the cave where it lives. there the plastic substance is shaped into a nest about the size of a common teacup. there are three qualities, and they are prized accordingly: the first is when the nest is freshly made, and the material is snowy white; the second, when the bird has laid her eggs; and the third, when she has hatched her brood and gone. the bird is known as the _lawit_ in java, and the _salangane_ in the philippine islands, while its scientific name is _hirundo esculenta_. [illustration: siamese water birds.] "among the birds inhabiting the siamese forests there is the common peacock, which is shot for the sake of its feathers; and there are several kinds of pigeons. then they have the quail and the pheasant, the latter in several varieties; and they have the common cock, or barn-yard fowl, running wild in great numbers. the chickens that are sold in the markets of siam are these same wild birds domesticated, and those that we have in america are descended from asiatic ancestors that went to europe centuries and centuries ago. they have wild chickens in siam, just as we have wild turkeys in our own country. [illustration: pheasant and young.] "they have in siam a goodly number of evading birds, and not many swimmers. ducks are bred by the chinese residents, but not generally by the siamese, and i am told that they do not exist in a wild state. the goose is rarely seen; but there are plenty of pelicans and kingfishers, and several birds of the crane and stork families." "what was the bird we saw at the consul's house the day we called there?" queried frank. "you mean the one that kept up such an incessant talking?" "yes," frank answered; "he rattled away in siamese, and he called out 'boy!' two or three times; and it sounded so much like a human voice that i thought, at first, it was some one calling a servant." "that was a mineur, or minor," the doctor explained; "and it is said to surpass the parrot in its ability to talk. he learns very easily, and is as great an imitator as the american mocking-bird. the one at the consulate can say a great many things in siamese, but he does not yet know much english. a friend of mine had one of these birds that was the source of great amusement; he would whistle, in exact imitation of his master, and he could sing certain bits of music without making a mistake. when my friend first obtained him, the bird could only speak the native language; but in a little while he picked up several phrases in english, and pronounced them perfectly. "one thing he did was to call the servant, as he had heard his owner. as you have seen, the way of summoning servants is by shouting 'boy!' and on hearing this word the servant comes. my friend's bird had caught up the word, and every little while he would shout it so as to deceive the servant, and bring him to his master. naturally the servant was annoyed at being disturbed, and so my friend told him that when he wanted him he would call 'boy! boy!' and he need not come when he heard the word only once. in three days the bird was doing the same thing, and deceiving the servant. then it was arranged that my friend would strike on the table or clap his hands, as they do in turkey and syria. this was too much for the mineur; he found that he could not amuse himself as before. the one at the consulate is learning the same trick, and amusing himself by imitating what he hears spoken around him." frank wished he could take one of these birds home with him; but the doctor said it would be too much trouble to do so. the mineur is of tropical origin, and the climate of the northern states of america is not suited to him. "the chances are," said he, "that if you took a dozen mineurs to carry to america, you would lose three-fourths of them on the way, and the others would not live more than a few months after getting there." as the doctor closed his remark about the mineur, the boat touched the landing in front of the hotel, and their morning's excursion came to an end. chapter xvii. presentation to the king.--dinner at the palace. while they were at lunch, and discussing the sights and scenes of the morning, a messenger arrived with a note from the consul. it was to the effect that the king would receive him, accompanied by doctor bronson, at three o'clock that afternoon. the consul added that he would call at the hotel with his boat about half-past two, and they would proceed thence together. the doctor had no time to lose in making his toilet for the ceremony; he finished it, and was seated on the veranda of the hotel not more than two minutes before the consul arrived. at the latter's suggestion, the boys joined the party; and it was arranged that, while the two gentlemen were having their audience with the king, the youths could amuse themselves in the palace-grounds under the guidance of the consular secretary. [illustration: court-yard of the royal palace at bangkok.] they had a slow journey up the river to the palace, as the tide was against them, and compelled the boat to hug close to the shore; but they were there a little before three o'clock, and had a short walk from the landing-place to the front of the palace. they were shown to a platform in the court-yard, and were received there by the interpreter and secretary of the king, who announced that his majesty would be ready for the audience in a few moments. the platform was under a wide-spreading tree, that furnished a most grateful shade; and there were many small trees and bushes growing in large pots that stood in irregular rows. two or three groups of servants were crouched in the yard, which was paved with large blocks of stone, and a little way off a royal elephant was undergoing his daily exercise in charge of his keepers. coffee was brought, and with it cigars and cigarettes; and a quarter of an hour passed away quite agreeably to all concerned. at the end of that time, a messenger came and said something to the secretary in siamese; the secretary then turned to the gentlemen, and told them the king was waiting for them. he led the way towards a low gate-way, and the boys remained with the consular secretary. they had a pleasant ramble in the palace-grounds, and saw the stables where the white elephants were kept, as well as the elephants themselves. the secretary told them the audience would occupy about half an hour, and they would have that time at their disposal before returning to the platform in the court-yard. in half an hour they came back, and waited for the doctor and the consul. they were not there three minutes before the gentlemen returned, and were ready to go back to the hotel. on their way homeward, the doctor told the boys what he had seen and done, and the consul added here and there little bits of information to the doctor's story. the doctor was so pleased with the visit, that he spent the evening writing an account of the affair; and it was not till a late hour that he finished it. he readily consented to allow the boys to copy it, so that it could form part of the narrative of their journey in siam. here it is: "after leaving the platform, where we had rested to await the pleasure of the king, we soon came to a gate-way that was guarded by a double file of soldiers, who presented arms as we approached. the gate-way led us close to the apartments of the women, and i managed to have glimpses of the dusky occupants of the place as we walked along. some of them were pretty; but their mouths were so disfigured by betel-chewing that the effect was not agreeable. our glance was only a hurried one, as we were speedily at the door of the palace. "we mounted a stairway to the king's apartments; then we passed through a hall ornamented with busts and portraits of european sovereigns, living or dead, and then we entered a large saloon, where we found ourselves in the presence of the king. "his majesty approached as we entered--exactly as a private gentleman might do in his own house when a visitor calls--and, after shaking hands with the consul, he paused for the latter to introduce me. as soon as i was introduced, he shook hands with me after the occidental fashion, and invited us to seats near a table in the centre of the room. the sofa where he sat was at right angles to the position of our chairs, so that, by partially turning, he faced us both. at his left stood the interpreter, who translated the king's siamese words into english, but rarely translated our own words into siamese, as the king understands our language perfectly, and speaks it with very few mistakes. ceremonious presentations are always conducted with the aid of an interpreter, and the king appears to understand only his own language; but when he wishes to have a free and confidential conversation with a foreign consul or other personage, he dismisses his interpreter, and talks away in english with perfect ease. [illustration: chulalonkorn i., supreme king of siam.] "his majesty's voice is full, clear, and resonant, and he pronounces every word with the utmost care. as he talks, his face brightens; he gesticulates gracefully, and to a sufficient extent to make his conversation quite un-oriental in character. his complexion is the true siamese bronze; his cheek-bones are high, and the outlines of his face are decidedly handsome. his thick black hair is parted gracefully in the middle, and not cropped after the siamese style; he has a slender mustache, which evinces careful training, and gives promise of future greatness. he wore at the ceremonial the siamese trousers, with white stockings, and he had on his feet shoes of patent-leather, if i observed them correctly. his upper garment was a sack of military cut, and made of white linen; it terminated with a sort of upright collar, and was closely buttoned. the only ornament i noticed upon it was a row of three stars on each side of the throat. "like all other kings, his majesty is well provided with uniforms, and every ceremonial has a dress peculiarly adapted to it. his military uniform, when he appears at the head of his troops, is quite european in style, but his court-dress for state ceremonials adheres strictly to the siamese model. it is richly embroidered and studded with jewels; the crown rises in the form of an elongated pyramid, with an aigrette of jewels, and the sandals are so thickly set with precious stones that there is very little of the foundation-work to be seen. "his majesty asked how long i had been in siam, and how i liked the country; wished to know if i had visited the temples of bangkok, and what i thought of them; and made other inquiries touching my movements. when these questions had been answered, he spoke of the visit of the united states ships of war several months before, and expressed the wish to see more of our ships and more of our countrymen in siam. he asked when we would have american steamers running between bangkok and hong-kong to connect with the pacific mail and occidental and oriental lines, and said he hoped for a rapid increase of commerce between siam and the united states. evidently he is sincerely desirous of intimate commercial relations with us, as he said there were many articles of american manufacture which they wished to be supplied with; while we, on the other hand, would doubtless be willing to purchase rice at a lower price than we were now paying. "tea and cigars were served while we were engaged on these topics, which occupied a period of ten or fifteen minutes. then the conversation took a miscellaneous turn; and he dwelt upon the peculiarities of the different languages that are spoken in his dominions: it seems that his majesty is well versed in the various dialects and distinct languages, and he is like the emperor of austria, as he can converse with all his subjects in their own tongue. then he talked with the consul about some matter that the latter had brought before him at a previous interview; and after that there was a convenient pause, in which we rose and made our adieux. the king followed us to the door of the room, and, before shaking hands in farewell, he invited the consul and myself to dine with him the following evening. of course we accepted without a moment's hesitation, and then made our way out as we had entered. the whole affair from beginning to end was quite free from stiffness or severity, and proved the king to be, as he is represented, a most accomplished gentleman." sixty years ago a presentation to the king of siam was a much more ceremonious affair than the one here recorded, and it required a great deal of study and rehearsal on the part of all concerned. mr. crawfurd, who came to siam in 1822 at the head of an embassy from the governor-general of india, gives the following account of his presentation: "we left our dwelling at half-past eight in the morning for the palace. a twelve-oared barge, with the rowers dressed in scarlet uniforms, was furnished by the court for the conveyance of the gentlemen of the mission; another for our indian attendants, about twenty in number; while the sepoys of the escort were conveyed in the ship's launch. it was made a particular request that our servants, especially the sepoys of the escort, should form part of the procession. about nine o'clock we landed under the walls of the palace, where we found an immense concourse of people waiting to view the spectacle. the accommodation for conveying us to the palace consisted of net hammocks suspended from poles, furnished with an embroidered carpet, and, according to the custom of the country, borne by two men only. the management of these vehicles was a matter of some difficulty, and our awkwardness became a subject of some amusement to the crowd. we passed through a street of siamese military arranged in single file, and then came to a gate-way where we were compelled to leave our side-arms, as no person was permitted to come into the palace enclosure with arms about him. we were also compelled to dismount from our litters and leave our escort behind us. [illustration: prime-minister of siam.] "we passed through another street of soldiers, and finally came to a large hall, eighty or ninety feet long by forty broad. we were conducted inside, and carpets were spread for us to sit on while waiting to be summoned to the royal presence. we waited about twenty minutes, and were then taken to the hall of audience, where we were requested to take off our shoes and leave behind us our indian attendants. as soon as we entered the gate we found a band of music of about one hundred persons drawn up to form a street for our reception. the instruments consisted of drums, gongs, brass flutes, and flageolets. "opposite the door of the hall there was an immense screen, which concealed the interior from view. we passed the screen to the right side, and, as had been agreed upon, taking off our hats, made a respectful bow in the european manner. every foot of the great hall was so crowded with prostrate courtiers that it was difficult to move without treading upon some officer of state. precedence is decided upon such occasions by relative vicinity to the throne; the princes being near the foot of it, the principal officers of government next to them, and thus in succession down to the lowest officer who is admitted. we seated ourselves a little in front of the screen, and made three obeisances to the throne in unison with the courtiers. this obeisance consisted in raising the joined hands three times to the head, and each time touching the forehead. to have completed the siamese obeisance it would have been necessary to bend the body to the ground, and touch the earth with the forehead at each prostration. "the hall of audience was a well proportioned and spacious saloon, about eighty feet long, perhaps half this in breadth, and about thirty feet high. two rows, each of ten handsome wooden pillars, formed an avenue from the door to the throne, which was situated at the upper end of the hall. the walls and ceiling were painted a bright vermilion, the cornices of the former being gilded, and the latter thickly spangled with stars in rich gilding. the throne and its appendages occupied the whole of the upper end of the hall. the throne was gilded all over, and about fifteen feet high, and it had much the appearance of a handsome pulpit. a pair of curtains of gold tissue upon a yellow ground concealed the whole of the upper part of the room except the throne, and they were intended to be drawn over this also except when used. the king, when seated on his throne, had more the appearance of a statue than of a living being. the general appearance of the hall of audience, the prostrate attitude of the courtiers, the situation of the king, and the silence which prevailed, presented a very imposing spectacle, and reminded us much more of a temple crowded with votaries engaged in the performance of some solemn rite of religion than the audience-chamber of a temporal monarch. [illustration: the king of siam in his state robes.] "the words which his siamese majesty condescended to address to us were delivered in a grave, measured, and oratorical manner. one of the first officers of state delivered them to a person of inferior rank, and this person to the interpreter who was behind us, and explained them in the malay language, which we understood. after a few questions and answers relative to our mission, the king said, "'i am glad to see an envoy here from the governor-general of india. whatever you have to say, communicate with the minister of foreign affairs. what we chiefly want from you are fire-arms.' "his majesty had no sooner pronounced these words than we heard a loud stroke, as if given by a wand against a piece of wainscoting, and then the curtains on each side of the throne, moved by some invisible agency, closed upon it. this was followed by the same flourish of wind instruments as on our entrance, and the courtiers, falling on their faces to the ground, made six successive prostrations. we made three obeisances, sitting upright as agreed upon. the ceremony was over. "during the audience a heavy shower had fallen, and it was still raining. his majesty took this opportunity of presenting each of us with a small umbrella, and sent a message to desire that we would view the curiosities of the palace at our leisure. when we reached the threshold of the audience-hall we perceived the court yard and the roads extremely wet and dirty from the rain, and naturally demanded our shoes, which we had left at the last gate. this was a favor which could not be yielded; and we were told that the princes of the blood could not wear shoes within the sacred enclosure where we now were. it would have been impolitic to evince ill-humor or remonstrance, and therefore we feigned a cheerful compliance with this inconvenient usage, and proceeded to gratify our curiosity." [illustration: a younger brother of the king.] doctor bronson had no such ceremony to pass through as did mr. crawfurd in 1822; he was not required to remove his shoes at the gate-way, and he did not pass along a hall full of kneeling courtiers. the present king has ordained that persons of all ranks shall come before him erect, just as they would enter the presence of a king in europe, and as far as possible he has made the usages of his court correspond to the european model. of the dinner to which the consul and doctor bronson were invited, the latter wrote as follows: "the dinner was quite in the european style, and was prepared by a french cook who has been in his majesty's employ for several years. the party consisted of his majesty, six of his younger brothers, the king's private secretary, the consul, and myself. the conversation was general, and touched many topics; the king had many questions to ask about the united states, and particularly wished to know the difference between siamese slavery of the present day and american slavery of the past. after dinner we sat on the balcony, listening to the music of the band, and breathing the soft evening air. during part of the dinner and all the rest of the evening the king threw off his reserve, dismissed his interpreter, and conversed freely in english, which he spoke easily, and with great correctness. it was half-past nine o'clock when we left the palace, and were escorted to our boat to return to the hotel." [illustration] chapter xviii. the white elephant.--visit to the second king of siam. the time that doctor bronson passed in the presence of the king was utilized by the boys in a visit to the stables of the famous white elephants of the royal palace of bangkok. when the doctor was busy in the evening with his account of the presentation to the king, frank occupied himself in putting on paper his experiences among the animals that are held in such reverence by the siamese. fred sat by his side and gave occasional hints about the story, and made sure that nothing they had seen was omitted. [illustration: a white elephant worshipping the sun and moon. (from a chinese drawing.)] "our friends," said he, "will want to know everything we can tell them about the white elephants." "of course they will," frank replied; "they don't have white elephants in america--at any rate, our white elephants are not of the siamese kind." "i don't think i ever heard of one in our country," said fred; "and if there ever was one there, it is news to me." "don't you remember," frank responded, smiling, "that your uncle charles was said to have bought a white elephant a year or two ago?" "yes, i remember it perfectly," was the reply. "it was not a white elephant that he bought, but only a large house. it was three times as big as he needed; and after losing a great deal of money in repairing it, and hiring a crowd of servants to keep it in order, he sold it for much less than he gave. of course, i understand that when a man has bought something he does not need, and which involves him in a ruinous expense, he is said to have bought a white elephant. i wonder where the expression came from." just then doctor bronson entered the room to look for something he needed, and the boys appealed the question to him. both of them had heard the allusion to "buying a white elephant," and knew its meaning. what they now wished to find was where it originated. the doctor explained that it was said to be the custom in certain eastern countries for the king to give a white elephant to any nobleman whom he wished to ruin. as the present came from the king, it could not be sold or given away: the expense of keeping the animal was enormous, as he required a great number of attendants, and consumed vast quantities of food. in a little while the nobleman would be a beggar, as his estate would be entirely consumed in maintaining the elephant; and so it came to be understood that when a man received such a present, it was a polite way of driving him into bankruptcy. "there is also a story," said the doctor, "of a man who drew a white elephant in a lottery; he could not give his prize away, as nobody would accept it, and he could not kill him, as such an act was a crime of the highest character. it would not do to turn him loose, as he would then be responsible for all the damage caused by the elephant; and if he kept the beast it would soon eat him into poverty. consequently, when a man has something in his possession difficult to get rid of and costly to keep, he is said to have drawn a white elephant." the doctor found what he wanted and retired, and the boys proceeded with their story. with fred's assistance, frank wrote as follows: "the white elephant is not white by any means. he is only a sort of cream or flesh color; and anybody who expects him to rival the snow in the purity of his complexion will be disappointed. but, after all, he is not so dark as a good many men whom we call white, and so i suppose his name is quite proper. he is very scarce, and this is one reason why he is prized so highly. "siam is not the only country where the white elephant is regarded with special honor; the animal receives great attention, and is very much prized in burmah and other buddhist lands; and it is said that some of the wars between burmah and siam have arisen from disputes about the possession of white elephants. money cannot buy them, and no king who possessed one would dare to sell it for any price, as his people would think he had defied the powers of heaven, and would be sure to bring the severest calamities upon them. sir john bowring says that when he came to siam at the head of an embassy from the queen of england in 1855, the king sent some presents for her majesty, and among them was a golden box locked with a golden key. it was said to be more precious than all the other presents; but it contained nothing beyond a few hairs from the tail of the white elephant. "the buddhists have great reverence for anything that is white; and when whiteness is combined with great rarity, and also with magnificence, it is easy to see why the white elephant is above all other animals. 'it is believed,' sir john bowring says, 'that buddha, the divine emanation from the deity, must necessarily, in his multitudinous metamorphoses or transmissions through all existences and through millions of æons, delight to abide for some time in that grand incarnation of purity which is represented by the white elephant. while the priests teach that there is no spot in the heavens above, nor in the earth below, or the waters under the earth, which is not visited in the peregrinations of the divinity, they hold that his tarrying may be longer in the white elephant than in any other abode, and that in the possession of the sacred creature they may possess the presence of buddha himself.' "the white elephant is considered of equal rank with the king, and is treated with all possible dignity; he has a stable to himself, and ten or twelve keepers to look after his wants. the first one we saw was standing on a platform which was being swept by a priest; and we were told that none but priests were allowed to serve the sacred animal. he was chained to a couple of posts, so that he could not step away from the platform; and the interpreter told us not to go near him, as he was not of a pleasant temper, and might hurt us. the keeper gave him a few bananas, which he appeared quite willing to take; the fact is, the elephant is very fond of bananas, and the wild ones in the forest will often run considerable risk to get them. after he had swallowed the bananas he reached for a truss of hay, but for some reason the keeper did not think proper to let him have it. he showed some temper, and the keeper brought him to a sense of his duty by pricking his foot with a sharp iron till drops of blood came from it. this seemed to us a funny way to treat a king, and we wondered how his majesty liked it. [illustration: white monkey in elephant stables.] "we saw two white elephants, and each had a stable to himself, or rather a palace. their tusks were encircled with hoops or rings of pure gold, and there were golden or gilded canopies above them, and ornaments of great value in other parts of the stable. in one of the stables there was a white monkey, and the interpreter told us that the white monkey is an object of great veneration among the siamese, and is kept in the elephant stables to prevent the presence of evil spirits. the one we saw was a very quiet and dignified monkey of a perfectly pure white; he was above the ordinary size, and had a long tail, and they told us that he was caught in the forests on the upper waters of the menam river. "when a white elephant is caught, there is great rejoicing throughout siam. the king and court go out to meet him as he is brought towards the capital, and there is a grand procession with banners and music. meantime a house has been prepared for him, and some of the members of the noble families of siam are appointed to wait on him. he has everything he can possibly want except his liberty; and when he goes to the river to bathe he is escorted by other elephants, who are supposed to be highly honored by admission to his presence. but, in spite of all attentions, he sometimes takes sick and dies, and then the rejoicing is changed to mourning. the whole nation is wrapped in deep grief, and the funeral ceremonies are of an elaborate character. fortunately for the siamese, the elephant is an animal of long life, and so they are not often called upon to mourn the loss of one of these sacred beasts. "after we had seen the white elephants, we went to the stables of the common ones. there were a dozen or more of them in a shed that was quite open to the weather on all its sides, and they had only the ground to lie upon. they were chained up by the forefeet, and when we went to the stable they had just been fed. each of them had a bundle of freshly-cut grass; and we were told that a healthy elephant consumes every day not less than seven or eight hundred pounds of this food. these elephants are kept for working about the palace-grounds; and their occupation at present is in hauling timber from the bank of the river to the places where it is wanted in the construction of a new wing to the king's residence. [illustration: how an elephant feeds.] "we were much interested in seeing the way the elephant eats. "everybody has seen the trunk of an elephant, either on the animal himself or in pictures. did you ever know that there are more than forty thousand muscles in this wonderful structure, and that it is powerful enough to pull down a large tree, and at the same time sufficiently delicate to pick up a pin? that is what cuvier says about it, and he is the best authority that we know of. rennie, in his 'natural history of the elephant,' says the same thing; and when we consider the uses of the animal's trunk, and the many operations it will perform, the statement is not at all surprising. and when we saw the elephants at the royal palace taking their food, we could not help admiring the skill with which they twisted the wisps of grass and thrust them into their capacious mouths. "one of the beasts was very good-natured, and allowed us to examine the termination of his proboscis, as long as we did not touch it. as the elephant's existence depends upon his trunk he is very sensitive about it, and is constantly afraid of injuring it. they say that this is the reason why he always elevates it in the air when there is any danger, and that his great fear of the tiger arises from the fact that the tiger always attempts to disable the elephant by springing on his trunk. [illustration] "the trunk that we looked at had a projection that might be called a finger, and directly opposite there was a sort of thumb. the finger was exceedingly flexible, while the thumb was not; but they fitted to each other so well that they could hold on to any thing even if it was very small. here is a picture of it. [illustration] "and here are some more pictures, showing how the elephant pulls up the grass when he is feeding in the open air, and also how he grasps it before he thrusts it into his mouth. then you can see how he takes hold of a carrot, or any other root, and how he seizes a branch of a tree that requires him to exercise a part of his great strength. in the latter case he twines his trunk around the branch, and if he is pulling it down from the tree he raises himself on his hind legs, and lets his weight hang by his trunk. in this way he can bring down a good-sized branch without much trouble; and as he feeds on the leaves and small limbs in the forest where he lives, his power is very useful to him. [illustration: elephants drinking.] "when he has seized anything with his proboscis, his next effort is to carry it to his mouth. this he does by bending his trunk, just as a man bends his finger; and when he has it properly bent he thrusts the article between his jaws, and has it all safe and secure. he drinks by drawing the trunk full of water, and then thrusting it to his mouth; it is sometimes thought that he draws water through the trunk directly into his stomach, but such is not the case. he breathes through the trunk, but he cannot take food or drink through it, as it only communicates with his lungs. here is the way he supplies himself. "there used to be a question among the boys at school, 'why do white sheep eat more hay than black ones?' the answer was, 'because there are more of them.' that may be all right for sheep; but if you apply the question to elephants, you are obliged to reverse it, as there are very few white elephants, and any number of black ones." by the time the above account was finished it was after eleven o'clock. labor was suspended, and the boys went to bed. in the morning they had a short time to spare before breakfast, and fred thought he would write a description of his sleeping-room and its peculiarities, and send it along with the story of the visit to the palace. so he took pen and paper, and wrote as follows: [illustration: fred's tormentor.] "the weather is so warm here that we don't need any bed-clothing, and consequently they don't give us any; we have hard beds with harder pillows, and they are much better than any soft beds and pillows could possibly be. a sheet to lie on is spread over the bed, and all the covering we need is the pajamas, or sleeping suits that everybody wears here. mosquitoes are abundant, and of all sizes; and so they cover the beds with a netting of very fine mesh to keep out the smallest of these troublesome pests. the nets not only keep out the mosquitoes but they keep in the heat, and for this reason we suffer a great deal from the high temperature. i get up several times in the night, and go and sit on the balcony, just to get a little cool; every time i wake i am in a profuse perspiration, and it is largely caused by the closeness of the air under the mosquito netting. "when we first came here we were disturbed frequently by the _gecko_, a lizard that climbs around the walls and partitions of the houses, and goes wherever he pleases. he is five or six inches long, and not pretty to look at, and he makes a noise like some one calling out 'gecko!' it is from his call that he gets his name, and until we got used to it we were waked by it. it isn't pleasant to see these lizards climbing around your room; but everybody says they are perfectly harmless, and they eat up a great many insects. there is a smaller lizard that eats mosquitoes, or anything else he can manage, and it is very funny to see him at work. frank and i watched one the other evening for half an hour, and saw him do a great deal of good. he is just the color of the boards where he clings, or very nearly so, and therefore he is not easily seen. when a mosquito passed within half an inch of his nose he darted out his long flexible tongue with the rapidity of lightning, and caught his prize on the end of it. the mosquito disappeared like a flash, and then the lizard watched for another, and took him in the same way. "when a mosquito or a fly lighted two or three inches away, the lizard would creep along like a cat, and hug close to the boards. he did it very slowly till he got within reach, and then out came the tongue as before, and he rarely missed his aim. one large fly was too much for him, and after getting him on the end of his tongue he had a sharp struggle to swallow him. the fly escaped, and after that the lizard was more cautious about the size of his game." breakfast was announced, and the story of the siamese lizard was dropped for the present. while they were at breakfast a messenger came from the consul to doctor bronson. he announced that the second king of siam would receive them that afternoon, as they had been received the day before by the supreme king. the boys had heard that siam was ruled by two kings, and the doctor took the opportunity to explain the relations between these rulers. "the king at the grand palace, where we went yesterday," said doctor bronson, "is the first or supreme king of the country. the second king occupies a position that is difficult to understand clearly when we compare it with our own form of government. he is not like our vice-president of the united states, as he does not inherit the throne on the death of the supreme king; nor does he resemble the ancient mikado of japan in being a spiritual ruler, while the first king is a temporal one. according to sir john bowring, his opinion and sanction are sought by the king in important matters, and his name is associated in treaties. he is supposed to have control of one-third of the revenues, and has a portion of the army under his command; in time of war he is expected to have direct control of the armies in the field, and to go with them in person, but this is not always the case. occasionally the office of second king is abolished, and it seems to be largely in the power of the first king to do what he pleases concerning the rank and authority of his subordinate. "the second king has a palace nearly as large as that of the first, and he has ministers corresponding to those that form the highest cabinet. the same respect is shown to him when he goes abroad as to the first king, and the latter is the only personage in the country to whom the second king must pay visits of ceremony. siam is the only country in the world that has this arrangement for dividing the royal power, and when we come to examine it closely it will be found that there is not a very large division, after all. not long ago, as i am told, there was a quarrel between the first and second kings of siam, which resulted in the second king seeking the protection of the english consul. since that time the power of the second king has been less than it was before, and the breach between the two great heads of the kingdom of siam has not been entirely healed." at the appointed time the consul called for the doctor, and the two gentlemen proceeded on their excursion, leaving the boys at the hotel. the journey to the palace was not made in a boat, as on the day before, but in a carriage, for the reason that going in a boat would necessitate a long walk from the landing to the gates of the royal residence. on his return the doctor gave the following account of his visit: "we drove through a narrow gate-way where some soldiers were on guard, and soon found ourselves in an open court-yard of the palace. here we left the carriage, and entered a large anteroom at the head of a flight of stairs, where we waited while a messenger went to inform the king of our arrival. he came back shortly, accompanied by a gentleman who spoke english and siamese with equal fluency, as he is the son of an american missionary, and was born in siam. under his guidance we went to the reception-hall, which was in a large building just off the court-yard. it was entered directly from the open air, and not by passing through a series of halls, as in the palace of the first king. his majesty rose as we entered, and came forward a few steps to meet us; he first shook hands with the consul, and then with me after the consul had introduced me, and the interpreter had translated his remarks. "the king asked us to be seated, and gave us the example by taking a chair for himself, and indicating the ones we were to occupy. he is a man of about fifty-five or sixty years old, and has a pleasant and intelligent face; he speaks english with considerable fluency, and has read a great deal about england and america. he is a great admirer of america, and is proud of the name of george washington, which he bears." "are we to understand," frank asked, "that the second king of siam is named george washington?" "hardly as much as that," was the doctor's reply; "he was known among the foreign residents of bangkok by the name of prince george before he was proclaimed second king. he has at least half a dozen siamese titles, and places the name of 'george washington' before them. he assumed it himself, as i am informed, with the consent of the old king of siam, because he admired the character of the man whom we hold in such great reverence in america. he has been, and continues to be, a pretty close student of science, politics, and other matters, and is a man of more than ordinary intelligence. "soon after we were seated, coffee and cigars were brought, and the king offered us some of the latter from his own box of massive gold. conversation began immediately; the questions and answers being rather slow, as they were made through the interpreter. the king asked when i left america, and what i thought of siam; and when i spoke in praise of his country he appeared greatly pleased. then we talked about the scenery of the tropics in comparison with that of the temperate zone; and the king said he was sorry america was so far off, as it would give him great pleasure to visit it. then we talked about the fruits and flowers of siam, the many varieties of the palm-tree, and the great uses of the palm and bamboo to mankind. then the king asked about some of the productions of america; and after that there came a pause, which gave us an opportunity to rise and make our adieux. the king shook hands with us at parting, and hoped i would like my stay in siam so well that i would come here again. we found our carriage, and drove home again; but, before leaving the palace, we went to see an elephant which belongs to the second king, and is said to be over a hundred years old. it has been a long time in captivity, and is very large and powerful, and its temper is anything but amiable." [illustration: the second king of siam, in state robes.] fred asked if the king wore his state-dress as it was represented in the pictures he had seen of his majesty. the doctor answered that the king was plainly dressed, and the only indications of rank about his garments were some stars embroidered on the collar of his coat. the coat was short, and rather in form like a jacket; it hung loosely, and by no means concealed a vest of white linen that joined with trousers of siamese pattern, to complete the clothing of royalty. on his feet he wore a pair of embroidered shoes that were cut low enough for slippers, and could be easily thrown off without the aid of a boot-jack. his attendants were in siamese garb, and the general surroundings of the place were more oriental in their character than those of the palace of the supreme king. frank and fred listened with great interest to what the doctor had to say of his visit to the second king of siam. through fear of forgetting some portion of it, they proceeded to put it upon paper at once; and, as the afternoon was far gone when they began, they had sufficient occupation for the rest of the day. chapter xix. leaving siam.--life under the ocean wave. the time came for leaving siam. our friends had enjoyed their visit to the land of the white elephant, and had seen many things that were full of interest; they wished to remain longer, but they remembered there were other countries to be seen, and other people whose manners and customs they wished to learn from personal observation. so they prepared to continue their journey. their next place of destination was singapore. between that city and bangkok there is a service of steamers each way about once a week; it is somewhat irregular, as the movements of the ships depend more or less upon the amount of freight offering and the facility of obtaining cargoes. the steamers are under the siamese flag; some of them belong to the government, while the others are the property of chinese or siamese merchants established at bangkok. all of them are small, to make sure of passing the bar at the mouth of the menam, and their passenger accommodations are rather limited. [illustration: the doctor getting ready.] the distance from bangkok to singapore is about eight hundred miles; and, as the ships are not built for speed, the voyage usually takes from four to five days. our friends engaged passage on the _bang yong seng_, and were told to be on board by seven o'clock in the morning of the day fixed for departure. the steamer was at her dock about a mile above the hotel, and consequently doctor bronson and the boys proposed to leave the hotel soon after six o'clock, in order to be in season. when they suggested their plan to captain salje, the proprietor of the establishment, the latter laughed, and said he would have breakfast ready for them at half-past six, and then they would have an abundance of time. "how can that be?" the doctor asked. "very easy to explain," the captain responded. "the river is so narrow that the steamer cannot turn around where she is. she backs down below here, and does it very slowly, and you need not go to the dock at all. you can have your baggage ready, and when we see her coming you can pull out with the boat and drop along-side. the gangway-ladder will be down, and you can get on board and have your baggage handed up without the least trouble." this plan was quite to the taste of the party of travellers, and they adopted it at once. it was carried out to perfection; and the boys pronounced it much better than being obliged to breakfast at a disagreeably early hour, and then pulling up the stream. the consul came to see them off; and as the steamer passed the consulate, the flag of their country was dipped in farewell honor to doctor bronson and his young companions. the steamer turned a little below the consulate, and headed her prow for the sea; and she steamed steadily onward, till at length she left the menam behind her and entered the waters of the gulf of siam. the boys sat on the deck of the steamer, and watched the low coast as it slowly receded from view. flocks of birds filled the air, or settled on the marshy shores, where the scattered palm-trees waved their tufted heads. there was a faint ripple of surf breaking on the beach, or forming in long lines where the waters were shallow. the sky was clear, and the sun filled the atmosphere with a flood of light; while it made the shelter of the awning indispensable to the comfort of the young travellers. [illustration: coast of siam, near the mouth of the river.] although the steamer was of light draught, she stirred the mud from the bottom as she crossed the bar at the mouth of the menam; she left a long trail of discolored water behind her, but it disappeared as she steamed onward and left the shores of siam fading in the distance. while the boys were busy with their contemplation of the scene, the chinese steward of the steamer came to tell them dinner was ready. they went below, and were soon seated at the cabin table. [illustration: water-fowl of siam.] the passengers were not numerous. besides the doctor and his young friends, there were only two others in the cabin, and it did not take long for them to form an acquaintance. one of the twain was a german merchant living at bangkok, and the other was a personage who reminded the boys a little of their old friend, "the mystery." he was affable, and inclined to free conversation; and though they could not at first make him out, they found themselves attracted towards him. when they went on deck after dinner, the stranger followed; and by invitation of doctor bronson, he drew his chair near them. in the course of the rambling talk that ensued, fred wondered if there were any pearls in the gulf of siam. frank quickly responded that it was ceylon, and not siam, where the most of the pearls of commerce were to be found. the remark about pearls led to a discussion of the mode of gathering them. very naturally something was said about the methods of going beneath the waves of the sea. the stranger joined in the conversation, and it was not long before he developed much more than a casual knowledge of the business under consideration. "i may as well introduce myself," he remarked, "and then we will be able to talk freely. i am known as captain johnson, and have been around the eastern seas for the past twenty years. i am an englishman by birth, and have been captain of a ship trading between london and singapore; but at present i am a wrecker." doctor bronson replied to this introduction by handing his own card to captain johnson, and introducing the two youths by name. the boys showed by the expression of their faces that they were not altogether familiar with the peculiarities of the stranger's occupation; evidently he perceived it, for he proceeded to explain what a wrecker was. "properly speaking," said he, "a wrecker is a man who lives on a dangerous coast, and makes a living by assisting wrecked vessels, and saving what can be saved from their cargoes. my occupation is something like his, but not exactly; he works above the waters, while i go below them." "go below the water to save a ship!" said fred, in astonishment. "how can you save a ship in that way?" the question led to an explanation that lasted through the entire afternoon and evening. we will endeavor to give the substance of it, as nearly as possible, in the words of captain johnson. "life beneath the ocean wave," said he, after he was comfortably balanced in his chair, "has many features of interest. in my profession of wrecking i have seen much that does not ordinarily happen to a man; i am sorry i cannot remember all that has come under my observation, but perhaps it is just as well, as i might remember too much, and so weary you." frank assured him it would take a longer period than they were likely to pass together on the ship for him to become weary of stories of the sea. fred echoed the remark, and thus the captain was encouraged to proceed. "thanks to men of science and ingenuity," the captain continued, "we have made great progress in going beneath the water in the last twenty-five years. formerly a man could only stay below as long as he could hold his breath, and of course this prevented his descending to any great depth. with the diving apparatus now in use he can go far below the surface, and remain there for hours." [illustration: a wreck among the breakers.] the boys opened their eyes very wide at this assertion, but they did not interrupt the story by saying what they thought. [illustration: pearl-fisher attacked by a shark.] "the fisher for pearls in the primitive way has no apparatus beyond a stone attached to a cord, a basket slung around his neck to hold the pearl-oysters, and a knife to detach them from the bottom, and also to defend himself from sharks. at the moment of diving he fills his lungs with air and grasps the cord, and as he does so the stone is thrown from the side of the boat by his assistant. the weight of the stone carries him down; he gathers as many oysters as he can while the air in his lungs holds out, and then he shakes the cord as a signal to be drawn up. sharks abound in the regions where the pearl is found, and not infrequently they seize the poor diver as he rises to the surface. his only mode of escape is by rapid movement; and you can readily see that he is at a great disadvantage, as he is out of his proper element, and in that of the shark. "the diving-bell was the first invention to improve on the old process; it consisted of a wide-mouthed bell large enough to contain one or two men, who stood or were seated inside. if you put a tumbler into the water with the mouth downwards, you will perceive, as you press below the surface, that the air within keeps the water from rising." the boys nodded assent to the captain's remark. "in this way the air remains in the bell, and until it becomes foul the divers suffer no particular inconvenience. but as soon as it has been breathed so as to cause a sense of suffocation they must be drawn up, or they will die. "then somebody arranged an air-pump so as to connect with the bell, and by constantly working this pump the foul air was expelled, and new air came in to supply its place. by this process the men could remain some time below; but they could not leave the bell, and their operations were confined to the space covered by its mouth. it is a curious fact that the first diving-bell was invented by a spider, and not by a man." "invented by a spider!" the two boys exclaimed in a breath. "yes, invented by a spider," the captain continued. "why, how can that be?" frank asked. [illustration; nests of the water-spider.] "the water-spider builds a house of silk in the shape of a bell, and anchors it to the roots of the grasses that grow several feet under the water. having finished his dwelling, he proceeds to stock it with air. for this purpose he comes to the surface, takes a bubble of air under his abdomen and carries it to the house, where he releases it, and allows it to rise into the cavity where he wants it. he repeats the operation till he has filled it with air, and then he has a satisfactory home for his family. [illustration; divers in their armor.] "now the diving-bell is on this principle, with the advantage of not being stationary, and also with the greater advantage that the air can be renewed when it becomes foul. but the modern armor dispenses with the bell; the head of the diver is covered with an air-tight helmet with a plate of glass in front, so that the man can see what is about him, and the air is kept fresh by means of an air-pump and a flexible tube of india-rubber. there are several forms of this apparatus, some of them having a metallic knapsack, where the air is received before it goes to the helmet, while others dispense with the knapsack, and carry the air directly to the head of the man who is to breathe it. sometimes, where the depth is slight, and he is not to remain long below, the diver does not use the helmet at all, but simply holds a tube in his mouth, through which a stream of air is driven to him." frank asked how the man wearing this armor managed to sink in the water, and retain his perpendicular position. according to his experience, there was a tendency of the feet to fly upwards as soon as the body was in the water, especially where it was salt instead of fresh. "that is provided for," said captain johnson, "by giving the diver a pair of shoes with soles of lead. they are so heavy that when he is out of water he can lift his feet with difficulty; but when he goes below, the specific gravity of the water makes them much lighter. he can then step around, and at the same time his equilibrium is maintained." "how long can a man stay under water with the apparatus you have described?" fred asked. [illustration: divers at work.] "from one to two hours," was the reply; "according to the depth and condition of the water. if it is very cold, he will be chilled in a little while, and must come up to get warm again; and if he has to hold himself against a strong current he will find his strength leaving him, and must make a signal to be drawn to the surface. i have been two hours under, at a depth of eighty feet, and felt no inconvenience; but when i came up i was not able to go down again for several hours." "can you go down in the open sea in this way," said fred, "or must you always be where the water is quiet?" [illustration: diving over the side of a steamer.] "as to that," the captain responded, "it is impossible to answer in a single word. the most of our operations are in rivers and harbors, or in bays more or less shallow. sometimes at sea it is necessary to examine the bottom of a ship, in order to stop a leak or repair some other damage. in such a case the ship is stopped, and a ladder is lowered near the place to be examined; a man goes down in his submarine armor without difficulty, and, though the water must be reasonably smooth to allow him to do so safely, i have known it to be done when there was quite a heavy sea on. the general rule is, that, unless the sea is smooth enough to allow a boat to lie along side for the purpose of assisting the diver, it is not wise to send him below. divers are their own judges of such matters, and will naturally refuse to descend if the risk is too great. "once in awhile we have cases of diving in the open ocean. do you remember the loss of the steamship _japan_, on the coast of china, in december, 1874?" the boys said they had heard about it while they were in china, but could not remember anything particular about the affair. "well," continued the captain, "the _japan_ was burnt at sea, one hundred and thirty-five miles north-east of hong-kong, and fifty miles from swatow. the nearest land was breaker point, twenty miles away, and the water where the wreck sunk was twenty-three fathoms, or one hundred and thirty-eight feet deep. the _japan_ had about three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in silver on board, and the underwriters at hong-kong who had insured it determined to make an effort for its recovery. for this purpose they engaged captain roberts, who was a well-known wrecker on the coast of china, and set him at work. "a schooner and a small steamer were bought, and in january, 1875, captain roberts began looking for the wreck. he dragged the bed of the ocean for four or five weeks before he found anything; but at last he was successful, and discovered one of the paddle-wheels of the ship. it was some time later before he found the wreck of the ship, as it proved to have drifted eleven miles south-west of the spot where the wheel had dropped off." "how could that be?" frank exclaimed. "it was because the wind was blowing very strong at the time from the north-east, and after the wheel fell off the ship was driven on before the gale till it had burnt low enough to sink. it took from march to july to find the wreck after the wheel was discovered, and then they immediately began operations for getting at the sunken treasure. "the south-west monsoon blows from march till september, and it was only during this monsoon that the divers could work. on the 12th of that month the monsoon ceased, and captain roberts had not been able to get at the treasure, which was contained in an iron tank in the hold of the ship. he thought the whole enterprise would end there, and the _japan_ and her three hundred and fifty thousand dollars would remain undisturbed at the bottom of the sea. it was not likely that the underwriters would incur the expense of another expedition the following year, when the chances of recovering anything were so doubtful. "the diver went down for the last time; and while he was below the crew were making preparations to hoist anchor, and be off for hong-kong as soon as he rose. "suddenly he signalled to be pulled up, and they hoisted away. as he rose he held a lump of something in his hand, and passed it to captain roberts, who was standing on the deck of the schooner. "it was a lump that looked like coal; but it was heavier than coal by a great deal. examination showed that it was a mass of twenty-four silver dollars, all melted and charred together, but still distinguishable as dollars. "the question was settled. the wreckers retired to hong-kong during the six months that the north-east monsoon blows, and in the following march they returned to their work. in 1876 they recovered about twenty-five thousand dollars; and in the two following years the whole of the treasure was secured. it was one of the finest wrecking operations ever known. and here is one of the dollars that lay for three years at the bottom of the pacific ocean." as he spoke, captain johnson drew from his pocket an american trade-dollar bearing the date 1874. it was quite black from the effect of its long immersion in the ocean, but otherwise was as perfect as when it came from the mint at san francisco. the boys were greatly interested in this curious coin, and so was doctor bronson. it was passed from one to the other of the trio, and the boys were for some minutes so thoroughly engrossed in examining it that they had no attention to bestow on anything else. [illustration: coral-fishing in the mediterranean.] frank wished to know whether there was any coral or other curious products of the sea where the wreck of the _japan_ was lying at the bottom of the ocean. [illustration: the coral-worm.] captain johnson told him there was nothing of the kind in that particular spot, but that a great deal of coral was to be found in the tropical waters of the far east. "the best coral," said he, "comes from the mediterranean; other parts of the world produce it in much larger quantities, but it is not generally fine enough to be wrought into jewellery, like that from the northern coast of africa. can you tell me what coral is?" [illustration: cup-coral and brain-coral.] frank answered that coral was a substance produced by a small insect which works under the water, and produces a substance somewhat resembling stone. there are many varieties of it, and the work of the coral insect is usually in the form of branches--like a small tree without leaves. there are also formations known as cup-coral and brain-coral, on account of their shape and general appearance. fred said he had read somewhere that in the pacific ocean there were islands of solid coral; and there were also reefs surrounding islands like great walls. some of these walls were hundreds of miles in extent, and kept ships from approaching the land. "can you tell me what an atoll is?" said the captain, with a smile. the boys had both heard of an atoll, but at the moment they were unable to describe it. so the captain came to their relief, and explained it to them. "an atoll," said he, "is a circular island or reef, with an opening on one side, with water that is usually deep enough for the largest ships to enter. the strip of land or coral is a few hundred yards wide, and often covered with palm and other trees; and there are sometimes hundreds of atolls in a single group. they vary in size from half a mile to forty or fifty miles in diameter, and the lake or lagoon inside is from one to four hundred feet in depth. ships may sail around in these lagoons, and they often abound in fish of many varieties. the contrast between the rough ocean outside and the calm lake within is very impressive, and will never be forgotten by one who has observed it." [illustration: an atoll in this pacific ocean.] chapter xx. light under water.--pearl-fishing and turtle-hunting. frank was curious to know how it was possible to see under water. he thought it would be dark at great depths, and, if so, it would be impossible to do anything there on account of the darkness. lamps could not be made to burn under water, and until this was done the explorers of the sea could not make much progress. captain johnson replied that frank's theory was correct. as the diver goes down the light becomes more and more dim, but the dimness or the absence of it depends upon the clearness of the water where he is at work. if the water is clear and the sunlight good, there is no trouble about seeing at any depth to which a diver may safely descend. in a stream like the mississippi or the missouri river it will be darker at ten feet deep than in the mediterranean at a hundred. "but science has come to our aid," he continued, "by giving us the electric light. there is one form of it that can burn in a vacuum--in fact, it needs a vacuum for its proper working. now all you have to do is to insulate the wires leading to the glass globe that holds the light, and you can carry it under the water without the least trouble. "for ordinary purposes there is a very simple arrangement, which consists of a box with a plate of glass in the bottom. you put this in the water, so that the glass is a few inches below the surface, and then you can see very clearly, where the depth is not too great. fishermen in some parts of the world have something of the same nature, which they call a telescope; it is nothing but a tube of wood four or five feet long, and six inches in diameter, and with the top so arranged that when the eye is put against it there can be no entrance of light at that end of the tube. when a man wishes to examine the bottom of the sea where he is fishing, he sinks this tube and looks through it. he can make out many objects that are altogether invisible under ordinary circumstances, and can frequently discover the whereabouts of a school of fish that might otherwise escape him. [illustration: submarine observations.] "sometimes a man who is using one of these aids to marine observation finds himself the object of attentions he would gladly avoid. a friend of mine was once looking through a box from the side of a boat, when a large sawfish came from below and thrust his snout through the glass. a shark followed the sawfish, and was evidently anxious for a fight, and the two swum off together, to the satisfaction of my friend. what made the matter more exciting was that an expert swimmer had just dived from the boat, and gone down to take a survey of the coral-trees that grew on the bottom. he came up safe and undisturbed, and the probabilities are that the sawfish and shark had been too busy over each other and the glass-bottomed box to pay any attention to such an insignificant object as a man swimming near them. [illustration: the bellows-fish, or angler.] "the bottom of the sea abounds in many curious things that we never see at the surface, unless they are brought there. there is a fish known as the _lophius_, or bellows-fish; he is also called 'the angler,' from his artistic way of supplying himself with food. he seems to be nearly all mouth, and reminds you of the dog that could walk down his own throat without touching the sides. he has a long rod projecting from the middle of his forehead, and at the end of it there is a lump of flesh, like a morsel of beef. this rod is movable; and, as he lies flat on the mud, he spreads his great mouth open like a trap. then he angles, or fishes, with his rod, moving it up and down and on both sides, so as to attract fish or crabs, or anything else that is edible. when they come within reach of his capacious jaws he closes on his prey, and goes on with his fishing as unconcerned as a man who has caught a small trout, and stowed it away in his basket." the boys laughed at the idea of an angling fish, and wondered how he managed to get along when he had lost his bait by any accident. the captain was unable to tell them, as he had never seen a bellows-fish that had suffered such a misfortune. [illustration: a curious home.] "you see thousands of crabs and lobsters and other creeping things at the bottom of the sea," the captain continued; "there is one kind of crab that loves to live in a shell which is not his own, at any rate not the one he was born to. they crawl around with these shells, never daring to leave them for fear some other crab will happen along and take possession. sometimes two of them will fight for a shell, and they tear away each other's claws and commit other havoc before the battle is over. generally the one in the shell has the best of it, as he is on the defensive, and the house in which he is lodged is a good protection. one day i found one of these crabs in the bowl of a tobacco-pipe that had the stem broken short off, and it was very funny to see him move around with this awkward covering. it was not as convenient as the sea-shells in which his brethren were quartered, and he seemed to understand it, as he changed to an empty shell as soon as one was placed near him, and he was left undisturbed. [illustration: crabs in a quarrel.] "these crabs are amphibious, and seem equally at home above or under the water. they are very quarrelsome, and when put together in a box proceed to eat each other up without the least hesitation. i once put a dozen of them together, and in two days there was only one left; he was large, and had a good appetite, as he left nothing but shells and crushed claws to tell what had become of his comrades. "but we have been so long beneath the surface that we must go above to breathe. as we come up we must be careful not to touch one of those long filaments hanging down from the _physalia_ that has spread its sail to the wind. if we do, we shall feel a sharp sting that will last us for some time." frank inquired what the _physalia_ was. "you have seen it very often at sea," said captain johnson, "and probably you knew it as a portuguese man-of-war." "oh, certainly," frank answered. "we saw thousands and thousands of them on the pacific ocean when we were coming from san francisco, and sometimes the water was covered with them for hours at a time. and they looked very pretty, with their little sails spread to catch the wind." "what you saw above the surface was not really a sail," the captain replied, "but a little sack containing air. the _physalia_ has the power of contracting this sack, so that it can sink beneath the waves for protection against a storm or to avoid other dangers. the use of the long filaments is not well understood; but they are evidently for purposes of defence, as each of them contains a sting that has anything but an agreeable effect on the swimmer who comes in contact with it." fred asked if the _physalia_ was anything like the sea-anemone which he had seen in aquarius, and had admired greatly on account of its beautiful colors. "how many colors of it do you think you have seen?" the captain asked, in reply. [illustration: sea-anemones.] fred could not say positively, but he thought he had seen not less than three or four. "they are of every color imaginable," responded captain johnson; "we find them white, with a delicate shading of pearl, and we have them in gray, pink, purple, yellow, orange, lilac, green, and blue. sometimes a single specimen will have half a dozen colors in his composition, and you could easily imagine he had borrowed all the hues of the rainbow in getting himself up to a satisfactory complexion. they have the properties of both animal and vegetable, and in this particular they resemble the sponge and other marine productions. if a part of the sea-anemone is destroyed, it is reproduced; and if one of them is torn or cut into several pieces, each piece converts itself into a perfect anemone." "is the sponge an animal?" frank asked of the captain. "you said something about the sea-anemone having animal and vegetable properties like the sponge. i always supposed the sponge was a vegetable growing at the bottom of the sea, and had nothing of the animal about it." "scientific men have long been in dispute on this subject," was the reply; "and while some assign the sponge to the vegetable kingdom, others class it with the animal. the latest authorities favor the theory that the sponge is an animal, and all agree that it occupies a middle ground between the two forms of life. [illustration: the sponge at home.] "it is fastened to a rock, or to the hard bottom of the part of the sea where it grows, and it has no power of moving from one place to another. water is continually absorbed into the sponge, just as we absorb air by breathing; and when the food and air contained in the water have served their purpose, the residue is thrown off. "the sponge has a skeleton that must be dissolved and washed away before the article is of use. various processes are used to remove the skeleton--according to the character of the sponge and the purposes for which it is designed. the finest are washed repeatedly in water, and in a weak solution of acid, and are then bleached in a bath of diluted soda. these fine sponges come from syria, and from the greek islands of the mediterranean; the coarse sponges, used for washing carriages and similar purposes, come from the west indies, and also from the east; and when first taken from the sea they have a sickening odor, like flesh that is just beginning to decay. this odor becomes stronger and stronger, and finally resembles exactly that which arises from a putrefying body. during this process of decomposition they are buried in the sand, and are afterwards submitted to the action of the waves to wash away the impurities that the decay has left." one of the boys asked how sponges were obtained, and at what depths of water they were to be found. [illustration: how sponges are speared.] the captain explained that they were found at all depths, from a few feet to two or three hundred. the most of them were taken from shoals and reefs, where they were ten or twenty feet below the surface, as they could not get a good supply of light in deeper water. in the east they are generally taken by diving, after the primitive fashion; while in the west indies they are speared from boats. "but we started out to talk about pearls," said captain johnson, "and we have wandered off to several other things. suppose we go back to pearls, and see what we can ascertain about them." the boys promptly agreed to this; and frank was evidently determined to begin at the beginning, as he referred to the pearl which cleopatra was said to have dissolved in vinegar, so that she might swallow a more costly drink than had ever been known to anybody else. "that was more than eighteen hundred years ago," said fred, "and perhaps the incident never happened." [illustration: cleopatra dissolving the pearl.] captain johnson was uncertain about it, as he said he had no documentary proof sufficient to convince an ordinary court of law that dissolved pearls were a fashionable beverage in the days of antony and cleopatra. "however," he said, "the pearl can be dissolved in strong vinegar; and this fact is sufficient to establish the possibility of the beautiful queen of egypt indulging in the freak that is attributed to her. "pearls have been known and valued for a great many hundred years. they are mentioned in the bible, and in the time of job they were great price. the greeks and romans had great numbers of pearls, and some of the wealthy citizens were in the habit of wearing them on their shoes. in all ages they have been associated with wealth, and probably they will continue to be for ages to come. [illustration: pearl-bearing shells.] "the oyster that produces them is not good to eat; probably he thinks he has quite enough to do to make pearls, without being devoured after he has performed that noble duty. they are found in various parts of the world; but the best pearls have always come from the east: they are valuable in proportion as they possess that peculiar lustre known as 'water,' which it is impossible to describe in words. there are several varieties of the pearl-oyster, but the best of them is of a nearly circular form, and from four to eight inches in diameter. here is a picture of one of these shells, with a single pearl adhering to it. the outside of the shell is rough, and has a series of ridges that extend from the valve to the edge. the young oysters rarely contain pearls; and the divers understand this so well that, when they find smooth-shelled and small oysters in their baskets, they throw them back into the sea. in the haste of gathering them from the rocky bottom, they have no time to select with care. "the pearl is nothing more nor less than carbonate of lime, secreted by the oyster, and hardened after a process which he carefully keeps to himself. it was for a long time supposed that the pearl was formed by the attempt of the oyster to cover a grain of sand with a smooth substance, so that it would not be inconvenient to him. it was believed that the sand was rolled in by the action of the waves while the oyster had his mouth open; and, as he could not expel it, he proceeded to cover it up. many persons adhere to this theory still; but the fact that many pearls have been sawed open and found not to contain the least particle of sand or other impurity, is calculated to throw doubt upon it. the latter belief is, that the pearl is the result of a disease in the oyster, just as a tumor is the result of disease in man. "in china and japan the natives have long followed the practice of putting small beads of porcelain inside the oyster, and then returning him to the water, where he is left undisturbed for three or four years. at the end of that time he is taken up and opened, and the beads are found to be coated with the pearly substance. they also have the trick of putting little images or idols into the oyster, and in course of time these become coated over in the manner i have described. you can see some of the results of these processes by looking at the two open shells on the right of the picture." frank wished to know the different sizes of pearls and their values. [illustration: sizes of pearls.] "as to that," said the captain, "your question is not an easy one to answer. some pearls are so small as to be hardly visible to the eye; and of course they are of no value when you cannot see them. they are only useful when large enough to be strung on a necklace, or otherwise set as jewellery. the largest pearls are apocryphal; by this i mean that no person of modern times has seen some that are famous in history, and there are doubts that they ever existed. it is said that the pearl which cleopatra drank to the health of mark antony was worth $375,000 of our money; and, if so, it must have been of great size. pearls have been reported to exist that were nearly two inches long by one and a quarter in diameter, and weighed fifty-five carats, or two hundred and twenty grains. "the largest that we know of at the present time do not exceed thirty carats, or one hundred and twenty grains. there is one among the crown-jewels of portugal weighing twenty-five carats; and there is said to be one of twenty-seven carats in the hands of a russian merchant in moscow. it is safe to say that there are not two dozen pearls known to exist now that weigh over twenty carats, or eighty grains. "the value of a pearl is generally estimated like that of a diamond--by the multiplication of the square of its weight. a pearl of one carat is held to be worth about $16; and to get the value of a pearl of two carats we multiply two by two, and the product by $16, and we get $64. in the same way the value of a pearl of three carats would be $144, and so on for any weight we happen to have. [illustration: pearl-fishery at bahrein.] "one of the favorite fishing-grounds for pearls is at bahrein, on the persian gulf. the divers bring in the oysters from the fishing-banks in the gulf, and pile them on the shore in great heaps. here they lie till they are rotted; and the stench that arises is enough to turn any inexperienced stomach. when the substance of the oyster is quite decomposed, the shells are opened, and the mass of matter they contain is thrown into tubs and washed with water. it is necessary to pass the pulp very carefully through the fingers for fear that some of the pearls will be lost, and consequently the washing is very slow. when a pearl beyond a certain size is found, the washer receives a handsome present; but below the regulation figure he gets nothing but his daily wages. large pearls are very rare, and consequently the chances that a pearl-washer will make a fortune by a lucky find are exceedingly small. [illustration: persian gulf diver.] "there is a belief quite current through the east that the pearl is a drop of rain-water which has fallen into the shell of the oyster when he was at the surface, and been afterwards hardened. this is a pretty bit of sentiment; but as the oyster never goes to the surface unless he is carried there, the story does not have much foundation to rest upon." "if the pearl is so valuable, and so difficult to get, i should think there would be men who would try to imitate it," frank remarked. "you are quite right," was the reply; "and men have tried a great many times to make false pearls." "have they succeeded?" "partially; but not altogether. no counterfeit pearl has yet been made that could pass all the tests of the genuine; but their lustre is quite equal, sometimes, to the best pearls of ceylon, and they can be made to deceive anybody but an expert." "how do they make them?" "the best of the false pearls," said the captain, "are made by what is known as jaquin's process. "m. jaquin was a manufacturer of beads in france, and he spent a great deal of time and money in trying to make his beads better than any other man's. one day he was walking in his garden, and observed a remarkable silvery lustre on some water in a basin. it instantly occurred to him that if he could put that lustre on his beads, he would have something decidedly new. "so he called his old servant, and asked what had been in the water. she answered that it was nothing but some little fish called _ablettes_, that had been crushed in the basin, and she had neglected to throw the water out. [illustration: m. jaquin's experiment.] "m. jaquin was very glad, for once, that she had neglected her duty. he began experimenting with the scales of the ablette, or bleak, a little fish about the size of a sardine, and very abundant in certain parts of europe. after several trials he adopted the plan of washing the scales several times in water, and saving the sediment that gathered at the bottom of the basin. this was about the consistency of oil, and had the lustre he desired. next, he blew some beads of very thin glass, and after coating the inside of a bead with this substance, he filled it up with wax, so as to give it solidity. thus the fish-scales gave the lustre, the glass gave the polish and brilliancy that we find on the genuine pearl, and the wax furnished a solid backing to the thin glass. this is the process of making false pearls; and it is fortunate that the bleak is very abundant, or he would run the risk of extermination. [illustration: the bleak.] "is the manufacture of false pearls so great as that?" fred inquired. "it is pretty extensive," was the captain's response, "but not enormously so. the fact is, it requires more than a thousand of these little fish to make an ounce of the 'essence d'orient,' as the french call it, or essence of pearl. other substances have been tried, in the hope of obtaining the same result for a smaller outlay, but none of them have been entirely successful. there is--" the conversation was interrupted at this moment by a call from the doctor, who was sitting near the rail, and happened to be looking at the sea. the rest of the party rushed to his side, and their eyes followed the direction indicated by his finger. [illustration: the doctor's discovery.] the object that attracted his attention was an enormous turtle not more than ten yards away. he appeared to be asleep, as he was lying perfectly still, and did not seem aware that a ship was near him. suddenly he roused himself, and raised his head an instant above the surface to take a survey of the situation. evidently he scented danger, as he lost no time in diving below, where the ship was not likely to follow him. pearls were dropped from the conversation, and turtles took their place. as the turtle is a product of the sea, the subject was not likely to be an unknown one to captain johnson. "there are several varieties of the marine turtle," said the captain, "and more of the land-turtle, or tortoise; as we are at sea, and engaged on matters connected with salt-water, we will leave the occupant of the land quite out of consideration. his marine brother has fins instead of feet, and he rarely goes on shore except in the breeding-season. some of the sea-turtles live entirely on vegetable food, while others devour shell-fish and other living things; the flesh of the vegetable-feeders is delicious, while that of the animal-feeders is not. they grow to a great size when compared with the land-turtle: the green turtle that makes such excellent soup is frequently five feet long, and weighs five or six hundred pounds; and the loggerhead-turtle sometimes reaches a weight of one thousand five hundred pounds and more." "enough to feed a great many people," frank remarked. "unfortunately," the captain continued, "a great many people would not eat his flesh. the green-turtle feeds on sea-weed, and is very choice about what he eats, and therefore his flesh is highly esteemed. the loggerhead-turtle is much more common than the green one, but he eats shell-fish of all the sorts he can crush in his powerful jaws. the flesh of the young turtles of this variety is sometimes eaten, but the old ones are so tough and musky that a man must needs be very hungry to be able to eat them. even their eggs are too strong of musk to be edible, and the shell is of little value; about the only use that can be made of the loggerhead-turtle is to try out the large quantities of oil that he contains. "the flesh of the turtle you just saw is not of much consequence, for the same reason. he is more valuable for his shell, which forms the turtle, or tortoise, shell of commerce." "i remember," said fred, "that we saw a great deal of shell at nagasaki, in japan, that had been wrought into many beautiful forms. the japanese are very skilful in this kind of work, and so are the chinese." "you will see more tortoise-shell," was the reply, "when you get to singapore. a great deal of the shell comes there for a market from all parts of the eastern archipelago." frank asked how the turtle was caught, when he spent so much time in the water, and was so far away from land. "he is caught," said the captain, "in two or three ways. he sleeps on the surface of the water, and, when thus off his guard, he can be easily approached. a boat steals quietly up to him, and, before he is aware what is happening, he is a prisoner. [illustration: the turtle at home.] "turtles are captured at night, when they go on shore to lay their eggs. they generally select a moonlight night for this purpose, and a smooth sandy beach; they dig holes in the sand, where they deposit their eggs, and leave them to be hatched by the heat of the sun. when they are on shore for this purpose, the hunters come upon them; the turtle cannot move rapidly on the sand, and is easily overtaken. the hunters turn the poor turtles on their backs, and then leave them till the next day, when they come and remove them." "i have heard," said one of the boys, "that when a turtle is placed on his back he cannot turn over and put himself right side up." "that is quite correct, and a knowledge of this peculiarity is of great assistance to the turtle-hunters. but there is another way of catching the turtle that will strike you as the most curious of all." "what is that?" "it is by fishing with the _remora_." "and what is the remora?" "it is a fish found in tropical waters, both in the east and west indies. its popular name is 'the sucking-fish,' and it is so called on account of a disk on its head, by which it can attach itself to a smooth surface, like the side of a shark, a ship, or the shell of a turtle. the disk is very much like the soft leather 'suckers' made by school boys, and when the fish has attached himself, you can pull him to pieces rather than induce him to release his hold. "the turtle-hunters go out in a boat and carry several of these fishes in a tub. when they see a turtle they get as near to him as they can, and send a sucker after him. the fish is held by a ring on his tail, attached to a stout cord; he swims towards the turtle and fastens on his shell, and then the fish and turtle are hauled in together. in the air the remora loosens his hold, and is dropped back into the tub, to wait till he is wanted again." the boys laughed at this comical way of fishing. fred wondered if the remora was able to understand the joke, and comprehend the value of his services to mankind. frank said he would like to know what the turtles thought of the business, and whether they had any respect for a parasite that came uninvited and caused them to be captured. [illustration: turtle-hunting.] chapter xxi. incidents of a sea-voyage.--singapore. the voyage from bangkok to singapore was without any features of special interest. the gulf of siam presented its accustomed calmness, and at times the air was so still that there was not wind enough for proper ventilation of the ship. our friends slept on deck, as the cabin was altogether too hot for comfort; they only went below to dress and take their meals and baths, and to escape from the showers that were of daily occurrence. in the daytime, when the heavy sprinklings came on, the boys indulged in baths of the kind they enjoyed on the _danube_, and they were generally pleased at the announcement of an approaching shower. but at night, when they were comfortably sleeping, they did not relish a rude awakening, accompanied with the suggestion that they had better go below till the rain was over. the change from the cool deck to the stifling cabin was the reverse of enjoyable; fred remarked that the only good thing about it was that it made them appreciate the deck all the more when the rain was over, and they could come again to the open air. about thirty miles from singapore they saw an overturned boat, and as they neared it two natives were perceived clinging to the wreck. a boat was lowered and sent to rescue them, and in a short time the poor fellows were safe on the steamer's deck. they said their craft was upset by a squall on the previous evening, and for twenty hours they had been holding on, with nothing to eat or drink, under the broiling heat of a tropical sun. they were nearly exhausted with hunger and thirst, and would have fallen off and died in a few hours if they had not been rescued. frank was the first to discover the overturned boat, and was naturally proud of having been in some way the means of saving these unhappy malays from death. he wanted to talk with the men, and hear their story; but as their knowledge of english was no better than his of malay, he was compelled to abandon the idea. the occurrence called to the doctor's recollection an incident of his first experience of the sea, when he was spending the summer at a small seaport town. he was fond of fishing, and hardly a day passed that he did not go out on the atlantic in pursuit of his favorite sport. "one afternoon," said he, "there were a dozen or more boats outside, when a sudden squall came up that caused us to seek the harbor as fast as possible. every one steered for home, and most of us reached the entrance of the port before the fury of the squall broke upon us. the rain was so thick that we could not see a quarter of a mile off; we could not tell whether any of the boats were capsized or not; and if it had not been that a great rock just by the entrance loomed up, and made a fine landmark, we could not have found our way inside. one after another the boats came in, with the exception of one that had ventured farther than the rest, and was a good distance off the coast when the squall came up. "it was no use going to look for her that afternoon, as the squall continued till after dark, and raised quite a sea outside. there were only two persons on board the boat; they were a gentleman and his wife, who had come from the city to spend the summer, and had hired the boat for their own use and pleasure. the gentleman understood the management of his craft in fine weather, but nobody could say if he knew how to control it in a squall. so we passed the night very anxiously, and, as soon as the morning light permitted, several of us went out to search for the missing ones. "nothing could be seen. we sailed up and down along the coast, and out on the water for several miles, but all to no purpose. with heavy hearts we returned to port, and concluded that it was idle to hope that the missing persons whom we sought would ever be heard of again. "in the afternoon i went with a young boatman in a skiff to try for fish a little way outside the rock that formed the headland i mentioned. while i was fishing, the boatman was looking around, and suddenly discovered a mass of something on the beach. "'perhaps it may be the wreck of the missing boat,' i remarked. 'let us go and see.' [illustration: the rescue.] "we started on the instant. as we approached the beach i could see something like a human form, and told the man to pull with all his might. he did so; and the instant the boat grounded on the sand, he sprung ashore and drew a flask from his pocket. in half a minute he was supporting the lifeless form of a woman, and holding the flask to her lips. "we could hardly tell at first whether she was alive or not. in a little while the draught from the flask revived her, but it was some time before she was able to speak. we wrapped her in our spare clothing, and carried her to the boat; and then we rowed home as fast as we could, so as to call in the aid of the doctor. [illustration: on a frail raft.] "nothing could be seen to show what had become of the man. when the lady recovered, she told us that when the squall struck the boat it was instantly capsized; they managed to make a sort of raft out of the sail and mast, but it was only sufficient to support her alone. her husband remained in the water, clinging to the raft and swimming, while she was in a half-fainting condition all through the night. she remembered how the waves rolled around them, how the moon rose up out of the waters, and how the birds flew near them, as if wondering what they were. then she thought she could see the great rock at the entrance of the harbor, and then--she remembered nothing more till we rescued her on the beach where the waves had washed her. "what became of her husband we never ascertained; but undoubtedly he was weak from exhaustion, and was unable to cling to the raft till it reached the shore. he probably loosened his hold, and sunk in the sea about the time his wife thought she discovered the rock. "the lady remained in the village till she was able to return to her friends in the city. she never came back to that place; and the accident cast a gloom over the visitors, from which they did not recover for the rest of the season." [illustration: gulf-weed.] as they neared the straits of malacca, the steamer passed great masses of a yellowish plant floating on the water. it bore an abundance of berries of the same general color as the plant, and they glistened brightly in sunshine as they lay close to the surface. the doctor told the boys that this plant was identical with one that grows in the caribbean sea, and is borne northward in great quantities by the current of the gulf stream. on the atlantic it is known as "gulf-weed;" it grows only in tropical regions, and the berries upon the plant are hollow, and serve as so many air-bladders to keep the plant afloat. [illustration: haunts of the sea-birds.] as they neared singapore, they came in sight of some rocky islands, round which the sea-birds were flying in dense masses. then other and larger islands, covered with verdure, rose above the horizon to the southward; and, finally, the coast of malacca and the shores of the island of singapore filled the background of the picture before them. palm-trees waved in the breeze, and, if there had been nothing else to indicate it, these trees alone would have told the travellers they were well down in the tropics. the activity of commerce through the straits of malacca, and thence onwards to the farther east, was indicated as our friends approached singapore. within a few miles of that port, they met a steamer bound for china; while ahead of them was the smoke of another that had just come from that distant land. as they entered the harbor they met a steamer heading southward for java; and as they dropped anchor they saw another coming in just behind them. it was the french mail packet from europe, which would halt a day at singapore, and then continue her voyage to hong-kong and shanghai. the doctor had made a close calculation concerning their movements, as the french steamer that arrived almost simultaneously with them was the bearer of a dozen letters for the wandering trio. so regular is the mail-service to the far east, that a traveller who takes the trouble to study the time-tables and arrange his route beforehand, can have his letters reach him at any designated point. [illustration: in the harbor.] the harbor presented a picture of animation as they came to anchor. ships and boats were sailing in and out; steam-tugs were puffing noisily around; and, as they swung to their moorings, the official boat of the quarantine-officer passed them on its way to the french packet. very soon the steamer was surrounded by a group of native boats, and a lively bargaining began for the transportation of the party to the shore. in the far east the steamers have no concern with the passenger beyond carrying him from port to port; he must land and embark at his own expense, and very often the boatmen have things pretty much in their own way. in japan and china they are regulated and restrained by law; but in singapore and some other eastern ports they do pretty much as they please. [illustration: boatmen at singapore.] frank said that the rapacity of the boatmen of singapore reminded him of the hackmen of new york; and he began to feel that he was not so far from home after all. it required half an hour of negotiation to make an arrangement that was at all reasonable, as the boatmen had evidently formed an association for mutual advantage; and all efforts that the doctor made to rouse them to competition were of no use. it was finally settled that for a dollar each our friends were to be carried to the shore, and their baggage taken to the hotel, which was not more than a hundred yards from the landing-place. the hotel was a large structure of one story in height, with broad verandas, where one could sit and enjoy the breeze that generally blows in the afternoon. singapore is only one degree and twenty minutes north of the equator--eighty miles--and consequently any one who goes there must expect to find a climate of a most tropical character. longitudinally it is almost exactly on the opposite side of the earth from new york; and this fact gave rise to some interesting comments by fred and frank. "it is sunset now," said frank, as they went on shore, "and it is sunrise in new york." "yes," answered fred; "and about the time we are going to bed our friends will be finishing breakfast." "while we are taking our noonday rest to-morrow they will be sleeping soundly, as it will be midnight with them." "one question occurs to me," said frank; "it is sunset in singapore, and it is morning with our friends at home. now i want to know if it is this morning, or to-morrow morning with them?" fred could not tell, and so the matter was referred to the doctor as soon as he was at leisure. "the scientific explanation of the subject," said doctor bronson as he dropped into a chair, "is too long for us to take up in detail. the earth moves on its axis, so that the sun rises, or appears to rise, in the east, and to set in the west. an easterly place gets the sun earlier than a westerly one, and consequently its day begins earlier. for instance, the sun rises in new york an hour and five minutes earlier than it rises in st. louis; and, therefore, when it is noon in new york, it is only five minutes of eleven in the forenoon at st. louis by new york time. for nautical purposes most nations take the time of greenwich, near london, as the basis of calculation; and consequently the time of any given place is said to be earlier or later than that of greenwich, according as the place is east or west of that city. the hour of singapore is seven hours earlier than that of greenwich, as it gets the sun in the east seven hours before greenwich; new york gets it five hours later than greenwich--four hours and fifty-six minutes is the exact difference; and when it is noon in new york, it is five o'clock in the afternoon at greenwich. "we had sunrise in singapore twelve hours before our friends had it at home; so that, when our day is ending, theirs is just beginning. i will show you, in a practical way, the difference in time between new york and singapore. i am about to send a cablegram announcing our arrival, and it may possibly get to new york ahead of the time of its departure from here." the doctor and the boys went to the telegraph-office, and sent a despatch to let their friends know of their safe arrival from siam. as the tolls were at the rate of two dollars and forty cents a word, they confined the message to a single word in addition to the address. previous to leaving home the doctor had arranged a code or cipher, by which one word could convey a great deal of information. persons who have occasion to use the atlantic or other telegraph cables to any extent make use of private codes, and thereby save a great deal of expense. they subsequently learned that their message went from singapore to new york in nine hours, and therefore reached its destination three hours before they sent it. the wind, which had been blowing hard during the afternoon, fell off soon after sunset, and the boys found that the nights of singapore were as warm as those of bangkok. the arrangement of the rooms indicated that singapore was anything but a cool place; but, on the whole, it was not disagreeable, as the cool breeze in the afternoon was quite refreshing, and made the atmosphere clear and pure. our friends slept well on their first night in singapore, and were up in good season in the morning to begin their round of sight-seeing. the doctor had some business to transact at a banking-house in the city, and so it was arranged that they would devote the time between breakfast and business hours in a stroll along the esplanade and through the native part of the place. [illustration: a chinese contractor.] the boys were somewhat surprised at the many races and tribes of men they encountered in their morning walk. they met scores on scores of chinese; and they were not ten yards from the door of the hotel before they were accosted by a chinese contractor, who was ready to undertake to show them the place, furnish them with a carriage, buy or sell whatever they wanted, from a needle up to a steamship, or provide them with servants, tailors, or any other kind of assistance they might need during their stay. he was lightly clad, in consequence of the heat of singapore, and he carried a fan which he kept in constant motion while proposing his services. singapore is said to contain from eighty to one hundred thousand chinese, and they are found in all classes of business. there are chinese tailors and shoemakers, chinese peddlers and merchants, chinese book-keepers and managers for the large establishments where trade is conducted by wholesale, chinese servants of both sexes and all ages, and chinese of all kinds in addition to the foregoing. the industry of the race is as marked at singapore as in canton or san francisco; and though always desirous of large profits, if they can be obtained, they will put up with very small compensation when a large one is not to be had. [illustration: chinese tailors at singapore.] the door of a tailor's shop stood open, and our friends gave a glance at its interior. the arrangements were very simple. there was a long table covered with a straw mat, on which the material was placed to be cut, and behind this table several men were at work. frank made a note of the fact that a chinese tailor makes his stitches by pushing the needle from instead of towards him, and that in singapore, at least, they do not cover their own bodies to any extent while making clothing for other people. the heads of these tailoring establishments are very industrious in looking for customers, and there was hardly an hour in the day that our friends were not accosted with proposals to make clothing for them at astonishingly low rates. singapore is a free port, and the great competition in trade has brought the prices down to the lowest figure. for eight dollars each they were accommodated with entire suits of blue serge of good quality; and when the doctor expressed some hesitation at giving the order, through fear that the cutting and fit might be at fault, the tailor promptly said, "no fitee, no payee." the measures were taken, and on the following morning the clothes were delivered, and found entirely satisfactory. the chinese are more numerous at singapore than any other race. next to them come the malays, of whom there are several varieties: they are as devoid of clothing as the chinese workmen, the entire garments of many of them consisting of a cloth around the loins. some of them wear turbans, and occasionally the turban seems larger than the man, as it consists of several yards of muslin wound loosely around the head, till it forms a great ball. the body of the wearer will be small, and without an ounce of extra flesh; and fred remarked that it seemed as though the turban would tip the man over, and compel him to walk on his head. in their walk the boys saw a group of wild-looking men with woolly hair, and with skins as dark as those of the african negroes, but without the thick lips which are supposed to indicate the negro race. the doctor was unable to tell the name of this people, and the question was referred to an englishman whom they happened to meet. "you mean those people over there?" said the englishman, as he pointed with his finger to the group our friends had been observing. the doctor assented. "oh! they are jacoons," was the reply. "they come from the province of johore." [illustration: a group of jacoons.] further questioning elicited the information that the jacoons were a primitive race of men who lived in the forests of johore, and are popularly supposed to dwell in trees, and to subsist on fruits and nuts. johore is a province on the main-land of the malay peninsula, and separated from the island of singapore by a narrow strait of water. the chief of this province is a man of superior intelligence, and lives on friendly terms with his english neighbors. since the english settled at singapore, he has established saw-mills, and made a handsome revenue from the sale of lumber; and he has opened up his territory to settlement by chinese and other agriculturists. the jacoons are supposed to be the original inhabitants; they have as little as possible to do with the malays, and are quite distinct from them in language and features. they are a peaceful people with few wants, and, as the country produces abundantly, they have little occasion to wear themselves out with hard work. walking about the streets, or sitting in the shade of the numerous trees, were a few parsees with their rimless hats, and wearing garments that were more than half european in pattern. they are called sometimes the jews of the east, from their remarkable shrewdness in business, and their steady progress in the direction of wealth; they are said to be able to accumulate money under very discouraging circumstances, and it has been remarked that a parsee will grow rich where any other man in the world would starve. some branches of trade in the east are almost monopolized by the parsees. a single parsee house has more than half of the chinese opium trade in its hands, and has grown enormously rich, while its competitors have lost money. like the jews, to whom they are sometimes compared, the parsees have no country they can call their own. they came originally from persia, and settled in the north of india, where the most of them are to be found to-day. [illustration: garri with a load of sailors.] there were klings, or men from the south of india, waiting for work on the corners, or offering their _garris_, or carriages, for the use of our friends. most of the carriages for hire in singapore are driven by these klings, who are a lithe race, with great powers of endurance, and equally great powers of rascality. a garri is a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by a single horse: some of the garris have seats for the driver, while others have no place for him, but leave him to walk or run by the side of his beast. the horse is as small in proportion as the man, and the boys were greatly amused to see one of these vehicles with a party of sailors who had just come on shore from an english ship. three of them were inside, while one was stretched along the roof of the garri, which he more than covered. they were evidently enjoying themselves, and the driver had his nose in the air, and was doubtless counting up the profits of his day's work, and feeling happy over the result. the boys were surprised to learn that, while there was a population of more than a hundred thousand chinese, malays, klings, and other orientals at singapore, there were not more than a thousand europeans living there, exclusive of the english garrison. of these europeans the english were the most numerous; the rest were germans, french, portuguese, dutch, and italians, in the order named, and it was said that the germans were increasing more rapidly than the english, and threatened to have all the business of the place in their hands in course of time. while our friends were discussing the peculiarities of the population of singapore, their walk brought them to "the square," as the commercial centre is called; and, as the hours of business had arrived, the doctor proceeded to attend to his financial affairs, and learn, in a practical way, the mysteries of banking at the capital city of the straits of malacca. [illustration: full dress at the straits.] chapter xxii. sights and scenes in singapore. the incidents of the first day in singapore were well described by frank and fred in the letter they wrote in the evening, to make sure that nothing would be forgotten. the labor of writing was divided between them; frank describing one part of what they saw, and leaving the rest for fred. as their time was pressing, the doctor "gave them a lift," as fred expressed it, and added something relative to the commerce of the straits, and the importance of singapore as a place of trade. here is the joint letter. frank said that if two heads were better than one, three heads must be better than two. fred added that when one of the three was the doctor's head, he thought it would be difficult for any letter to go ahead of theirs. * * * * * "we have had a busy day at singapore. singapore means 'place of lions;' and probably it is so called because there are no lions here. it stands on an island about twenty miles long and six or eight wide, and is separated from the main-land by a narrow strait. on the main-land there are plenty of tigers, and they sometimes swim over to the island in search of food. formerly they killed an average of one man a day; but of late years they have not done so well. they are becoming more and more scarce every year, as they have been hunted down till there are not many of them left. "we had a stroll through the town this morning, and then we went to a banking-house to draw some money. the banker gave us a check on one of the large establishments, and we went there expecting to find an englishman in charge. we looked around as we entered the door, and not an englishman or other european was to be seen! "all the employés of the bank were chinese--at least as far as we could ascertain. a chinese paying-teller took the check, and passed it to a chinese book-keeper, who sat in a little box at the end of the counter. he examined the check, and stamped it after making an entry in a book; and then he returned it to the teller, who counted out the money and gave it to us without saying a word. there were piles of silver and bank notes in sight, and all in charge of chinese. we looked into another bank, where the same arrangement existed; and we went into a business-house where there were at least a dozen chinese clerks to one european. "the business of singapore is centred around what is called the square, and in a walk of ten minutes you can pass by the most of the large houses for banking and commerce. here they have also the consulates and the telegraph and steamship offices; and all these establishments imitate the example of the banks in employing chinese clerks and _compradors_. on the whole, it seems to us that there is very little business of any kind at singapore that the chinese have not something to do with. "the chinese seem to be crowding the europeans out of everything; and there is no branch of business that they are not perfectly familiar with. they might send all the english and other foreigners away some pleasant morning, take singapore into their own hands, and run it just as well as it is run now. "after we had finished our business with the bank, we took a garri for a drive to the outside of the city. [illustration: chinese garden at singapore.] "there is a famous garden here, belonging to a wealthy chinese merchant: it is said to be one of the finest gardens in the world, and must have cost a great deal of money. no visitor to singapore should omit it, even if he has not more than a few hours on land. "in the first place, singapore is so near the equator that every kind of tropical tree and plant can grow here in the open air. the mercury shows an average, all the year round, of eighty-five to ninety-five degrees in the shade; and there is hardly any difference between summer and winter. consequently it is one of the best places, perhaps _the_ best place, for making a handsome garden, and the enterprising proprietor has kept this fact in mind. where he is sure the thermometer will never fall below seventy-one degrees, he can grow anything he pleases. "such a lot of tropical things you never saw, and hardly ever dreamed of. there were rows on rows of beautiful palms and bamboos, and other things that only grow in the hot regions; and there was a pond with an enormous _victoria regia_--the great water-lily that makes ours seem almost like a microscopic object. "there are said to be more than eighty varieties of the palm; and if there is not a sample of each of these varieties in this garden, i am greatly mistaken. the garden covers a great deal of ground, and has been made with much care and taste. the owner is very proud of it, and always pleased to have strangers go there and admire it. the keeper, and the men under his orders, are very civil; and evidently the owner has told them that if they are not polite to strangers they will be sent away, and people of better manners put in their places. "the garden contains a collection of tropical animals, but it is not very large. there was an orang-outang, or gorilla, there, and it was wonderfully like a man in its shape and appearance. it was said to have come from borneo; and, if so, it was not a gorilla, but an orang-outang, as the gorilla is a native of africa, and not of the eastern archipelago. [illustration: maternal care.] "we were much amused at the comical appearance of a couple of chimpanzees. they were mother and child, and the mother was gravely occupied in arranging the hair of the youngster. he stared at us with his great round eyes; but she did not look up at all, as she was too much engaged with making the young fellow look well. we had a fine opportunity to see the formation of the feet of this variety of monkey; they have thumbs on the hind feet as well as on the forward ones, and as you look at them you can easily understand the readiness with which these animals can climb trees and swing from the limbs. "the chimpanzees are said to show a great deal of fondness for each other. there is a story that two of them were once kept in the same cage, and one happened to take sick and die. the other was so affected by grief at the loss of its companion, that it refused all food for more than a week, and was finally forced to take something down its throat when so weak that it could hardly stand. it recovered very slowly, and never seemed to forget the absence of its old friend. "there is another garden at singapore which is the property of the city; it contains more animals than the private one, and fewer trees. we went to it, and had a pleasant half-hour among the curiosities it contains. the garden is an excellent thing to show strangers what the tropics can produce in the way of animals and birds, and for this reason we were much interested in it, and sorry when the time came to leave. [illustration: rural scene in singapore.] "the drive that we took led us among the forests of cocoa and other palm-trees that extend all over the island, except where clearings have been made. a large part of the land has been put under cultivation by the chinese settlers, and they have some very pretty farms and gardens, in which they produce all the vegetables that are consumed at singapore. "several kinds of spices grow on the island, and there are some plantations where pepper is cultivated. they raise considerable sugar-cane, but most of it is used for preserves, and is not converted into the sugar of commerce. then there are lots of cocoa-nuts grown on the island, and there are many varieties of fruits. [illustration: fruit-sellers at singapore.] "when we walked through the town in the morning we saw groups of natives selling fruit, and we afterwards saw some of these fruits growing on the trees. they comprised durians, pomegranates, pineapples, custard-apples, mangoes, bananas, and plantains; and we were told that there are more than twenty varieties of the plantain alone. "the pineapple needs no description, as you have it at home; the custard-apple is about the size of an ordinary apple, and has a soft pulp surrounding the seeds. the best way to eat it is to scoop out the contents with a spoon, and it is this way of eating more than the taste that has given it its name. but the durian is the largest and funniest of all these tropical fruits. "the durian is like a small pumpkin, with a rough skin so hard and thick that the birds cannot make much impression on it. the seeds are nearly as large as chestnuts, and each seed is surrounded by a soft pulp, just as the stone of a peach is embedded in the body of the fruit. people who live here grow very fond of it, but travellers do not learn to like it until they have made a good many attempts. it is not the taste that repels them, but the smell, and this is something atrocious. "we have tried to eat it, but could not do so even by holding our noses, for the disagreeable odor would rise in spite of all precautions we could take. we are told that the best way is to have the servants cut it up and put the pieces in milk, and by taking them out of the milk and swallowing quickly the smell is avoided. perhaps this might work; but a better plan would be to have the servants eat the stuff up when it was properly prepared, and let you hear nothing more about it. [illustration: a bungalow.] "all the merchants who can afford the expense of a bungalow, or private residence outside the city limits, are sure to indulge in it. the consequence is that there are many of these residences; and as they always have plenty of ground around them, and an abundance of shade trees, the bungalows make a very pretty picture, or a succession of pictures. the bungalow has wide verandas and overhanging eaves, and as nobody wants to climb stairways where the heat is as great as in singapore, you rarely find a dwelling of more than one story. then these merchants have carriages of their own, and do not depend on the garries; and in the evening their carriages driving along the esplanade road make a fine appearance. the rich chinese endeavor to live after the manner of the europeans; they have their bungalows and their carriages, and some of the finest of the latter that we have seen were the property of chinese merchants. their passion for fine gardens is greater than that of the europeans, and several of the bungalows have a very costly surrounding of grounds. the fine garden we have described is not by any means the only one belonging to a chinese resident of singapore. [illustration: chinese gentleman's garden.] "the horses they use here are from australia, and whenever a lot arrives by a ship they have an auction in the square. they say that some of the horses turn out well, and increase rapidly in value; while others seem to be much affected by the climate, and do not last more than a year or two. the horses fetch good prices, and the trade of bringing them from australia is said to be quite profitable. "everywhere we go we see chinese. they are of all classes, from highest to lowest, and from honest to dishonest. they are in every kind of business, and they have their guilds or trade associations just as they have them in china. they occupy official positions under the government, and on several occasions there have been chinese members of the legislative council of singapore. once in awhile there is trouble between them and the europeans, arising out of questions of commerce: but for the most part everything runs along smoothly, and the chinese show a perfect readiness to obey the laws, and live as they ought to live. and speaking of their trades-unions calls to mind an amusing story. [illustration: the god of gamblers.] "they carry the principle of trade association into everything; and the thieves and gamblers have their guilds and gods like the others. the guilds have rules and regulations that are very strict; and if a man violates them he is liable to be expelled, and driven to seek a living by honest means. when thieves wish to commit a robbery, they must consult the officers of the guild and get their permission, and they must pay a certain amount of the profits for the support of the association. "sometimes they go in parties of a hundred or more; they surround a house and plunder it by force, and they usually manage it so that the occupants cannot make any resistance. it is said that when a house is to be robbed, the thieves will scatter a narcotic drug about the rooms that has no effect upon themselves, but will put a european to sleep. he sleeps till long after the robbery is finished, and does not suffer the least injury by inhaling it. "when a thief enters a house to practise his profession, he removes his clothes and oils his body all over. he winds his pig-tail around his head--having previously stuck it full of needles. if anybody attempts to grasp his arm or leg, he slips off like an eel; and, if he is seized by the pig-tail, the person who takes hold of it is sure to let go in a hurry. who shall say that the chinese thief is not a shrewd operator? [illustration: malay boy in the bird-market.] "one of the curious things that we saw was the poultry-market. poultry includes a great deal more here than at home: as we found not only chickens, ducks, geese, and other familiar things, but a great variety of pigeons, quails, pheasants, and other edible birds from the forest. then there was an abundance of parrots, lories, cockatoos, and paroquets, besides other birds whose names we did not know. such a screaming and cackling you never heard in your life. the heat is so great at singapore that everything to be eaten must be sold alive, as it would begin to decay in a very short time after being slaughtered. most of the chickens were in coops, or tied together by the legs; and the same was the case with the geese and ducks. "the parrots, and members of their family, were generally secured by strings to little perches, and they kept up an incessant chattering in the malay and other oriental tongues. one was offered to us that spoke english; but, as his vocabulary consisted only of a half-dozen words of profanity, that had been taught to him by a sailor, we declined to purchase. a crowd of men and boys surrounded us with birds in their hands, and on their heads and shoulders; all talked at once, and offered their birds at very low prices. we could have bought paroquets for twenty-five cents; and a talking-parrot, very large, and white as snow, was offered for six dollars, and could have been had for three. how they manage to find a market for all the birds they bring to singapore it is difficult to imagine. "you may be interested to know how these birds are brought here, and where they come from. they are from the many islands south of singapore that form the malay archipelago, and they are brought by the natives on speculation. when the south-west monsoon begins, a family starts in its little boat for a voyage of from one to three thousand miles; and the boat is one in which an american would be unwilling to risk a voyage from new york to boston. they run along from port to port, trading a little wherever they can, and ultimately reach singapore. the boat has a deck, with a slight awning of woven grass, and is covered with the family and birds--the latter being numbered sometimes by the hundred. in the hold they have shells, feathers, spices, and other products, and they are constantly making exchanges at the places they visit. they sell their cargoes at singapore, and buy a lot of cotton-cloth, hardware, and other things that are in demand where they live, and then go back as they came. this accounts for the large number of birds exposed for sale in the poultry-market, and the low prices they are held at. [illustration: head of black cockatoo.] "among the birds offered to us there was a black cockatoo, with a splendid head and crest. his bill had a point like a needle, and was very large and strong. we wondered how he could eat, and what he lived on, as the shape of his bill and his lower jaw seemed the most awkward that one could imagine. we asked his owner to feed the bird, and gave him a few cents to show us how the operation of eating was performed. "the man brought a triangular nut which had a smooth surface, and was so hard that we could not crack it without a hammer. the bird took the nut endwise in his bill; he held it in place by pressing his tongue against it, and then began sawing across it with his lower jaw. "when he had cut a deep notch in this way, he turned the nut a little, and used the underjaw as a wedge to break off the end. then he held the nut in one claw, and with the sharp point of his bill he picked out the kernel; and as fast as he brought a bit of it to the light, he seized it with his long tongue. whether the bird was created for the nut, or the nut for the bird, is a question for the naturalists; at all events, each seems to be perfectly adapted to the other. the fitness of the cockatoo's beak to the process of opening this hard product of the forest is as exact as it could be made. "while we were in the market a man kept endeavoring to attract our attention to something he had in a large basket; we supposed it was a new kind of bird, and went to see it. it proved to be a large snake, and the man urged us to buy with all the eloquence of which he was capable. we are not buying snakes just now, and so we left him to find another customer. "snakes are abundant in this part of the world, and there are all the varieties a man could want. over on the main-land of malacca they have some very large ones, and you are liable at any time, when walking in the forest, to come across a huge python swinging across your path. they come into the houses and make themselves at home, and they never wait for an invitation. "a gentleman who has spent a good deal of time in this region tells an interesting story of a visit that a snake made to him. "one evening, just as he was going to bed, he heard a noise on the roof overhead, but thought nothing of it. the next day he was lying down with a book in his hand, just after dinner, and, happening to cast his eye upwards, he saw something on the thatch that resembled a large tortoise-shell. it was spotted with yellow and black marks; and while he was wondering who could have put the shell there to dry, he discovered that it was a snake coiled up, and lying asleep. "the gentleman got up very quickly, and called his servants. as soon as they learned there was a snake on the roof they were greatly frightened, and ran out of the house to call some laborers from the plantation. several men came, and one of them, who was familiar with the habits of the snake, proceeded to make a noose of bamboo and slip it over the reptile's head. he succeeded in this, and dragged the snake from the roof; then he took the creature by the tail, and tried to run out of the house with him. [illustration: ejecting an intruder.] "the snake coiled around the chairs and posts, and gave the man considerable trouble in ejecting him from the premises. as soon as he had his prize outside he had a clear field, and soon made an end of the serpent by dashing his head against a tree. the snake was more than twelve feet long, and was capable of doing serious damage if he had given his attention to it. the gentleman was not in a pleasant frame of mind when he found that he had slept all night with the snake over his head, and had taken his afternoon nap in the same position. "we haven't seen any tigers for sale, but there is no doubt we could find plenty if we wanted them. what with tigers and snakes and other things, not to mention the heat and the danger of fever, singapore and the surrounding country do not appear desirable as a permanent residence. yet there are people who say they like it out here, and are quite willing to stay. we are not of that mind; and nobody who cares to live near the straits of malacca need have any fear that we will ever try to get his place away from him. "we would like to go over to johore and see what the main-land is like, but we haven't time for the journey. there is a fine road across the island, to where you can take a boat and cross the strait. it is a drive of about fifteen miles, and is said to be very interesting, as it takes you through forests of palms, and past plantations of pepper and gambier. perhaps you don't know what gambier is? we didn't till we came to the east. "it is the dried and refined juice of a plant that grows in malacca, and is much used in dyeing and tanning, and also for stiffening silks. great quantities of it are shipped from singapore to europe, and it forms an important item in the commerce of the place. "the maharajah of johore is the son of the one from whom, in 1819, the english bought the island of singapore. they gave sixty thousand dollars cash, and pay an annual subsidy of twenty thousand dollars; and they have kept on paying it without complaint. as the place is an excellent market for everything that the region produces, the maharajah has become rich, and is on the best of terms with the english; he frequently visits the governor and is visited by him in return, and when any person of distinction comes here he is invited to stop as long as he likes at johore. the maharajah is a strict mohammedan, but he has adopted many of the features of european life in his household. he has a french cook, and his dinners are served _à la european_. when entertaining visitors from england or america, he generally wears a dress-suit after the european manner; and he has so far overcome the prejudices of his religion as to invite ladies to his table. "the currency of singapore is the dollar, or, to be more explicit, the spanish dollar. it is divided into one hundred cents, like our dollar, and all transactions are reckoned in this currency. but you find all kinds of money in circulation--english, french, american, dutch, and spanish; and if you want rupees, or any other eastern currency, you will have no difficulty in getting it. the cosmopolitan character of singapore is very well illustrated in the many varieties of coin in circulation. "we have found a new type of mankind here--the eurasian. "you will possibly ask, 'what is the eurasian?' [illustration: a new type of mankind.] "the word is compounded of 'europe' and 'asia,' as you can easily perceive, and the man who bears that name is of mixed european and asiatic blood. the most of them have adopted the european dress and manners, and refuse to associate with the natives, while, on the other hand, they are not admitted to european society. consequently they are in an unhappy position, as they are neither the one nor the other, and there does not appear to be any recognized place for them. they have been said to combine the vices of both their parent races, with the good qualities of neither; there are some men of ability among them, but, on the whole, the remark has a great deal of truth in it. "in singapore there are many descendants of the early portuguese settlers of the east; they still preserve the portuguese language, and adhere to their religion, though sometimes they are rather weak in both. it is a curious fact that, though they preserve the features of europe, their skins are frequently darker than those of the natives; and the spectacle is not an infrequent one of a man with caucasian features, and a complexion black as a piece of anthracite coal. "if you wish to realize the importance of singapore as a place of trade, you have only to look at a map of the eastern hemisphere and observe the position of the city. it is a convenient commercial point for china and japan, for java and the malay archipelago, for siam, and even for australia. ships going between europe and the far east rarely pass singapore without stopping, and the great lines of steamships have a large business here. the commerce has steadily increased every year, and there is no sign that it will decline. some of the old merchants complain that competition has ruined trade; they sigh for the return of the days when they had only one mail a month, and there was no telegraph to give hourly quotations of the prices of goods in all parts of the world. in those days business was confined to a few houses, and the chances of an outsider were slight indeed. fortunes were sometimes made by a single venture, and not unfrequently a merchant had exclusive information of advances or declines that he could have a whole month to operate upon, without the least fear that anybody would be able to interfere with him. "profits are smaller to-day, and capital must be turned very often; the volume of business is far greater than it used to be, and the men who regret the good old times are forced to accept things as they are." chapter xxiii. crossing the equator.--adventure with malay pirates. there were several things held in reserve to be seen on the second day in singapore. our friends went to the museum and library, which are in a large building near the esplanade or park where people stroll in the afternoon, and not far from the road which forms the fashionable drive. the library is an excellent one, and contains a great number of works on the east; the doctor spent an hour or more among the books, and, while examining their titles and contents, he came upon a volume which was written by one of his intimate friends in america. it was entitled "overland through asia," and described a journey that the author once made across the northern part of the eastern hemisphere. there was a fair collection of minerals and other things in the museum, and the boys were interested in a huge python that lay coiled around some rocks in the centre of one of the rooms. the director of the museum told them that the serpent was kept in a cage in the museum for some time, but it was finally determined to kill and stuff him, so that his appearance could be more readily studied by visitors. the work of killing was more serious than had been anticipated; it was done by means of chloroform, as they did not wish to injure the reptile's skin by lacerating it. a sponge saturated with chloroform was introduced between the bars of the cage, and held over the head of the python as he lay asleep. instead of being stupefied, he was awakened by it; and he indicated most emphatically, by moving his head away, that he did not like that kind of treatment. he refused to breathe the narcotic, and it became apparent that some means of compelling him to take it must be adopted. a noose was passed over his head, and he was drawn forward so that his nose was at the bars of the cage. then the sponge was again applied, and he was forced to inhale the chloroform, whether he wanted to or not. he lashed about from side to side, and sometimes it seemed as though he would tear the cage to pieces with the violence of his demonstrations. all this time he was breathing the narcotic; but it was nearly an hour before he was fairly under its influence, and another hour was required to reduce him to a state of quiet. even when he had ceased to lash around so as to threaten injury to the cage, his body was constantly giving convulsive twitches, and these did not end for several hours. the gentleman who superintended the operation said that the snake was the worst patient he ever saw under the influence of chloroform, and the hardest to manage. they took another drive into the country, over a road that had been newly opened. their way led them near a native village, where the houses were thickly thatched with grass and strips of palm-leaf, so as to keep out the heavy rains that frequently occur. it is said that at singapore more than half the days of the year are favored with showers, and the records show that in some years they have had two hundred and odd rainy days. the rain cools the air, and it is probably owing to the rain and wind that there are so few cases of fever among the europeans. sometimes the wind develops into a lively squall that sets all light things in motion and fills the air with clouds of dust. it frequently happens that the papers on the desk of a merchant will be sent flying about the room, and possibly out of the window; and there are stories of valuable documents and notes of the bank of england being whisked away, so that their owners never saw them again. [illustration: klings and chinese.] they saw groups of klings and chinese along the road; and in one instance four of the former were holding a discussion over a basket of fruit, and making things so lively that the boys thought there would be a fight. the klings do not bear a good reputation among the europeans, and are not on friendly terms with the chinese. they are first-class rascals in all their dealings where they can take advantage; and, if there is no danger of receiving punishment, they are almost certain to be insolent. on the other hand, they are cringing to their superiors, and make the utmost professions of friendship, while ready at any moment to indulge in the meanest treachery. the chinese, with whatever disagreeable qualities they possess, are much to be preferred to the klings. [illustration: native nurses and children.] frank and fred were amused at the costumes of the native nurses, whom they occasionally saw in charge of european children. they were more noticeable for their comfort in the hot climate of the tropics than for elegance of design; and it was evident that the expense of keeping one of these nurses in clothing was not great. the native children go quite naked until five or six years of age, and even later; and it was not an uncommon sight to see a woman bearing a water-jar, and followed by a little urchin entirely destitute of clothing, in marked contrast to the european children, who were dressed after the custom of the country whence their parents came. the native women are fond of ornaments in their ears, like the women of other countries, and a good many of them have their noses pierced and decorated. anklets and armlets of silver and gold are also worn, and it is not unusual to see a woman, whose entire clothing has cost less than a dollar, almost weighted down with jewellery worth a goodly sum. [illustration: coaling at the dock.] they visited the new harbor of singapore to see the ship on which they intended leaving the following morning for java. the new harbor is known as tangong pagar, and has the advantage over the old one of allowing ships to lie at a dock instead of anchoring a considerable distance from shore. the docks are well built, and there are mountains of coal piled up there to meet the wants of ships. singapore is an important coaling-station for ships in the eastern trade, and sometimes a dozen of them may be seen taking coal at tangong pagar at the same time. [illustration: carrying coal on board.] our friends were satisfied with the appearance of the steamer; and when they had completed their inspection they returned to the hotel, and from there went to the office of the dutch steamship company to engage passage. every week there is a steamer leaving singapore for batavia. one week it is a french ship, and the next a dutch one; the latter runs in connection with the peninsular and oriental line; while the former belongs to the great company which carries the french mail from europe to the east. it happened to be the week of the dutch ship when doctor bronson and his young companions were at singapore, and they congratulated themselves that they would have the opportunity of going on a vessel of a nationality new to them. frank and fred opened their eyes in astonishment when they learned the price they were to pay for passage to java. "forty-six dollars!" exclaimed frank; "and for a voyage of forty-eight hours!" "and it is only five hundred miles from singapore to batavia," fred responded. "how much does it cost to go from new york to england, and what is the distance?" the doctor informed him that it was about three thousand miles from new york to liverpool, and the passage was usually a hundred dollars for the best places on the best steamers. "at the rate from here to batavia," said fred, "we should have to pay two hundred and seventy-five dollars for the transatlantic voyage where we now pay one hundred dollars. why does it cost so much more here than on the atlantic?" "in the first place," the doctor explained, "there are comparatively few people travelling here, and the companies are compelled to ask high prices in order to keep up their ships. where a steamer between new york and liverpool would have a hundred passengers and more, and consider it only an ordinary business, you will rarely find more than twenty or thirty passengers on a steamer in the far east. coal is much more expensive here than in the north atlantic ports, and so is nearly everything else that is used on a ship. in these hot regions the passengers need more room than on a transatlantic steamer, and more personal comforts generally." "but don't they ever crowd the passengers rather uncomfortably?" frank asked. "it seems to me that i have heard you speak of a very disagreeable voyage you once had on account of the unusual number of people on the steamer you travelled on." "you are quite right," the doctor replied; "and it was on this very route, from singapore to batavia. i was on the french steamer; and the agents told me there would be plenty of room, as only a few passengers were engaged. she had eight rooms, with two berths to a room, so that her complement of passengers was sixteen. but when we came to start we found that we numbered fifty-two; and you can easily understand that we had a hard time of it. we were packed something like sardines in a can, and all were heartily glad when the voyage was over. if we could have laid hold of the singapore agent of the company we should have treated him as roughly as the laws of the ocean permit; but he had the advantage of being on shore, and quite out of our reach." [illustration: servants on duty.] the trio of travellers rose early the next morning, as the steamer was advertised to leave at seven o'clock, and the dock was a long distance from the hotel. their baggage was piled in a small cart drawn by a bullock, and started off some time ahead of them, so as to be at the steamer before they reached there in the more expeditious garri. when they had swallowed their morning coffee and came out of the hotel, they found a group of servants waiting near the door to ask for money, as a reward for their services. frank said the only energy the fellows displayed during his acquaintance with them was in this final act of begging; it was far from an easy matter to get any service out of them, as their chief occupation was gambling, and they were too much engrossed in it to pay any attention to common things. the steamer sailed promptly on her advertised time. during the last half-hour of their stay at the dock, the passengers were amused by the antics of a lot of men and boys who dived for money. they were in small boats close to the steamer, and whenever a coin, silver or copper, was thrown into the water, a dozen of the fellows plunged over in search of it. generally they caught it before it had gone far below the surface, and sometimes there would be a struggle between two of the divers for the possession of a coin. the loser would appeal to the passengers to throw over a piece which could be his special property, and he very often succeeded in inducing them to do so. the doctor told the boys that the quarrel over the money was a clever bit of acting, as the fellows were associated, and the result of the day's work was divided equally among them. sometimes they refuse to dive for copper coins, and will only go over for silver. if any coppers are thrown they decline to move, and say it is impossible to see copper at the bottom of the water. consequently their harvest is in silver; and if any copper has been dropped, they dive for it after the ship has gone. [illustration: scene on the sumatra coast.] the route of the steamer proved to be very picturesque. the numerous islands that lie at this part of the straits of malacca were visible in whatever direction our friends turned their eyes, and away to the right was the coast of sumatra, thickly clothed in tropical verdure. the islands were so many, and lay so irregularly, that the steamer was obliged to change her course every few hours, and fred thought before noon that they must have steered to every point of the compass since they left singapore. the sky was clear, and the heat of the sun poured fiercely down on the triple awning that covered the stern of the ship's deck. but it was less severe than the boys had expected to find it; and they both agreed that the gulf of siam was quite as uncomfortable as the java sea near the equator. our young friends were full of excitement at the prospect of going into southern latitude. they were frequently studying their maps and looking at their watches, so as to be on the lookout for the equator at the moment of crossing it. "we left singapore at seven in the morning," said frank, "and we had eighty miles to go to reach the equator. the steamer is running ten miles an hour, and according to my calculation we should be on the equator about three o'clock." fred was of the same opinion; and it was determined that they would watch closely from two till four o'clock, and see if the southern hemisphere was in any way unlike the northern one; and so they watched while the steamer moved on and on towards the south. a little past three in the afternoon the doctor told them they were probably in the region of no latitude, and that the equator was under their feet. "i tell you what, frank," said fred, "it may be all my imagination, but it seems to me that the sea has a different appearance here from anything i have yet seen." "what is that?" "why, you know that everywhere else when we are at sea we appear to be in a hollow or basin, and the horizon line of the water is higher than we are. now, as i look off from the steamer, it seems to me that the world rounds away from us, and if my eyesight was strong enough i could see the north and the south poles. instead of being in a hollow, as we have always appeared to be heretofore, i seem to be on a great globe, or the summit of a rounded hill." frank thought he had the same sensation, but not so strongly as fred. they appealed to the doctor, who said that the feeling was mostly imaginary, and grew out of the knowledge that they were crossing the equator. "but there is sometimes a condition of the atmosphere," he added, "which produces the appearance you describe. in all the time i have passed at sea i have seen it only on a few occasions--perhaps three or four in all. there is a suggestion of it at this moment, i observe, and your imagination has done the rest. "and you may consider yourself fortunate," he continued, "that you are not making an old-fashioned voyage of twenty or thirty years ago." "why so?" frank asked. "because," was the reply, "you would run the risk of an introduction to father neptune." "i remember," said fred, "that is the ceremony they talk about in crossing the line for the first time." "yes," frank responded, "they play all kinds of pranks on the greenhorns, or those who have never been beyond the equator." "my first crossing of the line was on an english ship," said the doctor, "and the custom was allowed in its full force. they fastened below all of the crew who were not old sailors, and also all of the passengers. the latter were let off by paying half a sovereign each, to be expended in drink for the crew; three-fourths of them complied at once, and were let up to see the fun. but the greenhorns of the crew were not excused, and we had a chance to see how the ceremony was performed." "and how was it?" [illustration: crossing the line on a man-of-war.] "just about daybreak the ship was hailed by a hoarse voice that seemed to come from under the bows. the voice was followed by neptune in person, and he was accompanied by several attendants blowing conch shells. neptune was one of the old sailors in disguise; he had a long beard made of rope-yarn, and a tin crown, and he carried a trident in his right hand as he marched along the deck. his attendants were equipped with beards almost as long as those of neptune, and, like their master, they were naked to the waist. "he ordered the sailors to bring him a throne, and he was speedily mounted on the top of a cask. then, one after another, the greenhorns were brought before him to be questioned and shaved. "'do you intend to serve me always, and be a good sailor?' was the first question that neptune addressed to the subject before him. "as the man opened his mouth to answer, the shaving-brush was thrust into it. the brush was a swab made of yarn, and the lather consisted of coarse soap mixed with water from the tub where the grindstone stood. the shaving was performed with a rusty iron hoop, and without any tenderness or delicacy. the victims were made to go through the performance in spite of their struggles, and when it was over the majority of them found their faces covered with scratches that lasted for several days. "the ceremony very rarely takes place nowadays on merchant-ships, and only occasionally on men-of-war. no rudeness is now allowed on the part of neptune and his assistants, and the sport is confined to drenching the greenhorns by getting them under a sail filled with water, or playing some other harmless prank. generally all the officers come on deck to meet neptune on his arrival, and there is a partial relaxation of discipline for half an hour or so." the subject was dropped, and the boys devoted themselves to studying the appearance of the water, and the varying light and shadow on the sumatran coast, which was constantly in sight. suddenly frank said he had thought of something he wished to ask the doctor. his question had reference to the malay pirates, of which he had often read, and he wished to know if he was not in the vicinity of those disagreeable men. "we are in their neighborhood," said the doctor; "but i don't think we need fear anything from them." "of course not," cried fred; "they would never disturb a steamer like this." "not unless she was disabled, and in their power," responded frank; "and then, i suppose, they would not show much mercy." "as to that," remarked the doctor, "it is difficult to lay down an invariable rule. the pirates pursue their trade for love of gain, and are not likely to rush to destruction. if they should get in the way of this vessel she would be likely to run their boats down, and that would be an end of them. they have a wholesome fear of a steamer, and are careful to keep out of her way. "twenty or thirty years ago there were a great many pirates all through the malay archipelago. they carried on their business as an american would deal in wheat or conduct a hotel, and there were whole towns and villages entirely supported by piracy. they attacked chinese or other native boats, and they also overpowered european ships that were becalmed in the straits between the numerous islands. the crews were murdered, or sold into slavery in many instances, while in others they were released after much suffering. the evil became so great that some of the civilized nations sent ships of war to destroy the villages where the pirates had their resorts, and also to capture the pirate craft. "against a sailing ship the pirates have a great advantage. their proas, or boats, have a large number of men to row them, and when a ship is becalmed they can come out to her in strong force and rush upon her. they board the ship on both bows simultaneously by dozens and dozens, and in a few moments the crew is overpowered, and the vessel in their hands. "one of the war-ships that came here was disguised as a merchant vessel, and she made so many captures that for some time the pirates were afraid to go near a vessel of her rig. an american ship was captured by some pirates from qualla battu, a town on the west coast of sumatra, and the government of the united states sent a ship to teach the fellows a lesson. qualla battu was burnt, and the inhabitants that were not killed by the shells from the ship were scattered in the forest. the result was that for a long time afterwards no american ship was troubled by them. "singapore was formerly a business centre for the pirates, even after it went into the hands of the english. they swarmed among the channels of the islands in the vicinity, and they had spies in the fort to tell them of the movements of every craft that sailed from it. their principal victims were the native traders, who could offer little resistance, and they used to conduct the business in the most systematic manner." "how was that?" [illustration: chief's house in a pirate village.] "a chief of one of the small provinces or districts of the malay states would make up his mind to embark in piracy as a regular business. he would gather as many men under his banner as he could get together, and go to one of the islands near singapore. there he built a village, which could serve as a depot for slaves and merchandise, and a convenient resting-place for his men, when they had had a hard weeks' work. then he stationed himself in one of the channels, where native traders pass on their way to and from singapore; and very often he would know exactly when one of them was expected. where he was successful, the chief would soon have a large fleet, sometimes hundreds of proas; and he gathered around him a great number of adventurers, who were proud to range themselves under his banners. his forces would become so large that he could divide them, and watch several channels; and sometimes it happened that serious troubles arose between rival pirates for the possession of some place that was particularly valuable for purposes of plunder. [illustration: harbor of pirates.] "the ships they captured were taken to their settlements by the pirates; and after all the goods in them had been removed, the craft and its cordage would be burnt, to prevent identification. the plunder would be sent to singapore in the chief's trading-vessels, and sold in the open market; and it often happened that a merchant who had sold goods to a native trader living far to the south was able to buy them back again, in a week or two, at a greatly reduced rate. "the native crews of the captured ships were taken to some of the interior towns of sumatra or borneo, where they were sold as slaves to work on the pepper plantations belonging to the malays. the pirates generally sailed in fleets of from four up to thirty proas, according to the class of ships they were looking for. each proa carried from twenty to forty men, and had one or more small guns, in addition to muskets and pistols. their favorite weapons were the malay kriss or knife; and they had a supply of darts and other missiles, to be thrown on board their intended prizes. "they always boarded over the bows, and they rushed on in such numbers that the small crew of a merchant-ship could offer no resistance. once they met their match at the hands of a woman, and the fame of her stratagem lasts to this day." "oh! please tell us about it," said both the boys. "she was a quakeress," the doctor replied; "and you know the quakers do not believe in fighting. "she and her husband were passengers on a brig that was becalmed in one of the straits of the malay archipelago. a dozen proas came out from a little harbor where there was a pirate settlement, and paddled straight towards the brig. the crew began preparations for defence, and the captain called on the husband of this woman to perform his share of the work. he refused, on the ground that fighting was contrary to his religious principles; and his wife sustained the refusal. "'but, if he cannot fight,' said she, 'he and i will do something for the general good of all on the ship.' "she told her husband to bring on deck some dozens of beer bottles that had been emptied of their contents during the voyage. then, with a hammer, she set to work to break these bottles into small pieces, which were scattered all over the deck. her husband assisted her, and so did the crew, and, before the proas were along-side, the whole deck, from bow to stern, was covered with the bits of glass. "the proas came up, and the pirates swarmed in over the bows, after their usual custom. these fellows are half-naked, and always barefooted--the rest of the story will almost tell itself." "i think so," frank responded. "the pirates trod on the fragments of glass, and cut their feet so that they could not stand. the crew and passengers were at the stern of the brig with their shoes on, and had nothing to do, as the glass did all the fighting for them." [illustration: the pirates' victim.] "that was about the way of it," said the doctor. "the pirates nearly all came on board, but not one of them was able to get aft to where the crew stood. the deck was covered with malays with lacerated feet, and they were so helpless that the captain directed his men to pay no attention to them, but to shoot the men in the proas. they were shot down accordingly, and only a few of the rascals escaped. those who were left saw that something was wrong, and so they pulled away to the shore for aid. "they had not gone far before a breeze sprung up, the sails filled, and the brig began to move through the water. the breeze increased; and, before re-enforcements could come from the shore to aid the pirates, the brig was out of all danger." "and what became of the pirates that were left on the deck of the brig?" fred inquired. "the captain had no use for them," the doctor answered, "and so he dropped them overboard after sailing a few miles. the occurrence was a discouraging one to the pirates in that region, and for a long time afterwards they were very cautious about setting their bare feet on the deck of a foreign ship. "there is very little piracy nowadays," the doctor continued, "compared to what there was a quarter of a century ago. it is very rarely the case that a foreign ship is captured by the freebooters, or even molested by them. they confine their operations to native traders; but they are compelled to occupy the most secluded retreats, and therefore have little chance to do anything. the construction of steam gun-boats was the practical end of piracy, so far as its bearing upon foreign commerce was concerned; the pirates were pursued to their haunts and destroyed, and the native chiefs were made to understand that they would be held responsible for every unlawful act committed within their jurisdiction. since the business became not only unprofitable but hazardous to the necks of those in authority, very little has been heard of it." [illustration; sinews of war.] chapter xxiv. sumatra and its peculiarities.--snakes and orang-outangs. the boys had observed, as they journeyed to the southward, that the north star declined lower and lower in the heavens in proportion as they receded from the pole. at singapore it was only a little way above the horizon, and after they passed the equator it disappeared altogether. from singapore they had seen the southern cross, which is to the south what the great bear is to the north. frank made a note of this fact, and the first night they were beyond the equator they sat till a late hour on deck to study the appearance of the heavens. when they first began their observations they could not see the cross, and fred went to ask the doctor the reason of its disappearance. "it is not yet above the horizon," said the doctor, "and will not be there till after midnight." "how is that?" "the southern cross is not over the south pole, but about ten degrees from it. therefore, when we are so near the equator as we are now, the cross goes at times below the horizon. you must wait till late at night before you can see it." they concluded to go to bed, and let the new constellation remain undisturbed where it was. as they were going still farther south, they would have abundant opportunity to see it before their return to singapore. the second day of their voyage they had the coast of sumatra still in sight for a large part of the time, and the boys wished they could make a landing there and see something of the country. among the passengers there was a gentleman who had been in sumatra, and he kindly undertook to tell the boys something about the island and its people. he began by asking if either of the youths could tell him what the geographies said about the island, and its extent and characteristics. "certainly," frank replied. "we know that it is about one thousand miles long by two hundred and fifty wide, and has about five million inhabitants. the dutch have a part of it in their possession, and the rest is independent; but perhaps the dutch will have the whole of it one of these days." "why do you say that?" "because the dutch have been at war for some time with the native government of the province called acheen. at any rate i have read so; and i have also read that when they succeed in capturing it they will have more than three-fourths of the island under their control." "you are quite correct, i believe," said the gentleman; "but the acheen war may yet last a long time. the natives are brave, and the country is very unhealthy for the dutch. fevers have killed more than the enemy's weapons since the dutch went there, and the conquest will be a very costly one. but we will not trouble ourselves at present about the acheen war, as it is rarely heard of in america, or, for that matter, in europe. [illustration: a trading-station on the coast.] "the dutch possessions include padang and bencoolen, on the west coast of sumatra; lampong, on the southern end of the island; and palembang, on the east coast. banca and some other islands of lesser size lie near the coast of sumatra; but they form separate governments, and are not to be considered as belonging to the great island we are discussing. banca is famous for its mines of tin, which have been worked for a long time, and are the source of a large revenue. there are many good harbors on the coast, and there are two or three of them that can hardly be surpassed anywhere. on most of these harbors there are cities, and a considerable business is done in products of the tropics, such as rice, pepper, ginger, turmeric, spices, and camphor and other gums. [illustration: a bayou on the palembang river.] "the only place in sumatra i have visited," said the gentleman, "is palembang. the city is quite large, and is on a river of the same name; to go to it you must ascend this river about a hundred miles, through a country that is low and rather swampy. the foliage is luxuriant, and there are numerous little bayous leading off from the river; so that you must have a good guide, or run the risk at times of losing your way. "i went there in the rainy season, when much of the country was flooded. the city is built on the river, and extends three or four miles along a bend in the stream; so many of the houses are on floating rafts, that rise and fall with the tide, that it makes little difference to the inhabitants whether the river is high or low. if you have been in siam you can form a very good picture of palembang, as it is much like bangkok in the number and arrangement of its floating houses. when you go to market, you go in a small boat, just as you do in bangkok, and nearly everything is transported by water. [illustration: arab houses at palembang.] "it is a peculiarity of the malays never to build a house on solid ground if they can find a place to stand it on piles in the water, and they prefer a boat to any other kind of a conveyance. at palembang the most of the malay inhabitants are thus located; but there are many arab and chinese residents who have their houses on the solid ground. most of the trading is in the hands of these foreigners, and there are very few european inhabitants besides the officials who represent the dutch government. they are very glad to have strangers come there, as it is a change from the monotony of their every-day life; and if you should happen to visit palembang you may be sure of a kindly reception. "the country is quite low and swampy all around palembang, though the town itself is on a slight elevation that preserves it from overflowing. you must go twenty or thirty miles farther up the river to the firm country, and there you find the commencement of the tropical forests for which sumatra is famous." fred asked what kind of trees are to be found in these forests. [illustration: lounging under a mango-tree.] "as to that," was the reply, "the trees are not much unlike what you have seen in malacca and siam. they have several varieties of the palm, and they have rubber-trees from which they derive a good revenue. the mango-tree, with its broad branches and dark foliage, is frequently seen, and it is a favorite in the neighborhood of the villages. the natives like to swing their hammocks beneath it; and, for my own part, i do not know a better place to lounge in, in a hot afternoon, than the shade of a mango-tree. [illustration: alligators taking sun and air.] "being under the equator, sumatra is a hot country, and one must be cautious about exposure to the sun. during the middle of the day you should remain at rest, and you will find great refreshment in bathing frequently; but take care how you plunge in the rivers, as many of them are full of alligators, and sometimes these brutes are hungry. occasionally you may see dozens of them lying on the banks to enjoy the sun, and they are hunted so little that you may come quite near without disturbing them. at a little distance they look like logs, and you might easily mistake their black bodies for sticks of timber that have been partially burnt. there is one island just above palembang where they swarm in large numbers, and are of all sizes, from very small to very large. the island also abounds in cranes; and sometimes they approach near enough to the alligators to come within reach of the powerful tails of those reptiles. in such a case there is a single sweep of the great lever, and the whole business is over. "since the dutch went to sumatra they have constructed roads, and done a great deal for the improvement of the condition of the people. the roads are divided into regular stages of ten or twelve miles, and if you send on in advance you will find everything ready on your arrival, so that you will not be delayed; but if you do not give notice beforehand, you can only go the distance of one stage in a day, which makes your progress very slow. at nearly every station there is a village; and if you want to study the habits of the people, you can do so very well by walking from one station to the next in the morning, and then strolling about the village and neighboring regions in the afternoon. there is always a house for strangers, and you have nothing to do but walk in and take possession: you pay for what you have at a fixed rate. the dutch have been careful to adjust the prices of everything, so that there can be no dispute. "away from the rivers the houses of the natives are on poles or posts, just as they are when built in the water. the best of them are of boards or planks, and the more common ones of bamboo, and the floors are covered with mats, on which you may sit or lie. they have no beds, benches, or chairs; even in the houses of the chiefs you will see hardly a single article of furniture. [illustration: view in a sumatran village.] "there is a great similarity among the sumatran villages. a village covers several acres, and is almost always surrounded by a high fence, to keep out the wild animals that abound in the island. the houses are dropped down higgledy-piggledy without the least attempt at regularity, and there is generally quite a grove of palm, banana, and other trees around them. the best of the dwellings have their ends ornamented with some elaborate carving in wood, and the ends of the roof rise in a graceful curve that terminates in a point. "there is a curious combination of neatness and the reverse in the habits of the people of these interior villages. the ground is hard and clean, and the houses are frequently swept with the greatest care; but they have no system of drainage, and the only way of disposing of refuse of any kind is to throw it into a sink-hole under the house. the people seem to have adhered to the custom that prevails where their houses are built over the water, and the result is that your nose will often inform you, before your eyes do, that you are approaching a village." frank asked what birds or beasts were to be found in sumatra. "you find pretty much the same as you do in malacca or siam," was the reply. "there are plenty of elephants of the same species as on the main-land, and there is any number of tigers. they are very large, and proportionally fierce, and a great many of the natives are eaten by them every year. they do not often attack white men, but i had a close escape one evening from being eaten by one of them." "how did that happen?" "i had been visiting a planter of my acquaintance, and we did not separate till about dark. i had a ride of six or eight miles before me to reach the house where i was to stay for the night, but did not mind it in the least, as i had been over the ground before, and had no fear of losing my way. my friend cautioned me to look out for tigers, but i only laughed when he said so, as i had no idea that a tiger would attack a man on horseback. "i was cantering gently along, when all at once my pony began to prick his ears and sniff the air, as though all was not right. every moment he was more and more uneasy, and he exerted himself to the utmost to make good time over the road. never in my life was i carried faster by a horse than on that occasion. [illustration: chased by a tiger.] "in a few minutes i heard the growl of a tiger, who was in full pursuit, and gaining at every stride. the road led to a creek, and it occurred to me that my whole safety consisted in reaching that creek before the tiger reached me. i threw my hat off to amuse the beast for a moment, and it gave my horse just the time he needed without a second to spare. the tiger did not try to follow through the water, and when i got to the house where i was to stay, i resolved not to venture again on that road after dark. "some of my friends were unkind enough to say that perhaps i was mistaken in the whole matter, and that the horse took fright at a thorn catching under the saddle-girth as we went through the jungle; so the next morning i invited one of them to go with me to the creek, and to the spot where i threw away my hat. the fragments of the hat were there, where the tiger had torn it in his rage, and the tracks of the beast were visible in the soft earth. from the extent of his foot-prints he was evidently of the largest size, and would have made short work of a man when once he had settled his teeth into his throat. it was the narrowest escape i ever had in my life. i have been treed by a bear, but the sensation was nothing compared to that of being chased by a tiger." "please tell us," said fred, "how you happened to be treed by a bear." "certainly," said the gentleman; "but the story has nothing to do with sumatra or any other island of the malay archipelago. it was in america that the incident happened. "i was out hunting one afternoon, and had only a small fowling-piece loaded with bird-shot. suddenly i came across a black bear, and very foolishly fired at him. the shot enraged him, and he ran for me. [illustration: treed by a bear.] "i ran a few yards, and knew that every moment he was gaining on me. i dropped my gun, and sprung for the nearest tree; i was young and active, and went up several feet at the first bound. it was a smooth sapling, with the lower part quite free from limbs, and i soon found that it was no easy matter to climb after the first spurt was over. the bear followed me, and had the advantage of claws; and he came on faster than was agreeable. i knew that a friend of mine was not far off, and i shouted with all the power of my lungs. he heard me, and came to my relief; and, just as the bear had taken me by the coat-tail, i heard a shot, and the beast tumbled to the ground. i don't like bear-hunting in that shape." fred inquired if there were any snakes in sumatra. "yes, snakes in abundance," was the response; "and they sometimes grow to an enormous size. in some respects, sumatra is the paradise of snakes, as they have a hot climate, and can always find plenty to eat." "what kind of snakes do they have there?" queried fred. "the largest is the boa-constrictor," said the gentleman; "and i do not believe he grows to a greater size in any other part of the world." "what is the greatest length you have ever known for one of these snakes?" frank asked. "the longest i ever saw was one that i killed myself. i was out hunting, and had three or four natives to carry my gun and other things, when suddenly one of them shouted, and pointed to a tree. "i looked, and saw an enormous snake coiled up there, with his head over a limb, and evidently watching us as we approached. "du chaillu and other hunters of experience say that the best thing for shooting a snake is not a bullet, but a charge of small shot, such as we use in duck-hunting. so i gave my rifle to one of the natives, and called for my fowling-piece. [illustration: shooting a boa-constrictor.] "i managed to get around in order to have a good aim, and ventured so close to the snake that the natives warned me to be careful. i watched my chance, and just as the fellow darted his head forward i fired. "my aim was accurate, and the snake's head was blown into a shapeless mass. he threw himself from the tree, and writhed on the ground, while i retired with my party to a safe distance. we watched him twisting his body into many shapes, and tearing up the small trees and bushes as he wound around them. in about an hour i continued my hunt, leaving one of the natives to watch the snake, so that we could skin him when he was done writhing. [illustration: a snaky creek.] "wishing to explore a small creek, i sent another of the men to bring a boat; and he soon returned with it. it must have been a great day for snakes, as we had not gone far before the water seemed to be alive with them. they were of all the colors of the rainbow; and some of them had shades that the rainbow never possessed. the largest i should judge to have been eight or ten feet in length, but i had no opportunity to measure him. "one tried to get into the boat, and i shot him just as he raised his head over the bow; others swum close to the boat, and seemed in no hurry to get out of our way. there was a large boa, or python, coiled around a tree that overhung a bank; he darted his head rather defiantly, but made no other demonstration. i was quite willing to let him alone, provided he would be equally polite to me; and, as he manifested no intention of attacking us, i did not fire on him. "we went back late in the afternoon, and found that our great boa had ceased his twistings, and was sufficiently quiet to be skinned. he measured thirty feet and a few inches in length, and was certainly one of the largest of his kind. he could kill and eat an ordinary-sized cow or bullock; and, as for a dog or monkey, he would dispose of one without the slightest trouble. the favorite food of this snake is the monkey; and he captures him by lying concealed among the trees, and waiting patiently till the monkey comes within his reach." [illustration: monkey examining a tortoise.] "then there are monkeys in sumatra?" said one of the boys. "certainly," was the reply, "there are monkeys in abundance. the naturalists have found no less than eleven distinct species of the monkey family, and it is thought there are several yet undiscovered in the forests. there is one monkey called the _simiang_, that has tremendously long arms; mr. wallace measured one that was only three feet high, but his arms were five and a half feet when stretched out. this monkey will swing himself from one tree to another with the utmost ease, over distances that most of the other monkeys would hardly venture to go." "do they find the variety of monkey known as the orang-outang in sumatra?" one of the boys asked. "yes," said their informer, "the animal is found only in sumatra and borneo, but he is rarely seen on the first-named island. in parts of borneo he is quite abundant; and the most of the specimens in the museums all over the world came from that wild region." frank asked how large was the largest of these beasts that had been captured and measured. [illustration: female orang-outang. (from a photograph.)] "as to that," said the gentleman, "there is a considerable conflict of testimony. mr. wallace says that the largest killed by him during his stay in borneo was four feet two inches from head to heel; and his outstretched arms were seven feet nine inches from tip to tip of his fingers. the face was thirteen inches wide, and the body measured forty-three inches around. mr. wallace further says that he measured seventeen freshly-killed orangs, and the skeletons of two others; sixteen were full-grown adults--nine males and seven females. the males varied from four feet one inch to four feet two inches in height; and the outstretched arms from seven feet two inches to seven feet eight inches. the measurements of other naturalists closely agree with his, and he therefore concludes that the stories of orangs exceeding five feet in height are extremely doubtful. [illustration: natives of borneo fighting with an orang-outang.] "the natives say the orang is king of the forest, and the only animals that venture to attack it are the crocodile and the python. they only do so on rare occasions, and are apt to get the worst of the battle whenever they provoke it. one of the native chiefs says that when food is scarce in the forest, the orang goes to the banks of the streams to feed on the lilies, and in such cases he is sometimes attacked by the crocodile. his arms are so strong that he has been known to pull the crocodile's jaws open, and rip up his throat; the chief claims to have witnessed such a fight, which occurred on the bank of a stream, and was won in a short time by the orang. "the same chief said that the python found his match in the orang--the latter biting the python's throat, and tearing him with his powerful claws. the natives have a great dread of the orang, unless they have the advantage of fire-arms; they sometimes attack him with their spears and hatchets, but they do so with reluctance, as some of them are apt to be severely wounded, if not killed outright in the encounter." fred wanted to know if the animal they were discussing was in the habit of walking erect like a man, as he had seen represented in pictures. "the best authorities say he does not," was the reply; "and i think that such pictures as you mention are far more imaginary than real. he spends nearly all his time in the trees, and when he goes through the forest he moves from one tree to another by following the limbs that interlace. he feeds in the trees in the daytime, and sleeps there at night; his bed is composed of leaves gathered together in the fork of a tree, and he never remains long in one spot. the natives say he finds a new resting-place and makes a new bed every night; but there is some doubt as to the correctness of this theory. when he has been wounded, and feels faint from loss of blood, he will gather a quantity of leaves and form a bed, where he lies down and dies. in such a case the tree must be cut down to get his body, as no amount of shaking will dislodge it; or the natives must be hired to climb up and remove it. this they will not do readily, as the animal has great vitality, and has been known to spring up suddenly and do a great deal of damage after he was supposed to be dead." "there are some other curious products of this tropical region," said the narrator, "which i will endeavor to describe briefly. there is a frog that flies through the air, and--" "how funny!" fred exclaimed. "a flying-frog! he ought to be a relative of the fish that climbs a tree, and travels on dry land." [illustration: a flying-frog.] "whether he is a relative or not of that fish, i am unable to say," was the reply, "but that he exists there is no doubt. he comes down from the top of a high tree to the ground in a slanting direction, just as you have seen a flying-squirrel go from one tree to another. his toes are very long, and webbed to their extremities. the body of the frog is about four inches long, and when spread out the webs of his feet have a square surface of at least twelve inches. this is much more than he needs for swimming, and we must, therefore, conclude that nature has thus equipped him so that he can fly through the air. "there are many varieties of butterflies in sumatra, and some of them are very beautiful. all the tropical islands abound in butterflies, that arouse the enthusiasm of the naturalist by the brilliancy of their colors and the great size they attain. there are numerous birds, especially of the parrot family, and sometimes you will see hundreds of them in a walk of an hour or more through the forests where they live. the parrot is inclined to be sociable, and likes his fellow-parrots; you will rarely see one of these birds quite alone, and when you do, you may conclude that the occurrence is an accidental one. "among the habits of birds there is none more singular than that of the sumatran hornbill." "what is that?" frank inquired. "the hornbill, whose scientific name is _buceros bicornis_, makes its nest in a hole in a tree. when the female has laid an egg, the male plasters up the entrance of the hole with mud, and keeps his mate there until the young bird has been reared to the proper age for coming out in the world." "how does she manage to live all that time?" said one of the boys. "the hole is not entirely closed," was the reply. "a small opening is left, and through it the male bird feeds her, and he is constantly on duty around the outside of the nest to protect her from harm. when the young bird begins to eat, the mother takes in her beak the food which her mate has brought, and gives the youth his proper allowance. he is a funny-looking fellow when about half grown; his body is plump and soft, without a single feather, and his skin is half transparent, so that you almost expect to see through it." "a remarkable bird," said fred. "and a remarkable country he lives in," frank replied. and with this comment the conversation about sumatra and its products came to an end, with a vote of thanks on the part of the boys to their amiable informant. [illustration: a sumatran butterfly.] chapter xxv. arrival in java.--sights and scenes in batavia. at daylight the next morning the boys were on deck for their first sight of java. they could see nothing but a low coast, like that of siam, with a fringe of tropical trees, and a backing of mountains in the distance. they had expected to go into a snug harbor, but found that the harbor of batavia is more imaginary than real, as it is little better than a shallow roadstead, where ships of deep draught must anchor far from shore. the steamer came to her resting-place, and the anchor went plunging down to its muddy bed. a noisy little steam-launch came to carry the mails ashore, but our friends were not allowed to take passage in her; they were told there would be a steamer for the passengers in an hour or two, or, if they preferred, they could go ashore on a native boat. they chose the latter conveyance, as the time of waiting for the steamboat was a trifle uncertain; and, besides, they desired to get to land as speedily as possible. there were a dozen boats hovering around the steamer, and it did not take long to make a bargain; for three florins--a dutch florin is equal to forty cents of our money--they were to be carried to the "boom," or custom-house, where their baggage would be examined, and they could find conveyance to the hotel. as soon as the bargain was made their baggage was lowered into the boat, and they were off. it was a long pull, and the sun was hot. our friends reclined under their umbrellas, and tried to be comfortable; and the boys wondered how the boatmen could pull away so cheerily and not be fatigued. the doctor reminded them that the men had been accustomed all their lives to the climate of java; and what seemed very severe to strangers from the north was nothing to those who were used to it. the men evidently understood the subject of conversation, as they offered to pull twice as fast for another florin; their proposal was declined, as none of the newcomers wished to be the cause, however indirectly, of a sunstroke among the natives. [illustration: arrival in port.] it was a journey of three miles from the steamer to the custom-house, partly in the harbor and partly in a canal. the canal is pushed out a considerable distance into the harbor by means of stone dikes; and the space between these dikes is dredged to a depth of twelve or fourteen feet. nothing but small craft can come up to the docks; heavy sea-going ships, whether steam or sail, must anchor in the harbor, and their cargoes are transferred by lighters. as soon as they reached the end of the wall that forms the canal the boatmen drew up against it, and for the rest of the way the boat was towed, or "trecked." this mode of propulsion was easier and faster than rowing, and partly accounted for the proposal of the boatmen to double their speed, as they were near the end of their rowing when they suggested it. at the custom-house the trunks and valises were subjected to a slight examination; there was a polite official who spoke english; and on learning that our friends had only come for a brief visit to java, and had no business to transact, he assured them that all was right. he asked for their passports, and said it would be necessary to get a permit to remain on the island, especially if they wished to travel in the interior. this they could easily do, he said, through their consul; and then he informed them that the formalities of the custom-house were ended. [illustration: the carriage at the custom-house.] a runner was there from the hotel they intended to patronize, and so they gave their property into his hands. it was piled on a cart and sent off, and then the runner led the way to a carriage that was standing near. it was a sort of victoria, that could accommodate two persons comfortably; and there was an extra seat just behind the driver, which could be turned down and made to hold a third passenger in an emergency. the horses were diminutive beasts, with harnesses in the european style; and the driver was a withered specimen of a javanese, wearing an ancient hat decorated with a cockade, and having the brim turned so that it would not impede the view in any direction. fred thought the hat had come from holland about the middle of the century, after doing duty in a respectable family of amsterdam for at least a dozen years. frank remarked that the hat was hardly less antique than the head it covered; and the skin of the one seemed as much glazed as the other. [illustration: the national taste.] it was nearly, if not quite, three miles from the custom-house to the hotel, and the little horses went over the ground at a surprising rate, when their size and appearance were considered. for much of the way the drive followed the bank of a canal, where they saw groups of men and women engaged in washing clothes or taking a morning bath. batavia is on level ground, the same as amsterdam; and the dutch have tried to make it seem as much like home as possible by supplying it with canals. they have carried many of their customs with them in emigrating to the east, and sometimes to their disadvantage. for instance, they adhere with unflinching firmness to the old practice of taking a glass of _schnapps_ before every meal, forgetting that what may be allowable in a cold country is the reverse of beneficial in a hot one. our friends reached the hotel a little while before the mid-day meal was served, and they were hardly inside the door of their rooms before a servant came with glasses of a fiery liquid to enable them to get up an appetite. he was somewhat surprised when they declined what was considered so necessary to the health. the hotel covered an immense area, as it consisted of a series of bungalows of one story, with a central building, where the dining-room and the offices of the manager were located. between the rows of bungalows there were shade-trees and paved walks, and along the front of each house there was a wide veranda, where the occupants could sit or recline in the open air whenever they chose to do so. the central building was two stories high; all the lower part was taken up for the dining-room and parlors, while the upper floor was occupied by patrons. our friends were assigned to rooms in one of the bungalows, and a barefooted servant came to assist them in arranging their effects, and bring whatever they desired. [illustration: their servant.] the servant was of a type new to our friends, and frank proceeded to make a sketch of him at the first opportunity. he was a javanese malay, with features not unlike those of the malays of singapore, but his dress was different. he wore trousers of striped cotton, rather narrow in the legs, and without any nicety of fit; above the trousers he had a gaudy shirt, with an embroidered front, and a short jacket of material similar to that of the trousers. wrapped around his waist, and falling to the knee, he had a skirt that appeared to have been cut from the gayest piece of calico that ever came from the looms of manchester or lowell; and it was held in place by a belt. this part of the malay wardrobe is called a _sarong_, and is worn by both sexes; it is usually fastened by tying a knot in one corner, and then drawing the sarong tightly around the waist. the knot is passed under the straightened edge of the garment, and is not likely to slip out of place. accompanying this servant there was a small boy whose business it was to bring cigars, and fire for lighting them. it seemed to frank and fred that the dutchmen of batavia were smoking all the time; and fred suggested that, if the days were as long, there would be exactly as much smoking. breakfast was served in the room we have mentioned, and doctor bronson and the boys were shown to the seats assigned to them. frank made a discovery that amused him greatly, and was equally entertaining to his cousin when he learned of it. it was so unlike the custom of any hotel he had ever seen, that he made a note of it to include in his next letter. here it is: "the three of us have one servant; and, as far as i can see, he waits on no one else. in each of our rooms there is a little closet, and in this closet there are knives, forks, spoons, plates, etc., for one person. before breakfast or dinner our servant takes these things to the general table, and when the meal is over he brings them back again, and returns them to their places in the closets. he is responsible for breakage, and is required to keep the articles clean. the only dishes that go to the kitchen of the hotel are the platters, tureens, and similar things, on which the food is brought from the place of cooking." fred was busy with his eyes and ears during breakfast, and contributed to the general fund of information as follows: "the first solid meal of the day in batavia is called the _rys-taffel_, or rice-table. it is served about eleven o'clock; and its name goes far to describe its character, as it consists largely of rice. this is the way they serve it: "the rice is boiled in such a way that each grain is separate from every other. it is served hot in a large dish, and you help yourself into a soup-plate of goodly size. [illustration: the mango.] "one servant hands you the rice, and when you have filled your plate with it another servant offers you a round platter or tray, eighteen or twenty inches across, and divided into a dozen compartments. these compartments contain various seasonings, and you may take any or all, or none of them, at your pleasure, and in quantities to suit you. you have chutney, which is a sharp sauce from india; you have red or green peppers, cut into a fine hash, red pepper mixed with water to form a paste, cocoa-nut grated fine, preserved ginger-root, sliced mangoes, english pickles, salt fish dried to a crisp, capers, and other hot and spicy things peculiar to the east. "when you have taken what you want from the tray, the servant moves on, and another takes his place. he offers you soft eggs, either boiled or poached, and you are expected to take one or two of the eggs to mix with your rice. then comes a servant with a plate of some kind of meat, cut into small pieces, and stewed with curry-powder; and behind him is another servant with a plate of some kind of vegetable, which has been stewed in curry. then they offer you cold chicken or ham, or some other meat, to put on a small plate at your side, and your supply of food is completed, with the addition of all the bread you want. you mix all the things you have in your large soup-plate into a thick mass, like yellow paste, and eat with a spoon. [illustration: a little too peppery.] "this is the famous java curry; and if you have taken plenty of the pepper and chutney, and other hot things, your mouth will burn for half an hour as though you had drunk from a kettle of boiling water. and when you have eaten freely of curry, you don't want any other breakfast. everybody eats curry here daily, because it is said to be good for the health by keeping the liver active, and preventing fevers." after breakfast our friends went to their rooms, and soon afterwards met on the veranda to arrange plans for seeing batavia. somewhat to their surprise, they learned that it was not fashionable to be seen out till three o'clock in the afternoon, and they must not call on any one during the middle of the day. the doctor said that the dutch and other foreign inhabitants of the city were supposed to sleep two or three hours while the sun was high in the heavens; but as they were strangers, and had little time at their disposal, they would get a carriage and take a drive. [illustration: after breakfast.] neither ladies nor gentlemen are visible in batavia between breakfast and three p.m.; or if they show themselves they are not acting according to custom. they lounge in bed or hammock, or in their bamboo arm-chairs, and try to get as much rest as possible to fit them for the fatigues of the evening. it is this habit of sleeping in the daytime that enables the fashionable batavians to keep very late hours. they are accustomed to rise early; and by five o'clock in the morning half the people in the hotel were out of bed, and the rest of them before six. [illustration: an early call.] frank and fred were awakened on their first morning in batavia before they thought the hour of rising had arrived. the doctor told them they had best conform to the custom, and so they crept from their beds and prepared to dress. "that is unnecessary," said the doctor; "it is perfectly proper for you to come out in your sleeping-suits, and sit in front of your rooms, or go to your baths. you will find that is what everybody else is doing." accordingly they made their appearance in their pajamas, and found that the servant was ready to attend upon them. all around they could hear men calling _"api!_" "_api!_" and they naturally asked what "api" meant. "it is the malay word for 'light' or 'fire,'" said the doctor; "and the call you hear is for a light for a cigar or cigarette." when they went to the row of bath-rooms fronting their apartments, the boys looked for bathing-tubs, but found none. each bath-room had a faucet whence water could be drawn, or it contained a barrel and a dipper, but no other furniture. the bathing custom in java is to pour water over the body, and not to plunge into a tub. a tub can be had by any one who asks for it; but he runs the risk of being considered a barbarian, who cannot be weaned from the absurd customs of his native land. after the bath came the "little breakfast," as it is called by the residents, consisting of tea or coffee, with eggs or cold meat, and a few biscuits. when this was ended doctor bronson ordered a carriage, and the morning hours were devoted to a drive. "we have not quite time," said the doctor, "to exhaust a single course with the carriage between this and the hour for the rys taffel." the boys could not understand his meaning, until he explained that the rules governing the hire of carriages in batavia are somewhat curious. "the tariff for a victoria," said he, "is four florins or guilders--about one dollar and sixty cents of our money, and if you only ride a few blocks you must pay that price. but you can, if you choose, keep it for six hours without any extra charge, except that the driver will expect an allowance of an hour or so to rest his horses, and a little money for himself by way of remembrance." "what an odd arrangement!" said frank. fred agreed with him fully, and probably every traveller who visits batavia will not be long in coming to the same conclusion. "when i was here before," continued the doctor, "i took a carriage one morning for the customary six hours, and went out for a drive. at the end of three hours i returned to the hotel for breakfast, and told the driver he could have an hour to himself and then return. he did not come again, and when i asked at the office of the hotel the manager said he would investigate the affair. in the evening he told me he had seen the driver, and paid him, and his reason for not returning was that his horses were tired. "i thought no more of the matter till i settled my bill the next day, preparatory to going into the country, and found that the full tariff of four guilders had been charged for the carriage. i protested that the man was not entitled to that amount, because he had not given me the stipulated service. the manager said he had paid the bill because that was the law; and he added that the driver would have served me the full time if his horses had not been tired. "in vain did i protest that i had been unjustly treated; the only answer i could get from the manager was, 'the driver's horses were tired--his horses were tired.' i vowed that the next time i employed a carriage in batavia i would adhere rigidly to the law, and keep it in my sight for the full six hours, whether i wanted it or not. if the driver serves us well to-day, perhaps he will get an allowance; but if he is obstinate, as these malay drivers sometimes are, i shall feel like enforcing the law to the letter." they were fortunate in finding a very amiable driver, who did his best to make the strangers enjoy their ride. he spoke only the malay language; but, in spite of the absence of a common tongue, he managed to make them understand his explanations, and to show them a good deal of batavia. the result was that they gave him an hour to spare, and an extra florin for the trouble he had taken. here is what frank wrote in his note-book concerning their first morning's ride in batavia: [illustration: native house on the river that feeds the canal.] "batavia covers a great extent of ground, and is fairly entitled to be called a city of magnificent distances. the old city near the sea is rather closely built, but it is not inhabited by europeans to any extent. the dutch, english, and other foreign merchants transact business there during the day; but they live in the new part of batavia, which spreads over the flat ground for several square miles. the houses are rarely of more than one story, as the country is subject to earthquakes, and nobody wants to have a flight of stairs between him and the ground when these shakings begin. nearly every house has a _campong_, or yard, around it, and this yard is filled with tropical trees in considerable variety. the great streets and roads are liberally provided with shade-trees, so that batavia can hardly be seen, owing to the impossibility of peering through the dense foliage that is before you at every step. "a canal with several branches runs through all this level area that they call batavia, and for miles and miles it is built up with solid stone walls. it is fed by a small river coming down from the mountains, and serves a triple purpose: boats may navigate it; people may bathe there, or wash clothes in it; and the sewage of the city is said to be drained into it. whether the water for household use is taken from it or not, i am unable to say; but we repeatedly saw malay servants filling buckets with it, and then walking off in the direction of the houses. circumstantial evidence was against them; but the clerk of the hotel says the water they were carrying was to be used for washing the floors of the houses and sprinkling the gravel-walks in the court-yards. perhaps it is the suspicion that the water may be used for drinking purposes that leads so many of the inhabitants to shun it, and take seltzer, gin, claret, and other imported liquids to quench their thirst. "they have a street railway here, but it is patronized only by the natives, the chinese, and the low class of foreigners. the track is good enough, but the cars are the wildest contrivances you ever saw; they are common freight-cars fitted with rush seats, and their great weight makes them difficult to move along the way. perhaps, if they had the proper kind of cars, the europeans would ride in them, but they could hardly expect to patronize those now in use. "it was a funny sight, when we were driving along the streets, to see the ladies out for their morning promenade, with their hair streaming down their shoulders, their bodies enclosed only in light wrappers, with loose sacks buttoned to the throat, and with slippers, but no stockings, on their feet. most of them wore the sarong, or native petticoat, and they generally carried parasols to keep off the sun. this is the forenoon costume of the ladies before they go to breakfast, and it strikes a foreigner as very odd. [illustration: family party in batavia.] "sometimes we saw a whole family sitting on the veranda of a house, in full view of everybody passing along the street, looking as if they had just got out of bed and were only half dressed. the men would be in dressing-gowns or pajamas, and the ladies with their hair down, as i have described, or twisted up into tight little lumps, so that the owners might appear in the afternoon with a fine stock of curls. occasionally we saw some fat, jolly old women with their hair cut close to the head, in order to keep off as much of the heat as possible. [illustration: fan-palm in the botanical garden.] "we visited the museum and the botanical garden, and found them quite interesting. the museum contains the products of java, arranged so that you can readily see what the resources of the island are; and there are relics of ancient times that throw light upon the history of the country and its people. the botanical garden abounds in tropical plants, and reminded us of the garden at singapore; but we had not time to make a list of its contents. we saw some fine specimens of a tree that had already attracted our attention at singapore--the 'fan-palm,' or traveller's fountain, as it is called. it spreads out like a huge fan, with the lower part of the stalks quite bare, while the ends are formed exactly like feathers. a small tree of this species would make a very good fan for a giant, such as we read of in gulliver's travels. [illustration: chinese porters.] "in the old part of batavia we saw so many chinese that it would not have required a great stretch of the imagination to believe that we were once more in the flowery kingdom. in one of the narrowest streets we met a couple of chinese porters carrying a burden suspended from a pole, the same as we had seen them in canton and shanghai, and if it had not been that our driver was very careful we might have run over them. the chinese are very numerous in batavia, and all through java, and a great deal of the commercial business of the country is in their hands. they are engaged in all kinds of trade where money is to be made, and they have the same guilds and commercial associations that they have in singapore, hong-kong, and elsewhere. they have their temples and idols just as at home; and though many of them were born in java, and will probably never see the soil of china, they are as thoroughly chinese as though they were reared within the walls of canton. [illustration: goddess of sailors and her assistants.] "one of the most common of the chinese temples is that of the goddess 'ma-chu,' who is worshipped by sailors and those having business on the water. she is represented with her two assistants; one of them is called 'favorable-wind-ear,' and the other 'thousand-mile-eye.' the first is supposed to have an ear that can catch the least indication of a wind to favor the sailor; and the latter possesses a clearness of vision that enables him to see a rock or other danger at the distance of a thousand miles. one listens, while the other looks; and between them they are believed able to insure a safe and speedy voyage to all their worshippers." as our friends were somewhat wearied with their morning's work, they remained in-doors from the time of the "rys-taffel" till three o'clock. then they followed the custom of the country by taking a bath, and dressing for dinner; and after dinner they continued to be in fashion by taking another drive. we will let fred tell the story of what they saw in the afternoon and evening. "the fashionable hour for a promenade is after dinner, and all the ladies and gentlemen consider it their duty to come out and be seen. there are plenty of carriages on the streets, and also a goodly number of gentlemen on horseback; and it is rather a pretty sight to see the gentlemen riding along by the carriages and chatting with the ladies inside. then there are many pedestrians--the ladies being in light walking-dresses, and the gentlemen in full evening costume. the odd thing about the promenades is that both sexes are bareheaded. this is all well enough for the ladies; but it is rather strange to see a gentleman in full dress, and carrying a cane along the street, with his head as bare as though he was in a parlor. i am told that the ladies never wear hats or bonnets, and that the only thing of that sort ever seen in batavia is when foreigners first arrive here from other parts of the world. a ladies' hat-store in batavia would not be a paying speculation. "on certain evenings there is music on the king's square; and at such times everybody goes there to hear it. the crowd is large but very fashionable, as it is the proper thing to go there; and no one who can get out will venture to miss the performance. the band stops playing a little after dark, and then the drive may be said to be at its prettiest. the footman of each carriage carries a torch made of some resinous plant tied into a bundle, like a wisp of straw, and, as the carriages move around and pass and repass each other, the scene is a curious one. all the houses are a blaze of light, as the wide verandas are hung with lamps, and the whole family is gathered there when not out for the drive. the veranda is the general sitting-room, as everybody prefers it to the parlor on account of its being so much cooler. "perhaps you are wondering when the men find time for business. well, they transact most of it in the forenoon, but their offices are open in the afternoon in charge of the clerks. for the clerks there is no such resting-time as i have described, or at best, only a short one, in the middle of the day. when a young man comes out here to seek his fortune, he must do pretty much as he would at home for the first year or two; when he is fairly established, he can have his time in the middle of the day, and live like other people." chapter xxvi. batavia to buitenzorg.--tropical scenes.--birds of paradise. as their time in java was limited, our friends determined to cut short their stay in batavia, and go at once to the interior. accordingly, the morning following the day whose history was narrated in the last chapter saw them leaving the city by railway for buitenzorg. buitenzorg is about forty miles from batavia, and the summer residence of the governor-general of java; as it is summer all the year round in java, he spends most of his time at this country-seat, and rarely visits batavia except when business calls him there. the name is of dutch origin, and signifies "without care," in imitation of the french _sans souci_. it is about one thousand feet above the level of the sea, and much cooler than batavia; and the surrounding region is one of great natural beauty. [illustration: some of the third-class passengers.] doctor bronson and his young companions were early at the railway-station, and purchased their tickets for the journey. they found three classes of carriages on the road; the first and second being patronized by foreigners, and the third class exclusively by natives and chinese. for their first-class tickets they paid six florins and thirty cents--equal to two dollars and a half of our money. the second-class ticket costs half as much as the first, and the third half as much as the second, so that the natives are able to ride for about a cent and a half per mile. the third-class carriages were crowded to such an extent that frank and fred both remarked that the javanese were as prompt as the japanese to recognize the value of the railway. men and women were closely packed on the rough seats of the carriages of the third class, while those in the first and second, especially the former, had plenty of room. "i suppose this is so the world over," said fred, as he contemplated the difference between the accommodations of the various classes on the train. "everywhere we have been, at any rate," responded frank. "whatever accommodations you wish and can pay for," said the doctor, "you can have. if you want a special train at the price they demand, you can have it by paying in advance." "it is the same in java as in europe, and, to a certain extent, we have similar arrangements in america. we are more democratic in our ways than any other country of importance, and consequently have been slower to make the distinctions in railway travel that exist in other parts of the world. but we are steadily moving in that direction, and in time we will have all the distinctions of classes--special trains and all. in fact, we have them already." "aren't you mistaken, doctor?" said fred. "surely we do not have three classes on our railways at home." "stop and think a moment," answered the doctor, while there was a suggestion of a smile about his face. "we have the ordinary railway carriage and the pullman car, have we not?" "certainly," was the reply; "and they are virtually two classes." "quite right. then, on the principal lines of railway there are the emigrant trains, are there not?" fred acknowledged that the doctor had the best of the argument, and the conversation came to an abrupt termination, as it was time for them to take their places in the carriage. away they started for their first ride on a railway-train south of the equator. the suburbs of the city were speedily passed, and then the train plunged into a tropical forest. the grade became steep as the hilly ground was reached, and two locomotives were necessary for a part of the way to pull the train up the heavy incline. frank observed that the carriages were quite narrow, and he found by measuring, at the first station where they stopped, that the rails were only three and a half feet apart. the present terminus of the line is at buitenzorg; but surveys have been made, and it is the intention to push the line forward and form a connection with the system of railway in the eastern part of the island. when this is done, a stranger will be able to travel the whole length of java by rail, as he can now travel by wagon road. [illustration: view in a private garden.] since the railway from batavia to buitenzorg was opened several villages have sprung into existence along the line, and some of them are quite pretty. they contain the residences of gentlemen whose business is at batavia, and are generally arranged with excellent taste. the gardens are luxuriant, like nearly all gardens in the tropics; and some of the owners delight in adding wild animals to their collections of trees and plants. [illustration: native village near the railway.] then there are native villages in considerable number, some of them concealed in the forest, and others standing in little clearings, where the trees form an agreeable background. the train stopped frequently, and did not seem to be in a hurry, although it was called an express, and was the fastest on the line. frank said that probably the heat of the tropics had the same influence on a locomotive as on a man, and prevented its going rapidly. fred said that frank's reasoning reminded him of the boy at school, who was asked to give an illustration of the expanding power of heat, and the contracting power of cold. "what did he do?" frank inquired. "why," responded fred, "he thought for some minutes over the matter, and finally answered that the days in winter were not nearly as long as those in summer, and it must be the cold that contracted them." [illustration: tropical growths along the line.] the boys observed that the trees in some instances grew quite close to the track. doctor bronson explained to them that in the tropics it was no small matter to keep a railway-line clear of trees and vines, and sometimes the vines would grow over the track in a single night. it was necessary to keep men at work along the track, to cut away the vegetation where it threatened to interfere with the trains, and in the rainy season the force of men was sometimes doubled. "there is one good effect," said he, "of this luxuriant growth. the roots of the vines and trees become interlaced in the embankment on which the road is built, and prevent its being washed away by heavy rains. so you see there is, after all, a saving in keeping the railway in repair." frank noticed that some of the telegraph-poles had little branches growing from them; and at one place he saw a man near the top of a pole engaged in cutting the limbs away. he called the attention of his companions to the novel sight. "you will see more of those trees as you go into the interior," said the doctor. "they grow with great rapidity; and unless the wood is thoroughly seasoned before the poles are set in the ground, they speedily take root and become trees again. they are more pertinacious than our american water-willows, as they will grow in any soil, wet or dry. wherever a clearing is made in the forest these trees spring up as if by magic; and they run up so tall and straight as to be just what is wanted for telegraph uses." [illustration: "mangosteens!"] at several of the stations the natives offered fruit of different kinds, and nearly all new to our young friends. they had been told that they would probably find the mangosteen for sale along the road; they had inquired for it in singapore, but it was not in season there, and now their thoughts were bent upon discovering it between batavia and buitenzorg. two or three times they were disappointed when they asked for it; but finally, at one of the stations, when fred pronounced the word "mangosteen," a native held up a bunch of fruit and nodded. the doctor looked at the bunch, and nodded likewise, and fred speedily paid for the prize. perhaps we had best let fred tell the story of the mangosteen, which he did in his first letter from buitenzorg: "we have found the prince of fruits, and its name is mangosteen. it is about the size of a pippin apple, and of a purple color--a very dark purple, too. the husk, or rind, is about half an inch thick, and contains a bitter juice, which is used in the preparation of dye; it stains the fingers like aniline ink, and is not easy to wash off. nature has wisely provided this protection for the fruit; if it had no more covering than the ordinary skin of an apple, the birds would eat it all up as soon as it was ripe. if i were a bird, and had a bill that would open the mangosteen, i would eat nothing else as long as i could get at it. "you cut this husk with a sharp knife right across the centre, and then you open it in two parts. out comes a lump of pulp as white as snow, and about the size of a small peach. it is divided into sections like the interior of an orange, and there is a sort of star on the outside that tells you, before you cut the husk, exactly how many of these sections there are. having got at the pulp, you proceed to take the lump into your mouth and eat it; and you will be too busy for the next quarter of a minute to say anything. "hip! hip! hurrah! it melts away in your mouth like an over-ripe peach or strawberry; it has a taste that is slightly acid--very slightly, too--but you can no more describe all the flavor of it than you can describe how a canary sings, or a violet smells. there is no other fruit i ever tasted that begins to compare with it, though i hesitate to admit that there is anything to surpass our american strawberry in its perfection, or the american peach. if you could get all the flavors of our best fruits in one, and then give that one the 'meltingness' of the mangosteen, perhaps you might equal it; but till you can do so, there is no use denying that the tropics have the prince of fruits. "everybody tells us we can eat all the mangosteens we wish to, without the slightest fear of ill results. perhaps one might get weary of them in time, but at present we are unable to find enough of them. if anything would reconcile me to a permanent residence in the tropics, it would be the hope of always having plenty of mangosteens at my command. "you may think," fred added, "that i have taken a good deal of space for describing this fruit, but i assure you i have not occupied half what it deserves. and if you were here you would agree with me, and be willing to give it all the space at your command--in and beyond your mouth. but be careful and have it fully ripe; green mangosteens are apt to produce colic, as frank can tell you of his own knowledge." [illustration: veranda of the hotel bellevue.] the train reached buitenzorg, and deposited our three travellers at the station. they had been recommended to the hotel bellevue, and were soon whirling along the road to that establishment. it proved a sort of pocket edition of the hotel at batavia, as it was scattered over a considerable area; and they had to go out-of-doors to pass from their rooms to the dining-hall, but they found it had a delightful situation, as it was on the slope of a hill overlooking a thickly-wooded valley. [illustration: view from the veranda at buitenzorg.] in describing the scene from the veranda in front of his rooms, frank wrote as follows: "our vision sweeps an area of several miles, beginning with a valley, and ending with a high mountain that was once an active volcano. there are all the tropical trees imaginable in the valley before me. without changing my position in my chair, i can see cocoa-palms with their clusters of fruit, betel-palms with tufts of green at the ends of tall trunks like flag-staffs, banana, bread-fruit, plantain, mangosteen, durian, and many other kinds of trees whose names i have not yet learned. it is the richest tropical scene that has yet come under my eyes. [illustration: a bad road.] "and, as if they were not rich enough in leafy decorations, the trees are adorned with numerous parasites, some in the form of creeping vines, and others in clusters and tufts springing from the crevices in the bark, where the winds and birds have deposited the seeds. nourishment for these parasites come from the air, or from the trees to which they cling; sometimes the vines send down long threads which reach the ground, where they attach themselves and throw out roots. at a little distance they look like ropes, and you gaze at them in wonder. i have seen some of them more than fifty feet long, and about the size of my wrist; sometimes they are very thick and closely interlaced, so that it is no easy matter to ride or walk in a forest where they abound. "as in siam and cochin china, the parasites frequently cause the death of the trees to which they cling; but the growth of trees is so rapid, and there is such an abundance of them, that nobody seems to have any sympathy for the victims in this matter of vegetable murder. [illustration: the vanda lowii.] "orchids are in great variety, and some of them are exceedingly beautiful. there is one known as the vanda lowii, which is described by mr. wallace in his account of the malay archipelago. it grows on the lower branches of trees, and its threads are often six or eight feet long, and strung with flowers that vary in color from orange to red. these flowers are often three inches across, and their brilliancy is increased by the gloominess of the forests where they are found. sometimes twenty or thirty flowers may be found on a single thread, and they form a regular spiral, as though strung there by hand. "in other places you will see orchids like bright tufts of green clinging to the bark of the trees, and apparently forming a part of it. the botanists have found more than twenty varieties of this strange production of nature in java alone, and probably a more careful examination will reveal many more. "some of the trees throw out shoots from their limbs, which ultimately take root and form separate trunks. the most notable example of this is the verengen: there is one of these trees in the governor's park, which has thrown out so many roots that it forms of itself quite a grove. it belongs, i presume, to the same family of tree as the famous banian of india, and to trees of other name but similar characteristics in other parts of the world. "one of the most remarkable trees in the malay archipelago is said to begin its growth in mid-air. can you guess how it does so? [illustration: a tree growing in mid-air.] "originally the birds carry the seed of a certain parasite and drop it in the fork of a tall tree. the parasite throws out its branches into the air like other trees, and sends its roots downwards till they reach the ground. they spread as they descend, and form a sort of pyramid fifty or sixty feet high, and so shaped that you can often stand inside and have the body of the tree directly over your head. as the parasite grows it wraps itself around the parent tree, and ultimately kills it; and in this moist climate the dead trunk decays so rapidly that in a few years there is hardly a trace of it left. the branches of the new tree throw out roots of their own that go down to the ground and fasten themselves, and every year sees several new ones. we have no tree like this in the united states, at least none that i know of. "there is a small river flowing through the valley in front of where i am writing; it comes from the mountains several miles away, and we can trace its course by the little openings it makes in the forest. for a few hundred yards we have it in full view, and then it makes a bend right at the foot of the hill where the hotel stands, and disappears among the tropical trees. where it first comes into our range of vision there is a bridge thrown across it, and every little while, we can see the natives passing and repassing to and from a village that is concealed under the trees. very often we see them bathing in the stream, or washing clothes there; when the bathers are a group of boys there is a great deal of fun and laughter, and the scene is quite as jolly when there is a lot of girls in the water. they can swim like ducks, and are constantly playing harmless little tricks on each other, and sometimes in the afternoon their laughter is steadily ringing in our ears. the javanese malays are a happy people, if i may judge by the inhabitants of this little village, and they are as fond of the water as so many beavers. "before we left batavia we were told that we should have rain here every afternoon at three o'clock. fred and i laughed at the suggestion, but the doctor did not; and we found, on arriving, that we had laughed too soon. really it rains every afternoon, and it does not vary twenty minutes either way from three o'clock. the clouds form over the mountain in the distance, and then they come sweeping on and on till they reach this spot. the rain comes down first in a sprinkle, then in a shower, and then in a pour, as though some great flood-gates in the sky had been opened as wide as possible, to give the water a chance. the rain lasts from one to three hours, and then the clouds go away and the sky is clear. sometimes there is a chance for a promenade just about sunset, and sometimes not; in any event, the grass is so wet that we can only follow the roads if we would avoid coming home with our feet soaked. "we have arranged our plans in such a way as to do our sight-seeing in the forenoon, and devote the afternoon to writing and sleeping. [illustration: group of birds in the malay archipelago.] "we have visited the remarkable garden attached to the governor's residence, and seen the rare collection of specimens of the animal and vegetable life of the malay archipelago; and the more we see of it, the more do we wish to see. there are tigers and other animals, that it is better to see in cages than to meet at home in the forest; there are snakes in good variety; there are tanks containing a great number of fresh-water fishes; and last, but not least, there is a splendid collection of birds. i never knew what a variety of birds and what curious ones there are in the islands of the java sea, till i saw this collection here. "you have heard of the birds of paradise, haven't you? they have some of them here, but not all the different kinds, as they are difficult to capture, and very difficult to keep alive after they have been taken. "these birds are not natives of java, but come from the moluccas and other islands farther to the east. they were first called paradise birds by the writers of three hundred years ago, and some of the portuguese and dutch travellers told a good many fables about them. john van linschoten, who wrote in 1598, says that 'no one has seen these birds alive, for they live in the air, always turning towards the sun, and never lighting on the earth till they die; for they have neither feet nor wings, as may be seen by the birds carried to india, and sometimes to holland.' more than a hundred years later, an english writer, who saw some specimens at amboyna, was told that they came to banda to eat nutmegs, by which they became intoxicated and fell down senseless. "we were disappointed in the size of the birds in the governor's garden, as we had supposed that the bird of paradise was very large. but we found they were only moderate-sized, and resembled crows and ravens in their general appearance and habits, but not at all in their plumage. instead of being of a solemn black, like their cousins i have mentioned, they have the most extraordinary arrangement of feathers that any bird can boast. mr. wallace says that several species have large tufts of delicate, bright-colored feathers springing from each side of the body beneath the wings, forming trains, or fans, or shields; and the middle feathers of the tail are often elongated into wires, twisted into fantastic shapes, or adorned with the most brilliant metallic tints. in another set of species these plumes spring from the head, the back, or the shoulders; while the intensity of color and of metallic lustre displayed by their plumage is not to be equalled by any other birds except, perhaps, the humming-birds, and is not surpassed by these. "the largest of these birds is known as the great bird of paradise, and is seventeen or eighteen inches from the point of the beak to the end of his tail. there is nothing remarkable about his body, wings, and tail, which are of a deep brown color, varying somewhat in shade, while the head and neck are of a pale yellow. the wonderful things are the plumes that spring from each side beneath the wings; they are sometimes two feet long, and of a bright orange-color tinged with gold; and they can be raised and spread out at the pleasure of the owner like the tail of a peacock. when they are thus extended you can hardly see the body of the bird, as they seem to envelop it completely; and if you are hunting him, and ready for a shot, you must guess how much of what you see is bird and how much feathers. it is only the male bird that gets himself up so gorgeously; the female is a plain-looking creature, of a uniform brown color, without a bit of ornament anywhere. she might be mistaken for a crow that had been left overnight in a coffee-pot. [illustration: magnificent bird of paradise.] [illustration: superb bird of paradise.] "then there is the red bird of paradise, which is somewhat smaller than the one i have just described, and comes from a small island off the coast of new guinea. there is the magnificent bird of paradise, from the main-land of new guinea, which has a tuft or fan of yellow feathers springing from the back of his neck, and shading his shoulders; and his tail contains two long feathers, each curving outwards, so that it forms a circle. fred said that these tail-feathers looked like the handles of a pair of scissors, and he wondered if the bird could be taken up by them. the superb bird of paradise has a plumage of glossy black, and is not unlike a crow, so far as his body is concerned; but he has a remarkable shield on his breast of stiff, narrow feathers, very glossy, and of a bright tinge of bluish green. on his head he has another and larger shield, of a velvety black color, and tinged with purple and bronze. this shield is longer than the wings, and gives the bird a most extraordinary appearance. [illustration: six-shafted bird of paradise.] [illustration: long-tailed bird of paradise.] "mr. wallace mentions no less than eighteen varieties of the birds of paradise. i have not time to describe all of them, and believe i have told you of those that are the most remarkable. all of them are very pretty, and would be a fine addition to a public or private museum. there is one known as the six-shafted bird of paradise that has six little wires springing from the forehead, and extending over the body to the tip of the tail. these wires have little tufts at the ends, but for the rest of the way they are as bare as knitting-needles. there is another, called the long-tailed bird of paradise, and it is partially described by its name, as its tail is very long, and of the most brilliant colors. then it has a tuft of blue and green plumes springing from each side of the breast in such a way that when the bird is standing on a tree the position of the wings is entirely concealed. "perhaps you have heard enough about the birds of the malay archipelago for the present. the rain promises to be over in a little while, and we may be able to take a sunset walk. of one thing we are certain: there will be no dust on the road, and the grass will be beautifully green." chapter xxvii. a chapter on political economy.--the dutch culture system in java. for several days frank and fred, accompanied by the genial doctor, made excursions in the neighborhood of buitenzorg in the forenoon, and remained in-doors, during the rainy period, in the afternoon. a good many things came under their observation; they studied the agriculture in the region around the summer capital, and learned all they could about the manners and customs of the people. they investigated the peculiarities of the dutch dominion over java, and were much interested in the problem of governing seventeen millions of asiatics with thirty thousand europeans in such a way as to keep the millions perfectly content with the new rule, and enable a handsome amount of money to go every year from java to the treasury of holland. the rainy afternoons were spent in reading, drawing, writing, and conversation; and the boys soon learned that the time in-doors was by no means without value. they formed an acquaintance with several gentlemen who were stopping at the hotel for the sake of the breezes, that were cooler than those of the sea-coast. many of the foreign residents of batavia are in the habit of going frequently to buitenzorg, as a new yorker goes to saratoga; and this recreation is so much the fashion that several hotels do a very good business in providing for their wants. the bellevue was one of the popular resorts, and it happened that there was quite a party of batavians there at the same time as our friends. while making notes of their visit to the governor's garden, the boys began drawing pictures of the elephant as he would appear when developed according to the theories of doctor darwin. frank made the yankee elephant with the traditional garments and jack-knife, and fred followed it with a chinese elephant peddling cigars from a small box. frank designed the operatic elephant entertaining an audience with a song, and was immediately followed by fred with the elephant in love, engaged in a serenade. of course there was no allusion to frank's frequent thoughts of somebody at home, and if any one entertained the idea he kept it to himself. the series was brought to a close by a delineation of the original elephant in two acts; but the designers neglected to state where this particular performance of the animal could be witnessed. [illustration: the yankee elephant.] [illustration: the chinese elephant.] [illustration: the operatic elephant.] [illustration: the elephant in love.] one of the first practical results of their afternoon work was the preparation of a brief description of java, which was duly forwarded by mail to their friends. both the boys contributed to its preparation, and each made a copy for his own use. here is the story: "java is not of great extent. it is only six hundred miles long, and varies from sixty to one hundred and twenty in width: its area added to that of the island of madura, which lies near it, is estimated at thirty-eight thousand geographical square miles. its population is not far from seventeen millions; and when this is considered with relation to its extent, it will be seen that java is one of the most densely-peopled countries in the world. that the country has prospered under the rule of the dutch, is evident from the growth of the population, which was little more than five millions in 1826, nine millions in 1850, and is now at the figure just mentioned. if it goes on at this rate, doubling about every twenty-six years, there will come a time when it will be obliged to put out a placard announcing 'standing room only!' "it is said that formerly the religion of the people of java was brahminical, and when buddhism became the fashion of the east the new form was adopted. this continued till about four hundred years ago, when mohammedanism was introduced, and it has remained to this day; so that the greater part of the population at present are moslems. there are many traces of the former character of the people in the shape of monuments and ruins, some of them of great extent. in the eastern part of the island these remains are very abundant, and show that the ancient javanese had great artistic skill. [illustration: ancient bas-relief--java.] "few persons have any idea of the extent of these ruins, and their corresponding splendor. they are far more extensive than those of central america, and some travellers think they surpass the temple ruins of india. in the centre of java there is a mass of ruins where there were formerly twenty separate temples, and the largest of them is thought to have been ninety feet high. in another place there is a collection of no less than two hundred and ninety-six temples, all greatly ruined, but bearing evidence of a high class of art in their construction. sculptured figures are abundant, and the walls of forts, temples, houses, baths, and aqueducts can be distinctly traced. it is a pity that the government does not pay some attention to these ruins, and save them from decay. at present they are left to the action of the elements, which is very rapid in this tropical land. [illustration: a monster volcano.] "java is by no means a level island. there is a good deal of country sufficiently level for agricultural purposes, but the island has its full share of mountains, and no less than forty-six of them are volcanic. twenty of the volcanoes are active, and one of them is the second largest in the world--that of kilauea, in the sandwich islands, being the chief. it is known as the tenger mountain, and its crater is three miles in diameter, with a level bottom of sand, containing a dozen or more cones that are constantly smoking. the whole island is supposed to be of volcanic origin, and is subject to frequent earthquakes; so that the practice of building houses only one story high is a very sensible precaution. the island has a backbone of mountains, as the principal chain extends from one end of java to the other. there is another small chain near the south coast; and all over the island there are hot springs maintained by the fires far down in the ground. "we have already told of the trees and animals of java, as well as some other things. we will come as soon as we can to the topic that interests us more than any other--the relations between the natives and the dutch rulers. to do this intelligently, we must go back and see what the history of the island has been. "early in the seventeenth century the dutch began to trade with the native chiefs and people of java, and obtained permission to build a fort and trading post near the present site of batavia. in a little while they went to war with the natives; and by the end of the century had obtained considerable territory. from that time on they have had occasional difficulties, and each time when the war was ended the result has been that the position of the dutch was strengthened. "they had possession of the island till 1811, when england took it from them, and held it four years. then it was given back to holland by treaty, and has remained her peaceful possession ever since. "the principal exports are coffee, sugar, rice, indigo, spices, tin, pepper, india-rubber, cinnamon, tea, camphor, rattans, and various other things; and the aggregate amount of the trade is very great. down to the time of the restoration by the english, the expense of maintaining java had been quite as great as the revenue from it; and it was this fact that made the english willing to give it up. if they had known that it would be made to yield a net revenue of five million dollars a year, over and above the expense of maintaining the local government, they would have thought twice before surrendering it. "the genius of one man--general johannes van den bosch, governor-general and commissary-general of the dutch east indies, from 1830 to 1834--brought about this result, and made java the most profitable colony that any country has ever known. "and he not only made it profitable to holland, but prosperous for its inhabitants; while they enriched the rulers, they were themselves enriched. anybody who has money may benefit the poor at his own expense, but it takes a man of genius to confer an equal benefit on the poor, and make something for himself or his employers out of the transaction. such a man was general van den bosch. [illustration: peasant farm-houses.] "down to 1830, the expenditure to maintain the dutch government in java was a steady burden on the treasury of holland, as it was greater than the revenue from the island. general van den bosch was sent out in that year with plans of his own for making java profitable; but there were many who considered him a visionary schemer, whose experiments were sure to result in disastrous failure. he proposed to offer liberal terms to the respectable europeans in java for cultivating the soil, and producing such things as were needed in europe. he further proposed to make the peasants who lived on the government lands plant a certain portion of those lands with crops needed in europe, and which the government would buy of them at a certain fixed rate. his scheme was shaped to cover the following principles: "1. profit to the peasant, to make the new system acceptable. "2. profit to the contractor, to induce its extension by private enterprise. "3. a percentage to the officials, to secure their active support. "4. personal interest of the village community in its success, so as to secure careful cultivation. "5. improvement in the tax-payer's means, in order to increase the revenue and facilitate its payment.[3] [3] for much of the information concerning the culture-system of general van den bosch and its results, the author is indebted to the excellent and exhaustive work of mr. j. w. b. money, entitled "java; or, how to manage a colony." "the plan for making advances to the contractors was carried out by crediting each one with the money estimated necessary to start his manufactory; and he was expected to apply it under government supervision to the construction of his mill, and placing it in working order. it was loaned to him for twelve years, without interest; but he was expected to repay a tenth of it the third year, and a similar amount in each succeeding year till the whole amount was repaid. many persons refused the proposal, but there were others who gladly accepted it, and went to work at once. [illustration: home of a prosperous contractor.] "it was further provided that the government would advance to the contractor, at the beginning of every season, the money necessary to produce his crop; and this advance was to be repaid out of the crop when it was gathered. there were many details of the plan which would require too much space to describe, and they were varied from time to time in order to make them as practicable as possible. besides--" "stop a moment," said frank, when they had reached this point. "don't you think we are making this part of our story a little too heavy? i am afraid mary and miss effie, and the rest of the young folks in our families, may not enjoy it." "perhaps not," replied fred; "but then, you know, the whole family is to read our letters, and i am sure the subject will be very interesting to my father, and to yours too. and i think you will find the younger folks will like it, because it will teach them something of what is called political economy. every intelligent boy and girl in america wants to know about the science of government; the history of the colonial government of java is very interesting to both of us, and i believe we had better assume that it will be equally so to persons of our age at home. so go ahead, if you please, and if anybody doesn't want to read what we have written, he may skip it." work was resumed without further discussion. [illustration: coffee-plantation in the mountains.] "down to the time we are considering the chief product of the soil tilled by the javanese peasants was rice. general van den bosch proposed to have them cultivate coffee, sugar, and other articles that commanded a ready sale in europe; and, as the government would buy the crop at a certain fixed price on the spot, the peasant would have a market at his door, and feel certain that he would not be robbed by middle-men and commission merchants, as is too often the case in other countries besides java. the price paid by government was sufficient to make a fair return for the labor employed in making the crop, and at the same time low enough to allow a handsome profit when it was sold in holland." "that explains something i have never before understood," said fred, as he laid aside his pen for a moment. "what is that?" frank inquired. [illustration: "old government java."] "why, we often read in the papers at home about the price of 'old government java coffee.' it is the coffee the government buys of the producer, and then sells in the market." "exactly so," frank responded. "that bit of information will interest a good many boys in america." "and men too," chimed in the doctor, who was sitting in an arm-chair close at hand, and watching the clouds as they rolled over the mountain in the background of the view from the veranda. "i want to know," said frank, "how the enterprising general proposed to compel the people to work in the fields and cultivate the crops, when they might spend their time under the trees, and pluck the fruit when they needed it to supply their wants." [illustration: a javanese chief.] "mr. money says," answered fred, "that the general made a careful study of the relations between the people and their native rulers. he found a patriarchal form of government, the villages being ruled by their chosen chiefs; several villages forming a sort of district, and several districts united into a province or principality. it was the policy of general van den bosch to take this organization as he found it; and, instead of over-throwing the native rulers, he would strengthen them, and make it for their interest, and that of their subjects, to be on friendly terms with the dutch. this policy was adopted, and it is carried out to this day. "now, under the old system of government, before the dutch came to java, the peasant was required to give one-fifth of his labor gratuitously in return for the rent of the land, which was considered to be the property of the prince. when the dutch captured a region, they claimed that they had captured the prince, and not the people, and that the revenues belonged to them as the conquerors. in some of the provinces the dutch hold possession by treaty, and not by conquest; and the revenues continue to go to the prince as before. to develop the producing capacities of the country, they made an estimate of the quantity of any given article that each district ought to raise under proper management, and then they required the native ruler of the district to see that there was the proper production. allowance was made for bad seasons, or other calamities; and if the production fell short, without any assignable cause, the ruler found his revenues cut off. the government bought the product, as we have already seen, and made its profit. the prince had his revenue and was happy, and the same was the case with the subordinate chiefs. the peasant was rewarded for his labor; and, as he had no more tax to pay than under the old system, he had nothing to complain of. "the crown-lands, or those obtained by conquest, were the ones let out to contractors. they were generally on long leases, so that the contractor was encouraged to make improvements; and the result is that cultivation by private management has been greatly increased, and large fortunes have been made in many instances. the government takes its rental by receiving a share of the crops; and it watches over the relations between the lessee and his laborers, to see that neither practices any imposition on the other. each must keep his agreement, under severe penalties, and the whole system is said to work very smoothly. "the dutch officials all over the island have no dealings with the natives except through their own rulers. the native princes have the title of regents, and the authority of each is supreme in his district as long as he carries out the policy of the government. a dutch resident or assistant-resident lives near each regent, and is considered to be his 'elder brother,' who advises the younger what to do. he frequently makes recommendations to the regent, though he never gives orders; but it is pretty clearly understood that he expects the recommendation to be adopted. the resident has a few subordinate europeans, who go through the district at regular intervals, and visit every village it contains. they talk with the lower native rulers, examine the proceedings of the native courts, investigate the condition of the government plantations, hear the complaints of the people against their head men, or petty chiefs, and listen to any suggestions that are offered. disputes are settled in the local courts without the intervention of a dutch official; but in case of dissatisfaction they may be appealed to the district court, and, if not settled there, they may be carried to the highest courts of the island. [illustration: an improved sugar estate.] "there is a very efficient police system all through java, and by means of it, added to the employment of the people in honest industry, the amount of crime has been enormously reduced in the past fifty years. every man, woman, and child in java is registered, and each village chief is made responsible to a certain extent for the conduct of his subjects. an offence against the law can be readily traced, and if the village or its chief are at fault, a fine is assessed upon them. consequently everybody in a village is directly interested in seeing that everybody else behaves properly. "well, to sum up the results of the dutch system of culture in java, we can say as follows: "from being an expense to holland, the island now yields an annual revenue of more than five millions of dollars to the royal treasury, after paying all the costs of the colonial rule. the expenses of the latter are by no means small, as the salaries of the officials are on a liberal scale. the governor-general receives $100,000 a year, besides $60,000 additional for entertainments. it is said that the latter figure pays nearly all his expenses, so that he can, if he chooses, lay aside $100,000 a year for a rainy day. a resident in a province receives $10,000, in addition to free rent of house and all surrounding buildings, and an allowance for extras. the subordinate officials are paid in proportion; so that nobody is obliged to rob the government or the people in order to make an honest living. [illustration: retainers of a javanese regent.] "crime and litigation have been so reduced that the sittings of the local courts do not average thirty days a year. "formerly there was much poverty and suffering in java; now nearly every man, woman, and child appears to be well fed and clothed, and a beggar is a very rare sight. "the import and export trade have been increased fourfold, in spite of the protective policy, which is the necessary attendant of the java culture system. "the population has more than trebled in sixty years, and promises to increase in the same ratio, unless interrupted by some great calamity. "those who have travelled in both java and india say that the contrast in the conditions of the two countries is something enormous. in java there is hardly any indication of poverty, and the public works are all in excellent shape; while in india the reverse is the case. want and degradation are visible everywhere, and the traveller has daily and hourly appeals for charity. famines are frequent in india, and in the year 1877 more than a million people died of starvation in bengal and madras. famines are virtually unknown in java, and in case of a general drought to cut off the crops, relief could be carried promptly to all parts of the island by means of the excellent roads that the dutch have constructed. "there is a great deal more that we might say, but it is getting near bed-time, and we will stop for the present. the wind sets our candle in a flicker, and it is 'guttering' in a way that threatens to extinguish it altogether. good-night!" [illustration: "good-night."] chapter xxviii. rice culture in java.--military and social matters. bright and early the next morning the boys were out for a visit to a place where there was a spring of remarkably cold water. it was about two miles from buitenzorg, and the road leading to it ran through a palm forest and among rice-fields. they had an opportunity to see the care with which the javanese till their land. the hilly ground is laid out in terraces, one above another, and when the water has performed its work in one place, it goes to the terrace next below; thus it is made to do duty over and over again. there are large reservoirs where water can be stored in the wet season, and kept for the period when the rain-fall ceases. by close attention to the needs of the soil and the peculiarities of the climate, the javanese are able to make their land extremely productive, and a failure of crops is a very rare occurrence. on much of the rice-land they grow two crops a year. [illustration: the house at the spring.] the spring was of goodly size, and flowed into a pool fifty or sixty feet across. a house had been erected at one side of this pool, and was overshadowed by banana and cocoa trees; it had a lot of dressing-rooms, where the boys were not long in donning the proper costume for a bath. they shivered somewhat when they first entered the water; but the shock did not last long, and then they found the sensation was most delicious. the place was in charge of a chinese, who demanded a most exorbitant price for the use of the bath and a few bananas and mangosteens that were ordered. when they offered a low sum, he bowed, and seemed to say that, if he could not have what he wanted, he would take what they offered, which was a good deal more than he deserved. on their return they had a different view of the rice-fields, and fred made note of the fact that when you look upwards on a lot of rice-fields you see nothing but a series of terraces, while, looking downwards, you seem to be gazing on a lake. while the water is on the flats, the ground is stirred with a harrow drawn by a pair of buffaloes; the rice is sown, and as soon as the plants are of the requisite height the surplus ones are taken out and transplanted. the crop is then started, and the farmer has little to do till the time of harvest, beyond taking care that his fields have plenty of water. when the harvest is made, the paddy--as the uncleaned rice is called--is cut and taken to the mill. rice-mills are abundant in java; some are run by steam, many by water, and many small ones by horses and buffaloes. the rice-mill is quite simple, and consists of a shaft like a ship's capstan and four projecting arms. each arm has a wheel at the end, and as the shaft goes round the wheels revolve in a circular groove containing the rice to be cleaned. the wheel removes the husk, and when this is done a winnowing-mill separates the rice from the chaff or trash. this is the whole operation. the rice-mill of to-day is practically what it was a hundred years ago. the dutch have introduced farming implements of the european pattern on some of the estates, but the natives do not generally take kindly to the innovation. they prefer the old form of ploughs which have been in use from ancient days, and think that what was good for their fathers is good for them. frank made a sketch of a primitive plough; it had a single handle, and its point could only scratch a furrow in the soil without turning it over. [illustration: pounding coffee.] at one place they saw a native engaged in pounding coffee in a large mortar, to separate the berry from the hull. he had a heavy pestle which he held in both hands, and the perspiration standing on his face showed that the labor was not one of pure pleasure. on all the large coffee estates improved machinery is in use for the preparation of the product. the berry as it comes from the tree is about the size of an english walnut; the bean is enclosed in a thick husk, and the great point in the preparation is to remove the husk without injuring the bean. pounding by hand is likely to damage the bean by breaking it, and when this is done the market value of the coffee is considerably reduced. inventors have studied the problem, and a good many machines have been devised to accomplish the desired separation. the most successful one thus far is the invention of an englishman in ceylon, and his machines are in use all over the coffee-producing world. [illustration: dutch overseers.] he has called the principle of specific gravity to his aid, and made it very useful. the coffee-berry floats on water, as the husk is very light, but the bean by itself sinks to the bottom. a stream of water floats the berries along a narrow channel, and feeds them automatically into a groove where two plates of copper revolve in opposite directions about half an inch apart. these plates crush the berry, but do not injure the bean; the husk and bean together are carried to a trough, where the bean sinks and is caught in a tub, while the useless husk floats away to whatever distance the water is made to carry it. the coffee is then spread out on a platform and dried in the sun, and it is afterwards sorted, winnowed, and made ready for market. the work is supervised by dutch overseers, but all the manual labor is performed by natives. on returning from their ride, and while at breakfast, the boys had a conversation with one of the gentlemen whose acquaintance they had made during the rainy afternoons on the veranda. fred was curious to know why he did not hear a single native speaking dutch or english, but confining himself strictly to malay. "that is easily explained," said the gentleman. "it is the policy of the dutch not to teach their language to the natives, but they require all their own officials to learn malay. they have a school or college in holland, at the old town of delft, which was established in 1842, for the express purpose of fitting young men for the east indian service. before they can graduate, the students must pass an examination in the usual college studies, and also in the malay language, mohammedan justice and laws, and in a knowledge of the country and nations of netherlands india. of course they are not expected to speak the malay language fluently on leaving college, but they know a good deal of it when they land here, and are expected to know more before they have been long in java. if they are not able to converse easily in malay by the end of a couple of years, they are liable to be sent home. this makes them study hard, and renders them far more useful than if they could talk only in dutch. "you see how it works," he continued. "the dutch officials can talk and write in their own language with very little fear that the natives can understand a word; but no native can write or say anything that every dutch official cannot comprehend at once. on several occasions they have been able to nip conspiracies in the bud by this advantage, particularly at the time of the great mutiny in india. then they do not encourage missionaries to labor among the natives; they argue that the natives are quite content with the religion they have, and it would interfere with their labor in the field to become interested in christianity. and if a missionary should open a school to teach any other language than malay, and endeavored to tell the principles of any european or american religion to the natives, he would be very liable to receive a notice to leave the island at an early date." a company of soldiers marched past the hotel while the party was at breakfast. after looking at them, fred inquired, "how large an army do they keep here, and how is it composed?" "the number of troops in the field, or on duty in garrisons, varies from time to time," was the reply, "and therefore an account of the army at one date is not altogether good for another. the army is composed, like that of india, partly of native and partly of european soldiers. the native force is exclusively mohammedan, and is filled up by voluntary enlistments, never by conscriptions. the european portion is also voluntary, and the conscript troops in the army in holland are never sent to java. the infantry is divided into field battalions and garrison battalions, and the soldiers in each battalion are one-third european and two-thirds native. each battalion contains six companies, the two flank companies consisting of european soldiers, and the four centre companies of natives. the native companies are composed of the different mohammedan tribes and sects from all parts of netherlands india, all mixed together, so that there shall never be a large majority of one kind of people in the same battalion." "that is a very shrewd arrangement," said frank, "as it prevents a mutiny by making it impossible for a whole battalion to have a common grievance." [illustration: foot-bridge over a mountain stream.] "not only that," the gentleman replied, "but it facilitates the movement of the troops; and the dutch say that their principal object in making the battalions in this way was in consequence of the character of the service. the dutch east indies are of great extent, and it is often necessary to make marches where there are no roads, and the few bridges that exist are only intended for persons on foot. consequently, they can never move their troops in large bodies, owing to the difficulty of carrying provisions. each battalion under the present system has the means of transporting its own provisions, ammunition, and light mountain guns where there are no roads, as the native soldiers can act as porters, while the europeans compose the fighting force in case an enemy is encountered. "all the commissioned officers are europeans, and in each native company two of the four sergeants and four of the eight corporals must be europeans; and some of them live in the barrack-rooms with the native soldiers. the european companies in each battalion have barracks separate from the natives, but close at hand; and whenever any of the soldiers of the native companies are sent on duty, they are accompanied by a proportionate number of europeans. there is a difference in the pay and food of the european and native soldiers; but in all other respects they are treated as nearly alike as possible. "there is a free school attached to each battalion for the education of both adults and children; the soldiers are urged to attend it, and their children are required to do so. every officer of the battalion, whether commissioned or non-commissioned, who has any peculiar knowledge, is required to give it to the school; and any soldier of the battalion who has a talent for instructing can be appointed an assistant-teacher in the school, and be relieved from duties that are purely military--except in time of war. all soldiers, whether native or european, can have their wives and children with them, except when on active service in the field." fred thought the java soldier had an easy time of it. frank thought so too; and asked if he had any more privileges than those that had been named. "yes," was the reply; "there is the privilege of a house and garden." "what!" said one of the boys, "a house and garden for soldiers in the army!" [illustration: rewards for good conduct.] "certainly," responded their informant; "when a regiment is not quartered in the city, the soldiers are rewarded for good conduct by receiving a plot of ground near the barracks, with the privilege of building a hut. european and native are treated alike in this respect; and it has been found the greatest incentive to good conduct. the man spends his time with his family in the cultivation of his garden when he is not on duty--which is by far the larger part of the day. he returns to the barracks at night, and his family may remain in the hut or go with him to the military quarters. [illustration: pirate prisoners on a colonial gun-boat.] "but i haven't told you how large the army of java is. ordinarily, there are about twenty-five thousand men of all arms; but at present the number is greater, owing to the war in sumatra, which requires an extra force. the infantry is the most important branch of the service, and is composed as i have told you. the engineers consist of europeans and natives mixed together in the same companies; the artillery has european gunners and native riders, and the cavalry are nearly all europeans. there is a colonial navy with several gun-boats, which are generally occupied in seeing that the pirates throughout the archipelago are kept in proper subjection. and there is also a militia force, which is only to be called on in emergencies: it consists of a cavalry and an infantry corps; and every european living in java, whether dutchman or other foreigner, must belong to the militia or the fire-brigade." the boys thought this was a severe regulation; but they changed their minds when told that the militia-service was very slight, and a man might be a member of the fire-brigade for years without any call being made for his assistance. the europeans in the interior are exempt from service, except in cases of special emergency; and those living in the cities are not often called upon. englishmen and others have complained of the requirement to do militia and fire-brigade service, but are met with the reply which cannot be easily answered: "if you don't like the laws and customs of java, you had better emigrate." "the dutch rulers of java do not pretend they are occupying the country for any other purpose than to make money out of it. they never talk about their great mission of civilizing and enlightening the benighted people of the east, as the english do in india; and whenever anybody is disposed to find fault with them, they say to him without hesitation, 'if you don't like things as you find them here, you would do well to leave. the steamer will start for singapore in a few days, and you are at liberty to take passage at once.' [illustration: passport office.] "you must have a passport on landing in java, or, if you have none, the consul of your country must vouch for you. you must get a permission to travel in the interior; it is very rarely refused, and only when the authorities are satisfied that you have the intention of doing harm." frank asked what it would be necessary to do in case he desired to remain permanently, and become an inhabitant of java. "you can stay here six weeks," was the reply, "without any formalities beyond the ordinary permission of the police, which costs nothing. but if you want to live here you must apply for permission on a printed form, and have two householders of the place where you are to endorse your application. if there is no objection to your staying, the desired document will be granted by the governor-general, and the fees and stamps connected with it will cost you about forty dollars of american money." "does every foreigner who comes here to live have to pay forty dollars?" fred inquired. "that is the law," answered his informant; "but the permission is never refused, unless the authorities suspect that the applicant intends to disturb the public peace, or when he is unable to obtain the necessary securities. the result is, that the foreign population of java is of a better class than you find in most other parts of the east; the adventurers who have not a dollar in their pockets, and expect to make a living by means more or less questionable, do not come here. the chinese are very numerous in java; more than a quarter of a million are settled here; but they are of a better class than the majority of those who go to san francisco, and they give very little trouble to the authorities. the security is required to protect the government against the applicant becoming a pauper, and to vouch for his good behavior; but it has no reference to private debts, which are treated just like private debts everywhere else. [illustration: ordered out of the country.] "the government also reserves the right to send anybody out of the country in case he becomes troublesome, even after he has received permission to reside here. the rule applies to a citizen of holland the same as to any other foreigner, but it is very rarely exercised, and only when all other means of adjusting the difficulty have failed. the local governors have the power of ordering anybody to leave their districts, if he has been found guilty of treating the natives improperly, and the governor-general may restrict the movements of any individual whenever he thinks the good of the colony requires it." fred wished to know if a foreigner could hold land in java like any subject of the king of holland, and was answered in the negative. "what a monstrous injustice!" he replied. doctor bronson laughed at his nephew's remark, and the latter turned towards him with an inquiring look on his face. "you may not be aware," said the doctor, "that an alien in the united states is unable to hold real estate, and i believe that the same is the case in great britain." "in that view of the matter," said fred, "java is not so bad as i thought it was. but can a foreigner be naturalized here, as in england and america, and then hold property?" "certainly," responded the gentleman; "and the time of residence in java before naturalization is the same as in your own country--six years. when he becomes a citizen, he has the same rights as a dutchman, but until that time he labors under various disadvantages. the dutch theory is that all the good things in java belong to themselves, and if a foreigner chooses to live here and not become a citizen, he must be satisfied with any crumbs that happen to be lying around." "i have before told you," he continued, "that the dutch discourage all attempts of the natives to learn the languages of holland and the rest of europe, and are not inclined to teach them anything that is distinctively european. i know a native of high rank who went to europe and spent several years there; when he returned he could speak dutch, english, and french quite fluently, and was proud of his accomplishments. but he has told me that whenever he spoke to a dutch official or to a private citizen in any european language, he was always answered in malay, and if he tried to continue the conversation in any other than the latter tongue it was soon brought to an end. while the dutch treat the natives kindly, and will not allow any imposition upon them, they are very particular about anything that would bring a european below a native. for instance, they will not permit a native to have a european servant, no matter how high the rank of the former, and how low the latter. "no native would dare to drive out with a european coachman on any of the public streets, nor with a european on the front seat of his carriage, while he occupied the back one. if a european soldier or sailor becomes drunk in public, he is instantly arrested by the police, in order that his conduct may not degrade the white race in the eyes of the natives. several years ago a native regent obtained the consent of a dutch girl to marry him; her family was poor, and her social rank was low, but when he asked the permission of government for his marriage it was promptly refused, and he was dismissed from his office. "the dutch idea in this whole matter is that the oriental never respects his equals, but only his superiors. consequently they hold that in all social relations they can best serve their own interests and those of the natives by holding themselves to be the superiors, as they are by right of conquest. at the same time, they endeavor to give the native no cause of complaint against them. if a dutch master maltreats a servant, the latter can have his wrongs redressed in the nearest police court; and if the master is found guilty, he is subject to a heavy fine. a merchant who endeavors to defraud a native is in hot water very speedily; and if he becomes notorious for attempts to enrich himself by this kind of dishonesty, his troubles will increase at a very rapid rate." "but if one foreigner attempts to cheat another," said frank, "does the government feel called on to interfere?" "that is quite another affair," was the reply; "commercial matters between foreigners are exactly like the same transactions in other countries, and the courts exist for the administration of justice, the enforcement of contracts, and other contingencies of trade, in java as in england and america." [illustration: no admittance.] chapter xxix. a post ride in java.--from buitenzorg to bandong. as soon as they had exhausted buitenzorg and the sights of the neighborhood, the doctor suggested to frank and fred that they should make a journey into the interior. they had not time to undertake the tour of the whole island, but they wished to go beyond the line of the railway, and learn by practical experience about the system of posting for which java was famous. before the introduction of railways java was supplied with excellent roads from one end of the island to the other, which were begun by marshal daendels in the early part of this century, and continued by the dutch rulers since 1816. then there are numerous cross-roads, so that nearly all parts of the country are accessible by wagon or carriage. on the principal routes the lines are double, one being intended for carriages and horses, and the other for cattle. the cattle roads are like the ordinary country road in america; but the carriage-way is macadamized, and admits of rapid travelling. on the whole, the system is quite as good as that which prevailed in europe before the establishment of the railway; and when it is remembered that the interior of java is very hilly, and cut up with numerous streams, the magnitude of the work which has been accomplished under the equator will be more readily understood. the arrangements for posting were made with the assistance of the landlord of the hotel, who told them that it might take a day or two to find a carriage that could be hired. the dutch and other foreign inhabitants generally own the carriages in which they travel; and when a stranger wishes to traverse the island, it is customary for him to buy a carriage, and sell it on reaching the end of his journey. when you want to buy a carriage, you find the vehicles are scarce and dear; and when you want to sell, the market is glutted with them. a good carriage for posting will cost between three and four hundred dollars; and if it can be sold at a loss of one hundred dollars when the traveller is done with it, he may consider himself lucky. the journey that our friends intended to make was to last less than a week, and they hired a carriage for which they were to pay twenty-five dollars for that time, and be responsible for any damages that might happen to it. frank thought the owner would make a good business if he could find steady occupation for his vehicle at that rate; but the landlord informed him that the carriages were idle more than half the time, and sometimes there were weeks together when no customer appeared. [illustration: starting on the journey.] early one morning the conveyance drew up in front of the hotel, and the three travellers entered and took their seats. the carriage was a very comfortable one, with seats for four persons inside, a dickey or servant's seat behind, and a box under the coachman where baggage could be stowed. there were four horses, harnessed in european style, with a coachman dressed in white, and wearing a hat that reminded the boys of japan and china. there were three footmen or grooms, who ran along-side the carriage to whip the horses, and make themselves generally useful; and when everything was going well they rode on a standing place intended for them on the rear of the vehicle. frank observed, as the journey continued, that these fellows were the most accomplished whip-crackers in the world; and fred remarked that the best ring-master in an american circus would hide his head in shame, if he should listen to them for a few minutes. he understood the trick of the business when told that the footmen practise whip-snapping from boyhood, and at one station where they changed horses there was a man engaged in teaching a group of boys the principles of the art. he had a practical way of instructing them, as he followed each failure with a crack of the whip on the boy's shoulders. [illustration: by the roadside.] there was some trouble at starting, as the horses were fresh and inclined to be "balky," and one of them indulged in a private kicking-match that did not promise well for rapid progress on the journey. however, the performance did not last long; and when they were under way they rattled along in fine style. [illustration: lodgings of the stable-men.] posting in java is expensive, as the hire of teams and drivers is nearly a dollar a mile. then the drivers and footmen expect gratuities at the end of their journey, and there are other fees to be paid at several places. in return for this high price, the service is excellent. notice must be given beforehand, and the time of starting must be fixed. a courier is sent along to all the stations, and when the carriage arrives where the relay is to be taken, the new horses are found ready harnessed and waiting, so that the delay does not occupy more than two or three minutes. the stations are from five to seven or eight miles apart, and the teams go at the greatest speed. at each station there is a native official, and sometimes a european one; and there are plenty of drivers, runners, and attendants, who sleep and wait in open sheds in the rear of the stable. at each station there is a large shed extending over the road, and connecting the stables on each side. the carriage halts under this shed, so that the traveller is protected from the heat of the sun in dry weather, or the moisture when it rains. there are the facilities for making a lunch at nearly all the stations, as the keeper can supply hot water for tea and coffee, and a liberal quantity of milk and fresh eggs. with these things, and some cold chicken or other meat from the stopping-place of the previous night, a slice or two of bread, and the fruit that abounds everywhere, the traveller must be very fastidious if he cannot satisfy the hunger which the ride through the pure air of java is sure to give him. the journal of the expedition was kept by the boys, with occasional suggestions from the doctor. every moment that they could spare from sight-seeing was devoted to the history of their journey in java; and during their halts at the stations, some of the keepers thought the two youths were inspectors sent out by the government to report on the condition of the postal-service, as they made such vigorous use of their pens. one station-keeper was extra polite, and brought out a bottle of schnapps in their honor; their prompt refusal of the proffered courtesy confirmed his belief in their inquisitorial character, though it raised doubts as to their genuineness as dutch officials. "but they are yet very young," he remarked, with a shake of the head, as the carriage drove away; "they will not refuse schnapps when they grow older." we will make a few extracts from the journal, which subsequently gave much delight to the bassett and bronson families: [illustration: just imported.] "we are having a jolly ride through java, and shall be very sorry when it comes to an end. it is hot in the middle of the day, but delicious at other times; and anybody who could not enjoy this sort of travel must be very hard to please. some of the way we have made ten miles an hour, and the little horses come in smoking and panting when we get to a station, and are ready for a change. the horses are mostly java ponies, but there are many from the island of celebes, and other parts of the dutch east indies. they are tough little animals, about twelve or thirteen hands high, and capable of great endurance; and the consumption of horse-flesh is so great, that enough of them are not raised in java to supply the demand. "when we left the hotel at buitenzorg this morning, we took with us the materials for our breakfast, so as to save the delay of having it prepared at one of the inns. we stopped at the second station on the road, and were as hungry as one could wish; and when we pointed to our basket and motioned that we wanted to eat, we were referred to a shop kept by a chinese, close by the post-station. we went there, as the shop had better facilities for our meal than the station; john was all smiles, and showed us to a table in the middle of his front room. he was married and settled in the country, as he had a javanese wife; and there were two or three children, with javanese complexions and chinese eyes, playing around the door. and what do you think we found in his shop to remind us of home? "we wanted something to piece out the provisions we had brought from buitenzorg, and so we examined the shelves of the establishment. the first thing we fell upon was a can of american oysters, with the familiar name of the firm that packed them. then we found a can of peaches and another of pigs' feet, and we kept on with our inventory of things from our side of the world till we had a dozen or more of them on our list. with the oysters and the peaches to add to the stock from the hotel, we made a capital breakfast, and went away happy. we had some difficulty in paying our bill, as we could speak no common language. john finally set the matter right by counting out from his box the money we should pay, and spreading it on the table before us; we put down a similar amount, and he was satisfied. he ought to have been, as i am sure he cheated us; but then those who travel in a country where they do not speak the language must expect to pay for their ignorance. "we have met people on horseback and in common wagons; and in several instances the men on horseback were followed by coolies carrying baggage. we are told that is the way the young men who wish to avoid expense travel in java--as the cost of horse and coolies is less than a twelfth of the expense of posting. they also have palanquins for the cross-roads, though not on the great highways; but they are not suited to people who wish to get over the ground rapidly. posting is by all odds the most rapid way of travelling, but at the same time it is terribly dear. "we find that many of the roadside shops, near the stopping-places, are kept by chinese; and the chinese really seem to have a great deal to do with the business of java. a gentleman at buitenzorg said that the chinese had a large amount of property in java, and they could hold real estate like anybody else as soon as they became citizens. he said there were half a million chinese in java, and, as the government compelled everybody to pay nearly forty dollars on coming here to live, they had a better class of chinese than we have in america. the chinese have established several branches of manufacture in java like those they have at home; and the gentleman showed us some enamel-work which he said was made in batavia by chinese workmen. we have certainly never seen anything finer than this, and i doubt if they produce anything in canton or peking that can surpass it. "in spite of the high price of posting in java, it is said that the business does not pay. the government is at a heavy expense to maintain the roads and stations, and to keep the service in proper order. the argument of the government is that it is of the greatest importance to keep the means of transportation and travel in the best possible condition; and though it may not pay of itself, it is of great advantage indirectly. they have certainly spent enormous amounts of money on their roads and posting system; and they are too shrewd to continue to throw away their cash on an unprofitable enterprise. "the road rises steadily from buitenzorg, though there are several places where we were able to gallop our horses, and go along at the best possible pace. after the second station we found ourselves in the mountains; and the way was so steep that we had seven horses instead of four for some miles. then we came to a place where it was necessary to put oxen ahead of the horses to help them up the hills, which were so steep that we could only go at a slow walk. we perceived that the air was colder; and on some of the mountains we thought we could see snow, but were not sure. in the highest parts of the country ice forms in the coldest nights, but never to more than a slight thickness, and only a few times in the course of the year. [illustration: the waiter at sindinglaya.] "we reached a point which was said to be two thousand five hundred feet above the sea, and then had a descent of a few miles to sindinglaya, where we found a very comfortable hotel. we had a good dinner here--at least good for java. the cooks of java are not the best in the world, if we are to judge by what we have seen on the road. the government has established inns every forty or fifty miles along its principal roads; they are in charge of europeans, who receive a salary for keeping the place in proper condition, at a scale of prices which is posted in every room, and is not at all unreasonable. our waiter was a little malay boy, who moved around as gracefully as a queen, and twice as dignified. [illustration: sleepng-room in the sanitarium.] "there is a sanitarium or health resort at sindinglaya, where the government sends its officers when they suffer from fever, and need to be restored by the cool air of the mountains. in addition to the official one, there are several unofficial hotels; and a good many europeans living in batavia endeavor to spend a few weeks there every year for the sake of their health. the situation is charming, as it is quite surrounded by mountains, and anybody who is fond of climbing can have abundant enjoyment and exercise during his residence in this spot. "we rattled on over the same excellent road, and passed a goodly number of villages that presented a very pretty appearance. they are laid out in regular streets in most cases, and the houses are generally surrounded with trees that almost conceal them from view. the dwellings in these villages are always of a single story in height, and their roofs are covered with thatch or red tiles. each house stands in a yard, or 'campong,' by itself, and is enclosed by a hedge sufficiently thick and high to keep out all intruding cows or other animals. the hedge is neatly clipped, and frequently covered with bright flowers; besides the dwelling of the owner, the enclosure generally contains several store-houses for grain, and a stable with a brick floor. in some places these villages seem to extend for miles, and tell more plainly than words that the country is thickly peopled and prosperous. when the dutch first came here, the villages were dirty, and it was difficult to teach the natives any habits of cleanliness. finally, the new rulers made a law requiring every native to keep his grounds clean, and his house properly swept and in order, under penalty of a fine; and they also announced that the character of a chief or regent would be rated according to the condition of his villages. it did not take long for the natives to learn the advantages of cleanliness; and now it is said that there is no occasion for the law, as they voluntarily give much time and attention to the improvement of their houses and gardens. "we reached bandong, about a hundred miles from buitenzorg, without the slightest accident or delay. the road is level for a good part of the way as bandong is approached; there is a wide plain here, about two thousand four hundred feet above the sea, and surrounded by high mountains. java contains three of these plains--bandong, solo, and kediri--and they are wonderfully fertile. there is an immense quantity of rice raised here, and some say that bandong is the best rice-growing district in java; at all events, we have seen nothing like it. [illustration: a mountain cascade.] "we were constantly attracted by the beauty of the scenery, which cannot be described in words. at one place there was a cascade tumbling down from the mountains, and it was so pretty that we stopped the carriage to admire it, and make a sketch that would preserve its outlines. the foot of it was lost in the spray that rose like a cloud, and at one point where we stood the water seemed to be pouring from the sky. in the dry season this fall disappears altogether, but when the rains are abundant it has a full supply of water--a very necessary adjunct for a cascade. [illustration: javanese boys.] "as we passed through the villages, groups of children stared at us, and occasionally an urchin turned a somersault, in the hope of securing a few coppers in recognition of his activity. sometimes these children were very scantily clothed, and occasionally there was one carrying a baby, nearly as large as himself, in the fold of a shawl wound round the shoulders. several times we threw them some money, and it was interesting to see them scramble for it. they are very active, sprightly little fellows, and when they jumped into the dusty road they made a cloud that almost hid them from view. "bandong, the town, is a pretty place, with wide streets finely gravelled, and kept in the best order. there are cocoa-palms and other tropical trees along each side of nearly every street, and they are so numerous, and their foliage is so thick, that when you look down a street you can hardly see a single house. the houses are like those already described; and as they spread over a large area, they give you an impression that the inhabitants of java are unwilling to be restricted in elbow-room. "the regent of the district resides here, and so does the resident, as the principal dutch official is called. as before explained, the resident holds a higher rank than the regent; but he is the only person who does, and all the orders for the government of the natives come from the regent and his officers. the regent is appointed by the dutch, but he always belongs to the most powerful noble family in the region where he is to serve, and he holds office for life, unless removed for improper conduct. the regent of bandong is the son of the prince who ruled here before the dutch conquest, and who accepted the appointment of regent, which he held till his death. he is very rich, as he has a share of the revenue from the rice grown in bandong, and he lives in splendid style. he has a european house, where he entertains foreign guests; and close by it is his malay residence, intended only for himself and family, and for javanese visitors. foreigners are admitted very rarely to the native palace, but those who have been there say it is luxuriously furnished in truly javanese style. the regent is on the best of terms with the resident, and they often go out together to the races and on hunting excursions; the regent frequently gives parties in his european house, and on such occasions all the foreigners in the town and vicinity are invited, and are treated with the greatest civility." chapter xxx. visiting a tea plantation.--preparation of tea. we will continue to make extracts from the journal kept by frank and fred concerning their journey in java. "we have already told about the coffee that is grown in java, and how it is sold on government account. some of the finest coffee estates on the island are in the bandong district, and nearly all of them are at an elevation of two thousand feet and more above the sea. coffee will not grow to any advantage in the lowlands near the coast, and very little of it is cultivated there. it needs a high altitude, and some of the plantations are four thousand feet up in the air. above the last-named elevation tea takes the place of coffee; and it has been found in the last few years that tea will grow in java on the tops of the highest mountains, provided there is sufficient soil for the roots of the plant to find a holding-place. "we have been to a coffee estate about ten miles from bandong, and spent a day there very pleasantly. as before stated, the coffee-trees are cultivated, and the berries gathered, by native laborers under foreign supervision; the process of separating the bean from its husk has been described, and so has the system by which the government buys the coffee from the native producer, and makes a handsome profit on the investment. [illustration: train of coffee-carts.] "our ride to the plantation was a slow one, as we had an uphill road most of the way, and our horses were assisted by oxen. we met several trains of coffee-carts coming down to the plain on their way to the railway terminus; it is fortunate that the coffee is carried down rather than up hill, as its cost in the latter case would be enormously increased. a cart carrying from one thousand to one thousand five hundred pounds of coffee can be easily drawn by a pair of oxen coming down the road, while the same beasts have all they can do to take the empty cart home again. as the carts wound through the tropical forest, they presented a very picturesque appearance with their barefooted drivers, and occasionally we could see the black eyes of a javanese woman peering out from under the matting that sheltered the bags from sun and rain. "the gentleman who had charge of the plantation we visited wished us to stay a few days and indulge in a deer-hunt, but we could not spare the time. deer are numerous in this part of the island, and those who are fond of sport can have an abundance of it if they are in java in the right time of the year. if you want larger game than deer, you can hunt the rhinoceros and wild bull; and if you want savage brutes, that die hard and fight to the last breath, you can chase the wild-boar. they have tigers in java, but not so many as in malacca, and they do not do so much damage to the people, for the reason that they have plenty of game to live upon. "we had an opportunity to visit a tea plantation, and gladly embraced it, as we wished to see something of the process of raising tea and preparing it for market. "most of the tea plantations in java are on government lands, which are leased to contractors for terms of years--rarely less than ten, and not over twenty. at the beginning of the enterprise the government made cash advances to the contractors, so that they could have the necessary capital for clearing the land and starting their crops; these advances were to be repaid in tea at prices that would give large profits to the contractors, and on this plan a good many plantations were started about forty years ago. "the government imported skilled workmen from the tea districts of china to instruct the natives in the business, and it also imported a large supply of tea-plants and tea-seed. for the first few years the enterprise was a doubtful one, but after a time it began to pay handsomely. the cost of making the tea was about fifty cents a pound; and as the processes improved, and the character of the tea grew better, the selling price rose till it reached eighty or ninety cents. at these rates it does not take a great deal of study to show that money can be made by raising tea in java, and the applications for leases of land have increased every year. [illustration: seed-pods of the tea-plant.] "the first thing the tea-planter has to do after getting possession of his lease is to clear the land and get ready for planting. this is no small matter, as the forest must be removed, and the soil thoroughly broken up. the outlay for this is considerable, and not much unlike clearing up a farm in new england, or in the backwoods of canada. then the young plants are set out; after this has been done, the ground must be kept clear of weeds, just as in raising corn or potatoes. it must be frequently stirred, so that the plant can get as much nourishment as possible from the earth, and when this is done the planter has the satisfaction of seeing the bushes grow with considerable rapidity. "we walked through the fields where the plants were growing, and found them of different ages and sizes. if we had not known where we were, we might have thought we were in a field of english myrtle-bushes, as the tea-plant is much like the myrtle in general appearance. it grows from two to six feet high, and has white blossoms that resemble small dog-roses. "one of us asked which were the plants that produced green tea, and which the black. the owner of the plantation smiled, and said there was no difference. "we laughed at our ignorance, as he explained that the difference of the teas was entirely owing to the manipulation. we asked why it was that some districts in china produced only green teas, while others were reputed to make none but black; and he told us it was because the workmen in those districts had been accustomed to follow only one form of manipulation. "it takes three years, he said, to get a plantation in condition to produce tea. the seeds are sown in a nursery-bed, and the young plants are not ready to be set out till they are a year old. they are then about nine inches high, and covered with leaves; and the first crop is taken when they have been growing two years in the field. the leaves are the lungs of the plant, and it would die if all of them were stripped off. consequently only a part of them are removed at a picking; and if a plant is sickly, it is not disturbed at all. the plants will last from ten to twelve years, and are then renewed; and on all the large plantations it is the custom to make nursery-beds every year, so that there will be a constant succession of new plants for setting out in place of the old ones. "at the first gathering the half-opened buds are taken, and from them the finest teas are made. then they have another gathering when the leaves are fully opened, and then another and another, till they have five or six gatherings in the course of the year. each time the leaves are coarser than those of the previous gathering, and consequently the tea is not of so fine a quality. a well-managed plantation produces all kinds of tea; and it was a wise requirement of the dutch government, when they started the tea-culture in java, that the planters should produce proportionate quantities of both black and green, and not less than four qualities of each. [illustration: gathering tea-leaves.] "the gathering takes place only in clear weather; and for the best teas the picking is confined to the afternoon, when the leaves are thoroughly dry, and have been warmed by the sun. only the thumb and forefinger are used in plucking the leaves from the bush; the pickers are generally women and children, who can gather on the average about forty pounds of leaves in a day. it takes nearly four pounds of leaves to make one pound of dry tea; and the usual estimate is that a plantation of one hundred thousand plants can send ten thousand pounds of tea to market in the course of a year. [illustration: drying tea in the sun.] "different kinds of tea require different treatment, as we have already seen. for green tea the leaves are roasted as soon as they have been gathered, and are then rolled and dried; but the leaves intended for black teas are spread on bamboo trays five or six inches deep, and placed on frames where they can have plenty of sun and air. they remain here from noon till sunset; and if the weather is damp they are further dried by artificial heat. for this purpose they are placed on frames over shallow pans containing burning charcoal, and are tossed and stirred with the hand until they emit a certain fragrance. the heat should be very slight; and the frames are made so high that it is necessary for a man to mount a small ladder in order to reach the trays. "the sense of smell in the skilful workers of tea is very acute, and they can tell, to almost a minute, the exact time when the drying should cease, and the next process begin. the chinese workmen are better than any others for this branch of the business, and on many plantations the most of the manipulation is performed by chinese, though their labor is more expensive than that of the malays. our host showed us through his factory, where the men were busy in the various processes; and as he told us about each step of the business, he took us to the department where that particular work was going on. [illustration: drying over charcoal.] "after showing the leaves spread out on the frames, he led the way to a sort of stove, where a man was manipulating some tea in a pan over a charcoal fire. [illustration: roasting tea.] "'this is what we call roasting,' he said, 'and the great object of the roaster is to dry the leaves without burning them. you see he does not allow them to be quiet a single instant, but tosses and turns them in all directions, so that none may stick to the bottom of the pan, which they might easily do, owing to the moisture they contain.' "we watched the roasting till we thought we understood it well, and as the place was hot we did not care to stay there a great while. the leaves lose their fragrance when first thrown into the roasting-pan, and give out a rank smell, but they gradually recover their perfume, and are ready for the next process, which is called rolling. "the tea from the roasting pan was given to a couple of men, who stood in front of a table or bench, with bamboo mats before them. one had a large mustache, the largest we had ever seen on a chinese face, and the other consoled himself for the absence of that hairy ornament by smoking a pipe. "the roller takes as much tea as he can cover with both his hands, and places it on the mat in a sort of ball. he keeps them closely together, and rolls them from right to left; this motion gives each leaf a twist on itself, and rolls it so firmly that it retains the shape when dry. this part of the work requires peculiar dexterity, and can only be performed successfully after long practice. when a man becomes skilful in it, he can roll the tea with wonderful rapidity; and when his work is done, every leaf will be found separate from all the others, and twisted as though it had been passed through a machine. [illustration: handy with his feet.] "the work of rolling the tea is very tiresome, and so the men sometimes perform it with their feet when they wish to give their hands a rest. we saw one man at his occupation in this way, and he certainly seemed to enjoy it. his bamboo mat was on the floor, and he had his trousers raised so that his legs were bare from the knee down. he rested his arms on a pole, and kept his feet moving over the handful, or rather footful, of leaves he was endeavoring to roll out. our host picked up some of the tea, and showed us that it was perfectly prepared, and quite acceptable in every way. the man's toes were much more slender than toes usually are, and it is doubtless due to the fact that he has used them a great deal, and never cramped them into tight-fitting boots. "after they have been properly rolled, the leaves are spread on trays, and exposed to the sun and air for several hours, and then they are once more roasted. the second roasting is milder than the first, and is done over a slower fire; and afterwards the leaves are rolled again, to make sure that none of them have become spread out. for the black tea the roasting is done in a shallow pan, the same as the first; but the green teas are put in a deep pan, and subjected to a very high heat. [illustration: roasting green tea.] "while the green tea is being roasted, there must be a great deal of care on the part of everybody concerned. the pan is nearly red-hot when the tea is put into it, about a pound at a time, and the operator in charge keeps it in rapid motion. one boy tends the fire, while another stands by with a fan, to prevent the burning of the tea. "after their final roasting, the teas are put in a long basket, shaped like an hour-glass, and having a sieve in the centre. this basket is placed over a charcoal fire and submitted to the heat for several minutes, when the tea is poured out and receives another rolling. this operation is repeated several times, till the tea is thoroughly tired of it, and also thoroughly dry. then it is passed through sieves, to separate the different qualities from each other; and finally it is winnowed, to remove all the dust and dirt. then it is 'fired,' or dried once more, to drive away the last particle of moisture; and in this condition it is ready to go into the chests in which it is carried to the lands where it is to be used. "there, we have told you all about the preparation of tea, which we could not do in china for the reason that we did not go into the part of the country where they produce the tea. china is not the only country where tea is made, though it once had the monopoly of the business. a great deal is grown in japan, as you know, and now you have learned about the tea-growing in java. they say that ten million pounds are grown in java every year, and the product will increase to double that amount in less than twenty years. about the time the culture of tea was introduced into java, the east india company tried it in india; and now the production of tea in that country is so large that the english hope, before the end of the century, to supply the whole of their home market with indian teas. we shall see. "the java teas have a sharp, acrid taste, and are not suited at all to the american palate. none of them go to america, or, at least, only a few chests every year, and for some time holland was the only market for them. gradually their sale extended to germany, and now it is said there is a demand for them in london. "we tasted some of the tea, and found that it resembled what is called 'english breakfast,' only it had a stronger flavor. it is said that it is worth much more than chinese tea, for the reason that a pound of it will give nearly double the amount of the infusion ready for drinking. whether this is true or not we are unable to say, as we have seen no experiments to prove or disprove it. "we asked about the reputed adulterations and dyeing of tea by the chinese and others. our host told us that no teas in java were adulterated or dyed, but he said it was quite possible they would be as soon as there was a demand for them. he said the chinese did not begin to color their tea till they were urged to do so by english and american merchants, who told them the dyed teas sold better than others by reason of presenting a finer appearance. "'the coloring-matter,' said he, 'consists of gypsum and prussian blue or indigo, and is used in about equal proportions. this is for green tea, and the quantity to be used for a given amount varies according to the market for which it is intended. american merchants wish their teas dyed more heavily than do the english, and there is usually about half a pound of dye to every hundred pounds of tea.' "'can't we raise tea in america?' fred asked. [illustration: tea regions of the united states.] "'certainly,' replied the planter, who had been in the united states, and spent several years there. 'there is a large area of the united states where tea could be raised, and the government some years ago spent considerable money on an experiment in tea-culture. it was found that there was no difficulty in raising the plants; but when it came to manipulating the product the high price of labor made it unprofitable. when we can furnish labor for the same price that it can be had in china, japan, java, and india, we can compete with those countries in growing tea, but until that time we had better let the business alone.'" [illustration: roasting-basket.] chapter xxxi. eastern java, lombock, timor, and the aru islands. greatly pleased with their visit to the tea and coffee plantations, our friends returned to bandong. on the way back they had an accident that for a few moments was quite exciting, and threatened serious results. while descending a long hill the brake of the carriage gave way, and the horses started on a full gallop; they were quite out of the control of the driver, and the two footmen were left a long way behind. the driver managed to turn his team into a side road at the risk of an overturn, and gave them a little practice in running up hill instead of down. gradually they reduced their pace, and some workmen in a field close at hand came to his assistance, and held the horses till the grooms could come up. one of the springs of the carriage was broken, in the severe shaking they had received, but otherwise the vehicle was not much injured. it was necessary to stop a day at bandong to have the carriage repaired, and the delay enabled the boys to learn something more about the country. [illustration: volcano in eastern java.] they ascertained that, if they had the time to spare, they could go to the eastern capitals of java along good roads, and through a succession of mountains and plains. they would see volcanoes, both active and silent, and might possibly have a practical acquaintance with an earthquake, or an eruption of one of the burning mountains. frank was a little doubtful of the safety of such a journey when he learned that one volcano had thrown out, in a single night, ashes and scoriæ to the depth of fifty feet over an area of several miles, destroying forty villages and three thousand people; and another volcano had overwhelmed everything within twenty miles of it, and caused the deaths of twenty thousand persons. but the doctor assured him that the eruption of a volcano was not so sudden that those who wished to get away could not do so, and the majority of the burning mountains of the world were accustomed to give warning weeks and sometimes months ahead. [illustration: ruins near sourabaya.] the eastern capitals of java are samarang and sourabaya, but they are capitals only of the provinces of the same names. both of them are important commercial points; and there is a railway from samarang which is intended in course of time to unite with the one from batavia. samarang is about two hundred and fifty miles from batavia, or nearly half-way from one end of the island to the other; while sourabaya is close to the eastern extremity, and not far from the island of madura. the country around sourabaya is quite flat, and very fertile; and the roads sometimes run for miles in perfectly straight lines. back towards the interior, when the hilly region is reached, there is a magnificent forest, where tigers abound; and the hunter is rewarded by frequent shots at the beautiful java peacock. the country is full of ruins of temples and palaces; and there are many evidences that it was once occupied by a people greatly advanced in architecture and the fine arts. "but what should we find if we went beyond java?" fred asked. just as he spoke the door opened, and a gentleman entered. he proved to be their host of the coffee plantation, who had heard of their accident, and called to congratulate them on their escape from injury. after an exchange of civilities, he seated himself, and asked if he could be of any service; and, turning to fred, he said, "i heard your question as i entered the room, and think i can answer it. i have made the journey around the dutch possessions in the east, and will try to tell you about them." both the boys expressed their delight at the chance of learning something of the islands of the oriental seas. the gentleman said he had an hour to spare, and would endeavor to enable them to pass it agreeably; and if they wanted to take any notes of what he said, they were welcome to do so. they were desirous and ready, and he began at once. "i have twice made the journey," said he; "once by steamer, and once by native boats." "do the steamers run there regularly?" one of the boys inquired. "certainly," was the reply; "the company whose ship brought you from singapore to batavia sends a steamer every month to make the tour of the dutch east indies. it leaves batavia on the 15th of the month, and sourabaya on the 22d; and goes to macassar, menado, ternate, boeroe, amboina, banda, and timor, and then returns to sourabaya and batavia. the voyage takes about a month, and the steamer remains in each port from twenty-four to forty-eight hours." "what a delightful voyage it must be," said frank; "and how much does it cost?" [illustration: an island port.] "a ticket for the round trip," the gentleman replied, "costs three hundred dollars, and sometimes more. you have already found that steamship fares in the east are dear; and this line forms no exception to the rule. in return for your money you have all the comforts the ship can give; and you may live on board all the time she remains in port at the different stopping-places. "if you go by a native boat you will be much longer on the way; but you can visit more places than the steamer stops at, and can see more of the life of the east. we will drop that part of the subject, and consider what you might see in some of the islands of the malay archipelago, supposing you should go there; we haven't time for all of them. "the colonial possessions of the dutch in the archipelago comprise about six hundred thousand square miles, with a population of twenty-five millions. they include the whole of java and madura, the moluccas, or spice islands, and large portions of borneo and sumatra. consequently, you can make a long journey without once going out of the dutch territory." [illustration: wild fig-tree.] "the first place i visited, after leaving sourabaya, was the island of lombock. there is not much of interest in the principal port, which is called ampanam, as the place is small, and the inhabitants are not particularly enterprising. there are some groves of wild fig-trees close to the town; and one of my amusements was to shoot the green pigeons and orioles that abounded there. some of the trees are almost covered with the hanging-nests of the orioles; and, as they are rarely disturbed by the natives, i found them so tame that it required no skill at all to get near enough to shoot them. [illustration: a village in lombock.] "several miles out in the country from ampanam is the village where the rajah of the island lives; it is called mataram, and no native of the lower classes is allowed to ride on horseback through it. if you should happen to be travelling there, and had your javanese servant mounted on a horse, he would be obliged to walk from one end of the town to the other, and lead his animal. [illustration: view near mataram.] "there is a fine volcano in lombock, about eight thousand feet high. mr. wallace tells a good story in connection with this volcano, and the plan by which the rajah took the census of the population of the island. "you must know that the principal product of lombock is rice, and the taxes are paid in this article. each man, woman, and child contributed a small measure of rice once a year; but it passed through many hands before it reached the treasury, and a little of it clung to each hand that it touched. the result was that the rajah did not get half of what was due him, and all his officers conspired to tell him that the crops were short in some districts, and many people had died in others; and no matter what he did to find out the truth, they managed to prevent his learning it. he determined to take a census of his people, but did not know how to go at it, as his officers would suspect what it was for, and would make out the population according to the rice that he received the previous year. he thought a long time over the matter, and finally hit on a plan so shrewd that nobody suspected there was any census at all. "for several days he appeared to be very sick at heart; and finally he called his officers together, and told them he had been summoned to go to the top of the great fire-mountain to hear a revelation from the spirit who ruled the island. the spirit had come to him in a vision, and said he must go there at once, or the island would be destroyed. [illustration: where the great spirit and the rajah met.] "of course they made arrangements immediately, and a grand procession accompanied the rajah to the designated spot. from the foot of the mountain to the summit he was escorted by a few priests and attendants; and as he neared the crater he ordered them to remain behind, under the shadow of a great rock, while he went alone to meet the spirit. he remained away for a long time; the fact is, he lay down and took a comfortable nap, and it was naturally thought that the spirit had a great deal to say to him. "when he returned he was silent and sorrowful, and did not speak a word for three days. then he summoned his officers, and told them what the spirit had said. he described the spirit as having a face of burnished gold, and a voice that sounded like distant thunder. "'oh, rajah!' the spirit said, 'much plague, and sickness, and fever are coming on the earth--on men, and horses, and cattle; but as you and your people have obeyed me and come to the mountain, and have been good and faithful, i will tell you how you can avoid the pestilence. "'you must make twelve sacred krisses; and to make them, every village and every district must send a bundle of needles--a needle for every head in the village. and when any disease appears in a village, one of the krisses shall be sent there; if every house in that village has sent the right number of needles, the disease shall cease immediately; but if the number of needles has not been exact, then all shall die!' "so the princes and chiefs made haste to collect the needles; and they were very exact about it, for they feared that, if a single needle should be wanting in any case, the whole village would perish. when the needles were collected, the rajah received them; then he had a workman come and make twelve krisses from those needles; but the papers that were around the needles, and told the name of each village, and the number of men, women, and children in it, he carefully preserved, and put away in his private chest. "when the rice-tax came in that year, and the quantity fell short, the rajah said to the officers that there was some mistake about it. he then told them the exact number of inhabitants in that village, according to the packages of needles, and it did not take long to set the matter right. the result was that the rajah grew very rich, and his fame went out through all the islands and countries of the east." "a capital story," said frank; and the opinion was emphatically endorsed by fred. "it is evident," the latter remarked, "that the kriss, or dagger, is held in great respect in lombock." "certainly," said the gentleman, in reply; "there is no part of the archipelago where it is more honored, and where the wealthy natives have so much money invested in this weapon. very often they have them with golden handles set with jewels; and i have seen some that cost thousands of dollars. every man carries one of these knives, and frequently it is the only property he can boast of possessing. the blade is twisted; and when it is used it makes a frightful wound." "that is what the malays 'run a-muck' with, is it not?" frank asked. "yes; and lombock is one of the most famous places in the east for that amusement. the island, though close to java, is independent, and the rajah does pretty much what he pleases as long as he remains on good terms with his dutch neighbors. the taxes are not heavy, but the laws are very severe. small thefts are punished with death; and it is a rule of the country that a person found in a house after dark, without the owner's consent, may be killed, and his body thrown into the street, without fear that anybody will ask a question about the matter. "the word 'amok' means 'kill;' and the malays kill others in the expectation that others will kill them. running amok is the fashionable way of committing suicide; a man grows desperate from any cause, and determines to put an end to his life, and to kill as many others as he can before he is killed himself. he grasps his kriss handle, and stabs somebody to the heart; then he rushes down the street, shouting 'amok! amok!' and stabbing everybody he can reach. people rush on him with knives, spears, daggers, guns, or other weapons, and despatch him as soon as possible--as they would a mad dog. sometimes five or ten persons are killed by the man before he is brought down; and i know one instance where sixteen were killed or wounded by a native running amok. "the malays are excellent workers of steel, and the weapons they make are difficult to surpass in fineness and beauty. the marvellous thing is that they will accomplish so much with the rudest implements; a smith has a small forge, a hammer or two, and a few files, and with these and one or two other things he will turn out work that astonishes the skilled artificers of sheffield. a malay gunsmith produces weapons that shoot with precision, and are bored with perfect accuracy; but the boring is done without any machinery whatever. this is the apparatus: [illustration: gun-boring in lombock.] "there is an upright pole which is thrust through a bamboo basket; its top is fastened to a cross-bar, and the bottom is equipped with an iron ring in which boring-irons can be fitted. the barrel to be bored is set in the ground, the basket is filled with stones to give it weight, and two boys turn the cross-bar to make the boring-iron revolve. the barrel is bored in sections about eighteen inches long; and these are welded together, and afterwards bored to the required size. [illustration: natives of timor.] "considerably to the eastward of lombock is the island of timor, which is interesting because it is one of the few places where the portuguese have a local habitation and a name in the malay archipelago. timor is about three hundred miles long by sixty wide, and is partly occupied by the dutch and partly by the portuguese. the dutch settlements are at the western end, and their principal town is coupang; it has a mixed population of malays, chinese, and dutch, in addition to the natives, who are closely allied to the natives of papua, or new guinea, and have very little affinity with the malay race. they are of a dirty brown color, and have large noses and frizzled hair, so that they strongly resemble the negro. [illustration: delli, portuguese timor.] "the seat of the portuguese part of timor is at delli, a miserable village of thatched huts, with a mud fort, and very little appearance of civilization. the governor's house is a trifle better than the rest, but not much; and the place has a reputation for fever that is not at all agreeable for a stranger. i don't think much of delli, and never heard of any one who did. "the portuguese government in timor is a very shadowy affair, and the sooner it comes to an end the better. it has been there three hundred years, and yet there is not a mile of road in the interior of the country, and the agricultural resources of the island have received no development. the example of the dutch in java seems to be quite lost on the portuguese, who oppress the inhabitants in every possible way, and plunder them without fear of punishment." frank asked if timor was one of the islands where the bird of paradise is found. "no," replied the gentleman; "but it is not far from there to the aru islands, where the great bird of paradise lives. i went from timor to aru in a native boat, and narrowly escaped drowning on the way. we were caught in a storm, and anchored near a small island off the coast of aru; the malay anchor is a stick of wood from the fork of a tree, with a stone to give it weight, and, as it has only one fluke, you can never be sure that it goes down so as to seize the bottom. ours bothered us so that we had to throw it several times, and when we finally got it to hold we were not twenty yards from the rocks where the wind was driving us. "but a miss is as good as a mile, and we were safe on shore the next morning, very thankful at our escape. "i had an opportunity to go to the forest to see the process of shooting the great bird of paradise, and went at once. quite a trade is carried on in these birds, and the skill of the natives is devoted to capturing them without staining their plumage with blood, or allowing the birds to injure it during their struggles. "the birds have a curious habit of getting up dancing-parties in the month of may, when their plumage is finest. they assemble before sunrise in a tree that has plenty of room among its branches for them to move about, and as soon as the sun is fairly up they begin their dancing. they elevate their plumes as peacocks display their tails, stretch their necks, raise their wings, and hop from branch to branch in a state of great excitement. [illustration: natives of aru shooting the great bird of paradise.] "the natives hunt through the forest till they find a tree where the birds assemble. they go there in the evening and build a screen of leaves over the fork of the tree, and just before daylight they climb up there ready for business. they keep perfectly still till the birds are busily engaged in their dance, and then they shoot with blunt-pointed arrows. the bird is stunned and falls to the ground, and before he recovers he is seized by a boy who is waiting for him; the bird's neck is broken without injuring the skin, and thus the prize is secured without staining the feathers with blood." fred asked if, when one bird was shot, the rest did not fly away. "not by any means," was the answer. "they are so busy with displaying their feathers to each other, that they do not take notice of the disappearance of one of their number until they are greatly reduced. the morning i went out to see the business, i was stationed in a little bower about a hundred yards from the tree where the birds were, so that i could see all that went on. there were twenty-one birds there, all beautiful males, and they made the prettiest sight of the kind that ever came before my eyes. the natives shot fifteen of them, and finally one of the birds was not hit hard enough to prevent his screaming as he fell. the others then took the alarm, and in two minutes they were all out of sight." [illustration: a native anchor.] chapter xxxii. wanderings in the malay archipelago.--good-bye. "there is an interesting point in the aru islands," the gentleman remarked, after a short pause, "known as dobbo." [illustration: great street of dobbo in the trading season.] "it is not regularly visited by steamers, as it is out of the routes of travel, and for a part of the year it is almost deserted. in may and june it is filled to overflowing with a mixed lot of people from all parts of the east. there are chinese in considerable number, who come to buy the articles brought to market by the inhabitants of the islands for a long distance; and there are men from macassar, timor, ceram, and other parts of the archipelago, as well as the natives of aru, who belong to the papuans i have already described. the town consists of a single street of mat-covered huts and sheds, with a lot of straggling buildings in the rear that are set down without any regard to order or regularity. "i went to dobbo in a native boat from macassar. it was very much like a chinese junk in general appearance, and about seventy tons burden, with a native crew of thirty men and a javanese captain. four or five of the men were slave-debtors of the captain, and the rest were hired, like the crew of a ship in europe or america." "excuse me for interrupting," said fred, "but let me ask what these slave-debtors are." "slave indebtedness," replied the gentleman, "is a system introduced by the dutch, who borrowed it from the chinese, for the protection of traders in these thinly-peopled regions. goods must be intrusted to agents and small dealers, who frequently gamble them away, and leave the merchant unpaid. he trusts them again and again, with the same result; and finally, when he can stand it no longer, he brings them before a police court, where he establishes his claim. the magistrate then binds the debtor over to the creditor, and requires him to work out the account. the plan seems to answer very well, as the creditor is secure so long as the debtor lives and has his health; while the debtor does not consider himself disgraced, but rather enjoys his relief from responsibility." "but it is a system of slavery," fred answered; "though, after all, it is more sensible than the european practice of locking a debtor up in jail, where he can earn nothing, but is a constant expense to himself and all others concerned." "a good deal depends on the character of the master," was the reply. "some masters get along very pleasantly with their debtors--allow them to trade a little on their own account--and associate with them on equal terms. [illustration: wearing the cangue.] "others treat them harshly--perhaps not without cause--sometimes, and punish them severely for disobedience. while i was at dobbo, a chinese merchant fastened one of his slave-debtors in a cangue, and kept him there an entire day, chained to the wall of his shop. the man had been caught stealing from his master, and the latter made himself judge, jury, and police-officer without delay. the cangue is a wooden collar around the neck; it is about three feet square, and made of planks from one to two inches thick. it is a heavy article of wearing apparel, and not at all ornamental." frank asked if the native captains understood navigation after the european form, and could take the positions of the sun and moon with instruments like those used on american or european ships. "they are not good navigators," responded their informant, "as we understand navigation, but they manage to get along wonderfully well with very rude appliances. they take the altitude of the sun with a stick, to which is attached a string with a peculiar arrangement of knots; and they understand the use of the compass. they have a water-clock, which is very simple, and much more accurate than you would suppose. "it consists of a bucket of water, and the half of a cocoa-nut shell. there is a tiny hole like the prick of a needle in the bottom of the shell, and when you put it on the water you can just see a stream like a thread spurting up. it takes an hour to fill the shell, and when it is full it goes plump to the bottom of the bucket, making a bubbling noise that attracts the attention of the man on duty, who immediately puts the shell in place again. i used to try it with my watch, and found that it never varied more than a minute from the hour, which is quite accurate enough for an oriental. the motion of the boat had no effect on it, as the water in the bucket was always on a level. "the voyages of these boats are made with the monsoons, so that the course is largely guided by studying the direction of the wind. only one voyage can be made in a year from macassar--the boats starting in december or january with the west monsoon, and returning in july or august with the east monsoon. the distance is about a thousand miles, and is made in from twenty to thirty days each way. [illustration: a native of aru.] "the trade at dobbo amounts to something near a hundred thousand dollars a year, and is carried on in the most primitive way. it is almost entirely a barter trade; there is no money in use except copper coins from java and china, and many of the natives do not even know their value. it requires a great deal of talk to make a bargain, and sometimes they will haggle for hours over a transaction that amounts to only a few cents. [illustration: sea-cucumber.] "the things brought from the islands, and bought by the traders, are pearl-shells, tortoise-shell, edible birds'-nests, pearls, timber, and birds of paradise. there is also a large supply of _tripang_, or 'beche-de-mer,' of which the chinese make many soups. it is known in english as the sea-cucumber, and is taken on the reefs and among the rocks all through the eastern seas, and in some parts of the pacific ocean. after being boiled in its own liquid, and dried on racks over a fire, it is ready for market. [illustration: a papuan pipe.] "the goods used in purchasing these articles are as varied as the purchasers. the most important item is that of arrack--a spirit distilled from rice, and resembling rum; about twenty thousand gallons of it are sold at dobbo every year, and sometimes as many as twenty-five thousand. english and american cottons are sold; and also tobacco, crockery, knives, muskets, gunpowder, chinese gongs, small cannons, and elephants' tusks. the last three articles are the luxuries with which the natives of aru buy their wives, and display in their houses or conceal as valuable property. they use tobacco both for chewing and smoking, and will not accept it unless it is very strong. the native pipe is similar to that used in papua, or new guinea, and is made of wood, with a long upright handle, which is set in the ground while the owner is using it. he squats before the pipe, and when in this position his mouth is just on a level with the end of the stem. "i went from dobbo to amboyna and banda, which are small islands not far from the much greater one of ceram. they formerly belonged to the portuguese, but are now in possession of the dutch, and known to the commercial world for their products of cloves and nutmegs." "i have read somewhere," said frank, "that the dutch destroyed the spice-trees on all the other islands, so as to have a monopoly in banda and amboyna. was it not very unjust to the natives to do that?" "all the facts in the case are not generally known," was the reply. "the portuguese traders maintained high prices for these luxuries, and used to oppress the natives to obtain them. sometimes the competition led to their paying such figures to the native princes that the latter became very wealthy, but their subjects were not benefited by them. when the dutch came into possession, they determined to concentrate the culture in a few places, so that they could control it, and to this end they offered an annual subsidy to the native princes to destroy the spice-trees in their dominions. the latter were thus made sure of their revenue, while the people were able to devote more time to the cultivation of articles of food, and were relieved from taxes. "the cultivation of the clove was restricted to the island of amboyna, while banda was made the seat of the nutmeg culture. there was so much complaint on the part of the english that the monopoly was finally removed in part; the trade is still surrounded with restrictions, as the dutch are in possession of the islands where the culture can be conducted to the best advantage. it is a curious circumstance that the birds had much to do with the suppression of the monopoly." "the birds?" [illustration: a bird of amboyna.] "yes, a bird known as the nutmeg-pigeon. he lives on the mace which envelops the nutmeg; the latter is undigested and uninjured in his stomach, and he carries it to islands of whose existence the dutch were not aware. the nutmeg is the seed of the tree, and as fast as the dutch suppressed the cultivation in an island the birds restored it. banda is still the centre of the nutmeg trade, as the article is produced more cheaply there than in any other spot, and it sends about two million pounds of this spice to market every year. the climate of amboyna was found not altogether suited to the production of the clove; and as the clove-tree flourishes in other parts of the world, the monopoly could not be kept up. the clove is not the fruit of the tree, as many persons suppose, but the blossom; it is gathered before it is unfolded, and if you look at a clove you will see how much it resembles a bud just ready for opening. "from banda i went to ceram, to see the process of obtaining sago. perhaps you are fond of sago-pudding, and may be interested to know where sago comes from, and how it is prepared." the boys nodded their assent, and frank remarked that he had many times wished he knew more about the delicious article. "the sago-tree belongs to the palm family; it is thicker and larger than the cocoa-palm, but not so tall, and its leaves are very large and long. the stem of the leaf is twelve or fifteen feet long, and six inches in diameter at the butt, and is used for a great many purposes. whole houses are built of these stems, from the framework to the thatch-poles and flooring, and they never shrink or bend, or require any paint or varnish. the leaf forms an admirable thatch, and the trunk of the tree is the food of many thousands of people. [illustration: sago club.] "when it is about fifteen years old the tree blossoms, and then dies. just as it is about to blossom, it is cut down close to the ground, and stripped of its leaves. the upper part of the trunk is then taken off, so as to expose the pith of the tree, which is broken into a coarse powder by means of a club of heavy wood, having a piece of iron or sharp stone in one end. the whole inside of the tree is broken up till the trunk forms a trough not more than half an inch thick. [illustration: preparing sago.] [illustration: sago oven.] "the dry powder is then washed, and strained through a coarse sieve; the water flows into a deep trough with a depression in the centre, where the sago sinks to the bottom and is secured. it is then pressed into cylinders weighing about thirty pounds each, or it is baked into cakes in a clay oven, with a series of compartments an inch wide, and six inches long and deep. the cakes will keep a long while if they are dried in the sun after baking. i have eaten sago that was said to be ten years old, and found it perfectly good." fred wished to know how much sago there was in a tree, and how much it costs for a man to live in the sago country. "a single tree will produce from eight hundred to one thousand pounds of sago," was the reply, "which will support a man for a year. two men can reduce a tree to dry powder in five days, and therefore we may say that ten days' labor will support a man for a year. the result is that in the sago country the people are indolent, and not at all prosperous; they have no incentive to work, and therefore make no effort to do anything. they wear very little clothing; and as for their houses, they have no occasion for anything more than rude huts, which can be built by a couple of men in a few hours. it has been observed by all who have visited ceram that the inhabitants are not as well off as the people of the islands that produce rice, as the latter must work a great deal harder to support themselves, and will lose their whole crop unless they pay attention to their fields. [illustration: sugar-palm of macassar.] "from ceram i went to macassar, where they have a palm-tree producing a sweet juice that may be made into beer, or boiled down into sugar, like the sap of a maple-tree. it is not unlike the sago-palm in general appearance, and will grow wherever it can find sufficient soil for its roots. the island is very rough and mountainous, and the variety of soil enables it to produce a great many things. i was invited to stay on the plantation of a friend who lived among the hills, and promised me a pleasant time. [illustration: climbing the mountain.] "the road to the plantation was very steep in several places, and the mules that we rode had all they could do to carry us. the path wound in and out among the rocks, and under the trees peculiar to the tropics; and one of the trees came near being the cause of my falling over a high cliff." "how was that?" "fruit was so abundant that the natives did not gather all of it as fast as it ripened; every little while i saw mangoes or bananas lying in the path, and the incident i mention was caused by my mule stepping on a banana and slipping to the ground. he left me sprawling just on the edge of the cliff; if he had pitched me a foot farther, i should have gone over and been dashed to death on the rocks below. "i stayed with my friend a week, and found that he had a most delightful residence. he was fond of hunting, and was able to supply his table with meat by means of his gun and dogs. there were many wild pigs in the neighborhood, and he shot two of them while i was there, so that we had pork in abundance. then there were several kinds of birds that were excellent eating. he had all the milk he wanted from his buffaloes, and made his own butter, raised his own rice and coffee, and smoked cigars from his own tobacco. he had ducks and chickens, and eggs in any desired quantity; his palm-trees supplied him with palm-wine and sugar, and he had nearly every tropical fruit that can be named. you see, by this account of his plantation, how well a man may live in one of the islands of the archipelago, provided he can reconcile himself to the absence of society, and be contented with the sport that the hilly country affords. [illustration: coming down the mountain.] "when i came away my friend accompanied me down the mountain, and i found the journey much easier than going up; in fact, it was too easy, and the mules were inclined to go faster than we liked to have them. a part of the way i hired a boy to hang on to the tail of my beast, which he did, somewhat to the annoyance of the latter. this kind of check was evidently new to him, and he tried to elevate his heels sufficiently to shake off the encumbrance. but he could not do so without danger of turning a somersault; and consequently his kicking was confined to a few slight movements. when the path became less steep i dismissed the boy, and the animal went along as demurely as ever. "but my time is up," said the gentleman, looking at his watch, "and your note-books are full. i am sorry i have not another hour or two in which to tell you of celebes, where the dutch have established the same system of culture that has made java so prosperous; of borneo, where the people and the products form a study of unusual interest; of new guinea, a country rarely visited by europeans; and of many other parts of the eastern archipelago. perhaps we will meet again one of these days, and then i will try to give you more information similar to what i have been narrating, and trust you will not find it without interest." frank and fred were earnest in their thanks to their kind informant; and the doctor added his words of indebtedness to theirs. expressions of regret at their separation were made on both sides, and the final hand-shaking was the cause of little lumps in youthful and manly throats that choked the voices, and made the "good-byes" a trifle husky in their utterance. at the stipulated time the repairs to the carriage were completed, and our friends made all haste back to buitenzorg, and thence to batavia. at their banker's they found a large parcel of letters, which had just arrived by the last mail from singapore; and the evening of their return from the interior was devoted to the perusal of the precious missives from home. the next day found them busy with plans for their future movements, and you may be sure that the map of the eastern hemisphere was thoroughly studied, and the routes of travel and commerce carefully examined. in this occupation we will leave the doctor and his young companions, with the assurance that in due time the bassett and bronson families, and all their friends, miss effie included, will be fully informed of the adventures that befell the boy travellers in the far east. [illustration: "good-bye!"] interesting books for boys. the boy travellers in the far east. part i. adventures of two youths in a journey to japan and china. by thomas w. knox. copiously illustrated. 8vo, cloth, $3.00. the boy travellers in the far east. part ii. adventures of two youths in a journey to siam and java. with descriptions of cochin-china, cambodia, sumatra, and the malay archipelago. by thomas w. knox. copiously illustrated. 8vo, cloth, $3.00. the boy travellers in the far east. part iii. adventures of two youths in a journey to ceylon and india. with descriptions of borneo, the philippine islands, and burmah. by thomas w. knox. copiously illustrated. 8vo, cloth, $3.00. hunting adventures on land and sea. the young nimrods in north america. a book for boys. by thomas w. knox. copiously illustrated. 8vo, cloth, $2.50. the history of a mountain. by élisée reclus. illustrated by l. bennett. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. what mr. darwin saw in his voyage round the world in the ship "beagle." ill'd. 8vo, cloth, $3.00. friends worth knowing. glimpses of american natural history. by ernest ingersoll. illustrated. 16mo, cloth, $1.00. who was paul grayson? by john habberton, author of "helen's babies." illustrated. 16mo, cloth, $1.00. toby tyler; or, ten weeks with a circus. by james otis. illustrated. 16mo, cloth, $1.00. the moral pirates. by w. l. alden. ill'd. 16mo, cloth, $1.00. how to get strong, and how to stay so. by william blaikie. with illustrations. 16mo, cloth, $1.00. the story of liberty. by charles carleton coffin. illustrated. 8vo, cloth, $3.00. old times in the colonies. by charles carleton coffin. illustrated. 8vo, cloth, $3.00. the boys of '76. a history of the battles of the revolution. by charles carleton coffin. illustrated. 8vo, cloth, $3.00. the adventures of a young naturalist. by lucien biart. with 117 illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $1.75. an involuntary voyage. by lucien biart. illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. round the world; including a residence in victoria, and a journey by rail across north america. by a boy. edited by samuel smiles. illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. the self-help series. by samuel smiles. self-help. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.--character. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.--thrift. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.--duty, 12mo, cloth, $1.00. the boyhood of martin luther; or, the sufferings of the little beggar-boy who afterward became the great german reformer. by henry mayhew. illustrated. 16mo, cloth, $1.25. the story of the peasant-boy philosopher. (founded on the early life of ferguson, the shepherd-boy astronomer, and intended to show how a poor lad became acquainted with the principles of natural science.) by henry mayhew. 16mo, cloth, $1.25. young benjamin franklin. a story to show how young benjamin learned the principles which raised him from a printer's boy to the first ambassador of the american republic. by henry mayhew. illustrated. 16mo, cloth, $1.25. the wonders of science; or, young humphry davy (the cornish apothecary's boy who taught himself natural philosophy, and eventually became president of the royal society). the life of a wonderful boy. by henry mayhew. 16mo, cloth, $1.25. the boyhood of great men. by john g. edgar. illustrated. 16mo, cloth, $1.00. the footprints of famous men. by john g. edgar. illustrated. 16mo, cloth, $1.00. history for boys; or, annals of the nations of modern europe. by john g. edgar. illustrated. 16mo, cloth, $1.00. sea-kings and naval heroes. a book for boys. by john g. edgar. illustrated. 16mo, cloth, $1.00. the wars of the roses. by john g. edgar. illustrated. 16mo, cloth, $1.00. gutenberg (this book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the google books project.) baboe dalima; or, the opium fiend. by t. h. perelaer translated from the dutch by the rev. e. j. venning, m.a. london: vizetelly & co., 16 henrietta street, covent garden. 1888. baboe dalima; or, the opium fiend. chapter i. at moeara tjatjing. it was a terrible night in february 188-. a violent storm from the north-west was raging along the northern coast of java. the wind howled and roared as though a legion of fiends were holding sabbath in the black mass of clouds which were driving along. the waves of the java sea were running mountain high, and came curling into the beach in monstrous billows topped with mighty crests of dazzling foam. these crests were brightly phosphorescent, and each breaker, as it came rolling in, for an instant shed a pale fantastic shower of sparks upon the black seething waters, leaving, the next instant, the blackness darker than before. the sea-coast on which our story opens formed here, as in so many other places in java, an extensive marsh, the slimy clay of which the influence of the tropical sun had clothed with a most curious kind of vegetation. had it been day, the eye, as far as it could reach, would have rested upon thousands upon thousands of tree-tops, closely packed together, and rising about thirty feet from the soil. the stems of these trees did not reach the ground, but rested on knotty roots, which, like arches, grew out of the earth. these roots were divided, branching out in all directions, so that the trees might be likened to many-footed creatures, the supports or legs of each of which crossed and recrossed with those of its neighbour. thus looking along the ground might be seen a kind of tangled network under a thick canopy of green, and that network again was entwined with gigantic creepers, hanging in festoons from the singular archways and climbing upwards into the tops of the trees. by daylight, between those myriads of twisted roots forming, as it were, a gigantic labyrinth, there might have been seen a swarming mass of living things, unsightly and loathsome, which would have filled the beholder with wonder and disgust. there, among thousands of other living beings, lay the sluggish alligator glaring at its prey with fixed and stony eye. there countless tortoises and "mimis" were crawling and darting about in quest of food. there swarmed monstrous crabs and shrimps of all kinds, varying in size from that of the largest lobster to the almost microscopical sea-spider. all these in millions were wriggling in the filthy ooze which was formed of the detritus of this singular mangrove forest. in the mud which clung about the roots, these hideous creatures lived and teemed, not perhaps in a state of perfect concord, yet maintaining an armed kind of peace which did not prevent them from becoming allies whenever some unhappy victim, whose luckless star had cast upon that shore, had to be overpowered. close by the narrow strip of land, where, not only in storms but in all weathers, land and water seemed to strive for the mastery, there stood a small hut hidden away completely among a clump of "saoe" trees. these trees grew there, the only ones of their kind amidst the gloomy forest of mangrove. surrounded by the dense foliage as by an impenetrable wall, the hut was completely invisible from the land. on the other side it commanded a wide view of the sea; but even there it was screened from observation by its position among the leaves. we called it a hut,--it was, indeed, little more than a large sentry box, and it, most appropriately, bore the name of "djaga monjet" or monkey-perch. it was put together in a very primitive fashion, and was covered with "kadjang" mats and "attaps," both of these rough building materials obtained from the nipah palm. the "djaga monjet" was built in the morass on piles which raised it some considerable distance from the ground. thus the waves which now and then threatened to swallow up the fore-shore altogether, could freely wash about under it, and break and divide against the firmly driven stakes. the trunk of a tree, with some rough steps clumsily cut into it, served as a ladder and gave access to the hut which, at the time this tale begins, was wrapped in the deepest darkness, but which yet was not tenantless. two voices might have been heard issuing from the doorway. the speakers fancied they were talking in a confidential whisper; but the blustering of the storm had gradually led them on to raise their voices, so that now they were yelling at each other rather than conversing. that, however, was of very little consequence. at such an hour, and in such fearful weather, no human being would have dreamed of prowling about there. the most zealous coastguard's man would have declined that duty. the men in the hut were talking in malay, but they might, without difficulty, have been recognised for chinamen. their guttural pronunciation, the difficulty with which they sounded the letter "r," which with them indeed was spoken as "l," and a certain lisping, weakly, altogether most unpleasant accent, put the matter beyond doubt. yes, they were two chinamen who, sitting in that little watch-house, were eagerly, in the pitch dark night, scanning the angry sea before them. "no," said one of them, after a considerable interval of silence--"no, there is nothing whatever to be seen. in such weather, it would be simply tempting fate. you may be quite sure that the kiem ping hin is snugly lying at anchor at poeloe karabab. she would never think of starting in such a storm." "you may be right," replied the other, "but the master's orders were most positive. we are posted here on purpose to help the men of the kiem ping hin to get their cargo safe ashore." "that is true enough, than khan, and we shall get our pay, i daresay; but, for all that, you cannot deny that she cannot possibly come in to-night. just hark how the wind howls, hear how the breakers roar--our perch is shaking like a reed. how would you like to be out on such a night as this?" "i," cried than khan, "not for all the money in the world. but still we know the old arab awal boep said--he is a tough old sea-dog, and no weather will--" "look out!" cried the other; "there, just there! you see that big curling wave yonder! look, you can just see it by the light of the foam. yes, by kong! a 'djoekoeng!'" "you are right, liem king," replied than khan, "it is a 'djoekoeng'" (a boat made of a hollowed tree-stem). "there were two persons in her, both javanese--i fancied a man and a woman." "yes," said liem king; "the man was rowing hard, the woman seemed frightened, she had her hands up to her face." "the 'djoekoeng,'" shouted than khan, "was heading for the shore; but she can never get through the breakers." "i am not so sure of that," replied liem king. "she was making straight for moeara tjatjing, if she can only keep that course, she may pull through." "why," said than khan, "in such a sea as this, no boat can live, she must be swamped. a rare feast for the boajas, eh?" "that 'djoekoeng,'" said liem king, "will get through safe enough. i made her out to be a surf boat, and you know it takes a good deal to upset them." "no doubt," said than khan, "for all that, i am glad enough i am not in her." "look out," shouted the other. "look, there she is again, yes, she is making for the moeara. if she can get behind the 'bow-nets' she is safe enough." "if she can get under the lee of the bow-nets, perhaps, but, but--" "another boat," exclaimed liem king. "there are white men in her." the words were no sooner uttered than two, three, four sharp reports were heard. they were rifle-shots fired from the boat, upon the occupants of the "djoekoeng." with what result who could tell? for a single instant only, the faint gleam of some gigantic breaker had revealed the two boats to the pair of spies. the next moment all was deep darkness again, and, gaze as intently as they would, not even their sharp eyes could discover anything further. thus a quarter of an hour passed away, when suddenly than khan exclaimed, "a steamer!" sure enough, far out at sea, shone the well-known green and red lights, and, high above them, the white light at the mast-head. "the guard-ship!" cried liem king. "no doubt of it," said the other, "it must be the matamata. well, all i can say is that if the kiem ping hin has left her anchorage she is not showing any lights; she has got away safe enough by this time." "come, i think we may be off home to the kampong; no smugglers will come ashore to-night, you may be sure." for a while longer did the two celestials keep watching the steamer's movements. first she showed her three lights plainly enough, she was therefore making straight for the land. after a time, however, all of a sudden, her green light disappeared, leaving for a while the red light only visible. presently that also went out and only the white top-mast light remained visible, and, as it seemed stationary, our chinamen concluded that the steamer had anchored or was perhaps moving with her head to the wind. said than khan at length, "it is no use staying here; while that cursed matamata is about they will not be able to get anything ashore. come, let us be going." "all right," replied liem king; "but i vote we first go and have a look at the tjatjing, we may just possibly get to know something about the 'djoekoeng.'" so our two worthies clambered down the rough log which, as we have shown, stood as a ladder against the hut; the wind howling, meanwhile, as furiously as ever. in a few steps they came upon a kind of pathway for which they had to grope with their feet in the deep darkness. they found it; and as every now and then a wave would come washing over it, the two chinamen had to splash on in the brine. that, however, did not greatly interfere with their progress. they knew the road well, and even had the weather been rougher, they would have got along without much hesitation. they had, in fact, not very far to go. in a few minutes they reached the small river tjatjing which close by emptied itself into the java sea. at the spot where the chinamen came upon the stream it made a kind of bend or elbow as if, just before losing itself in the ocean, it had thought better of it and was trying to retrace its course. at that bend the mangrove roots retired a little from the shore, leaving a pretty wide open space from which the prospect over the river would have been quite clear; but the darkness was so intense that even than khan's ferret eyes could make out nothing. "if the 'djoekoeng' has reached the moeara at all," roared than khan in the ear of his companion, "she must have come ashore here. they cannot possibly have got her further up the tjatjing, there is not water enough and the marsh-weed completely chokes it up." "hush," said liem king; "i hear something." he was right. in spite of the awful noise of the tempest a low moaning sound could just be heard. both pricked their ears, took their bearings; and softly, with stealthy tread they sneaked forward in the direction of the sound. presently, they almost stumbled over a boat which lay on the beach with its stern half under water. "the 'djoekoeng,'" muttered than khan. directed by the moaning sound they groped along the boat which was but a hollowed tree. its bamboo sail-wings were lying close by smashed all to pieces by the wind and water; and a few steps further on they discovered two human beings lying prostrate in the rank grass. "who is there?" called liem king as he cautiously drew nearer. "it is i," replied a very feeble voice in answer to the challenge. "i? who is i?" asked the chinaman. "i, ardjan," was the answer. "what?" cried liem king, "ardjan of the kiem ping hin." a faint cry at these words issued from the lips of one of the castaways. "silence," whispered the other chinaman. both then bent forward over the figure which had given the name of ardjan; but in that thick darkness it was impossible to distinguish anything. one of them pulled a dark lantern out of his pocket, struck a match and, with some trouble, managed to procure a light. as soon as he had recognised the features he cried out: "by ----! it is ardjan! what in the world are you doing here?" "i have fallen overboard," was the reply. "indeed you have? with that 'djoekoeng?'" sneered liem king. "i found her in the water as i was swimming about," was the reply. "and that woman?" continued liem king; "how about her? did you pick her up also floating about? who is she?" "she is moenah, my sister," faintly said ardjan. "ah! your sister," exclaimed than khan with a low, dirty laugh. "i daresay she also managed to tumble overboard?" with these words he threw the light of the lantern full on the face of the so-called sister. the uncertain gleam revealed the well-shaped form of a beautiful javanese maiden of sixteen who, in her confusion, strove to conceal her face under a veil, which, like all the rest of her clothing, was dripping wet. "hallo!" cried than khan as he roughly tore the veil from the girl's face, "what have we here? dalima! the little 'baboe' of his excellency the resident." at these words the maiden cowered down in the most abject terror. the two chinamen exchanged a few hasty words in whispers in which the name lim ho could be distinguished. that name seemed to have an extraordinary effect upon the poor girl. when she heard it her face became the very picture of terror. this lim ho was one of the sons of the great opium farmer at santjoemeh and the man was madly in love with the poor little javanese girl. he had offered her large sums of money, he had tempted her with costly gifts, but all in vain. he had addressed himself to her father, a poor peasant in the "dessa" of kaligaweh close by the principal township, again without success. then the wretch had sworn that, at any price, the girl should be his, even if to possess her he might have to commit a crime. he was a kind of scoundrel who would stick at nothing. at the mention of that hateful name the girl recoiled and shrunk together in terror. she knew the man, and now she also knew the two rascals into whose power she had thus been thrown. the two chinamen kept on whispering to each other; they spoke in chinese of which language neither ardjan nor dalima knew a single word. before, however, the former had time to collect his thoughts or his energies, the scoundrels were upon him. they tied up his hands and feet with a thin rope which liem king drew out of the capacious pocket of his baggy trousers. before he had time to defend himself ardjan found himself helpless, tied up in the shape of a hoop. but even had there been time to resist, the poor fellow could have done nothing. he was quite unarmed, he had not had time even to snatch up his dagger-knife, and the frightful exertion of rowing the "djoekoeng" through the breakers had so completely fagged him out, that, when the men came upon him, he was lying panting for breath on the beach and quite incapable of further exertion. the low moaning sound which had guided the chinamen to him was the sound of his gasping and panting for breath as he lay on the shore. having firmly secured ardjan, the chinamen took hold of dalima and pinioned her also, ordering her to keep perfectly quiet and threatening to kill her should she disobey. it was a good thing for dalima that her captors could not see the expression on her face as they uttered their threatening warning. there passed over the girl's features an expression of contempt which would have given them food for reflection; and might have induced them to make quite sure of their fair prisoner. but of this they saw nothing, and, thinking the girl safe enough, they turned to her companion. his arms were tied behind him and fastened to his feet which had also been tightly bound. liem king now took up a stout bamboo stick which had formed part of the rigging of the surf boat, and having passed it under ardjan's arms they each took hold of one end of the bamboo, and put it on their shoulders, and then, with their living burden thus helplessly dangling between them they ran at a slow trot up the path, along which, a few minutes before, they had groped their way. at every jolt the poor javanese uttered a cry of anguish. it was torture indeed that they made ardjan endure. the whole weight of his body, bent in the most constrained attitude, was bearing upon his arms, and the whippy motion of the pliable stick made every movement almost unendurable as the chinamen jogged slowly along. the bones of the arms upon which, as a sack, the entire body was hanging seemed at every moment about to snap, and the limbs felt as if every jog must wrench them from their sockets. but neither liem king nor than khan paid the slightest heed to ardjan's shrieks, they kept quietly trotting along. in vain did the wretched man entreat them to kill him and so put him out of the misery he was enduring. in vain, seeing his prayers unheeded, did he hurl the most offensive epithets at the heads of his tormentors, hoping thus to provoke them to rage and goad them on to take summary vengeance. to all ardjan's entreaties and insults, the chinamen replied only with derisive laughter, and the "aso tjina" (chinese dog) repeated again and again, than khan, who had one hand free, repaid with a tremendous blow with his fist, the effect of which was only to increase the agony of the sufferer. in a few minutes, however, which to ardjan seemed an age of torture, the "djaga monjet" was reached. the ropes which tied ardjan's feet were then untied, leaving his arms only closely pinioned. the chinamen then ordered him to climb up the rough steps and enforced their command by pricking him with the points of their daggers. the javanese knew well that the faintest show of resistance might cost him his life, and now that the torture of dangling on the bamboo was no longer felt, he began to take a more cheerful view of life. so he passively did as he was told, and in a few moments he was at the top and inside the hut. there the two brutes once again tied him up securely, and, in order to make even an effort of flight impossible, they fastened his hands tightly on his chest and forced the bamboo cane through the bend of the elbows which were sticking out behind his back. thus trussed up, as it were, the least movement on the part of ardjan occasioned the most unbearable pain to his bruised and swollen limbs. then, they laid him down on his back on the floor of the hut, and to make assurance doubly sure, they lashed him to one of the principal posts of the small building. having made all safe, the chinamen went off to fetch dalima. what they intended to do with the girl was a matter of dispute between them. liem king proposed that they should settle by a cast of the dice which of them should possess her; but than khan, who was of a more practical and covetous turn of mind, explained to his companion that a good round sum of money might be got out of the son of the rich opium farmer if they delivered her into his hands. they were still debating the question when they reached the tjatjing, where they had left their victim lying on the grass. there they soon found out that they need not have argued the matter at all; for though they searched the whole place with the utmost minuteness, they could find no trace of dalima. yes, they did find a trace; for behind a clump of undergrowth close to the spot where they had left the girl, they discovered the coil of rope with which they had bound her. she had, evidently, somehow or other found means to get her wrists to her mouth, and had succeeded in gnawing through the cords. once her hands were free it was mere child's play to untie her feet and legs. "devil take her!" exclaimed liem king, "that tit-bit is lost to us." "indeed she is," sighed than khan; "we have allowed a nice little sum to slip through our fingers. lim ho would have paid well for her." "now, i think," said liem king, "the best thing will be not to breathe a word about her to the company." "oh, of course, not a single word," assented than khan; "now that she has got away that would be most dangerous." "but what," asked the other, "had we better do now with ardjan? i think we had better let him go, too. he is sure to let out all about dalima." "no fear," rejoined than khan, "he won't dare to do that. should he utter a single word about the girl lim ho would have him clubbed to death." "well," said liem king, pensively, "for all that i think the safest plan is to let him go." "h'm," said the other, "why so? you know as well as i do that he ought to be on board the kiem ping hin. now, how on earth did he manage to get here in that 'djoekoeng?' take my word for it, there is some mystery about that. very likely it may be important to the company to get to the bottom of that. ah," added he, with a deep sigh of disappointment, "i only wish we had tied up that wretched girl a little more securely." "oh, no, don't say so!" cried liem king, "you would have bruised those darling little wrists and dainty ankles." "bah!" cried than khan. "what nonsense, i wish we had her here; now she is off. where can she have got to?" "yes," replied liem king, "that is the question, where to look for her. but come along, let us hurry back or else we may find the other bird flown too. there is something, you know, that tells me we have made a good catch in him." so the two rascals got back to the hut, and found ardjan lying there quietly enough, just as they left him. he had not been able to stir hand or foot. as soon as he saw that the chinamen came back alone his eye brightened. "where is dalima?" he exclaimed, most anxiously. the chinamen made no answer. "has she got away?" he asked again. than khan shook his head. it was enough, there was something so doleful in that gesture that ardjan did not, for a moment, doubt. dalima had escaped. now he could breathe more freely. if only he had been equally fortunate. he had tried all he could to get rid of these accursed ropes; but, alas! his arms hurt him so frightfully he thought they were broken, and he had to give up the attempt in despair. where might the dear girl be now? he felt but little anxiety on that score. she had managed, perhaps, to run to kaligaweh, where her parents lived--the distance was not great--she must, by this time, be close to the dessa. perhaps, she had taken the way to santjoemeh, where lived the family of the resident, as she was in his service as nurse. in that case, she would have a long journey before her, and she could not reach it before daybreak. if only then she could at once tell her whole story--then, yes, who knows, then he might even yet be rescued. but all such reflections were roughly interrupted by liem king, who asked him, "where did you come from on so wild a night as this?" "i?" said ardjan, "why, i have come from santjoemeh, to be sure. i intended to take dalima to her father at kaligaweh. the nor'-wester drove us out to sea, i rowed with might and main to get to the moeara tjatjing." "what do you mean?" grinned than khan. "what business had you at the moeara? oh, now i see, you wanted, no doubt, to pay us a visit here! that is it--is it not?" ardjan trembled inwardly; but he replied calmly enough: "i could not get as far as sepoetran, and found myself drifting out to sea, so i was compelled to make for the nearest land." "but they have been after you," exclaimed than khan. "you have been fired at." "so i have," said ardjan. "it must have been a boat of that wretched matamata, they must have taken me for a smuggler." "have you any stuff with you?" asked than khan. there was no reply to that question. had these chinamen known in what position he really was, they never would have asked him such a question as that. "but," continued liem king, "you are mate of the kiem ping hin. how is it you are not on board of her?" for a moment the javanese did not know what to answer, then he said: "captain awal boep said has given me leave to spend two days on shore." "you go and tell your grandmother that tale, it won't do for us. what! just at this time, when there is so much work on hand?" cried than khan. "well," said ardjan, "it is true, nevertheless." "very good," replied than khan, "the company will soon get to know all about that." after these words there was silence. the chinamen wrapped themselves up in a kind of rug or mat, and sat down cross-legged on the floor, with their heads bent forwards on their breast, and thus they seemed to be falling into a doze. ardjan, still fastened up in the most painful way to the bamboo stick, had to lie on his back. it was pitch dark in the hut; the door and the shutters were closed to exclude, as much as possible, the cold morning air. but, when every now and then the javanese turned his head to the right or left, he could, through the chinks of the lath floor, see that day was breaking. a greyish light began to appear under the hut, and thus ardjan could see the filthy mud in which a number of crawling things, such as sea-eels, marsh-snakes, iguanas, and water-lizards were swarming. they were in quest of the miscellaneous offal which they were wont to find under the "djaga monjet." for a while all was quiet, when suddenly the report of a gun shook the hut. the sound startled both the chinamen to their feet. it was evidently a signal. than khan rushed to the door, and threw it open. it was then broad daylight, the sun was just about to rise, and was bathing the eastern horizon in a flood of the richest purple. chapter ii. in the djaga monjet. for a moment or two, than khan stood rubbing his eyes, the sudden glare of light almost blinded him after the darkness of the hut. as soon as he became somewhat accustomed to the morning light, he perceived that a great change had taken place in nature. the wind which had been howling so dismally all night long had now fallen considerably, and the thick black clouds were breaking up, while patches of clear blue sky were becoming visible on all sides. the eastern horizon was perfectly cloudless, and the sun rising in full glory was bathing all he touched in the purest gold. it was a magnificent spectacle, certainly, that morning of calm after the night of storm; but neither than khan nor his companion seemed to pay the slightest heed to these beauties of nature. the two celestials were not troubling their minds about the sun; they were eagerly scanning the surface of the sea, and that not for the purpose of admiring the stately roll of the long breakers; they were looking out for something quite different. yonder, at a considerable distance from the shore, they could just see a ship dancing on the waves. they could make her out with the naked eye to be a schooner-brig, which, under shortened sail, was lying close to the wind, and was evidently purposely keeping away from the land. she had some kind of signal flying; but what it was they could not make out. liem king then produced a ship's telescope, which was kept stowed away under the "attaps" in a corner of the roof, and which had long since lost its original colour, being thickly covered with a coating of dirt and dust. the chinaman handled the glass as one who was familiar with its use, and, after looking for awhile, he turned to his mate, and said: "the letters t.f.n.w. on a red ground. that must be the kiem ping hin. she ought to have come in last night, and--" "she is trying to anchor, i suppose," said than khan. "no, she is not," replied liem king; "she is only trying to keep out of the smuggling radius." "well," cried than khan, "that's cool enough anyhow. why! only last night we had the matamata here." "why," said the other, "she is safe enough. where she is now lying the steamer could not get at her, and, what's more, she is flying the british ensign. under those colours no one will dare to meddle with her. the dutch are frightened to death of the english." after looking through his glass at the schooner for a few moments longer liem king exclaimed: "they are lowering the boat!" "then one of us," said than khan, "will have to run to the landing place at the tjatjing." "very well, you go," said liem king. "no, you," said the other. "why should we not both go together?" asked liem king. "certainly not," rejoined than khan. "would you," he asked as he pointed to ardjan, "leave this fellow here alone and unwatched?" "perhaps you are right," assented the other, "let us toss up for it." "all right," replied than khan, "i don't mind." one of them then produced some white pebbles about the size of beans among which there were a few black ones. with a certain amount of dexterity he flung them upon a wooden board which seemed made for the purpose. liem king counted the throw to see how many black ones were lying together. it was than khan's turn next. "i have won," he exclaimed. "you see i have seven black together. you had but five." "very good," said liem king. "i shall go." "but mind," said the other, "not a word about dalima!" "you trust me," was the answer. a strange scornful smile passed over ardjan's features. than khan sat down cross-legged in the doorway of the hut, placing himself in such a manner that while he had a clear view of the bay before him, he could at the same time watch every movement ardjan might attempt to make. not a single action on board the schooner escaped the chinaman's watchful eye. he saw the smuggler lower her boat, he then saw five or six chinese get into her. the little craft, rowed by a javanese crew, then put off and got under weigh. it soon got into the seething breakers and as than khan watched the tremendous exertions of the rowers, he could not help admiring the cool steady way in which the helmsman kept her head firmly to the waves. "that must be lim ho himself," he muttered. ardjan shuddered at the mention of that name. "lim ho!" he exclaimed, his voice betraying his terror. "yes," said than khan, "in a few minutes they will all be here." just then the boat was getting into the moeara. he was right, the light craft manned by eight stout rowers was flying through the water and had got clear of the dangerous surf. once under the lee of the bow-nets and fairly in the bay, the boat was in comparatively smooth water and darted into the mouth of the tjatjing. liem king stood at the landing place waiting to receive his countrymen and he began at once to lead the way to the little watch-house. the five chinamen had no sooner stepped ashore than the javanese crew began to make all possible haste to unload the boat. a number of small tins and barrels lay piled up in the bottom and these they brought to land and most carefully stowed away, hiding them in the sand under the bushes which grew hard by. "jolly stuff that black butter," said one of the fellows, as he pointed to the barrels. the small casks looked as if they had just come out of some dutch farmhouse. they were all sealed with green wax and bore the well-known stamp of van der leeuw. "i wish i could get hold of a couple of taã«l of that butter," said another of the crew with a laugh. "well," said another, "you can be off presently to the opium den of babah tjoa tjong ling and there you can get as much as you like of it. you will find it easy enough to get rid of your hardly earned wages." in a few minutes all the tins and barrels were safely stowed away and then the javanese crew followed the steps of their chinese masters to the "djaga monjet." when the five chinamen had entered the little hut, the examination of ardjan, who was still lying on the floor in the same painful position, was commenced at once. on the way to the hut liem king had told his master as much as he deemed prudent about ardjan's capture; but not a word did he breathe about dalima. lim ho listened with attention to his report. this lim ho was a tall, powerfully-built chinaman. he was the chief of that band of smugglers, about five-and-twenty years of age. he had a wan yellow complexion, and a false, evil look in his slanting eyes. when he heard it was ardjan, the mate, who had been caught, he could not repress a smile of satisfaction. as soon as liem king had made his report, he asked in a tone of assumed indifference: "was the fellow alone when you came upon him?" "oh yes, quite alone," readily replied liem king. lim ho showed that he was greatly disappointed at the news. "he came ashore in a 'djoekoeng,' i think you told me?" he asked. "he did, sir," replied liem king. "could the 'djoekoeng' have turned over at sea?" continued lim ho. "very likely," replied the wily chinaman. "when than khan and myself found the 'djoekoeng,'" he continued, "ardjan was lying exhausted and wet through on the beach--he looked as if he had been washing about in the water, and the bamboos of the rigging were smashed to pieces." "all right," said lim ho superciliously, "we shall hear all about that presently." as he entered the hut, he did not deign so much as to cast a look at ardjan; but abruptly asked him: "what made you run away?" "i was homesick," was the reply, "i was heartily sick of the ship and wanted to get back to the 'dessa.'" "indeed!" sneered lim ho. "and that was the reason, i suppose, why you took dalima with you?" ardjan kept silence; liem king and than khan were growing as pale as death. "where was the girl drowned?" suddenly asked lim ho. "drowned," shouted ardjan, "you say drowned. have they drowned her, then?" "have they drowned her?" said lim ho in a mocking tone of voice. "was not the 'djoekoeng' upset when the pair of you tried to run away in her? where did that take place? perhaps dalima may somehow have been able to get out." "able to get out," repeated ardjan. "but the 'djoekoeng' did not turn over at all," he exclaimed. "we both of us got ashore. she was terribly frightened at the storm to be sure, but quite unhurt, and i was completely exhausted with rowing." "but," roared lim ho, "what has become of her, then?" "that, i cannot tell you," replied ardjan, "you must ask liem king and than khan." these two worthies stood trembling with apprehension. "did you fellows hear that?" shouted lim ho in a towering passion. "did you hear that? i am waiting for you--what is your answer?" "i do not know what has become of the girl," stammered than khan. "she has, very likely, been devoured by a crocodile, for all i know," added liem king. "did she get to land? yes or no?" roared lim ho, while in his impatience he stamped about the little hut, shaking it to its foundations. "she did," replied ardjan. "those two scoundrels first tied me up, and then they bound dalima's arms and legs. they brought me in here, and after that they went out in quest of dalima. but all i know is they came back without her." lim ho's piercing eyes were watching the two chinamen as ardjan was speaking. "i have no doubt," liem king again ventured to say, "that some crocodile has carried her off." "or maybe," said than khan, "a tiger has got hold of her." lim ho applied a small whistle to his lips. he blew a shrill piercing note, and at the summons one of the javanese crew at once presented himself at the door of the hut. "call your mates," ordered lim ho. in an instant the whole boat's crew was present. "tie me up those scoundrels," cried lim ho, "make them fast," he said, as he pointed to liem king and than khan. "tie them up, and securely too, do you hear me!" the men readily obeyed, it was the work of an instant. nothing in this world gave these fellows greater delight than to be allowed to lay their hands upon a chinaman. they set to work as roughly, as brutally as they could. the knots were tied and they hauled upon the ropes with a will. the wretched victims groaned with the pain. oh! if ever it should come to an outbreak, then woe to the celestials in java, they would find but little mercy. who knows--were such a catastrophe to take place they might not be the only race to suffer. there are others who might get into trouble too! when both the chinese spies were firmly secured, lim ho called to his men. "now, my lads, now for a hunt! a girl--little dalima--has escaped from us and we must get her back. five hundred 'ringgiets' six dollars to the man who finds her and brings her in!" with a ringing cheer the boat's crew dashed from the hut. when they had left, lim ho ordered one of his followers to hand him his pipe. he filled the small bowl with the slender bamboo stem with extremely fine-cut tobacco, then he lit the pipe and began to blow the smoke from his nostrils. thereupon he took a seat on the only chair the hut contained. it was a rough and clumsy piece of furniture, cut out of the wood with a clasp-knife. the other chinamen sat down cross-legged on the floor, while their captain once again turned to ardjan. "come now," said he, "just you tell us how you managed to get dalima out of the kiem ping hin. you knew well enough, did you not, that i wanted the girl? but, look you, no lies! no lies, mind you! your life is in my hands; you are aware of that, i hope." ardjan could but utter a deep sigh. he begged that his hands might be slackened if but a little. "to be trussed up like this," said he, "is unbearable torture." "no, no," laughed lim ho. "first let us hear what you have to say, then we shall see what we can do for you." nevertheless he gave the order to remove the bamboo cane which had so long tortured the poor javanese, and as soon as that was removed the chinaman said: "now, speak up, i am listening to you!" "you are aware," began ardjan, "that i am mate on board the kiem ping hin. yesterday afternoon we were lying at anchor behind poeloe kalajan which is not far from santjoemeh, when a 'djoekoeng' rowed up to us in which a couple of your countrymen were seated. at first i thought that they came alongside to take off some of the smuggled opium with which the schooner is partly loaded. i, therefore, threw them a rope and helped them up the ship's side. but, instead of coming to fetch anything off, they brought something aboard with them. it was a heavy sack which they carefully hoisted on deck, and which had something of the appearance of a human form. however, that was no business of mine, it was not the first time that i had seen that kind of thing going on. i even lent a hand at carrying the load into the captain's cabin, and i laughed and joked with the chinamen at the fun awal boep said was going to have. "when, shortly after, the captain came on board, i told him of the bit of good luck that had befallen him, and i fancied he would be mightily pleased. not a bit of it, instead of at once rushing down into his cabin, he quietly remained on deck, simply ordering me to keep a sharp look out as he was expecting some friends. and, true enough, a few hours later you, lim ho, came on board with two of your followers. you reached the schooner just in time. night was rapidly falling, and a north-westerly storm was blowing up. no sooner were you aboard than it began to blow furiously. the moment i saw you, an unpleasant feeling came over me, and quite involuntarily my thoughts at once flew to the sack which i had helped to get aboard, and which then was lying on the bed in the cabin. i longed to get away down below to have a look; but the captain, who was watching the storm that was brewing, ordered the men to the braces and had a second anchor brought out. i had, of course, to take my share of duty and could not leave the deck. "when, an hour or so after, i got to the cabin, i found you there stretched out on a couch. you were hard at it smoking opium, your pipe was in your hand, and with evident satisfaction you were swallowing down the smoke.-"i knew well enough what all this meant. a man whose senses are dulled and deadened by habitual excess, must find something to rouse him. i knew that you had some little pigeon in your clutches, and that you were seeking to recruit by opium your exhausted powers. your object was to get the greatest possible amount of enjoyment out of your victim--you know the properties of opium, and how to make use of it. "now all this did not concern me, i merely chuckled--i thought, that's a common thing enough! i remember a hadji telling me that opium is a gift of ngahebi mohammed, and the ever-blessed in paradise use it to renew their strength and thus are for ever beloved by the houris. "but yet, i could not get rid of that strange feeling that told me all was not well. i could not get rid of my anxious curiosity. dalima has long ago been promised to me by her parents. she is to be my wife as soon as i can get together a few more 'ringgiets' which will enable me to purchase a yoke of oxen. the day on which i can get them together, is to be my wedding-day. "but lim ho," and at these words the voice of the javanese began to hiss and assume an almost threatening tone, "but lim ho, i know also that you covet the maiden,--i know what treasures you have offered her--i know what sums you have offered her parents as the price of her virtue, and of her innocence. "i made up my mind--i must see who was there in the cabin.--oh! i had not, at that time, the least suspicion that it was dalima! she had rejected all your advances with the utmost contempt. her father had even threatened to kreese you. how could the 'baboe' of the ioean resident have come into your power?--you see it was impossible!" "yes, yes, as you say it was quite impossible," said lim ho with a grin, excited by the story of ardjan. "i say, ong kwat, just tell us how the girl came into your hands!" "no need of that," resumed ardjan, "i know all about it. dalima told me the whole story in the 'djoekoeng.' yesterday she was out for a walk with her master's youngest child in the lane behind the residence. the boy in his play, flung his ball into a ditch by the side of the road. a chinaman happened to be passing at the time and dalima requested him to fetch the toy out of the water. he did so at her request; but instead of returning the ball to the child he pitched it as far as he could into the garden. the boy ran off eagerly to fetch it, and dalima was looking after the child, when suddenly the chinaman flung himself upon her, gagged her, and before she could utter a single cry threw a sack over her head. thus muffled he dragged her to the end of the lane, and put her into a 'djoekoeng' which was lying in the ditch. the boat at once put off, and in an hour's time was alongside the kiem ping hin." "just so!" exclaimed lim ho. "now, ong kwat, is not that just about how you managed it?" the man thus addressed grinned, nodded his head and added, "yes, master, for four whole days i had been on the prowl for that catch." "now, ardjan," resumed lim ho, "you may go on again; but mind you, no lies." the javanese continued: "as i entered the cabin i gave a hasty look round. you, lim ho, were partially unconscious, still smoking opium. you had not got to that stage when the drug excites the passions to madness. your attendant was intent upon kneading the 'mandat' balls. there was no one in the cabin but you two, so i ventured to creep in, and, by the light of the lamp that was burning there, i saw--dalima. "with one bound i was at her side, in an instant i had severed the ropes which tied her, and in another moment i had dragged her out of the cabin. thereupon i flew forward, got some clothes which i happened to have by me, and in a few seconds was back again with them. dalima slipped them on, and thus partially disguised i hid her under a heap of sails which happened to be lying in the stern. "meanwhile the storm was raging in all its fury, and i have no doubt that it was chiefly owing to the noise of the wind that we had been able to get clear of the cabin unperceived. captain awal boep said, like a good mussulman, was telling his beads, and from time to time uttered an 'allah achbar' (god is great), or a 'bismillah' (god be praised). the other men were all taking shelter in the forecastle, and your servants were lying sea-sick in their bunks. "of these favourable circumstances i made the best use i could. the 'djoekoeng,' in which dalima had come alongside, was still lying there dancing on the waves. i took hold of the painter and drew the boat up to the side. the girl slid down into her along a rope which was hanging over the ship's side. i followed her, seized upon a paddle and then i cast her adrift, and the storm soon drove us far from the kiem ping hin. "i was in hopes that i might succeed in reaching that part of the beach which lies nearest to the resident's house; but when the 'djoekoeng' got under the poeloe kalajan the wind got hold of her and we had to drift at the mercy of the waves. "then i managed to set the wings which were lying in the bottom of the boat. without them we must certainly have capsized and been drowned. i kept on rowing with all my might; for i knew that once we were driven past the cape there would be an end of us. at length--at length--i managed to struggle through the breakers. one more effort and we were safe at the moeara tjatjing! the moment danger was over i fell down utterly exhausted, and, before i had time to recover than khan and liem king had discovered us. they pinioned us both, dalima and me. me they carried off to this hut; what has become of the girl i don't know. i have not seen or heard of her since. now then, lim ho," said he in conclusion, "that is the whole truth." for a short time silence was preserved, lim ho seemed to reflect on what he had heard, and no one in the hut ventured to disturb his reflections. at length he spoke, turning to than khan and liem king, and said: "well, what have you to say to all that?" neither of them answered a word. "do you intend to answer, yes or no?" roared lim ho in a furious passion, as he dealt than khan, who lay bound on the floor, a heavy kick in the side. "the javanese lies," cried the chinaman, writhing with pain. "we have seen nothing of the girl!" "he probably got her off into the woods," added liem king, "before we came up." "i would gladly have given my life for dalima," cried ardjan, "but i was lying on the beach utterly prostrate; i could not defend her, sir, i could not defend myself. i am telling you the truth. these two scoundrels must know what they have done with her!" lim ho muttered a few words to himself and appeared to be thinking what he would do next, when voices were heard outside the hut, the voices of the boat's crew who had been hunting for dalima, and were now returning with the tidings that their search had been fruitless, and that they had nowhere been able to find the girl. ardjan's face gleamed with satisfaction as he heard it, and he at once grew calmer. "unless," said one of the javanese boatmen, holding up a coil of rope, "you call this a trace of her. i found this close by the spot where we landed." lim ho fixed his eye upon the two wretched spies. they held their peace, that silent proof effectually closed their mouths. "these are," said ardjan, in a much quieter tone of voice than that in which he had spoken before, "these are the cords with which they bound dalima's wrists and ankles. i recognise them perfectly." lim ho hereupon uttered but two words; but they were words which caused ardjan and liem king and than khan to shudder with terror. in most abject terms they prayed for mercy. but lim ho remained deaf to all their entreaties, he scarcely deigned to cast a look at them; but now and then in his cold rage he would deal a savage kick at the body of one or the other of the prostrate chinamen. in a few abrupt words he gave his orders to the javanese crew. whatever his commands might be, his men were but too ready to carry them out. a couple of them at once left the hut while the others set ardjan and the two chinamen upon their legs and prepared to take them out of the cabin. "oh, sir, have pity, have mercy upon us!" than khan exclaimed in truly piteous accents. "where is dalima?" was the furious rejoinder. "we don't know where she is!" cried both the chinamen. "and you!" shouted lim ho turning to ardjan; "do you know what has become of her?" "i know nothing about it," was the reply. "i think that most probably she may have got back to the residence." "have mercy, have mercy!" shrieked liem king. "what? mercy on such brutes as you?" scornfully said lim ho. "but," they asked; "what harm have we done?" "i will tell you what you have done," sneered lim ho. "you have had dalima in your power and you have been pleased to let her go. that's what you have done and you shall suffer for it. and you!" he hissed out in fury, as he turned to ardjan, "you have dared to carry the girl away. oh, you shall pay for it!" "but she is my bride," pleaded the wretched man. "your bride, indeed," said lim ho with concentrated rage. "your bride? do you think a pretty girl like dalima is destined to be the bride of a javanese dog like you? but it was last night that you carried her off from the kiem ping hin. might you perhaps in that 'djoekoeng'--" a disgusting leer of disappointed passion passed over the features of lim ho as he uttered the half finished question. "no, no, by allah!" fiercely exclaimed the javanese. "dalima is as pure as the white flower of which she bears the name. but," added he in a calmer mood, "you know better than that. you know that in such weather as we had last night i had very little time for trifling and love-making." "that's lucky for you," cried lim ho; "had you so much as touched her too freely i would this very moment drive my kreese into you. as it is, i will simply punish you for having run away. i will consent to forget that dalima is anything to you. but," he added with an odious smile, "you seem to forget that the matter is somewhat serious for you. you ran away, remember, to give the coastguard notice of the arrival and of the movements of the kiem ping hin--" "that is not true," hastily interrupted ardjan. "that, you see, amounts to treachery--treachery to the company," continued lim ho without taking the slightest notice of ardjan's indignant denial. "it's a serious matter as you know." "i tell you it is all a lie," cried the wretched javanese, driven to despair by the other's manner. "it is all a lie. i ran away to save dalima from your filthy clutches; you may drive your dagger into me for that, but i am no traitor." "i tell you again," replied lim ho with perfect calmness, "that your intention was to betray the secrets of the company. you know the laws of the company, do you not? i will therefore give you the same punishment as to those two scoundrels. i will then have you put on board the kiem ping hin; not as her mate; oh, no, but simply as a slave; and you will be put ashore at poeloe bali and there you will have to remain on pain of death. you will remain there, i say, as long as ever the company shall see fit." "oh no!" wildly cried ardjan, "not that, anything but that; rather kill me at once. i have not played the spy; i am no traitor. i will not, i cannot live away from dalima!" the face of lim ho plainly showed the bitter hatred he felt towards his rival--a hatred the more intense because he knew that ardjan possessed the fair young girl's heart. he did not, however, vouchsafe any further reply; but gave a sign to the boatmen. with blows and kicks they drove the prisoners before them down the rough steps. they revelled in the brutality which they were allowed to show to these unhappy wretches. with their hands tightly bound behind their backs the three were half driven, half pushed down, and being quite unable to steady themselves they tumbled down into the filthy mud beneath and grovelled there amidst the shouts of laughter of their tormentors until they were again roughly put on their feet. lim ho and his pig-tailed companions heartily joined in the merriment and thus encouraged the rough sailors in their unmerciful handling of the miserable captives. chapter iii. hoekoem kamadoog--the van gulpendam family. nothing could be more strange, and indeed awful, than the contrast between the fair face of nature and the hideous cruelty which man was about to perpetrate on that little sequestered spot on the north coast of java. the storm which had been raging furiously during the night had now fallen to a fresh yet warm breeze. the leaves of the singular forest of mangrove were softly rustling in the wind, and the waves, which a few hours ago were madly dashing on the shore, now were quietly running up the beach with pleasant and melodious murmurs. indeed, the prospect from the hut over the little bay of the moeara tjatjing, enclosed by its two headlands, was picturesque in the extreme. under the bright beams of the early morning sun, the intense blue of the sea was glittering with indescribable purity and brilliancy, the surface of the ocean was still heaving, the waves still were following each other as in pursuit, here and there a breaker might still be seen topped by a snow-white cap of foam; but there was nothing angry in the scene. the bosom of amphitrite still heaved, but all fierce and angry passions seemed to have died away. at some little distance from the land the schooner kiem ping hin was dancing on the water, rising and falling gracefully, while the british ensign floated at the peak. just in front of the hut, in which took place the stormy scenes we have described in the former chapters, and close by the small group of "saoe" trees we have mentioned, there stood a clump of "niboeng" palms. straight and smooth as candles were their stems, and high up in the air their feathery tops were waving to the breeze. on all sides, excepting on that of the sea, the mangrove wood, with its maze of tangled roots, surrounded the hut as with an impenetrable wall. the bay to which lim ho and his attendants had dragged their unhappy prisoners was thus perfectly lonely, closely screened from every human eye. as soon as they had arrived at the spot, lim ho made a signal to his men. in an instant the prisoners had their clothes torn from their bodies, and stark naked they were firmly lashed to the smooth stems of three palm trees. the ropes, which had already served to confine the limbs of dalima, now were used to tie ardjan and the two chinese spies to the trunks of these trees, which, to them, were to become stakes at which they were destined to endure the most excruciating agony. the victims knew well what was in store for them, and kept anxiously looking round to see what would happen; their eyes, however, glaring around with wild terror, could not, at once, discover what they sought, and what they were every moment dreading to see. although the tropical sun was burning down on their backs, yet they were trembling in every limb, as if shivering with cold; their hands were fastened high up above their heads, and the ropes were passed round their loins and knee-joints. thus they could not make the slightest movement without extreme pain, for the ropes being plaited of "iemoetoe" were hard, rough, and prickly. suddenly than khan uttered a startled cry, he had been anxiously looking round, and he now saw a couple of sailors coming up from the wood, each carefully bearing a bundle of leaves. the wretched man knew at a glance that the hour of torture was at hand. the leaves which the sailors bore well deserve description. they were broad and heart-shaped, and were attached to twigs resembling brushwood. the edges of the leaves were roughly jagged like the teeth of a saw, and their upper and under surfaces were covered with white hairy down. they were leaves of the "kamadoog," the devil thistle, the most terrible plant perhaps which the earth produces. with infinite precaution--a precaution which needs no explanation--the javanese sailors made, of these leafy twigs, three broom-like scourges, around the handles of which they carefully wrapped some grass and bits of rag. when he saw his men thus armed, lim ho gave the signal to begin. three sailors stepped up to the victims, and with the twigs began to strike their backs, their loins, their thighs, and the calves of their legs. then was enacted a hideous, but most curious scene. it was not, properly speaking, any scourging at all, the blows which they inflicted were as light as possible; they rather flipped or stroked the flesh of their victims, and it looked as if they were engaged in simply driving away insects or troublesome flies from the naked bodies. now and then, one or other of them would give a somewhat harder flip, as if some obstinate fly refused to be dislodged from the spot. but the features of the unfortunate wretches, who were suffering this apparently playful scourging, were in horrible contrast with the seeming gentleness of the treatment. the faces of ardjan and of his companions in misfortune were actually distorted with terror, their eyes were starting from the sockets. wherever those dreadful leaves lightly fell on the skin, the body at once shrunk away in pain, the limbs began to quiver, the muscles began to work up and to stiffen in knots, as if drawn together by violent cramp. but still that gentle flicking and stroking went on. the sufferers began to writhe and twist about their bodies in intolerable anguish. still the heartless executioners went on with their hideous task. the miserable victims panted for breath, a low, most pitiful moaning escaped from their lips; they gnashed their teeth with agony, they bit their lips until the blood came; but all to no purpose--nothing could bring them relief. "have mercy, sir," they moaned with the piteous wail of a dying child. but lim ho had no mercy to show his wretched victims, he waved his hand to the executioners, who, at that sign, entirely changed their mode of operation, and now the gentle fanning was replaced by a severe downright flogging. the blows, laid on with the full strength of the sailors, rained down upon the bare bodies of the tortured wretches, their skin resounded under the pattering of the leaves, which, less barbarous than the men who wielded them, began to tear and fly from their stems. as soon as that flogging commenced, the prisoners no longer moaned, they roared, they yelled, they howled with anguish. it was the cry of a wild beast wounded to death, which gathers up its remaining strength for one dying roar. the limbs of the miserable men now not only shrank and writhed; but with the convulsive energy which only such extremity of torture could lend, they clasped with their legs the smooth trunks of the trees, they seemed to try and sink into them and bury themselves in the wood. it was an awful spectacle, and yet, strange to say, no wounds could be seen, no contusions, no livid spots even; nothing at all in fact to account for such unheard-of suffering. the skin only looked somewhat puffy, somewhat red and inflamed, and covered with very small blisters. the wounds which the bodies of the victims bore were serious enough, it is true; but they had nothing to do with the leaves of the terrible nettle. in their almost superhuman efforts to burst their bonds, and in their frantic contortions, the sufferers had forced the ropes into the flesh, and here and there the strands had cut their way to the bone, so that streams of blood were pouring along their arms, along their thighs and loins, and were forming broad red spots on the soft slippery soil. that anguish must have been acute enough in itself; but it was nothing compared to the torture occasioned by the leaves of the devil-thistle. at length the instruments of torture had become well nigh stripped, there was left in fact only the bare twigs, on which here and there a few tattered leaves were still dangling, the poisonous leaves lay scattered in all directions, faded, torn, and shapeless about the feet of the sufferers. but, even then, lim ho did not think of causing the torture to cease, he seemed to be bent on utterly destroying his victims. he ordered the men to stop for a few moments. it was not because he felt any pity. not at all, he merely caused the half dead bodies to be sprinkled with salt water, which, if possible, augmented the torments they endured. the monster was, in fact, on the point of resuming his inhuman flogging, when suddenly a cry was raised, "the police, the police!" in furious haste lim ho and his assistants flew up to the tortured chinamen. in a moment they had severed the cords which bound them to the trees, and the next instant they were dragging the wretches who were curling and twisting in their agony along the rough path which led to the landing-place where their boat lay moored. two of lim ho's men would have performed the same office for ardjan, but the shouts of the rescuing party became louder every instant, the men were stricken with panic, took to their heels, and with all speed rejoined their retreating comrades. they got to the boat just in time, for they had no sooner got into her, before five or six policemen led on by dalima and closely followed by a crowd of people came to the spot. "allah," exclaimed the young girl as she caught sight of ardjan, who was still tied up to the tree, moaning with pain, and whose almost lifeless body was hanging like a sack in the somewhat slackened ropes; "allah, what in the world have they done to him!" in a moment the unfortunate man was surrounded, his bonds were severed, and he was laid down gently on a mat which somebody had run to fetch from the little watch-house. but he could not utter a word. he yelled with pain, and rolled about on the ground writhing like a crushed worm. "oh, my god!" he moaned most piteously, "i am in pain! in pain!" "where is the pain?" cried dalima, as she sat crouching down beside him. "it is the kamadoog," the sufferer managed to say between his sobs of anguish. "the kamadoog!" cried the bystanders in horror. it was plain enough now. one of the spectators had taken up a few torn leaves, and at once recognised the terrible nettle. every man in the crowd turned pale with horror. and truly the kamadoog is a dreadful plant. the slightest contact with its formidable leaves occasions a violent itching, painful as a severe burn; and, when used as an instrument of torture, it causes the most intolerable suffering, for at least seven days; it makes the limbs stiffen, and produces a burning fever, which not unfrequently ends in the most painful death. "has anyone here any 'sirihkalk?'" (chalk made of sea-shells) cried dalima. some few of the bystanders had with them the "sirih," which they are fond of chewing. they unwrapped the sirih-leaf in which were the pinang-nut, the chalk, and the tobacco, which form this highly-prized chew, and gave the chalk to the girl, who hastened to anoint the sufferer with the paste-like alkali. but, unfortunately, so great was the surface which had been exposed to the stroke of the hairy leaves, that the supply of "sirih-chalk" was altogether inadequate, and only a very small portion of the blisters could be treated with the remedy. dalima was in despair. there was nothing else for it but to carry ardjan into the hut, which afforded a shelter from the burning sun. then some of the men hurried away to fetch a supply of oil and chalk, which they hoped would mitigate the pain, and check the fever. by evening, if all were well, ardjan might perhaps have so far recovered as to bear the fatigue of being moved to more convenient quarters. while these remedies were being applied to poor ardjan, the boat in which lim ho had put off, was being rowed past the djaga monjet, and was getting out of the little bay. the policemen stood on the shore calling to the crew to come back; but no one took the slightest notice of their summons, and, as they had no firearms with them to enforce obedience, the only reply they got was a derisive cheer, and a shout of defiance. as he rowed by the djaga monjet, lim ho had plainly recognised dalima, who, actively employed in assisting her tortured lover, was running about, in and out, here and there. the sight of her literally maddened the brutal chinaman; he was on the point of ordering his boat's crew to return and row to land. but, in another instant, he came to himself, and recovered his reason. it would indeed have been the act of a madman to try and carry off the girl just then. he knew that he could place great dependence upon the power of his gold; but yet, in full daylight, in the very face of all those people, he felt he could hardly try its influence upon the native police. so he could only shake his fist in impotent rage, and the word to return remained unspoken. the boat swiftly glided out of the moeara tjatjing, and at once made for the kiem ping hin, which was already loosening her sails, and waiting impatiently for the return of her boat's crew. as they mounted the deck, captain awal boep said came up to report to lim ho that the smoke of a steamer could just be seen on the horizon. "probably," he added, "it is the matamata, she was here yesterday." "those white blockheads," muttered lim ho, with a scornful laugh. "at night they have their coloured lights up, and we can tell them miles away. by day they take care to send up a cloud of smoke which no one can mistake. i will bet they have not discovered us yet, while we have had our eye on her ever so long ago." "it is the guard-ship, sir, likely enough. what are your orders?" said the captain. "the wind has risen somewhat with the sun," replied lim ho. "set sail at once, and steer for bali." a quarter of an hour later, the kiem ping hin was gracefully heeling over to the freshening breeze, and, under full sail, was flying to the eastward. when, much later on, the matamata came to the moeara tjatjing, the smuggler, an excellent sailing craft, was on the horizon; she was nothing more than a faint white speck on the deep blue sea. the clumsy old guard-ship, which, under favourable circumstances, could not make more than six knots, and might perhaps do eight knots under extra pressure, had not the smallest chance of overtaking the rakish schooner, running eleven knots before the breeze. in less than an hour, the vessels were out of sight of one another altogether. meanwhile, what had befallen dalima that she thus managed to come up at the right moment of time to rescue ardjan from compulsory exile? as soon as she had succeeded in gnawing through the rope which tied her wrists, no very difficult task for her sharp white teeth--she plucked asunder the knots by which her feet were confined. that did not take long, and with a gesture of contempt she flung the cords aside and was hastening from the spot. for a moment or two, however, she stood still, considering whether she ought not to go straight to the djaga monjet, perhaps she might be of some service to ardjan. at that moment, however, she caught the voices of the two chinamen who were coming down the pathway in quest of her. this at once brought her to a decision and thoroughly terrified she ran off at the top of her speed in the opposite direction. as she was speeding along she made up her mind to go straight to her mistress and implore her aid. but, the question was, would she listen to her story, would she help her? well, if she would not, then she would go to the resident, he surely could not refuse to hear her. thus, like a hunted roe she flew along, the thick forest had no terrors for her, she was a true child of nature and knew her road well, and so, in a few seconds, she had disappeared among the tangled roots of the mangrove. it was in the early morning that she reached the grounds of the house. the first thing she saw under the half open verandah or "pandoppo" was the resident's daughter. her young mistress was quite alone, she was lying back in a comfortable rocking-chair and was reading a book in which she seemed wholly absorbed. so dalima glided very softly into the pandoppo and, without making the least sound, with a graceful motion seated herself cross-legged on the floor close to the maiden who continued gently rocking herself as she read. "nana," said dalima in the softest whisper which sounded like a gentle sigh, "nana!" at the sound the young girl gave a sudden start, she dropped her book and springing up from her seat, "siapa ada?" (who is there) she cried half in terror, half in surprise. the daughter of the resident stood there for a few moments in the rays of the early sun, a perfect picture of loveliness. her forehead of the purest ivory-white was surrounded by a rich mass of glossy dark-brown curls, her nose and chin might have served as models to a sculptor. but, though the features were faultlessly regular, the whole face was full of animation and of life. the lips of the rosiest red and of exquisite form resembled a freshly opened rosebud, the cheeks were tinged with the glow of health and the large deep-brown eyes were full of tenderness and plainly spoke of a gentle and loving disposition within. the neck and bust of the young girl were modestly veiled under the folds of a tastefully arranged "kabaja" which, however, could not hide the well-filled and perfectly rounded form it strove to conceal. "who is there?" she had cried as startled she had sprung up from her chair. "it is i, nana," whispered dalima in a scarcely audible voice. the fair young girl, whom we have tried faintly to depict to the reader, was called anna. in ordinary conversation the servants usually addressed her as "nonna" (miss). but dalima, either by reason of her youth or it may be because she was shy and gentle of nature, was anna's special favourite and enjoyed certain privileges with her young mistress over the other servants; she was indeed looked upon in the light of a companion, and so she always used to call her "nonna anna" which was first contracted into "nonanna," and then became simply "nana." thus the reader will perceive that the name "nana" has nothing whatever in common with zola's disgusting production, nor yet with the inhuman monster who made himself so sadly notorious at cawnpore. at the words "it is i, nana," anna looked down and no sooner saw dalima seated at her feet than she recovered from her scare. she offered to raise the maiden who, however, maintained her position on the floor of the verandah. "you here, dalima," cried she; "where in the world have you been? mamma is dreadfully angry with you. where have you come from?" "nana," she replied, "i have been carried off!" "by whom?" asked anna. "by some of lim ho's men," said dalima. "lim ho?" cried anna now really frightened, "lim ho? what, have you been in his power?" "yes i have," said the young girl. "what, all night?" "no," replied dalima, "no, not all night; allah has been my protection and--" "so, so! that gadabout has come home at last, has she?" cried a voice which caused both the girls to start with terror. it was anna's mother, who just then came into the pandoppo without having been noticed either by her daughter or by dalima. she came straight from her bathroom as was evident from the rich black hair which flowed waving down her back, and had completely wetted the kabaja she wore, while she had covered her neck and shoulders with a bathing-towel of the finest material. bending her head backwards she drew the towel from under her hair and handed it to the nã¨nã¨h (old javanese woman) who followed her, with the order to go and dry it immediately. madam laurentia van gulpendam, whose maiden name was termolen, was a stately matron, fully thirty-five years of age, and was still extremely beautiful. years and maternity had not made much impression upon her charms. she had but one child, anna, and fearing that the natural duties of a mother might impair her beauty, she had confided her daughter to the care of a nurse. in spite, however, of all precautions, the influence of time was now beginning to make itself felt, and though it could not be denied that laurentia carried the load of years proudly enough, yet lately she had found the necessity of bringing certain powders and certain mysterious toilette-confections into requisition, to help out the somewhat fading complexion and (to use an elegant expression of her husband who had had something to do with the sea, and was always interlarding his conversation with nautical terms) to caulk here and there an indiscreet, and too obtrusive wrinkle. here and there also a silver thread might have been detected among the wealth of jet-black hair, had not the nã¨nã¨h wong toewã¢, been anxiously watchful, and at its very first appearance plucked out the traitor. the finely formed lips also had begun to lose somewhat of their bright carnation; and the corners of the mouth were beginning to droop. but for these tokens of advancing age also, the nã¨nã¨h was on the watch. for preserving the mouth she had a sourish kind of fluid prepared from the red ant which she used as "vinaigre de toilette," and for the wrinkles she had an ointment made of the fat of lizards, in which when boiling hot sundry scorpions and centipedes had met a painful death. but nã¨nã¨h wong toewã¢ was moreover an old, experienced doctoress, and she had many other wonderful secrets in her possession which she placed at the disposal of her mistress; and if the stately laurentia still kept her lawful lord and master enthralled by her charms,--if the world around was still bound to confess that she was a fine woman,--if her waist, her shoulders, her bosom did still, in a ball-room, attract the greedy, admiring eyes of the men, and awakened envy among the ladies--then to wong toewã¢ a great share of these much coveted honours was due, and often from behind a screen the old crone would stand unobserved and enjoy the triumph of her mistress, and delight in the homage which followed her wherever she went. laurentia termolen was the daughter of a former resident, and was an exceedingly handsome and agreeable girl when, at the tender age of sixteen, she became the wife of mr. van gulpendam who, at that time, was controller of the home department, and her father's right hand. though born in india she was of european parents, both on the mother's and father's side: and she had had the advantage of an excellent education, that is to say, large sums of money had been lavishly spent upon her. she had had the very best masters in language, in music, in dancing, &c., she had even been sent to holland to receive the finishing touches. now, under ordinary circumstances, she might--nay she would have developed into an excellent woman; but unfortunately for her, these ordinary and favourable circumstances were wanting. for both papa and mamma were people of inordinate ambition, and had, moreover, or perhaps in consequence of that ambition, one ruling passion, the love of display. they wanted to make a great figure in their little world, and to keep up an immense amount of outward show. but all this cost money, much money, very much money, and the means whereby they sought to obtain the necessary dross, were not always such as would bear honest scrutiny. from her earliest childhood, laurentia had heard snatches of conversation, later on she had been present at incidents, and had witnessed family quarrels, in which dishonesty and prodigality strove for the mastery. thus her young mind had, of necessity, been poisoned, and germs of corruption had been planted within her which were sure to bring forth the most lamentable results. if now, in holland, she had but fallen into good hands, all this might, to a great extent at least, have been remedied, and the poisonous germs within her might perhaps have been stifled or their growth might have been checked. but hers had been the case of so many indian-born children. she had always been looked upon as an object of financial speculation, she had always been considered as a kind of gold mine which her parents intended thoroughly to work and make the most of. thus a mere outward veneer of good manners and a mare "jargon de bon ton" were thought amply sufficient; and of true education and moral development there had, with her, never been any question at all. now, had but van gulpendam been the right man for it, he might even at the time of their marriage have made a total change in the disposition of the young girl entrusted to his care. but van gulpendam was a man who had gone to india merely to make his fortune, and had but one object, namely, to return as soon as possible, and especially as rich as possible, to his own country. he was therefore the very last man to set an example of honesty and purity, and his intimacy with the termolens had done nothing to counteract the evil that was in him. money-making was his only passion, and his union with fair laurentia had only served to make that sordid principle strike deeper roots into his heart. after her marriage laurentia's duty was to follow her husband, who took good care to obtain from his father-in-law none but places in the interior and most remote parts of the island. thus he had become controller at brandowo; after that, assistant resident at bandjar oetara; both of these places where hardly a single european could be found, and where consequently no one could watch the dodges and tricks of the official household. how he had managed to be on the most excellent terms with the regent who exacted taxes in kind, and at the same time also had the most cordial relations with the representatives of the opium farmers, who found it necessary to throw dust into the eyes of the dutch authorities; and how she had lent out money to the natives on the most exorbitant interest for which she did not scruple to take, as securities, valuable articles such as jewels and heirlooms, all these dirty transactions had remained a profound secret and had not prevented van gulpendam from rising to the position of full resident. this long isolation had, moreover, the most pernicious effect upon his grasping character, and upon the no less ambitious disposition of his young wife. by continual contact with none but inferiors who bowed down to them to the very ground, the bearing of laurentia had grown to be intolerably arrogant. she had become imperious woman personified, and this grave blemish in her character was so entirely in harmony with her outward appearance, that when she had to appear in public on official occasions in the full dignity of "resident's wife" she might have served as model for a juno. such then was the mother of anna van gulpendam, as she suddenly stalked into the pandoppo and at the sight of dalima straightway fired up and cried out: "so! has that slut come in again?" "now then," she continued in her wrath, "tell me, you young monkey, where have you been? you have been out, i'll be bound, dragging about with that lover of yours!" "pardon, madam!" cried the young girl. "i did not run away. i did not indeed!" "and you did not leave master leo running about by himself in the garden?" "i was carried off, madam," said the young girl. "carried off!" cried mrs. van gulpendam scornfully, "by whom, pray?" "by two strange chinamen," replied dalima. "how did that come to pass?" asked her mistress. thereupon dalima gave her mistress a detailed account of her forcible abduction by ong kwat, of which we have made mention above. we ought here to add that "sienjo leo" just mentioned was the son of the resident's brother, and that the boy had been staying for a considerable time at the residence, his father at that time having his home at billiton. "and where did they take you to?" enquired mrs. van gulpendam. there was in her voice some little emotion, called forth no doubt by the young girl's graphic description. "they took me on board a big ship," said dalima. "whose ship was that?" "i don't know," replied dalima. "i had not, however, been on board long before lim ho came--" "lim ho," cried mrs. van gulpendam now thoroughly roused!--"lim ho, the son of the rich opium farmer!" "that is the man," replied dalima trembling as in utter confusion she still was crouching at the feet of her nonna anna. a very peculiar smile began to play upon mrs. van gulpendam's lips, and a very peculiar fire began to sparkle in her eyes. "anna," said she to her daughter, "i wish you would just go and ask your father if he would like a cup of coffee, and, if he does, get it him; will you?" the young girl at once took the hint and disappeared. as soon as she was gone laurentia in feverish haste and with heaving bosom turned to dalima and said: "well, what then?" oh! poor dalima understood that look so well, and little as she knew of the world she knew so well why the "nonna" had been sent away. she repressed her emotion however, and calmly enough she said: "lim ho went to smoke opium." "of course, of course," said laurentia, huskily, "of course he went to smoke opium, before--" it is utterly impossible to convey in words any idea of the expression on the face of laurentia van gulpendam as she allowed the word "before" to slip from her lips. those wildly gleaming eyes, that projecting slightly quivering jaw, those half-open lips which allowed the breath to pass with a slightly hissing sound, and that full bosom heaving convulsively under the wet kabaja--all these were the visible signs of passion raging unrestrained within. that face betrayed the whole story, aye and even betrayed her regret that van gulpendam did not smoke opium. "well," she said at length, after having for a few moments stared at dalima; "well, and what happened then?" "nothing happened at all," was dalima's quiet reply. "nothing," cried laurentia; "that's a lie! lim ho would have had you carried to his ship merely to--" "before he had done smoking," hastily interposed dalima, "i was rescued." "rescued! rescued! by whom?" "by ardjan," replied the girl, trembling more violently than before. "by ardjan? by ardjan?" shouted her mistress. "oh! you filthy creature. now i see it all. of course you ran away from 'master leo' to go and have a game with your ardjan, and now you want to put it all upon lim ho. wait a bit, i will-"gulpendam!" she shouted, "gulpenda-a-m!" so shrill and so sharp sounded her voice as she thus called for her husband, that a couple of servants came rushing in thinking something terrible must have happened. "call your master!" she cried to them. "pardon, madam, pardon!" cried poor dalima in wailing tones. "no, no," said her mistress, "no pardon for a creature like you." chapter iv. the plot thickens. mr. van gulpendam came rushing in. stately and dignified as was the "kandjeng toean residã¨n" (high and mighty lord resident), yet when fair laurentia called in that tone of voice he became briskness personified. a wicked world, indeed, whispered that on such occasions he dared not for his life be one whit less nimble. the resident was, like his fair spouse, in undress; he had on only a pair of pyjamas and a "kabaja," and in this airy costume was seated in the outer fore-gallery of the spacious residence, engaged in leisurely sipping his coffee and enjoying his morning cigar, when the voice of his wife was heard re-echoing through the house: "gulpendam, gulpenda-am!" as if electrified, at the last long drawn-out syllable, van gulpendam flew up out of his rocking-chair, and that with such violence and speed, that he drove the thing flying away several feet behind him. "man, the umbrella, quickly!" he roared. besides the habitual and constant use of nautical terms to which we have already alluded, van gulpendam had another weakness; he would always insist upon having the emblem of his authority, the pajoeng, (umbrella) close by his side. in the very entrance of the official mansion four of these umbrellas were placed in a stand by the chair which the lord resident was wont to occupy. in his private office another pajoeng stood close by his writing desk; in his bedroom yet another was conspicuous at the head of the residential bed-stead. thieves might break in during the night, such was his argument, and at the majesty of the mighty pajoeng would recoil in horror. to that argument laurentia, imperious though she was, had had to bow, and had been forced to suffer the emblem of her lord's supremacy in the inmost sanctuary of her bed-chamber; but in the pandoppo where, in her capacity of mistress of the house, she was determined to rule supreme--no pajoeng was ever allowed to intrude. if the resident wished to go out for a walk then it was always "man, the umbrella!" and the umbrella and the cigar-case and the lighted slow match obediently followed his footsteps. sometimes when the great man would cool his forehead in the breeze, the servant obsequiously carried the official gold-laced cap--reverently it was carried behind him as a priest might bear some holy relic. as van gulpendam made his appearance in the pandoppo he was greeted with the words, somewhat sternly uttered: "what business has that pajoeng here? you know i won't have the thing in this place." and turning very sharply upon the unhappy attendant, laurentia cried: "back with you, away, quick!" and a single look from the master caused the man to disappear with his umbrella faster, indeed, than he had entered. "i say," said mrs. van gulpendam, addressing her husband, "dalima has come back. i want you just to guess where that good-for-nothing creature has been to." "what is the use of my trying to guess?" replied the husband. "she has no doubt dropped anchor somewhere in the dessa." "in the dessa," scornfully exclaimed the lady, "oh, no doubt. not a bit of it--she has been on the tramp with that ardjan of her's." "pardon, madam!" cried the poor girl, who understood dutch quite well enough not to lose a syllable of her mistress's words. "and now," laurentia went on, all in a breath, "now she has came home with quite a romantic tale. she pretends that she has been carried off, forsooth, by lim ho, and that she has passed the night in a ship. just fancy that." at the name of lim ho, and at the mention of the word "ship," the resident pricked his ears. the captain of the matamata, the guardship, had sent in a report in which he had said that the kiem ping hin had been cruising about the coast. that schooner-brig belonged to the opium farmer, who was shrewdly suspected of being in close league with the opium smugglers. hence the attention of the resident was so suddenly arrested. "what ship?" asked van gulpendam, somewhat hastily. "how should i know what ship?" replied his wife. "you had better ask that wretched girl." "pardon, madam!" cried dalima, as she was still cowering in great terror on the floor of the pandoppo. "come, dalima," said van gulpendam, with some kindness in his voice, "come now, my girl, just tell us what has really happened to you." "allah, master, they have caught ardjan. have pity!" "they have caught ardjan, you say," interrupted van gulpendam, "who have caught him?" "babah than khan and babah liem king," replied the girl, weeping bitterly. "oh ho," muttered her master to himself, and then turning to the girl again, he said, aloud, "where did they lay hands on him?" "in the moeara tjatjing, toean," was the reply. "in the moeara tjatjing," said van gulpendam, musingly; "what brought him there, i wonder?" "he had just escaped with me," sobbed dalima. "that's it, now what did i tell you!" almost shrieked laurentia. "from the ship," added poor dalima, between her sobs. "aye, no doubt!" cried her mistress. "run away from this house. that is nearer the truth!" "for goodness sake," said the resident, apart to his wife, "let the girl get under weigh, or else we shall never get to land," and turning to dalima, he said: "now come, first of all, let us hear how you got on board the ship." thereupon, the poor girl, still seated cross-legged on the floor, began to tell her master all that had befallen her from the time of her forcible abduction out of his garden, to the moment that she had succeeded in gnawing through the ropes which bound her, and had taken to headlong flight. just as the girl was beginning her tale, anna had quietly re-entered the pandoppo, and thus heard the whole story. "well," said the resident, when dalima had ended the story of her woes. "well, that is a curious tale certainly; and now what about ardjan--did you leave him behind you at the moeara tjatjing?" "why, sir," replied dalima, "he could not move, he was tied hand and foot when the two chinamen carried him off on the pole. they could not, however, have taken him very far; for scarcely had i got my feet free, before i saw their lanterns shining between the trees, and heard their voices approaching. had it been light enough they must have seen me running away, and most probably i should never have got clear of them at all." "then you suppose ardjan is still there?" asked her master, somewhat eagerly. "that i cannot say, toean," replied dalima. "i overheard them saying to each other that they intended first to take ardjan to the djaga monjet, and then come back and fetch me." "to the djaga monjet," hastily cried van gulpendam. "man! man!" "if i were you," said his wife, as bitterly as she could, "i would this time leave the pajoeng behind." but without taking the slightest notice of the amiable remark, the resident turned to the servant, who had appeared at his call, and said: "man, you will go at once with a couple of your mates to the moeara tjatjing. as you go you are to rouse the people of the neighbouring dessas, and take as many of them with you as you think you will require to help you, and then you will try and arrest ardjan the javanese. baboe dalima there will show you the way." "oh, you believe the girl's story then?" contemptuously asked laurentia. "well, not all of it perhaps," replied her husband, "but anyhow it is of the utmost importance that the matter should be cleared up." and turning to his servant, he went on: "you carry out my orders to the letter; do you hear? and now go, and take dalima with you." when both had disappeared, van gulpendam said in a whisper to his wife: "at the bottom of all this mystery, depend upon it, there is some opium-scandal. whenever lim ho's name is mixed up in anything, there is something going on that must not see the light; and--if my soundings are correct--then--the rich papa will have to pay the piper." these words the resident accompanied with a most expressive gesture, moving his thumb and fore-finger as a man who is counting down money. mrs. van gulpendam tried to stop him by looking significantly at her daughter anna. "oh, come, come," laughed the husband, "she is no longer a baby. when you were her age you had seen a good deal more than that at your parents'. she must by degrees get to understand where all the housekeeping-money comes from." and drawing his daughter to him, he said to her, as he patted her smooth cheek, "i am right, anna, am i not? when by-and-bye you are married, you will like to live in a fine house like this, you will like to have your jewels like your mother, you will want fine dresses, elegant carriages, the best and most thorough-bred horses, eh?" "well, my dear father," replied the fair girl with a blush and a most bewitching smile, "i suppose every girl would; however, i am not particularly fond of all these things." "oh, no," interrupted the resident with a laugh, "we know all about that. all girls talk just as you do when they are your age. it is always the same thing, 'beauty when unadorned &c., &c.' but," he continued, "all that sentiment does not last very long; in time women begin to see that the vital question is to appear as beautiful as possible. and now, my girl, you run away, and go and have a look to my breakfast; i have ordered it to be laid in the verandah and i have asked my secretary van nes to come and have it with me. you know he is a man who knows what is good--so mind you look to the honour of the galley." when his daughter had left the pandoppo to do her father's bidding, he turned to his wife and said: "now, my dear laurentia, just you listen to me. in a day or two i have to pay our bill to john pryce of batavia, it comes to 20,000 guilders, as you know, and of that sum i haven't got the first thousand together yet. now, if i am right about this lim ho business, why then you will see, we shall have fair weather enough for our money-question; oh yes, and we shall log a good bit more than that--we shall have a nice little sum in the locker after the bill is paid--that may come in handy--what do you say, eh?" "of course," replied his wife thoughtfully, "but then that running away of dalima, i don't like--" "now, now," cried her husband, "just you wait a bit, don't be in a hurry, don't go running off the stocks too fast! if the girl's yarn be true, then--yes--i am afraid that lim ho has been fishing behind the net. and yet, when i come to look at it that is not so bad for us either. it will only make him clap on more sail and--if we can only keep our helm steady, then that little job may turn out a very nice little breeze for us. a chinaman, you know, will go far--aye he will go very far to gratify his passions. so you just let me brace up, and mind don't you go taking the wind out of my sails." it was growing rather late in the evening--about half past seven--when the oppas, who had been sent out, returned and reported to his master that, with dalima's help, he had found ardjan. the news came to mr. van gulpendam just after he had risen from table, and was sitting with his wife and daughter in the cool front gallery of the sumptuous residential mansion. they were awaiting the arrival of some friends and acquaintances who were, on that evening, to partake of the family's friendly and sociable hospitality. yes--we use the words friendly and sociable hospitality; for the van gulpendams, with all their faults, were very hospitable, and could be most friendly and sociable. of course their intense worldliness and love of display had a great deal to do with their hospitality; but it was so tempered by the bon-ton of both host and hostess that, on such evenings as this, their ostentation was hardly, if at all, perceptible. this was to be a friendly and sociable evening. on such evenings not every one had the entrã©e of the residence; they were, in fact, quite different from the grand official receptions. these formal receptions took place regularly, once a week, on wednesday. then lower officials, subaltern officers, leading men of commerce, planters, strangers, in one word mere official visitors were received. on these grand occasions the lord resident would appear in state, clad in light-blue cloth coat with silver buttons, in white cashmere trousers, in all the splendour, in short, which his high office could shed upon poor mortal man. then also his handsome wife decked out in all her jewellery would flaunt about like a gorgeous peacock. but at such receptions not a gleam, not a vestige of friendliness or sociability could be discovered within the walls of the house. then on the one side, there was nothing but pride, conceit and arrogance, and, on the other, all was humility and obsequious cringing with here and there a little touch of half-concealed mockery. but the ordinary evening gatherings were for intimate friends and highly-placed officials who, by reason of their position or wealth, could venture familiarly to approach the residential throne. invitations there were none; but certain dignitaries were sure to put in an appearance, such as the commandant of the garrison who was a colonel at least, the president of the high court of justice, the chief of the medical staff, the president of the local board of trade, and such like. all these good people came without ceremony, without compliment, stood and chatted for a moment or two with mrs. van gulpendam or said a few pretty things to her fair daughter, shook hands with the resident in a friendly way, talked over the bits of news of the day and then settled down at the little card-tables for a quiet game. as a rule mrs. van gulpendam would take a hand, and, it must be said, that she was by no means amongst the least lucky of the players, especially when, towards the end of the evening, the play began to run rather high. of this love of play dear little anna used to make excellent use. as soon as she had seen the guests properly attended to, she would slip away indoors, take her seat at her piano, and there would give herself up to the full enjoyment of chopin or beethoven or mozart, whose masterpieces the young girl revelled in and would study with the enthusiasm of a born musician. such was to be this evening's programme, though as the sequel will show, the music was to serve quite another purpose. when the "oppas" had, in minute detail, reported all he had learnt to know about poor ardjan, and how he had conveyed the javanese who was in a burning fever, to the hospital to be there further taken care of--the countenance of his chief brightened up wonderfully. "the deuce, the deuce," he muttered between his teeth, "that bit of a joke with the devil-nettle may come to cost lim ho's worthy papa a pretty penny!" from a distance mrs. van gulpendam was eagerly watching the emotions which were pretty clearly reflected on her husband's countenance. but the good humour of the resident rose to absolute satisfaction when the man went on reporting to him that his people, with the assistance of the inhabitants of the dessa, had discovered certain small casks and tins carefully stowed away in the dense underwood, and which, in all probability, contained opium. "who, do you say, found these things?" asked the resident. "oh!" said the oppas, "all of us." "what," fell in van gulpendam, somewhat taken aback, "did the dessa folk see them as well as you?" "engã¨h (yes), kandjeng toean," replied the man, who was seated cross-legged in front of his master. the reply evidently did not please his excellency at all, and his displeasure was plainly reflected in his face. "and where did you make this haul?" he continued. "have you brought it along with you?" "pardon me, kandjeng toean," replied the oppas, "i had the things taken to the chief inspector of police." "stupid ass!" muttered van gulpendam almost inaudibly. "engã¨h, kandjeng toean," was the stolid reply--the man did not understand the epithet. the word "engã¨h" is always in the mouth of a javanese whenever he addresses a european. he will give that answer even when he has not understood a word of what has been said to him, and it must not be taken to express any opinion of his own, but it is simply a meaningless and polite kind of consent to whatever his superior may choose to say to him. van gulpendam thoroughly knew the javanese character, and was therefore not the least surprised at his man's answer. "go," said he, "to the inspector and tell him that i want him to come to me at once." the servant still retaining his posture, pushed himself backward for a few paces, then sprang up and hurried off to carry out his master's order. a few moments later, after the usual greetings and compliments had been exchanged, the conversation became general. anna seized this opportunity, and quietly slipped away, scarcely noticed by any one present. dalima, she knew, had returned, and she was full of curiosity to hear what had become of ardjan. she had managed to overhear a few scraps of her father's conversation with the "oppas," but had not been able to get at the truth of the story. when she reached the pandoppo she found dalima there, seated, cross-legged as usual, but with tears streaming down her cheeks. "what in the world has happened to you, dalima?" cried she. "do tell us all about it." "o nana," cried the poor girl, "they have abused my ardjan so shamefully!" and thereupon she told her mistress in what a pitiable state she had found her lover. "oh," she sobbed, "if i could have got there a little sooner!" "but, who has treated him so dreadfully?" cried anna full of sympathy. "lim ho," replied dalima. "lim ho?" said anna. "why, what was he doing there?" "that i can't tell you," replied the girl. "all i can say is that i recognised him quite plainly as he was rowed past the djaga monjet 'out of the moeara tjatjing.'" "oh, you may have been mistaken, dalima," said her young mistress. "mistaken, nana! oh no," replied the girl. "i could see him clench his fist in anger when he caught sight of me. i feel sure, indeed, he would have put back had he dared; and the few words ardjan could speak have made me certain it was he." "but," asked anna, "what could have induced him to torture the poor fellow so unmercifully with the kamadoog?" "i am sure i don't know," said dalima, colouring; "perhaps it was because ardjan is my sweetheart; it may be because he rescued me from the kiem ping hin. oh, dearest nana," continued the poor girl, with a flood of tears, "poor dear ardjan has gone mad, he does nothing but rave." "and where is he now?" asked anna, striving to quiet the sobbing girl. "he is in the hospital; the police took him there after they had gone to fetch the inspector." "the inspector?" cried anna. "what had he to do with it?" "the men took some small casks and some tins which they had found, to his house," was dalima's reply. "opium!" exclaimed anna, now really frightened. "where did they find the horrid stuff?" "they found it close to the hut where ardjan was tortured." "close to the hut, you say," cried anna. "they found it at the same time that they discovered ardjan?" "yes, na," faltered dalima, scarcely audibly. for a moment the fair girl stood as if lost in thought. "i hope it will not compromise poor ardjan," said she, musingly, and then, having collected her thoughts, she again turned to dalima, and said: "were you quite alone with ardjan when you left the ship in the djoekoeng?" "quite alone, nana." "you are sure, there was nothing in the djoekoeng when you got into her? now think well." "quite sure, nana, nothing whatever," replied dalima. "how could there be? we slid along a bit of rope into the boat, while the storm was howling all round us, and glad enough we were to get out of the ship and away from her as soon as possible." nonna anna reflected for a few moments. then she started as if a sudden thought had struck her, ran into her own room, which adjoined the pandoppo, and soon returned carrying with her a writing case. she put it down before one of the lamps which were burning there, and hurriedly scribbled a little note. when she had sealed it, she handed it to the maid, and said: "now, dalima, listen to me. do you really love ardjan, and are you anxious to save him?" "oh, nana," cried the poor girl, ready again to burst into tears; "how can you ask that?" "very well," said anna, quietly, "then take this note to mr. van nerekool, you understand?" "oh yes, i know," cried the girl; "he lives in aboe street close by the catholic church. but it is so far away, and it is now so late." "then you had better tell sodikromo, the gardener's boy, to go with you," said anna. "you can take a 'sã¢dos' (dos-ã -dos) and you will soon be there and back--so now quick--make haste." it did not take sodikromo long to get the vehicle ready, and soon he and dalima were on their way with the nonna's message. while this was going on in the pandoppo, mr. and mrs. van gulpendam were receiving their guests, who kept on gradually arriving, with the courtesy and suavity they could so well put on. "well, that is kind of you, colonel, i call it really very kind of you to remain faithful to our little party," said laurentia to a gentleman who had just come in. he was in plain clothes; but his bearing and his white hair closely clipped and his bristling moustache plainly proclaimed him a soldier. "and why, madam," replied he, "what may have led you to suppose that i would have denied myself the pleasure of presenting myself here to-night?" "van gulpendam has told me," replied the hostess, "that there has been very ugly news from atjeh, and that a considerable part of our garrison would have to leave. so i took it for granted that you would be much too busy to--" "do what, madam?" said the colonel, smiling. "to come and take my hand here as usual?" "by no means, i can assure you that a good deal would have to happen before i would forego the pleasure of your charming society. oh, no," he continued, "i have given my orders--the rest, the chief of my staff will see to." "and you," said laurentia, turning to another of her newly-arrived guests, "have not these sad tidings given you a great deal to do? a very large medical staff will have to accompany the expedition--at least, as member of the red cross i have received some such intimation from batavia." "no, madam," replied the gentleman thus addressed, who was chief medical officer at santjoemeh. "i have not to complain of overwork. every provision for our expedition to atjeh has been made and i need not trouble my head about it any more. but, for all that, i can assure you that i was in real danger of being obliged to miss your pleasant party this evening." "indeed," said laurentia, with much assumed interest, "i hope there is no case of serious illness among our friends, doctor?" "i am glad to say there is not, madam," replied the doctor. "but, as i was at my dinner this afternoon, the young surgeon on duty at the hospital came running in to tell me that i was urgently wanted. a young native, he said, had been brought in by the police, who was in a most dreadful condition, suffering from something which completely puzzled him. his diagnostica was altogether at fault." "his--what was at fault, did you say, doctor?" enquired mrs van gulpendam. "his diagnostica, madam," replied the surgeon. "that is the name, you know, we give to the science by which we recognize a special form of disease. well, as the young fellow assured me that the patient was in an extremely critical state--in fact in extremis--i had no choice but to go and see him. you know, dear madam," proceeded the surgeon, sententiously, "a physician's devotion must be that of a priest." "oh, i know, of course," replied laurentia, with a slight smile; "but pray go on." "well," continued the surgeon, "i went all the way to the hospital. and now, just guess what was the matter!--oh, those young doctors of the new school! the fellow had his mouth full of fine words--of absent diaeresis, of efflorescentia, of formicatio, of hemianthropia, and what not. but he couldn't see with all his brand new science, that he had to do with a very simple--though i must own--a most severe case of urtication." "a severe case of what?" enquired laurentia. "why, madam, of urtication," replied the doctor, "the man had undergone, somehow or other, a most severe flogging with nettle-leaves." "nettle-leaves!" exclaimed van gulpendam, breaking into the conversation, his interest being thoroughly aroused at the doctor's words. "these things," he continued, "are called in javanese, i think, kamadoog--are they not, doctor?" "precisely so, resident, you are quite right," was the surgeon's reply. "pray, doctor, do go on with your story," said van gulpendam. "ten knots an hour if you please." "well," said the doctor, "that foolish young fellow might have let me finish my dinner in peace. there was nothing to be done in the case but what the people of the dessa had done already, the parts most afflicted had to be covered with sirih-chalk and the other parts with oil. it was very simple. the man was, of course, in a burning fever, but i need not have been disturbed for that, there are antifebrilia and antidinika in abundance in store, he might have administered them without calling me in." "and how long," asked van gulpendam, somewhat eagerly, "do the effects of such an urtication, as you call it, last?" "oh, that is impossible to say, that depends entirely upon how the nettle has been applied. this patient of ours has had an uncommonly heavy dose of it, and, in my opinion, the fever will last some forty-eight hours. then, i hope, it will abate, but it will be quite a fortnight before the man is on his legs again." "a fortnight," said van gulpendam, with a frown. "why, that is a long time." "yes," said the surgeon, "it will be quite a fortnight, and then only if all goes well." "and tell me," continued the resident, "will it leave any serious consequences?" "none whatever, my dear sir. if the patient once gets well over the fever, there will be none." "but surely," insisted van gulpendam, "there will be scars and the skin will be discoloured." "certainly not--nothing of the kind," replied the other. "so that," continued the resident, "after the cure there will be no visible proofs of the treatment he has received?" "there will be none. but, resident, why all these questions? perhaps you take some special interest in the man?" "not i," said van gulpendam, carelessly, but yet with some confusion. "why should i? i know nothing about the case, i have heard nothing about it; but i have heard so much of the terrible effects of the hoekoem kamadoog that i often have wished to learn something more about it." other guests were arriving, and so the conversation dropped. after the usual greetings the card-tables were occupied, while anna was busying herself at the tea-table. play had, however, scarcely begun before the chief inspector of police was announced. he paid his respects to the lady of the house, interchanged a few words with some of his acquaintance, and then turning to the resident he said: "i beg your pardon, sir, for thus disturbing you; but the message i received, left me no choice but to intrude myself upon you at once." "quite right, quite right, mr. meidema," said the host, as he rose from his seat and turning to his partners he said: "gentlemen, you must oblige me by playing a three-handed game for a few minutes, i have urgent business with mr. meidema." the two officials entered a side-chamber which opened upon the gallery, and after having carefully shut the door, mr. van gulpendam, without preface whatever, said to the inspector: "mr. meidema, you have made a considerable capture of opium to-day, i hear." "yes, resident," was the reply, "three buttertubs full, and fifteen tins have been delivered into my custody. in the tubs the opium was packed just like butter, one little tub of ten kilos, inside a larger one, and surrounded by coarse salt. the tins contain about five kilos each. the whole amounts to about one and a half 'pikols.'" "so, so," said van gulpendam, "that is a pretty good haul." "which are worth," continued meidema, "i should say, about nine thousand guilders." "how do you make that out?" asked the resident. "you know government delivers the raw opium to the farmers at the rate of 30 guilders the kattie. now, 30 ã� 150, is, according to my reckoning, no more than four thousand five hundred guilders. i am right, am i not?" "you are perfectly right, sir," replied meidema. "but you must remember that this is not raw material. we have got hold of tjandoe, and you know, i suppose, that one kattie of raw opium gives only fifteen thirty second parts of pure tjandoe." "i daresay you are right," said the other. "but," he added, fixing a very strange look upon his inspector, "are you quite sure it is opium?" without appearing to notice his superior officer's look, meidema answered at once: "it is something better than that, sir, it is tjandoe. look at the sample, i have one here with me. it is the purest bengal article." "hadn't we better," said van gulpendam, "submit that sample to a chemist for analysis?" "just as you please," said meidema; "but i see not the slightest need for that. it is tjandoe, and it contains, at least, twenty or thirty per cent of morphia." "indeed," quoth van gulpendam. "i was only thinking--well, it is your business, you know what is best. the contraband has been placed in your custody. you know, i suppose, where it came from?" "oh yes, sir, i know where it came from. your chief servant told me that it was put on shore from the kiem ping hin, and you know--" "from the kiem ping hin," hastily exclaimed van gulpendam. "what makes you think that?" "what makes me think that?" slowly repeated meidema. "why, resident, i told you just now your chief servant told me so." "man, man," cried the resident, in a loud voice. the servant thus summoned appeared; and then turning to mr. meidema and pointing to the javanese, the resident said: "is that the man who told you this?" "yes, sir," said meidema, "that is the man." "man," said the resident, as he sternly fixed his eye upon his javanese servant, "that opium which you delivered to the toean inspector, was found upon ardjan--was it not?" "engã¨h, kandjeng toean," was the man's reply. "but"-"i will have no 'buts,'" cried van gulpendam, "simply yes or no." "engã¨h, kandjeng toean," said the man again stolidly. "you hear it, mr. meidema?" "oh yes, resident, i hear it," replied the inspector, in a strange tone of voice. "very well, then," continued his superior officer, "you will please to draw up your official report in accordance with that man's evidence." "but, sir--" began the other. "i will have no 'buts,'" interrupted van gulpendam, sharply. "all you have to do is to do your duty." "have you any other commands for me, resident?" drily asked the inspector, with a stiff bow. "no, thank you--none at present." a few moments later the card parties were in full swing, and laurentia, who was holding splendid hands, was in unusually high spirits, and exceedingly talkative. "humph," muttered her husband, as he took his seat at his own table. "she is beginning rather early--rather too early i am afraid." chapter v. music hath charms. just as mr. meidema was leaving the residence in his brougham, another carriage drove up and mr. van nerekool walked up the steps which gave access to the gallery in which the company was assembled. it may have struck the reader as somewhat strange that so young, so well-educated and so refined a girl as anna van gulpendam assuredly was, should have ventured to write to the young lawyer, and strange also that the latter should so speedily have answered her summons in person. but, in the first place, it is well to remember that, when she wrote that letter anna, completely carried away by the sore distress of dalima, and, in the kindness of her heart, most anxious to do what she could for her favourite servant, acted purely upon impulse; and had not stopped to consider that perhaps her action might be looked upon as somewhat forward and indelicate. further it must be said, that although never a word of love had passed between them, yet they were united in the very strongest bond of sympathy--such sympathy as always will draw together true and noble natures whenever they happen to meet. as they were themselves perfectly honest and guileless; no paltry suspicions could possibly arise on either side. that this strong bond of sympathy did exist between anna van gulpendam and young mr. van nerekool, cannot be denied; but for the present at least, there was no more than this. whether or not that bond would ever be drawn closer and give place to more intimate and tender relations the sequel will show. "good evening, madam," said van nerekool as he made his bow to the hostess, "i hope i have the pleasure of finding you well." "there's that fool again! what has that booby come on board for i wonder?" grumbled van gulpendam, while fair laurentia answered the young man's greeting as amiably as possible. "well, mr. van nerekool, this is indeed kind of you," said she. "we are glad to see you! you do not wear out your welcome. we only too seldom have the pleasure of seeing you!" "very good indeed of you to say so, mrs. van gulpendam; but, you know, i don't much care for cards and, in the presence of such an adept as you are, i cannot help feeling myself, to say the least, somewhat of a fã¢cheux troisiã¨me." as he was speaking his eye at a glance took in the whole company but failed to light on her whom it sought. so turning to the gentlemen he said: "well, resident, i need not enquire after you, nor after your health, colonel, nor yours, my dear doctor; anyone can see there is not much the matter with you. how are the cards serving you this evening? i hope you are in luck," continued he to the secretary seated at the other table. "not over well," muttered van nes. "i was getting on pretty fairly just at first but--" "ah, mr. van nerekool," cried mrs. van gulpendam in the best of spirits; "you should have come a few minutes earlier, you should have seen my last hand. why i held--" "will mr. van nerekool take tea or coffee?" said a silvery voice interrupting the threatened explanation. the young man turned at once. "good evening, miss anna," said he most heartily. "how are you? but i need not ask, you look like a fresh-blown devonshire rose, so charming, so--" "will you take tea or coffee?" said anna, demurely, with an arch smile at the young man's compliments. "did you make the coffee yourself, miss anna?" "oh, no," replied the still smiling girl, "our cook always makes it." "and the tea?" asked van nerekool also with a smile. "yes, that is my department, mr. van nerekool." "i will take a cup of tea if you please." "our cook makes most excellent coffee, i assure you," cried mrs. van gulpendam. "i don't doubt it," replied the young man, with a slight bow. "i do not for a moment question her talent, madam; but, if you will allow me, i prefer a cup of tea. it reminds one of home, you know. if you please, miss anna, may i ask you for a cup of tea?" "on one condition," said the young girl, playfully. "it is granted at once," replied the young man. "now, what is it?" "that you will presently accompany me in 'fleurs d'oranger.' you know ludovic's charming duet, do you not?" van nerekool made a wry face and slightly raised his hands in a deprecating manner. "oh," continued the young girl, laughing. "you may look as solemn as a judge on the bench; but i won't let you off. the 'fleurs d'oranger' or no tea--there you have my ultimatum. my ultimatum, that is what they call the last word before a declaration of war, don't they, colonel?" "quite right, miss anna," said the old soldier, who, wholly engrossed in his cards, had heard nothing but the last words of the question. "an ultimatum," cried van nerekool, "a declaration of war? who would be so mad as to declare war against you? no, no; sooner than be suspected of that i would play 'fleurs d'oranger' the whole evening!" "there you go to the other extreme," laughed anna, "that is always the way with you lawyers, at least papa says so; you are always finding paragons of perfection or else monsters of iniquity." "no, no, we are not so bad as all that, miss anna!" said van nerekool. "but will you allow me for a few moments to watch your mother's play and take a lesson from her?" "do so, by all means," said anna, "meanwhile i must go and pour out the tea and see to the other refreshments, and when i have done i mean to play a sonata of beethoven." "beethoven!" cried van nerekool, "most delightful, miss anna, do let me beg of you to give us the second sonata in d dur op. 36." "what tyrants you gentlemen are," replied the young girl. "very well, you shall have your sonata, but, after that, remember, 'fleurs d'oranger.' now go and take your lesson." the young lawyer went and took a seat behind mrs. van gulpendam's chair, and, although he did not pretend to any great knowledge of cards, yet he could not help admiring that lady's fine and close play, while anna did the honours of the tea-table, and was busily tripping about to see that the servants did not neglect their duties, and that the guests were properly attended to. as he was seated there behind fair laurentia, and was attentively studying her cards, the glow of light which numerous splendid chandeliers shed over the entire gallery, finely brought out his clearly cut profile. charles van nerekool was a man of five or six and twenty years of age. after he had most honourably completed his studies at the university of leyden, he had been appointed junior member of the court of justice at santjoemeh when, a few months back, he had arrived from holland. he was a tall, fair-haired man, scrupulously neat in his attire, and most careful of his personal appearance. his fine, sharply chiselled features had not yet lost their european freshness and bloom, and were well set off by a thick curly beard and moustache, some shades lighter than his hair. his winning manners, which were those of a courteous and highly-bred gentleman, perfectly harmonized with his handsome countenance, and he was universally esteemed an accomplished and most agreeable companion. but, though society had justly formed a high opinion of him, there was one point in his character which would not allow him ever to become a popular man. he was a lawyer in the truest and noblest sense of the word. a man who, deeply versed in the law, yet would tolerate nothing that was not strictly just and upright. quibbling and casuistry had no attractions for him; he was, in fact, honest as gold and true as a diamond. hence his manner of speech was always frank and straightforward--oftentimes he was too plain spoken, for he would not and could not condescend to wrap up his real sentiments in fine words or ambiguous phrases. anyone therefore, who has the slightest knowledge of the present state of society, may readily understand why the number of his real friends was but small. a strict sense of justice, a noble frankness of expression, and an intense love of truth, for truth's sake, are, unfortunately, not the qualities which serve to push a man forward most quickly in the official world--at least not in the official world of india. van gulpendam, especially--though he could not close his doors to a man in van nerekool's position, heartily detested him, and had repeatedly expressed his dislike to the old judge who presided over the council at santjoemeh. "ah well!" this latter had, on one occasion, said to him, "you are rather too hard upon our young colleague. remember this mr. van nerekool is but a newly fledged chicken. you will see when he has been here a year or two he will turn out a very useful fellow indeed. why, every one of us had, at his age, just those fine idealistic views of life which he now holds." this answer made our worthy friend, van gulpendam, look rather queer. his conscience, at any rate, did not accuse him of fine principles and idealistic views,--not such views, at least, as those for which he found fault with van nerekool. the young man was still seated behind laurentia's chair, attentively keeping his eye on her cards. "i cannot say," said the lady with a forced smile, "that you improve my luck. since you have been sitting there i have scarcely picked up a card worth looking at. i wish you would go and have a look at the resident's hand.--" "thank you," cried her husband, "much obliged, you want to give me a spell of bad fortune." there are no more superstitious people in the world than your veteran card-players. at mrs. van gulpendam's not very reasonable or very courteous remark, van nerekool had of course risen, and the resident's exclamation made him feel rather awkward; he did not, in fact, very well know what to do, when the young lady of the house came to the rescue. "now mr. van nerekool," said she, "my 'fleurs d'oranger!' what has become of them? it is time to begin, i think." "and my sonata in d dur," replied the young man, "what has become of it? i have not heard a single note of it yet." "true," she said, "i had quite forgotten it; come and turn over the music for me." "yes, that's right," said fair laurentia, "you go and turn over the music," and for an instant she looked at the young people as they retired together and then fixed her eyes once again upon her cards. "now, you see," continued she, "what did i tell you, no sooner has he turned his back than i get quite different cards!" "oh," muttered van gulpendam from his table, "i can't bear to have a fellow prying into my hand. if he does not wish to play what does the booby want to come here for at all, i wonder?" "h'm," said the old colonel, "perhaps he is anxious to learn." "to learn," contemptuously echoed van gulpendam, "he will never be any good at cards, he is not practical enough for that!" "i quite agree with you, resident," said the judge somewhat drily, "a man who is not of a practical turn of mind will never make much of a hand at cards." "no, nor at anything else either," grumbled van gulpendam; "come, let us go on with the game. it is my lead. hearts, i say." the two young people had entered the inner gallery and were no sooner out of sight of the company, before van nerekool began: "i have received your note, miss anna, and, as you see, i have hastened to obey your summons." "for goodness sake speak lower," whispered she. and then in her usual tone of voice she continued: "just help me, please, to find the music." whilst they were engaged in taking the pieces one by one out of a curiously carved ã©tagã¨re which stood by the piano and examining them, the young girl said in a whisper: "yesterday our baboe dalima was forcibly carried away out of the garden--hush! do not interrupt me or i shall not have time to tell you all. the author of the outrage is lim ho. she has, however, been most providentially rescued by ardjan, the man to whom she is engaged to be married. thereupon lim ho has had him most fearfully tortured with kamadoog leaves--so dreadfully that he is now in the hospital--" "look here, miss anna, i have found your 'fleurs d'oranger,'" said van nerekool aloud as he heard some one moving outside. "yes, thank you," replied anna. "but what can have become of that sonata? here it is," she continued in the same tone of voice, "i have it; but pray, mr. van nerekool, put that heavy pile of music on the piano." "oh," said he, "you intend to give us the sonata before the waltz?" "yes," said anna, "that is best i think;" and then she continued softly, "i know that sonata so perfectly that i can go on talking while i am playing it by heart." she sat down to the instrument, van nerekool standing close by her side ready to turn over the leaves for her. anna struck the first notes of beethoven's magnificent work while she continued: "as i was telling you, ardjan had to be taken to the hospital in consequence of the brutal treatment he had received. but that is not what made me write to you." "what was it then?" whispered van nerekool eagerly. "i am all ears, miss anna." "well then," said she, "pay attention to me." and while the nimble fingers of the talented girl ran over the keys, while she rendered in most masterly style the lovely reveries of the inspired musician--strains which full of sweetness yet here and there seem clouded by the great gloom which was impending over the author's future life--she told the young man the whole story of dalima's abduction, of her rescue by ardjan, in what wretched plight the poor javanese had been found, and she told him also that close by the place where they found him a considerable quantity of smuggled opium had been discovered, and had been delivered into the custody of the chief inspector of police. van nerekool had not for a single instant turned his eye from the music, he had never once made a mistake in turning over the pages; but yet he had been listening so attentively that not a single word had escaped his ears. at the ill-omened word opium his countenance fell. the young girl noticed the change of expression though she did not allow her emotion to influence her play. indeed she executed the final movement of the sonata--that brilliant movement in which a very flood of fancies all seem to unite in conveying the idea of perfect bliss--in so faultless and spirited a manner, that the card-players in the outer gallery, pausing for a few moments in their game to listen, broke out in a loud chorus of applause. "but do you know for certain, miss anna," said van nerekool, under cover of the noise, "that it was opium?" "how should i know?" replied she before the clamour had subsided. "but was that opium brought ashore by ardjan and dalima?" "most certainly not," said she in a whisper, "there was nothing of the kind in the djoekoeng in which they came to land." "how then did the stuff get there?" asked van nerekool. "dalima could tell me nothing about it," continued the young girl. "and now," she went on in her usual tone of voice, "now for the 'fleurs d'oranger!'" "but," insisted van nerekool in a scarcely audible whisper, "what makes you fear that ardjan will be suspected? as far as i can see there is not a shadow of a suspicion against him, unless--" "hush!" said anna, "presently--" and then, as a pleasant sequel to beethoven's sublime melody, the sparkling notes of the delightful waltz were heard filling both galleries with gay and pleasant music. while the last chords were still re-echoing, the young girl answered van nerekool's question: "just now," said she, "mr. meidema was with my father and--" dear little anna paused and hesitated. "and?" said van nerekool. "come, miss anna, you must tell me all." "i overheard part of their conversation--" "oh," said he, "you listened just a little bit?" the poor girl blushed deeply, face, neck and ears were covered with the glow. "well yes," said she resolutely, "i did listen. i had heard my father ordering the oppas to go and fetch mr. meidema and somehow i could not get rid of the suspicion that it had something to do with ardjan. when the inspector called i got behind the screen which masks the door and--" "well, yes, miss anna, go on, you must tell me all." "and then i heard all they said," continued she. "what did you hear?" asked the young man, eagerly. "all they said," she replied. "yes; but," continued he, "what did they talk about?" "oh! mr. van nerekool," said anna, "i really cannot tell you all that passed." "perhaps not; but yet you can remember the gist of their words. do try, miss anna." "mr. van nerekool," said she; "i am not at all sure that i have a right to--" "but my dear miss anna, why then did you send for me? just ask yourself that question?" "oh!" sighed anna, "i was so over-anxious to save dalima's lover." "just so," replied he; "i can quite understand that; but in what way can i possibly serve you unless you will trust me with all that took place? as far as i can see at present, there seems not the remotest reason why ardjan should be accused of this smuggling business. do pray trust me, miss anna!" "oh! how i wish i could!" sighed the poor girl again. "how i wish i could; but it is so very hard." "what is your difficulty?" insisted the young man. "that conversation between my father and mr. meidema," replied she. "but come," she continued; "you are right; you must know everything or nothing. i will tell you all." thereupon, burning with shame, the young girl repeated just what had passed between the two officials. she concealed nothing--neither the supposed value of the smuggled wares, nor meidema's suspicions as to their source, nor the examination of the chief servant. but when she came to reveal the fact that her father had, in a manner, forced the policeman to accuse ardjan, the poor girl almost broke down. van nerekool understood her confusion but too well, he knew enough and felt too deeply how humiliating was her position to wish to prolong the conversation. but before dismissing the subject he said: "just now you told me that mr. meidema had mentioned the name of the ship from whence he suspected the opium to have been brought. do you happen to remember it?" "yes," said anna; "i believe it was hing kim lin, or lin king him, or something of that kind." "was it perhaps kiem ping hin?" asked the lawyer, in a very grave voice. "now think well before you answer." "yes, mr. van nerekool," she cried still in the same subdued tones, "that was the name." the young man could not suppress a sigh as he looked down sadly at the fair girl beside him. "why do you look so strangely at me?" asked anna in some alarm. "do you know to whom this kiem ping hin belongs?" he asked. "no," said she; "how should i?" "well, then, the kiem ping hin belongs to lim ho." "to lim ho? what, to the son of the opium farmer?" cried the girl, covering her face with her hands as if she were trying to hide herself. "that is the man," replied van nerekool, as he looked down anxiously at her. then anna remembered the infamous dialogue between her parents at which that morning she had been present. the hot tears of shame came rushing into her eyes, forced their way through her closed fingers and went trickling down her shapely hands as she sobbed out: "oh, my god! my god!" "miss anna, dear miss anna," said van nerekool, deeply moved at the sight of her grief; "do be calm; pray, do not despair. i will do all i possibly can to save that unfortunate man. i promise you that solemnly." "but, my father," cried anna, as she hurriedly with her handkerchief tried to wipe away the tears which were still flowing fast. "but, my father?" "not a word of all this to him." "oh! no; mr. van nerekool," said she, "i do not mean that; but will this wretched business compromise him in any way?" "not if i can help it," replied he; "i shall do my best to arrange matters so as to leave him out of the question altogether. trust me." "thank you, thank you," said anna. "now let us say no more. i will go in and try to hide my feelings; you had better remain at the piano for awhile." "yes," said he, "i shall go on playing something or other and then i will take my leave." in a quarter of an hour or so, van nerekool was again standing behind the card-players. the game was nearly over, they were just having the last round and soon the company began to break up. "really, mrs. van gulpendam has too much luck," said the old colonel, as he sat ruefully looking at the few scattered counters he had before him. presently all had taken their leave and the resident was standing looking out at the departing guests when he heard a subdued voice saying behind him: "may i be allowed to say something, kandjeng toean?" van gulpendam turned and saw his chief servant seated cross-legged beside him. "what have you got to tell me?" asked he, abruptly. "i made a mistake just now, kandjeng toean," was the man's reply. "a mistake," said the resident; "what do you mean?" "when i told the inspector toean that the opium was found on ardjan." "brute!" roared van gulpendam. "if you dare to retract your words i give you the sack--i shall have you clapped into prison. do you hear me?" "engã¨h, kandjeng toean," said the poor native with his usual drawl, and placing his folded hands upon his forehead he respectfully and submissively made his "sembah" (salaam). chapter vi. a lucky day. van nerekool's interference was destined to bear very little fruit; but, on the other hand, it involved him in the most serious troubles. he was so young, he was so utterly without experience of all the complicated mazes of injustice which, in dutch india, are found in both the judicial and administrative departments as soon as ever these are brought into contact with anything that touches the great opium monopoly. a few weeks after his conversation with anna van gulpendam, she told him, on the occasion of another visit which he paid to her family, that ardjan had been discharged from the hospital, but only to be immediately committed to jail. thereupon, van nerekool began to make inquiries from the president of the council at santjoemeh, and from him he heard that the javanese was lying in prison on an accusation of smuggling opium in considerable quantities. "but," added the president, mr. zuidhoorn, "there is, in this case, one very curious feature, which i do not at all understand." "indeed," said van nerekool, "what may that be?" "why, it is this," said mr. zuidhoorn. "last week i received a letter from the resident, in which he tells me in what order and on what dates he wants us to take the cases we have before us." "why," cried van nerekool, "he has no right whatever to do that--such dictation is perfectly illegal--it is directly contrary to the law!" "precisely so," continued zuidhoorn. "and, as you may suppose, i have flatly refused to obey his directions. but listen further. on that list of his, ardjan's trial is put the very last of all. can you make that out?" "well," said van nerekool, "i daresay it is because he has no proofs against the man. in fact, i feel persuaded that it is a mere trumped up case, and knowing that it is so, he wishes to keep the man as long as possible in custody, so that when ultimately he is acquitted, he may have the satisfaction of saying: the fellow has been so many months locked up for my pleasure." mr. zuidhoorn cast a sharp look at his young colleague. "it may be so," said he, after a pause, "however, that is not the view i take of the matter." "indeed," said the other, "what, then, is your opinion?" "well," said mr. zuidhoorn, "you know, i suppose, that i have applied for leave of absence on account of my health, and that i am going to holland?" "i have heard so," replied the young man; "but what of that?" "what of that?" repeated the president. "don't you see! if the cases should be taken in the order van gulpendam directs, why then, we have so many of them that ardjan cannot possibly be tried before six or eight weeks." "certainly, i see that," said van nerekool; "but--" "you see," continued the president, "by that time i shall be far enough away." "quite so," rejoined the other; "but what does that matter? i suppose some other judge will be appointed in your place to preside at santjoemeh, while you are absent." a bitter smile curled the lip of mr. zuidhoorn. "who knows?" said he, "where that substitute may have to come from. travelling in india is a slow business. if, for instance, mr. raabtoon were called from padang, or mr. nellens had to come from makassar, why, there are two months gone before either of them can be properly installed, and meanwhile--" "meanwhile," interrupted van nerekool, "they may appoint some other member of the court for the time being, to get through the unfinished cases." "yes," replied mr. zuidhoorn. "they could do that no doubt; but they will not. you know well enough that in case of absence on leave, the resident has the power himself to preside at the council." "yes," said van nerekool; "what if he did?" "if he did," continued mr. zuidhoorn, "it is obvious enough what would happen. as soon as i am gone, the resident will take ardjan's case himself." "but, my dear sir," said van nerekool, "why should he do such a thing?" "how can i tell why?" replied the other. "you recollect how, some time ago, a colonial minister wrote to the king and drew his majesty's attention to the fact that officials are systematically bribed by the opium farmers, and that thus the authority of those who have to carry out the laws is undermined, seeing that they are wholly under the influence of the chinese opium farmers and smugglers. look you, my dear sir, i have much more experience in these matters than you can have, and when i come to consider the evident anxiety there seems to exist at headquarters, to have this case of ardjan's put off to the last, then i cannot but suspect that an attempt is being made to get the case out of the hands of the unprejudiced and competent judge." "but," exclaimed van nerekool, indignantly, "that is most monstrous, it is infamous." "no doubt it is," quietly said the president. "and what course have you taken?" asked van nerekool. "i have taken the only course i could take," replied mr. zuidhoorn. "i have simply done my duty. i have already told you that i have flatly refused to put off the case. it will, therefore, come before us in its proper turn, that is to say, about tuesday fortnight." it was not, however, to be so. a few days before the above conversation took place between the legal officials, the resident, mr. van gulpendam, received an unexpected visit. yes, the visit was a wholly unexpected one, for it was sunday, and about two o'clock in the afternoon, at a time when, of all others, no man in dutch india looks to be disturbed. about eleven o'clock that same morning, mr. van gulpendam had gone to his club, and had amused himself with a game or two at billiards. he liked to show his subordinates that, though he had not cruised about delft or leyden, he yet was just as handy as they were at cutting a ball into the middle pocket, and had not forgotten how to put on side. about one o'clock, he had gone home, had made an excellent and hearty luncheon, and then, in the pleasing consciousness of being able to enjoy the lord's day undisturbed, had put on his pyjamas and kabaai, and was just preparing to turn in for his afternoon nap. his hand was already on the handle of his bedroom door, when lo, his chief servant appeared in his usual quiet, stealthy way, slid down to the ground, made a most respectful "sembah," and softly whispered that babah lim yang bing requested the honour of a few moments' interview with the kandjeng toean. "babah lim yang bing," exclaimed van gulpendam, in surprise. "what? the opium farmer?" "engã¨h, kandjeng toean." "show him in at once," ordered the master. "but, van gulpendam," said his wife, "what are you thinking about? in that costume?" "it does not matter, my dear," replied the husband, "we must sail when the wind blows fair. but--oh yes--" and, calling another attendant, he ordered, "go and fetch the pajoeng stand here." laurentia shrugged her shoulders. "there's a pretty thing, the resident in pyjamas and kabaai, and the golden pajoeng by his side." "it looks more dignified, my dear. you leave me to manage, we are having a fair breeze, i tell you. now you run away to your nest." "humph," muttered laurentia, with her most captivating smile. "very sociable, i must say, all alone. come, my dear," she continued, "do send that chinaman about his business." "not a bit of it," said van gulpendam, "we must keep the galley fire in--you seem to forget our bill to john pryce." but the lady had vanished. one of her female attendants had come in and whispered to her mistress that m`bok kã¢rijã¢h was in the kitchen waiting to see her. this m`bok kã¢rijã¢h was a friend of nã¨nã¨h wong toewã¢ and pretty nearly as old as she was; but she had more strings to her bow than mrs. van gulpendam's confidante, for besides being a doekoen, she was also a bepã´rrã´, a dealer in jewellery. "much use her coming now," muttered the lady, "now that my husband has this chinaman on his hands." she hastened however to her room, and ordered her servant to show the old woman up. at the entrance of the pandoppo the chinaman and the old crone met. neither, however, seemed to have the slightest knowledge of the other; but a smile played upon the lips of the babah. for anyone but m`bok kã¢rijã¢h that smile was no more than the stereotyped smirk which the sallow face of every celestial wears when he is about to enter the presence of a superior. the old woman, however, knew that it was a smile of inward satisfaction. preceded by the servant girl she entered the inner gallery and was admitted into the njonja's bed-chamber, while the chinaman approached the resident who sat comfortably balancing himself in his rocking-chair by the side of which was displayed the pajoeng stand which surrounded the high and mighty lord with its lustre of umbrellas. "well, babah," began van gulpendam as with a careless gesture he motioned the chinaman to a seat, "well, babah, what brings you here this hot time of day?" the chinaman took a chair without ceremony, and with a sly look he said airily, "oh i merely came to inquire after the health of the kandjeng toean." "the deuce you have, babah, i must say you might have chosen some other time for that." "oh, pray don't say so, kandjeng toean. really this is the very best time for a little quiet chat. body and mind are now both at rest, and this is the very moment for a little business." "oh so," said van gulpendam, with a laugh, "the babah has come on business, has he?" "that is why," said the chinaman lowering his voice, "i was so anxious that no one should see me slipping into the garden of the residence." van gulpendam pricked his ears. "you are very mysterious, babah," said he, "have you come to bother me again about that confounded opium?" "yes, kandjeng toean, and for something else besides." "very well, babah, let us hear what you have to say." he had it on the tip of his tongue to call out, "very well, babah, haul away," and, had he at the moment known how to get it out in malay, out it would have come. but he had time to reflect that the chinaman would not, in any case, have appreciated the force of the nautical phrase. babah lim yang bing, then, in his oily fashion proceeded to give his version of the seizure of opium near the djaga monjet in the moeara tjatjing, and made some attempt to explain to the resident that what had been seized there was in reality no opium at all. "oh, indeed," laughed van gulpendam, "that is your tack is it? it was not opium--what was it then?" "oh, kandjeng toean," smiled the other, "it was nothing but scrapings of opium pipes mixed with the thickened juice of certain plants." "well," said the resident in a mocking tone of voice, "if that be so, then there is an end of the matter, then there is nothing illegal at all in it." "yes, yes," replied the other, "but the inspector of police insists that it is opium." "the deuce he does!" said van gulpendam. "yes," said the chinaman, "and he has consulted a couple of chinese experts, and these, not knowing where the stuff came from, and judging by the smell and the taste have come to the conclusion, and have publicly declared, that it is first class tjandoe, very superior to that which the government supplies us farmers with." "you mean to tell me," cried van gulpendam in amazement, "that the inspector has told you all that?" "yes, kandjeng toean, and he has done more than that he has placed a sample of it into the hands of a chemist." "well," said the other. "and what is the chemist's opinion?" "he has made an affidavit," replied the chinaman, "to the effect that it is real tjandoe containing thirty-two per cent. of morphine." "that settles the matter," said the resident. "i am sorry for it babah, i cannot help you at all, things must take their course." "but," insinuated the other, "if the kandjeng toean would--" "no, no, babah!" said van gulpendam in an absent kind of way, as if his mind was on something else. "no, babah, i can do nothing for you." "i am very sorry to hear it," said the chinaman affecting to sigh though the stereotyped smile still hovered on his lips. then, with ready tact dropping that topic of conversation altogether, he began to talk about indifferent matters, about the gossip of the day, the state of trade, about the ships that had just come in, and so on--when suddenly he said: "yesterday, you know, the wyberton of the rotterdam lloyd came into harbour. she has brought me a splendid consignment of havanah cigars. i have had a few of them packed up as samples in cases of a dozen. they are very fine indeed. i happen to have one of these little cases about me. will the kandjeng toean do me the favour of having a look at it?" with these words the wily chinaman produced a cigar-case, which, as far as outward appearance went, was really very pretty indeed, it was very tastefully embroidered with bunches of red roses. the resident took the case, looked at it, admired it, and opened it. it contained twelve cigars, very fine looking havanahs, which, by their fragrance, were undoubtedly of an excellent brand. but, as the chinaman went on talking, the resident looked at the case and its contents in a very abstracted mood, as if he hardly saw it at all, his thoughts were evidently elsewhere. at length, he handed the case back, and said, "yes, a very pretty thing--it seems a very fine sample." "would the kandjeng toean condescend to accept them at my hands?" asked the chinaman with his most winning smile. "what? you wish me--?" "oh sir, it is but the merest trifle. the kandjeng toean will have the pleasure of smoking a really excellent cigar--i will answer for it--and he will be conferring the greatest favour upon me if he will accept them as a little present." without making any reply, without so much as a sign of consent, the resident listlessly allowed the gift to drop on a little table that stood by his side, and, just as if nothing whatever had happened, he took up the conversation precisely where it had been broken off. "when that opium came ashore," said he, "did anyone happen to be present?" "no one, kandjeng toean, but my two spies, liem king and than khan." "can you trust the fellows?" "most absolutely," was the reply, "there is not the smallest fear from that quarter." "and the opium was discovered, you say, close to the spot where ardjan was picked up?" "not two hundred yards from where he was," replied the chinaman. "and they found the djoekoeng in which he came ashore did they not?" asked van gulpendam. "yes, kandjeng toean, it was a surf boat." "that is all i want to know, babah," said the resident. the astute chinaman took the hint, he rose and was preparing to leave; but the resident motioned him back to his seat. "you have not said a word yet, babah, about that other business," said van gulpendam carelessly. "what business?" "your son lim ho has treated ardjan most barbarously." "one has nothing but sorrow from one's children, kandjeng toean," said the chinaman piteously. "that is all very fine," said the resident, "but the chief medical officer has made an official report which is very serious, very serious indeed. i am afraid, i am afraid--" "ah, this is a world of suffering and woe, kandjeng toean," sighed lim yang bing most dolefully. "is there no possible means of squaring it with the doctor?" "who knows," said van gulpendam thoughtfully. "now if i had the matter in hand, i might perhaps--" "o pray, kandjeng toean," whined the chinaman. "do pray help me i beseech you." "i shall see," said van gulpendam. "a great deal depends upon yourself, babah. you know the penalty for ill-treatment is very severe." the chinaman, in a moment, took the not too delicate hint. he felt in his pocket and drew forth a little silver tea-caddy of most exquisite workmanship. said he; "that wyberton i mentioned just now, has brought me some very fine silver ware from paris. just look at that fretwork. do you think van kempen in the hague could turn out anything better than that?" van gulpendam took the box. "aye, aye," said he, as he examined it, "it is marvellously pretty--very tasteful i must say." "i have had the box filled with the choicest chousong, such tea never reaches europe, it is reserved for the court at pekin. just smell it, kandjeng toean, is it not delicious?" the resident opened the tea-caddy and put his nose to it, but not before he had had a peep inside it. "most delicious," he exclaimed. "why, babah, you must send me some of that tea, we cannot get anything worth drinking here, the njonja is always grumbling at her storekeeper." "oh!" cried the chinaman, "may i beg the kandjeng toean to accept that little sample as an offering to the njonja?" "thank you very much, babah, i am pleased to accept it in her name. i am sure she will be delighted with it." the face of the celestial glowed with satisfaction; he felt that now he had his foot fairly in the stirrup. "i may hope then," said he, "that the kandjeng toean will--" "i can promise you nothing at all, babah," said the resident. "i shall see, however, what i can do." he rose as he spoke--a sign that the interview was at an end; but suddenly a thought seemed to strike him. "do you know who it is that has charged your son with ill-treating ardjan?" "yes, i do, kandjeng toean, it is pak ardjan, the father of the mate." "he is a notorious opium smuggler, is he not? some day or other he will burn his fingers at it." the chinaman looked up in surprise; but he saw through it. "at least," continued van gulpendam, in the most off-hand way, "that is what i hear from the police, it is no business of mine. i shall see what i can do." babah lim yang bing stepped up to the great man and familiarly held out his hand; jack was as good as his master now. but just at that moment a handsome big dog--one of anna's favourites--came bounding into the pandoppo, and wagging his tail, came jumping up at his master. van gulpendam took the animal's paw and coolly placed it into the babah's outstretched palm. "oh, it is all the same to me, noble sir," said the chinaman, with his false smile, as he heartily shook the dog's honest paw. the dutch official thoroughly understood those words of the chinaman. as soon as he was alone in the pandoppo, he, with a greedy look, opened the cigar-case and emptied it on the table. his face beamed with joy, for round each havanah there was very neatly wrapped a bank-note of a thousand guilders, in such a manner that one half of the cigars only was covered, and nothing could be seen of the paper when first the case was opened. next he put his fingers into the tea-caddy. yes, there again he encountered the same soft kind of paper. he was about to pull it out; but suddenly he thought better of it, he hurriedly replaced the precious cigars, snatched up the case and the silver box, and rushed into his private office where he immediately sat down and began to write the letter which so puzzled the president of the council at santjoemeh. just as he had sealed it, he heard his wife coming into the inner gallery, and taking leave of m`bok kã¢rijã¢h. "a lucky day," he whispered in her ear, as he threw his arm round her neck. "a lucky day," and thus he drew her along. "a lucky day?" she asked, replying to his embrace by folding her arm round his waist as she gazed at him with moist and glittering eyes. thus they went to the bedroom. when he got there van gulpendam carefully closed the door and double locked it. then he drew his wife to the table, and, taking a seat, he shook out upon it the contents of the cigar-case and of the tea-caddy, while laurentia stood by him, her eyes fixed upon the bits of paper. there were five-and-twenty of them, there could be no mistake about them, for the mark upon their silky surface told plainly enough that each represented the value of one thousand guilders. a shade of disappointment passed over laurentia's handsome features. it passed away in an instant, and was gone long before her husband could notice it. he saw her eagerly seizing upon the notes, carefully unrolling them from the cigars and smoothing down those which had come out of the tea-caddy in a sadly crumpled condition. "twenty-five thousand guilders!" cried she. "a pretty sum indeed--truly it is a lucky day, for added to what i have got--" "what have you got?" cried her husband. "yes, what i have just now received from m`bok kã¢rijã¢h!" "let us see! what did she give you?" eagerly cried van gulpendam. "i will show you presently; but first this." as she spoke she took up a little parcel which was lying on the table by the side of a cardboard box which bore marks of having already been opened. she then carefully stripped off and put aside the pisang-leaves in which the parcel was wrapped, and at length she produced a small cup of the commonest earthenware, which contained a greenish, quivering jelly, of most disgusting appearance. "first take this," said laurentia, as, with a tiny chinese spoon, she scooped out of the greenish mass, a piece about the size of a hazel-nut, and held it to her husband's lips as though she was going to feed him. "first take that, gulpie, dear--and then i will show you." van gulpendam cast a most comical look of despair at the gruesome morsel, while his face assumed an expression of loathing which baffles description. "that filthy stuff again," he whined submissively. "you know it is no good." "oh, yes," said she, "it is--this is quite a new drug. it must work, m`bok kã¢rijã¢h brought it to me only this morning." "do you intend me to swallow that horrid stuff?" "come, gulpie," said his wife, as she still held the spoon to his mouth. "now, don't be childish, swallow it at once. you will see how it will work," continued she, as she patted his back with her hand. "now, there's a dear, swallow it down, and then i will tell you how i have had as good a hari ontong as you." whether his wife's coaxing words and ardent looks, or his intense curiosity to know what she had to tell him, overcame his repugnance matters but little. suffice it to say, that the poor wretch shut his eyes, and opened his mouth, while his wife, with the spoon, put the pale-greenish mess upon his tongue. as he tasted it he heaved so violently with intense disgust, that an explosion seemed imminent. "come, swallow, swallow!" cried laurentia, again patting his back with her soft hand. "so, so, that's right; and now clean the spoon, the stuff is much too precious to waste." so the unhappy man was compelled to lick up and swallow the last vestige of the nauseous compound which clung to the spoon. "and now," said he, "now for your story." "come here, gulpie," said his wife, in her most coaxing manner. "come here and sit down by me on the divan, and i will tell you all about it." she took up the box from the table, and seating herself cross-legged on the divan after the fashion of the natives, she drew her husband close to her side. and now she proceeded to relate to him how m`bok kã¢rijã¢h had, in the strictest confidence, told her how madly lim ho was in love with the baboe dalima, and, as if they both did not know that well enough already, she added, with a strange smile, that he would do anything in the world to gain possession of the maiden. the forcible abduction from under the very eyes of her mistress was indeed proof sufficient of the ardour of his passion, and the poor fellow had been most grievously disappointed that he had been unable to attain his object. fair laurentia did not tell her husband all this simply, and as a matter of fact story. no, no, she was an artiste in the arts of wheedling and seduction. she took her time and knew how to impart to her tale the necessary shades and tints--here and there seeming to hesitate as if modestly disinclined to enter into somewhat questionable details; and then again at the right moment launching out into a freedom of speech which threatened to become impassioned if it did not indeed actually border upon the indecent. and so she managed to finish her story by a glowing description of the ardent chinaman and the personal charms of lovely dalima. van gulpendam had first listened to her attentively, her highly coloured narrative had greatly interested him. but--was it the effect of the drug he had swallowed, or was it an occasional peep into fair laurentia's half-open kabaja, or were there other influences at work which made him lose his mental balance? at all events, the man was trembling with excitement when his fair neighbour brought her story to an end with the words: "m`bok kã¢rijã¢h implored me to lend her my assistance and to exert my influence with dalima to make her yield to lim ho's ardent passion. as earnest of the man's gratitude she offered me this." thus saying, laurentia opened the box and drew forth a magnificent red coral necklace depending from which hung a large rosette of precious stones. "look, gulpie, look!" she cried, triumphantly, "these brilliants alone are worth more than ten thousand guilders," and as she spoke she threw the necklace over her well-shaped shoulders. the deep red corals showed off splendidly on the soft pearly white skin, while the rich clasp of jewels lay glittering on her heaving bosom. but van gulpendam had no eyes for the costly gift. he clasped his fair wife to his breast as he exclaimed beside himself with passion: "you are lovely, my laurentia! you are too lovely!" "the drug, the drug," cried she, "you see it is the drug! m`bok kã¢rijã¢h has surpassed herself. you see, gulpie, you see!" "yes; darling laurie," cried he, in ecstasy. "it must be the stuff. i feel it working in my veins." "indeed, indeed, this is--this is indeed, a lucky day!" chapter vii. a traitor in the dessa. about twelve miles to the south-east of santjoemeh, in a hilly country which offers to the eye a continual succession of picturesque and lovely views, lies the little dessa kaligaweh. it is situated in the centre of an extensive forest of cocoa-nut trees which encloses it as in a circle of emerald, and which, viewed from an eminence close by, resembles a mighty garland of verdure whose tops waving in the gentle breeze have the appearance of a frame of grass-green lace-work. this cocoa-nut forest may be said to form the outer court of the dessa, for the village itself lies concealed in a thick grove of fruit-trees in which the most splendid mangoes, the most delicious ramboetans, the most refreshing assams, the juiciest bliembiengs, the most fragrant djeroeks and the coolest djamboes, and many other gifts of intertropical pomona grow up and flourish in the richest luxuriance. here and there tufts of underwood fill the spaces between the little huts and the trees, and flowers in the wildest profusion fill the air with their fragrance and enchant the eye by their rich but harmonious diversity of colour. the dessa itself is enclosed by dense rows of bamboo, the thick and tall black bamboo, which furnishes the natives with the most useful building material, and whose long massive stalks growing quite close together and gracefully bending under the load of the heavy plumage of verdure they have to support, form an almost impenetrable hedge, while at the same time they cast the most grateful shade over the enclosure within. kaligaweh was but an inconsiderable dessa. some thirty or forty huts scattered here and there in picturesque disorder among the fruit trees formed the centre of the small community. the inhabitants of this spot so highly favoured by nature occupied themselves, for the most part, with the culture of rice to which the soil was admirably adapted, and the fruitful rice-fields rose all around in the form of an amphitheatre on the hill-slopes. the lower grounds contained several fish-ponds well stocked with bandengs, djampals, cataks, gaboes, and many other kinds of fish, all of them highly esteemed by the european and chinese inhabitants of santjoemeh, and therefore fetching good prices in the market of that place. hence the population of kaligaweh might have been a highly prosperous and flourishing community, had it not been for the ravages which one fatal and all-destructive pest spread among them. their bane was the passion for opium. that fatal drug had undermined not only their prosperity, but broken down also the constitutions of all those who gave themselves up to its use. it was a sad fact, alas, that the great majority of those who dwelt in kaligaweh were enslaved to it; but sadder yet it was that there were not a few among them who could recall the good time when the name of opium was scarcely known there. in that short space of time, how complete a change had come over so lovely a spot! about twelve years ago a native of the dessa, who, in his youth had left it to seek his fortune elsewhere, returned to kaligaweh. this man, whose name was singomengolo, but who usually was known as singo, had let loose the opium fiend upon the quiet and innocent little dessa in which he was born. singo, on leaving home, had fallen into the hands of the recruiting serjeants. by encouraging his innate passion for gambling, and by initiating him into the mysteries of opium smoking, these soul-destroyers had, in an unguarded moment, induced him to enlist, and thus to bind himself to the service for a period of six years. the wretches helped the miserable man soon to get rid of the bounty in opium-dens, in gambling houses, at cock-fights, and in excesses of all kinds. then for six years he was a soldier. as soon as his time of service had expired, singo left the army in which he had acquitted himself with some credit, and obtained a place as oppasser (policeman) under one of the government controllers in the interior of the island. he soon gave evidence of considerable skill as a detective, and earned for himself the reputation of a very sharp and clever officer. this reputation brought him under the notice of one of the agents of the opium farmer for the district, who recommended him to the company; and the company, appreciating his services, obtained for him the place of bandoelan or opium-detective at their chief office at santjoemeh. in that capacity, his dexterity and cunning, not only in the detection of opium smuggling but also in bringing to light other mysterious and shady transactions, won him the warm support of lim yang bing, the wealthy opium farmer, who used constantly to employ him, especially in cases which had baffled the shrewdest of his agents and spies. singo's services were, in fact, invaluable to his master; for whenever, for some reason or other, a man stood in the rich chinaman's way, singo could always be depended upon to find smuggled opium in his possession, though the victim might not have perhaps, in all his life, so much as seen the drug. in the year 1874 babah lim yang bing, by sheer dint of bribery, contrived to get the number of opium stores in his district increased by ten; and among the unfortunate dessas which were thus poisoned by sanction of the dutch government, was kaligaweh. now, it was easy enough to set up an opium den in the little village; but it was quite another matter to make it pay, which was all lim yang bing cared for. as soon as the government had granted the license, an opium store arose in kaligaweh, a hole filthy in the extreme, so as to remain faithful to the tradition of such dens. over the door appeared a black board on which in huge white letters were conspicuously painted the words, "opium store," in dutch, in javanese, and in chinese, and in the characters peculiar to those tongues. the two chinamen, who were entrusted with its management, did their very best to attract people, they lavished their most winning smiles upon the passers-by, they exhausted every means of enticing them to enter; but it was all in vain. not a single man ever ventured to set foot in the noisome hole. babah lim yang bing was not slow to perceive that so good an example would become contagious, and might spread among the other dessas of his district. it was quite obvious to the most casual observer, that kaligaweh and its environs were wealthy and prosperous out of all comparison with the places where the opium trade flourished. why, the mere outward appearance of its people was quite enough to show this; and the broad chests and sinewy arms of its men, and the firmly rounded hips and full shoulders of its women and girls, whose bronzed skin bore the ruddy glow of health, formed the most startling contrast with the ghastly, sunken countenances, and shrivelled frames of the walking skeletons which one encountered in other less favoured localities. but, chiefly was the eye of that cunning chinaman attracted by the rich rice-fields which covered the entire district, and which pleasantly surrounded its little dessas nestling in the dark foliage of their fruit trees as islets amidst a sea of emerald, when the young crops imparted light and cheerfulness to the scene; or presently again would encircle these dessas as in a bright band of gold, when the stalks, ripening under the tropical sun, were bending under their weight of grain, and waved to the soft harvest breeze. in whatever season of the year, or from whatever side one might, at that time, approach kaligaweh, its fields testified to the frugal industry of its inhabitants. they always spoke of regular and systematic cultivation, and of careful and constant irrigation, and they thus loudly proclaimed--a fact with which the reader is already acquainted--that its people were prosperous and happy, and led very different lives to the squalid and wretched existence which was dragged out in the places where the passion for opium had taken root. all this it was lim yang bing's purpose to alter. not only was the material welfare of the dessa a thorn in his side; but his covetous nature longed to transfer the earnings of its simple and frugal population to his own already over-filled pockets. his attempt with the opium-store had hitherto, we have seen, borne no fruit; it had proved a failure, and had brought loss rather than profit to its owner. he had determined, at any cost, to bring about a change. on a certain evening, it was towards the end of harvest, the population of kaligaweh, men and women, young men and maidens, were returning homewards from the fields. the women had been hard at work all day, handling the sickles and cutting the ripe grain from the stalks, while the men had been no less busily engaged in taking the little bundles from the hands of the reapers, and binding them together into big bundles. the faces of all were flushed with exertion, and glowing with satisfaction, for the crop this year was a heavy one; no plagues of any kind had interfered with its growth, so that the landowners looked forward to laying up many pikols in their barns, and the more humble labourers could count upon a plentiful payment in kind. that, in itself, was quite sufficient to account for the universal good-humour and gaiety which prevailed. the rice-harvest is, indeed, in the rural districts of the rich island of java, a great national festival, a day of joy, which, for its simple people, has more real significance than all the other mahommedan festivals. it is then for them fair time. clad in their gay, many-coloured dresses, the women and maidens assemble on the green; then many a heart, for the first time, feels the tender passion; then many an old love-affair is settled, and many a "yes" is softly murmured. the climate, the surrounding scenery in those glad harvest-fields, all invite to merriment and glee. true it is, we must not deny it, that, on such occasions, unguarded innocence is sometimes betrayed, and that, now and then, an offering is brought to the shrine of lucina; but, much more frequently, the vows then made will presently be ratified and confirmed by the priest, and, at the very worst, no such frightful consequences ensue as are wont to arise in more highly civilized society. on this evening, as the merry bands of reapers approached the dessa, the lively tones of the cymbal fell upon their ears. the people looked at one another in astonishment at the unwonted sounds, and were at a loss to know who had prepared for them this pleasant surprise. when they came to the village green, they saw two booths erected under the splendid wariengien or wild-fig trees which overshadowed the dessa, and over each of these booths there waved the dutch flag. one of them was, as yet, closed, but in the back of the other were seated, cross-legged, a band of musicians, who made the air resound with their inspiriting strains. in front of this orchestra, a space was left vacant, the ground of which had been levelled and sprinkled with fine sand, and the booth was fairly well illuminated with lanterns of various colours. a loud cheer arose from the village crowd, for now they began to see that they might expect a much richer treat than a mere concert. singomengolo, whom lim yang bing had despatched with plenary powers to kaligaweh and who had provided this entertainment for his friends in the dessa, was standing close by leaning up against one of the bamboo stems, which supported the roof of the booth, and was, with sundry nods and smiles, welcoming the fresh arrivals who were, for the most part, old acquaintances of his, and who warmly greeted him on his return to the dessa. in a twinkling, the sickles, the bands of straw, and the bundles of rice were stowed away, and the broad-brimmed hats, with which the labourers protected themselves at their work from the full glare of the mid-day sun, were laid aside. soon the entire population came crowding to the green, and romping and playing filled the open space in front of the booth, then by degrees seated themselves on the soft carpet of tuft. meanwhile, the sun had gone down in the west, and the stars were coming out one by one, and began to show their soft and twinkling light, while the moon, rising in the dark blue vault of heaven as a large blood-red disc, shed the fantastic shadows of the wariengien trees upon the assembled groups. round about the tree-tops innumerable swarms of bats flitted in giddy mazes uttering their peculiar, short, shrill cry, and high above them, in the evening air, sundry flying squirrels kept circling round mysteriously, who seemed to be selecting the juiciest fruits on which, presently, they intended to make a feast. when all were seated, and some degree of order had been obtained; at a signal from singo, the cymbals and all the instruments in the orchestra struck up, and filled the air with pleasant melody. "bogiro, bogiro!" shouted the younger and more enthusiastic part of the audience. that first piece, indeed, which may most fitly be compared with our overture, is one in which all the instruments of a javanese orchestra play together, and which serves as an introduction to the programme which is to follow. at times, it must be said, the cymbals would make a most discordant and deafening noise, but this was varied now and then by solos which were musical and pleasant enough to the ear. evidently the musicians were this evening on their mettle, they exerted themselves to the utmost to deserve the applause of their simple audience; and the profound silence with which that wanton and excitable crowd sat listening, sufficiently testified to the success of their endeavours. at the last clash of the cymbals, the people broke silence, and by ringing shouts and lively cheers gave vent to their satisfaction as a westerly audience would have shown its approval by clapping of hands. singomengolo, with the help of a couple of his assistants, and aided by the two chinamen who kept the opium-store, then offered the notables, who were present, cigars wrapped in leaves, while sweets and confectionery were handed round to the more distinguished ladies of the company. round the two booths several stalls had been erected, at which the lower classes could go and gratify their tastes. the satisfaction of these poor people was unbounded, when they found that all these dainties were provided free of charge, and that it was in this generous manner that singo had determined to celebrate his return among them. on all sides, praises and thanks were lavished on his liberality. but the tempter took good care not to let them know that the tobacco of which those pleasant little cigars were made had been well steeped in infusion of opium, and that the pernicious juice of the polyanthes tuberosa largely entered into the composition of the nice sweets he had so bountifully served out. perfectly unconscious of this treachery the poor people thoroughly enjoyed their treat, and were loud in praises to their generous friend. presently, the cymbal was heard again, and every one hurried back to his seat. at the first notes of the piece which followed a loud cheer arose; "taroe polo, taroe polo" was the cry as the people recognised the well known sounds, then all sat silent and listened with rapt attention. the story or legend of which the musicians were about to give a musical interpretation, was familiar to almost every inhabitant of the dessa, yet here and there small groups gathered round some old man as he told the oft-repeated tale to his younger friends. the music of java is the interpretation, the embodiment, the rhythmical expression of the numberless fables, legends, and romantic tales current in the island. it is inseparably connected with them just as appropriate gesture and modulation of the voice are the necessary accompaniments of oratory. of these legends the story of taroe polo is one of the prettiest and well-calculated to awaken the softest emotions in the breast of the susceptible javanese. in very low tones, which blended with the notes of the music, but yet in an audible voice, the old man said: taroe polo was a young prince who one day while he was out hunting lost his way in the dense tropical forest, and as he was wandering about, suddenly came upon an old ruinous palace the existence of which had never been suspected. making his way through the tangled undergrowth, he soon came up to the walls and entered the ruin. as he roamed about the spacious and much decayed galleries, he was greatly surprised to find himself in an apartment which the hand of time had spared, and which retained all its former freshness and splendour. as he looked round in amazement at so sudden and strange a sight, his eye lit upon a young damsel of wondrous beauty surrounded by a train of attendants, who, although unable to vie with their mistress in loveliness, yet were all comely and young. she was a princess, a king's daughter, confined by the cruelty of her mother to that lonely spot, because she would give no ear to the suit of an old though powerful monarch, who was anxious to make her his bride. the moment prince taroe polo caught sight of this enchanting vision, he felt a fire kindle in his breast, and casting himself down at her feet, he began to pour out to her the tale of his passionate love; hear how well the little silver cymbal and the strips of resonant wood struck with small hammers with their soft silvery tones express the tender feelings of the prince, how they seem to sing, to woo, to implore as the young man kneels to his love. the young maiden listens but too willingly to his eager suit, her bosom heaves, she sighs, the flute with its languishing notes quite plainly tells the tale. but she is compelled to repress her emotion, for she is guarded by her attendants, who are her mother's slaves, and who one and all will be ready to betray her. she replies in broken accents, in single syllables, the harp faithfully gives back her confusion. gently however, and with the cunning of love she tries to get rid, if but for a few moments, of those who stand around her. she succeeds, and now the passionate joy of the lovers breaks forth unrestrained. how well that burst of passion is rendered in full symphony by the two stringed viol, the accordian, the flute and the zither. thus having, for a while, given way to their feelings, they suddenly remember that they can never win the mother's consent, that her followers are incorruptible and that their only chance of bliss is to flee away together--far away to the mountains. the lovely princess, however, will not yield, her maiden pride refuses to take the irrevocable step. but the prayers of taroe polo, now soft as the gentle breeze which rustles in the tree-tops, then vehement and passionate as the tempest blast which howls over the fields--at length prevail. her own heart pleads for him, her love is sounding his praise, still she wavers, she hesitates. but the thought of her mother and of the fate which awaits her should the secret of her love become known, quite overcomes her. with downcast eyes, but with a smile of joy she casts herself into the arms of her love, and with him she flies--she flies to the blue mountains, which loom far away in the mist. the whole javanese orchestra celebrates this happy close with a full burst of melody, the cymbals with rapid clang indicate the swiftness of their flight, and then the coy sighs of the maiden are succeeded by the jubilant song of the prince, and a loud clash of victory brings the piece to a triumphant close. the whole population of kaligaweh--simple folk--sat awe-struck listening with breathless attention until the last sounds of the gamelang had faded, quivering away in the distance. the moon had meanwhile risen, had lost her blood-red hue and was now prying down upon that rustic village green through the tall wariengien trees and flooding all those who sat there with silvery light. by this time the other booth had been opened and within a group of men could be seen cleverly manipulating some packs of chinese cards. your javanese is a born gambler. with him the love of play is the ruling passion, nay the mother of all others, which without that excitement might be harmless enough. the sight of that booth is irresistible, many of the men rise at once to take part in the seductive game, whilst others who are anxious to see the theatrical performance which was to follow, begin to ask singo or his attendants for one of those cigars which they had found so delicious. the poor little women too are so fond of those nice little sweetmeats and cannot help showing that a second edition of those dainties would not be unwelcome. but, the crafty minions of lim yang bing were on the watch. with the most pleasant smiles they told the company that the supply intended for free distribution had come to an end; but that the stall-keepers were ready to sell cigars and sweetmeats to anyone who would pay for them. it was a sore disappointment; the stall-keepers were ready to sell, but where was the money to come from? for though we know that the people of kaligaweh were in every way prosperous, yet there was but very little of the filthy dross of this world among them. singomengolo read their feelings at once, and with devilish craft he pointed to the open gambling booth. there, he grinned, plenty of all sorts of coins could be picked up in a few minutes. it was a mere matter of luck. his words acted like oil cast upon the fire. "but to play, one must have ready money to stake," suggested one of the bystanders. and how then about the rice which you have just brought home? said the tempter with a leer worthy of satan himself. a new light dawned upon the wretched people. the rice, of course, how was it that they had never thought of that? "and will they take rice for payment?" asked one. "take it?" cried singo, "of course they will and allow you the full market value for it." "and," continued the tempter, "you can see for yourselves that to-day is a lucky day for you. look at pak ardjan how he is rattling the rix-dollars. it was true enough, there stood pak ardjan, the father of the late mate--there he stood dancing and jumping about like a madman, while he rattled in his closed hands the three rix-dollars he had just won. three rix-dollars! why that was at least half a month's wages! and to win all that money in a few minutes! all one wanted was but a little pluck--fortune would be kind enough." thus spake many of the poor creatures, little knowing what nets were spread around them. still there was a great deal of hesitation--men had not altogether taken leave of their senses. the great majority still held back, and but very few bundles of rice had found their way to the gambling booth. just then--kaseran and wongsowidjojo and kamidin, and sidin, and so many others began to cut the same capers as pak ardjan. they also danced about, they also shouted for joy, they showed the people--the one three, the other five, a third seven, and yet another ten guilders which they had made in a twinkling. that singo really was an excellent fellow, he had returned to make the fortunes of all his friends. then there was no holding them. soon the whole booth was full of men blindly intent upon tempting fortune, while outside the cymbal resounded, and the voices of the actresses(?) were beginning to make themselves heard. but the keepers of the gambling-booth were no fools. their policy was not to frighten the poor dessa-people at this first attempt; and evidently only a very small portion of the rice-harvest had fallen into their hands. the cheerful and happy faces of the gamblers told plainly enough that there were not many losers among them, and if here and there one had been unlucky, it was always one who could very well stand a slight reverse of fortune. in truth, the "croupiers" did but very little business that night, though they were clever enough to take care, now that the ball had been set rolling, that their losses were not ruinously heavy. in fact, as the night grew on, the rix-dollars of the winners were imperceptibly but surely melting away to guilders and the guilders to still smaller change. yet, on the whole, the gamblers had won sufficient to make them all noisy and happy. at length came the hour of midnight, and the heavy gong was struck at the guard-house. the booth-keepers declared that they intended to close, that they had had a really bad night, and they actually did blow out the candles and shut up the place. many of the people were still lingering about and listening to the cymbal and the craving for cigars began to be felt again. thus the stall keepers did a roaring trade, and seeing that they also were in the pay of the babah lim yang bing the money which the confederates had lost at cards, managed to come back to them again through another channel, so that the sacrifice, after all, was not a very alarming one. at length the store of those pleasant cigars, which was not a very large one to start with, was exhausted. then, with an indescribably low and nasty smile, singo and his accomplices began to point to the opium-den where, for the same money, much more real enjoyment could be obtained. in that wretched hole some girls were publicly seated on the rough benches, and with their shapely fingers were daintily rolling the little balls of opium, and casting seductive looks, coupled with wanton gestures, at the poor victims who stood gazing at the open door of that fatal den without being able quite to pluck up the courage to enter. alas! for many of them, the temptation was too strong. excited by the poison which they had already imbibed in considerable quantity--seduced by the wanton allurements of those fair women--first one gave way, then another, and although that night not every compartment of the opium-den was occupied, yet the chinamen who kept it had every reason to be satisfied. when lim yang bing was told of the result of that night's work he rubbed his hands together as he chuckled, that "singomengolo is really an invaluable fellow--i must not lose sight of him." chapter viii. decay of the dessa.--arrest of pak ardjan. this first fairly successful attempt upon the little dessa was systematically repeated, and every evening the inspiriting tones of the cymbal resounded on the green of kaligaweh, and every evening also the temptations described in the former chapter were renewed. all this might cost lim yang bing some money at first; but he knew well enough that he would be the gainer in the end and that his capital would soon return to him with ample interest. by degrees it became less and less necessary to allow the gamblers to win; and it was not very long before such a thing only happened now and again so that the hope of gain might not die out altogether. gradually the poor deluded people began to lose more and more; and one bundle of rice after another passed into the hands of the sharpers who, it must be said, gave liberal prices; and allowed somewhat more than the full market value for the produce. but it was not only the spirit of gambling which had thus been aroused in kaligaweh; together with that degrading passion--perhaps in consequence of it--the abuse of opium began to increase to an alarming extent. six months, indeed, had scarcely elapsed before it became a notorious fact that a very considerable part of the population had taken to opium smoking; and--sadder still--that the opium farmers found powerful allies in the women of the dessa, who very soon began to perceive the influence which the drug had upon their husbands, and who, instead of trying to arrest the unfortunate creatures on their road to ruin, rather encouraged their fatal passion. one reason of this was, that the terrible effects of the poison did not at once manifest themselves. no--the enemy made his approaches in the dark, he advanced slowly but surely. at first the quantity used was but very small, a couple of matas or so a day, not even as much as that, were for those primitive people who were wholly unaccustomed to the drug quite sufficient to procure blissful rest and delightful sleep, and to call up visions of the houris with which mohammed has peopled his paradise. double that quantity would produce exuberant gaiety and excite to the most inordinate passions. and that peace, that excitement, that bliss could be purchased at the opium-store for fourteen cents (about 2 1/2d.) a mata. it was indeed dirt-cheap! but--though in the beginning of his downward course, the opium smoker could rest satisfied with so moderate an allowance--albeit even this did not fail to make a breach in his modest budget seeing that the expenditure was pretty constant--presently his constitution began to get seasoned to it, and it took a much greater quantity of the poison to have the desired effect. at first a man would only occasionally indulge and take up the bedoedan (opium pipe) say, once a week; but gradually his nervous system began to grow accustomed to the stimulant, and then a craving for the poison began to be felt, so that already several men could be pointed out who, as soon as the influence of the narcotic had passed off, were dull, downcast, nervous and restless; and who, in consequence, felt utterly miserable. there was but one means to raise them out of their state of depression; and so they would take up the bedoedan again and swallow another dose of the poison. and thus by degrees it came to pass that at length there was with them scarcely an interval between one fit of intoxication and the next. that thus the prosperity of the dessa was inevitably destined to disappear did not admit of the slightest doubt. not only was the actual expense of this habitual indulgence greater than the means of many would allow; but the fatal habit engendered other cravings which also had to be gratified, and which helped to sweep away the little that opium had left. moreover the love of work--never under any circumstances too strong in a tropical land--was first seriously impaired, then wholly extinguished, and, when not under the influence of the opiate the smoker was a slovenly, drowsy, lazy and objectless being, wholly unfit for the least exertion, whom nothing could rouse into activity but fresh indulgence in the baneful remedy. indeed the sanitary condition of the people of kaligaweh had degenerated with such alarming rapidity, that the most casual observer could not fail to be struck by the change. if, in days gone by, a european visited the dessa--which it is true but very seldom happened--he could not fail to admire the healthy and sturdy look of its inhabitants; but now he constantly came upon men and women whose ghastly appearance could not but excite in him the deepest pity. there could be no mistake about it, at a single glance it was evident that he had before him the victims of the terrible opium-fiend. those grey livid faces from which every trace of the oriental bronze tint had faded; that wrinkled skin which looked like parchment overheated without being scorched; those wasted angular features which gave to the head the appearance of an unsightly skull; those deep sunken eyes with their jaded look and the dark blue rings around them; those stooping forms and receding chests; that extraordinary emaciation of the upper body, of which every rib could be counted, and which conveyed an idea of transparency, for the specimens which one met had hardly a rag about them; barely a bit of dirty clothing wrapped round their loins to hide their nakedness; that deep distressing cough which came, with hollow sound, from the labouring breast and spoke of lungs wasted with disease whilst it seemed to shake to pieces the entire frame; those spindle legs, so poor, so meagre, that they seemed hardly able to totter along under the weight of the body they had to support; all these formed the stereotyped picture of defaced humanity and bore incontestable witness to the protracted sufferings and unfathomable misery which had reduced these poor blighted creatures to mere walking skeletons. when later on singomengolo revisited the dessa where he first saw the light, and where, as a thanksoffering, he had planted the most terrible curse, his lip must have curled with a satanic smile. yes, all he could now see there; those cocoa-nut trees overgrown with moss and parasites; those orchards neglected and decayed; those unwatered rice-fields and half-tilled fields; those two or three oxen whose lean and sickly appearance spoke plainly of neglect and starvation; yes, all these things were his work. it was his fault that now the harvest was scanty and worthless; it was his fault that even that wretched harvest had been pawned long before the ani anis had so much as begun their work; it was his fault that clothes, furniture, tools, everything, had been sold or pawned for next to nothing, and that all had been swallowed up in the bottomless pit of that national curse. but babah lim yang bing the opium farmer and his friends ong sing beh and kouw thang the keepers of the pawnshop and of the gambling-booth were thriving wonderfully, and by their glorious aid the dutch treasury also was doing well in comparison, at least, with former days when those three noble sources of income contributed little or nothing to that unsatiable moloch, the revenue. gaily therefore might the dutch flag wave in the breeze, and proudly might the dutch arms display their manly motto "je maintiendrai" above the opium-den, the gambling-booth and the pawn-shop--that much worshipped trinity which forms the most elaborate system of extortion under which ever a poor conquered race has groaned. among the first of the infatuated wretches which fell into the pit so carefully dug for them, was pak ardjan, the father of the mate of the schooner brig kiem ping hin. but a short time ago he was looked upon as a thriving and well-to-do javanese peasant, the possessor of a yoke of powerful oxen, now he had gambled, rioted and smoked away house and goods and had plunged his helpless family into the most hideous misery. where was now the pleasant little cottage with its neat hedge of golden-yellow bamboo and its clean dark-brown roof of thatch made of leaves? where was that comfortable little house in which pak ardjan was wont to sit with wife and children, passing his days in peace and cheerfully looking forward to the future? alas! the miserable hovel which now barely sheltered the once happy family was small, low, close, in fact a ruin. the single room of which it consisted was pervaded by that offensive musty smell which decaying bamboo generally emits. one look at the walls, the lower parts of which had already rotted away while the upper were rapidly crumbling under the attacks of the white ant, and one glance at the roof which was in one place bulging inwards and in another fast going to dust, was quite sufficient to account for the closeness of the air. on the bits of matting, which covered the still more filthy floor, the children were rolling about, many of them naked as they were born, while the mother and father, if he happened to be at home, clad in rags which were never washed and were leaving their bodies in tatters sat crouching on the floor stupidly gazing at the scene of desolation before them. gazing! aye, if the stony mechanical stare could be called by that name. for the father had lost all consciousness of the hopeless misery of his family. the frightful selfishness produced by the abuse of opium: the constantly growing indifference to all things round about him, even to his own wife and children; the rapidly increasing love of idleness, and incapacity for work, for care, for exertion in fact of any kind which at length made him utterly unable to think of anything by day or night except of how he might gratify his passion and the other cravings it engendered, and for which he was driven to sacrifice everything. all this had clouded his sight, and as a man stone-blind he was tottering on the very brink of a precipice. whilst he was in the first lethargic state brought on by the moderate use of the narcotic, he would be quiet, peaceful and contented, and would dose away and dream and build up for himself--for himself only--a paradise in which none but sensual pictures presented themselves to his eye and to his mind. then as he continued to smoke, and when he reached the next stage--the stage of frenzy--he would, regardless of his children's presence, shamelessly pursue his wife round the cabin, for at such times she seemed to him the houri of his dreams, and then, in that wretched hovel at any hour of the night or day, scenes would be enacted such as the poor innocent children ought never to have witnessed. for, at such times the man was like a brute beast, wholly incapable of bridling his degraded passions. then the final paroxysm would be reached, and the effect of the dreadful poison would begin to wear off; and then the wretched creature would fall into a state of utter prostration, of annihilation which for himself, and worse still for his family, was indeed a cup of woe. then the smoker would begin to tremble all over, then he became restless and uneasy, then his entire nervous system seemed to be out of joint, then every limb would be racked with pain--then he would moan most piteously, and cry like a child, sobbing and declaring that he was at the point of death and then--yes; then there was but one single means to relieve him and to bring him back out of that state of intolerable agony, and that was once again to grasp the pipe and to fight the disease with the poison which had caused it. then the wife had to run out to buy opium--where the money was to come from, that was her business. then one of the children had to knead and roll the opium-balls and another little one had to hold the lamp which, for that kind of smoking, is indispensable, and a third had to make strong coffee which was generally got by theft out of the government-plantations. and if, from sheer want of money, all this could not be done--nay even when it was not done quite quickly enough for the impatience of the nervous sufferer--then the wretched man would fill the hut with wailing and lamentation, with curses and revilings which drove its inmates to the verge of despair. amidst such surroundings as these ardjan had grown up, and although he had not fallen as deeply as his father, yet in the years of his childhood, the age which is most susceptible of good or evil, his heart and mind had received the impressions which made it possible for him later on to take service on board a smuggling-brig, and to make him feel towards the company which employed him in its nefarious transactions, such loyalty as we heard him express in the djaga monjet before lim ho the son of lim yang bing the opium farmer at santjoemeh. so long as ardjan, who was the eldest son, was but a child, the family was plunged in the depths of bestial degradation; but when he had grown up and, after having served awhile as a sailor in a government vessel, had gone on board the kiem ping hin, things began somewhat to mend at home in the dessa. this was especially the case when young ardjan, who had a very good head on his shoulders, was promoted to be mate of the smuggling brig. in that capacity he had constant opportunities of handling the cargo, and of such a drug as opium, which takes up but little space, he could very easily now and then appropriate to himself quantities of comparatively considerable value. this he did the more readily, and with the less reluctance, as his notions on the meum and tuum were of the vaguest description. the opium thus pilfered he used to deliver to his father who, in this manner, was enabled, not only fully to indulge in his ruling passion, but also to dispose of the superfluity to his neighbours. in this illegal traffic pak ardjan frequently made considerable gains, which, however, far from being of any substantial benefit to his empoverished household, would always be squandered with lavish extravagance. such was the state of things when resident van gulpendam gave lim yang bing the hint that pak ardjan was, in the estimation of the police, held to be a notorious smuggler. from what has been said above it is evident that what the resident had said was true, the police had their suspicions, and had often been on the old smuggler's track, without ever having been able to bring the offence home to him. it must be said indeed, that so long as ardjan was on board the kiem ping hin they made no very determined efforts to convict his father. equally true it was that pak ardjan, not knowing at the time that his son lay under suspicion of having brought on shore the discovered opium, had laid a formal accusation against lim ho, on account of the brutal manner in which he had treated his son. now, the old opium-smoker had taken this step, not because he felt any pity for his son, nor because he wished to be revenged upon the chinaman for the wrong he had thus inflicted upon one of his family--still less had he done so because he was anxious that the offender should receive condign punishment. oh no, pak ardjan was not actuated by any such motives as these. a short time before his adventure at the moeara tjatjing ardjan had procured for his father a few katties of opium. so long as the supply lasted, the old man had not troubled himself in the least about the treatment his son had undergone; but when he saw that the supply was beginning to run low, then he began to look with apprehension to the future, and especially alarmed was he when he heard that ardjan had exchanged the hospital for the jail. his poor muddled brain fancied that he might hasten ardjan's release by making a charge against lim ho; and he had been further encouraged to take the step by the advice of a pettifogging lawyer, who thought that, in an action against the rich son of the still more wealthy opium-farmer, he had discovered a very pretty little vein of gold. thus the charge was, in the proper form, laid before the court at santjoemeh and a prosecution against lim ho was ordered accordingly. this matter the president of the council had put into the hands of his young colleague, van nerekool, and he, most anxious that justice should be done and that the miscreant should pay the legal penalty for his offence; and glad also, thus to be able to perform the promise which he had made to anna, the fair daughter of the resident, that he would do his best to save dalima's lover, had readily undertaken the case, and was confident that he would be able to bring it to a successful issue. but, on a certain afternoon, while the sun was yet high in the heavens, pak ardjan had gone to have a look at his store of opium which he had secreted by burying it deep in the ground, and heaping over the place a heavy layer of stones. much to his regret he found, upon opening his store, that, at the most, he had but a couple of taã«l left. these he proceeded to carry home with him; for he had promised some opium-smoking friends to let them have a supply that evening, and, as they were good customers and paid him handsomely, he would not disappoint them. when he reached home his children informed him that singomengolo had made his appearance in the dessa, and had been making sundry enquiries about him. the appearance itself of the man in the dessa, was nothing very extraordinary, nor was it, under the circumstances, strange that pak ardjan's name should have been mentioned by him. but somehow or other an accountable feeling of distrust came over the old man which impelled him to try and hide the opium he had about him. now if he had been in his normal condition he would straightway have returned to the ravine and buried his treasure safely in its former hiding place, before further steps could be taken against him. but the fit of depression was on him, his nerves were again beginning to play tricks with him, his mental powers were, as usual after prolonged abstinence, growing confused--in short he was bordering on that stage in which he would need another dose of opium to pick him up. accordingly, he set aside a couple of matas for his own use, and, having carefully wrapped the remainder in nipah-leaves, he thrust the packets for concealment behind the attapa-leaves which formed the crazy roof of his cabin. this done, it was the old story again, and the whole family had to set to work to minister to him in his disgusting opium debauch. but as he lay stretched there on the bench, and just as he was beginning to light his third pipe, before that, therefore, he was wholly under the influence of the poppy-juice, singomengolo suddenly appeared on the door-step, accompanied by four or five policemen, and by the two chinamen, who kept the opium-store. the instant he crossed the threshold, the bandoelan knew what was going on within, although pak ardjan had started up, and with some dexterity, had managed to hide his pipe under the filthy pillow which is inevitably present on every couch, and his children had secreted the lamp and the yet unsmoked opium. the sickly sweetish smell, however, which pervaded the close stuffy room could not deceive anyone, least of all a bandoelan so thoroughly experienced as was the agent of the opium-farmer. "there has been opium smoked here!" he cried in a peremptory tone, as he and his followers made their way into the cabin. "oh no," stammered pak ardjan in dismay, "oh no, indeed there has not!" while his wife and children, like so many frightened sheep, huddled together in a corner. "guard the door and the windows," cried singo to his policemen, and then turning again upon pak ardjan he repeated more sternly even than before, "you have been smoking opium, i tell you!" "oh no, indeed i have not," replied the unfortunate man. "why there is the pipe," cried the opium hunter, as he triumphantly drew the corpus delicti from under the pillow. "why here is the pipe, and quite hot too!" pak ardjan already beside himself with fear felt completely crushed at this evident proof of his guilt. "where is the opium?" asked singomengolo in threatening tones. pak ardjan returned no answer. "well, never mind," said singo, "we shall soon find it," and a horrid smile crossed his lips. he made a signal to the chinamen, and to the policemen who were not engaged in watching the door and windows; and then ensued a search, we may call it a hunt, the description of which may well seem incredible to those who do not know that such frightful scenes are not at all of uncommon occurrence. under the couch, under the mats which covered the floor, they searched, they rooted up the very floor of the cabin, they poked about under the stove and in the ashes of that very primitive kind of cooking-apparatus; pillows were rent open, and their contents scattered on the floor; the few boxes and baskets were torn open, and the noisome rags they contained were shaken and contemptuously flung aside; the poor miserable furniture, a few pots and pans, the rice-kettle, the tombok-block, the rice-panniers, even the sirih-box were turned over, but nothing--nothing could they find. singomengolo was angry. now he ordered a body-search to be made. first they seized upon pak ardjan and, though he offered some resistance, he was, with sundry kicks and blows, very soon shaken out of the few filthy rags which hung about him, and, in his hideous leanness, he stood there naked before the eyes of his family. the sense of decency, which never leaves even the most utterly degraded, made the poor man cower down moaning to the ground trying to hide his nakedness from the eyes of his children. then came the mother's turn, and the turn of the children--some of them girls from seven to fourteen years of age. regardless alike of the mother's feelings or of the innocence of childhood, the inhuman monsters proceeded in their search, and a scene was then enacted so hideous, so disgusting, that over it we must draw a veil. the children cried, the girls sobbed and wept, the mother shrieked under this base and violent treatment, it was of no avail. but presently, one of the policemen rudely seized upon the eldest daughter, poor little sarina, a girl of fourteen; she, in her fright, dropped her sarong, and uttered a scream of terror. that cry made pak ardjan bound to his feet, madly he flung himself upon the cowardly wretch, with one wrench he dragged the fellow's sabre from its scabbard, and with its edge he dealt the miscreant two such blows as sent him, sorely wounded and howling with pain, flying from the scene of his dastardly exploit. but the poor father thus goaded to madness and blinded by fury, whose withered arm and wasted frame could not endure any sustained exertion, was at once overpowered and disarmed before he could strike another blow in defence of his outraged household. they bound him most cruelly, they tied his ankles together and forced the rough and prickly gemoetoe-cords between his toes, which at the slightest movement, put the unfortunate man to excruciating torture. next they proceeded to handcuff him; but, as the manacles were much too wide to confine his shrivelled wrists, they drove in between the arm and the iron, rough pieces of firewood, and this caused such intolerable pain that a lamentable howl came from pak ardjan's lips--a howl most like that of some poor beast in its dying agony. but now the opium? the opium? hitherto none had been found. singomengolo stood scratching his ear. he was, indeed, in a most awkward predicament. "what a rage the kandjeng toean resident will be in," muttered he. but he did not mind him much. he would bluster no doubt a good deal and bark; but he would take good care not to bite. but, what would babah lim yang bing think of it? might he not look with suspicion upon all this fruitless zeal. and then the newspapers! what if they began to talk--and talk those confounded papers would there could be no doubt about it. and the judges! what if they should take it up? they must take it up of course. pak ardjan had violently, and with arms in his hand, resisted the police--the opium police. and that was a crime which could not be hushed up. that was one of the offences which the dutchmen always punished with the greatest severity. yes, but then the fact would come out that there had been a visitation, a pretty severe visitation, and that nothing had been found. and then other matters might, and would probably, leak out. aye, they had handled the little girls a little too brutally. and those judges were such an inquisitive lot, they were sure to get to the bottom of it all. he was in an awkward plight. oh! had he but found the opium! or better still, had he but taken his usual precautions! "and yet," muttered he, as his hawk-like eye darted round the little hut, "i had such very precise instructions. i was to wait until pak ardjan had returned from the ravine, then--but would it not have been much wiser to surprise him in the ravine?--no, no--that would never have done--he might have sworn that he had found the opium there by chance, and those judges are so lenient, they will believe anything, and they never convict if there is the possibility of a doubt. no, no, the opium must--it shall--be found in pak ardjan's own possession, that only will be conclusive evidence of guilt. but--i cannot find it--eh! eh!" he exclaimed, "what have we here?" with one bound singomengolo reached the corner where a slight bulge in the roof seemed to look as if it had quite lately been disturbed. the edges of the nipah-leaves did not look quite so dark in that spot as the others which had been exposed to the smoke. the bandoelan thrust his hand into the roof, he felt about for a few moments, and then, he drew forth two small parcels. these he hastily unwrapped and uttered a cry of triumph. it was the opium which pak ardjan had tried to hide just before his house was searched. "you lie, you scoundrel!" roared he, to the wretched javanese, as he dealt him a blow in the face with the back of his hand, which made the blood to spurt from his lips. but the latter replied not a word. when the captured opium had been duly examined by the witnesses, the detected criminal was flung into a filthy sedan-chair carried by some natives who had been pressed for that service. thus under proper escort and guard, pak ardjan was conveyed to santjoemeh, and lodged in the jail. a few days later resident van gulpendam laid a formal charge against pak ardjan before the court at santjoemeh. he was accused of opium-smuggling, and of having violently, and with arms in his hands, resisted the police in the execution of their duty; one of the officers having received serious wounds in the affray. mr. zuidhoorn, the president, read over the charge, and as he read he could not conceal a bitter smile. "it is disgusting," muttered he, "disgusting!" chapter ix. njonja mahal--the three friends. when lim yang bing informed his son of the arrest of his accuser pak ardjan, and communicated to him some of the details of the capture, lim ho chuckled with delight. "that's one good riddance, at all events," quoth he, to himself. "now, with a very little management on our part, that fellow will be found guilty and sent to the devil long before his son's smuggling case can come on at all. the most dangerous witness will then be out of the way." then, for a while, lim ho seemed lost in thought. he had made the njonja of the resident a very handsome and valuable present of jewellery, in return for which he had got nothing but a mere empty promise that she would see what she could do for him in the way of inducing the girl to listen to his proposals. "indeed! njonja mahal, an expensive lady," he muttered. "by kong, what will be her price if i should need her active help in the case of the girl's refusal? mercy on me! that will cost a pretty penny." but pak ardjan's arrest gave another direction to his thoughts. "no, the girl is not to be won, of that i am certain, she hates me too much to consent. but that is precisely the thing which makes her so attractive to me. she is an elegant, pretty girl! that's true enough, but there are many other good-looking maidens in the dessas--that's tame, i know all about them. no, no, to make the rebellious hussy bend to my will; to cover her, who detests me, with my kisses; to have her, who despises me, in my arms; and then--yes, then, when i am tired of her, and she is soiled and faded body and soul--then to be able to trample upon her, and fling her from me. that, look you, is the highly flavoured dish which, in my pursuit of her, i intend to enjoy. and, by kong, i shall have my way, too. how? that i don't know, just yet. by force or by cunning? that matters little--if needs be, by both!" thus he muttered to himself as, in his father's house, he lay stretched out on a most luxurious divan, with his long chinese pipe in his mouth, in which he was smoking the most fragrant tobacco the celestial empire produces. "by cunning?" he continued, after a few puffs at his pipe, "by cunning? now, what is the most serious obstacle? the girl's will, no doubt;--well, i shall know how to get over that, if i get the chance, that will have, i daresay, to be a matter of violence after all. now what else is there? the njonja!--the baboe is in her service; but i think she will help me, especially if--" here the wretch moved his hand in the manner so peculiar to the chinese, when they count money, putting down at each gesture a little pile of coins, which always contains the exact number required, never one piece more or less. "now, is there any one else in my way? yes, there is ardjan, who wants to marry her; but he is pretty well accounted for, he is safe enough in jail, and won't very easily get out of the mess he is in, as he is charged with having smuggled a couple of pikols of opium. long before he has been condemned, and has served his time, the deed must be done. yes, long before that dalima must have been mine! what, then--why, then? i sha'n't give either of them another thought, then the question will be, what pretty one will next take my fancy,--from ardjan, i have nothing to fear, even if he does escape punishment, the company will know how to deal with him. there is only one man left against whom i must be on my guard, that is setrosmito, dalima's father. oh, that cursed javanese, he threatened me with his kris, did he? when i offered him five hundred rix-dollars for his daughter! oh, i will pay him out for that. but how?--a thought strikes me--that arrest of pak ardjan seems to have been the easiest matter in the world. if setrosmito could be made to fall into the same trap--if we could secure him--were it but for a few weeks!" springing up from his couch, lim ho ran to a small gong which stood by a pillar, supported on a very elegant foot of china, and with a small stick, which was carved in the shape of a crocodile's head, the emblem of ngoh, the water-god, he struck two sharp blows upon the clear-toned metal. a gaudily dressed javanese servant immediately made his appearance, walked up to the divan, and, squatting down before it, placed his hands to his forehead, and obsequiously made his "sembah." "do you think, drono," asked lim ho, "that singomengolo is still at santjoemeh?" "i saw him only this morning, babah," replied drono, as he repeated his sembah. "then run and fetch him at once," said his master. "you will find him, i have no doubt, somewhere about the opium-store. tell him i want to speak to him. make haste!" "sajah babah," said the man, as he glided back a few paces, then rose, and with his face still turned to his master, made his way out of the room. "yes," continued lim ho to himself, pursuing the thoughts which the entrance of the servant had interrupted. "yes, if it were but for a few weeks, in that time, i have no doubt, i could find some means of enticing little dalima. the njonja resident might be most useful to me in this. but it will cost money! no matter, there is no lack of that!" he rose again and struck the gong, and another javanese servant presented himself. "has drono gone yet?" asked lim ho. "not yet, babah," was the man's reply, "but he is just about to start." "very well, then run and call him back," ordered lim ho. a moment later lim ho's confidential servant again stood before him. "before you go to look for singo," said the master, "you must go to the house of m`bok kã¢rijã¢h, and you must tell her that i want to see her here as soon as possible." "saja-babah," said drono, as again he made the sembah. "yes," cried lim ho, impatiently, "but be off at once. saja-babah." the next day, m`bok kã¢rijã¢h entered the residence, and asked to see the njonja besar, or great lady. she was admitted at once, for it was morning, and laurentia had just finished attending to her household duties, and had given out all that was needful to the cook. she was at that moment engaged in changing her morning kabaai for another one, made of fine lawn trimmed with lace. indeed, the lady's doors were never closed to the old quack, and she would always receive her, at any hour of the day, if she could possibly do so. "good morning, njoonjaa," said the old woman, in that drawling tone so peculiar to the obsequious javanese, while she squatted down at the european lady's feet. "tabeh nã¨nã¨h," replied laurentia. "did the obat have the desired effect?" began the old hag. "oh yes," replied laurentia; "it worked admirably, you must let me have a good supply of it." "that is what i intended to do, njonja, but the ingredients, you know, are so difficult to get, they are so expensive." laurentia took a small purse from her work-basket, and put a couple of rix-dollars into the old woman's hand. "there," said she, "take that to buy them, and mind you let me have some soon." the crone took the money, and tied it up in the corner of a dirty handkerchief, from which a bunch of keys was dangling, and, with a cunning leer, she assured the lady that she would have no reason to complain. then she began to talk about master leo, and to tell laurentia what a dear, clever little chap he was, and how everyone in the street turned back to look at the little fellow as he passed. no doubt, now and then, an eye might be cast on the baboe also who had charge of him; for, there could be no question about it, the baboe was exceedingly pretty. really, the njonja ought not to allow such a girl to go about so freely; she was too good-looking, and there are always people wicked enough to take advantage of innocence. the njonja knew that well enough, and it would be such a pity if the poor girl should get into bad hands. there was so much money to be made out of her. so the old hag rattled on; and so, in a disjointed way, and by degrees, she told laurentia that lim ho's passion for dalima was daily increasing in violence, and that every day he was prepared to make greater sacrifices to gain possession of her. then laurentia's greedy eye began to glisten, and cunning old m`bok was clever enough to see that she might safely venture. bending forward, but still keeping her watchful eye fixed on laurentia's face, she went on for some time speaking in whispers, and seemed to be arousing the lady's keenest attention; for evidently laurentia did not lose a word, and frequently nodded in token of assent. when the nã¨nã¨h had finished speaking, mrs. van gulpendam did not at once reply, but, for awhile, seemed lost in meditation. at length she said: "boleh; tapeh--mentega sama ikan." at the first word, "boleh," which signifies "it is possible, it might be done," the dull eye of the old hag brightened; but, at the remainder of the sentence, she looked up with genuine surprise. yes, the purely idiomatic dutch expression, though rendered most correctly in malay, was beyond her. "mentega sama ikan?" she asked, in a strangely puzzled tone of voice. "to be sure," repeated laurentia, in malay. "sauce with the fish. don't you understand me, nã¨nã¨h? cash down, i mean, m`bok, cash down! i am not going to be taken in by empty promises." "alas!" sighed the old woman, who now saw clearly enough what was meant by "sauce with the fish." she drew a little box out of the folds of the sash which confined the sarong around her scraggy hips, and offered it to the njonja. it contained a pair of valuable golden ear-rings of chinese workmanship, richly set with diamonds. "is that all?" asked mrs. van gulpendam, with a contemptuous smile. "they are very valuable," muttered the old hag. but the resident's wife slowly shook her head. "lim ho asked me," continued m`bok, "to tell you that he intends to come and personally express his gratitude to you as soon as the affair has succeeded." laurentia laughed, "when the affair has succeeded," she repeated, scornfully. "a pretty story, indeed! no, i don't intend to see the babah at all." "but, njonja--" "that will do," said laurentia; "not another word about it. come," continued she, "you may take those things away with you again." "but what then am i to tell lim ho?" asked the nã¨nã¨h. "you may tell him just whatever you like, nã¨h." "but, njonja--" "now, m`bok," said laurentia, resolutely, "not another word on that subject. don't forget to bring me a good supply of the obat." "has the njonja no other orders for me?" "none at present," was the answer. "i only wished to tell you that i have another little lot of jewellery at home," insisted the old hag; "ear-rings, rings--!" "no, no, nã¨h," said laurentia, interrupting her; "but if you should happen to know of some bracelets." "bracelets, njonja? of what kind?" "golden ones, of course," replied mrs. van gulpendam. "a little while ago i saw some that i should very much like to have; the chinese major's daughter was wearing them. they were beauties, serpents of old gold which went three or four times round the wrist and they had eyes of brilliants and in their mouth was a rose-coloured diamond as thick as that, look!" and the njonja at these words held up her little finger. old m`bok kã¢rijã¢h devoured, so to speak, the words which she heard. "if," continued the njonja, "you could find me such a pair of bracelets, i should think them well worth having and--there might be a little profit for you too." these words were uttered in the most careless manner possible, though laurentia's eyes seemed to pierce the old woman as she spoke them. "saja, njonja," replied m`bok, scrambling to her feet; "good morning, njonja." "good morning, nã¨h," said the lady. half an hour after this interview lim ho uttered a frightful curse as again and again he repeated the words, "an expensive lady!" but he was too much intent upon his purpose to hesitate and so next day he handed m`bok the bracelets for which she had asked him. before proceeding further with our story, we shall have to give the reader some information concerning mr. van nerekool, the young lawyer to whom anna van gulpendam had appealed for help in her anxiety to save ardjan, the future husband of her favourite servant dalima. hitherto the narrative has carried us away, now it is time to cast a look backward. charles van nerekool was, as we have seen, a fine tall young man of about five or six-and-twenty years of age, with handsome clearly cut features, a light beard and moustache and thick curly hair of a somewhat darker shade. he had studied at leyden, the athens of holland. but though he had passed all his examinations most creditably, yet, he could not help confessing to himself that he had not altogether done justice to his great abilities. both at the grammar school and at the university he had passed for a somewhat absent and careless fellow in his studies. he had, from his early youth, been too much inclined to waste his time on objectless hobbies; but they were hobbies which showed that his mind was one of no ordinary stamp. mighty fond was he, when a boy, of all kinds of things which lay outside the regular routine of his school duties. first and foremost, he loved music, then drawing, painting, in fact, the general contemplation of nature. consequently, he had frequently been kept in for neglecting his lessons; but the boy did not much mind that; and on such occasions he would go away into a corner of the schoolroom and sit and dream. then, as he sat there all alone with his fair head turned upward to the clear blue sky, some one would say, "poor child, he is not long for this world, it will end in consumption." but charles van nerekool was not at all consumptive; for it happened with him, as with so many other seemingly delicate boys, that the approach of manhood brought with it robust health. when quite a child he had had the misfortune to lose his father. spiteful tattling people, such persons as are always most anxious about things which in no way concern them, would have it that that father had never existed, or to speak more correctly, would have it that it was never known who was that father. what reason had they for flinging about these suspicions? why? none at all. it was all the merest tittle-tattle, the merest putting together of trifling circumstances. even at the name van nerekool the busy-bodies would shake their heads and suggest that it ought to be read backwards, van lookeren. but true or false, it mattered very little. in these days, a man can earn respect by his ability and his honesty; and where these are present, he will be highly valued in the world--in the world, that is to say, of people whose esteem is worth having. his mother was supposed to be in very easy circumstances and to enjoy a very sufficient income. at all events, the young man's studies had always been amply provided for, and his allowance at leyden had been liberal enough to enable him to take part in all the amusements in which his fellow students used to indulge. but when, towards the end of the young man's time at college, mrs. van nerekool died somewhat suddenly, it appeared that in reality her means were most slender; and that she had indeed realised all the property she possessed and denied herself everything in order to be able to defray the expenses of her son's education. seeing this, the trustee who undertook the settlement of mrs. van nerekool's affairs, strongly advised the young man to try and get appointed to the judicial staff in dutch india. this advice young van nerekool took. the short time which he had yet to spend at the university he employed in the closest application to his studies, and after having passed a brilliant examination, he was appointed to a place in india and put under the orders of the governor general. when he got out to batavia, they kept him for a year in the capital to help the members of the high court of justice to get through arrears of work which had accumulated. this year was by no means time lost; for young van nerekool thus got a much clearer insight in all legal matters which concerned the natives of the island than he could otherwise have done, seeing that the revision of all sentences passed by the courts in java and madura had to go through his hands. shortly after, he was appointed member of the council at santjoemeh, which appointment gave him further opportunity of gaining useful information. at santjoemeh, the young man had the good fortune to find in mr. zuidhoorn, the president of the council, a thoroughly worthy and honest man, who proved himself a trustworthy guide, and who, fully appreciating the abilities and sterling qualities of his young colleague, took every opportunity of developing them in the right direction. in mr. zuidhoorn he had before him a living example of strict integrity and of that impartiality and freedom from prejudice which it is not always easy to practise in the service of dame justitia. at santjoemeh van nerekool made the acquaintance of two men, one of whom was about his own age and the other four or five years his junior. the names of these gentlemen were william verstork and edward van rheijn. both were in the government service in the residence of santjoemeh; but verstork was obliged to live at banjoe pahit, which was the chief dessa of the division of that name to which kaligaweh also belonged, and van rheijn was serving his probation in the capital and in the office of the resident. they were both fine honest fellows quite unspoiled by indian intrigue and corruption and who held every evasion of the truth in abhorrence. in the main point therefore their dispositions harmonised admirably with the frank nature of charles van nerekool, yet were their characters somewhat different from his. mr. verstork was, probably in consequence of his longer stay in india and his greater experience, of a much more pliable disposition than his friend; and though himself incapable of anything mean or underhand, yet to a certain extent, he was inclined to give way to his superiors and to wink at, or close his eyes to, transactions of theirs which would not bear the strictest scrutiny. this he was compelled to do, he said, in order not to spoil his career. this pliability of character frequently used to involve him in warm disputes with his two friends, in which, however, he would not try to justify himself, but used to palliate his conduct by appealing to the exceptional circumstances in which he was placed and which were indeed of sufficiently trying a nature to give him a claim to indulgence. he also had, at an early age, lost his father; but less fortunate than van nerekool, he was left as the eldest son of a large and needy family; and though his mother had heroically striven to provide for the wants of herself and children, yet her earnings were not by any means sufficient even partially to attain that object. moreover at the time of old mr. verstork's death two of william's younger brothers were receiving their education in europe, and the studies of these young people could not be interrupted without altogether marring their prospects of future success. thus it came to pass that controller verstork had a very heavy burden of care resting upon him, since the future of that family, of which he was in reality the bread-winner, depended entirely on the career he might make. if, therefore, he could now and then be accused of lukewarmness, or if for the shortcomings of others he was too ready to find extenuating circumstances or excuses, the difficult position in which he was placed ought to be fairly considered. as far as he himself was concerned he always was in word and deed scrupulously just and honest, and the future will show that, in cases of emergency, he could play his part with manliness and vigour. edward van rheijn, the probationary-controller, was not of so yielding a nature, lukewarmness was not one of his faults. he was, indeed, as yet too young to have acquired verstork's circumspection and prudence; but in the office of mr. van gulpendam, under whose immediate orders he had been placed, he was in a terrible school and he had every opportunity to become, according to the latter's favourite expression, "a thoroughly useful and efficient indian functionary." these three men, then, were friends in every sense of the word, and they never neglected a single opportunity of enjoying each other's society. charles and edward had, of course, constant chances of meeting since they both lived at santjoemeh. they might, indeed be called inseparables. it was not so, however, with verstork, whose station, the dessa banjoe pahit was quite twelve miles from the residence; and for whom, therefore, there could be no question of daily intercourse with his two friends. every saturday afternoon when his work was over and he had closed his office, he used to jump on his horse and ride off at full speed to santjoemeh where he was wont to lodge with one of his friends. the saturday evening he used to spend at the "harmonie" and listen to the excellent music of the militia band. on sunday he was accustomed to pay some visits, and, of course, to call upon his chief officer, the resident, and on monday morning he was off again before daylight so as to be able to take his bath and have his breakfast and to be in his office punctually at nine o'clock. the two inseparables generally accompanied him wherever they could, but the sunday evenings were specially devoted to friendly intercourse and conversation. these they invariably used to spend together either at van nerekool's house or at van rheijn's. on one of these occasions, charles had told his friends how that, on one of his visits to the van gulpendams he had been introduced to the resident's daughter anna, how he had cultivated that young lady's acquaintance whenever he had met her at the "harmonie," at evening parties, or at the residence itself; and he further confessed that miss anna van gulpendam appeared to him the most amiable and accomplished girl he had ever in his life had the pleasure of meeting. "indeed," he had continued to say, "i do not exactly know what my sentiments are. is it a mere friendly feeling towards a pretty and accomplished child, or is it perhaps love which is beginning to nestle in my heart? i am so utterly inexperienced in such matters that i cannot tell; all i know is that i am never so happy as when i am in her company." "and you manage to be so pretty frequently?" said van rheijn with a malicious smile. "for some time," he continued to verstork, "friend charles has been away from home almost constantly. i really see very little of him, he is out almost every evening, and then you are sure to find him wherever miss anna and her parents happen to be, or else at the residence whether it happens to be a reception night or not. you know i am half beginning to suspect him of taking a hand at the residential card-table. i have several times strolled round the house trying to find out something; but the place is so closely hedged in by flowers and shrubs, that my curiosity has never once been rewarded and i have not been able to get at the secret at all." william verstork shook his head doubtfully at this communication, "is there any truth in all that?" he asked, as he steadfastly kept his eye on van nerekool. "oh yes," said the latter without the least hesitation, "but yet--" "it is a very sad thing," said verstork, interrupting him. "a sad thing?" asked charles, somewhat hastily, "what do you mean? you won't allow me to finish what i have to say." "very well," said verstork, "say on." van nerekool then went on to tell him how very powerfully he had felt himself attracted to the young girl; but that hitherto he had not allowed a single word to betray his feelings. what had passed between them was mere conversation, in which he had indeed discovered how fresh and ingenuous the young girl was; but which had never gone further than the merest every-day talk, and had entirely been confined to little compliments, and to those harmless encounters of wit in which young people who are fairly gifted, and are not particularly anxious to hide their light under a bushel, are wont to indulge. he was absolutely certain that anna was wholly unconscious of what was passing in his bosom. but he continued to tell his friends, that on a certain evening, it was getting rather late, a javanese servant had brought him a note in which dear little anna had begged him to come at once and see her at the residence. william verstork could not help smiling at this communication. "pray don't laugh," cried charles gravely, "although i cannot help confessing that very strange thoughts forced themselves upon me also. it was so strange, was it not? so wholly contrary to the usages of society that a young girl should write such a letter at such a time. at the time i could only look upon it as an ã©tourderie, a thoughtless action; but i am glad to tell you i soon found out my mistake. the dear girl saw me appear at her father's house without showing the slightest symptom of confusion, and soon convinced me that she had excellent reasons for her seemingly strange conduct. as it was not at all an unusual thing for me to accompany her, it could not awaken any one's suspicion, that we took our places at the piano in the brilliantly lighted inner gallery. then i learnt why anna had thus strangely summoned me. she wished to invoke my assistance for a certain javanese, who is the lover and is to be the future husband of her baboe; and who now lies under a charge of opium-smuggling." thereupon van nerekool told his friends all he had heard from anna, about ardjan's ill-treatment, and about the opium discovered at the moeara tjatjing. when he had finished speaking, william verstork again said feelingly: "it is very sad!" "yes, it is very sad," rejoined charles, totally misunderstanding the meaning of his friend's words. "but i hope the javanese will not be found guilty." "and," asked verstork deliberately, "and--your affection for this girl is, you say, very strong?" "well," resumed van nerekool, "since that evening i have, as edward has told you, had frequent opportunities of meeting my dear anna, sometimes at the zuidhoorns', sometimes at the commandant's, and sometimes at her parents' house; and i have had frequent conversations with her on the subject of this unfortunate police-case. and every time i have seen her i have received stronger and stronger proofs--" "of the innocence of the javanese, i suppose!" said van rheijn, somewhat playfully. "no, not so," said van nerekool, "but of the goodness of her heart, of the true nobility of her soul and of the honesty and purity of her character. and--my dear old friends, i must confess it, i am now entirely under her spell." "it is a very sad thing," said verstork most seriously. "but what the deuce do you mean--'by your very sad thing?'" cried charles, somewhat out of patience. "your affection for her, my dearest friend," said the other; "you are laying up for yourself a very sad future." "but how so?" cried charles. "my dear friend," said verstork, "i ask you to give me a week to answer that question." "why," cried van nerekool, "you talk as if you had to pronounce a sentence. come, there's a good fellow, out with it at once." "next saturday," said verstork, "i intend to come again to santjoemeh and, take my word for it, then i will give you an answer." whatever efforts van nerekool might make, he could make nothing more out of the mysterious controller, and he had to rest content with the promise of a full explanation on the next saturday. chapter x. une invitation ã� la chasse et une invitation ã� la valse. william verstork was destined to keep his appointment with his friends; but it was not at all in the way he intended. when he promised to meet them he thought that he would, as usual, ride over to santjoemeh on the saturday afternoon and stay until monday morning. it was, however, not to be so. on thursday morning charles van nerekool and edward van rheijn received a letter inviting them to go to banjoe pahit. "that will be," wrote verstork to his two friends, "a complete change of parts. hitherto i have been your guest, but now i insist upon appearing in the character of host. of host!--surely my pen must be playing tricks with me. yes, indeed, for in order to play the host, one must be able to show hospitality--no, no--hospitality is not the right word; but in order to play the host one must be able to provide for one's friends; and though i know well enough that you would not at all object to put up with my poor controller's lodging and with my still more humble dish of rice--yet i do not intend to offer you such meagre fare. where i shall stow you away i really don't know, nor can i tell where you will find your entertainment. there's a fine invitation! i hear you exclaim. yet, my dear friends, i feel quite certain that you will accept it. just hear what i have to say. for some time past the maize fields of the inhabitants of my division, have been ravaged by wild boars, these have, in fact, of late become a real plague; and the dessa kaligaweh is the principal scene of their nightly depredations. the main body of these formidable poachers finds, i am told, a refuge in the wild bush which surrounds the djoerang (ravine) pringapoes. this djoerang is a wild mountain cleft, and is situated very nearly in the centre of my division; the two dessas banjoe pahit and kaligaweh, which are about five miles apart, lie on the outskirts of it; the one in the hilly country and the other in the lower grounds sloping down to the sea-shore. i have made up my mind to clear my district, as far as i can, of these mischievous creatures, and, for that purpose, i intend next saturday and sunday to hold a battue. i cannot possibly take any other days for it, as i cannot, at any other time, be away from my office. you see, therefore, my dear friends, that my letter to you is 'une invitation ã  la chasse,' and that kind of thing, i know, you will not refuse. on saturday morning i will send you a couple of first-rate horses which the wedono has offered me for the use of such of my friends as may like to join in the sport. i suppose that you will, both of you, be able to knock off work at about two o'clock; you will then want an hour to have a bath and to get your shooting-coats on. pray don't forget a pair of tall gaiters, which in our rough country and among our thorny bushes, you will find absolutely necessary. so that, say at three o'clock, you can be in the saddle. if you will only give your horses their heads i know they will easily carry you six miles an hour, so that at about five o'clock you will be at my house. that is agreed upon, is it not?" "certainly, by all means," cried charles and edward both together, as if they wished to convey their acceptance of his invitation to the writer at banjoe pahit. said van nerekool: "i must go and have a look at my gun, and i should think it would be well to take a couple of revolvers." "of course," said van rheijn, "william says so in his letter. just hear what he goes on to say. 'look well to your firearms, and see that they are in good order, for i can tell you that these pigs, when they are roused from their lair, are not by any means contemptible foes. you must, beside your guns, bring revolvers or, at least, a good hunting-knife, one you can fix on the end of your rifle, as a sword-bayonet.'" "the devil we must!" said van nerekool, "where in the world must i get all these things from? i shall have to try and borrow them somewhere i suppose. i have got a pretty good shot-gun of my own, but i can't fix a bayonet to it. i don't think it is much use except for shooting rice-birds, or sparrows. i must somehow manage to get hold of a rifle." "well," said van rheijn, "the regent of santjoemeh, radhen mas toemenggoeng pringgoe kesoemo has, i know, a splendid repeating rifle and a yatagan, and the vice regent has a pair of excellent le faucheux central-fire revolvers. i have no doubt they will gladly lend them to you." "then the best thing for me to do is to go and pay a visit at the regent's house," said van nerekool. "there is no need whatever to do that," said van rheijn. "there is to be a grand reception and ball at the residence to-night. on such an occasion those native grandees are not at all likely to be absent. you will be there, i presume?" he continued, with a very meaning smile. "certainly," cried van nerekool, with much warmth, "do you think i would--?" "lose an opportunity of a dance with pretty miss anna?" asked van rheijn, finishing the sentence for him. "well, you can at the same time ask for the loan of the weapons, that will save you a tedious call upon those javanese worthies, but--" "well, but--what?" asked van nerekool, "what do you mean?" "do you know how to handle a rifle?" "oh, you need not trouble yourself about that," replied van nerekool, "i was always practising shooting at leyden, and they used to consider me a very good shot, too." that evening the residence at santjoemeh was most brilliantly illuminated. in the spacious outer gallery, in the inner gallery, in the pandoppo, in the side-rooms, in fact on all sides, rich chandeliers were glittering in the stately mansion. the innumerable jets of gas surrounded by globes of ground glass cast a bright, yet pleasantly softened light over the handsome apartments, and even over such parts of the garden as immediately surrounded the house. but there, amidst the shrubs and flowers, the gaslight had to compete with the brightly shining moon, a competition in which man's invention could not hope to gain the advantage. the queen of night was casting over everything her placid white light; houses, roads, grassy lawns, shrubs and flowers lay bathed in her radiance; and wherever her beams glided through the branches they shed a dim, uncertain twilight, which was gentle as a caress, and mysterious as the vision of a dream. the glare of the gas, on the other hand, surrounded the building as with a reddish circle, in which, it is true, everything was brilliantly lighted, but in which every object seemed touched, as it were, with an unclean finger, when compared with the lily white hue of the natural illumination outside. this reddish circle grew fainter and fainter as it spread farther from its centre. for some little distance the gaslight seemed to soil the absolute purity of the moonbeams; but gradually their lily-white prevailed, and calmly rested upon the landscape beyond. in front of the house there was a splendid avenue of kanarie trees which led from the domain to santjoemeh. at that hour of night, when seen from the front gallery, the gas-jets, by which the avenue was partially lighted, looked in the moonlight which fell through the tufted trees, like so many big fire-flies, and, in the soft breeze which barely moved the foliage, they threw on the well-kept gravel path, the most fantastic shapes which seemed to run after each other in perpetual chase. in the far distance more fire-flies were seen, red, green, blue, yellow, all the colours of the rainbow, in fact. these were the carriage-lamps of those who were coming to attend the reception and ball, and who thus, by different coloured lamps, gave notice of their approach. the front gallery was as yet empty, only the daughter of the house stood for a few moments at the balustrade looking down the whole length of the avenue. said she to herself: "yon red light which glitters so brightly is the carriage of the assistant-resident of police, he always has the right of precedence. and that blue one is mr. zuidhoorn's, and that violet--ah, there right away in the distance, that green--i must be off--the foremost carriage is almost in the grounds--however, i am glad van nerekool is coming--it would never do for him to see me looking out." she turned and joined her parents, who, having been told by the chief constable that the guests were approaching, had entered the inner gallery. anna took her place by the side of her mother ready to receive and to return the greetings of the visitors. mr. van gulpendam, however, first went to have a look in the front gallery. he was dressed very simply in black evening coat without any official badge or distinction whatever, though the pajoeng stand figured conspicuously enough at the end of the gallery. he walked to the balustrade and cast a look outside. down below at the foot of the broad flight of steps which on both sides gave access to the front gallery, a couple of sentinels were marching up and down with shouldered arms. they regulated their walk, so that they met in front of the middle of the gallery, then, in turning round they took care that the tips of their bayonets should just clash together, a sound which evidently was as sweet as heavenly music in the resident's ears. at all events he looked down with much complacency upon the two sentinels and thrust forward his chest as one who would say: "look, that is the homage due to my exalted rank and transcendent merit." close by the main building, but a little on one side of it, a small temporary pavilion had been erected, and upon it also the resident bestowed a look. the bandsmen of the militia at santjoemeh, dressed in full uniform, had just arrived, and were engaged there in arranging their desks and opening their music-books and making other preparations. a condescending nod to the bandmaster showed that mr. van gulpendam was in an excellent humour. thereupon he turned and joined his wife and daughter. "those fellows," said he, "don't seem to drive very fast, however, they are heaving in sight now." fair laurentia, proud as any queen, had taken up her position in the middle of the inner gallery, in front of a sofa which had been placed there on purpose before a valuable japanese screen. she held in one hand a splendid bouquet of the rarest flowers, while from the wrist of the other dangled her curiously carved ivory fan, a weapon which the lady knew how to handle most becomingly. she was clad sumptuously in a black satin dress, which set off wonderfully well the perfection of her ample form. the corsage, reduced to the very limits modesty would allow, that is to say that it was sleeveless and cut down very deep in the back and very low in front, gave an ample view of her finely formed and well rounded arms, of her splendid shoulders which looked as if carved out of alabaster, and of a bosom which might have moved venus kallipyga to envy. one line lower, and that corsage would not have been able to contain the charms which it had to confine within almost too narrow compass. an exceedingly elaborate coiffure sustained the dark-brown locks of her stately head by means of a magnificent diadem glowing with precious stones, while a number of coquettish little curls straying over her clear white forehead, imparted to the sparkling dark eyes of the beautiful woman an uncommonly seductive fire. round her neck she wore the blood-coral necklace with diamond clasps which m`bok kã¢rijã¢h had handed to her, and on her wrists glittered the two serpent bracelets of old gold with diamond eyes which she had so greatly admired on the nonna of the chinese major, and which had wrung from lim ho an imprecation accompanied by the words, "betoel, njonja mahal!" by her side stood her daughter anna, who by the absolute simplicity of her attire, formed the strangest possible contrast with her mother. however much laurentia had tried, nothing would induce anna to appear in a low-necked dress. her corsage, which like the dress was of rose-coloured silk, was modestly closed around the neck, yet did not prevent the imagination from picturing to itself the treasures which it modelled with perfect exactness. for jewellery of any kind, the pretty girl had a positive distaste. one simple malmaison rose glowed in her dark glossy hair, which was dressed as plainly as possible, but the wealth of which she was not able to conceal. on her bosom a little bud of tea-rose attracted attention to its delicately shaded yellow tints, while it dispersed thoughts which, at that modestly veiled yet finely modelled bust, might perhaps be tempted to take too wild a flight. "how absurd of you it is, anna," said mrs. van gulpendam, crossly enough, as she surveyed her daughter from head to foot with a sarcastic smile, "to appear at an evening party so shabbily dressed as that! why, your late governess used to make a better figure. people would take her for the daughter of the house, and you for the governess." in a certain sense the worldly woman was right enough. the late governess she alluded to was a frivolous parisienne, who had in every way encouraged mrs. van gulpendam in her tastes, and had even urged her on to greater extravagance. thus she had got into the good graces of the mistress of the house, and--evil tongues used to whisper--she stood very high in favour with the resident also. but be this true or false, this much is certain that mademoiselle hã©lã¨ne fouillã©e had no more succeeded in corrupting the mind of the young girl entrusted to her care, than in spoiling her naturally excellent taste. it was not anna's intention to reply to her mother's ill natured remark, even had she had time to do so. at that moment was heard the sound of feet mounting the broad steps which led to the front gallery, and in a few seconds, in came a number of young gentlemen of different races, some with white cheeks, some with brown, some with fair hair, and some with black locks heavily oiled and stiff as pipe stems, all in correct evening dress, with the starchiest collars, and with opera-hats under their arms. these were, as mr. van gulpendam used to style them, the ordinary seamen of the feast, who had to keep up the liveliness of the mess; and who were expected to stand always ready by the signal halliards. with this peculiar figurative language he meant to convey that these young gentlemen were expected to hold themselves in readiness for any emergency. most of them were clerks and writers in the resident's office, who were admitted on these high occasions on condition that they were always prepared to dance with any lady who might happen to be in want of a partner. very humbly and very modestly they approached to pay their respectful compliments to the family. in return for this homage they obtained a condescending shake of the hand from their chief, a pleasant little smile and nod from his pretty daughter, while mamma, with her own fair fingers, fastened a rosebud in their buttonholes, thus dubbing them the stewards of the evening's entertainment. "and now, young people," said laurentia, with her most fascinating smile, "you must dance merrily to-night." "aye, aye," grumbled van gulpendam, "a good stiff breeze mind--no doldrums, do you hear!" all heads were submissively bent under this windy exhortation, when suddenly laurentia cried: "quick, there come our guests!" as a black cloud the young men rushed from the room, as the foremost carriages drove up. presently, three of them returned to the inner gallery, escorting the wife of the assistant resident of police and her two daughters, a pair of good-looking twins of about twenty. "well, how very kind of you, mrs. meidema," cried laurentia, in her most pleasant tones, as she grasped the hand of the lady who had just arrived and drew her close to give her a kiss on the forehead. each of the two young girls also obtained this high distinction. "it is really kind of you to have come," continued the garrulous hostess. "i hardly dared to hope that we should have the pleasure of seeing you here to-night. mrs. zuidhoorn was this morning telling me that one of your children is ill." "oh no, i am glad to say," replied mrs. meidema, "it is not so bad as that, only slightly indisposed, it is nothing but a slight cold." the assistant resident who followed his ladies, made his bow to the mistress of the house, and then shook hands with his chief. as the young ladies were exchanging greetings, one of the sisters whispered to anna van gulpendam, "i have something to tell you presently, anna." "secrets, matilda?" asked she. a slight nod was the answer, in fact no other reply was possible; for after the family meidema a constant stream of visitors came up and crowded around the host and hostess to pay them their respects. then appeared the president of the court, and the members of the judicature, the officials of the home department, the officers of the garrison, the leading commercial men and principal manufacturers--all these accompanied by the ladies of their families, whenever these were old enough to join in the dancing. there further appeared the regent of santjoemeh radhen mas toemenggoeng pringgoe kesoemo and the vice-regent radhen pandjie merto winoto and the chief djaksa (public prosecutor) mas djogo dirdjo and many other javanese grandees and all these with their principal wives. there appeared also the major of the chinese tang ing gwan and captains, lim liong hie and tjaa kwat kong and several lieutenants of that nation. there also lim yang bing the opium farmer at santjoemeh and his son lim ho put in an appearance. all these people thronged around the three members of the residential family as they stood by the above mentioned sofa. they all smiled and nodded, and bowed, and shook hands, and made protestations--indeed, at the hague you could not have seen it done better. if all these utterances which spoke of attachment and devotion, were but in sober reality the outcome of hearty good will--why, then santjoemeh would have been an earthly paradise. meanwhile, the militia-band had been playing the overture of la dame blanche, to which music, however, not a single soul had paid the slightest attention. when the overture was ended, and flattery, and incense, and compliments, had, at length, been exhausted, the resident made a signal, which was forthwith repeated by one of the ministering spirits in the front-gallery. straightway were heard the tones of a formal polonaise, whereupon the assembled guests pairing off began to move about in the spacious inner and outer galleries. it was a stately procession, reminding one very much of a march-past, during which the keen eyes of the ladies could sharply criticise each other's toilettes. the resident led the procession with the commandant's wife on his arm, immediately behind them, came fair laurentia on the arm of that commanding officer, while the chief of the medical staff followed with anna, this was a thorn in van nerekool's side; but when, after the polonaise, were heard the exhilarating strains of "l'invitation ã  la valse," the old doctor had led anna to a seat, youth asserted its rights, and soon anna and charles were gliding together in the inner gallery. it was a sight, to see the two young people so happy, with pleasure beaming from their eyes. "i believe," said anna in a subdued voice, as she waltzed, "i believe there is some news about ardjan." "about ardjan?" asked van nerekool, evidently perplexed. not, indeed, the case of anna's protã©gã© but merely his name had escaped the young man's memory, his face told that plainly enough. "yes, ardjan, don't you recollect, baboe dalima's lover," rejoined anna, "have you forgotten him already--oh those men, those men!" "i confess, it is very stupid of me," replied van nerekool; "but what news is there, miss van gulpendam?" "i don't yet know what it is, mr. van nerekool." "mr. van nerekool!" said charles, "that sounds remarkably stiff and formal." "miss van gulpendam," said anna playfully in the same tone, "that also sounds remarkably stiff and formal." "will you then give me the right to call you miss anna, or, shorter still--simply anna--dear, darling anna?" the young girl blushed most prettily. she did not utter a word; but her hand, as it rested lightly on his shoulder, was her interpreter. the slightest little pressure, and that was all. it was almost imperceptible, but it was enough to make charles the happiest of mortals. his right arm encircled her waist, with his left hand he held hers, while his eye was steadfastly fixed downward on the graceful form before him. thus, for a few moments they glided on in silence, "i am waiting for your answer," said he at length, "dear--darling anna. i may call you so, may i not?" no distinctly spoken word came from her lips; but she uttered a sound, very pleasant to hear, though quite indefinite. it was a gentle breath, something like a suppressed sigh, and sounded like a veil which her maiden modesty cast over the unpronounced answer. yes--but--might it not have been her breathing somewhat quickened by the exertion of dancing? with the blindness and bungling so peculiar to true lovers, charles at once interpreted that sigh as a sign of fatigue, and somewhat anxiously he said to her: "you are tired! shall i take you to your seat?" "oh no," said she in a scarcely audible whisper, "i am not at all tired. do let us go on dancing." however inexperienced in such matters van nerekool might be, those words were plain enough. "with the greatest pleasure, dear anna," he cried, as he led his partner on amid the maze of dancers. "you give me leave then to call you dear--dearest anna?" one eloquent look from the fair girl was the answer. "oh then," continued he passionately, "let me tell you how dear you are to me, how dearly, how fondly i love you." her well-gloved hand moved convulsively on his shoulder. "yes, darling anna," he continued in a lower tone, but more eagerly than before--"i love you as never man can have loved before,--i love you with all my heart and with all my soul, and the proudest and happiest moment of my life will be that in which i shall be able to call you mine--my own! tell me, dearest anna, tell me, may i hope for some return of my love?" the girl's eye fell before his burning glance, but this was a turning point in her life, and when it was a question of such vital importance to both, she was much too frank and too honest to try and hide her feelings under a cloak of false modesty. very softly therefore; but in a voice which to charles was distinctly audible, she murmured, "yes." for a few moments he was silent, and seemed lost in thought gently they glided on together to the time of that delightful music, and, though in the midst of a throng of dancers, wholly engrossed in each other, they felt as lonely as on some island washed by the storm-tossed waves. but his arm now more firmly clasped her waist, for a single instant it seemed as if he would have caught her up to his breast and held her there, as if to take possession of his treasure. "you make me too happy," said he at length, "you make me too happy with that little word, which to me is full of the deepest meaning. now will you allow me to see your parents to-morrow and lay before them my formal request for your hand?" at these words the girl's countenance fell, she replied however: "most certainly i will allow you, mr. van ne----" "my name is charles, dearest anna," whispered the young man. "certainly, charles, i will allow you--but it would not be right to try and conceal from you the fact that my father is prejudiced against you. my father does not like you at all, i have gathered that from many an unguarded expression that has fallen from him." "oh, yes," he replied, "i know that well. i also have noticed his dislike. but what objection can he have to me?" "well," said anna, "to tell you the truth, i do not think he knows that himself--some unaccountable antipathy, i suppose. you know he calls you a dreamer, an enthusiast, an unpractical person, in fact, who will never make much way in the world." "and my anna," asked the young man, "does she also look upon me as a dreamer and an enthusiast?" the fair girl looked up to him with a merry smile. "yes," continued van nerekool, "i am an enthusiast--that is quite true. i am devoted to all that is good and all that is beautiful. i am an enthusiast where my darling is concerned--that is true enough. but is it a fact that i am an unpractical fellow, and one who will never make his way in the world? methinks that just now, when i am trying to win the dearest girl in the world, i am proving myself to be most thoroughly practical, inasmuch as i am striving to secure for myself the greatest imaginable happiness, and i think that, far from dreaming, i am giving proof of being very properly and very wide awake. don't you think so, dearest?" another soft pressure on that poor shoulder which already had had so much to bear was her answer. "and do you think, dearest anna," he continued, "that that antipathy is strong enough to make your father so hostile to me that he will refuse his consent to a union on which he knows that your happiness as well as mine depends?" "i do not say so, charles," was her reply. "but you must make up your mind to difficulties and obstacles of all kinds." "very good," said he, "we shall have to fight against them; difficulties are made to be removed and obstacles to be overcome. anna, my darling, i count upon your love and your constancy; you may safely count on mine. nothing--you hear me?--nothing in the world will in the slightest degree affect my love to you. the very obstacles you speak of will only serve to enhance the joy of our union." the music ceased, and with it ceased the dance. charles released his partner's waist and offered her his arm. "let us walk about for a few minutes," said he; "to-morrow i shall call upon your parents. i will request them to see me some time in the morning. that is a settled question, is it not?" she nodded with her calm, sweet smile. after having made a couple of turns around the inner gallery the two lovers found themselves at one of the doors which opened upon the pandoppo, where the illumination was equally bright. several couples--groups of young girls--also were passing through the pandoppo to get to the garden of the residence, there to enjoy for a while the freshness and coolness of the pleasant night. anna and charles followed the others somewhat mechanically; and soon found themselves among the ornamental shrubberies and bushes which the tropical sun brings forth in such abundance. between these the pathways, laid down in the style of an english park, meandered gracefully and fantastically as the inspiration of some skilful artist. "i fancy i saw matilda meidema and a couple of my friends yonder just now," said anna, "down there in the salak-lane. she has something to tell me. i shall be with you again directly." was it natural modesty? was it a kind of dread of being alone for the first time with him whom she loved, and to whom she had just now spoken her faithful and trustful "yes?" was it perhaps womanly curiosity which impelled her to go and hear what secret her friend had to communicate, and a burning anxiety also to pour into her ear the great secret of her own happiness? perhaps so. at all events, she was about to speed away, but van nerekool prevented her with gentle violence as he pressed to his heart the hand which lay on his arm. "there will be time enough presently, dearest love," murmured he in a whisper, as if he feared some one in the garden might catch up his words; "there will be time enough presently to hear what matilda has to tell you. this hour is mine." chapter xi. a garden scene. meanwhile, the moon had risen high in the heavens. through the lofty tree-tops, her beams formed the most curiously shaped and fantastic silhouettes, which, under the influence of the cool night-breeze, seemed to drive one another up and down in endless chase along the bright yellow paths, and the velvety lawns. here and there, the moonlight fell through groups of tjemara trees, which, with their long needle-like foliage, greatly resemble our larches, and thus had, as it were, to pass through a network of the finest lace. nothing could be more weird, and, to a poetic eye, more pleasing, than these strange patches of sifted light, which cast no shadows, and offered so great a contrast to the calm white radiance around, that they looked like the mysterious rings in which elves and fairies hold their nightly revels. this night, however, the otherwise so quiet garden offered a most animated spectacle. on all sides, in the avenues, under the trees, on the lawns, were scattered about merry groups of young men and girls, and many more sedate parties also of older people, all thoroughly enjoying the fresh balmy air, and, after the heat and glare of the crowded ball-rooms, finding relief in the cool breeze and pleasant moonlight. after the waltz was over, the band had struck up a fantasia on airs from la traviata. as the picolo and the cornet began the well-known duet of the first act in which alfred and violetta declare their mutual love, and where the music so eloquently interprets the words: "un jour l'ã¢me ravie, je vous vis si jolie, que je vous crus sortie du cã©leste sã©jour. etait-ce donc un ange, une femme, qui venait d'embraser mon ã¢me? las! je ne sais encor ... mais depuis ce beau jour, je sais que j'aime d'un pur amour." van nerekool's arm stole round the waist of his dear anna, as he led her into a thick grove of pandan, under whose heavy and broad foliage they might hope, for a few moments, to escape from the observation of those around them. "now, my own dearest anna," said he, "now that we are alone, let me repeat the words which, yonder in the midst of all those people, and with all those eyes fixed upon us, i could but whisper." the young girl hung trembling all over on her lover's arm. "anna, my darling, i love you; i love you more dearly than my words can express, more dearly than my mother, than my sister, more dearly than myself. as i am by your side, i can dream of nothing but happiness, to breathe the same air that you breathe is bliss indeed. o darling anna, let me tell you again and again how dearly, how faithfully, i love you!" the strong man clasped the girl to his breast, and she hid her head on his shoulder. "tell me, anna," he continued, passionately, "tell me, do you feel some such love for me? do you love me, dearest? i know i have already had your answer, but repeat that word once again now that we are here alone, now that we are here far from the noise of the world, repeat that little word now as we are standing under the eye of god himself." he drew the young girl still more closely to him, as he bowed his head down to her lips to listen. she closed her eyes, and then, blending with the wondrous soughing of the breeze in the tjemara trees, softly and melodiously the magic syllable fell from her lips. he all but uttered a cry of joy, and, bending his head still deeper down towards her, he whispered in trembling accents, "dearest one, now let me set the seal to my vows of true and faithful love;" and, before anna had time to utter a word, their lips met, and then, with one long, ardent kiss, they closed the band which, for this transitory world, was to hold their hearts and lives inseparably united. thus for a few moments they stood in fond embrace, gazing at one another with joy ineffable, while high above them the broad pandan-leaves were gently waving and sheltering them under their friendly shade, and the wind sighing to the tjemaras wafted to them from yonder distance the sweet strains of melody which again and again seemed to say: "... mais depuis ce beau jour, je sais que j'aime d'un pur amour." those brief moments of rapture were indeed, for the happy pair of lovers, an ever-memorable page in the book of their life; the fairest page, no doubt, and the happiest. soon, too soon, they were to be roughly shaken out of their blissful dream. "anna!" cried a loud voice, "matilda meidema is looking for you everywhere. where can you have got to, my child?" it was the voice of anna's mother laurentia, which suddenly startled our lovers out of their ecstasy. at a single glance the sharp-sighted woman had taken in the whole scene; but she betrayed no surprise, and, in the most winning manner, continued: "i left matilda, only a moment ago, by yonder bed of roses--if you will follow this path, you can't help meeting her." and, as her daughter stood irresolute: "oh," said she, "you need not be anxious; mr. van nerekool will be kind enough to offer me his arm, so you see you will not leave him sorrowing and utterly forsaken. make haste." these words uttered in the most friendly tone, yet so full of sarcasm, dismayed the young girl utterly, and caused her to hurry away with sad forebodings. "and now, mr. van nerekool," said mrs. van gulpendam, somewhat loftily, to the young man. "now, it is our turn, will you kindly offer me your arm?" without a word, and with a courtly bow, van nerekool complied; but he felt sick at heart, as though he had committed some crime. "come," said she, "we will walk up this avenue of tjemaras, it is lighter here and not so mysteriously dark as in that horrid pandan grove. true, i don't suppose you will have to tell me such pretty tales as you were just now whispering to anna, fie, mr. van nerekool, that was hardly a loyal action on your part, i must say--" charles cast his eye on the woman who was leaning on his arm, and who, so calmly and with so musical a voice, signified her maternal disapprobation. they had come forth from the pandan grove, so that the moonlight, shining full upon the perfect form of her snowy bosom, which a thin tulle handkerchief only nominally protected from the night air, imparted to her person an indescribably fascinating appearance. as though dazzled at the sight, the young man, for a single instant, closed his eyes; and when he opened them again, he found the deep, dark gaze of the beautiful woman fixed full upon him. she seemed to divine the impression which the view of her charms had, for a passing moment, made upon the youthful and susceptible man. her look seemed to interrogate, and, at the same time, was encouraging. "madam," said charles at length with a deep breath, as if he were putting from him an unwelcome thought; "madam, you were doubtless surprised to find me walking with miss anna in this somewhat lonely part of the garden--" "walking with her, yes,--and kissing her," said fair laurentia, completing the sentence. "well, yes," continued charles, "and kissing her; but should you perhaps think that we had purposely selected this spot, then--" "well, what then?" asked she, with a sly smile. "then you would be misjudging miss anna and myself." "i considered," retorted laurentia, somewhat sarcastically, "that the spot was an admirable one--well-chosen for kissing." "yet it was the merest chance that brought us to it. believe me, before that moment,--or to speak more correctly,--before this evening, not a word of love had ever passed between us." "oh, mr. van nerekool!" exclaimed laurentia, with a mocking smile, "that is quite incredible! do you expect me to believe that two young people of different sexes, should be kissing each other in an out-of-the-way corner, if there had not previously been some words of affection,--of love,--spoken between them--without, in fact, any question of passion on either side?" "and yet, madam, believe me, it is the perfect truth. i never tell a lie," broke in charles, with considerable vehemence. "aye, aye," said laurentia, "i know all about it. i once was young myself. oh," continued the pleasure-loving woman, her voice falling at the remembrance of that youth from which she was so loth to part. "oh, when i was nineteen, i was exactly what anna is now--i was, as she is now, a budding beauty, i had just as fresh and youthful feelings--i was just as child-like and playful as she is." van nerekool shuddered at this comparison of the daughter with the mother. "i was just as kind-hearted, just as lovable as she is. oh believe me," continued she, excitedly, while she allowed her hand to lean on his arm more heavily perhaps than was needful, and gave that arm a gentle pressure. "believe me, one need not have a very lively imagination to see that anna will be precisely like me." for a moment she paused, as if she began to see that she was being carried away by her subject. "no doubt, madam," replied van nerekool, gallantly, as he allowed his eye to wander from the face of his fair companion to her shoulders, to her bosom, to her feet. "no doubt, one may safely predict that miss anna will, in charms and perfections, nearly come up to her mother." "pray, mr. van nerekool, no compliments," said laurentia, with an affected smile. "but may i beg of you," continued he, "to let me know for what purpose you drew the parallel? i do not quite see--" laurentia shook the wealth of curls which covered her neck and descended to her shoulders. no, the simpleton whose arm she held, did not understand her. that was plain enough. one thought of m`bok kã¢rijã¢h swiftly passed through her brain, and drew a sigh from her. "oh," she continued, while her bosom rose and fell quickly as she drew breath more rapidly, "i merely meant to state that i was young once--" "and you are young still," cried van nerekool, politely. "that a kiss has been snatched from me too," continued laurentia, with a smile of pleasure at the remembrance, "but that occurred in open daylight, in the presence of my parents, and not in the darkness of a pandan grove." "now, madam," said van nerekool, very seriously, "allow me, i pray you, to tell you how it all happened. for about a twelvemonth i have been visiting at your house. at first my visits were but rare, of late they have become much more frequent. now, you are a clever woman and you cannot have failed to see the reason of this. i had made the acquaintance of your daughter, and the more thoroughly i began to appreciate her amiable and noble character, the more deeply did the shaft which had struck me at my first visit, enter into my heart. how shall i go on, madam--the simple truth is that soon i felt that at her side only i could be truly happy. but;--though i ventured to hope that miss anna had no aversion for me--and though i thought that i might reckon upon your friendly aid also--yet i very soon began to notice that i failed to gain the good-will of mr. van gulpendam. indeed, i may say, that he positively dislikes me. that feeling of dislike he could not always repress, though he observed towards me the forms of strict politeness; and, though i cannot complain of any purposely inflicted slights, yet now and then his repugnance would show itself in a manner which, to me, has been wholly unmistakable. this, in some measure, discouraged me. then again, i know that, as yet, my income will not suffice to set up housekeeping on however modest a scale. thus, you yourself, my dear madam, must have perceived that i left miss anna in utter ignorance of my affection for her. whether or not she may have suspected my passion, i do not dare to say; but certainly i uttered no single word of love to her--" "but mr. van nerekool--" "allow me, madam, to finish my story: certainly i uttered no single word of love to her until this evening when, in the giddy whirl of the dance, the secret which i had so long and so faithfully kept escaped me. i was beside myself with joy when the first declaration of my love was not met with a refusal. and, as a loving mother, can you now blame me because, as we were walking together a few moments later in this garden, i was driven, by the magic power of this lovely scene, by the solemn quiet of this enchanting spot, and by the seductive notes of the music which could not but find an echo in my heart, again to declare my love? can you blame me because, as i held in my arms the pure angel of my dreams and clasped her to my heart, i sealed the solemn compact of our love with a kiss as pure and as holy--i swear it--as the angels in heaven might interchange?" charles van nerekool spoke with the fire, with the enthusiasm, of truth. his words were nothing like the commonplaces of society, nothing like the phrases which sound like a mere sentimental lesson learnt out of the romantic pages of georges sand, of georges ohnet or of hector malot. his words were eloquent, manly; and came from a true and loyal heart, and they made a deep impression on the fair lady who leaned on his arm, laurentia--always very impressible--closed her eyes for a moment, as if dazed by the power and purity of his love. had mr. van gulpendam ever, thought she, thus declared his love to her--had he ever spoken of her in such terms? alas! no; he was a man wholly absorbed in the love of money; and--and--but she--she?--was she free from those faults which now she looked upon with such horror in her husband? for one single moment she was forced to confess herself guilty, for a single moment better thoughts prevailed. but this was only for a moment. the instant after she began to feel jealous of her daughter. yes, jealous and angry at the thought that anna has succeeded in winning so pure, so proud, so manly a love--a love which she herself had never either felt or inspired. moreover she put no faith in so much purity and sincerity as the words of van nerekool evidently conveyed. her very nature forbade her to do so. all affection, all love between persons of opposite sexes was, in her estimation, the mere expression of material passion and the consequence of carnal desire. purity and love were, to her, mere sounds, which, if she could understand them at all, only served as a cloak for far different sentiments. to her they were--they could be--nothing more. under the influence, therefore, of such miserably grovelling views, she answered sarcastically: "yes, i can understand all that! immeasurable bliss under the pandan bushes! now, mr. van nerekool, shall i tell you what i think of that chaste kiss and all the rest of it?--well, i think that they are merely fine names for something which might be expressed in totally different language. why! you, as a man, you surely must know what meaning the world attributes to a kiss!" "pardon me, madam," replied charles, somewhat sadly, "i am, as yet, very young and very inexperienced." "yes," said laurentia with a mocking laugh, "i can quite perceive that." "oh madam," cried the young man, "i beg you let us not waste time in useless playing with words. yes i am young, i repeat it, i am inexperienced, i have but little knowledge of the sentiments which seem to pass current in the world; feelings which appear to be ticketed like the samples of some commercial traveller, each to fit into their own compartment--one affection of the heart another of the head, another of the senses. of all this i know nothing. i can say but one thing, i truly, and in all good faith and honesty, love your daughter; and especially, my love for her is a pure love in which the pursuit after pleasure has not once entered. believe me when i say this in all the sincerity of my heart. such insinuations i never expected to hear from her who is the mother of her whom i honour and respect above all things. i love anna with all my heart and with all my powers, and i feel within me the glorious strength which honourable love alone is able to impart." these principles of the young man spoken out so forcibly and in so manly a spirit, baffled mrs. van gulpendam completely. she felt at once that it would be no use whatever to try and play any idle games with him. "but," said she somewhat impatiently, "what then do you want of me?" this she asked quite forgetting that it was she who had asked van nerekool to give her his arm, and that it was she who had brought up this conversation--a conversation which seemed to be turning greatly to her discomfiture. "i caught you," she continued, "as you were holding anna in your arms, in a lonely spot, and as you were pressing a kiss upon her lips. now i ask you, what am i to think of the vaunted purity of your love? your practice seems to me to be in direct contradiction with your fine principles. i ask you again: is such conduct in any way excusable, while the girl's parents are left in ignorance of this passion?" "mrs. van gulpendam, i have tried to explain to you how circumstances entirely beyond my control, have led me to betray my feelings. if you will not take my word for it, then i can only lament that you, my dear anna's mother, have formed so low an opinion of my character. but, much as i do regret that, such considerations can now no longer withhold me. i have agreed with miss anna, that to-morrow i will ask your leave to call upon you in order to formally make my request to yourself and mr. van gulpendam, for your daughter's hand. now, however, let me anticipate that to-morrow and make my petition to you here which it was my intention to lay before you to-morrow. and, may i add to that request, the prayer that you will kindly intercede on my behalf, with mr. van gulpendam?" as he made his petition charles van nerekool had stopped in his walk and had dropped laurentia's arm, and now he was looking up into the eyes of anna's mother, with the beseeching look of yearning love. knowing the young man's character, it cannot for a moment be supposed that he acted with any view to theatrical effect when he stopped exactly in the centre of one of those strange shadowy glades under the tjemara trees. the curious light, however, surrounded his head as with a mysterious aureola which made the finely chiselled features of his grave countenance and his fair curls stand out to the greatest advantage. fair laurentia was an excellent judge of manly beauty; and the ardent look which she cast upon the young man, as he stood there in an attitude of supplication before her, would have filled anna with dismay had she been able to see it and been able to understand its significance. the momentary danger, however, fortunately passed away; for the thoughts of the practical woman were just then distracted by the approach of two sons of the celestial empire, who, walking in an avenue which ran parallel to that in which she was, made the fine gravel crunch under their curiously curved but heavy sandals. these were babah tang ing gwan the major of the chinese troops at santjoemeh and babah lim yang bing the opium farmer. they also had come out to enjoy the fresh air, and were honestly confessing to each other that, on the whole, they did not find much amusement in these european entertainments. said lim yang bing with a most disgusting leer to his companion, "it is only the bare shoulders, arms, &c., of the european ladies and girls that reconcile me in any way to so tedious a party. it cannot be denied that the creatures are well made. but what on earth can the husbands and fathers of these things mean, to come and exhibit them thus publicly; and then what shamelessness, what want of modesty in those white women to show themselves thus, tjiss! fie upon them!" "yes, indeed, tjiss!" said the chinese major, an elderly man who with his long grey moustache drooping on to his breast, had a very martial, indeed a venerable appearance. "yes, tjiss!" said he, "i would not allow my wife or daughters to appear before me in such dress as that, or rather in such undress!" "have you noticed the njonja toean resident?" said lim yang bing. "she--" "hold your tongue!" whispered the major in a warning voice, "she is standing just there talking to the young judge; what can she have to say to him?" lim yang bing answered not a word; but a low cunning smile played upon his lips. the intrigues of his son lim ho were perfectly well known to him. he also remembered his conversation with the resident--and van nerekool was a member of the judicial bench. no! the njonja had heard nothing but the crunching of the gravel; but the mere sight of these two chinamen--and especially the sight of the opium-farmer, which brought at once lim ho to her mind, and her arrangements with m`bok kã¢rijã¢h--caused the demon of money to triumph, and put to silence all other passions in her breast. "mr. van nerekool," said she in a gentle coaxing tone of voice, "the resident is not at all so badly disposed towards you as you seem to think. but he is a man who has a great eye for all that is practical.--allow me to speak and do not interrupt me.--our conversation has already lasted too long. the world might, you know--but no, you love my daughter do you not?" she hesitated--she stammered, she was trembling all over. young van nerekool gazed at her with a strange puzzled expression which she seemed perfectly to understand. "the resident," she resumed, "will have practical men and--you must pardon me," she continued with slight hesitation, "you must pardon me for saying so; but you are not a practical man. no, no," continued she hastily, "don't look at me like that! you are moving in a world of dreams, which is very far removed indeed from practical every-day life. you picture to yourself an ideal world as different as possible from the one in which we live. and, i can tell you, if you cannot somehow or other manage to wake up out of your day-dreams, you will be in great danger of never making any way at all in the judicial career which you have chosen. yours is, in sober fact, a most prosaic career; and the one of all others, in which dreams and fancies are utterly out of place." van nerekool listened to this homily with the greatest attention and most submissively, though he felt arising within him a nameless feeling of uneasiness which he had much trouble to suppress. "i am prepared to accede to your request," resumed fair laurentia with her most winning smile, but at the same time emphasizing every syllable as if she counted them,--"i will speak for you, and i will plead your cause with the resident,--and if i once consent to do that, anna will be yours." "oh how can i sufficiently thank you," exclaimed van nerekool, laying his hand on his heart, as if he wished to keep down its beating. very little more and he would, in his transport of gratitude, have snatched up laurentia to his breast and covered her with kisses. happily, however, he restrained himself,--happily, for who knows what effect such an act might have had upon the excitable woman. "be calm, mr. van nerekool," said she, "be calm. i am ready to intercede for you; but then, on your part, you must make me one promise." "oh speak, madam, speak--i will in every way--" "mr. zuidhoorn," quietly resumed laurentia, "is, as you may have heard perhaps, on the point of starting for holland to recruit his health--i am right, am i not?" "very good," she continued as charles made a gesture of assent, "there is a case coming before the court which i am particularly anxious to see satisfactorily settled." "but, madam," interposed the lawyer, "i am a member of the judicial council and have nothing whatever to do with the lower court." "at my recommendation," replied laurentia, "you will, being one of the junior judges, be appointed president of the lower court pending the arrival of mr. zuidhoorn's substitute. that will be a step for you, will it not?" "certainly it will," said van nerekool, "i pray you go on." "and--who knows?--but to come to the point. there is a javanese at present in custody whose name is ardjan, the fellow has been smuggling opium." van nerekool's heart began to throb almost audibly. of course the mother of his dearest anna could but wish to help this poor ardjan out of his trouble, and was about to call upon him to lend her his assistance. he therefore thought that he quite spoke her mind when he interrupted her by saying: "who is accused of smuggling opium, you mean, dear madam." "that comes to the same thing," replied mrs. van gulpendam somewhat tartly. the young lawyer looked up in surprise, he could make nothing of it. "ardjan," continued laurentia, again quite calmly, "is an arch-smuggler, he belongs to a family of smugglers. just lately--a day or two ago--his father was caught in the act, and offered armed resistance to the police in the execution of their duties. such scum as that must be severely dealt with--do you hear?" "yes, madam, i hear," said van nerekool, drily, "i know that he did offer resistance to the authorities; but--as far as opium-smuggling is concerned--" "smuggling!" cried the lady, vehemently, "is theft--is theft! you know that well enough, mr. van nerekool, it is stealing from the revenue, it is stealing from the public purse." "most undoubtedly it is, madam; but what i wanted to ask is--has this case of smuggling been properly brought home to them?" "oh, certainly it has," cried laurentia. "ardjan is the guilty man--there is no one else to suspect. of course, i know well enough that a conspiracy had been formed to cast suspicion upon lim ho, the son of the great opium farmer. now what an absurdity!--the son of the farmer who, with his father, has the greatest interest in stopping all smuggling transactions!--it is simply absurd. i know also that in order further to prejudice lim ho, an accusation has been trumped up against him in the upper court, in which he is charged with having flogged ardjan with kamadoog leaves. but, of course, mr. van nerekool, you will know how to tear to pieces that web of deceit and perjury. you will know how to deal with that nest of smugglers, and make short work of all these perjurers!" "madam," replied the young man, "you may be quite sure that, if i have the honour of being appointed to the temporary presidency of the lower court, i shall, to the best of my abilities, discharge my duties with the strictest impartiality. he who is in the right shall have justice; and he who is guilty, shall not evade the punishment he deserves. i happen to know something about that smuggling business, and also of the so-called resistance to the police of which pak ardjan stands accused, and i think i can assure you that neither father nor son is as culpable as he is supposed to be." "what a downright simpleton the booby is," thought mrs. van gulpendam. "mr. van nerekool," she whispered in his ear, "the resident is quite right--you are not a practical man." "but, madam--" "but remember, it is only if you follow my directions, that anna will be yours. you mind that!" "but," cried nerekool, in extreme perplexity, "what is it you require me to do?" "ardjan and his father must both be transported," said mrs. van gulpendam, most resolutely. "where to?--that matters but little--to deli, to atjeh--yes, atjeh, perhaps, would be the better place." "they will be transported," said van nerekool, with equal resolution, "both of them, if they are found guilty." "guilty or not guilty!" exclaimed mrs. van gulpendam, "you will do as i tell you!--or else--no presidency--you will do as i tell you--or else, depend upon it--no anna!" the blood flew up into the face of the upright young judge at this intolerable dictation. his whole mind and soul rebelled against such gross injustice. he dropped the arm of the fair temptress, and, without reflecting, he hissed rather than spoke in the heat of his indignation. "madam, i love your daughter, i dearly love anna; but to purchase her hand at that price--the price of my own dishonour--never, never!" "never?" sneered laurentia. "no, madam, never, never!" exclaimed van nerekool. "why, she herself would be the very first to despise and reject me, could i be guilty of such baseness and accept so odious an offer. but," continued he, suddenly changing his tone, "surely all this is but a jest, surely you are not in earnest!" "i am in right--downright earnest," said laurentia, sternly. "it is my last word to you--it is war or peace between us--i leave it to your own choice." "i would not willingly make an enemy of anyone," said van nerekool, very sadly; "but a clear conscience is to me precious above all things. farewell, madam." he covered his face with both his hands, as he hurried from the spot. for awhile he wandered about in the greatest excitement, seeking the loneliest spots in the garden. presently, however, he somewhat recovered his composure, and, stunned by the blow that had just fallen on him, he made his way back again to the inner gallery. there he found matilda van meidema, who called to him, and said: "mr. van nerekool, my friend anna has requested me to give you a message, it is this. unless some means of rescue be found, ardjan's case is hopelessly lost. all the witnesses have either been corrupted or put out of the way, so that his condemnation is certain." "and from whom has miss anna got all this information?" asked van nerekool with a sad absent smile. "she had it from me, mr. van nerekool," replied the young girl. "and how did you get to know all this, miss meidema?" he asked. "why, mr. judge," said she, "you happen to be in a rather inquisitive mood! i suppose," she continued with a laugh, "your curiosity is professional. the only thing i can tell you is that i have obeyed anna's orders and delivered my message." thus saying, with a curtsey she hurried away. charles wandered about for a while objectless among the guests. but, after his conversation with laurentia he could find no rest. he looked round for anna; but she, as daughter of the house, had, on the occasion of a formal party like the present, many duties to perform. though the young girl's face showed but little enjoyment of the scene around her, yet it wore its usual pleasant smile. it was, however, a forced smile which, to her lover's eye, signified nothing else than anxiety and restlessness. at that sight all desire to remain left him, especially as he knew that he could not venture to approach her. so he went to look for his hat; and having found it, took leave of the resident and of his wife, and a few minutes after he was gone. "take care! think it over well," had been laurentia's last whispered words as he made his parting bow. chapter xii. husband and wife.--mother and daughter. it was getting rather late in the day. the sun had already risen high when mr. and mrs. van gulpendam took their seat at the breakfast-table in the pandoppo. the resident, according to his invariable custom, had risen early; but the ladies did not quite so soon recover from the fatigues of the last night's ball. when, at length, fair laurentia appeared in the pandoppo she found her husband sitting in full dress, light-blue coat and silver buttons on which the arms of holland shone conspicuous; but evidently in very bad temper. he sat impatiently turning about a paper in his hands: "at last!" he cried. "what do you mean by at last," she rejoined, "i suppose that is to be my good-morning?" "very likely," said he gruffly. "now is this breakfast-time i ask you? you know how very busy i am." "then why did you not have your breakfast before?" asked his wife. "why? why?" he grumbled, "that is always the way you women put us off! you know i don't like to sit down to meals alone!" "then why did you not call anna? she would have had some news to tell you," replied the wife. it appears that, after the party, laurentia had not taken the trouble to enlighten her husband as to what had occurred on the previous evening. she had so much to do as hostess--and then she had not missed a single dance;--the young men of santjoemeh had been simply charming! "anna, anna," growled van gulpendam, "why, i have seen nothing of her yet. you women never can have a good stiff run without being knocked up all the next day! but--what is up with anna? what news may she have to tell me?" "i will leave that to her--anna!--call your young lady," said laurentia turning to dalima, who just then came into the pandoppo. "miss anna will be here presently," said the baboe. "but meanwhile," repeated van gulpendam, "what news has the girl to tell me?" "oh," said laurentia wearily, "i would much rather she should herself tell you. she could much better explain it herself why she allowed van nerekool to kiss her last night in the garden. but, i should like to know what paper that is there in your hand. you know i don't like to see the rubbish at my table. there is room enough in the office for all that sort of thing; and what's more you have my full leave to keep all those things there!" van gulpendam had taken the rather startling communication of his wife quite coolly; so coolly, indeed, that it exceedingly provoked fair laurentia. she had, therefore, sought to vent her displeasure upon something, and that something, she had found in the unlucky piece of paper. "it is a telegram," said van gulpendam, moodily, "which i have just received, and which has annoyed me not a little." "a telegram?" she cried. "yes, a message from the hague. look! yesterday evening at nine o'clock, this thing was sent off, and this morning by daylight, we have it here." "well," said laurentia, in no mood to humour her husband, "do you call that so very quick? don't you remember amy's letter, when we had sent her our congratulations on her engagement? our telegram left the office at santjoemeh at eleven o'clock, and, she wrote to us, that the very same morning at nine o'clock, it was delivered to her. that's quick if you like--it seems to me, rather more than quick!" "why, laurentia" said her husband, "i have explained it to you. the reason lies in the difference of longitude." "yes, yes, i know all about that, the sun turns--no the earth turns. oh yes, i know all about it. but that does not alter the fact that it was very quick work. fancy to receive a telegram, actually before it was sent off! but what can there be in that telegram from the hague, to put you out so?" "bah!" said van gulpendam, "what do you women know about business?" "yes, but tell me," she insisted, "from whom is it?" "it is from my brother gerard," replied van gulpendam shortly. "and what is it about?" asked laurentia; "now don't keep me waiting, it is not gallant." at the word gallant, van gulpendam made a wry face, "oh," said he, "it is about the matter of the netherland's lion. nothing can come to it--unless--" "yes, unless what?" inquired laurentia. "unless the opium monopoly at santjoemeh, can be made to bring in a great deal more money than it does at present. the estimates of our colonial secretary are not at all approved of, and they reckon upon getting a couple of millions more from that source." "they, they, who are they?" continued laurentia. "why--sidin, pull down the blinds!" said the resident prudently. "that sun," continued he, "is so troublesome shining through the venetians. you ask who are they? why they are the government, the ministers, the lower house in fact." "oh," said laurentia, carelessly, "is that all?" "is that all! of course it is," replied her husband grumpily, "quite enough too, you know as well as i do that the farmer pays more than twelve hundred thousand guilders for his privilege." "well," said laurentia, "what of that?--next year he will have to put down fifteen or eighteen hundred--there's the end of it." "of course," growled the resident, "it is easy enough to say there's the end of it." "when is the contract to be renewed?" asked she. "this september," was the reply. "very good, then you leave it to me." "yes, but--" objected van gulpendam. "now, my dear," said she, "pray, let us have no fuss, our dear javanese friends will have to smoke a little more opium apiece--and--you will wear the bertes knabbeldat--what do you call the thing?" "virtus nobilitat" said van gulpendam, with dignity. "all right! the virtus nobilitat, you will wear it in your button hole, but--it will be my doing." "how so?" asked the husband, in surprise. "now gulpie, that is my secret. you will see, the opium contract will produce four or six hundred thousand more. don't therefore let us have any troubling about it before the time. now let us change the subject. how is it," she continued, "that you took so coolly what i just now told you about anna? about anna, you know, and van nerekool?" "come," said the resident, "let us have our breakfast, anna is not coming down it seems, and i have no time to spare." "all right," said his wife, "let us have breakfast, but that will not, i hope, prevent you from answering my question?" van gulpendam shook his head. "pass the coffee, nã¨nã¨h," said laurentia to her maid wong toewã¢. when the two cups of fragrant coffee stood before the pair, and each had cut a piece of bread, had buttered it, and spread upon it a thin slice of smoked venison, the lady, still anxious to have her answer, asked: "well now, gulpie dear?" "if i am ever to succeed in getting more out of the opium contract," said he musingly, "i shall probably want van nerekool's help." "his help? what? for the opium contract?" said laurentia, with an innocent smile, as if she understood nothing at all about the matter. "just listen to me," replied her husband. "if lim ho, in that matter, you know, of ardjan, should be found guilty and condemned--why, then, his father lim yang bing must, of course, be excluded from the competition altogether." "why so?" asked laurentia. "don't you see why?" retorted van gulpendam--"if for no other reason; then simply to shut the mouth of the papers. what a row they would make if the father of a man found guilty of opium-smuggling and of a barbarous outrage moreover, should have the monopoly granted him. why it would be worse than the noise about the capstan when they are heaving the anchor!" "but, my dear," objected laurentia, "do you think that at batavia they will trouble themselves about the barking of the local papers?" "yes and no," replied the resident. "the curs themselves will be despised no doubt; but still, in self-defence, they will have to order an inquiry." "and you will be the man to hold it, won't you?" said laurentia, with a meaning smile. "possibly i might be, but what if the dutch papers were to take up the cry?" "oh, the dutch press!" said laurentia, disdainfully. "it is pretty tame on the subject of opium. it will never join in a cry against it unless it be actually compelled." "yes," said the resident, "that's all very fine, but one never can tell how the cat may jump, or what secret influence may be at work. if lim ho is found guilty, it would most certainly be advisable that his father should not bid at all for the monopoly." "but," said laurentia, "he is the wealthiest of the chinese company." "i know that as well as you do," grumbled her husband. "put him aside, and your bids will fall instead of rising," insisted his wife. "no doubt they will--" "and then, my dear gulpie," said laurentia, with a laugh, "you may whistle for your bertes knabbeldat." "just so," said he, moodily. "but, if that be so," persisted laurentia, "it seems to me that lim ho must not be found guilty. he must be got off at any price, that's my way of looking at it." "you are perfectly right, my dear," replied the resident, "and it is precisely for the purpose of getting him off, that i shall want van nerekool's help. if he should become our son-in-law--or if the mere prospect of such a thing were to be held up to him--then--i have already told you, that i intend--as soon as zuidhoorn is out of the way, to appoint him president of the court pro tem." "yes," broke in laurentia, hastily, "but he won't hear of it." "won't hear of it?" said her husband, slowly, and in surprise. "no, he won't hear of it." "how do you know that?" "well," said laurentia, "i will tell you. when last night i found these two young people hugging and kissing in the garden, i sent anna about her business." "yes," said the resident, very anxiously, "and then--" "then i just took the opportunity of sounding the young gentleman." "of sounding him?" cried van gulpendam in dismay. "aye, my word was 'sounding'" replied laurentia, very quietly, "but i tell you there is no dealing with that fellow." thereupon laurentia told her husband pretty accurately what had taken place the night before in the pandan grove and under the tjemara trees, and reported to him the conversation she had there held with charles van nerekool. she omitted to tell him--very prudently too--that if she, by chance, had had to deal with a man of laxer morals and principles, she would have run great risk of becoming her daughter's rival. when her story was ended, her husband heaved a deep sigh and throwing himself back in his chair he said: "oh those women, those women! you have gone to work much too rashly," continued he. "you ought to have tacked about instead of running. no doubt you had a fair chance before you--a very nice south easterly trade--but you have thrown it away. you have gone full tilt at your object, and so have overshot your anchorage!" "oh, bother your tacks and runnings and trades and anchorages," cried fair laurentia, out of patience, and vexed beyond measure to find that all her fine management was so lightly spoken of. "you just let me alone, that's the best thing you can do." "but," said the resident, "you have spoilt the whole job!" "there was not much to spoil in the job, i can tell you, there was no doing anything with that booby." very bitterly indeed did the fair woman speak these words. if but her gulpie had been able to seize the meaning of her smile. but after all the french realistic school may be right when it says that there is no blinder thing in the world than a husband. at all events, poor van gulpendam did not see, or he did not understand that peculiar smile. "no doing anything with him, you say? ah, well, who knows. just listen to me, laurie. it is just possible, nay it is probable that, after such a conversation, van nerekool will shortly--to-day perhaps or to-morrow--come and ask me for our anna's hand." "well," said laurentia, "what then?" "then i shall see," replied her husband with a self-satisfied smile, "then i shall see what port i must steer for. i may, perhaps, know how to bring him to his bearings. i may be clever enough to drive him into some harbour of refuge." "i hope you may," said laurentia, incredulously, "but i very much doubt your success." "meanwhile," resumed van gulpendam, "you must use all your influence with anna. it is very likely that van nerekool will give her a hail before he makes up his mind to board me. now, should that happen--why then all may be well--you understand me, laurie, don't you? anna must be our strongest ally." "but," cried laurentia, "would you really give our dear, beautiful child to that sanctimonious young prig?" "i must, if i can't manage it otherwise; but, you see we are not on that tack just yet. if once we get into a good steady trade, and we have got what we want--why then, we shall no doubt find some means to get anna to go about." laurentia nodded. how little did these two parents know their own child! "and," continued the resident, cynically, "to heave the love-stricken simpleton overboard as so much useless ballast." "hush," said he, "here she comes!" "good morning, anna, my darling. you have slept soundly, i daresay, after your night's dissipation. how she did enjoy herself! how the little corvette ran from the slips! why! you did not miss a single dance!" anna, to use her father's favourite phraseology, was thoroughly taken aback. her father then, had heard nothing at all about it--absolutely nothing! after her adventure in the garden, she quite anticipated stern faces in the morning, and was prepared for a good scolding. that, indeed, was partly the reason why she had lingered so much longer than usual in her room. and now, lo and behold! her father greeted her more kindly and more cheerfully than ever before. perhaps mamma had had no time to make the serious communication. no, that was hardly possible, her parents had been for a considerable time together in the pandoppo, she knew that from dalima. and yet--well--she replied to her father's hearty greeting with an equally hearty kiss, and was just turning to her mother when van gulpendam said: "that's right--now i have had my breakfast, i have had my morning kiss--now i must be off to work, there is plenty of it waiting for me. i must leave you ladies alone." "anna," continued he, more seriously, "listen attentively to what your mother will have to say to you. remember you must take all that she will tell you as if it came from me. good-bye, anna, good-bye, laurentia." and off he was, through the inner, into the front gallery, where he met his private secretary who had been, for some time, waiting for him. he shook hands, offered him a cigar, took one himself, and proceeded with great care to light it at the match which his oppasser respectfully offered him. when it was well lighted, he handed the taper to his subordinate, who addressed himself as carefully and as systematically as his chief to the important function of lighting his cigar. this done, the two officials walked for awhile up and down the roomy gallery, discussing the morning's news, and making arrangements for the day's work which lay before them. meanwhile, nonna anna had exchanged her customary morning greeting with her mother, and had sat down by her side at the breakfast table, while baboe dalima offered her the cup of coffee which she had poured out at the little side-table. "it is nice, miss anna," said she, with a pleasant smile to her youthful mistress. anna gave her a friendly little nod, took up the cup, and slowly sipped the fragrant decoction, now and then passing the tip of her tongue over her rosy lips as if unwilling to lose the least drop. when the little cup was empty, she handed it back to the baboe, with the words: "another cup." "engã¨h, nana," answered dalima, as she took the cup and hastened to the side-table. then anna buttered a slice of bread; but she did this so slowly and deliberately, with such an amount of concentrated attention indeed, that it was clear her mind was not upon what she was doing. in fact, she dreaded the opening of the impending conversation. laurentia sat next to her daughter not speaking a single word; but keeping her eye constantly upon the girl. very steadily she looked at her, and very kindly too. she sat admiring the pure, fresh complexion of the young girl, who, although she had passed a great part of the night in dancing, and had probably slept but very little during the remaining portion, was still as clear and bright as ever. she admired also her slim yet well rounded form, admirably set off by the pretty kabaja, and she sat calculating to what extent those charms might have captivated that cold and pensive van nerekool, to what extent they might force him to bow his neck under the yoke which was being prepared for him. but, if the mother's eye brightened as she looked upon her daughter's beauty, yet, amidst all this admiration, one sad thought would come up to her mind. more than a quarter of a century ago, van hoop gave that thought utterance when he said: "daughter a-courting--mother grows old." and then there came over her a feeling of jealousy, as she thought of the manly beauty of charles van nerekool, who had treated her with such strange indifference. would she have to give up all hope of entangling that young man if he could be made to despair of ever obtaining anna's hand? but--away with all such idle thoughts and fancies. the words of her husband were still ringing in her ears. her business was to save the son of the opium-farmer, if she wished to see her dear gulpie's breast adorned with the bertes knabbeldat. thus, in silence, the daughter and the mother sat side by side. the former could not trust herself to speak, and tried to hide her confusion by affecting to be wholly engrossed in her breakfast, for which, if the truth were told, she felt but very little appetite. the latter sat collecting her thoughts, and making up her mind how best to make the attack. at length, laurentia began in the most affectionate manner. "anna, my dear child, now just tell me what could have induced you to walk about in the garden alone with mr. van nerekool last night?" "mother," stammered the girl, in dire confusion. "you need not blush so, my dear child," continued her mother; "i saw quite enough yesterday to tell me all that is going on. but that does not make it clear to me how you formed that attachment. i fancy, anna," she continued, "i fancy i have some right to your confidence, have i not?" "o mother!" cried the poor girl, "i cannot myself explain to you how it all happened." "but, anna!" "i love charles," cried anna, wildly; "i love him, that is all i know about it!" "but tell me, anna, have you ever seriously asked yourself whether you feel for him that deep and lasting affection without which no woman ought to permit the addresses of any man?" "yes, mother." "have you asked yourself whether this man, who has for the moment gained your affections, is the one to whom you are prepared to devote your whole life?" "yes, mother," replied anna, bravely, "yes, mother, for my love for him rests entirely on the noble qualities which distinguish him from all others. it is his honest heart especially which has won my love." "now all this, anna," resumed mrs. van gulpendam, "is somewhat frivolous." "frivolous, mother!" cried the young girl; "do you call it frivolous that my eye has been open not to mere outward show, not to the mere superficial varnish and polish of society; but to genuine and substantial qualities, to sterling firmness of character and to honesty of principle?" "tut, tut, tut!" exclaimed laurentia, "these are mighty fine words indeed." "do you disapprove of my choice, mother dear?" asked anna. "disapprove," said laurentia, gravely, "no, my child, it is not i who disapprove." "oh! yes; i know that papa is not at all fond of mr. van nerekool!" mrs. van gulpendam made no reply to this exclamation. "have you loved him long?" asked she at length. "yes, mamma; my love for him has grown without my knowing it." "come now, anna," said laurentia, with a sad incredulous smile, "come now." "i do assure you," pleaded the girl, "it was altogether without my knowledge." "how then, and when did you discover that you were in love with him?" persisted her mother. "you know, mamma, do you not? that he used to visit here frequently--very frequently." "well, yes," said laurentia, "i know that; but that is no answer to my question." "during his visits here," continued the young girl, "i was generally alone in his company. at one time you would be engaged at cards; at another you were surrounded by your friends and taken up in discussing some article of toilette or deep in the secrets of a plum-pudding. at another time again, you, as hostess and wife of the chief man in the district, had to do the honours of the house and had to occupy yourself with generals, colonels, presidents and such like; and amidst all this business you had no time to devote to your daughter--" "but," cried laurentia, interrupting her daughter's words; "that sounds very much like a reproach." "do let me get on, mother dear," implored anna; "do let me get on. you have asked me how that affection arose in my heart--i would now lay open my heart to you; you have a right to it; you are my mother." "then," she resumed, "i felt myself so utterly lonely in those gay circles in which commonplace, self-sufficiency, mediocrity, and frivolity reigned supreme. i felt myself so lonely in the midst of that buzz of conversation which, to me, had no attraction--in the midst of all those people for whom i had the greatest aversion--" "anna, anna!" cried her mother, "take care of what you are saying. remember it is your parents' friends and your parents' company that you are thus censuring." "is it my fault, dearest mother," continued anna, "that i feel a distaste for all such society? have you not often felt the same aversion--tell me, mother dear?" laurentia gave no reply; she seemed to devour her daughter's words. "go on," said she, somewhat sternly. "then," resumed anna, "i used to slip away quietly to my piano; there i found one never-failing means of getting rid of the company i disliked--then--" "oh! yes," said laurentia, sarcastically, "then my daughter used to plunge into beethoven, mendelsohn, mozart, chopin and all the rest of them, and neglect the world--" "no, mother," hastily broke in anna, "not neglect--but tried for a while to forget the world which for me, as i have said, has no attractions--in the glorious realm of music, which, as a paradise, lay open before me." "that is a mighty fine speech," said laurentia, with mocking lip but with moistened eye; for the emotional woman could not, with all her cynicism, remain unmoved at her daughter's enthusiasm. "very fine, indeed; but, all this, remember, does not explain to me how you first came to discover that you were in love with van nerekool." "among all the company which surrounded you," continued anna, "there were but very few indeed who could resist the temptation of a quadrille-party, of some political dispute or of a description of a white damask burnouse to--" "to group themselves around the priestess of harmony," said mrs. van gulpendam, with a good-natured smile. "to enjoy some better and higher pleasure than the trivial conversation of the so-called beau monde," continued anna. "among those few was mr. van nerekool, or rather i should say he was the only one; for even if now and then some young man would come and stand at my piano for a moment or two,--he did so--not for the sake of the music, still less for the sake of her who played it--" "now, anna dear!" broke in mrs. van gulpendam, "we are getting a little too modest i think!" "still less i said," continued the young girl, not noticing the interruption, "for the sake of her who played it; but merely because i happened to be the daughter of the resident to which some little compliment ought now and then to be paid, and some little politeness was due. all these would run away quickly enough the moment the cards were brought in or the moment they heard some quotation from the colonial news in the java papers. then it was that i was left alone with charles. i found in him a true lover of music, and one who can feel what music means! thus we were generally isolated in the midst of a crowd, and thus used we to express our feelings in the delicious melody which our fingers could produce--no, no, dear mother," she continued, most seriously, "pray do not smile. on such occasions never one word escaped from the lips of either of us which could convey the slightest hint of what was passing in our hearts. that word might perhaps have remained unspoken; for i am convinced that van nerekool was thinking as little about love as i was, and that we both felt nothing more than a mutual attraction to one another. but last night--during the invitation ã  la valse, our secret slipped out--and oh, dearest mother, you yourself witnessed our first kiss!" as she spoke these words the young girl gently laid her head upon her mother's breast, who flung her arm around her as she looked into her daughter's appealing eyes. "and now, mother," continued anna, softly, "can you forgive your child for having obeyed the voice of her heart?" "my darling girl," said laurentia, "not only do i forgive you for what was no more than natural; but what is more, i can tell you that circumstances might arise which would make me fully approve of your choice." "approve of my choice, mother!" exclaimed the girl. "oh, you make me happy indeed!" and kneeling down, she hid her face in her mother's lap and broke out into convulsive sobs which shook her entire frame. laurentia, wholly unprepared for this storm of passion, lifted her up and tried to soothe her. "come, now, anna," said she, "try and be calm; try and compose yourself! how can my simple words have moved you so? could you possibly suspect me of not doing my utmost to secure your happiness?" "my happiness!" cried the young girl. "yes, my happiness--yes, dearest mother, that is the right word--it is indeed my happiness," continued she, as she covered her mother's face with kisses. "now, anna," at length said laurentia, anxious to put an end to this tender effusion, "do sit down quietly by my side, as you were sitting just now, and then with your hand in mine and your eye fixed on mine, we can talk over this delicate matter quietly. come and sit down here close to my heart." she pressed her child's head to her bosom. it was a pretty picture, but it conveyed, alas! the exact contrary of the story of the serpent and the husbandman. "but," asked anna, anxiously, and folding her hands as if in prayer, "do you think papa will ever give his consent?" "i think he may," replied laurentia. "oh, that would be a blessing!" cried anna. "don't you think, mammy dear, that would be too great a blessing?" "no, anna, not at all, now listen to me. your father will not be very easily won, in fact we shall have to take him by storm." "dear mother," cried anna, "have you not spoken to papa about it yet?" "not only will it be hard to gain him" continued laurentia, coldly, without noticing her daughter's interruption, "but something would have to happen by which van nerekool might conciliate him." "i feel certain, dearest mother," cried anna, "that charles will do anything to obtain my hand!" "do you?" asked laurentia. "he would do anything you say. are you quite sure that you are not just a little too sanguine?" "oh, mother dear!" cried the girl in a deprecating tone. "yes, i said too sanguine; for i have some reason to fear that charles is not quite so deeply in love as he would wish you to suppose." "mother!" cried anna, looking up at her reproachfully. "don't interrupt me, anna. last night, as you know, i remained for some time in the garden with mr. van nerekool after i had, from his own lips, heard the confession of his love." "mamma dear!" cried the young girl, breathlessly, "his confession did you say!" "now pray don't excite yourself," said laurentia with an icy smile. "after he had confessed his attachment to you--i opened to him the prospect, not only of obtaining your father's consent--" "oh, mother, dear, how kind of you," now sighed the young girl as she covered laurentia's face with kisses. laurentia gently put her aside and resumed: "i opened to him not only the prospect of gaining your father's consent; but i further proposed to him a means of greatly improving his own position, and of thus making his marriage with a girl like you, more possible." "a girl like me?" asked anna in surprise. "am i then unlike all other girls that a marriage with me would be less possible?" "my dear child," said laurentia, "listen to reason. you know that from your childhood you have been brought up in the midst of a certain degree of luxury,--now surely you would not like to renounce all these comforts, to which you have been born and bred and--" "for the man i love i would sacrifice anything!" eagerly cried the girl. "yes, i know," replied laurentia coldly, "all that reads very well in a novel; but you will not find that it will stand the test of experience. in practical everyday life the saying is but too true: 'when poverty enters at the door, love flies out at the window.'" "oh!" cried anna, "there is no fear of that with me and charles." "that is all very fine," continued laurentia, "but we, your parents, we who have to entrust your future happiness to a husband, we must take care that that husband can offer you a home free from the anxieties of poverty. now we were in hopes that we might have met mr. van nerekool half way in this matter--but--" "but--what mamma? oh, tell me what he said." "why, he had only one word to say--and that word was 'never.'" "never," cried anna, "i do not quite understand you, mother. you told me that he confessed to you that he loves me--you showed him some prospect of winning my hand and he replies 'never!' how can that possibly be?" "i placed a condition before him," said laurentia somewhat nervously. "a condition!" cried anna, "what might that be?" "well--it was a condition of marriage--if you will have it plainly." "and--" cried anna, "to that condition of marriage he replied 'never?' i am more puzzled than ever." "it was after all but a very trifling matter," said laurentia, "it was merely just a little thing to please your father and, by complying with it, mr. van nerekool might have helped your father to win honour and glory--and, moreover, he might have considerably improved his own position." "oh, dearest mother," said anna, "there must be some misunderstanding, charles is a noble fellow--it is the true nobility of his soul which mainly attracted me to him--why! not many weeks ago he promised to help me in saving the lover of my baboe and would he now--?" "what?" exclaimed laurentia, "the lover of your baboe?" "yes," replied anna, "of baboe dalima. but what has that to do with it?" "that is the very case!" cried mrs. van gulpendam, "i was recommending him to--" "well, then you see," said anna, quietly, as she interrupted her mother, "you see clearly there must be some misunderstanding--all that will very easily be explained. tell me, pray, what condition did you propose to van nerekool?" "yes," said laurentia slowly after a moment's pause, "you are the only one who can arrange this matter. and, pray remember, that this is a question upon which depends van nerekool's future career--and your own marriage." and then, the proud ambitious woman told her daughter that she was bent upon obtaining for her husband the order of the netherland's lion; that this distinction, however, would not be got unless the returns of the opium trade at santjoemeh improved considerably--that in fact the virtus nobilitat was to be the price for the increase in the revenue of holland. "but," continued laurentia, "in order to make that increase possible, lim yang bing must continue to hold the opium monopoly--and that he must cease to do if his son lim ho be found guilty of smuggling and of outrage upon the natives. therefore we are under the cruel necessity--!" as her mother began to speak anna listened attentively; as she continued, the girl sat with her eyes fixed on her mother's lips as though she would read the words before she uttered them; at these last words, she flew up wild and furious and passionately broke in upon laurentia's speech: "ardjan is to be sacrificed, that my father may get the netherland's lion--that never--no, mother, do you hear me, that cannot--that shall not be!" "but, anna!" exclaimed laurentia much alarmed at her daughter's violence, "pray do not excite yourself so!" "and did you make that proposal to charles?--yes? oh, then i am wretched indeed!" "but, anna--" laurentia began to say. "now i understand his 'never,'" said the girl bitterly. "no, he is right, never, never shall he marry the daughter of such parents as mine!" at these words she dashed out of the pandoppo and locked herself in her own room. chapter xiii. a ride to banjoe pahit. amokh! "now are you ready to start?" with this question, edward van rheijn came rushing into van nerekool's room on saturday afternoon. "yes, i am quite ready," answered his friend; "but how about horses?" "oh! verstork has taken good care of that," was van rheijn's reply, "if you will let me send out your servant for a few moments you will have them prancing at the door in less than ten minutes." the young men had not long to wait, for they had scarcely time to drink a glass of beer and light a cigar, before two excellent saddle horses made their appearance. they were well-bred makassars, not so perfect in shape, and handsome to look at as kadoeã«rs or battakers; but good serviceable animals with broad, well made chests, indicating both strength and endurance, and provided with good sinewy legs which, if not particularly symmetrical, were strong and fit for hard work. in a twinkling, the young men were in the saddle. "and now, your rifle?" said edward. "sidin, give me the gun," said van nerekool to his servant. the man handed to his master the splendid rifle which, at his request, the regent of santjoemeh had lent to the judicial functionary. charles slung the weapon by the strap over his shoulder, put a couple of revolvers into his holsters; so that, as far as arms went, he was almost as well off as his friend van rheijn. a few moments later, the pair had left santjoemeh, and at a brisk trot were riding eastward in the direction of banjoe pahit, which was their destination. they did not talk much by the way, in fact only a word now and then passed between them. there was indeed no very great inducement to conversation; for, though the road they were following was fairly well shaded by tamarind and kanan trees, yet the tropical heat was most oppressive, and would not much decrease until the sun was nearing the horizon. but it was only three in the afternoon, so that the orb of day was still far from the end of his journey. the horses, however, were high-mettled and indefatigable and kept up a good pace, at a trot where the road was level, and breaking into a gallop, when it ran up hill. the noble animals very seldom required to be pulled up to a walk, and could not long be kept to that pace to which they were but little accustomed. moreover, the scenery through which the two friends were passing might well, in every sense of the word, be called enchanting. first their road lay through pleasant looking dessas, whose dark roofs of atap-leaves and golden yellow fences, formed a most agreeable prospect in the midst of the dark foliage of the fruit trees which completely overshadowed them. next came plantations of cocoa-nut trees where the slender palms planted in regular rows, lifted up high in the air their waving plume-like tops, and cast curious ever-changing shadows on the turf which covered the ground. further on still, as squares on a vast chess-board, were seen the extensive rice-fields, the dikes or mounds which bounded them richly overgrown with grass or shaded by toeri or klampies bushes showing quite distinctly, while the rice-fields themselves lay, at this time of the year, glittering in the sunlight, like so many huge water-tanks; for after harvest they are flooded, and then present an aspect of molten silver enclosed in frames of bright green. then behind the rice-fields arose the stately mountains which densely covered with virgin forest, formed a deep band of dark-green around the glittering squares. further on again, in the far distance, all became indistinct, and assumed a uniform deep purple hue which contrasted sharply and most beautifully with the light azure of the sky above. now and then, after the horses had had a long stiff gallop up a more than usually steep slope, they would require a few minutes' rest; then the riders upon looking back, caught glimpses of the java sea which lay on the horizon, shining under the sun's beams like a boundless mirror on which the white sails of the ships appeared as hovering sea-gulls, or the thick smoke from some steamer's funnel curled darkly over the watery expanse. thus, our young friends had but little time to notice the intensity of the heat. their's was still that happy time of life in which man is most capable of enjoying all that is grand and beautiful. both of them also were of a somewhat poetical nature, and the ever-varying scenery which to the right and to the left lay stretched out before them, could not fail to captivate and charm them by its sublimity and its beauty. time had indeed flown with them, when, in the neighbourhood of a small dessa called kalimatti, they caught sight, in the distance, of four gentlemen, followed by a numerous escort all mounted and spurring on to meet them. "hurrah!" cried van rheijn, "there is william verstork. look, charles, that man yonder on the fine iron-grey riding at the head of the party!" "who are those with him?" asked van nerekool--"why if my eyes don't deceive me--they are august van beneden, leendert grashuis, theodoor grenits and--by heaven--yes, fritz mokesuep also!" "you are right!" shouted his companion, "and escorted by the wedono, the djoeroetoelies, the loerah, the kebajan, the kamitoewag, the tjank (native chiefs) good heavens!--by all the district and dessa-grandees of banjoe pahit and their whole suite! and," he continued, as he drew nearer, "upon my word all in full dress on their little horses, with tiger-skin saddle-cloths and richly embroidered red velvet or cloth saddles. hurrah, capital fun!" cried edward van rheijn, greatly excited as he waved his pith helmet to the advancing troop. "hurrah, hurrah!" shouted the others gleefully, and soon the group of horsemen had joined the two friends and greetings and welcomes were warmly exchanged. "you seem to be out of spirits, charles," said verstork to van nerekool as he shook his hand; "what is the matter with you, old fellow--i hope you are not ill?" "no, thank you," replied the other, "i am perfectly well. i will tell you by-and-by what ails me." "mr. van nerekool is suffering perhaps from the effects of a refusal," remarked one of the young fellows who had accompanied verstork. the controller cast a look at his friend and noticed at once that the random and heedless shaft had struck home. he therefore at once changed the conversation and said, "if you are not unwell then let us forward to banjoe pahit." "gentlemen," he cried, "by threes trot!" and a moment after he gave the word "gallop!" just like some old cavalry officer. there was no need of the spur,--the fiery horses at once dashed forward, and away went the little band of friends galloping down the avenue which lay stretched out before them, and which, with its soft carpet of turf, hardly gave out a sound under the horses' hoofs. "capital road this," cried one of the company. "it speaks highly for the care the controller takes of his district!" william verstork gave him an approving nod, he was evidently by no means insensible to the compliment. "good means of communication, my friend, are the highways to prosperity," replied he sententiously. "no doubt," observed another with a scornful smile, "if the population is allowed to make use of them!" behind the party of european horsemen, at the distance prescribed by etiquette, followed the native chiefs with their retinue. they were all mounted on spirited little horses of pure native breed, which were quite able to keep up with the pace of the others, and might perhaps, in a long journey, have outstayed them. now, while this cavalcade is rapidly moving on to banjoe pahit, we will seize the opportunity of making a slight acquaintance with the companions verstork had brought with him. we will do this in as few words as possible, as some of them, at least, are only casually connected with this narrative. augustus van beneden was a native of gelderland, a fine healthy looking fellow of about twenty, whose yellow curly hair and firm, yet open countenance were characteristic of the inhabitants of the betuwe. he was a barrister by profession, and had lately settled down in santjoemeh where he was beginning to get a fairly good practice. leendert grashuis, a south-hollander, held the position of deputy surveyor at the land registry office of santjoemeh. he was an excellent mathematician, and had greatly distinguished himself in the geodetic and geomorphic sciences. as surveying engineer, his services were invaluable in all questions which had to do with the fixing of the boundaries of property in the residence. when he entered upon his duties, he found the whole matter of boundaries in the most utter confusion--a confusion, which became only worse confounded, when, in settling disputes about real property, the official maps had to be produced and appealed to. when called upon to give his decision, leendert grashuis always was on the side of right and equity, and offered the most determined opposition to all manner of rapacity or exaction, even should it happen to be the government itself which made the encroachment. he was about seven and twenty years of age, and upon his agreeable exterior, good-nature and perfect sincerity were so plainly stamped, that he was a universal favourite with all who had the privilege of knowing him. theodoor grenits also, was a man of a similar nature. he was a native of limburg, and, in his intercourse with his neighbours the belgians, had acquired a good deal of the free and easy manner of that nation. he, therefore, was more especially in request in company where youth and pleasure presided. he had received his early education at the athenã¦um at maastricht, and had then gone to leyden to complete his legal studies. but in these studies, he had most signally failed. now he was employed in a merchant's office, and was striving, by strict attention to his work and by diligence, to make up, in a mercantile career, for the time he had wasted at the university. but, though no great student, he also was a right noble and honest young fellow, and in thorough sympathy with the company in which we just now have met him. fritz mokesuep, however, was a man of totally different stamp, and was in every way the very opposite of the others. he was about thirty years old and was a clerk in the revenue office at santjoemeh. education he had none; for at a very early age his father had placed him in the office of a tax-collector in a small provincial town in holland. this want of education necessarily closed to him the prospect of rising in the social scale, which, however, he was very ambitious of doing. an opportunity had offered, which he thought would enable him to attain his object. the colonial secretary, having need of the services of men acquainted with certain special branches in the collection of the revenue which were at that time badly managed in dutch india, offered to send out thither a certain number of men thus specially qualified, without demanding any further examination whatever. of this offer mokesuep had taken advantage, in the hope that adroitness and suppleness of spirit might, in those far-away possessions, supply for him the place of more solid attainments. in this hope, however, he was doomed to be disappointed, for, having on his arrival in batavia, been placed as third clerk in the department of finance, he had very soon given abundant evidence of the exceeding narrowness of his views and abilities; and thus he was packed off to santjoemeh in the capacity which he was now still occupying there, and which bid fair to be his "bã¢ton de marã©chal." he was literally a "tax-collector" in the least favourable sense of the word; and, upon his naturally depraved character, the very nature of his office had had a still more depraving effect. he was artful, cunning, hypocritical, and thoroughly false by nature. his only pleasure in the world was to scrape and to hoard, and he scrupled not to employ any means, even lying and cheating, to gratify his passion. this grasping instinct of his came out, of course, most strongly in his mode of collecting the taxes; and the narrowness of his mind showed itself in the petty annoyances with which he was perpetually plaguing all those with whom he came into official contact. his greatest enjoyment was in extorting the last half-cent though he would never protect anyone against demands however excessive. on the contrary, the indian government might safely reckon upon his co-operation, whenever money had to be squeezed out, even though it might be by means the most arbitrary and the most unjust. his outward appearance, was entirely in harmony with his character. his head was small, gradually growing narrower towards the top, and was sparsely covered with chestnut hair, which he wore plastered against the temples, in two elegant curls by means of bandoline, gum, starch, fishlime, or some such abomination. his face was long and angular, and wore that faded yellow look which sometimes, a towel will assume when allowed to lie for a long time unused, in a drawer or cupboard. his nose was well-formed and sharp; but with the projecting lips of his small mouth, it formed a profile something between that of a baboon and a ferret--at all events, it plainly enough indicated that he belonged to the family of the rodentia. that was the reason, perhaps, why he was familiarly called muizenkop (mouse-head). not a vestige of hair or down appeared on his chin or lip--in fact a jesuit father might have envied him his sallow faded complexion. how could a man like william verstork have ever admitted such a fellow into his company? the reason was obvious. mokesuep was the strict letter of fiscal regulations incarnate, and as the controller wanted to have as little as possible to do with the narrow minded quibblings of the financial department, he had attached this man to his staff, who, if he did not always give him the best advice with regard to excise questions, at all events protected him against unpleasant remarks. while the reader has been occupying himself with these very slight personal sketches, the cavalcade had traversed the distance which lay between the dessas kalimatti and banjoe pahit, and now was just entering the latter place. banjoe pahit, a large dessa, pleasantly situated in a mountainous part of the island had, on that afternoon, in honour of its expected guests, donned its festive attire. on all sides the inhabitants appeared out of doors, even the women and children all in their very best apparel which they generally wore only on fridays. at the flag-staff, which stood in the grounds of the controller's quarters, a brand-new dutch flag was flying. the wedono, the loerah, and other principal men of the dessa--aye, even the public vaccinator and the mohammedan priest had followed that example, and expressed their zeal on this occasion, and their goodwill, by hoisting the tricolor by the side of their houses on the bamboo pole from which usually a dovecote used to dangle. the cymbals also were sounding merrily, and imparted to the demonstrations of the inhabitants, who all had turned out to welcome the strange gentlemen, a very characteristic and local stamp. "upon my word," cried edward van rheijn, once again, "capital fun--our controller is giving us a grand reception--that is a good beginning." "i have no hand, whatever, in that fun," replied verstork. "the people are rejoicing because you have come to rid them of the swarms of tjellings, which ravage their fields to a frightful extent. you will see how enthusiastically they will turn out to-morrow to help us in beating up the game." the cavalcade had now entered the grounds, in which stood the controller's house, and the riders were dismounting. "gentlemen," said verstork addressing van nerekool and van rheijn, "i bid you welcome to my poor dwelling." and then more generally to the company, he said: "we shall take a few minutes to make ourselves comfortable after our hot ride, and have a bath, and then it will be time to sit down to dinner." "so early as this?" asked one of the guests. "to be sure," replied verstork, "for after we have had something to eat--which meal you must take as a hunter's dinner, substantial but short--we shall have to get into the saddle again, to make a reconnaissance at the djoerang pringapoes, for we must settle before sunset where our battue will have to start from, and where we shall have to post ourselves and lie in wait for the animals." "but we shall have the moon to-night, shall we not?" enquired van rheijn. "i even fancy that it is full moon." "you are quite right," said verstork, "and we shall need it, too, on our ride home. believe me, our arrangements will take up some considerable time; and then we shall all have to turn in early, because to-morrow by daybreak we must be at our posts in the djoerang, and begin work." then turning to two of the javanese chiefs, who had followed the party into the grounds, he continued: "wedono and you loerah, you will both, i hope, presently, ride with us to the djoerah?" "yes, kandjeng toean," was their reply. "thanks; you will stay to dinner?" but, in the most courteous manner possible, both the javanese begged to be excused;--they had some business to transact at home--at the time appointed, however, they would be quite ready to start. they did not say--which was indeed the reason of their refusal--that they feared that among the viands pork might be included, or that some of the dishes might be prepared with lard or some other ingredient derived from the accursed and unclean beast. the sun had just set, when the sportsmen had finished their survey of the principal approaches to the djoerang pringapoes, and had made all the necessary arrangements with the two loerahs of banjoe pahit and of kaligaweh, for placing the marksmen, and other matters pertaining to the morrow's sport. they happened to be just then in the lower part of the djoerang, where a small stream, which runs right through the ravine, flows down over its rocky bed, forming a series of small cataracts and eddies which contribute to make the landscape, already a beautiful one, the most picturesque spot in the whole residence of santjoemeh. a few hundred yards off, in the rice-plain, lay the dessa kaligaweh, bathed in all the wondrous tints with which the setting sun coloured the evening sky, and cast its reflection in the waters of the rice-fields which, here, were flooded as elsewhere. with its trees, its palms, its bamboos, its orchards, which almost entirely embosomed the little yellow-fenced huts, that little dessa casting its image upon the watery mirror, formed a scene of such magic beauty that the europeans could not tear themselves from so lovely a view. nor until the glorious tints began slowly to fade away before the rising moon, could they make up their minds to turn homeward. they were just saying good-bye to the loerah of kaligaweh, and were impressing upon him the necessity of bringing up his people early next morning, and were turning their horses' heads and preparing for a sharp gallop back to banjoe pahit when--suddenly in the direction of the last named dessa, there was heard a frightful tumult. all started and stood still, and listened in the utmost astonishment. the yelling and screaming continued, and then amidst the confused noise made by the shrieks of women and children, the dreadful word, "amokh, amokh!" (murder) was distinctly heard. "what on earth can all this mean, loerah?" cried verstork to the chief of the dessa who was still by his side. "i don't know, kandjeng toean," replied he; "but i will ride off at once and find out." "wait a bit," cried another, "here comes a policeman running like mad." so it was; panting and almost completely out of breath one of those canaries (so called from their yellow braided uniforms) came running up along a pathway which led across the sawah-fields to the djoerang pringapoes. as soon as he got up to the group of horsemen he squatted down by the controller's horse and made the sembah. "kandjeng toean," he panted, "they are running amokh in the dessa yonder. one bandoelan has been already krissed and a policeman severely wounded." "who is running amokh?" cried verstork. "i don't know, kandjeng toean," replied the man. "women and children are flying about yelling and screaming and i hurried off at once to fetch the loerah; but as i ran along i heard that setrosmito is the murderer." "setrosmito!" exclaimed verstork in utter amazement. "what, old setrosmito? quite impossible; is it not, loerah?" "no, kandjeng toean," was the chief's reply. "but the man is much too quiet a fellow for that," continued the controller. "moreover, he is not given to opium smoking, is he?" "no kandjeng toean," was the cautious reply. the screaming still continued, and though it was already growing dusk, people could be distinctly seen running about wildly in the dessa. "come, gentlemen," said verstork to his friends, "my presence is required yonder. will you come with me? if we make haste we can get there in a minute or two." "all right," cried the young men with one voice; "lead on, we follow you." there was but one of the little party who ventured to ask: "is it quite safe, do you think?" that man was mokesuep; but his objection was lost to the others. they had already followed verstork's example, and digging their spurs in their horses' flanks were tearing along the road to kaligaweh. mokesuep had not, however, made up his mind. he was not quite so rash as that. dreadful tales of "amokh runners" were crossing his brain. for a moment or two he stood irresolute not well knowing what he had better do; but just then the shrieks redoubled while the gongs were beaten furiously. that was quite enough for him. thought he to himself: "in such cases it is most prudent to take care and keep a whole skin." so he turned his horse, gave it the spurs and galloped off to banjoe pahit instead of to kaligaweh. as they were riding to kaligaweh, verstork thought it well to caution his friends by telling them that in cases of amokh running the thing is to be on one's guard, and that fear and panic only serve to make matters worse and increase the danger. "at all events," said he, "keep your revolvers ready." his caution was, however, not needed. when the horsemen came racing into the dessa they met a few frightened women clasping their little ones to their breast as if to protect them; but all the men were standing with lance or kris in hand drawn up around a little hut which was closed, and about which there was nothing in any way remarkable. "if he comes out we must catch him on our lances," was the cry. "what is all this confusion about?" cried verstork, leaping from his horse, throwing the bridle to one of the bystanders, and stepping into the ring. "setrosmito has been running amokh," was the reply from all sides. "setrosmito, how is it possible?" muttered the controller, inaudibly. but scarcely had he uttered the words, before the door of the cabin flew open and setrosmito appeared on the threshold. he was an elderly man with grizzly hair which was flying in wild confusion about his head. his jacket was torn to ribbons and a few shreds of it only hung from one of his arms. his face, breast and hands were smeared with blood, so that the poor wretch looked a hideous object. "there he is, there he is," shouted the mob. "now look out!" every lance-point was at once thrown forward in anticipation of a mad rush. "i don't wish to hurt anybody," cried setrosmito, to his fellows of the dessa. "but let no one come near me to lay a hand on me; the first that touches me is a dead man!" with so frantic a gesture did he wave his kris, and so ghastly did he look in his frenzy, that the crowd rushed back in dismay. thus verstork, who the instant before had stood lost in the press, now found himself standing in the foreground. no sooner, however, had the unfortunate javanese caught sight of the white man than he cried out in piteous tones. "pardon, kandjeng toean, pardon," and hurling his kris from him he flung himself at the controller's feet. "pardon, pardon, kandjeng toean!" he cried again and again. all this had passed with lightning rapidity--so quickly, indeed, that the bystanders scarcely knew what was going on. when the man besmeared with blood had advanced towards the controller, many thought that the latter's life was in danger. his friends, revolver in hand, rushed forward to protect him, the natives also were springing forward to despatch the now defenceless murderer. but verstork calmly stopped them, put the foremost back with his hand, and restrained the others by crying out in a tone of command: "back, all of you! keep back from the man. do you hear?" and going up to the crouching wretch, who was still crying in an imploring tone of voice "pardon, kandjeng toean," he said: "have you been running amokh, setrosmito?" "sir," cried the latter, "i have killed a bandoelan who was acting disgracefully towards my child. yes, i have done that. i have also wounded a policeman who was helping him in it. who would have protected my child if i had not done so? but i have harmed no one else. the whole dessa will tell you so!" verstork looked towards the crowd. all stood breathless around; not a word of protest was spoken. "you confess to having killed a bandoelan and wounded an officer?" asked verstork, sternly. "yes, kandjeng toean," said the poor javanese, almost inaudibly. "wedono," said verstork, "have this man bound." "pardon, kandjeng toean, pardon!" cried the wretched man, when he heard the order. "pardon! i have only protected my daughter from disgusting ill-treatment." "you have resisted the authorities, nobody has a right to do that," replied the controller in a firm and impressive voice. "but, setrosmito," he continued, "the matter will be investigated by the proper tribunal, and if, as you say, your child has suffered ill-usage--no doubt that will be taken into consideration, and your punishment will be lessened accordingly." a dull murmur arose in the crowd. they knew by sad experience what kind of justice they might expect from the white man when there was opium in the question. a bitter smile was on every countenance, and many a curse was muttered against that unmerciful race which holds sway over java and sucks its very life's blood. now that the people began to see that they had to do--not with a wild amokh runner who murdered indiscriminately but--with a father who had merely protected his child from outrage, the feelings of the crowd instantly changed and not a man or woman in the dessa but pitied the wretched criminal. but a single commanding look from the controller and one wave of the wedono's hand sufficed to repress every sign of displeasure. "wedono," said verstork, "you will have that man carefully guarded--you and the loerah will be answerable for him; and you will further see that to-morrow morning early, he is taken under properly armed escort to santjoemeh." "pardon, kandjeng toean," again groaned the unhappy father, as the people of the dessa helped to tie his arms. "the 'higher court' must decide the matter, setrosmito," said verstork, "i may and i can do no more than my duty." chapter xiv. a search for opium. what came of it. to return that night to banjoe pahit was clearly impossible. verstork had to hold a preliminary inquiry into the terrible event which had so suddenly disturbed the dessa, and about this investigation, he was determined to set at once, and to conduct it in the thorough and conscientious manner in which he was wont to discharge all his duties. these were the facts which this inquiry brought to light. at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, singomengolo, the opium farmer's trusty spy, and a chinese bandoelan had made their appearance in the dessa kaligaweh. they had proceeded straight to the opium-den, where they had to obtain some necessary information from the men in charge of that establishment. when they had learned what they wanted to know, they went to the loerah's house; but that functionary was not at home, having been called away, as we know, to make the necessary arrangements for the next day's hunting. so the two worthies had betaken themselves to one of the other members of the dessa government, who granted them the assistance of the local police. accompanied by a couple of policemen, the chinese bandoelan went to the dwelling of setrosmito, the father of baboe dalima, and when he got there, he signified his intention of searching the premises. said he to setrosmito: "you never visit the store kept by babah than kik sioe, you never smoke any opium there, nor even purchase any from him. the opium-farmer has, therefore, come to the conclusion that you manage somehow to get hold of smuggled opium. anyhow, my orders are to search your house, thoroughly." "i never go to the den to smoke," was the honest old peasant's straightforward reply, "nor do i smoke opium at home; you will find nothing of the kind under my roof. but do as you like!" thereupon, the chinaman and his two policemen were about to enter, when setrosmito stopped them. "no, no," said he, very calmly, "wait a bit. before you begin, i shall have you fellows searched." and, turning to some of his friends whom the appearance of the bandoelan had brought about the hut, he said: "sidin and sariman, just lend a hand to overhaul these fellows." the opium-hunters were too well used to such treatment to make any serious resistance, and they submitted to the scrutiny--a scrutiny which was conducted most minutely, but which did not result in producing the least trace of opium. when they had been examined thoroughly, setrosmito allowed the men to enter his dwelling, and to proceed with their visitation of the premises. the hunt which ensued was merely a repetition of the scene which had, a short time ago, taken place in the wretched cabin of poor pak ardjan; but if no opium had been found upon the persons of the searchers, neither did the chinese bandoelan, nor his men succeed in discovering the slightest trace of contraband goods in any corner of the house. just as in pak ardjan's case, here again they turned over everything, and ransacked every hole and corner; but not the slightest vestige of opium was found in the place. at length the chinaman despairing of success, and very angry at his failure, cried out in a rage: "where are your children?" setrosmito quietly answered, "the children are on the common minding the oxen." an evil smile played upon the yellow features of the bandoelan, when he heard this man actually was the possessor of a pair of oxen. in the once thriving dessa kaligaweh, there were, alas! at present very few of the inhabitants who could boast of owning so much as that. he did not, however, speak a single word; but he left the hut taking his two policemen with him, and went to report to singomengolo that all their trouble had been fruitless. when singo had heard his subordinate's statement, he looked with a contemptuous and pitying smile upon him, as he scornfully said to the chinaman: "much use you are to lim ho and lim yang bing! you a bandoelan! you will never find smuggled opium," he continued, in a jeering tone, "you are too clumsy." "no," was the man's indignant reply, "nor you either, where there is no opium to be found!" "come, keh," said singo. "will you bet me a rix-dollar that i don't manage to find some?" "quite impossible," cried the chinaman, "i have turned the house inside out. i have searched the bamboo laths of the walls and roof, and there is nothing--absolutely nothing anywhere." "have you looked under the hearth?" asked singomengolo. "yes." "and in the ashes under the hearth?" "yes," was the reply again. "and have you grubbed up the floor?" "yes." "and have you turned over the baleh-baleh and the cushions?" "yes, yes, yes!" cried the man, impatiently. "i am no child, i suppose." "no, you are no child," jeered singo, "but you are one of the greatest fools in the world; as stupid as one of those oxen! now, just you come along with me," he added, after having flung these amenities at the head of his pig-tailed countryman. "just you come along with me and you will see that my eyes are better than yours. you could see nothing; but i shall manage to ferret out something before long. those mangy dessa-dogs always have opium about them." the wretch seemed to forget that in that very dessa he had himself first seen the light; however--that is the way of the world! so the four men set out once again to setrosmito's house; and once again, as before, did the javanese attempt to insist upon searching the persons of his unwelcome visitors before allowing them to enter. but singomengolo would have nothing of the kind. he refused point-blank to submit to any search. said he, in his blustering way: "you lay your hands on me and i will thrash you like a mangy cur!" setrosmito tried to protest; but it was in vain. "aye, aye," said he, "if that be the case then i have but little doubt that they will find anything they want. i know all about those tricks. kabajan," he continued, as he turned to one of the chief men of the dessa, who stood looking on among the crowd which was rapidly assembling. "kabajan, i call upon you to witness what is about to happen here." but the latter, who had the greatest horror of coming into collision with the wretches of the opium monopoly, made no reply whatever to the old man's appeal, and quietly slipped away. singomengolo, with a brutal and defiant laugh, entered the hut with his followers. it so happened that at the moment, setrosmito's little children also came in. the two boys and their sister had just returned from the common, and opened their eyes wide at seeing so many people assembled round their father's house. the two boys were eight and nine years of age. like most of the young javanese children, they had pretty little faces, with the funniest expression in their twinkling and roguish dark-brown eyes; but their appearance was, to a european eye, wholly spoilt by the manner in which their heads had been treated. they were clean shaven except one single tuft of hair of about a hand's breadth, which the razor had spared and which one of the boys wore on the top of his head, and the other over his left ear. they had the well-formed and supple limbs which are characteristic of their race, and were exceedingly slender in the waist. these natural advantages were seen to the greatest advantage since, in accordance with the primitive customs of the island, they ran about completely naked, with nothing on at all except a silver ring round each ankle. the little girl, a child of seven, was remarkably pretty, her well-formed childish face peeping out charmingly under a profusion of jet-black glossy hair. her arms were bare, and the only clothing she wore was a bright-coloured patchwork apron which was secured round the hips by a slender chain of silver, from which dangled a small ornamental plate of the same metal. when they ran into the hut they found singomengolo very busy indeed turning over the contents of boxes and prying into pots and pans, while their father was most carefully watching every gesture he made, and was not allowing a single motion of his nimble hands to pass unnoticed. this close attention vexed the wretched spy beyond measure, who thus saw his wicked plan frustrated, because, while those keen eyes were upon his fingers, he could not even attempt to exercise his sleight of hand without being instantly detected. in the hope therefore of distracting the father's attention, singo made a sign to the chinaman, who, with his slanting eyes, sat looking at the children and leering most offensively at pretty little kembang. the man understood the signal and at once seized one of the boys, and, under the pretence of searching for concealed opium, he felt all over their little bodies, under the armpits, in fact, anywhere wherever a little mandat-ball could by any possibility lie hidden. the boys kicked and fought under this disgusting treatment and did all they could to bite and scratch the dirty scoundrel; but not a single cry did they utter which might draw away their father's eyes from the manipulations of singomengolo. but when the bandoelan laid hold of the girl and strove to tear off her apron, the poor child could not repress a loud cry of terror, she tore herself away from his rude grasp, and flying to her mother, tried to hide herself on her breast, while the poor woman clasped her child in her arms as if to protect it from further insult. it was, however, in vain; the chinaman with his sickly yellow face came up to the mother and, with the help of his two assistants, wrenched the poor girl from the woman's arms, who was wholly unable to resist their violence. "your turn next," cried the chinaman to the mother, "that young cat has had plenty of time to pass the stuff to you. keep your seat!" then the disgusting scene through which the two boys had passed was re-enacted on this helpless child--a proceeding infinitely more loathsome, inasmuch as its victim was a little creature of the tender sex towards whom the wretch thought he might with impunity act as he pleased. "alla tobat!" screamed the poor woman who was compelled to see her daughter thus outraged wantonly before her eyes. that bitter cry of distress had the desired effect. for a single instant it caused setrosmito to turn his watchful eyes to his wife; but that single instant was sufficient. quick as lightning singomengolo took advantage of it, and slipped his closed hand under the little pandan mat which was spread out over the baleh-baleh and which, during the search, had already three or four times been lifted and shaken without result. then, in triumph, he produced from under it a little copper box, and, as he held it up with a theatrical gesture he exclaimed: "you see that; after all, there was smuggled opium in the house; i knew i should find it!" setrosmito turned deadly pale at the sight; he well knew what the dutch law-courts had in store for him, and the thought of the ruin which thus stared him in the face filled him with rage and fury. "there was no opium concealed here," he cried out; and in his despair not well knowing what he was doing, he put his hand out mechanically to the kris, an old heirloom which was stuck into the bamboo-wall above the baleh-baleh. "you dirty dog," he cried to singomengolo, "it was you yourself that slipped that box under the mat!" the words had scarcely passed his lips before singomengolo answered the frantic accusation by a blow with his clenched fist which struck setrosmito right in the mouth. maddened with pain and rage the unhappy man plucked the kris from its sheath; but at that moment, suddenly, little kembang uttered a heartrending scream of pain and horror. that cry saved the life of the opium spy. the poor father looked round as if bewildered at the sound; but when he saw the disgusting leer upon the chinaman's face and in what an outrageously indecent manner that wretch was treating his pretty little flower, the blood seemed to rush to his head and his rage was at once turned into another direction. a red mist--red as blood--clouded his eyes. "help, help, pain, pain!" cried poor little kembang. utterly blinded and wholly beside himself with fury the father, kris in hand, flew towards the miscreant. "amokh, amokh!" shouted one of the policemen, as he saw the flaming kris in the frenzied father's hand. "amokh, amokh!" cried the crowd outside taking up the shout without knowing what was going on inside the hut. women and children rushed away yelling and screaming in all directions. soon on all sides resounded the fatal words: "amokh, amokh!" the men flew home to fetch their lances and krisses, not in the least knowing what really was the matter, but at the mere terror of the sound. "amokh, amokh!" repeated the watchmen as they rushed wildly to the guardhouse and began to make as much noise as they could upon the public gongs. the policeman who had been the first to cry amokh, made a frantic effort to draw his sabre; but the blade was so firmly rusted into the sheath that no efforts he could make would draw the weapon. the other policeman who had no time to draw tried to lays hands upon the infuriated javanese; but as he attempted to seize him, he received a slash across the face and breast which was no doubt but a deep flesh wound; but though not mortal, occasioned so much pain and so much bleeding that the wounded man fell back moaning and was glad enough to save his life in headlong flight. the sight was quite enough for his comrade, and he also took to his heels at full speed. then setrosmito found himself face to face with the ill-starred chinaman, who had not let go his hold on the little girl and concerning whose outrageous behaviour there could be not the slightest doubt. "let her go! let her go, i say!" yelled the father, mad with rage and foaming at the mouth. whether the bandoelan was utterly bewildered in the presence of such imminent peril, or whether, in his excitement, he did not realise the full extent of the danger; suffice it to say that he did not obey that supreme command. his wan face now made more than usually hideous by passion, wore a vacant and unmeaning smile; still he did not release the girl; but only tried to get her in front of him, and to shield himself behind her. "amokh, amokh!" was still the cry all around. "let go!" roared setrosmito, again; and again the wretched chinaman replied with a vacant laugh. "amokh, amokh!" resounded the gong with threatening roar. "let go!--you won't!--well then, die like a dog!--" shrieked the wretched father, goaded to madness. and--with lightning speed, before the miserable chinaman had time to cower down behind the little girl whom he still held before him--setrosmito drew the well-tempered blade across the fellow's throat. "alas, i am dead!" yelled the chinaman, his eyes wildly rolling in his head. they were the last words he uttered. with convulsive clutch he tried to close the gaping wound in his neck; but it was no use, the blood violently came spurting in fine jets through his fingers, a dreadful fit of coughing seized him, and the torrent of blood which rushed from his mouth covered poor little kembang from head to foot. tottering like a drunken man, and still grasping the girl, the wretch, for a few moments, tried to steady himself, but then reeled and fell heavily to the ground in the agony of death. "amokh, amokh!" was still the cry all round the hut. "amokh, amokh!" still harshly roared the gongs. for three or four seconds setrosmito, after his dreadful deed, stood gazing about him like a man utterly dazed or in a dream. he at length brought his left hand to his eyes and then slowly he seemed to recover his reason; then he began to realize his position. at his feet there lay the chinese bandoelan still convulsively twitching in the throes of death; but soon all was over. all this had passed in an incredibly short space of time, almost with the swiftness of thought; but the room in which the father stood over the victim of his momentary frenzy was already quite deserted; for, with his men, singomengolo had also taken to his heels. even the two little boys, who at first had stared at the spectacle hardly knowing what was taking place, had taken to flight in alarm at their father's threatening kris, and the wife had snatched up her little daughter and she also had rushed from the house. "amokh, amokh!" that shout outside sounded in the ears of the unhappy man as his death-knell. he knew but too well of what terrible significance was the fatal word. he knew well that wherever that word is heard, the entire population rushes at once to arms, and that, without stopping to make any inquiry, without even knowing who the man-slayer is, it cuts him down without the smallest mercy, though perhaps he may in reality be guilty of nothing worse than merely defending his own life or protecting the honour of wife or children. already a few armed men came charging into the hut with their lance-points levelled at his breast. "stand back!" shouted setrosmito whose rage had not yet had time to cool down. "stand back! whoever comes nearer i will serve as i have served that wretch!" the man was evidently in deadly earnest and the kris was waved in so threatening a manner at the words that his assailants turned and fled in alarm and formed up in a close ring around the hut. in that circle there was a great deal of talking, of consulting, of screaming and gesticulating; but there seemed not to be a single man who felt the smallest desire of again crossing the threshold. it was at this juncture that controller verstork came galloping up with the gentlemen who accompanied him and, as we have heard, put an end to the murderous scene by taking the ill-fated man prisoner. in the course of the inquiry which followed singomengolo produced the opium which he declared he had found in setrosmito's house and which, in the interest of the opium-farmer, he had confiscated. in the small copper-box there was but a very small quantity of the poppy-juice which, when weighed at the opium store, was found to be but fifty matas, that is about eighteen milligrams. it was a brownish sticky mass enclosed in a tiny box which could be easily concealed in the closed palm of a man's hand. the controller took possession of the box and in the presence of the opium-hunter he sealed it up according to the law. "did anyone witness the finding of this box under the mat on the baleh-baleh?" asked verstork. "oh yes, certainly," was the reply, "the chinese bandoelan saw me find it." "the man who is dead? anyone else?" continued the controller. "yes, the two policemen," said singo. "indeed!" remarked verstork. "these were the men, i think, who, a few moments before could discover nothing?" "no matter," said the opium spy with great effrontery. "i, kandjeng toean," he continued, "am a sworn bandoelan--i found it there and my word suffices. the testimony of the policemen is altogether superfluous." the look of utter contempt and loathing which verstork cast upon him as he spoke seemed to have but little effect upon the shameless spy; for he merely made the usual obsequious salute and as he turned to go, he muttered: "i shall go and make my report to babah lim yang bing and to the inspector of police." then he mounted his horse and rode away seemingly along the high-road to santjoemeh. seemingly; for presently it will appear whither he actually did go and what business he had on hand. as soon as he was out of sight of the dessa he took a pathway to the right which ran through the rice-fields and along that bridle-path he rode across the hilly country and thus took a more direct way to the capital than that which the highway offered. his horse seemed to know the country well and made good progress, so that it was hardly midnight when he reached a lonely little cabin. there he dismounted, knocked up its inmate and sent the man on with a message to santjoemeh. when verstork reached the house of the loerah who with the wedono had actively assisted him in his troublesome inquiry, it was about nine o'clock in the evening. he found his friends assembled there and impatiently awaiting his arrival. "i say," muttered august van beneden, "how long you have kept us!" the young barrister was not in the best of tempers just then for he had been very anxiously looking forward to the promised expedition and now he began to fear that it might not come off at all. moreover he had, in the loerah's house, been frightfully bored as he waited for his friend's return. "i say, how long you have kept us!" "it was no fault of mine," replied verstork. "i have had my hands pretty full to-night." "besides," he continued, "it makes no great difference; for the more i can get through to-night the less i shall have to do in the morning." "in the morning?" said another of the company in no agreeable surprise. "yes, of course," said verstork. "supposing for a moment that in order to keep you company, i had not held that inquiry this evening; but had ridden back with you to banjoe pahit as we proposed to do, why--then i must have gone through it all to-morrow morning and then we must have said good-bye to our hunting party." "to-morrow morning!" echoed edward van rheijn. "would not monday morning have done just as well?" the controller gave the young man a look which evidently was full of displeasure. he had indeed a sharp answer on the tip of his tongue; but he refrained from uttering it, and very quietly replied: "no, no, monday would have been too late in a matter of this kind. remember, we have to do with a case of man-slaughter which is moreover complicated by an opium scandal, and as matters stand even now we shall find this a sufficiently perplexing business." "and are you quite ready now?" asked van rheijn. "yes," replied the other. "so that to-morrow morning there will be nothing to detain you?" "all right, all right!" said verstork somewhat impatiently. "and you will be able to take the lead in our expedition, i hope." "yes, yes, you need not trouble about that, i have only a couple of letters to write." "a couple of letters!" cried van rheijn but half reassured. "a short report," said the controller, "to the resident, and a request to the native prosecutor and to the doctor to come and view the body and to hold the inquest." "is not that right, van nerekool?" continued he, turning to his friend. "that is the proper course to take, is it not?" "what did you say?" said the young lawyer starting up as from a dream, and passing his hand over his forehead;--lost in anxious thought he had hardly heard his friend's question. the question was repeated and received an affirmative answer. "we have a good long ride before us to get back to banjoe pahit," remarked theodoor grenits, "and to-morrow morning it will be light very early, eh?" "certainly it will," replied verstork; "but," continued he as he looked at his watch, "we must not think of getting back to banjoe pahit to-night. it is now quite nine o'clock, and, however brightly the moon may be shining we cannot possibly go faster than at a walk, so that we cannot expect to reach the controller's quarters before midnight. no, i shall write my official letters here at the tjarik's, they can then be at once sent off by the loerah. the wedono will ride back to banjoe pahit to get everything ready for to-morrow's work. he has the command of all the beaters there, that has been all arranged and settled and we need not trouble about that, even though we change our quarters for the night." "that is all very well," said august van beneden, "but where shall we find these quarters?" "well," rejoined verstork, "we must do the best we can, 'ã  la guerre comme ã  la guerre.' there is a small passangrahan here in the dessa which is furnished with a single baleh baleh and we must ask the loerah to fit it up for us somehow or other." "to fit it up?" cried grenits in surprise; "have you an outfitting store here in this out-of-the-way place?" "no, no, my worthy disciple of mercury," replied verstork with a laugh, "that kind of establishment would do but a very poor business here. if we can lay our hands upon a few pillows and a couple of mattresses we must think ourselves very lucky." "a couple of mattresses for the seven of us," grumbled van beneden who was by no means unmindful of his bodily comforts, "that is but a poor allowance i fear." "for my part," said verstork, "i am quite ready to give up my share. i prefer the baleh baleh. it will not be the first time i have slept on one; and slept very soundly too i can tell you. the others must draw lots. but--" "but what?" asked van rheijn. "someone just now spoke of seven," replied verstork. "it seems to me we are but six--who is missing? the deuce! where is mokesuep?" "yes," cried a couple of others, "where has mokesuep got to?" "he was off like a shot as soon as he heard the cry of amokh," said van rheijn laughing. "i saw him when we turned for kaligaweh riding back full speed to banjoe pahit." "now, i call that prudence with a vengeance," remarked grenits. "prudence! is that the right word do you think?" asked one of the others. "i don't care," said van rheijn, "i am heartily glad we have got rid of the fellow, for the time, at all events. i say, verstork, how in the world did you manage to get hold of such a sneak as that?" "oh," replied verstork, "i often find the fellow useful. he is thoroughly up, you see, in all excise quibbles; and i think it best to keep in with him. you can all understand that--can you not?" "well," said van rheijn, "i wish he would be off altogether and go right on to santjoemeh." "no," said verstork, "i don't think he will do that." "wedono, will you see to it that mr. mokesuep is called early to-morrow morning?" "yes, kandjeng toean," replied the native. "and now, gentlemen," said verstork, "i must leave you for half an hour or so to the care of the loerah, he will make you as comfortable as he can--won't you, loerah?" "yes, kandjeng toean," was the invariable reply. a few minutes later the sportsmen had taken possession of the passangrahan, while the controller sat in the small verandah of the tjarik's house busily writing his letters. chapter xv. under the wariengien tree. in the opium-den. the passangrahan did not turn out so very bad after all. the loerah had managed to get together six mattresses and, somewhere or other, he had found six pillows also. whether these things were clean or not, the miserable flicker of the little oil-lamp which hung in the middle of the apartment, did not reveal. the loerah, however, had surpassed himself--he had actually provided six chairs. very crazy and very tumble-down certainly they were; but they were not wholly unfit for use, and in a dessa like kaligaweh might be looked upon as "objets de luxe." but the young people did not feel the slightest inclination to turn in, they were as yet too much excited by the events they had just witnessed to think of going to sleep. so they brought out the chairs upon the aloon aloon in front of the passangrahan, and having seated themselves in a circle they made themselves as comfortable as circumstances would allow and lit their manillas. there was, of course, no question of getting anything to drink in the shape of wine or beer, still less possibility was there of obtaining a glass of grog. unless there are europeans settled in a dessa, such liquors are nowhere to be found. but the loerah had supplied for the refreshment of his guests an ample quantity of cocoa-nut milk, and that drink was pronounced most excellent. indeed it is a most delicious and very refreshing beverage when it is obtained from a young nut before the flesh has had time to set and harden inside the rind. very soon the little circle of friends was comfortably seated under a gigantic wariengien tree, the tall branches of which spreading out far and wide on all sides formed a canopy which covered nearly the entire space of the aloon aloon, and offered a most grateful shade by day, and a shelter also against the heavy dews of night. from the majority of the horizontal branches there grew down a number of shoots, some as thick as a man's finger, others no thicker than a pipestem, others again as fine as whip-cord. these shoots, as soon as they reached the soil, struck root and then rapidly increasing in girth, formed, as it were, a number of pillars which helped the old giant to bear his dense mass of wood and of foliage, and greatly enhanced the beauty of the venerable tree. the firmament above was of the deepest blue, and wonderfully pure and clear. in that vault of heaven innumerable stars glittered and twinkled in spite of the moon which, now about her full, was shedding over the peaceful scene her soft and placid radiance. but nature, though so calm and placid, was by no means silent. the air was full of sounds, the strange mysterious music of a tropical night. a gentle breeze was rustling in the branches, and amidst the countless leaves of the colossal wild fig-tree was thus forming, so to speak, the groundwork of a concert produced by a host of invisible artists. in spite of the late nightly hour, a wood-pigeon would now and then come flying home into the crown of the wariengien tree, and be welcomed on its return by the soft cooing of its mate. sometimes a solitary cock would start up and, beguiled by the bright moonbeams, would utter his shrill musical crow, fondly imagining, no doubt, that he was heralding the dawn of day. every moment was heard the sharp, piercing squeak of the swarm of bats, which, in their hunt for insects under the canopy of leaves, glided about in a giddy maze of intersecting and intertwining circles, ovals, spirals and ellipses. sometimes again from afar came the dismal cry of the flying dogs, as on soft inaudible wing they swooped down upon some fruit-tree in the dessa and quarrelled for the possession of some choice manga. but all these sounds, some musical, others harsh, might be looked upon as the solo-parts in the nameless humming concert which prevailed on all sides and of which the performers were invisible to human eye. in that nightly hour, wherever the ear might turn it heard a constant quivering and throbbing sound, sometimes rising to such a pitch that it unpleasantly affected the ear, then again dying away like the scarcely perceptible murmur of the breeze in a cornfield, and then suddenly ceasing for a moment or two as if to allow the rustling of the leaves to be heard for an instant; but only to join in chorus again with renewed vigour as if wishing to drown all other sounds. this was the chirping of millions upon millions of the greenish orange kind of grasshopper, which perched on every blade of grass on the aloon aloon, and hanging from every leaf of the immense tree, caused that sharp thrilling mass of sound which at times made the air literally quiver with its intensely sharp notes. did the young men there assembled pay any heed to this mysterious melody? did they lend an ear to those notes which, in the tropics, make the midnight hour more tuneful than the dull and heavy noon, when the sun, in his full power, makes all nature thirsty and silent? had they an eye for that delicious night, with its soft breeze, its glittering firmament, its quiet but glorious moonlight, its quaint and pleasing shadows? it is doubtful whether they heard or saw anything of all these. indeed, they were wholly engrossed in conversation, and that conversation most naturally ran upon the events of the day. the dreadful scene of social misery at which they had been present was far too powerful to be dismissed from their thoughts. that murder scene was talked over and turned about, and looked at from every point of view; but, the few hurried words with which verstork, before he went off to write his letters, had explained the matter to his friends, had filled them, one and all, with the deepest pity for poor setrosmito, and for his family, in their bitter affliction. said grashuis: "what untold misery does that detestable opium-policy bring upon this, in other respects, so richly blessed island? is it not enough to make one hide one's head with shame at the thought that a considerable portion of the dutch revenue is derived from so foul a source?" "tut, tut," interrupted van beneden, "that foul source, as you call it--i suppose you mean the opium-revenue--is in no way different from any other tax levied on an article of luxury." "granted," replied grashuis, "but, who made the inhabitants of the indian archipelago acquainted with that luxury?" "that's more than i can tell you," said the other. "i daresay it is with opium very much as it is with drink; whence did we get the products of distillation? who first discovered them? i fancy it would be no easy matter to find a satisfactory answer to those questions. one thing, however, is quite certain, that the dutch nation is not responsible for the discovery of opium." "that's true enough," replied grashuis, "but i hardly think that a mere negative certificate of that kind will be accepted as a proof of good conduct." "no, certainly not," interrupted grenits, "for our conscience, though it is clear of the charge of having discovered the drug, by no means acquits us of the more serious charge of having introduced and imported it, and--" "come, that's all nonsense," cried van rheijn, "that is a mere assertion of yours, which will not stand the test of inquiry. if you will look into band's well-known 'proeve,' there you will find that the orientals, such as the turks, the persians, the arabians, and the hindoos, have been for many, for very many centuries, addicted to the use of opium. it is, therefore, most probable that when the dutch first came to india, they found the habit of opium-smoking already established." "you are quite wrong, my worthy friend," cried grenits, interrupting him. "you are quite wrong, for this same band, whose authority on the subject i am as ready to admit as you are, expressly declares that he has not been able to discover when opium began to be used in dutch india. now, this confession is, in my opinion, most significant, coming from so distinguished a statesman as band. for, surely, if he had been able to prove in his treatise on opium, that its use was common when we first arrived there, he would, for the sake of our national honour, not have concealed so important a fact, but, on the contrary, have made the most of it. but i go further than this. later on in his book, band goes on to say that when in the sixteenth century europeans first began to show themselves in indian waters, the use of opium was known only in the moluccas, and that, as regards the rest of the archipelago, its abuse existed only among a very few foreigners, who had settled down in the different sea-ports." "well," asked van rheijn, "but must we not look upon that as the expression of a mere private opinion? what do you say?" he continued, turning to van nerekool. "band, you see, was an opponent of the use of opium." van nerekool was, however, wholly engrossed in his own thoughts, and made no reply to the question. he seemed, indeed, not to have heard it at all. grenits, however, at once broke in and said: "what? band an opponent of opium? where in the world did you get that from? certainly not out of his book, which throughout is written in a spirit of the strictest impartiality. he cannot help mentioning the deleterious effect of the poppy-juice; but he does so with the utmost caution, and i defy anyone to discover in his treatise the merest hint at a scheme, or even at a proposal for counteracting its abuse. just now you called band's opinion a personal one. well, so far as the introduction of opium is concerned, no doubt that opinion is personal; but, it is an opinion which has been confirmed by the testimony of a host of distinguished travellers of his day. read, for instance, the voyages of such men as van sinschoten, cornelis houtman, wijbrandt, van warwijck, and so many others, all countrymen of ours, and illustrious men of our heroic age, and you will find that band does not, by any means, stand alone in his opinion." "i say," cried van rheijn, not too civilly, "where the devil does a merchant like you get all that information from?" the discussion was, in fact, arousing some of that jealous feeling which everywhere exists between the official and the mercantile classes; but which is stronger, perhaps, in dutch india than elsewhere. grenits replied very quietly, "it is precisely in my capacity of merchant that i have found it necessary to study, not only all the products of the archipelago, but to gain all possible information also about the imported articles of commerce which are likely to produce the greatest profits." "that is exactly what opium does," remarked van rheijn, "and, for that reason, i presume that the trade would like to get it into its own hands." "what the trade may like or may not like," replied grenits very coolly, "i neither know nor care. as far as i myself am concerned, i would not, if i could, derive any profits from so foul a source; and i feel quite certain that many, very many men in my position are of the same opinion. as a proof of the truth of my words, i point to the fact that, as far as i know, no european firm has ever made a bid for the opium monopoly." "indeed," said van rheijn, sarcastically, "and how then about the netherland's handelmaatshappij?" "the handelmaatshappij" replied grenits, "is a very recent offshoot of the east india company of unblessed memory, and is entirely identified with the government. it is, as a matter of fact, nothing more than the shopman in the government's grocery store. the opium monopoly is carried on by the state, and it is, therefore, no wonder that the 'companie ketjil' (javanese name for the handelmaatshappij) did undertake the supplying of opium. but this european company did not long occupy the honourable position of opium-farmer. according to band, the government did not make sufficiently large profits out of the monopoly, and it was therefore decided to put it into chinese hands. these chinamen knew how to carry on the abominable traffic, and have brought it to the highest degree of development. looking at the question from another point of view, and considering the names of the men who at that time were members and directors of the handelmaatshappij, i cannot help thinking that men so illustrious were not at all sorry to see so dirty a source of profit closed to them." "what are you talking about!" exclaimed van rheijn, "with your 'dirty source of profit?' does not the company trade in gin? does not your own firm deal in alcohol? and you, when you get to be head of a firm, will you give up all trade in spirits, and all the profits it brings in?" "oh," cried grenits, "now i see! you are one of those many men who place abuse of opium on the same line with abuse of strong drink. but, mark what i say, all those who, whether here or in holland, argue thus, are doing infinitely more mischief than they are aware of. some few of them, no doubt, know the real merits of the case, and are perfectly competent, therefore, to measure the mischief they are doing. all such men are actuated by personal motives; they have a certain object in view, it may be of advantage or of ambition. but by far the greater number speak thus merely to please, merely to gain the approbation of their hearers. the good people in holland like to listen to such arguments. they are pleased when they hear men who have been in india, and therefore, of course, know all about it, say, with an air of easy superiority: 'oh, that opium is not so very great an evil after all. all over the world, man sometimes needs a little stimulant. just look at our good mr. pastor, he surely has the welfare of his flock at heart, yet he does not grudge a man a modest glass or two of gin. let us follow that spiritual example, and let us not grudge the poor javanese his opium-pipe. opium and gin, why they come to very much the same thing in the end!' yes, to such arguments men open their ears willingly enough; for, though the opium monopoly may be a dirty source of revenue, yet it does bring in lots of money; and men are only too pleased to hear, that after all they have been needlessly disquieting themselves, and that there is really no need of putting an end to so considerable a source of gain." "well, my good friend grenits, you must pardon me for saying so; but i also am one of those who not only silently approve of the argument, but who are prepared openly and loudly to maintain that gin and opium, inasmuch as they are both intoxicants, stand on precisely the same level. i maintain that the abuse of either is injurious, and that the one does not much more harm than the other." it was august van beneden who thus came to the rescue of van rheijn. the latter looked round triumphantly, as he exclaimed: "hear, hear! you see, gentlemen, i am not the only one who holds those views. bravo, august!" "of course," said grenits, quickly, "you are quite right in saying that spirituous liquors are injurious for--" "i say, grenits," cried grashuis, with a laugh, "mind the members of your club at the hague don't hear that." "for," continued grenits, without paying any heed to the interruption, "for the abuse of spirits also arises from a craving after pleasure and oblivion and proves a want of will-power to resist that craving, even when its satisfaction is purchased at the price of self-respect, domestic happiness and health. to deny that, would be to prove myself ignorant of the labours of father matthew, and so many other friends of total abstinence. but, you will pardon me if i adhere to the opinion i have already expressed, that in thus placing the abuse of opium on the same level with the abuse of alcohol shows an ignorance of established facts and an ignorance also of the literature of our colonies with regard to opium. for, remember, my friends, our own countrymen, such men as van linschoten, valentijn, band, van dedem and i do not know how many more stigmatise opium as an aphrodisiac--as a powerful means of exciting unclean passions. van linschoten in the account of his travels, plainly speaks of certain effects of the abuse of opium which, though we are men together here, i could not venture to repeat; and foreign travellers most fully confirm his testimony. the learned chinaman li schi ischin in his chinese pharmacopoeia, which was written as early as 1596, tells us that the common people in china, made use of opium chiefly as an aphrodisiac. the german traveller miklucho-maclay in 1873, after he had made personal experiments at hong kong in opium smoking, has noted down certain details with which i cannot bring myself to pollute your ears. now all this ought, i think, to give us much food for reflection. and when we find men like rochussen, loudon, hasselman, van bosse, and many others, who, the one as governor general, and the other as colonial secretary, some of them in both capacities, have stood up in their place in parliament, and have openly spoken of opium as an evil, as a most terrible evil, indeed as a poison and a pest, why then, i think, it will not be very difficult to come to the conclusion, that the effects and the consequences of the abuse of opium are of a different nature altogether, and are infinitely more fatal than those which result from the abuse of alcohol." "would you not like," said van beneden, "just merely for the sake of experiment, to try opium smoking? i, for myself, very much wish to know what its effects really are." "so would i," said van rheijn, "and we could make the experiment easily enough." "how so?" asked grashuis. "for us europeans, opium is not easy to get, and surely we could not go to the opium den and smoke there, and make ourselves a laughing-stock of the people." "no, we could hardly do that," said van rheijn; "but among my acquaintances, i count one lim ho the son of the great opium-farmer. i know, if i ask him, he will procure me a few madat balls." "contraband, i suppose," said grenits, with a laugh. "you know those opium farmers are the greatest smugglers!" "what does that matter?" said van rheijn. "opium is opium i suppose; i shall, no doubt, be able to get a pipe, and as soon as i have got the things, i will let you know, and then we shall meet at my house. we shall draw lots, and the one upon whom the lot falls, shall submit himself to the experiment, while the others look on, and make notes. is that a bargain?" "aye, aye!" they all cried, all except van nerekool, who was still abstracted, and deeply plunged in his own thoughts. "meanwhile," continued van rheijn, "i feel bound in fairness to confess that our friend grenits has defended his position in a most masterly way. indeed i must say that i had not expected to find so much knowledge in matters concerning the opium monopoly, in a commercial man." grenits merely smiled, it was a bitter smile; but he was too much accustomed to such remarks from members of the official corps to take offence at them. "but," continued van rheijn, "with all his arguments, he will never persuade me that opium is a cause of greater misery, and that opium is a greater curse to a country than strong drink." while this discussion had been going on, verstork had written his reports and had sent them off to the authorities at santjoemeh, and he had got back to the passangrahan in time to hear grenits speak of the evils of opium smoking. he also heard his friend van rheijn make his last assertion. he thereupon at once put in his word. "well, gentlemen," said he, "we have just now the fairest possible opportunity of satisfying ourselves as to the truth of mr. grenits' argument. the opportunity is, in fact, too good to be neglected. you are here in one of the most wretched of all dessas which are the victims of the opium-monopoly. it is not very long ago that this same kaligaweh was remarkable as one of the cleanest, neatest, and most prosperous of all our javanese villages. now, look round about you. everything is neglected, and is falling into decay. the huts are, almost all, tumbling to ruin--the roads, which lead to the dessa, and which run through it, are mere pools of mud, and of the well-trimmed and beautiful hedges, which once separated these roads from the fields, not a vestige now remains. it is hardly ten o'clock as yet, and the opium-den is not yet closed. the inhabitants, moreover, are in a state of excitement owing to that murder, and are also disturbed by the presence of so many european gentlemen. they are, therefore, wide awake. in the opium-den you will be able to feast your eyes, and satisfy your curiosity." at the proposal all the young men had jumped to their feet--all but van nerekool who, with his head still resting on his hand, seemed unconscious of what was going on around him. "come, charles," said verstork, laying his hand on his friend's shoulder, "come, charles, you will come along with us, won't you?" the young lawyer started as if awakened out of a dream. "where are you going to?" asked he, with so genuine an air of surprise, as made it evident that he had not heard one word of what was going on around him. said verstork, "we are off to the opium-den." "to the opium-den!" cried van nerekool, in a tone of alarm, "to the opium-den, surely you are not going--" "to smoke," said verstork. "no, no, my friend, you need not be alarmed, we are only going to have a look. but," continued he, "gentlemen, you must make up your minds to see some very unpleasant sights, for, i think, to-night the den happens to be very full. "but, wait a bit, if you intend really to gain some insight into these opium matters, we must--" and, turning to one of the policemen who was always in attendance, he said: "sariman, run and call the two chinamen of the opium-store--tell them i want to speak to them, at once." "very well, kandjeng toean." "one moment, gentlemen! otherwise you would miss the most interesting part of the show." they had but a very short time to wait, for the two chinamen came running up as soon as they received the message: "come, quick, quick, the noble noble lord calls you!" when the chinamen reached the group, verstork said to his friends: "now, then, gentlemen, let us go." "but," said one of the chinamen, in a somewhat insolent tone of voice, when he saw that his presence was wholly ignored, "but you sent for us, sir." "hold your tongue, babah," said verstork, briefly; "we are going to pay a visit to your opium-den. you come along with us." "to the opium-den!" cried the babah, "then i will go, and--" "you stay here with me; both of you," said the controller in a tone of authority which they dared not disobey. the two celestials interchanged looks; but they did not utter one word, and silently followed the gentlemen. the opium-den at kaligaweh lay behind the chapel at the eastern extremity of the aloon aloon. the visitors, therefore, had but a couple of hundred yards to walk before they reached that noble establishment licensed by the dutch rulers of the soil. no, certainly, it was not a proud building, raising its head majestically, in the glorious consciousness of being one of the many suckers which replenish the dutch exchequer. not at all. its outward appearance would not lead anyone to suspect that it was one of the conduits of the great opium monopoly--that fearful force--that section pump, which pours millions upon millions into the treasury. no, a thousand times, no! it was a squalid, filthy little bamboo building, which looked like an old tumble-down barn or shed. the walls were partially rotten by long neglect, and gave out the peculiar musty smell of decaying bamboo. the roof, bulging in here and there, threatened to fall in upon the heads of the visitors within. the entire structure was a picture of decay and desolation, and the inside of the den completely corresponded with its pitiful exterior. the space within those mouldy walls and that half-rotten roof was extremely low, and the damp atmosphere was not only stuffy and close, but was permeated with the offensive sickly sweetish smell which is the invariable and unmistakable characteristic of burning opium. the floor of the den was the bare ground and the soil had not even been levelled and beaten down as is the case in almost all javanese cabins; but was most uneven, great black lumps sticking up all over it which the bare feet of the javanese and the hard soles of the chinamen had polished till they looked shining as marble. here and there, the smoky gleam of a dirty petroleum lamp revealed a wet patch or a little pool of greenish brown water of most suspicious appearance which affected most unpleasantly the organs both of sight and smell. as the gentlemen were about to enter the low door of the den, one of the chinamen tried to utter a note of warning; but verstork, who was keeping an eye on him, would not let him utter a sound and in a threatening tone of voice whispered to him: "be quiet, babah." when the visitors had entered they found themselves in a small square apartment at the end of which was a partition with two doors and a small opening. "that door," said the controller, who acted as guide, pointing to one of them, "opens into a little room in which one of the storekeepers generally sits, and through that little square opening hands to the customers bits of red paper covered with chinese characters. the buyers of opium have to pay ready money for one of these tickets which represents a greater or smaller quantity of tjandoe according to the price paid. with that bit of paper the purchaser then vanishes through that other door." "what a beastly hole, to be sure!" remarked grenits. "oh!" replied verstork, "this is only the anteroom. wait until you get inside and then you will see something much better than this." thus speaking he pushed open the second bamboo door which did not turn on hinges but was fastened to the door-post with loops and ran squeaking and scraping along a bit of smooth wood. this door gave access to a narrow passage which would have been in total darkness but for the hazy light of a few wretched oil-wicks which could only just be seen glimmering, through the chinks of the bamboo partition on either side. in this passage the atmosphere was still more stuffy and the nasty smell of the madat still more nauseous. the floor of the passage was so uneven, so slippery and so indescribably filthy, that it required the greatest care to keep on one's legs at all, and to prevent oneself from slipping down full length into the soapy mud. this passage ran down the centre of the barn and on either side of it were rows of pens twelve in number, the entire barn being thus divided into twenty-four partitions. the partition walls did not exceed four or five feet in height, so that from one pen one could easily look into another. these compartments had each a door which opened upon the passage in which the european visitors were standing. "may we open one of these doors?" asked van beneden, as he stretched out his hand to one of them. "you may not, sir!" cried one of the chinamen who, having noticed the gesture, understood the meaning of the question. "hold you tongue, will you!" said verstork, in a loud tone of voice. "you be off, out of the place altogether." and after the chinaman had disappeared, he turned to his friends, and said: "i do not think you will care to go into those filthy holes. we can see well enough what is going on inside through the chinks in the partitions and doors, indeed, i believe, we shall thus see more than if we were to enter." "look," continued he, "there you have a smoker in the first stage of intoxication." yes! there, on the baleh baleh, lay a javanese. there he lay on the only article of furniture which the den could boast of, stretched out full length, and half reclining on his side. he had thrown off his head-cloth, and his long black hair floated over the disgustingly filthy pillow on the bench. his eyes, which betrayed his ecstatic condition, were half closed, and every now and then, he brought with his right hand the bowl of his opium pipe to the tiny flame which was flickering on a bit of wick dipping in a little saucer of oil. as he did so his head, partly supported on his left hand, would be slightly bent forward, as he took the thick bamboo stem of the pipe between his lips. then, very slowly, he inhaled the smoke of the kindling opium. after a few puffs, he put down the pipe and turned over on his back, his head thrown back upon the pillow. the smoker now closed his eyes entirely, and strained with might and main to swallow the smoke he had inhaled. as soon as he had succeeded in doing this, he lay quite still while a look of satisfaction and enjoyment passed over his countenance. that look of satisfaction, however, offered the strangest contrast with the whole exterior appearance of the man, even with the features on which it appeared. before lying down on the baleh baleh, he had flung aside his vest, and now lay covered only by his shirt which was the filthiest and most loathsome rag imaginable. the man was as lean as a skeleton, and would have been admirably fitted to take his place at the danse macabre. the faint light of the little palita showed every rib in his body, and the dark shadows which they cast, showed how deep were the cavities between that trellis work of bone. his arms were like sticks encased in brown leather-like skin. his legs were not visible, being covered by the sarong; but the appearance of the feet, which protruded from under the garment, proved that like the arms the legs also were nothing but skin and bone. when the man had, for awhile, held the smoke which he had swallowed, he blew it out again very slowly through his nostrils, a proceeding which it took some time to accomplish--then he turned over on his side and appeared to fall into a deep sleep. at that sight a female form, which had been crouching in one corner of the compartment, and had thus remained unnoticed, rose up and made for the door. the poor creature had been present there all the time--in her haste to leave the wretched little apartment, she nearly ran up against the european gentlemen. "oh, heavens! the devil!" she cried; but, in the darkness, she could not recognise anyone, and so she hurried into a neighbouring recess. in that recess, the spectacle was more horrifying still. there, stretched out on the baleh baleh, lay an old javanese. he was as angular, as emaciated, and as much wasted away, as the other man; but he was in another stage of intoxication. he had smoked more than one madat ball, hence he was in a different state of ecstasy. his hollow, sunken eyes glittered with unwonted fire; his breast heaved, and his face wore a bestial grin, the lower jaw protruding far beyond the upper stamping the features with the mark of the brutal passions which were raging within. the upper part of his body also was bare, but the violence of the passions which possessed him caused his entire frame to heave and quiver, and had made him cast aside even his sarong, so that now he lay there in the state in which the patriarch noah was discovered by his sons. no sooner had the creaking door given admittance to the woman than he called out sharply to her: "where have you been all this time? come, make haste, get me another pipe." the wretched creature obeyed without a murmur. she advanced to the baleh baleh, took some tandjoe out of a small box, warmed it at the flame of the palita, and then mixed it with a little very finely cut tobacco. then she rolled it in her fingers into a little ball about the size of a large pea, put this into the bowl of the opium pipe, and handed it to the wretched smoker. during these operations, and when she leaned forward to hand him the pipe, the miserable smoker, no longer master of his passions, and wholly unable to restrain himself, had acted in a manner so outrageously indecent, that grashuis cried out: "oh, this is too revolting! come, let us be off, i cannot stand it any longer." just at that moment a cry was heard a little further down the half-dark passage. "good god, this is most infamous! is it possible--let us get out--let us get out, friends--fire from heaven will fall upon us and consume us!" it was van beneden who had walked a few steps further down the passage, and had been peering into one of the recesses down there. now he wildly rushed out of the place, dragging his friends almost by main force along with him. "what in the world is the matter with you?" asked grenits. "oh, i can't tell you what i have seen," cried august van beneden, hardly able to speak plainly in his excitement. "come along." "now no false modesty," said grashuis; "we have come here on purpose to gain what information we can about the horrors of opium, and so each one of us must tell his experience. what was it you saw, theodoor?" "don't ask me," cried theodoor grenits. "it is really too abominable; such things must not be uttered--and the victim--was a little javanese girl--she struggled frightfully." "aye," said van rheijn, "i thought i heard screaming." "and can we do nothing? come, verstork, you as controller--" but verstork restrained his companions who were preparing once again to rush into the den. "i shall take good care," said he, "not to meddle in any opium matters. they, at batavia, would very soon find me wholly unfit to hold any government appointment and, however revolting a deed may be, i should find no support in van gulpendam my superior officer at santjoemeh. my whole career would be ruined--no, my friends, i must let things take their course." "but," cried grenits, "i am not bound by any such considerations--i will--" "you will keep quiet i hope," said verstork to his friend who was trying to make his way once again into the opium den. "remember that i am in your company, and that even if you went in there quite alone you would still compromise me by your rash and foolish action. i beg you therefore--here! you see the child is coming out." as verstork spoke a little javanese girl hardly ten years of age came rushing out of the loathsome den, she sobbed and moaned as she ran past the european gentlemen. "oh this is fearful--this is fearful," cried grenits, "and then to have to stand still while such horrors are going on! i should like to--but--" continued he as he turned to van beneden, "will you still maintain that opium is in its effects to be compared to drink." august van beneden did not reply; but the deepest indignation was visible in his countenance. "come," said verstork, as he tried to calm his friend, "let us not remain standing here, men, women and children are beginning to crowd round." "those people," cried grenits, "were just now looking on at those filthy scenes through the chinks of the bamboo walls." "and," said van beneden, "the opium farmers did not try to prevent them, but seemed on the contrary to encourage them. i could see it all plainly enough." "come," said verstork again, "let us be off. let us go and sit down again under the wariengien tree. oppas," continued he to one of the policemen who always kept near him, "you go and tell these dessa people that they are to go home--it is time for all to go to sleep." chapter xvi. the opium-monopoly. a quiet chat. the people of kaligaweh were quiet folk, and did as they were told. very soon the dessa had resumed its ordinary peaceful appearance, and the little group of european gentlemen were once again seated under the widely-spreading crown of the gigantic wild-fig tree. but if, a short time ago, they had paid but very little attention to the wondrous beauties of the tropical night, their visit to the opium-den made them still more indifferent to its attractions. as soon as they were again seated, the conversation, naturally enough, turned upon the terrible scenes which they had witnessed. "in that passage," said grashuis, who, as surveyor, was accustomed to take in local details at a glance, "there were twenty-four doors and therefore there must be twenty-four such hideous pens. if all of them--what a pity it is that we allowed ourselves to be scared and that we did not carry out our investigation to the end." "no, no, my friend," said verstork, "i am glad we did not. almost all the recesses were occupied, and the scenes which they would have revealed would have differed only from those you saw in the degree of beastliness. i repeat it--it is much better that we did not go on. but, when i tell you that in the dessa kaligaweh there are some eighty households which number about six hundred souls, one hundred and thirty of which are able-bodied working men, and that such a den as we visited remains open for three-quarters of the four-and-twenty hours--and when i further tell you that if you had looked into the wretched huts all around you would have found many an opium-smoker in them also--then, i think you will be able to form some idea of the extent which the abuse of opium has attained." "do you happen to know," asked grashuis, who was fond of statistics, "what percentage of the inhabitants is given to this abuse of opium?" "well," returned the other, "i do not think we shall do much good by troubling ourselves about figures which are generally misleading and only serve to prove how clever statisticians are in the art de grouper les chiffres." "yes," said grenits, "and we know full well that treasury officials have very little scruples on such points." "it is a blessing that muizenkop does not hear you say that," said van rheijn, with a laugh, "you would see him fire up at such a suggestion." "with regard to kaligaweh," continued verstork, "i venture most confidently to assert that there are not ten men in the dessa who are free from the vice of opium smoking." "humph," muttered van beneden, who, though a lawyer, was also fond of figures, "that is about 93 per cent." "i found that out," continued the controller, "when, about a twelvemonth ago i was on the look-out for a man to put into the place of my former loerah; a good fellow enough, but one whom the opium-pipe had rendered totally unfit for any position of trust." "did you succeed?" asked grenits. "yes, i did; but not without much difficulty. it was my intention to appoint setrosmito, the poor devil who just now has got himself into trouble, and it was only because the man could neither read nor write that i had to give up the idea. the inquiries, however, which i then was forced to make, revealed to me the startling fact that women, and even children of eight or nine years of age use opium. they actually scrape out the father's pipe in order to get hold of the fatal narcotic." "but," remarked van beneden, "kaligaweh probably forms an exception." "not by any means," rejoined verstork, testily; "during my official career i have been stationed in several residencies, and i venture to affirm that, as far as opium is concerned, their condition is much the same as that in santjoemeh. you will find hundreds of dessas in the island like kaligaweh." "i suppose," put in grenits, "we must except the preanger districts?" "oh yes, certainly," assented verstork, "the use of opium is altogether forbidden there." "and does that work well?" "excellently," said verstork. "that is, i have no doubt," asked grashuis, "a tentative measure on the part of the government which, if it succeeds, will be extended to the whole of java?" "not at all," replied verstork. "in the first place the prohibition has been in force too long to be merely tentative for it dates back as far as 1824; and then, in the next, it was not at all adopted with the view of checking the abuse of opium; but merely because it was feared that the people would take to coffee-stealing in order to be able to satisfy their craving." "come," said van rheijn, "that is not at all a bad idea." "is it possible," exclaimed grashuis, "to conceive a more cynical confession of the fact that opium demoralises the people?" "and if," continued grenits, "you add that confession to the scenes which we have just witnessed, then put the question seriously to yourselves: is there any truth in the assertion made by van rheijn and backed up by van beneden, that the abuse of opium can in any way be compared to the abuse of alcohol, or put on the same level with it? no, no, in my opinion, it is infinitely more deplorable!" "such is my opinion also," assented verstork; "every attempt made to put down or to limit the extent of opium-smoking and to check its abuse, must be looked upon as an act of much greater philanthropy than the efforts made by the friends of temperance or the preachers of total abstinence. but--" "yes--but what?" cried another. "but," continued he, "every such attempt is a direct blow aimed at the revenue at home." "aye, aye, there you have it," said grenits; "and whenever you raise such a question as that, our good friends at the hague are uncommonly hard of hearing." "well, i don't blame them," interrupted van rheijn, "they cannot afford to sacrifice the millions which the opium trade pours into the treasury." "god help us!" cried grenits, "did ever man hear such an argument as that? what would you say to a thief who would try to excuse his theft by saying that he was in need of the stolen money to go and fuddle himself in a beershop; or to a murderer who would try and justify his crime by stating that he poisoned his uncle only because he wanted the inheritance to--to--well, say to keep his mistress?" "oh, oh, oh!" cried several voices, "what a comparison!" "yes," said verstork, "the comparison is certainly not flattering; but it has the advantage of being a perfectly just one. so long as our country indulges in the costly luxury of an administration such as ours; and so long as it maintains the opium trade in its present state to furnish funds for that costly administration: such proceeding may very justly be compared to the action of a thief who steals a banknote in order to go and spend it in a gin-palace." "or rather," cried grenits, "to that of a man who poisons his uncle so that he may have the handling of his money. i consider the latter comparison to be a still more just one; because it cannot be denied that though holland has always treated her indian possessions as a milch-cow, the present system of scraping and squeezing is beginning to exceed all reasonable bounds and limits." "oh! oh!" again cried van rheijn and van beneden as in protest. "well gentlemen," asked grenits, "am i exaggerating? tell me now, are they not, at home, exceeding all limits and bounds in the heavy taxation which they heap on the shoulders of the industrial and commercial classes?" "aye, but," remarked van beneden, "you must remember that in holland people have to pay taxes as well as out here." "if you will take the trouble to look into the matter," said grenits, "you will find that they do not pay anything like what the people have to pay here. then again, i ask, do they not exceed all bounds and limits in increasing the burdens, already too heavy, which the poor native population has to bear?" "i quite agree with you there," said verstork. "do they not," continued grenits, "exceed all limits in the pitiful and niggardly way in which they treat their soldiers out here?" "how so?" asked van rheijn. "why, to give you but one instance, by loudly declaring that there is peace at atjeh--a peace which has no real existence whatever--and thereby robbing the poor soldiers and doing them clean out of their already too meagre pay?" "oh, what need we bother ourselves about those soldier fellows!" cried van rheijn. "do they not again," continued grenits, "overpass all reasonable limits, by encouraging and fostering the abuse of opium?" "now, that is too bad," cried van beneden, "now you are going too far; that accusation of yours is not a fair one." "you think so, do you?" said grenits. "well then just take band's book in hand. there you will find proof absolute of the fact that it is, and has always been, the policy at the hague to encourage and to foster the opium-trade as much as possible. figures are stubborn things--just listen to what they have to say. in 1832, the opium revenue amounted to three millions, in 1842 it rose to very nearly seven millions. in 1870 it was quite ten millions, in 1880 it amounted to thirteen millions. in 1885 that same revenue rose to nineteen millions; and new, in 1886, it is estimated at quite twenty one millions, and our house of representatives has accepted that estimate without the slightest demur, and without one word of protest. of course, every now and then, there is a great moan made in political and in other circles at home, and a great deal is said about the iniquities of the opium trade; but, for all that, the authorities have their hands perfectly free and are encouraged by all parties to squeeze out of that trade as much as it can be made to yield." "but, excuse me," asked van rheijn, "is it not one of the first duties of every government to make an impost as productive as possible?" "certainly it is,--and it is precisely therein that lies the immorality and the demoralizing tendency of the opium-monopoly. you see, in order to enable the farmers to increase their bids, the abuse of the drug must be encouraged. thus the poor natives are driven, we may say, into the opium-den by any and by every means--the most illegal and the dirtiest means seem to have the preference. just read our local papers, and then you will be edified, i think, at the infamous annoyance which the chinese opium-factors are empowered to inflict upon the non-consumers, and at the unlimited control they are allowed to exercise, always in the most shameless and arbitrary fashion, over any poor wretch who, seeing, it may be, the error of his ways, tries to diminish his daily consumption." "or provide himself with smuggled opium," remarked van rheijn, interrupting him. grenits, however, paid no heed to the remark, and went on: "the opium-monopoly was originally established with the very laudable object of raising the price of the article and of thus leaving it within the reach of as few people as possible. on that principle, therefore, every regulation must be condemned which tends to augment the revenue by increasing, the sale. but, at present, our colonial secretary relies upon the system as a regular means of increasing the revenue. when we have such facts as these before us, facts which can be proved to demonstration, then we feel ourselves driven to pronounce this judgment: 'our government and our representatives are fully convinced of the terrible and fatal effects of the abuse of opium by their indian subjects; but they will not consent to forego the profit which they obtain by the wholesale poisoning of an entire population.'" "come, come, poisoning! that is a rather strong word!" cried van beneden. "yes," continued grenits, very quietly, "i said poisoning--that was my word. if in holland an apothecary does not keep his opium in the proper poison chest, or if he is detected in selling it without the proper order from a medical man, he is fined--very heavily fined. am i not right, van nerekool?" thus addressed van nerekool raised his head, looked up vacantly for a moment or two and gave an affirmative nod; it seemed very doubtful whether he had understood the question at all. grenits, however, accepted that nod as a gesture of assent, and continued: "yet that same poison may here be procured without the slightest difficulty, nay more than that, is actually forced upon the poor people in the most shameless manner by the chinese scoundrels who keep the opium dens. and that goes on under the eyes, and with the full cognizance, sanction, and under the protection of the dutch government." "you are growing tiresome," sneered van rheijn, "you keep on harping on that one string--the dutch government--the fact is, my dear fellow, you are tarred with the self-same brush of discontent as all the manufacturers and merchants out here in india." "why should i not be?" cried grenits passionately. "i do not always agree with all their opinions; but yet i do form a part of that important commercial body; and when a question arises which effects the vital interests of industry and commerce--well, yes, then you may say that i am tarred with the same brush." "but have these grumblers really so very much to complain of?" asked grashuis in a bantering tone of voice. "i should think they have," replied grenits. "under our present system we are not only flayed; but we are sucked dry, in a manner which, elsewhere, would drive men to open rebellion. when the dutch revolted against spain, and when the belgians rose up in arms against the dutch, neither of them had anything like so much to complain of as we have here,--neither of them suffered anything like the extortion which the indo-europeans have to put up with at the hands of their present oppressors." "oh, oh, oh!" cried several voices. "we have now to pay duties and taxes compared to which the tithes at which our ancestors rebelled were the merest child's play. and then, in return, what rights do we enjoy?--if one could, on so serious a subject, be capable of indulging in a sorry joke--i might say that we have the privilege only of having absolutely no rights at all. for, that which here in india goes by the name of law and justice, is in reality nothing more than the merest burlesque; and that is especially true in all matters which concern the revenue. wherever there is a little money to be made, the state flings itself upon its victims as some ravenous beast leaps upon its prey, and then one may look in vain for the smallest protection--least of all in any case which concerns that imperium in imperio the terrible opium monopoly!" "you are exaggerating, you are talking wildly!" cried van rheijn. "i wish i were," continued grenits; "but just take up that terrible book 'might versus right,' a book written by a member of the high court of justice at batavia, who was formerly, for many years, attorney general in that same court, and for half an ordinary lifetime was president of the residential council. a man, therefore, who ought to know, and who does know what he is talking about, and then--when you have read what he has to say--tell me if i am exaggerating." "oh, the writer of that book is another grumbler!" said van rheijn, "whose only object is to set the whole world against the functionaries of our administration." "that is a very heavy accusation to bring against a man who, in my opinion, is thoroughly honest, and who has had the courage, and therefore deserves the credit, of having told the plain unvarnished truth. such, however, is our national gratitude!" "oh yes!" cried van rheijn, "i am not at all surprised to find you commercial men in ecstasies about that man and about his book. to all grumblers it is of course meat and drink." "let me tell you, my good fellow," said grenits, "that those whom you call grumblers have had good cause given them for discontent." "come, come," said the other, "you talk very finely; but after all they are only a pitiful handful of very tame insurgents. depend upon it we shall manage very easily to keep order among them." "yes, yes, i know," said grenits, bitterly, "that is the old stock phrase. it was used some little time ago by certain organs of the dutch press when the people, exasperated by vexatious extortions, strove--by perfectly legitimate means mind you--to resist acts of arbitrary injustice and exaction on the part of the dutch government. "tame insurgents!" continued he, vehemently. "tame insurgents! by heaven! let them not at home taunt us much longer with that name. a very little more, and they will be at their wits' end to deal with an insurrection which will prove itself anything but tame. don't let them forget, yonder, that, to carry on a miserable war like that at atjeh, they had to sweep up the scum of europe; for you know that dutch heroism in our towns at home made the poor wretches whom they manage to press for that service sing the pleasant refrain: 'my life is pain and woe, to atjeh i will go ...'" "grenits, grenits!" cried verstork, trying to calm his friend's growing excitement. "yes," said he, "my dear verstork, i am wrong and i am going too far, i have very nearly done. but those heedless words, 'tame insurgents,' have worked a great deal more mischief than those who first uttered them could possibly foresee. they have proved to us that, in our lawful resistance to extortion, we have nothing to expect but only contempt and abuse. may god in his mercy protect holland! but i have good reason to know that if a man were to arise amongst us possessed of the necessary talent for organisation, and one who, at the same time, had sufficient tact to gather around him all that discontent which at present is powerless because it is divided amongst itself--if such a man, i say, were to arise who could make the most of the utter state of perplexity they are in yonder--we, the 'tame insurgents,' would make our mother country pass through very evil days indeed!" "well," said van rheijn, "all that is not so very formidable after all. in case matters came to the worst, the army would know how to do its duty." "its duty!" cried grenits. "that sounds well from you who just now were the first to scoff at those 'soldier fellows'. but i ask you this one question:--has the government any right whatever to reckon upon the fulfilment of that duty? has it not neglected, in the most shameful manner, its duty towards that army? i will allow--i am indeed fully persuaded--that in spite of any treatment the officers would stick to their duty, and would do it strictly and honourably. but--! can one expect as much from all the foreigners, which have been shipped out hither? why, even now in atjeh, they are deserting to the enemy with bag and baggage, with arms and ammunition--and, in the case i was supposing, they would go over in entire companies. can one look for any sense of duty in these poor wretched native soldiers, who have almost to a man, by the most shameful means--by opium, by gambling, by the allurements of the vilest women--been pressed into the service. no, no, pray don't go on deceiving yourselves." "there!" cried van rheijn, "now you are simply talking treason--your language is seditious." "treason, do you call it?" cried grenits, passionately. "when i do nothing more than lay my finger upon the wound?" "gentlemen," said verstork interposing, "methinks it is high time to close this discussion. such topics are very apt to make men hot, and--moreover, why, it is just past midnight. we must go and get some rest, for to-morrow we must be up by day-break and we have a very fatiguing day before us. the djoerang pringapoes which you visited with me this evening, is no ball-room let me tell you--you will find that out to-morrow. come, let us all turn in and get some sleep!" at these words all, except van nerekool, rose and prepared to retire. "i am very glad," said grashuis, "that old muizenkop was not present at this conversation. had he been here, by to-morrow evening the resident would have known all about it, chapter and verse, with no doubt the necessary additions and flourishes. and then, my good friend grenits, you would have had a 'mauvais quart d'heure.' who knows, they might have packed you off to atapoepoe or to tomini bay; perhaps they might have kicked you out of the island altogether. remember poor lawyer winckel!" grenits shrugged his shoulders disdainfully. "are you coming to bed?" asked verstork as he walked up to van nerekool who was still seated with his head resting on his hand outside the hut which the others had already entered. van nerekool made no reply, he merely looked up and stared into the face of his friend with a strange dazed expression. "what in the world is the matter with you, old fellow?" said verstork as he laid his hand on his shoulder and sat down by the side of his friend. "you have been so silent and so absent all day, you must be ill i fear!" "no, william, i am not ill, but i feel so very--so very wretched." "wretched!" said verstork, "come now, tell us all about it, there's a good fellow, let me bear some part of your sorrow!" "ah!" sighed van nerekool, "i can tell you nothing--nothing that you could share with me. william, my dear friend, you recollect our conversation of last saturday night at santjoemeh?" "every word of it," replied verstork. "i then told you that in one week's time i would give you my reasons why i considered your love affair with miss van gulpendam a very sad business. that week is up to-day--is it not?" "yes, my friend," said van nerekool very sadly. "but you can tell me nothing now. during the last week many things have happened. i suppose that even on saturday last you knew that resident van gulpendam was not at all well disposed towards me?" to that question verstork gave no direct reply; but he insisted upon being told all that had taken place. "come," said he, "come, charles, tell me all about it. you know perfectly well that you have in me a true friend. let us hear all about it." "but," replied van nerekool, "you want rest. you ought to go to sleep. to-morrow you have a hard day before you." "oh!" said verstork, lightly, "never mind about that. i have often enough gone the rounds of the government coffee-plantations, and have passed many a sleepless night in the dessas with quite as hard a day in prospect as to-morrow is likely to be. i can very easily afford an old friend like you an hour or so of sleep. do pray speak out." charles van nerekool hesitated no longer. he felt indeed in great need of sympathy; and wanted, above all things, to pour out his heart to his friend. he began his story therefore, by telling him how, on the occasion of the state-ball, he had declared his love to anna. in the most vivid colours he described to his friend that happy moment in which, carried away by the excitement of the dance and the glorious tones of weber's waltz, he had allowed the long-treasured secret of his heart to escape from him; and his rapture when the girl, whom he so dearly loved, had uttered the one little word which assured him that she returned his affection. he told him of that sacred moment when their lips first met in the garden. "oscula qui sumpsit, si non et caetera sumpsit haec quoque quae data sunt, perdere dignus erat." muttered verstork to himself. he, in his youth, had studied the classics, and now he could not help smiling as he recalled the two well-known lines from ovid's ars amandi. but when he saw with what a sorrowful shake of the head his friend answered the half audible quotation, he at once discovered how deep a wound had been struck into that poor heart. the story of that blissful love-scene and of those happy moments spent in the garden of the residence in the shade of the padan arbour, was followed by an equally graphic description of the rude awakening out of that dream of love and felicity. charles van nerekool went on telling his friend how mrs. van gulpendam had broken in upon the interview--he told him all about the conversation which he afterwards had held with fair laurentia. a very very bitter smile passed over the controller's lips when he heard what means of seduction the resident's wife had deigned to employ. "my poor friend, my poor friend," he muttered almost inaudibly; "but is this all?" "oh, no!" cried van nerekool. "well, go on, i am all ears." "the next day," continued van nerekool, "i paid a visit to the residence, as i had promised anna i would do; in order to lay before her father my formal request for her hand. i had great difficulty in obtaining an audience at all; and it was not until after i had waited for a considerable time that i got to be admitted into the presence of the resident. "'i have not very much time to spare, sir,' were his first words of welcome when he saw me enter the office in which he sat to receive me. "'i have not very much time to spare, therefore i beg you will at once get under weigh.' "'mr. van gulpendam,' i began, 'yesterday i had some talk with miss anna--and--' "'do pray set sail at once,' cried he, interrupting my opening speech, 'i tell you again i have no time for dawdling. i may at once tell you that i do not think it a very proper thing for a gentleman to get a young girl into a quiet corner. fair and above board is my motto, sir. an honest man sails straight into port. all that tacking and trimming are not to my taste, i can tell you.' "'my dear sir!' cried i, 'i have already told mrs. van gulpendam that the excitement and the surroundings had quite thrown me off my guard. it is now, and it always was, my intention to ask you fairly and openly for your daughter's hand. there can, between us, be no question of any intrigues or mysteries, and my presence here, mr. van gulpendam, has no other motive than to declare to you my love to miss anna, and to obtain your sanction to our union as man and wife.' "'so, so,' said he, 'does the wind sit in that quarter? you have pricked your chart very prettily indeed. now would you like to know what i have put down in my log, eh?' "'mr. van gulpendam, i can assure you that i never was more serious in my life--the question is to me one of the utmost importance,' said i, amazed and disgusted at all this sea-jargon. 'in heaven's name let us lay aside all jesting. i simply have the honour of asking you for the hand of your daughter.' "'mr. van nerekool,' he replied, 'i also am in a most serious mood.' this he said in a somewhat nettled tone, however, not another nautical expression passed his lips during the interview. 'how can you suspect me of jesting, when i ask you whether you can surmise to what decision i am about to come with regard to your question?' "'i hope,' cried i, 'that your decision will not be unfavourable to me! oh, sir, i love miss anna with all my heart and with all my soul!' "'of course, of course,' said he, 'these are the regular stock phrases of all lovers. now, are you really and seriously in love with her?' "'how can you ask such a question?' cried i, vehemently. "'well,' replied van gulpendam, 'i have my reasons,--and they are very good reasons too--for doing so. you had an interview yesterday evening with my wife, had you not?' "'yes, resident,' was my reply. "'and the conversation you then held with her opened up to you the prospect of a future career. i think i am right there?' was his second question. "i simply sat staring at the man in utter amazement. never, never, could it have come into my head that he and his wife were of the same way of thinking in such a matter as that." "why not, pray?" asked verstork, very quietly. "why, my dear friend, i looked upon the resident as worldly and frivolous indeed; but i thought he was an honourable man, and one who kept himself altogether clear of the intrigues in which his wife appears to dabble." again the bitter smile curved verstork's lips; but in the deep shadow of the the wariengien tree, van nerekool failed to perceive it. "go on," said verstork, who, though deeply moved, spoke in so perfectly quiet and composed a tone of voice, that his friend did not notice his feelings. "to his last question," resumed van nerekool, "i replied, 'yes, resident, you are right. mrs. van gulpendam did make me certain proposals.' "'she spoke to you then of your future prospects, as well as on the subject of your present request?' asked the resident. "'yes, resident,' was my reply,--indeed i was growing very nervous. "'well, then,' resumed he, 'you see that you have the making of your career entirely in your own hands; and i do hope that you will now at length prove yourself a man of some practical common sense.' "my dear william! at these words, which, you will notice, cast a grave suspicion upon the motive of my request, upon which, however, my entire happiness depended, i felt, as it were, the ground sinking away from under me. "'but, resident,' i cried, in despair, 'do you really know what mrs. van gulpendam did propose to me?' "'well, yes,' he said, in a very off-hand and somewhat mocking manner, 'pretty well, pretty well, i think. she held out to you the prospect of being appointed successor to the present chairman of the council at santjoemeh, which important position, i think she told you, might very probably be permanently conferred upon you. further she did not refuse you her daughter's hand--whom you declare that you love so very dearly. you see i am pretty well informed. now, if you have called upon me this morning to ascertain what guarantees i can give you that these proposals will be realised--and allow me to tell you that is the course a sensible man would certainly take--then, i think i may say, you need not be uneasy.' "this utterly false interpretation of my motives, stung me to the quick. what ignoble thoughts and sentiments must have been stirring in that bosom! "'mr. van gulpendam!' i cried out, interrupting him, very warmly, 'i was not in the least thinking of those proposals. still less, if possible, did i call here this morning in order to ascertain your intentions--nothing of all this was present to my mind when i asked you whether you were aware of the offers mrs. van gulpendam made me last night.' "'indeed,' said he very coolly, 'then i fear i have misunderstood you altogether, mr. van nerekool. in that case with what intention did you put that question to me?' "'what was my intention?' i replied. 'why, my intention was simply this. are you aware that mrs. van gulpendam asked me to violate my oath and my duty?' "'oh, come, come,' said he all but laughing at me. "'are you aware,' i continued still more hotly, 'that i was actually required to send a poor innocent man into banishment?' "'my dear sir, you must be dreaming,' said he in the same tone of banter. "'are you aware,' i still continued, 'that the prospect of obtaining your daughter's hand, that honours and promotion were offered me at the price of a human life?' "'now mr. van nerekool,' cried van gulpendam with much assumed indignation, 'now you are going too far! i forbid you to utter such insinuations and to make such charges against my wife. what! you come here to me to ask me for my daughter's hand, and you think you will obtain your request, i suppose, by heaping insults and slanders upon the mother of the woman you pretend to love!' "'insults and slanders!' i exclaimed. "at these words of mine he cooled down immediately. "'well' said he, 'perhaps the expression is too strong. there must be some misunderstanding.' and then, very quietly, he went on: 'your proposal, mr. van nerekool, is a great honour both to my daughter and to myself. it has, however, come upon me so very unexpectedly that i feel sure you will allow me some time for reflection. i must indeed take some little time to consider a matter upon which the entire happiness of my daughter will depend. moreover, you see there can be no hurry. anna is very young--she is indeed much too young to think of marriage just yet.' "'you do not therefore deprive me of hope?' i exclaimed and, in my excitement, i seized his hand and held it. "he looked at me in astonishment. 'i can promise you nothing, absolutely nothing, mr. van nerekool. anna has plenty of time before her, she can take a year--two years, perhaps--before she decides upon a step which involves a union for life. by that time we can talk over these matters again. meanwhile--' he broke off hesitating. "'meanwhile?' i asked almost breathlessly. "'meanwhile,' he continued very coldly, 'you will do well not to continue your visits at the residence. i know you do not wish to compromise a simple-hearted and honest young girl, i shall, therefore, not expect to see you here excepting, of course, at our official receptions.' "that was plain speaking enough,--was it not william? it was tantamount to a refusal." verstork looked at his friend with very real and deep sympathy. "i had a presentiment," he said, "of the trouble that was awaiting you. you remember in what manner i received your communication last week?" "yes, and to-day you promised you would let me know why--" "now tell me, charles," said verstork, "is there any need for me to say anything more? you must, by this time, i presume, have been able to form a pretty accurate estimate of the family circle into which you would have been received in case your offer had been accepted." "but william, anna--!" "oh, yes," cried verstork, "i know anna is the purest and most amiable creature in the world. i know, as well as you do, that anna is absolutely innocent of all this intrigue and trickery. indeed i have often wondered how so fair a flower could have opened and developed in the midst of such surroundings. but, let the girl be--why simply what she is--however adorable she may be, if you marry her you cannot help being fettered to her parents, who are most certainly the most self-seeking and most corrupt beings which can possibly be found in any respectable society. my dear friend, just reflect how utterly and hopelessly wretched you would be tied to such a pair of schemers. that, my dear fellow, was the very thing i wanted to point out to you." van nerekool heaved a deep sigh and, lost in thought, did not answer a word. he sat as one in a dream, with his head resting on his hand, peering upwards into the vast crown of the wariengien tree through which the moon, now high up in the heavens, was casting her soft white beams. for awhile verstork respected his friend's silence. at length he said: "come now, charles, you have, i hope, somewhat relieved your breast. i have with a single word been able to draw your attention to that which it imported you much to know. now try and forget all this for a while in sleep. you have this day had a long--and to you who are unaccustomed to such exercise--a necessarily fatiguing ride. rest will, therefore, be most beneficial to you. to-morrow still greater fatigues are in store for you. these also i hope will be a distraction, and prove wholesome to your mind. if we would be fit for work to-morrow we must get some sleep. come along." van nerekool sighed again. without a word he rose, he pressed the hand of his friend and then followed him into the hut. the others were already fast asleep, and he stretched himself out by their side upon the wooden bench. chapter xvii. in the djoerang pringapoes. toeaan!--toeaaan!--toeaaaan!-such were the most unwelcome sounds which, a few hours later, were heard in the hut in which all our friends lay heavily sleeping. gentle sleep had, at length, taken compassion on poor van nerekool also. for a long time after his conversation with verstork, he had not been able to close an eye; and had been tumbling and tossing about and making the crazy couch creak and groan to such an extent that leendert grashuis and august van beneden, who were close beside him, had uttered many an angry exclamation: "for heaven's sake keep quiet! don't keep rolling about like that--it is enough to make a fellow sea-sick--" and then again: "the majesty of the law seems uncommonly restless to-night; perhaps the mosquitoes trouble it, or an unquiet conscience, or a fit of the blues." but at length, thank god, charles had fallen into a deep sleep; he was not destined, however, very long to enjoy that blissful rest. "toeaan! toeaaan!" thus once again the voice began to cry. it was the voice of verstork's servant who had got the watchman of the guard-house to wake him, and was now very cautiously trying to rouse his master out of his sleep. but the javanese servant felt that he was engaged in a very ticklish duty; and he set about it with all the circumspection which he was aware such unpleasant duties required. he knew, by sad experience, that european gentlemen are apt to lose their temper when suddenly, at a very early hour, they are aroused out of a delightful sleep; therefore, on all such occasions the wily javanese serving-man preferred to keep at a respectful distance from his kandjeng toean, who, he knew, might at such a time be easily moved to raise his hand and deal him a sound box on the ears for his trouble. not that verstork was at all given to such rough usage of his servants; on the contrary, he was known and beloved among the natives for his kindly consideration, and for the coolness of his temper. but this was a wholly exceptional occasion, and one could never tell what the sudden irritation of being roughly shaken out of a pleasant slumber might produce. it was very easy to get a good slap in the face, and therefore the astute javanese prudently kept himself at a safe distance. "toeaan! toeaaan!" he ventured to say again in a very intense drawling whisper. but verstork did not hear him. "toeaan! kandjeng toeaan!" still not a word! then the servant very cautiously crept up to the couch. when he was close to his master he again cried out, in a still more subdued and still more drawling voice, "toeaaan! toeaaaan!" still verstork stirred not a limb, only van nerekool seemed to have caught the sound, and was beginning to move about restlessly. then the man, very gently--so gently that it could not disturb the sleeper--began to fold back that part of the rug which covered his master's feet. the faint glimmer of the lamp which hung dangling from one of the rafters, just allowed him to see what he was about. when he had laid bare one of verstork's feet, he began very, very gently to tickle his master's great-toe, while in the same cautious manner he again whispered "toeaaan! toeaaaan!" and seemed, by the very humility of his voice, to beg pardon for the liberty he was taking in rousing his high and mighty master. this tickling of the toe had, at once, the desired effect. starting up verstork sat up and cried: "who is there?" as he said these words he put his hand to his foot, evidently fearing that a snake had touched him. indeed, the chilly and leathery skin of a native may very easily convey such an impression, especially on a man who is but half awake. "who is there?" he cried again. but by this time the javanese servant had, with a bound, jumped away out of the possible reach of his master's hand, and from the furthest corner of the hut he said: "it is i, kandjeng toean!" "what do you want?" roared the controller, now thoroughly aroused, and not in the sweetest temper. "it is now four o'clock, and the dessa people are all waiting." "is that all?" growled verstork, who thought that his rest had been very unnecessarily disturbed. who knows what absurdity he might in his drowsiness have added, had not the "toeaan, toeaan" of his servant, and the subsequent noise awakened van beneden also, who was sleeping quite close to him. he jumped up at once, and the moment he was awake began, as the resident might perhaps have said, to turn up all hands. "come boys!" he shouted cheerily "come boys, get up all of you!" as he threw himself from his bed with such energy as made the slight bamboo structure sway and creak as if it had been rocked by an earthquake. "what's the matter, what's up?" cried several voices starting out of sleep. "what's up?" cried van beneden. "there's nothing up! you get up, all of you, as fast as you can. it is four o'clock, and the dessa folk are all ready for the chase." that word acted like magic. in a twinkling all were on their legs. they dressed, washed, combed, brushed themselves as well as one can perform all these processes in the interior of a dessa, which offers no great facilities for an elaborate toilet to europeans who have passed the night in a small country hut. for washing, indeed, there was no convenience at all--the only basin in the place was a mere potsherd. but, all were anxious to be off, and like soldiers who, in the field, have not always sã¨vres or even delt at command, they did the best they could, and soon completed their hasty toilet. diogenes, the greek philosopher of sinope, had frequently, no doubt, dressed himself in much the same fashion. in a few moments all were ready, even van nerekool who was bent upon seeking some relief for mental pain in physical exertion. when they stepped out of the cabin they saw the entire male population seated cross-legged on the village green, trying to protect themselves from the cold morning air by drawing their sarongs as far as possible over their shoulders. every man had brought his lance, and had stuck it upright before him into the ground. every one of them held a huge rattle, an instrument very like that with which our old watchmen used to murder sleep while they pretended to keep guard over the sleepers. the moon was, by this time, casting her beams under the branches of the wariengien tree, and, as the pale light shone upon that strange group of human beings seated there in a crouching posture, it illustrated most vividly the theory of darwin, so very much did that assembly look like a great conclave of apes. "are all your men here, loerah?" asked verstork. "yes, kandjeng toean." "very good. then send one part of them round by the maize fields of the dessa, let the second division spread itself to the westward over the neck of the dojerang pringapoes, and let the rest go right into the ravine." "yes, kandjeng toean--but--!" "well, but what?" asked verstork, noticing the loerah's hesitation. "may not the animals," said the chief, "thus make their escape through the eastern side of the ravine?" "how so, loerah?" said verstork. "you have heard, i suppose, that the people from banjoe pahit will occupy the whole of the eastern side, and part even of the western side of the ravine? very good, now we understand each other i hope. we shall get on horseback at once, and will post ourselves in the upper part of the pass, and, if our instructions have been properly carried out, the whole of the game must come that way. now, just listen carefully to what i have to tell you, loerah." "yes, kandjeng toean." "as soon as we have got to the upper part of the ravine we shall fire a shot." "shall we hear it, sir, right down at the bottom?" "you are right, loerah, quite right, it is a good distance--perhaps too far--well then, i will tell you what you must do. as soon as day begins to break--but, mind you, before the sun has fairly risen--you will set your beaters to work. but, whatever you do, take care that the beasts have the road to the ravine left open to them." "yes, kandjeng toean," was the invariable answer of the loerah, always spoken in the most respectful tone. then in the deepest silence the beaters betook themselves to their posts while the european horsemen took the road to banjoe pahit. as yet it was quite dark, so that the horses had to proceed at a very slow walk. this very moderate pace was absolutely necessary, because the road which they had to follow was a narrow path leading through the flooded rice fields, and the slightest deviation might have led to a highly unpleasant mud-bath. presently, however, a faint streak of light was beginning to show itself on the eastern horizon. at first it was all but imperceptible, it seemed like a faint reflection of the waning moonlight; but gradually it became broader and deeper, then is began to spread a fiery glow over the eastern sky, and made the stars, which were still brightly twinkling in the zenith, to pale and fade away. the narrow path kept winding upwards; for banjoe pahit, towards which the riders were making their way, lay on much higher ground than kaligaweh which was situated on the low foreshore. as the dawning light grew clearer and brighter, the horsemen were able to mend their pace, and soon the horses were going along at a good sharp trot, impelled, in a measure, by the instinct which told them that they were heading in the direction of their stables. the upper end of the ravine was reached in good time, and the horsemen dismounted and gave their beasts in charge of a couple of javanese servants who had come to meet them along with the body of beaters from banjoe pahit to which mokesuep also had joined himself. these men at once took the horses home to the dessa. it was not yet full daylight. the western sky was still a deep dark blue; but in the east the dawn was clothing itself in all the brilliant hues which herald the near approach of the perfect day. on all sides trees and bushes grew in the wildest disorder, and in their branches birds innumerable were piping and warbling, each, in his own way, sending up his hymn of praise to the great creator. leaves, twigs, boughs, flowers, and grass-blades, all were thickly covered with the tiniest possible specks of dew; and, as the light gradually brightened in the east, seemed bathed as it were in molten silver. in spite of their impatience to begin their work upon the game, our young friends could not help pausing for a few moments in order to admire the magnificent spectacle before them, and to enjoy the delightful freshness of that glorious time which immediately precedes a sunrise; when suddenly, very far in the distance, was heard the confused noise of a most frightful tumult. "there they go!" cried verstork, "those are our beaters, what a row the fellows are making to be sure." the natives were indeed hard at it, springing their rattles, banging on bamboos, yelling and screaming in a manner which drowned every other sound in nature, especially in that solemn morning hour when the orb of day is just about to rise. at first the noise was heard as a mere confused hum very far away in the distance; but, as it gradually drew nearer and nearer, it became so exciting that even poor van nerekool, forgetting his woes for a while, ran up and down clutching his rifle with trembling hand, and some of his companions, more excited even than he was, had their weapons at full cock, ready to open fire at a moment's notice. "now then, my friends," said verstork, trying to calm down all this unnecessary flurry; "pray keep quiet. we have plenty of time before us. please all keep cool, or we shall have some accident with those firearms." "are we in a good position here?" asked grashuis. "we are standing too close together it strikes me," remarked van beneden. "i intend to take you a little further into the ravine," said verstork. so they all advanced some fifty or hundred yards along a steep pathway which ran winding down through shaggy bushes and rocky boulders. just by the side of that rugged path, the brook banjoe pahit began its downward course along its bed of rocks. it was a wonderfully beautiful little stream; its waters of the purest crystal went dancing from crag to crag, forming, in one place, a pleasant little basin or pool, at another tumbling down in foaming cataracts and splashing waterfalls, then, suddenly and mysteriously, disappearing altogether for a while amidst the wild shrubs and rugged boulders, and then a little further on, springing up again to renew its brawling and wanton play. the scene in the djoerang pringapoes was as wild and savage as possible, but marvellously picturesque withal. when the party had clambered down about a third part of the slope, the massive walls of rock which, up to that point, completely hemmed in the entrance to the ravine and which formed a kind of slit, suddenly ran back like the sides of a funnel, while they continued grandly and majestically to tower up into the sky. the bottom of the ravine, however, as well as its walls, bore abundant evidence of great natural convulsions. huge boulders were flung about in it at random in all directions, the stems of the trees which grew there were twisted and curled up into lumps and knots and were still bearing tufts of withered grass and nests of dry branches; the smoothly polished rocks also amply testified that when the north-east wind opened the sluice gates of heaven and the water-floods came down in torrents from the heights--the banjoe pahit could howl and roar along, and form dreadful currents and whirlpools; and that, at such times, it was well to keep out of the now quiet defile. as the hunters were looking about them at the savage scene around, the din made by the beaters was gradually coming nearer and nearer. it was still a considerable way off and not a solitary head of game had shown itself. "i wonder how that is?" said august van beneden. "i fancied that we might have set to work shooting at once. may not our wild boars, if there are any at all in this ravine, have got away by some other road?" "no, no," replied verstork, "the djoerang pringapoes is hemmed in on almost all sides with perpendicular rocks, such as not even a wild pig can climb. there are two or three spots where the walls are not quite so steep, and which such animals might perhaps scale; but, if the loeras of banjoe pahit and of kaligaweh have carried out my instructions, these weak points have all been occupied by their men, so that none of the animals can have got away by them. the beaters, you see, with their abominable rattles are driving the pigs into the ravine, and i know they will all make for it, especially as it is their usual haunt." "aye, aye," said van rheijn, "i see; but once in this ravine, depend upon it they will lie very close, there is plenty of room here for a game at hide and seek, and if they choose to get to cover, we may stand here waiting for them till doomsday." "that might be so," remarked verstork with a smile, "if the beaters would let them. but those fellows with their rattles will follow the pigs into the ravine and drive them in our direction. you will see how they will manage that presently. just listen--what a row they are kicking up yonder--one would think they were a pack of fiends!" verstork indeed might well say so; for your javanese, under ordinary circumstances cool and phlegmatic enough, can, on such occasions as a boar-hunt, display activity and energy in abundance. then he seems almost beside himself; then he screams, he yells, he bellows, he whistles, he hisses, he crows, he shrieks. then he frantically plies his rattle and, with any weapon he may happen to have in his hand, he bangs upon anything and everything he comes across, on trunks of trees, on stones--which, by the way, not unfrequently give out most melodious sounds--on the sheath of his kris--undoubtedly he would bring down a whack on the skull of his neighbour also were he suffered to do so. and all this for the mere purpose of making a noise, the most horrible din imaginable in order to drive the game, which by nature is wild enough, into the direction which he wishes it to take. "now," said verstork, "just a few paces further on and then we come to the entrance of the djoerang ketjel where a small stream, which we call the karang aleh, flows into the banjoe pahit. after the junction the two streams flow together through the narrowest gorge of the pringapoes. look there, you can see the split in the rocks just ahead. you see we are bounded on all sides by sheer cliffs and the game must pass through this defile to reach the upper part of the ravine and get away." "by jove," cried van rheijn, "this does not strike me as a very pleasant spot, the place looks like a picture of universal ruin and desolation." indeed it was a terrible scene. the ragged sides of the ravines, consisting entirely of grey lava-rock, towered up perpendicularly into the sky. here and there, on the bare walls, a mass of stone seemed, in its descent, to have stuck fast; and, in course of time, a little soil had gathered on its surface. in this shallow layer of earth, vegetation had immediately sprung up and formed there, as it were, a little green island in the midst of the grey ocean of desolation. huge fragments of jagged stone lay scattered about in the wildest confusion, and amidst these, many weird and unsightly plants grew and flourished, such as the sembong, the kemanden kerbo and the oering aring with its venomous prickles. there also were seen the gnarled and twisted stems of the djatie doerie and of the siwallan. these stunted trees raised their poor meagre crowns out of the sea of stone, and, by arresting the progress of the dã©bris which the water-flood whirled along, served to block up the pass still more effectually. "now then, my friends," said verstork, "let us divide--we are standing here much too close together. van nerekool, the wedono, and myself will take our stand here just opposite this narrow pass. you, leendert, go with august to the top of that piece of rock which you see yonder to the right. you theodoor and frits take up your position on that broken ground on the slope. from those points you will have the gorge completely under your fire, and--if you really are as good shots as you are supposed to be--why then not a solitary pig ought to escape us. but make haste, get into your places--the beaters seem to be getting quite close." it was indeed high time; for every instant the infernal din was coming nearer and growing more distinct. it was, in fact, becoming positively deafening. it sounded as if a veritable pandemonium had broken loose. grenits made a very wry face when he found that mokesuep was to be his companion; but he had no chance of remonstrance at thus being saddled with a most uncongenial companion, for he had to get to his post without delay. the positions which the guns were to occupy had been admirably chosen and showed a perfect knowledge both of the game and of the ground. the marksmen were all posted in full view of one another, so that there could be no risk of accident, at the same time their fire commanded the narrow opening of the ravine which lay open before them. moreover they were all directed to take their stand upon spots slightly elevated above the level of the soil and were thus, to a great extent, out of the reach of the fearful tusks of the infuriated animals. thus then they stood, most eagerly watching; but, though the entrance to the djoerang lay perfectly open before them with here and there a few stunted shrubs much too low and small to conceal even the smallest pig, not a vestige of any animal could be seen. this suspense seemed intolerably long to the impatient and impulsive europeans who were far from being endowed with the calm phlegmatic temperament of the natives. the wedono stood there quiet and motionless as a statue. "i can see nothing whatever," shouted august van beneden to his friend, making use of his hands as a speaking-trumpet. "i fancy our good dessa-folk have taken it easy and have allowed the game to slip away quietly to the right or left." "it is my opinion that the ravine is empty," remarked van nerekool, to whom this long inaction was more irksome than even to the others. verstork interpreted van beneden's words to the wedono who, rifle in hand, was standing by his side, and asked him if he thought it possible. "it may be,--but--perhaps it is not so," was the chiefs cautious reply. still they waited, and waited--the din of the beaters was approaching with every moment and their yells became more distinct. a few minutes more would decide the question whether there was any game in the ravine or not, for a very short time would bring the beaters to the mouth of the opening. verstork was getting quite nervous with impatience, jokes were beginning to pass pretty freely among his friends, and although they were perfectly good-humoured jests and showed not the slightest ill-will towards him, yet they were not pleasant to listen to. mokesuep was the only one who, in a singularly offensive tone, cried out: "i say, controller, i hope all that pork we are going to kill won't disagree with us!"-"hold your tongue, wretched muizenkop," said theodoor grenits. "you always find some nasty thing to say!" "that's all very fine," replied mokesuep, "i can tell you i am getting beastly tired of standing here. a lot of fellows invited for a day's shooting, when there is nothing to shoot at!" "the pigs were here all right enough," said grenits, "you may depend upon that; i don't suppose you can blame verstork if the beaters have allowed them to escape!" mokesuep was on the point of making some ill-natured rejoinder when bang! bang! bang! went three rifle shots and interrupted his sneering remarks. they were the rifles of verstork, of van nerekool and of the wedono. these three were posted at the very mouth of the ravine, and had suddenly caught sight of a greyish indistinct mass of living things rushing towards the opening. quick as thought, the three had thrown their rifles up to their shoulders and had opened fire upon the advancing herd of swine. the other hunters had, as yet, seen nothing. the rattling and yelling of the beaters seemed to redouble in intensity the moment they heard the first shots fired, and almost drowned the discordant grunts and groans of the pigs as they pressed into the narrow defile. from that moment however, all doubts as to the issue of the day's sport were at an end. the three first rifle shots had bowled over the three foremost animals, one of which was a boar of gigantic size, and for a moment stopped the rush of the entire herd. the wounded animals lay on the ground, struggling and fighting, uttering fearful squeaks and striking out right and left with their formidable tusks at those who came behind, thus almost wholly blocking up the narrow opening. that lasted however only for a moment or two, for the noise of the beaters drove the creatures to such a pitch of fury that, in spite of all opposition, they rushed over the bodies of their fallen leaders. but the three men who had first opened fire, had, in those few moments, had time to reload, and an instant after, all the others posted to the right and left caught sight of the game and at once opened fire upon the dense struggling mass of pigs, hardly a single shot being lost. thereupon a scene of the direst confusion ensued. the wounded animals tumbled over one another uttering groans and squeaks which baffle description. the hindmost ones, still urged on by the terrific noise of the beaters, fought and pushed their way to the front. the sows grimly defended their young and seemed to vent their fury upon the carcases of the dead and wounded, and, in that terrific melã©e, the bullets of the seven hunters kept plunging with the deadliest effect. the rifled breech-loaders poured shot after shot into the densely packed mass, and every moment the narrow gap became more and more impassible. that went on for the space of about three minutes, during which the breech-loaders plied their unerring fire. presently van nerekool said to verstork: "are we not running the risk of hitting some of the men in the rear?" "oh, no," replied verstork, "if they have followed my instructions there is no danger whatever. a few yards lower down there is a sharp elbow in the ravine, so that if one of our bullets should happen to miss or to pass through the body of one of these beasts it must bury itself in the walls of rock. you hear--according to agreement, the fellows have already stopped their noise--they are not at all anxious to come to close quarters and to expose themselves to a stray bullet." meanwhile the fire had been kept up with hardly any cessation and with almost the same fatal effect. the grunting herd still was striving to push onward and to get clear of the deadly pass, and again and again the bullets knocked down the foremost, who in their death-struggle, dealt ripping blows all around. but at length, after having for a while wallowed about hopelessly, a small remnant which still remained unwounded, suddenly headed round, led on by a huge black-coloured boar, and now no longer awed by the beaters, made a headlong charge back into the ravine from which they found it impossible to escape. chapter xviii. entrapped. "hurrah! they have turned tail, they are making off!" exclaimed mokesuep. that hero had all the while been trembling with fear; he had been in mortal terror lest the pigs should break through the line of fire; for if they had succeeded in doing so, a close struggle with the sword bayonet would probably have ensued. therefore he had most anxiously been peering about to see if he could discover any way of retreat up the steep mountain sides. if, during that morning there had been shots fired which had flown wide of the mark, such misses had been due to his shaking hand. indeed, some of his bullets had gone right over the wall of rock which hemmed in the ravine on all sides; but most fortunately had not injured any of the javanese who were beating on the other side. the unpleasant whistling, however, of the projectiles from mokesuep's rifle had scared the natives, and it was in a measure owing to those stray shots that the beaters had given up the battue rather sooner than they ought to have done. grenits was in a rage. "what are you hurrahing about," cried he to mokesuep, "you were never born to be a nimrod, that's plain enough!" "well," stammered the coward, whose lips were still white with fear; "it is all right, is it not?" "all right!" cried grenits, "no, it's all wrong. don't you see that the remnant of the herd will get clear away? come! forward! they are getting away, i tell you, we must get after them and not let a single head escape! forward, boys, forward!" the other young men, who were just as much vexed as was grenits at the unsatisfactory result of their hunt, rushed into the pass together rifle in hand. mokesuep only, very prudently remained behind, not even could the wedono get him to follow by crying out to him, "come! quick, sir." our hero merely shook his head and stood looking after his companions until they disappeared out of his sight. then throwing his rifle over his shoulder he took the road to banjoe pahit as he muttered to himself: "no doubt, that's all very well; but i shall take precious good care not to come into contact with that filthy vermin. no, no, i shall go and have a chat with the wife of verstork's cook--who knows what i may manage to do in that quarter! a nice little woman that! a devilish sly dog that controller; what fun if i could get some shooting over his preserves!" thus mumbling to himself he walked along and had gained the upper entrance to the djoerang pringapoes. from that eminence he could command a fine extensive view over the broad rice-fields which rose in terraces on the hill-slopes, and whose surfaces, flooded with water at that time of the year, lay glistening in the bright sunshine like so many polished mirrors. it was as yet very early--scarcely half past seven o'clock. mokesuep stood there looking all around him, not indeed in admiration of the beauties of nature; for a creature of his stamp could have no eye for that kind of thing; but gazing about anxiously and more than half frightened at the silence and solitude in which he now found himself after the riot and confusion down in the ravine. in the far distance he could still distinguish the shouts of the hunters and could now and then hear a shot fired by them at the retreating game; but the noise of the hunt grew fainter and fainter, and as it gradually died away in the depths of the djoerang, not another sound was heard round about. this sudden stillness had something very disquieting about it. mokesuep half wished that some human being would appear to share the solitude with him, and yet, on the other hand, he was wholly afraid of meeting with some of the natives. he had heard dreadful tales of the robbers by which some of the inland parts of java were infested and rendered unsafe; and though he had a rifle slung from his shoulder which might have inspired any other man with confidence, he was of far too cowardly a nature to put any trust in his weapon. he stepped along slowly and cautiously, and presently, at the foot of a small range of hills lying to the northward and which formed a continuation of the chain of mountains in which the djoerang pringapoes was situated, he discovered a solitary hut, partly hidden away in the thick underwood which grew around it. close by a couple of oxen were grazing by the side of a pathway. this little road ran past the hut to the north-west, and winded along the low dykes of the rice-fields. as mokesuep traced the pathway in its course over the hill-slopes, he suddenly perceived a human figure evidently making for the hut. it was the form of a woman, of that there could be no doubt. mokesuep breathed freely again; in the presence of a woman, especially if that woman happened to "be a native, he felt brave enough; so he determined to wait for her, to try and enter into conversation and to walk pleasantly and sociably together to banjoe pahit. the approaching form, standing out boldly over the flooded rice-fields and reflected in their shining surface grew more and more distinct with every moment. "by jove," muttered mokesuep, after having watched her for awhile, "by jove, what a pretty girl! all the better for me--i shall have a charming walk with that dear little thing!" he was, however, altogether out in his reckoning. when the girl got close to the hut, she took a side path which ran in a south-easterly direction downwards amongst the rice-terraces, and which appeared to lead to kaligaweh. great was mokesuep's disappointment at seeing this, and he was about to call out to her. just then a javanese came out of the hut and began beckoning to the girl. "by heaven!" muttered mokesuep, "that is singomengolo, the opium spy. what in the world is he doing here?" and immediately he concealed himself behind some bushes which were growing by the wayside. it was indeed singomengolo, the wretch whom the evening before we saw leaving kaligaweh and riding to the lonely hut. again and again, he beckoned to the girl; but as she did not heed him, he cried out: "dalima!" at this call the girl turned for an instant. yes, it was pretty little dalima, the baboe in the family of mrs. van gulpendam. she stopped for a moment, while her features showed undisguised terror as she recognised the notorious opium-hunter, whom she knew well by sight. she did not, however, stop for more than a single instant, and then sped on again as fast as she could. "dalima!" again cried singomengolo, "dalima, where are you hurrying to?" "i am going to kaligaweh," said the girl in a nervous tone of voice. "well, just come here for a moment," continued singo. "no, no," she replied, "i have not an instant to spare, i must get to my father as quickly as i possibly can," and again she sped on her way. "come here, i say," cried singomengolo, "i have something to tell you about your father!" "oh, yes, i know," rejoined the young girl, "they told me father is very ill--that is why i am in such a hurry." "you are wrong," cried singo, "your father is not ill--it is something much worse than that." the girl stopped at once: "worse than that?" she asked, "tell me, is he dead?" "no--much worse!" "by allah--what is it?" "come here," said singo, "and i will tell you. there are things, you know, that one cannot shout out by the wayside." this brought dalima to his side. as she walked up to him, she had to pass the bushes behind which mokesuep was lying concealed--in fact, in passing she brushed by them. as usual dalima was very neatly dressed. round her waist she wore a gaily coloured sarong, her bodice was of pink cotton, and over her shoulders was folded a red kerchief, from one of the points of which dangled a bunch of keys. she had a double melattie flower in her thick heavy tresses, which, in the midst of that ebon-black mass of hair, looked like a pretty white rose. just then her face was covered with a rich flush caused partly by the exertion of her long walk, partly by the pleasant coolness of the morning air; but this rich colour added animation to her pretty features, and blended most harmoniously with the deep bronze of her complexion. the experienced eye of the concealed fiscal functionary did not allow a single one of these charms to escape it. yes, there were certain cases in which mokesuep was by no means insensible to the beautiful, though its contemplation generally awakened evil passions in his breast; and not unfrequently led to criminal designs. what might have happened had he walked alone with dalima to banjoe pahit, who can tell. for the present the appearance of singomengolo forced him to remain in hiding. when the girl had come close to the hut, she asked again: "what is the matter? tell me!" "come in with me," replied the opium-spy, "and i will let you know why your father has been taken into custody." as he said these words, dalima suddenly uttered a loud shriek. singomengolo thought, of course, that the news he had told her and his rough manner of conveying it, had wrung that cry from the young girl; but dalima had turned round abruptly and was trying to run away as fast as her feet would carry her. the fact is, she had, through the half open door of the hut seen the odious face of lim ho gazing at her with eyes dilated with passion. that sight made the poor girl turn and dart away; but she had hardly gone a few yards before singomengolo overtook her, and grasping her wrists, tried, by main force, to drag her along with him into the hut. dalima resisted with all her might. she screamed for help, she kicked at her captor and tried to bite the hands with which he held her arms tightly clasped. in fact she fought as desperately as a wild cat, determined to resist and defend herself to the very last. she was in hopes also that her cries might possibly be heard, for she was under the impression that just now she had seen a european on the pathway which crossed the road she was taking. any other man but mokesuep would have flown to the rescue of the poor child; who knows to what excess of heroism even he might have allowed himself to be carried--not indeed out of any feeling of kindly sympathy or from any chivalrous promptings; but in the hope of perhaps--yes--in such a mind as his the foulest thoughts will spring even as venomous toad-stools on an unclean soil. but--he also had caught sight of lim ho--he had noticed that face burning with ignoble passion. at a glance he understood what was going on, and, at the same time, he resolved to keep perfectly quiet in order that he might reap the fullest advantage out of the situation. lim ho's father was an enormously wealthy man, and when the safety or reputation of his son was concerned he would not mind coming down handsomely--a couple of thousand guilders or so were nothing to a man of that kind. poor little dalima! in utter despair she had flung herself to the ground, most heartrending were her shrieks of agony, help! help! but it was all in vain. the mean wretch who might, by merely raising his hand so to speak, have set her free, kept himself snugly concealed. he looked upon the struggle with cynical eye, nay was actually gloating with satisfaction at the glimpses which now and then he caught of the charms, which, in the violence of her resistance, dalima could not always keep concealed. this went on for some little time, and singomengolo began to feel that it was impossible for him to drag her along any further without assistance from lim ho. he called to the chinaman to come to his aid. the latter at once obeyed the call, came out of the hut, and tried to clasp the girl in his arms and thus carry her along. but when, in that attempt, he got a very painful bite in the ear, the wretch became mad with fury. he laid hold of the mass of hair which in the struggle had become loosened, and was now quite unrolled, and twisting his hand into the heavy tresses while singomengolo still held the girl's wrists, he dragged her by main force into the hut. for a considerable time after that the fearful shrieks "help! help! toean!" were still heard; but gradually they grew fainter and fainter until at length they ceased altogether. in the very far distance rifle shots still resounded; but even if dalima could have heard them in the excitement of the struggle, she must have understood that her voice could not possibly reach so far, and that, in any case, if help did come, it must come too late. how did dalima happen to be on the fatal spot at that early hour? the reader may remember how that, after having accomplished his heroic deed in the dessa kaligaweh, singomengolo had ridden away and had taken the direction of the lonely hut in the hill-country; and how, on his arrival, he had sent the man who lived there as his messenger to santjoemeh. this man had two commissions to execute. in the first place he was told to go and give into lim ho's own hands a little note with which singo had entrusted him, and, after having done that, he was to call at the residence and was to tell baboe dalima that her father setrosmito had suddenly been taken dangerously ill and that he was most anxious to see her. the messenger, who was a very shrewd and clever fellow, had at once jumped on the back of one of those small and ugly, but well-nigh indefatigable javanese ponies, whose muscles of steel seem never to tire and carry them in a surprisingly short space of time over vast distances. it was about eleven o'clock when he reached the stately mansion of babah lim yang bing. he was very lucky, for he was not kept waiting a single instant, as lim ho happened to be within at the time. the son of the rich opium farmer lay reclining luxuriously upon a splendid divan, his long chinese pipestem was between his lips and by his side on a small table stood a cup of arrack. he was listening in a kind of rapture to two of his servants, who, like himself, were children of the celestial empire. these fellows seated on low ivory stools were twanging on a kind of two-stringed fiddle or guitar, and were drawing tones out of their instruments which would not only have horrified a vieuxtemps or a paganini, but would have instantly dispersed even a meeting of tom-cats who, in the matter of harmony, are not usually reckoned to be exacting. lim ho no sooner caught sight of singomengolo's emissary, than he jumped up from the couch, grasped the letter which the man held out to him, and eagerly scanned the very few words it contained. it was a document brief and laconic as a telegram but, to lim ho, of the deepest significance. the words it contained were only these: "everything ready, be here by seven in the morning." the chinaman pulled out his watch, he looked at the time while he asked the messenger what the weather was like. "bright moonlight, babah," was the man's reply. lim ho then dismissed him, flinging him a rix-dollar, and telling him to be specially careful how he discharged his second commission. he ordered him to come and report the result to him, then he ordered his horse to be saddled and waited. the man did not find his second task quite such an easy one to perform as the former. the resident van gulpendam and his wife were seated with some visitors at the usual card-tables; but the daughter of the house had already retired to her own room, and had given her baboe leave to go to bed without waiting up any longer. the fellow found it therefore necessary to go to the back of the premises, and at length he contrived to get one of the servants to go and rouse dalima. the young girl was terribly shocked at hearing the dreadful tidings of her father, whom the rascal represented as being in a dying state. she at once rushed into the pandoppo and entered the bedroom of her young mistress who, fortunately, had not yet retired to rest. "nana, give me leave!" she cried, in the greatest agitation, as soon as she had opened the door. "come," said anna, "what is the matter with you? do try and be calm." the young lady had perceived at once that there was something very wrong, and tried to quiet her servant's excitement by herself remaining perfectly cool and self-possessed. thereupon dalima told her that a man had just arrived from kaligaweh with a message from her father who was lying at death's door, and who wished, for the last time perhaps, to see his daughter. "oh, nana," begged the poor girl, "do try and get me leave to go home!" "but, dalima," objected anna, "what is the time?" and looking at a handsome clock on a console close by, she continued, "why it is close upon midnight!--it is out of the question--you could not possibly go out in the dark!" "oh!" cried dalima, in pleading tones, "nana knows that i am very brave. i know the way perfectly. i shall take the short cut over the hills; by that road i shall get to kaligaweh without meeting anybody." "that is just it," rejoined anna; "it is that very solitude that i am most frightened at. you might come across a tiger or a wild boar." "why, nana! there are no tigers anywhere in the neighbourhood; if there were we must have heard of them, and as for boars, i am not the least bit afraid of them, they always run away if they possibly can. do pray, dearest nana, get me leave to go. i promise you that by to-morrow night i shall be back again." "i don't at all like the idea of it, dalima. what will mamma say?" "oh, nana dear," cried the baboe, in despair, "do pray go and try--do pray go and ask madam!" "she is quite sure to refuse," said anna. "why should she?" persisted the girl. "she will be just as much afraid as i am that in the darkness of the night some accident may happen to you. how can you possibly dare to undertake such a journey, dalima?" "my father is dying--he wants to see me!" cried dalima. "that is quite enough to give me courage for anything, miss anna. i would go to kaligaweh even if i knew that the road was full of ghosts--yes, if there were a ghost behind every tree! yet, i am much more frightened of ghosts than of beasts or of men. nana, i beg and pray--do go and ask your mother!" "well," said the tender-hearted young girl, "i will go and try; but mind you, i know it will not be of the slightest use." "thank you, nana, thank you." thereupon miss anna rose from the divan upon which she had taken a seat after she had admitted dalima. she thrust her dainty little feet into a pair of slippers she had carelessly thrown off. the young girl was already partially undressed, and had been reclining in only her sarong and kabaai; but she very soon threw about her a richly embroidered morning gown, with a few turns of her dexterous hand she twisted the rich mass of her loose-hanging hair into a knot, and ran to the front-gallery in which her parents and the other card-players were still engaged in their game. to her great surprise fair laurentia made no difficulty at all, and at once acceded to her daughter's request, stipulating only that, before setting out, dalima should finish some needle-work which she had given her to do and which she particularly wished to have ready by the morning. oh, no! mrs. van gulpendam had no objection whatever to dalima's going to kaligaweh; on the contrary, she thought it very praiseworthy in the girl that she showed so much devotion to her parents. a honey-sweet smile hovered on her lips as she gave her gracious permission, and no one--least of all her pure and innocent daughter--could have guessed at the awful abyss of wickedness which lurked behind that sunny smile. highly pleased with the result of her attempt, anna hastened with her good news to dalima, and in the kindness of her heart she gave up a considerable portion of her night's rest to assist her baboe in getting through her task of needle-work. it is a dreadful thing to have to say; but laurentia had not made that stipulation about finishing the work without an object. her object was to delay dalima's departure, so that she might not reach the hut in the middle of the night, and, in the darkness, perhaps pass it unobserved. diligently assisted by her mistress, the baboe was able to set out on her journey about three o'clock in the morning. after having affectionately taken leave, dalima left the premises by the back-way through a small garden gate, of which anna had procured her the key. this gate took her straight into the road which led over the hills to kaligaweh. the moon was shining brightly in the heavens, and thus the girl was able to walk along rapidly, and soon she lost sight of santjoemeh while not a single thought of danger crossed her brain. lim ho had been informed by singomengolo's messenger that the pretty baboe had received the news of her father's illness--the reader however knows that a far different calamity had befallen setrosmito--so he said in a highly satisfied tone: "that is all right. you must be tired out, and i don't suppose you care to return to your hut to-night? eh?" "no, babah," was the man's answer. "very well, my people will show you a bedroom, you can go and have a rest. to-morrow i will pay you for your service." as soon as the fellow had disappeared, lim ho consulted his watch. "nearly one o'clock," he muttered to himself, and then aloud he added: "than loa, is the horse ready saddled?" the servant replied with a couple of chinese words, whereupon lim ho rose. he put on a kind of cap without peak, in shape not at all unlike a scotch bonnet, then he snatched up a riding-whip and leaped into the saddle. "don't go to sleep--keep good watch--mind," he cried to his servant as he rode off, and setting spurs to his horse he was soon out of sight. the main road which he took was a much longer one than the narrow foot-path which dalima had chosen; but by starting thus early he knew he could easily get before her. he did not know that before she could set off to her father's bedside the poor girl would have a good deal of sewing to do, and he thought therefore that he had to hurry in order to be in time at the hut. but his horse was a fine animal of persian breed, and he felt confident that it would bring him to the spot before dalima could possibly reach it. it was about half-past three when he dismounted and joined singomengolo, whom he found waiting for him. the pair of villains sat down to consult about the best way of carrying out their infamous attempt. during this consultation lim ho repeatedly showed signs of impatience at dalima's unexpected delay. they were still talking together when the day began to dawn, and presently the sun rose, when, of a sudden, a dreadful outburst was heard in the far distance--a noise was heard of yelling, of rattling, of banging--it seemed as if the world was coming to an end. lim ho started up in terror from the mat upon which he was seated by the side of the opium spy. "what on earth may that be?" he cried. "oh," replied singomengolo as calmly as possible, "that is nothing at all--only the toean controller of banjoe pahit going on a pig-hunt--the dessa folk of that place and of kaligaweh are beginning to beat up the game." "how do you know that?" asked lim ho. "i was at kaligaweh yesterday, and there i met the controller and the company he has with him; they came to make the necessary arrangements for the day's hunting." "you were at kaligaweh?" asked lim ho. "of course i was, babah," replied singo quietly. "i was there," he continued with a nasty smirk, "to catch old setrosmito at opium-smuggling." "aye, aye," said lim ho, "that's true, i know now." lim ho pronounced these words in a tone of voice which showed that to him the infamous plot whereby a victim had been removed out of his father's way, was the most trifling incident in the world, a bagatelle which had wholly escaped his memory. "and did you succeed in finding opium?" "of course i did," replied singomengolo, "you know well enough, babah, that i always succeed when it suits me to try." "yes, yes," said lim ho in a patronising way, "you are a clever fellow, there is no doubt about that. dalima's father has, i suppose, been got rid of at least for a few weeks?" "yes, for a longer time than a few weeks," replied singo very significantly. "how so? has anything else happened then?" "setrosmito has run amokh and has killed a countryman of yours outright, and severely wounded a policeman. it was precious nearly all up with me too; but i managed to slip away from him in the very nick of time." "good! good!" said lim ho, gleefully rubbing his hands together. "so that?" he continued. "so that," remarked singomengolo, "dalima's father, if they don't hang him, will be at the very least imprisoned for life." "you know," said lim ho, "that was wonderfully cleverly managed. but what's up now?" in the distance a well sustained rifle-fire was heard, in fact the chase had begun. "it is only the gentlemen in the djoerang pringapoes. they are firing at the wild-pigs i suppose. allah prosper them!" "but," said lim ho, "may not those white fellows get into our way, the ravine, you know, is not so very far off." "the toeans," said singo, "are a great deal too much engrossed in their sport to take any notice of what we are about. for myself, i much prefer to hear them blazing away yonder to their heart's content in the djoerang pringapoes, than to know that they are sitting quill-driving in their offices. your white man with a pen in his hand is a much more formidable creature, and is much more formidably armed too, than when he handles a rifle." thus they sat talking and listening to what was going on beneath them in the djoerang, while time was rapidly passing away. "but dalima does not seem to be coming," signed lim ho, with impatience. "yes, she is," said singo, "yonder on that path between the rice-fields i see some one--that must be she." "look, look!" cried lim ho, in consternation, "there from the ravine comes a white man--now we have lost our chance." singomengolo turned his eyes in the direction which lim ho indicated, and, as he looked, he muttered a deep curse; he saw at once that the chinaman had not been mistaken. yet, he could not make out at all who it could be so quietly making his way towards the hut. he was one of the shooting party, there could be no doubt about that, for he carried a rifle and came from the direction of the djoerang. and that wretched mar-plot must come right across dalima's path, just as she was coming in the other direction! everything had been so carefully planned--and now--that brute! it was enough to drive a fellow mad! but the next moment lim ho cried out joyously: "by jove, it is toean mouse-head that is coming along there. i know him perfectly well. now i don't mind a bit. i know him. you may call the baboe as much as you like, there is no danger. i will square matters easily enough with that fellow yonder!" lim ho had recognised our friend mokesuep. as the reader has been told, that gentleman used familiarly to be called by almost everyone in santjoemeh, "muizenkop," and this nickname some wags had translated into javanese. thus he went by the name of kapala tikoes, or the mouse-head. singomengolo also recognised the exciseman of santjoemeh, and now he no longer felt much apprehension that his detestable plot would be frustrated. "a mere matter of money," said he to the chinaman, with a significant smile. as dalima came to the crossway, and was about to enter the path which ran down to kaligaweh, the opium-spy had left the hut, and was preparing to call to her to stop, when he saw the european hastily conceal himself behind the clump of bushes by the roadside. this move on the part of mokesuep completely reassured the accomplices, and their wicked plot was crowned with the success with which the reader has already been made acquainted. even had mokesuep felt any inclination to present himself in the character of rescuer, that impulse was wholly extinguished the moment lim ho appeared upon the scene. the wretched coward only hid himself more closely behind his screen of leaves as he muttered: "by jove, dame fortune is playing into my hand--no one but an ass would refuse so fair an offer." meanwhile the despairing cries of poor little dalima were gradually dying away as her strength began to fail, and as she became utterly exhausted. "help, help! toean, help!" was the last piercing shriek which re-echoed in that solitude. the only response, alas! was the well-sustained rifle-fire in the distance. chapter xix. help! help! but yet, poor dalima's shrieks and wild cries for help had been heard. that part of the mountain cleft, into which the hunters had plunged in pursuit of the retreating wild boars, did not extend very far, it was not longer than about a thousand yards; but the bottom of the ravine was just there exceedingly winding, and, as it followed the tortuous course of the small stream banjoe pahit, it was strewn all over with huge fragments of stone, while the dark-grey walls of volcanic trachyte towered up almost perpendicularly to the height of more than fifty or sixty yards. in that narrow pass the scene of confusion was utterly indescribable. the grunting and squealing of the maddened herd of swine, the yelling and rattling of the beaters who, on seeing the animals charge back, had resumed their unearthly noise, the almost incessant crashing of the fire from the breech-loading rifles--all these sounds, echoing and re-echoing within that narrow rock-bound gorge, made a din which was absolutely deafening. the hunted animals now desperate and infuriated, madly charged at the line of native beaters, who seemed to them less formidable than their european foes. for a few moments the dessa folk attempted to make a stand, and thrusting about furiously with their lances, they made some ineffectual efforts to turn the beasts back again into the ravine. but they very soon had to give way before the charge of the formidable tusks, and took to their heels altogether as soon as the rifle bullets began to screech over their heads. those cylindero-conical projectiles from the new-fashioned rifles make such a horrid screaming as they speed overhead on their deadly errand, that it is no wonder they demoralised the poor natives altogether. in less than no time the line of beaters had vanished before the charge of the boars, as the mountain mist before the morning sun. the greater part of the javanese managed to swarm up the high rocky peaks, others darted up the trees; but not a single one ventured to remain within reach of the sharp tusks of the wild boars. the animals were however greatly diminished in numbers and not very many of them succeeded, under the incessant rifle-fire, in getting clear of the pass. upward of fifteen carcases lay stretched motionless on the ground; but a far greater number had received wounds more or less severe; which, however, in that climate were sure to prove fatal. "forward, boys, forward!" cried verstork, excited by the success they had gained; "forward, we must not let a single one of that mischievous brood escape!" that, however, was much more easily said than done. the hunters continued to press the retreating game, and contrived to fire many a shot and to bring down many a victim; but the pigs were uncommonly fleet of foot and now that the chain of beaters was broken and there was nothing to stop them, they were soon lost to sight amid the inextricable tangle of shrubs, tree-trunks, and boulders which encumbered the bottom of the ravine. our european friends did their very utmost to keep up with the game; but it was a task which would have required nothing less than the nimbleness and dexterity of an orang-outang to accomplish, perhaps even that animal might have had to give up the pursuit. yes, there they stood at length, dead beat, their clothes in tatters, their hands torn by the thorns through which in the heat of the excitement they had forced their way, in one word, completely pumped out and exhausted, there they stood panting and gasping for breath. at length verstork managed somewhat to recover his wind, and shouted to his friends to rally them. "where is grashuis?" asked the controller, looking around him. "and where is grenits?" van rheijn managed to gasp out. they were nowhere to be seen, and their friends were beginning to feel anxious about them, when a couple of rifle-shots in the distance informed the hunters that the two missing men were still obstinately bent on continuing the pursuit. "that will never do," said verstork, "we must go after them, one can never tell what may happen and what need there may be of assistance. but," continued he, "can any of you tell me where the shots came from?" every hand was raised at once; but they unfortunately all pointed in different directions. had there been hands enough they would, no doubt, have indicated every point in the compass. "there," said one. "no, no, there," cried another. "you are wrong," said a third, "they came from this side." "that's a confounded nuisance," said verstork much perplexed, "the shots took me quite by surprise and i really don't know from what direction they came. we must wait a bit, perhaps they will fire again." "i am precious glad of it," said van beneden, "now we can sit down and rest a bit on that rock yonder. i am regularly fagged out." he had not, however, a very long rest, for barely ten minutes had elapsed before another shot was heard, and this was followed almost immediately after by a second discharge. this time the reports were evidently further off than before; but there was no mistake about the direction from whence they came. "come gentlemen," cried verstork, as he snatched up his rifle again, "come, gentlemen, this way!" "might we not wait a few minutes longer?" pleaded van beneden, "i am dead tired." "meanwhile," said the wedono, as he pointed to the smooth trunk of a komessoe tree, "i shall get up into that tree. perhaps i may catch sight of them." the javanese dessa-chief was a nimble young fellow, and using his hands and feet he soon was in the top. "can you see anything, wedono?" cried verstork. "no, nothing yet, kandjeng toean," was the man's reply. "but--wait a bit--yes, there they are yonder--both of them. they are clambering along the side of the ravine still after the pigs. but it is a good way off!" "come, gentlemen," said the controller, "it won't do to sit here, we must be off at once, we must try and get up to them." meanwhile leendert grashuis and theodoor grenits had been running on ahead and were pursuing with the indomitable energy and hot enthusiasm of youth, a small family of pigs consisting of one gigantic boar, a sow and four young ones. helter skelter they rushed on, pursuers and pursued, over and under rocks, over and right through thorny bushes, sometimes by the side of the small stream, sometimes in the water in which the animals would plunge and disappear for a moment in the whirling eddies, and then reappear again vigorously swimming and struggling. now and then, as the beasts were scrambling up the face of a rock, the two hunters would catch a momentary glimpse of their prey. then they would try to steady themselves in order to get a fair shot; but before they could pull the trigger, the beasts had again disappeared among the stones and bushes, and then after them again in spite of the heat and fatigue. this continued for a while until the old boar led his party up the steep slope of the ravine wall, evidently with the view of gaining the open field at the top along which they could fly with greater speed. but, alas for them! that move on the part of their leader gave the rifles fair play. as soon as the animals began to ascend they became visible among the stunted grass which grew on the slope, and two shots resounded almost simultaneously. one of the little ones, mortally wounded, rolled down the slope and the old sow flew madly to its assistance. but the pains the poor animal took to get its young on its legs again and to push it along were all in vain, her instinct seemed to tell her that she must hurry back along with the others in order to escape from the deadly bullets. a moment or two afterwards, another young one lost its footing and began to stumble down the slope. the mother was on the spot again and trying to help it along. it was a touching sight indeed to see that mother defending and taking care of her little one, to see how she strove to push it along very gently yet very strongly too with her pointed snout, uttering the while the most loving and encouraging grunts. but hunters have no bowels of mercy. scarcely had the pair proceeded a few yards before the two rifles cracked again, and sow and young one rolled to the very bottom of the ravine. as she fell she glared defiance at her enemies, while she kept her eye still fixed on her offspring and uttered a sharp squeal of warning to her mate above. at that moment a third shot was fired and the third little pig came rolling down to the very feet of the hunters. the boar thereupon turned to bay uttering the most fearful grunts, turning up his bristles and drawing back his lips so as to show not only his formidable tusks but also the teeth which were white as ivory and sharp as chisels. another shot was fired but missed and, when the smoke of the powder had cleared away, the boar and the only young one which was left had disappeared round a corner. but grenits and grashuis did not for a moment think of leaving him to escape, and they at once proceeded to clamber up the steep rock in pursuit. they knew that to cut off the boar's retreat they must gain the top before him. but they found it no child's play. they kept on climbing with the most dogged determination; but they found the rocky slope, upon which even the split hoof of a wild boar could hardly keep a precarious foothold, a very dangerous path for a foot encased in a european boot. at length, after almost superhuman efforts, they had managed to clamber up to the top and, as they panted for breath, they anxiously looked around; but could discover not a vestige of the animals they had so painfully pursued. they had no doubt gained the top of the rock before them and had disappeared in the tangled underwood which covered the plain. to hunt any further for the fugitives would be sheer waste of time and of strength. completely fagged out with their exertions, the two friends were about to throw themselves down on the grass under the shadow of some low bushes, when suddenly grenits uttered a sharp cry. he found himself face to face with the terrible wild boar. the animal, on gaining the top of the rock with its young one, had, likewise exhausted, stretched itself out to rest, thinking it had shaken off the pursuit of its enemies. now, however, it fancied that it was attacked in its very lair, and too weary to attempt to escape, it turned to bay and, as such animals will do, when driven to fury, at once assumed the offensive. grenits had but just time to jump aside and to bring his rifle into a position of defence. the boar nimbly avoided the bayonet thrust which theodoor aimed at it, and then furiously turning upon his foe, he charged. it was a very fortunate thing for grenits that his legs were encased in stout leather gaiters or else the sharp ripping tusk would have inflicted a terrible wound. but though the leather resisted the blow, yet such was the fury of the attack that grenits lost his balance, fell backward, and for a second was in the most deadly peril. had he been alone, the furious beast would undoubtedly have flung itself upon him and in that defenceless position he must have been ripped open in an instant. already the boar was darting at his fallen foe. for an instant theodoor shuddered as he saw his bloodshot eye and felt the hot breath of the monster in his face. then he closed his eyes and awaited the fatal thrust. but at that moment the beast uttered a wild grunt of rage and turned away from grenits to face another opponent. all this, though it takes some time to tell, had passed with the rapidity of lightning; but short though the time was, yet leendert grashuis had been able to shove a cartridge into the breech of his gun and to bring his sword-bayonet to the charge. he had no chance of firing however, for the shot would have been much more likely to injure his prostrate friend than to kill the boar. not the fraction of a second was to be lost if he would save grenits' life. theodoor, as we have seen, was already lying helpless on the ground and the next instant must have been fatal. then with all his might grashuis drove his bayonet at the infuriated creature. the thrust caused a painful wound but glanced off on the right shoulder blade, while the monster at once turned to confront this fresh assailant the boar then tried to deal grashuis a blow with its prominent tusks, but was caught on the bayonet. the force of the blow was such that the weapon bent like a hoop and was driven up to the muzzle into the boar's throat. for an instant leendert thought of drawing his weapon back; but at once seeing the impossibility of doing so he pulled the trigger and the animal received the entire charge full in the head. with a terrific bound it sprang back tearing the rifle out of grashuis' hands, then it turned round once or twice and fell down twitching convulsively in the throes of death. a few seconds afterwards, all was over. all this had passed so quickly that the two friends scarcely realised what had happened. they stood for a second or two gazing at the death-struggle as if they were stunned and dazed; but presently the truth dawned upon them, and they began to understand how dreadful was the peril from which they had so narrowly escaped. then they embraced and congratulated one another most heartily, theodoor grenits especially felt that he had escaped death as by a miracle. after the first excitement had somewhat abated, human infirmity began to make itself felt. the wild pursuit of the game, the oppressive heat, the painful clambering up and along the ravine wall, and last but not least, the desperate hand to hand struggle, which followed this exertion, had exhausted our two friends so utterly and so completely, that they could no longer keep their feet, but flung themselves full length upon the grass. thus they lay, panting and striving to recover their breath, when, after the lapse of a few minutes, grenits thought that in the bushes close by he caught a glimpse of the last little pig that had escaped the butchery. without taking the trouble to rise, he slipped a cartridge into his breech-loader, put his weapon to his shoulder and fired in the direction where he had fancied he had seen the little beast disappear in the bushes. the echo of the report reverberated grandly through the ravine like a clap of thunder--on and on rolled the stately sound, gradually growing fainter and fainter, until at length it died away softly rumbling in the far distance. but the sound had not quite passed away, when grashuis, as if suddenly moved by some spring, raised himself upon his elbow: "did you hear that?" asked he, in a tone almost of alarm. "hear what?" said grenits, "the report of my rifle--of course i heard it." "no, no," said the other, "i fancied i heard a human voice just now! listen." yes, yonder in the far distance, but yet audibly and distinctly was heard the cry: "help! help! help!" "by heaven!" cried grenits, jumping up, "that's a woman's voice!" "help! help! toean!" "a woman's voice," repeated grashuis, "and crying out for help! listen again." "help! help! toean!" "i can see no other toeans besides ourselves. our comrades are far away in the ravine--and the voice does not come from that direction at all," continued grashuis. "but," said grenits, as he looked all around, "i can see nothing anywhere, leendert!" "no more can i," replied the other. "the reflection from the water on those rice-fields dazzles me painfully." "look yonder--i fancy i can see a hut--surely the cry must have come from there," said grashuis. just then the cry was heard again, but much more faintly. "help! help! toean!" "that is a woman's voice," repeated grenits, "she is crying to us for help." "but," said grashuis, "what toeans can she be calling to?" "what is that to me?" exclaimed grenits. "come along, some poor thing is calling for help. come along, i don't feel a bit tired now." before they hastened away, the two friends cast a look at the ravine, out of which they had clambered a short time before--and there they caught sight of their comrades who were following them, and who were, in their turn, preparing to gain the summit of the rock. grenits thereupon fired off his gun, in order to attract their attention, and when he saw that he had succeeded, he called to them, at the top of his voice, while he stretched out his arm towards the west: "there, there!" he cried. then both hurried away. "what did theodoor say?" asked verstork. "could you make it out?" "not a word," replied van nerekool, "he was much too far off; but something strange seems to have happened." "come let us hurry on," said verstork. the little party then began to toil up the steep. they were not, however, fired by the same enthusiasm which had inspired their friends, and thus they took thrice as long to accomplish the ascent. when they at length reached the summit, they could, in the distance, see grenits and grashuis running at the top of their speed between the rice-fields. the latter turned for an instant and waved his arm as if to urge his comrades to greater speed. "help! help! toean!" was heard again, but this time the cry was so faint as to be barely audible. the two european gentlemen had, however, by this time, got much nearer to the hut. "come on, come on," shouted grenits, hoping that he would urge his friends to greater speed. "are you sure," asked grashuis, "that we are going in the right direction? it appears to me as if we were getting further away from the sound." but they had no time for considering the matter, for, at that moment a female form was seen rushing from the hut and running to meet them. "help, toean, help!" she cried, as she fell down at their feet. it was a javanese girl, whom neither grenits nor his friend recognised. with dishevelled hair and stained with blood, she rolled on the grass as she covered her face with both hands. "help, toean, help," she moaned. astounded by the strange and unexpected apparition, the two hunters stood looking at the poor girl before them. in their amazement they knew not what to do. grenits, however, who could not bear to see a human being thus grovelling at his feet, took hold of the girl's arm and tried to raise her from the ground; but she shook off his hand. "i am ashamed," she muttered, as she tried to cast the thick masses of hair over her bosom. just then a man, a javanese, came darting out of the hut, and seeing the poor girl he ran up to her at once. with a rough grasp he laid hold of her arm, and strove to pull her up. "ah!" she exclaimed; then, as she recognised the fellow, she tore herself away from him with a look of the utmost terror. "help, toean, toean, help!" she begged, turning again to the two european gentlemen. "let go that woman's arm!" shouted grenits, boiling with rage. "what have you got to do with her?" asked grashuis, who now recognised singomengolo. "she has been smuggling opium," replied singo, and turning to the girl he hissed in a threatening tone, "come along, will you, or else--" "take pity on me, gentlemen, take pity on me!" cried the wretched woman. "come along, will you!" shouted singomengolo, furiously, as he tried by main force to drag her away. "let go that woman, i say--or else i'll smash your skull in!" shouted grenits, raising the butt of his rifle. meanwhile grashuis had seized singomengolo round the waist and was attempting to drag him backward. "i am a bandoelan," said the javanese spy, somewhat haughtily; "i am a bandoelan; you gentlemen will be sorry for having threatened me and laid hands upon me." and, turning to the woman, he said again, "come along!" "once again, let her go," cried grenits, and this time in a tone of voice which plainly showed that he would stand no nonsense and was in deadly earnest. indeed he was on the point of bringing down the butt of his gun crash upon the skull of the chinaman, when he felt someone grasping his arm from behind and heard a voice whispering in his ear: "take care theodoor, take care, it is a dangerous thing to meddle with those opium fellows." theodoor looked round, and, to his great surprise, he saw that it was mokesuep who thus warned him. "you, muizenkop!" cried he. "where have you sprung from?" "i lost my way," was the reply. "but for heaven's sake keep cool or you will get yourself into trouble." "what do i care," shouted grenits; "let go my arm, i will soon settle the matter with that confounded opium spy!" singomengolo stood there before him with an indescribable look of ferocious malice on his evil countenance. he had laid his hand on the hilt of his kris and, proud and impetuous as he naturally was, he would undoubtedly have answered any act of violence with a stab of his knife, if indeed the first blow had not laid him senseless. for a moment he stood glaring at the european with bold and glittering eye. then suddenly he seemed to change his mind. he released the girl's arm, for, across the rice fields, he now saw another group advancing rapidly. in this group his quick sight had at once recognised not only the controller of banjoe pahit but also the wedono of the district, and at the sight his sallow face grew pale. "what's all this about?" asked verstork as he came up to the spot. "that wretched woman has been smuggling opium, kandjeng toean," replied singomengolo. "that woman?" "but--" cried van nerekool, in amazement. "but, it is dalima!" "dalima?" "yes dalima, the baboe of the resident." "good," said van rheijn, with a laugh. "our resident keeps a baboe--a stock of feeding bottles also--no doubt!" van nerekool turned crimson. he had not wished to say, "the baboe of the resident's daughter." verstork removed one of the girl's hands from her face. "yes--it is indeed dalima! and you say that she has smuggled opium?" he continued, turning to singomengolo. he made a sign to one of the wedono's servants, who at once gave the young girl a shawl, into which she hastily wrapped herself. "most assuredly," replied the bandoelan, "i have searched her myself." "indeed you have," rejoined verstork, "and torn off her clothing in the process?" "she would not allow--" "and it is you then," continued verstork, "who have so shamefully ill-treated her?" "but what was i to do, kandjeng toean? she offered resistance, and--look here, i found this upon her!" as he spoke, singomengolo held up to the controller's view a small box. this little box was strangely similar to the one which, the evening before, he had delivered to verstork. indeed, if the latter had not with his own hand carefully sealed it and had not sent it off himself to santjoemeh he could have sworn that this second box was the identical one he had seen before. "did you find that box in the girl's possession?" asked he, very sternly. "yes, i did," replied singomengolo, unabashed. "i have not smuggled opium!" cried poor dalima, still cowering on the ground. "i have not smuggled anything; they dragged me into the hut and have ill-used me shamefully." "but," asked verstork, "what brought you here at all?" "i was on my way to kaligaweh. last night some man came to the residence, he came to tell me that my father was dying. then i got leave from the njonja and from nonna anna to go and see him." "leave from the njonja and from nonna anna, you said?" asked verstork. "and from nonna anna, yes, kandjeng toean," said dalima. "then those two ladies will be able to bear witness to that i suppose?" asked verstork. "yes, kandjeng toean." "and i can bring witnesses to swear that this girl had opium in her possession," interrupted singo. "witnesses!" said verstork. "who are they?" singomengolo cast a crafty look around him ere he replied. he saw mokesuep quietly entering the little hut. that gentleman had taken advantage of the confusion and had quietly sneaked away, while he had a chance to do so unperceived. he had reasons of his own for so doing; but singomengolo's lip curled with a disdainful smile. "just now," quoth he, "there was a dutch gentleman here." "a dutch gentleman!" echoed verstork, now quite losing his temper. "a dutch gentleman! take care what you are saying. are you trying to make a fool of me? i won't stand such impudence, do you hear!" "muizenkop was here just now," remarked grenits interrupting him. "muizenkop? why i have seen nothing of him all the morning!" "i don't know how it is," replied grenits, "he told me something about losing his way." "but, what has become of him?" asked the controller. "that i don't know--anyhow, he was standing here a minute ago." "but," continued verstork speaking to singomengolo. "you said two witnesses--who is the other?" "lim ho," was the fellow's insolent reply. "lim ho!" exclaimed van nerekool in amazement. "and dalima in that condition! now i understand all about it!" "lim ho has terribly ill-used me," sobbed the poor girl "and--" but she could not utter another word. "and?" persisted verstork. "he and that man there held me fast." "you villainous brute!" shouted van nerekool as he shook his clenched fist in the wretch's face. "she has smuggled opium," replied the spy without flinching. "she has smuggled opium, and i found it upon her--that is all. the gentlemen must try not to lose their tempers. the girl is simply telling a parcel of lies." "i do not lie," cried dalima, "i have not smuggled--my condition shows plainly enough how they have treated me." at a gesture from the controller a couple of oppassers lifted up the young girl from the ground. van nerekool assisted them, and called for another covering to wrap around her. then turning to the controller he said, "a foul outrage has been committed here--the way that poor girl has been treated is simply infamous!" having thus for the moment taken care of dalima, the company entered the hut. there they found mokesuep smoking a friendly cigar with lim ho. the latter's ear was bandaged. "so," said verstork to mokesuep without bestowing so much as a look upon the chinaman. "so you're here!" "yes," was the reply, "i am here, i lost my way this morning in the ravine and have been wandering about until i came upon this hut. i then sought shelter from the burning sun. bah, how hot it is in those open fields!" all this was said with the greatest self-possession. at the last sentence the wretch actually puffed as if he had really been suffering much from the heat. "you have been here some time then?" asked verstork. "well yes," was the reply, "about half an hour i should say, if you call that some time." "you will be called upon to bear witness," said the controller. "indeed--bear witness to what?" "a dreadful outrage has been committed on that girl," continued verstork. "an outrage?" asked mokesuep as if much astonished. "i know nothing at all about it." "nothing whatever has taken place here," remarked singomengolo speaking in malay; for though he would not use it yet he understood the dutch language perfectly. "nothing at all has taken place here," he repeated, "except the discovery of smuggled opium. is that true or not, babah?" the chinaman who had risen from his seat when the european gentlemen entered the hut, exchanged looks with mokesuep, but answered at once, "nothing else, kandjeng toean." "i am not talking to you," said verstork to the chinaman, and then turning to mokesuep he continued. "that girl, the baboe of the resident at santjoemeh, accuses both these men of having perpetrated a terrible crime." mokesuep, who did not know dalima, stood confounded when he learned who she was. the baboe of the resident! what if that high and mighty one were to take up the cause of his servant? indeed he did not know what to say or what to do. "did you hear my words?" asked the controller very sternly and very impatiently. the wretch caught a significant glance of lim ho who stood there audaciously puffing at his cigar. "i have seen nothing whatever of it, controller," he replied. "but i," interrupted singomengolo in a taunting tone of voice, "i accuse that baboe of having smuggled opium--i found it in her possession--the babah and the dutch gentleman can bear witness to that." "is that true?" asked verstork. the chinaman did not answer at once, vile and utterly depraved though he was, yet even he hesitated. he could not quite make up his mind utterly to destroy the poor girl whom he had so deeply injured. but singomengolo gave him a significant look and made him a sign which was almost imperceptible. "yes," said lim ho at length, "that is perfectly true." "is that true?" said verstork turning to mokesuep. "yes--it is true," replied the latter with the utmost effrontery. "did you actually see the bandoelan find this box in the girl's possession?" "yes," replied the wretch. at this word dalima fell into a dead swoon. the other men present at the scene could not repress gestures of contempt and loathing, for all were firmly convinced of the poor girl's innocence and of the perjured scoundrel's infamy. "you damned wretch!" shouted theodoor grenits beside himself with fury and utterly unable any longer to restrain himself. a contemptuous smile, accompanied with a still more contemptuous gesture, was mokesuep's only reply. that was too much for grenits. "there! there!" he shouted livid with rage, "there, there! take that." and at the words he dealt the infamous scoundrel two swinging blows in the face. "mr. grenits! mr. grenits," cried verstork in a dignified manner, "do pray control yourself, do not make my official duty more difficult to perform than it already is." chapter xx. a dinner-party. a few hours later our sportsmen were seated at table in the pandoppo of the controller's house at banjoe pahit. fritz mokesuep, however, we need hardly say, was not of the party. william verstork was a man who, as a rule, could put up with a good deal; but on this occasion he had not cared to conceal the aversion with which that individual inspired him. as soon as poor dalima had been properly attended to, and under escort of a policeman, had been sent off in a tandoe as a prisoner to santjoemeh, the controller had told mokesuep, in pretty plain language, that, after what had taken place between him and grenits, his company could very well be dispensed with. "it seems to me," had been mokesuep's reply, "that the person who inflicted the insult is the one that ought to stand aside." "such, no doubt would, under ordinary circumstances, have been my opinion also," returned verstork, with icy coolness; "but before i can consent to receive you as my guest, you will have to explain to me, in a satisfactory way, how you came to be in this hut, so far from the hunting-ground, and just at the time when the young girl was so shamefully ill-used." "she has not been--" interrupted mokesuep. "now, pray do not mistake me," resumed verstork, "i said ill-used, at the present moment i make use of no stronger expression. we found her here half-naked and bleeding, and she was calling upon us for help. she had, therefore, evidently been ill-treated, at present i say nothing more than that. she suffered this ill-treatment in your presence--in your presence, who pretend to be a gentleman; and i repeat what i said just now, you will have to give me satisfactory proof that it was not in your power to assist or defend this poor young girl before i will consent to receive you under my roof." "but, mr. verstork--!" "if you can clear yourself of the suspicion which, perhaps very unjustly, at present rests upon you, i can assure you that nothing will give me greater pleasure than to hold out my hand to you, indeed you will find me the first to do so, unless my friend grenits should forestall me." "in that case," said grenits, "mr. mokesuep will find me perfectly prepared to give him any satisfaction he may require." "satisfaction!" sneered mokesuep, "never you mind about that, i know well enough how to get satisfaction!" "you refuse then," continued verstork coldly, "to furnish me with the explanations i require?" "i owe you no explanations whatever, mr. verstork," cried mokesuep, "i intend to reserve my explanations for the resident's ear." "very well, sir, just as you please," replied verstork. "in that case i have nothing further to say to you," and with a stiff, formal bow he added: "pray let me not detain you any longer." mokesuep ground his teeth with rage at this direct dismissal; he flung his rifle over his shoulder, and, accompanied by lim ho and singomengolo, who had stood by as silent spectators of the scene, without understanding much of what was going on, he hurried away in the direction of santjoemeh. as he went he cried, "you shall pay for this, mr. verstork. i shall have my revenge!" it was a terrible threat, no doubt; but it did not take away the appetite of our friends; and so, as we have said before, a few hours after found them seated at the table in the pandoppo of the controller at banjoe pahit. the pandoppo of the controller's house could not, in size or extent, be compared with the splendid gallery in the stately residential mansion at santjoemeh. but, for that very reason, it was more homely and more comfortable. it lacked the vast empty spaces between the columns, reminding one of a big market-hall, and it had not the lofty roof which made one think of a cathedral. it was, in fact, much more like a cosy sitting-room, and to this air of homely comfort, the tasteful manner in which verstork had furnished it, contributed not a little. indeed, this pandoppo was verstork's ordinary sitting-room, and a very pleasant retreat it was. the big windows, all of them furnished with venetian blinds, gave free access to the breeze, while, on the sunny side, they could be closed so as to exclude the heat; and thus within that gallery it was always deliciously cool. the entire house moreover was surrounded by trees encircling it as with a crown of verdure, and their pleasant shade tempered the glaring light of the tropical day. there, william verstork used to sit whenever his presence was not required in his office. there, at sunrise, he sipped his early cup of coffee, there he breakfasted and used to dine. there again he was wont to enjoy his papers and periodicals as in the afternoon he took a cup of tea, and used to dream away the evenings musing within himself, and often wondering whether, in such a place, it was well for a man to be alone. at any time of the day this pandoppo was a pleasant retreat, and specially gay and comfortable did it look now when the host had gathered his friends around his table. the very table itself contributed to the gaiety and brightness of the scene. on that board were displayed the inevitable bowls of rice, cooked by steaming in conical baskets of bamboo, every grain snow-white, distinct and separate. and with this standing dish of rice were served up in small saucers, an endless variety of soups, vegetables, sauces, pickles, and condiments of all kinds. there were chicken-broth, fish-soup, and other thicker kinds of soup. then a variety of dishes flavoured with spanish pepper, among which devilled shrimps, devilled eggs, the celebrated little red-fish of macassar, the bean of the paskia speciosa and the famous "pirate pepper," so called no doubt on account of its extreme pungency. the more substantial dishes consisted of meat and fish, such as jerked beef, smoked venison, roast or boiled joints, boiled and braised fowl, and a delicious fresh water fish, the olfromeus olfax. these and other dishes, too numerous to mention, are generally served up at a complete and well appointed dinner--or as they call it in java--rice table. but the object which specially attracted the attention of our luculluses as they entered the pandoppo, and which made them smack their lips in anticipation of a rare feast, was a sucking pig which stood conspicuous in the centre of the table in a capacious dish. it was roasted whole, was standing upright on its four legs, and had a lemon in its snout. it was a product of the day's hunting, one of the first victims, in fact, which had fallen, and had at once been taken home by one of verstork's servants to play a prominent part in the entertainment. every one of the guests did full justice to the good fare, and all proved themselves to be right valiant trenchermen; but though the grinders were kept busily at work, and though the palates fully appreciated the highly flavoured and succulent dishes, yet the tongues were by no means allowed to remain idle, nor was the conversation suffered to flag around the hospitable board. the reader may well believe there was plenty to talk about. "that confounded muizenkop!" quoth theodoor grenits, "why, the fellow very nearly made me lose my temper." "come, come, don't mention him," replied van rheijn, "his very name would take away one's appetite." "by jove," cried august van beneden, "that sucking pig is a most delicious morsel." "very nice, indeed," remarked van rheijn. "but, how many of those chaps have we bowled over i wonder?" "that i cannot tell you," said verstork. "but," resumed van beneden, "we ought to know the number in order that we may be able to judge in how far our expedition may be called successful. how shall we find out?" "patience, august, patience," said verstork with a smile. "all right, william," continued van beneden, "you know i have no great stock of that commodity. i wonder how many of those beasts we have knocked over. i saw a good number of them sprawling about." "the wedono will be here presently with his report," replied verstork. "the wedono! yes, he has disappeared--where can he have got to?" "well," said verstork, "i ordered him and the two loerahs to make a careful search in the djoerang pringapoes. he will no doubt soon be here to tell us the result of our day's work." the words were scarcely spoken, before one of the oppassers came in to announce the arrival of the dessa-chief. "show him in!" cried verstork. "well, wedono," he continued with a smile, "i see you come to share our rice-table, that is very kind of you, i am glad to see you." the javanese chief, however, had recoiled in terror. had the conscientious mohammedan been a roman catholic he would most assuredly have crossed himself. as it was he merely muttered in the direst confusion, "excuse me, kandjeng toean! you know that we are not allowed to eat pork." "but, you can take something else, wedono--there is beef on the table and fowl and duck and fish--anything you like in fact." "thank you, kandjeng toean, thank you; but all these things have been cooked in the same kitchen as the sucking pig, and, you know our religion forbids us--" "i am sorry for it, wedono," replied verstork. "i came here, kandjeng toean," continued the chief, "to give you my report of the day's hunting." "very well, wedono!" "seventeen pigs great and small have been killed. the chinamen at kaligaweh and at banjoe pahit have bought the carcases from the village people and are now busy carting them away." "ah, wedono, those chinamen know what is good," said verstork. "i suppose so, kandjeng toean," replied the dessa-chief with a forced smile. "that is a pretty good number i think--is it not, wedono?" remarked van rheijn. "do you think," he continued, "that we have pretty well exterminated them?" "pretty nearly," answered the wedono. "a number of our people have gone after the pigs that broke away and have dispatched several of them. there are but a very few left and they have sought for refuge in the high mountain land, so that i do not think that we shall be troubled any more by that mischievous brood." "well then, my friends," cried verstork elated at the success of his expedition, "we may say that we have done a good morning's work. here's good luck to banjoe pahit and the dessa-folk!" all the guests sprang to their feet and raised their glasses. van rheijn thrust a tumbler of beer into the wedono's hand--and with a joyous "hip, hip, hip, hurrah!" a toast was drunk to the inhabitants of the district who had been delivered from their troublesome visitors. "has the kandjeng toean any further orders for me?" asked the wedono. "if not i will beg leave to retire." "yes, wedono--there is something else. in the entrance of the djoerang pringapoes there lies a very big old boar, you will know him by his long tusks--i very much wish to have the head." "excellent, excellent," exclaimed van beneden, "une hure de sanglier ã  la sauce piquante, that will be a rare treat!" "hush, august!" said verstork and, turning again to the wedono he continued, "then further, i want you at once to open the inquiry in the matter of dalima." "certainly, kandjeng toean." "and come to me presently--i must have some talk with you about that affair." "very good, kandjeng toean." "presently," cried van beneden, "presently why--" and then he struck up "we won't go home till morning ... till daylight doth appear." the entire company joined in the well-known old tune. when the noise had somewhat subsided, verstork continued; "duty, my friends, before pleasure. you will presently go and have your afternoon nap, then you will take a bath. i shall pursue this inquiry with the help of the wedono. this evening it is my intention to return to santjoemeh with you; for the first thing to-morrow morning i must have an interview with the resident. you have understood me, wedono, have you not?" "yes, kandjeng toean." "very good then, i will not detain you." with a courtly bow, the dessa-chief took leave of the company and retired. the dinner went on; but the mention of dalima had somewhat dashed the high spirits of the guests. the recollection of the sad event of the morning seemed to cast a chill over them all and to sober down even the merriest of the party. "poor little dalima!" sighed grashuis, after a few moments' silence during which he had been discussing a duck's wing, "poor little dalima! could she be guilty of smuggling opium?" "get along with you," cried van beneden. "does that pretty little thing look like a smuggler?" "take care, august," said van rheijn with a laugh, "a lawyer ought not to allow himself to be influenced by outward appearance. am i not right, charles?" van nerekool was not there and then ready with an answer to this appeal; he was in fact busily employed in removing the bones from a splendid slice of fish. but after a moment's pause he said: "certainly not--yet, for all that i also am firmly persuaded of the girl's innocence." "of course, of course--the baboe of nonna anna, eh charles--cela va sans dire?" "but," remarked van rheijn, "the thing that puzzles me is that the opium was found upon her." "do you believe that?" asked another. "well i don't know what to say, there is muizenkop's testimony." "what! would you take that scoundrel's word?" "aye, aye," said verstork very seriously, "the whole business looks ugly enough." "as far as i can see," said grashuis, "there is but one hope left, and that is that nonna anna may have influence enough with her father to get the affair hushed up." a bitter smile curled van nerekool's lip, but he uttered not a word. "now if lim ho, the son of the opium farmer, were not mixed up in the matter," said verstork musingly, "why then you might have some reason for that hope--yes--then i think things might be squared; but now--" "but," exclaimed van beneden interrupting his friend, "can you for a moment suspect that the judicial power--?" "my dear friend--my good august," replied verstork, "a highly placed judicial functionary here in dutch india once spoke these words: 'the opium trade lies upon this country as a heavy curse--it has impressed its stamp upon everything, alas, even upon our courts of justice.' i think i am right, charles?" van nerekool nodded affirmatively. "well," said van rheijn, "all that is very sad, a very sad state of things indeed; but the worst of it is that the use of opium makes opium-farming a necessary evil." "what nonsense you do talk!" cried grenits impatiently. "but theodoor!" "but edward!"-"if the abuse of opium did not exist, then surely there would at once be an end of opium-farming. you will allow that i think?" "oh yes," replied grenits, "that sounds very plausible no doubt; but now supposing i were to retort by saying if there were no opium-monopoly then the abuse of the drug would never have assumed its present proportions? that does not perhaps sound so pleasant; but it is a statement which is more easily verified." "oh yes, yes, we heard all about that last night; unfortunately however, the proof was not forthcoming." "well," said grenits, "what does history say?" "history," replied the other, "what you call history is neither more nor less than the personal opinion and utterance of the historian. one man contends that europeans brought opium into the country, and another holds a different view--so much for history." "but edward, i hope you do not distrust the council of india?" "well what does the council say, theodoor?" "if my memory serves me, it says this, or words to this effect: 'the opium monopoly has always been most anxiously watched by the government as one of the most important sources of public revenue, and every means of enhancing the productiveness of that source of income has been most eagerly adopted.'" "aye, aye," returned van rheijn; "but is all this true?" "why," said grenits, "i hope, edward, you do not doubt my word?" "not in the least, my dear fellow, not in the least. i am quite ready to admit that your quotation is accurate; but was the council properly informed when it gave that opinion?" "well," replied grenits, "if you go on like that, then we shall not be able to trust anybody or anything. those people are paid, and most handsomely paid, to get the best and most trustworthy information. but independently altogether of the council's opinion, in which you seem to have but little faith, tell me, does not the constantly rising revenue from the farming of opium afford proof absolute of the truth of the council's word? every successive year the estimate is higher and higher." "i know that," said van rheijn, "but estimate and actual produce are widely different things." "true enough, they are sometimes widely different; but in this particular case they are not. heaven and earth are moved to reach the figure at which the minister has estimated the revenue, and means the most unfair, even the most criminal, are employed in order, if possible, to surpass the sum at which the revenue has been placed. how many a netherland's lion has been given away because, in this district or in that, the produce of the opium contract has exceeded the figure at which the minister put it! how proudly must the 'virtus nobilitat' thus earned glitter upon the breast of its possessor!" "but i want to know," remarked august van beneden, "is the use of opium really as injurious to the body as men say it is? we saw with our own eyes last night that as far as morality is concerned it has not much to recommend it; but how about its influence upon the material body? we sometimes hear the word poisoning used; that very term indeed was made use of last night, but it seems to me that it is a system of poisoning under which a man may attain to a very good old age, just as a man may grow old who drinks a glass or two of grog." "listen to me," said verstork in a most serious tone. "we are sitting here together, all, i hope, honest trustworthy men i can therefore speak my mind freely and fearlessly before you, and i may without reserve give you the conclusion to which a long and richly varied experience has led me on the subject of opium. "the habitual use of opium, even in comparatively moderate doses, invariably leads to vitiation of the blood and constriction of the vessels. this again gives rise to an asthmatic condition and to a permanent and wasting and almost always incurable dysentery. these are accompanied by the most distressing symptoms and intolerable suffering. upon the opium smoker, moreover, medicines begin gradually to lose their effect, excepting the narcotic poisons in ever increasing quantities. hence the sufferer is driven to seek relief in augmented doses of the poison, and if he cannot obtain these, his condition becomes utterly unbearable. yet to this suffering he is doomed, unless he can pass from one fit of intoxication to the other. opium smoking is the only thing to alleviate the miseries of the collapse which follows an opium debauch, and but few can afford the continual drain of so expensive a remedy. where a sufficient quantity of good wholesome food is taken, these lamentable results may be slow in showing themselves; and a generous and strengthening diet has preserved many a man, for an entire lifetime, from the most serious consequences of his pernicious habit. but even in these cases, the state of the blood and the general condition of health are so bad, that trifling ailments, such as an ordinary boil or a slight wound, assume a most malignant character and often lead to fatal results; and who can venture to say how many diseases, which depend upon cachexia and which are so common in this country, are caused, or, at all events, are greatly aggravated by the habitual use of opium? "i spoke just now of a sufficient quantity of nutritive food; but we know too well--and the government also knows it--that but very few of the natives can afford a supply of food which can be called either sufficient or nutritious. it is well known how exceedingly meagre the diet of the javanese is, even among those who are in tolerably good circumstances; and it is well known also that, even when he can afford it, he very seldom makes use of food which is really strengthening. and that diet, be it more or less generous, must of necessity become more and more meagre when every day a considerable, and ever more considerable portion of the wages is squandered in the purchase of opium. thus the enjoyment itself tends to make impossible the only condition under which it might be indulged in with anything like impunity. "but, you will doubtless object--in such cases lack of money must compel these people to limit themselves to a very moderate consumption, and they will thus be preserved from the fatal effects of excessive indulgence. such, however, is not always the case. there are men, and their number is by no means small, who in the days of their prosperity have gradually accustomed themselves to a very considerable consumption of the drug; and who, when all their worldly possessions have vanished in clouds of intoxicating smoke, have been compelled either to satisfy themselves with diminished doses of opium or else to abstain from smoking altogether. it is difficult to fathom the hopeless misery of such poor creatures. further, experience has proved, that very many whose daily consumption is strictly moderate, yet at forty years of age and upwards suffer frightfully from the ill effects of opium, especially of the most painful and incurable dysentery. i myself have at berbek, at trengalek, at santjoemeh, here at banjoe pahit and elsewhere, cured a great number of such sufferers with a certain remedy, and thus i have had ample opportunity to make myself personally acquainted with the facts. "now, if with these unfortunate creatures we compare the thousands who, at home, drink their couple of glasses of beer or of spirits, then it will appear at a glance how much more pernicious is the use of opium than the use of alcohol. the former indeed, is infinitely more stupefying and deadening, and thus, very much more rapidly than alcohol, it destroys the appetite; so that, even when plenty of wholesome food is at hand, it either cannot be taken at all or else loses much of its nutritive value. confirmed opium smokers have repeatedly told me that, in consequence of their pernicious habit, they could eat only a few pinches of rice a day, whereas, when, by the help of a remedy with which i supplied them, they were able gradually to diminish their daily dose of opium, they could take ten times the amount of nourishment. "then comes another point, and that is the extreme fascination and seductiveness of opium, which causes the most pleasurable bodily sensations, which fills the mind with glorious dreams, which, for a while, removes all pain and suffering, while it, at the same time, deadens much more effectually than strong drink, the mental faculties, in this depressed race already sufficiently dormant, and thus the use of opium holds its victim much more securely bound in the fetters of his fatal passion, than the moderate use of alcohol enslaves anyone at home. "having thus, by degrees, come to the influence of opium upon the mind and the character, i must certainly not omit to draw your attention to the selfishness and self-indulgence which it develops in the smoker; to the ever-growing indifference to all his surroundings, even to his own wife and children; to the listless indolence and aversion to work, to care, to trouble in fact of any kind, which at length, by night or day, allows him to think of nothing but of his master-passion and all its concomitant cravings, to the gratification of which everything must be sacrificed, and everybody must become subservient. a gin drinker, for the indulgence in his ignoble passion, demands no other service than that now and then someone is sent out to fetch him his dram; but the opium smoker, if he can afford the luxury of attendance at all, monopolises the services of his entire household. one must work hard to earn the means of satisfying his expensive craving, another must go and purchase his opium, a third must stand by in readiness to fill his pipe, a fourth must prepare his coffee and the other refreshments he requires. it is true, no doubt, that he is not so violent and not so noisy in his debauch as one who is under the influence of liquor; but, when the effects of the narcotic begin to wear off and his pains and ailments again begin to make themselves felt, then, unless the whole family is at his beck and call and ready once more to minister to his passion, he fills the house with invectives and threatening--then he utters moanings and lamentations most pitiful and heartrending. if to this we add the bodily and mental debility which the opium slave transmits as a legacy to his wretched offspring, though the majority of smokers cease at an early age to have children at all, then we cannot help wondering what kind of miserable stunted race will be the second or third generation from the present one. "and then," continued verstork, after a pause, "and then the poverty and destitution which the use of opium entails! what an amount of prosperity and welfare has already been,--and is daily being--swallowed up by the use of that baneful drug! among the lower classes, an opium smoker, even though he smokes in strict moderation, very soon arrives at the point when he must devote his entire earnings to the purchase of the drug, while at the same time his craving for refreshing and stimulating dainties must likewise be satisfied. the families are legion in which the wife, assisted perhaps by one or two of her children, is the only breadwinner. should she happen to be in delicate health, should she be disabled by sickness or childbed, why then the misery of such a household is unfathomable. and, believe me, such cases of extreme misery are much more frequent out here than similar cases of destitution in europe occasioned by the abuse of drink. "now all these powers, bodily, mental, and moral; and all that prosperity, which at present opium saps and destroys, might be devoted to industry and agriculture. if such use were made of them, how much greater would be both production and consumption, and how much more considerable would be the profit to the exchequer--a profit earned in a fair and legitimate way--than any revenue which the accursed system of opium farming can produce! thousands upon thousands of the natives here have neither the energy, nor the means, nor the inclination to work or to learn how they may profitably cultivate their gardens and fields, neither do they care to progress in any branch of industry whatever; because they have offered up--and are continually offering--all they possess in the world to opium. but, are not industry and agriculture the very life-blood of a state? yet here, the state itself does all it possibly can to poison that life-blood, and thus to bring about its own destruction." william verstork here paused for awhile, after so long an oration, he felt the necessity of quenching his thirst with a glass of beer. all his guests sat silently waiting for what he might further have to say. his words had evidently made a very deep impression upon his hearers, for the language to which they had listened was the simple and unvarnished tale of actual experience; and, however young and heedless some of them might be, yet the speech of their friend had awakened their interest, and had gone straight to their hearts. at length, after having drawn a long breath, the controller went on to say: "you know, my friends, that my official career has not been passed entirely at santjoemeh. my probationary time i spent in the capital of the kediri residence. as second-class controller i was some time at berbek and at trenggalek. i know, therefore, from personal experience how matters stand in those residencies also. now listen to me. kediri has a population of about 700,000 souls--the vast majority of them very poor people. in that place the opium contract produces eighteen hundred thousand guilders. if to that sum we add the price paid for the drug delivered to the farmer, and the profits which he makes on the sale then, i think, we shall be well within the mark if we put down two and a half millions of guilders as the sum which those poor people, of their own free will, pay annually to purchase a few hours a day of enjoyment and oblivion. i say nothing now about the cost of smuggled opium; the amount paid for it is not known, and every one must, therefore, form his own opinion of that. how is it possible for a population so poor to find so large a sum of money, in addition, mind you, to all their other burdens, such as compulsory labour, salt-tax, rent, licenses, import duties, &c.? that is a mystery to me--but then you should see what kind of a life is that of a poor javanese family. "their house is generally very small, built of bamboo and covered with straw. furniture they have none whatever; a mat spread out on a bamboo bench, and a coarse pillow is what they sleep on. they cook their food on the ground in pots and pans of the commonest earthenware; they eat it on pisang leaves with their fingers; they drink water out of an earthenware pitcher. they seldom, we may say never, wash their clothes which, such as they are, they continue to wear until they fall in rags from their bodies. the children run about naked, and grow up in the mud among the bullocks. at five o'clock in the morning they rise and go to work so as to be present in time for roll-call at six. they work for their masters, in the rice-fields, at road-making, in the coffee plantations, or in the osier-beds. should a man get a day off, he may go and work on his own account, and then he can earn about 40 or 50 cents (10 pence) for ten hours' labour. when they get home in the evening, they have their morsel of food and fully half the day's earning is spent on opium. at eight o'clock all are fast asleep, and up to eight o'clock the only lamp they have in the hut is a saucer with a cotton wick in a little stinking oil. such is the faithful picture of the daily life of a javanese opium smoker. nothing--absolutely nothing to make the slightest break in this weary monotony. nothing but work, hard work; mostly for insufficient wages, very frequently compulsory labour for no wages at all. and then, behind their backs to be called a pack of lazy scoundrels! that is a little too bad. tell me, have we dutch any feeling at all for our fellow-creatures? is it not at length high time that all that compulsory and unpaid labour should be done away with and that the opium-curse should be banished from the land? every right-minded dutchman ought to do his best according to the utmost of his power to attain that end, because every dutchman is personally and individually responsible for so frightful a state of things, and every dutchman ought to be heartily ashamed of himself while the poor patient javanese are being so shamefully imposed upon. all that the poor native can earn either by his work for his masters or in his own free time, he must, in one shape or other, offer up to that insatiable moloch, the public treasury. there is but one thing left for him, and that is a little rice; and of that he has not enough to last him for the whole year." "yes," observed grenits, when verstork had finished speaking, "yes, william, you are perfectly right, and that is the reason why he seeks for consolation and temporary oblivion in the opium den, just as in holland a poor man in similar circumstances flies for relief to the bottle. thus cause and effect act and react upon one another; misery suggests opium or drink, and drink and opium in their turn engender misery. it requires a very powerful effort of the will to shake off either bad habit, and drink and opium are the very things which deprive a man of whatever power of will he may have. therefore it is perfectly hopeless to expect the people to take the initiative in any such reforms as verstork has mentioned; the evil keeps on spreading and is daily striking deeper roots. the ruling power ought to exercise its authority and drag these poor degraded people out of the slough of despond in which so many of them are wallowing. it ought to do this, i say, regardless of cost and trouble; and regardless also of the pain it may for the moment inflict. every right-minded citizen ought, according as he is able, to assist the government in that arduous task, and whoever would, for selfish motives, strive to retard or to frustrate this plan of rescue ought at once to be put aside and rendered harmless. if holland and dutch india cannot continue to exist, or to speak more correctly, cannot continue to pay their way without screwing a revenue out of such immoral sources as abuse of opium, abuse of drink and unpaid compulsory labour--why then for honour of the country it were better that it should do like the man who is no longer able to maintain, by honest means, a separate home of his own, and go and live as a boarder in the house of another." for a few moments all sat silent. they all felt the truth, the undeniable truth of theodoor's words, though his concluding sentence had most deeply wounded their patriotic pride. at length van beneden started up from his seat, and going up to verstork he took his hand and pressed it cordially. "i thank you," said he in a tone of deep emotion, "i thank you heartily for the insight you have given me into the fatal effects of opium. i am but a young lawyer and have, as yet, had no opportunity of appearing as counsel in any case connected with the traffic. i have read much about the abuse of the drug, and i learned much last night under the wariengien tree on the green at kaligaweh; but your manly and vigorous words have awakened my conscience, and here, in the presence of you all, i solemnly promise that i will, on the very first opportunity that may present itself, make the very best use i can of what your experience has taught me." "hurrah!" cried leendert grashuis. "william, your excellent speech has thus had not only a practical, but it will have an immediate effect. aye, my friends, i say an immediate effect; for i have a proposition to make to you--" "out with it!" they cried, "let us hear it." "yesterday, we all but witnessed the amokh which took place at kaligaweh; this morning we were within a few minutes of witnessing another and no less terrible crime. it is not my intention to analyse the feelings to which these scenes have given rise in our hearts--the father a manslayer, and the daughter dishonoured. both these events, however, are intimately and immediately connected with the infamous system of opium-farming. we have heard the testimony of our superior officer. in the name of all assembled here, i thank him for his noble sentiments; and now my friends let us not be behind him in generosity. dalima and her father must have an advocate in the trial which awaits them, and that advocate we have found. both the accused parties will, in our friend august van beneden, find a defender who will take up their cause with zeal and ability. methinks, i can hear his maiden speech--it will be a splendid one." "thank you, leendert," said van beneden with much emotion, "i can assure my friends that they have not misjudged me." "aye, aye," continued grashuis, "i know that well; but we all of us intend to participate in the good work, do we not?" "by all means!" was the general cry. "well then, listen to me, for now i come to the proposal i have to make. in this case there can be no question of offering our friend van beneden any honorarium--that would deprive his labour of love of its chief merit. but in carrying on this defence many expenses will necessarily be incurred and many fees will have to be paid in advance. we all know that dame justice is in india an expensive--a most expensive hussy. well then, let us all join hands and undertake to find the funds that may be required--then august will be able to carry on both cases in the most effectual and vigorous manner." "agreed, agreed!" they all exclaimed. "now, august, do your best!" "now that we have arranged that business," resumed grenits, "i have a question to put to our host." "by all means, theodoor," said verstork, "what is it?" "i am a merchant," said grenits, "and as such, i am bound to be very inquisitive. in trade i not only need all the information i can obtain about any article of commerce; but i find a little chemistry uncommonly useful--" "come to the point," cried several of the guests; "we don't want any lectures on chemistry and commerce!" but grenits, without paying any heed to the interruption, went on: "just now in your speech you made mention of a certain remedy which i think you said you found useful in curing some unhappy slaves to opium. is that, may i ask, a secret remedy?" "a secret remedy?" asked verstork, with a laugh. "what do you mean--do you take me for a quack-doctor?" "not by any means," replied grenits. "since this remedy then is not a secret one, will you tell me what it is?" "with pleasure," said verstork; "they are pills which were given me by a missionary. they are composed of opium and radix rhei or rhubarb, in the following proportions: twelve of these pills contain three grains of opium and twelve grains of rhubarb. they are to be administered every five days; the first time twelve have to be taken, the next time nine, the third time six, but it is very seldom indeed that the third dose is required, for by that time the patients are generally cured." "and," persisted grenits, "can you actually vouch for their efficacy?" "to be sure i can," replied verstork. "in my study you will find a kind of trophy consisting of a dozen bedoedans or opium-pipes which the smokers have deposited with me with the solemn promise that they would never touch the pipe again. the missionary who gave me the pills can speak most positively of upwards of seventy cures." "now," asked grenits, "you will not be offended if i give you a bit of advice in your own interest and in the interest also of the missionary?" "certainly not," said verstork, "let us hear it, by all means." "well, my advice is this: keep that prescription strictly to yourself and don't say a word about it to anybody. the colonial secretary who has but one object in view, and that is, to raise the opium revenue as much as possible, might look upon your remedy as an attack made upon the golden calf; and missionaries have before this been impeded in their gospel work, and men have been expelled from the colonies, and official functionaries have been suspended or pensioned off for the commission of much more venial offences than bringing such pills as yours to the opium-smoker." verstork turned slightly pale as he heard his friend's well-meant advice. for a single moment his thoughts flew to those dear ones who so greatly needed his assistance and support. did he repent of having thus honestly spoken his mind? who can say!--he put his hand to his forehead as if to wipe away some unpleasant reflection. "oh," said he, "it is not quite so bad as that, i hope." "perhaps not," said grenits, with a smile, "but your pills will not earn you the netherlands' lion." "that may be," said the controller, "however, fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra, that is my motto. for all that i shall not give the poor souls one pill the less." then, allowing his eye to wander over the table which by this time had been pretty well cleared, for our friends had sat down to dinner as hungry as hunters, he continued-"my friends, our dinner is over. after yesterday's jaunt and this morning's exertion, and after the very short rest we had last night, you must all need repose. my servants will show you to your rooms. i am going to work and, as i told you just now, this evening i am off with you to santjoemeh. i wish you all a pleasant siesta." a few minutes later the pandoppo was deserted and towards evening the five friends were galloping along the road to the capital. chapter xxi. in the resident's office. verstork was much too late. after the scene in the hut near the djoerang pringapoes, he ought at once to have jumped into the saddle and there and then have galloped off to santjoemeh; thus he might possibly have succeeded in warding off the storm that was gathering over his head. as it was, he had allowed another to forestall him. it was not long before he found that out. "so!--that is your report of what has taken place!" said van gulpendam, in the most offensive and sneering tone imaginable, when the controller at length, after having long been kept waiting and after having times out of number paced up and down the front-gallery, had been admitted into the presence of his chief. "so--that is your report is it? it seems to me you have taken your time about it! yesterday, before noon, the information had already reached me. a pleasant dinner time for me when such things are occurring in my residency. but the gentlemen, it seems, were amusing themselves with hunting. oh, yes! anything may be going on in their district, then they see nothing, they hear nothing!" "but, resident--" verstork ventured to say. "hold your tongue, sir," cried van gulpendam, savagely, "i have asked you no question, when i do it will be time enough to answer, and then, i suspect, you will have no reply to make." verstork was standing there, in the office of his superior officer, pale as death and unnerved and biting his lips with suppressed rage. "i cannot say, mr. verstork, that you have clapped on too much sail--you have been somewhat slow in making me acquainted with these painful events." "resident, i--" "i did not put any question," again roared van gulpendam, with a look of scorn and contempt upon his subordinate, "please hold your tongue!" "it appeared to me, resident, that--" "be silent, i say! i only have a right to speak--" verstork, however, took no heed of this rude interruption, and quietly went on: "--that you made some remarks about the time of my presenting my report. if that be so, i feel it my duty, nay my right, to exculpate myself." "if you will not keep silence," shouted van gulpendam, "i will call--" he was on the point of making a mistake, he was just going to say the boatswain's mate; but he checked himself and said, "i will call my chief constable and have you removed out of my presence." "hark you, mr. van gulpendam," said verstork drawing himself up to his full height, and speaking with much dignity, "hark you, i am neither your corporal nor your boatswain of the watch. and, further, let me tell you that if you continue to address me in such terms i will lodge a complaint against you with the secretary for the home department, or better still, with the governor general!" it was now van gulpendam's turn to change colour, he saw that he had gone a little too far. he had so long been accustomed to see every one bowing down before him and putting up with all his whims and fits of bad temper, that he never thought of checking himself in the presence of verstork, whom he had always looked upon as an easy-going and good-tempered fellow. he now, however, at once drew in his horns and said in a very different tone: "pardon me, mr. verstork, you know i am of a sanguine temperament. i am, moreover, very much vexed at not receiving this news from one of my officers in the first instance. come, take a seat, i should like to run my eye over this report." the controller sat down, while the resident at his desk turned his back to the light and began reading the document. outside the office, a couple of police oppassers were pacing up and down, attracted, no doubt, to the spot by the high tone of voice in which the conversation had been carried on. in a moment or two van gulpendam again broke out--"i thought as much--i had been warned of this--" but, checking himself, he said no more, and went on reading. "resident," said verstork, "may i beg leave to inquire against what you have been warned?" van gulpendam looked up over the sheet of paper he held in his hand, and fixing his eye on the controller's face which was turned to the light, he said, with an assumed air of dignity: "mr. verstork, you really ought to try and cure yourself of the bad habit you seem to have contracted of interrogating your superiors. believe me that kind of thing makes a very bad impression. i do not mind telling you what warning i have received, not, mind you, because you demand the information; but because i consider it only fair that you should know. it will probably bring you to the conclusion that you had better take back this report and modify it altogether." "modify my report, resident?" exclaimed verstork; but, without noticing the interruption, van gulpendam continued: "i have been informed that you intend to represent matters in such a light as to make it appear that a successful attempt has been made on the honour of this javanese girl. "but, resident," said verstork, very gravely, "this question concerns a person who is in your service, who is the baboe--i may almost say--the companion, of your own daughter." "and who, as such," said van gulpendam, interrupting him, "ought to be a person of unblemished character. i quite agree with you there. unfortunately, she is nothing of the kind. only a few days ago she was roaming about outside the house for the whole night, and then came in with a long rigmarole about a forcible abduction of which she pretended to have been the victim. now again, for the second time, she is out at night, and this time she is found in the possession of opium. she is the daughter of a smuggler--you know that as well as i do, seeing that on saturday last there was a murder committed in her father's house, of which, luckily, you sent me timely notice. she is engaged to be married to another opium smuggler; and now it has been proved that she is a smuggler herself. at present she is safe under lock and key, and i am glad of it, as it will spare me the trouble of driving the brazen-faced slut out of my premises." "but, resident," resumed verstork, as soon as his chief paused for a moment to take breath, "when we came running up to her cries for help, she was naked, bleeding, her hair dishevelled. everything in fact pointed to--" "a desperate resistance to the police," broke in van gulpendam. "i know all about that. did you examine her?" "no, i did not." "very well, that examination i have ordered the medical authorities to hold, and see there," continued the resident, as he looked out of the window, "why, unless i am mistaken, that is the carriage of the chief medical officer now stopping at the gate! we shall soon get to the bottom of this business." almost immediately after this the chief constable came in to announce the arrival of the surgeon general. the latter advanced to the resident's chair, shook hands very ceremoniously, and then went through the same process, but much more familiarly, with the controller. "ha, verstork--you here?" he said. before, however, the controller had time to reply, the resident, turning to the doctor, said: "take a seat, doctor--well?--" "no question of any such thing, resident!" "indeed--now did i not tell you so? but the girl was wounded they told me." "a few scratches of no importance whatever--mere trifling skin-wounds and a little blood!" "there was therefore no stu--stu--what did you call it?" "stuprum violentum--oh, no, no! nothing of the kind. here is the formal certificate properly filled in--that will be sufficient to satisfy all objections." "thank you, doctor--much obliged to you." "now, resident, i must beg you to excuse me. i must be off at once as i have a number of visits to pay. good-bye, sir--good-bye, verstork." "no excuse required, doctor," said van gulpendam, "don't let me detain you; good-morning!" as soon as the medical officer had disappeared van gulpendam turned to verstork and said: "you heard that--didn't you, mr. verstork?" "oh, yes, i heard it; but my conviction is not the least shaken." "it is not?" "no, resident." "well, for all that," said van gulpendam, airily, "i advise you to heave to." "to heave to? i don't understand you," said verstork, though all the time he understood perfectly. "i will express my meaning in plainer terms," returned van gulpendam, very deliberately, "i advise you, as i have done already, to take back this report and to modify it." "why should i do so, resident? why do you give me that advice?" "because, in the first place, the facts mentioned in it are twisted, exaggerated, and represented from a prejudiced and partial point of view." "resident!" interrupted verstork. but without heeding him van gulpendam went on: "in fact that paper reads like a sensational report, which evidently is aimed at attaining some ultimate object. and then again there occur in it passages which most certainly will be highly displeasing to the government. here, for instance, is one of them:" the resident turned over the leaves of the document, and seemed to be looking for a certain passage; having found it he read as follows: "allow me also to state that my official career of twelve years has taught me that the opium-monopoly is an imperium in imperio; that in order to promote the opium-trade everything the people loves and honours is trampled upon and trodden under foot. the opium-farmer does not trouble himself in the least about police regulations or about penal statutes, his satellites simply enter people's houses and violate the right of domicile; his spies and his policemen--at all events the police which he has in his pay--have no scruples whatever, and pay no respect to anything. a european would make himself liable to severe punishment were he to treat the natives in the manner in which the refuse of mankind, if only they are in the opium-farmer's employ, dares to treat them. these opium-agents have respect neither for the husband, the wife, nor the daughter. in the houses, aye even on the public roads, they strip them, they search them in the most disgusting manner, and never trouble themselves about any protest at all. these scoundrels, sheltering themselves under the impunity which the opium monopoly casts over them, inflict upon the natives the most horrible insults frequently to satisfy their own passions, sometimes merely for the purpose of revenge. a sad proof of this is the treatment to which the javanese girl, dalima, has been subjected." the resident paused here for an instant and fixed a penetrating glance upon his subordinate; but the latter as steadily returned his gaze. "you see," he continued, "when i read such rant as that, then i am forced to suspect"--and here the high functionary significantly tapped his forehead with his finger--"that there is something wrong with you here!" "resident! exclaimed verstork, "you are forgetting yourself!" "not at all, my dear sir, for by writing thus, what do you in fact tell me, in so many words? what but this: that in your districts these domiciliary visits and these searches on the high roads are necessary to prevent the illegal sale of opium. you know, even better than i do, that quite lately there have in your districts been several very ugly revelations. i have only to call to your mind the capture at moeara tjatjing, the capture at kaligaweh in the house of pak ardjan, and now again smuggled opium is found with setrosmito and with his daughter dalima. suspicions may perhaps have arisen in my mind that banjoe pahit is a hot-bed of smuggling; but now your most intemperate language confirms my worst fears." "resident!" cried verstork no longer able to contain himself, "however great is the respect which i am bound to feel for your mature judgment, yet i cannot allow these words of yours to pass without protesting against them. for, in the first place, you insinuate that i have been guilty of neglect of duty with regard to the opium-traffic, and, in the next, you suggest that this neglect of duty on my part has made banjoe pahit a hot-bed of the smuggling-trade. i am, however, perfectly well acquainted with the duties which the order of 1867 imposes upon me, and, allow me to assure you, i am too conscientious to neglect those duties." "my dear mr. verstork, i did not intend----" interrupted van gulpendam. "give me leave to continue," resumed verstork; "i have been attacked, i now defend myself against your imputations, it is my duty to do so, and i claim it as my right. i positively and utterly deny that banjoe pahit is a hot-bed of smuggling." "do you intend to tell me then," cried van gulpendam, "that no smuggling is carried on there?" "i do nothing of the kind, resident," replied verstork, "were i to do so that would be saying what i know to be untrue. my district lies right along the open and everywhere accessible coast of the java sea. the laws which control the illegal traffic in opium are, as you are aware, wholly insufficient; and, even such as they are, we have not the power to carry out the laws effectually. no wonder then that the smugglers--and, as you know, the opium-farmers themselves are the chief offenders--no wonder, i say, that the smugglers make the most of this lax state of things. it stands to reason that it should be so; but if you compare the illegal trade which goes on at banjoe pahit with the smuggling in the adjoining districts which lie along the same sea-coast, then i maintain that you will find that my district, far from being as you would have it, a hot-bed of smuggling, contrasts, in that respect, very favourably with the others. now, as regards the cases to which you have twice alluded, i, as controller of the district, have very carefully investigated them; and i now give it you as my deliberate opinion that the opium discovered at moeara tjatjing was put on shore by the boats of the schooner brig kiem ping hin, a vessel which, you know, does not stand in the odour of sanctity; whilst the other two concern but very minute quantities of the drug which assuredly would never have been found at all, had the bandoelans been previously themselves well searched." "that is all very fine, mr. verstork," replied van gulpendam, "but for the present it carries us too much into detail. to come to the point, however, i now again repeat my friendly advice, go about, go about, and take back this report." william verstork sat there pale as death. for a moment he covered his eyes with his hands as if he would exclude some painful vision, and he reflected. the thought of his mother, of his sisters and brothers, came up vividly before him, and ran like a red-hot iron through his brain. he fully grasped the purport of the advice he had heard. he knew perfectly well that it was not only a counsel, but also a threat, a threat moreover from an all-powerful superior to a helpless subordinate. for one moment--to his honour be it said, it was but for one moment--he hesitated; then his strong natural sense of duty resumed its sway. "resident," said he in a gentle and low, but yet in a perfectly steady voice, "what would be your opinion of me if i were to give way and follow your counsel? what would you think of me if i were to take back my report? i say nothing now of the violence which i thus would be doing to my sense of common honesty." "sirrr!" roared van gulpendam in a passion. "would you not, in that case, consider me wholly unfit for the position which i at present occupy; would you not feel the deepest contempt for my character, and would not your sense of duty urge you at once to request me to retire from my country's service? at any rate, i know that you could never again, from that moment, place the slightest confidence in me. is not that true? and yet the position i occupy imperatively demands that i should enjoy the fullest confidence of my superior officer." mr. van gulpendam had by this time recovered his temper, he could not help feeling the force of verstork's words. "you take the whole business," said he in his most conciliatory manner, "much too seriously. now, just see how i look upon it. yesterday you gentlemen had a most fatiguing day's hunting. i make no doubt that now and then the pocket-flask was appealed to--of course it was, and very naturally too. after the hunt was over, a jolly sociable dinner, at which strong, heady haantjes beer and heavy baour wine--perhaps even generous champagne circulated pretty freely. no harm in that, all that is the most natural thing in the world. amongst young people one could expect nothing else. well--in that happy frame of mind you sat down to write your report--that is how i look upon it." "indeed, resident," replied verstork, "that report of mine then seems to have made no impression upon you, than that either i was not right in the head, or that i wrote it under the influence of liquor?" "mr. verstork, my dear sir, you have such a queer way of blurting out things. believe me, i have but one object in view, and that is to prevent you--in your own interest mind you--to commit an act of folly. it is for you to say whether you are prepared to withdraw this report--yes or no. to this i have but a single word to add, and that is: that your entire career depends upon your present decision." verstork heaved a deep sigh. he saw only too clearly that, in whatever way he might decide to act, his position was an exceedingly difficult one. but for all that he would not retrace one step on the straight path upon which he had entered, which he knew was the path of truth and honour, and very quietly, but very firmly he said: "resident, my decision is taken. come what will, i refuse to take back my report." "is that your final decision?" "it is, resident." "now think it well over--is that your last word?" "resident, it is." "be it so," said van gulpendam with apparent resignation, "you will have no one but yourself to blame for the consequences." "i am prepared to meet the consequences, resident." "very well, in that case i shall have to send up the paper in its present state to the governor general--the matter will then be in his hands." verstork was preparing to rise and take his leave, thinking that the painful interview was at an end. "one moment please, mr. verstork," said the resident. "just sit down for another few minutes--i have another account to settle with you." "what is that, resident?" asked the controller. "yesterday morning a highly respected inhabitant of the island was publicly insulted and even suffered personal violence, merely because, at your bidding, he bore testimony to the truth. that abuse and that ill-treatment he suffered in your presence and you did not, so far as i am aware, exercise your authority either to prevent it or to put a stop to it." "it was all the work of an instant," replied verstork; "the words were uttered and the blows were dealt so suddenly and so unexpectedly, that no one--not even you--had you been present--could have interposed. i can assure you that had there been the slightest fear of the offence being repeated, i would have stepped in to prevent it." "i know nothing about all that," said van gulpendam coldly. "i only know that abusive words were uttered and blows were dealt, while you, the superior officer, stood by. that is how the matter stands. now if i could only have suggested to the authorities that our young hunters were in a state of excitement and that the action was merely one of youthful indiscretion." "no, resident, not so," exclaimed verstork, "not at all--not at least under the influence of that particular kind of excitement which you were kind enough to suggest just now." "it was done therefore in cold blood! i am obliged, mr. verstork, to take notice of that fact; you see even if i were disposed to be lenient, your own words deprive me of the power of hushing the matter up. all this, i fear, is not much in your favour, sir, and your friend, who seems so ready with his fists, will thank you no doubt for your testimony to his sobriety." "my friend!" cried verstork, "what has he got to do with all this?" "what has he got to do with it? why he will find that out soon enough i fear. i have here lying before me a formal accusation, which i hoped i might be able quietly to shelve and say no more about; but now, i must forward it to the authorities. you see, mr. verstork, you might have avoided all this unpleasantness." "ah, resident," replied verstork very bitterly, "i begin to see that mr. mokesuep has not allowed the grass to grow under his feet. be all that, however, as it may. if you think that this trifling occurrence must be followed up--very well then, let the law have its course! i shall be the very first to appear as a witness." the resident uttered a strange short laugh; but made no reply. verstork rose from his seat. "have you any further orders, sir?" he said with a formal bow. "none at present, mr. verstork." "then i beg to wish you a very good morning." a slight nod from the resident, who still kept his seat at his desk, was the only reply to his greeting. the next moment verstork was walking down the steps of the mansion muttering to himself as he went, "poor mother, poor sisters!" "stupid ass," said van gulpendam to himself. "yes, an arrant fool indeed! now that that booby won't come to terms the business will require a little more piloting. never mind, i have friends in batavia who know how to get such questions safe into harbour; men who knew how to make general van der heijden disappear, and who will not think much of this little job. forward! is the word--at the end of it all there is the 'virtus nobilitat.'" a short time after, verstork sat down to dinner with his friend van nerekool. the latter was the only one at home since van rheijn had sent word that pressing business would keep him at the office and that he could therefore not be in to dinner. the two friends were discussing the events of the former day and the result also of the morning's interview with the resident. the controller was so utterly downcast and disheartened, that van nerekool, who himself was not in the best of spirits, yet felt that he must try and cheer him up and put some courage into him. "come, william, old fellow," he said, "don't hang your head so sadly. you would almost make me think that you repent of the course of action you have taken." "repent, charles," cried the other, very sadly and yet without a sign of hesitation. "repent? no never, if it were all to do again i would, in every respect, act as i have done. but, my poor mother, my poor sisters!" "don't look at things so darkly," said van nerekool. "so darkly did you say? why--the very best thing that can happen is that i shall be transferred to some other place--that i shall be torn out of the sphere of work to which here i have become accustomed." "well," said charles, "and suppose that should happen?" "why, that in itself is already a grave misfortune; you know how expensive moving is in india. then comes the question, where shall i be sent to? you do not suppose that they will give me a lucrative place. for years and years i shall have to face very serious pecuniary difficulties and, meanwhile, it will be impossible for me to do for my dear family that which it has now so long been my pleasure to do." "come, come," replied charles van nerekool, "cheer up! even if it comes to the worst, some remedy will be found for that at least--i can promise you so much at least." "but, my dear charles--that is the smallest misfortune that can happen to me. every other possibility is simply terrible. just think--what if they dismissed me from the service altogether?" "now," said charles, "you are exaggerating. what in the world have you done to deserve dismissal! on the contrary, you have secured for yourself the esteem and admiration of every honest man." "honest man!" said verstork bitterly, "oh you don't know with whom i have to deal!" van nerekool's face twitched painfully--he had learned to know something of the man with whom his friend had come into collision. "but," continued he as cheerfully as he could, "but can we not think of some means of warding off the blow? can we not manage to avoid even the least of these misfortunes?" "aye," cried verstork, "that is the very thing i have been cudgelling my brains about?" "have you any friends at batavia," asked van nerekool, "do you know any one there?" "friends? yes, i know one man, a certain mr. reijnaals." "what? reijnaals--the son-in-law of the member of the indian council?" "yes, that is the man." "why then he is your man. come cheer up and let us now together sit down and draw up an accurate account of all that has taken place. that account you will send to reijnaals. and i also have friends in batavia who, i think, have some influence. i will write to them. come let us set to work and begin our battle fearlessly--it is no good moping." so the two friends sat down to their task and when, very late in the afternoon, edward van rheijn came home from his office, two letters almost as bulky as parcels, had been sent off by the mail. van rheijn looked weary and care-worn. "you are very late," said van nerekool--"have you been very busy?" "yes, very busy," was the brief reply. "i am tired out and am going to lie down a bit." "anything particular?" "no, nothing very particular; but plenty of work." "what about?" asked van nerekool. "excuse me," replied van rheijn putting his fingers to his lips, "they are office-secrets which i am not at liberty to reveal." with these words he involuntarily cast a pitying look on william verstork. chapter xxii. a sale at banjoe pahit. on a saturday evening, about a fortnight after, a great number of young people were assembled in the open air at the round table before the verandah of concordia, the club at santjoemeh. it was a gala-night and consequently all the ã©lite of santjoemeh had turned out. the gentlemen were for the most part inside the club-house, or strolling about within the grounds, the ladies, either on foot or reclining in elegant carriages, were promenading and enjoying the splendid evening which the full moon, at nine o'clock high up in the heavens, rendered still more delightful, and listening to the excellent music of the band. within the club-house were seated some elderly ladies and gentlemen, gravely and solemnly playing a game at cards; the young people lounged in the front gallery, while the gayer and more restless spirits among them sought the open air and were, as we said above, grouped round the table in front of the outer gallery. there they found themselves in full view of the ladies whose glances they were glad to receive and ready to repay with interest. "look yonder," cried one of this group, "there goes pretty little celine with her mother and her aunt!" "yes," replied another, "and hermance on horseback; i think her a much prettier girl." "i say, look out! there comes the resident's carriage." "aye, i see with fair laurentia. she is no doubt coming to take a hand. just look how attentive van rheijn is to her. quite the gallant--he is helping her down--now he offers his arm!" "of course! the njonja of kandjeng toean resident!" "you may say what you like but she is a monstrous fine woman--i envy that fellow edward!" "i grant you--she is a splendid woman--but she is not a patch upon her daughter." "you are right there," cried another. "by the way where can nonna anna have got to? one sees her nowhere now." "i am told she is gone on a visit to a friend--they say to spend a few weeks with the wife of the assistant resident of karang anjer." "what karang anjer in bagelen? that is a deuce of a way off! is there anything wrong with her?" "why, don't you know? van nerekool has proposed and been refused--and it appears that until charles can get some other appointment elsewhere, the resident wants to keep his daughter out of the way." "what do you say?" asked another, "charles van nerekool going away--what in the world is that for?" just then grenits, who had been sitting some time in the reading-room of the club, came up to the group of young men with a newspaper in his hand. "good evening, theodoor!" was the general cry; for the young merchant was very much liked by all, and exceedingly popular among the members. "have you got any news that you are walking about with the santjoemeh herald?" "listen to me, gentlemen," said grenits as he slowly unfolded his paper and began to read: "'messrs. gladbach and co., will sell by public auction on monday the 24th inst., the whole of the furniture and effects belonging to william verstork, esq., controller at banjoe pahit. the principal items include: seats, rocking and easy chairs, tables, marble-topped consoles, mirrors, paintings, lamps of all descriptions, terra-cotta statuettes, awnings, screens, bedsteads and bedroom furniture complete--wash-stands, wardrobes, linen-presses, cupboards, kitchen and stable furniture--all in excellent preservation and as good as new. further a splendid collection of plants such as roses, crotons, ferns, &c., in pots and ornamental tubs. one bengal cow with calf in full milk, a considerable quantity of poultry; turkeys, geese, ducks, fowls and pigeons. several carriages all nearly new--a well-trained saddle horse, a pair of iron-grey carriage horses, a pair ditto, black battakkers. messrs. gladbach & co. are prepared to supply full particulars, catalogues and conditions of sale. nota bene. on monday next from 7.30 to 8.30 carriages will start from the green at santjoemeh to convey intending purchasers to and from banjoe pahit free of cost.'" as grenits concluded, his hearers looked at one another in some surprise. "come, that's not a bad idea," said one, "that free conveyance is a capital dodge." "verstork going to leave!" cried another. "where is he off to--it seems he is going to sell even his saddle-horse." "he is going to atjeh," replied grenits. "he won't want a horse there." "to atjeh! why that is impossible" cried another, "the army is in charge there, there can be no vacancy in that place for a civilian like verstork!" "i know nothing at all about it--i can only tell you what william has told me. but, in order that no mistake may arise, allow me to tell you gentlemen that my friend verstork knows nothing whatever about the free conveyances to banjoe pahit, that is entirely my doing, about which i have not consulted him. i alone am responsible for that addition to the advertisement." "i see," laughed one of the company, "you do not want the thing to hang fire." "very likely not," said grenits coolly. "but," asked another, "why is verstork to be removed, and to atjeh, of all places in the world?" grenits shrugged his shoulders but made no reply. "why, don't you know?" cried another, "it is all about that affair with lim ho! you have heard of the story of lim ho and the pretty baboe dalima?" "aye--i know now--when lim ho so nobly resisted temptation--at least so says our surgeon-major." "yes," added another voice, "and when our friend grenits boxed somebody's ears." "ah, yes--muizenkop did catch it--i say what has come of that business?" "he has brought an action against me," shortly replied grenits. "has he? the brute! but how do you know that, theodoor?" "why," said grenits, "he has served me with a summons." "ai--! that means a few days' free lodging for you, my friend. well, never mind, we will come and look you up now and then--won't we, gentlemen?" "to be sure we will," was the general chorus. "time enough to think of that," said grenits. "if i am locked up i shall expect to see you, my friends. but just at present we have something more serious to attend to. about that sale--i invite you all to put in an appearance on monday next." "that grenits always has an eye to business," said one of the young men with a laugh. "gentlemen," continued theodoor most gravely, "this is no joking matter. it concerns an innocent man who hitherto has maintained a mother and sisters entirely dependent upon his aid--and the question is whether he will, in the future, be able to continue to give them that assistance?" "oh, is that it!" was the cry all round, "then we shall all be there--you may depend upon us!" "yes, you may depend upon every one of us!" "thank you," said grenits, "that's a bargain." yes! william verstork was removed from banjoe pahit and was to be sent to atjeh! the detailed report which he had dispatched to reijnaal had been of no avail. he might perhaps have over-estimated his friend's influence--or, perhaps, that friend did not much like to meddle in the matter; at all events nothing came of verstork's appeal. the letters also which van nerekool had written to batavia led to nothing. he did receive a kind of answer; but they were only a few vague and half intelligible sentences. what really happened in batavia was this. on a certain friday--the usual day on which the council of india meet--the assembled members were greatly surprised at seeing the governor general suddenly appear in their midst, a thing which very seldom happened. "gentlemen," he said, after the customary ceremonial greetings had been exchanged, "gentlemen, a very serious complaint against a first-class controller has been forwarded to me by the resident at santjoemeh. i have also received a document from the subordinate officer, containing his defence to the charges made by his superior. this document directly contradicts many of the resident's statements, and it is for that reason that i am desirous of having the advantage of your opinion. now the resident at santjoemeh is a most zealous and meritorious public servant, thoroughly devoted to his country's interests; but it must be said that in the discharge of his duties, and especially in his conduct towards his subordinates, he is frequently too absolute and peremptory, and allows his feelings to get the better of him. i must, at the same time, however, confess that even thus he never loses sight of the common-weal. such being the case in this matter also, it would not have been difficult for me, i think, so to settle the dispute as to satisfy both parties without in any way interfering with the superior officer's authority. unfortunately, however, the question is a more complicated one. the difference between the resident and his controller is one which seems to implicate the opium-farmer at santjoemeh, and which threatens to bring us into conflict with him. i think indeed i may go a step further, and that i am justified in saying that a strict investigation, such as the controller insists upon, would bring to light certain transactions which would compel us altogether to exclude the present farmer lim yang bing from the approaching contest for the opium monopoly. now, in strict justice, that exclusion would no doubt be highly desirable; but we must not lose sight of the fact that this lim yang bing is the wealthiest chinaman in santjoemeh, that he stands at the head of the most considerable company in that district, and that he thus exercises almost absolute control over his countrymen there. the consequence, therefore, of excluding him from the coming opium competition, would be a very considerable fall in the amount which, at present, it is expected to realise. and that, in days like the present!--yes, gentlemen, i repeat it, at a time like the present!--just now i received a telegram in cypher from the hague, which tells me that the estimate of the colonial secretary has found no favour in our house of representatives; because it is thought that his estimate is much too low, and that expenses have not been sufficiently kept down. that telegram further states that one of you gentlemen will most probably soon be invited to take the place of our present colonial secretary. well--whoever he may be, i cannot say that i envy him the distinction. it is quite certain, however, that the first thing he will be expected to do, is to drive up the revenue to as high a figure as possible, and, for that purpose, the opium monopoly, in spite of what men may think or say about it, seems to me to be the only available means. in order, therefore, not to make the task of the future minister more difficult than it must of necessity be, it is my opinion that it would be good policy just at present to protect the opium farmer. the resident of santjoemeh tells me that the withdrawal of lim yang bing from the competition will make a difference in the revenue of at least six or seven hundred thousand guilders." at the mention of these figures, the eyes of the youngest member of the council sparkled with unwonted fire, and, in his zeal for the public exchequer, forgetting the usual etiquette, he interrupted the governor general before the latter had quite finished his speech. "with your excellency's leave," said he, jumping up from his seat with much animation, "i would remark, and i feel confident that, in what i am about to say, i shall but utter the sentiments of all my colleagues, that under circumstances like the present, we ought not to hesitate to adopt any measures which may serve to make the finances of the country correspond to the demands of the times. any proposal which may promote such equilibrium cannot fail of ready acceptance from a board such as ours, which, inspired by the highest patriotic feelings, is ever prepared to make any sacrifices for the welfare of holland." the appeal was so shameless that its very grossness insured its success. the members of the council bowed their heads in acquiescence, and the lips, which could have uttered such terrible truths, under the influence, doubtless, of the enervating effect of the tropical sun, now merely opened sleepily to utter an obsequious: "yes, your excellency!" the governor general, who at once perceived that he had gained his point, then said with a sigh: "in that case my course with the controller is clear. i am much obliged to you, gentlemen, for your counsel." the next moment the drum was rolling at the main guard, and the men turned out to present arms to the king's representative as he drove away to his palace on the koningsplein, well satisfied, no doubt, that he had performed a signal service to his country, if not to humanity at large. in four days' time william verstork received the order of his removal to atjeh, and, what was perhaps more galling still, along with it a letter from the director of the home department, in which that official expressed the hope that, in his capacity of controller, he would make the best use of his undoubted abilities and of his great knowledge of the native character to aid and assist the military authorities in their arduous task of pacifying the population. and, the director went on to say: "allow me also to cherish the expectation that, in the future, you will exhibit a greater amount of tact; and to suggest that you should show more deference and respect to your superiors; for, after this plain warning, you can expect no further indulgence." "well, charles," cried verstork, as he flung the letter upon the table, "what do you think of that?" "i think it is a burning shame!" replied van nerekool, his voice trembling with indignation. "you see, my dear fellow," continued verstork, "this is the most favourable result we could anticipate. removed to atjeh! that is to say struck off from the list of the home department of java and madura. it is simply a degradation. are these the principles which animate our rulers? the state of society out here is rotten--rotten to the core!" "no, no!" cried van nerekool, with animation, "don't say that--there is one part of that society which is sound and undefiled, and which stands high above the tricks and paltry intrigues of the ruling powers--and that is the judicature. the power of the law will succeed in bridling and subduing the monster of injustice and tyranny." charles van nerekool spoke these words with all the enthusiasm of truth--he was fully persuaded of the truth of his assertion. verstork looked at his friend and a bitter smile came over his troubled countenance. he did not, however, say a single word, he would not disturb the day-dream of his friend--the future, he knew, would soon enough dissipate his fond illusions. banjoe pahit, that quiet and secluded dessa, was, on monday morning, the scene of the greatest excitement. at the gate of the controller's house a javanese stood striking measured blows on the gong, and that unwonted noise brought the entire population around him. within the house, grenits, grashuis, and van nerekool were busily employed helping verstork to set out the furniture, which, presently, was to be offered for sale, to the best advantage. in one place a writing-desk had to be placed in a more prominent position--in another a cupboard or table had to be re-arranged. pictures also and statuettes had to be placed in the most favourable light; for grenits, with the true eye of a commercial man, knew that, next to advertising, a tasteful exhibition of the articles would attract the attention of the buyers. at length all was considered in readiness, and it was with a kind of mournful satisfaction that the friends walked through the apartments, surveying and admiring the arrangement in which they had borne a principal share. in the back galleries especially, where the glass, the crystal and the dinner-services were displayed, their finishing touches had been remarkably successful. everything looked so neat, and in such perfect order, that grenits could not help exclaiming: "no one would think that these are bachelor's quarters! william, i can promise you an excellent sale." meanwhile the gong kept on clanging incessantly. just then a couple of carriages came rolling up to the controller's house. out of one of these stepped the regent of santjoemeh, and he at once walked up to the european gentlemen. after the customary salutations: "well, radhen mas toemenggoeng," said grashuis hugely pleased at seeing the javanese chief arriving thus early, "you are coming, i hope, to buy a good lot!" "perhaps, sir, but money is scarce," replied the regent with a smile. "never mind that, radhen mas," laughed grenits, "you can buy on tick." the cautious old chief smiled and shook his head, but had no time to reply; for by this time the second conveyance, a capacious drag, had discharged its load which consisted of a member of the firm of gladbach and co. and the whole of his staff of clerks, &c. the agent walked up to verstork, shook hands with him and whispered: "very bad news, controller!" "what is the matter?" asked verstork. "the chinamen at santjoemeh have been ordered not to come to your sale." "who gave that order?" "i don't know," replied the agent shrugging his shoulders. this was bad news indeed; for the chinamen, if they happen to be well disposed towards the owner, are generally very brisk bidders. their abstention indeed threatened to be very disastrous. verstork heaved a deep sigh as he ran his eye over his possessions which now bid fair to go for an old song. he sighed, not because he particularly regretted the probable loss; but at the thought of his dear ones yonder who-but fortunately he had no time for indulging in melancholy forebodings, for the carriages now succeeded one another with amazing rapidity. drags, landaus, waggonettes, dog-carts, and spring-carts, came flying up the drive and began setting down their loads at the entrance of the controller's house. a great number of horsemen too and pedestrians from the estates round about, began to flock in; and the oppassers on duty found it as much as they could do to keep the carriages in line, to put up the saddle-horses and to usher the gentlemen into the house. all ranks of european society in java were there represented; landowners, tenants, coffee planters, rice-planters, sugar and indigo manufacturers, merchants, insurance agents, shipping agents, solicitors, notaries, barristers, judges, officers of the army and navy, in fact it seemed as if the whole of santjoemeh had migrated bodily to banjoe pahit. in the capital all business was at a standstill; there was not a single conveyance, not a single spring-cart or carriage to be got there. the resident van gulpendam noticed that these vehicles did not occupy their usual stands, and was told that they were all off to banjoe pahit. he smiled at the information; but it was on the wrong side of his mouth. still the gong went on giving forth its harsh discordant sounds. the employã©s of the home office and its clerks and writers, who were employed in the residential office, were conspicuous by their absence. not one of them had been able to get leave for an excursion to banjoe pahit. the javanese population, in their usual retiring way, timidly crowded round the animated scene. these poor people most assuredly did not come to buy, they were impelled by curiosity just to get a peep at the interior of a european's dwelling house. treãªng, treãªng went the gong incessantly. when the company had pretty well assembled, and compliments had been duly exchanged, verstork left the place. he could not bear to be present and see his household gods dispersed. so he went to the mohammedan priest, with whom he had some matters to settle before he left the dessa, and after the sale was over he purposed to return to santjoemeh with van nerekool, grashuis and grenits.-no sooner had he left, than the representative of gladbach & co. whispered a few words to the auctioneer. the latter made a sign to one of his servants. hereupon the gong began to clash more horribly than before, a shower of blows fell on the metal disc. this infernal din lasted for a space of ten minutes, and then suddenly ceased altogether. the proceedings now began. the sale was opened in the front gallery in which a very fine collection of flowers in ornamental pots and tubs, were tastefully arranged in groups of a dozen, on the steps which led up to the verandah. these were the first lots to be disposed of. "twelve pots of flowers!" began the auctioneer, "who will make a bid for them?" "one guilder!" cried someone in the crowd. "one guilder bid, one guilder!" cried the auctioneer in the usual drawl. "one and a half!" "one and a half," repeated the auctioneer. "two guilders! three guilders! four guilders! five guilders!" came the bids in quick succession. "five guilders! five guilders bid!" cried the auctioneer, "who bids higher? five guilders are bid," drawled the auctioneer, as he turned his head and stared hard at the last bidder but one. "eight guilders!" cried the latter. "eight guilders!" cried the echo, "who bids higher?" then the fire opened again. "and a quarter," cried a voice. "eight and a half!" "eight three quarters!" "nine guilders!" "ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen!" "thirteen guilders," cried the auctioneer, "who bids more than thirteen?" "i wouldn't mind," cried a voice, "if i only knew how to get those confounded pots home to santjoemeh." "never mind that," shouted another, "i will take them for you in my cart." "thirteen, twice!" said the auctioneer. "fourteen, fifteen," went the bids. "fifteen!--once!" said the auctioneer. "twenty guilders!" shouted a voice which rang out above all the noise. "a fine bid," murmured grenits. "twenty guilders, once--twenty, twice--twenty for the third and last time!" bang! down came the hammer. "who is the buyer?" asked the clerk. "i am," replied an officer. he was an elderly man--a first lieutenant of infantry. "who is i?" asked the auctioneer from his perch. "i, langeveld, first lieutenant of infantry." "mr. langeveld, do you pay cash down?" asked the auctioneer. "cash down?" asked the officer, quite surprised, "what do you mean? your office always gives three months' credit." "only to those whose pay is above two hundred and fifty guilders," said the man. "two hundred and fifty guilders? whose order is that?" "it is the order of the superintendent of sales at santjoemeh," replied the auctioneer. "the resident," muttered van nerekool, "a most infamous trick!" "do you pay ready money? no?" continued the auctioneer, "then you will have to find some security, or else the lot will have to be put up again." the officer, who was a man of unblemished name and character, turned fiery red at this wanton and unexpected insult. "lieutenant langeveld, i will be your security!" cried van nerekool. the officer bowed his thanks. the second lot of flowers, however, which was much finer than the first, did not fetch a rix-dollar. the shameful dodge at headquarters evidently had its effect on the spirits of the buyers. grenits saw the drift of all this in a moment. he held a hasty consultation with van nerekool and a few landowners who were standing by him. just as the third dozen of pots were being put up, a burly, broad-shouldered gentleman cried out: "a word with you, mr. auctioneer. a disgraceful trick is being played here--i never saw such a dirty thing done before--a trick which mr. van nerekool, mr. grenits and myself are determined to frustrate. for every gentleman who wishes to buy at this sale, and who may happen to fall under this novel condition of having to pay ready money, we will stand security." "bravo! bravo!" was the general shout. "does that satisfy you, mr. auctioneer?" the man nodded assent. he could not do otherwise. this incident served to rouse a general enthusiasm; the third lot of flowers brought eighty guilders; the last no less a sum than two hundred and fifty. true it is that before this last lot was put up grenits had cried: "crotons! magnificent crotons! the adal-adal! (croton tiglium); the camilla (rothlera tinctoria); the kamillakkian (croton corylifolius) and the wax-bearing croton (croton sebiferus)! who will bid for them? i bid sixty guilders!" a cheer followed his words; the game went on merrily--seventy--eighty--ninety guilders! higher and higher still went the bids, until the two hundred and fifty guilders were reached. the lucky man who secured the lot received quite an ovation, just as if he had drawn the first prize in the state lottery. that set the ball a-rolling. chairs, tables, mats, lamps, wardrobes, mirrors, pictures, all went for the same fabulous prices. at last it became a mad charge in which every one seemed bent on securing something, no matter at what cost. long faces were drawn indeed; but it was not because the bids were too high but because the prices were wholly out of the reach of some pockets. it was in the back gallery, however, that the excitement rose to its highest pitch. "twelve liqueur glasses!" shouted the auctioneer. they were very ordinary little glasses--in holland they might be worth a penny a-piece--in india they might cost perhaps five or six pence. "twelve liqueur glasses!" again shouted the man. "out of which the bitters taste remarkably good!" cried grashuis, "i know that by experience." "we might try some," cried a voice; "yonder in that stand i see a decanter of bitters." a cheer followed this proposal--a servant was already busy pouring out the liqueur. "what kind of bitters is that?" "maagdbitter," said a sienjo. "pahit prawan," translated an interpreter. a thundering hurrah greeted that splendid attempt at translation. "i say, kees, you must be made interpreter--sworn interpreter!" shouted one of the bystanders. "here's to you; i drink your health in pahit prawan!" "one rixdollar!" cried grenits. "three! four! five! six! came the bids, in rapid succession. the auctioneer could not turn his head fast enough to catch the eye of the bidders. "six!" at length he managed to exclaim. "seven! eight!--" "ten!" cried grenits. "ten offered," droned the auctioneer with the utmost indifference. this was not the first strange scene he had witnessed in his profession. "ten!" cried he, "won't any gentleman go higher than ten." "come, come, that is pretty fair," said a voice. "ten once, ten twice, ten for the third and last time!" bang! down came the hammer. "an expensive set," grumbled some one in the crowd, "a hundred and twenty guilders--the bitters must be good at that price." "especially pahit prawan!" "well, give us another glass." the last lot put up for sale--a gajoeng, that is a simple cocoa-nut vessel with a handle used for throwing water over the body in the bath, fetched five and twenty guilders. the friends of verstork might well congratulate each other. they had worked to some purpose. when half an hour later the clerk posted up the total receipts, the house very nearly came down with the deafening cheers. "nine thousand seven hundred and forty guilders!" exclaimed verstork, when he heard the result of the sale; "why, the whole kit was not worth three thousand. thanks, many thanks, my friends." he shook hands warmly with van nerekool, with grashuis, with van beneden and with grenits. "you have saved me many an hour of dreadful anxiety," he whispered to them. eight days after, the controller was standing, in excellent spirits, on the deck of the tamborah which was to convey him to his new abode. full of courage and full of hope, he took leave of the trusty friends who accompanied him to the steamer. "once again," he cried to them from the deck, "thanks, a thousand thanks!" grenits had helped him to realise as profitably as possible the proceeds of the sale, and when he reached batavia he had sent a considerable portion of the money to his mother, recommending her to be very careful of it, as he might most probably be obliged, in consequence of his removal from banjoe pahit, to diminish the amount of his monthly remittances. when the tambora was nearly on the horizon there were still handkerchiefs waving farewell to him from the shore-boat. verstork still kept on deck gazing at the shore. "fine noble fellows," he muttered as he wiped away a tear. chapter xxiii. the court adjourned. on a certain day, not very long after the events narrated in the former chapters, a carriage drew up before the pandoppo of the regent's house situated on the green of santjoemeh, where the members of the judicial bench of that district used to hold their court. out of the carriage there stepped a gentleman who looked with some surprise at the concourse of people which had gathered around the house; but who, nevertheless, with calm and dignified air, walked up the steps which led to the interior. that gentleman was mr. zuidhoorn, the president of the district-court, who, on the day appointed, had come to open the session. the crowd assembled in front of the regent's pandoppo consisted chiefly of javanese, a circumstance which could not but attract the notice of the judicial functionary, inasmuch as the native population, which was formerly so fond of frequenting the courts held under the wariengien trees of the village green by its native chiefs, now shows the greatest disinclination to enter the dutch courts of justice. as a rule, the javanese is never seen there except he be fettered or under the escort of a couple of policemen--that is to say, either as a prisoner, as a criminal, or as a witness. among the crowd some chinamen also were conspicuous, and all were evidently awaiting with anxiety an event of no common interest. "what is the meaning of this concourse, mr. thomasz?" asked mr. zuidhoorn of the deputy-recorder, whom he met as he entered the pandoppo. the latter, who was a half-caste, looked up at his chief with a puzzled expression of countenance. "you stare at me very strangely," continued mr. zuidhoorn. "what can have brought all this crowd of people together?" "they are curious, i suppose, to know," replied the recorder, not without hesitation, "how it will end." "how will what end?" "well, sir, what will be the result of the session." "the session?" repeated mr. zuidhoorn, surprised in his turn, "is there anything very remarkable about it?" the recorder evidently felt very ill at ease. "sir," he stammered, "you seem not to know what has taken place." "no, i don't," replied mr. zuidhoorn, "what is the matter?" mr. thomasz was getting more and more nervous. his face, which was very sallow, began to assume a greenish yellow complexion. mr. zuidhoorn seeing the man's confusion cried out: "speak up for goodness sake, man, speak up!" "the native members--of the council, sir--have received a letter from the resident--" he managed to stammer. "a letter--!" exclaimed mr. zuidhoorn--"from the resident! what in the world about?" "it was a letter, sir, forbidding them to attend this session." "forbidding them to attend!" exclaimed mr. zuidhoorn, now fairly astonished. "why, mr. thomasz, have you taken leave of your senses?" "no, sir, indeed i have not," replied the recorder with a painful smile. "you question me and i am obliged to answer--and further--" "well, what else? out with it!" "the chinese assessors and the head-djaksa have received similar communications--so that--" "so that what?" cried the president impatiently. "so that there will be no court held to-day since you will be the only member present." "is it possible?" exclaimed the president. "i tell you what, mr. thomasz, my carriage is still at the door, you jump into it and drive off at once to all the native members, and also to the chinese assessors, and to the djaksa, and tell them that i order them to come here without delay. to-day is the assize-day, and i am determined that the cases shall be heard." "i will do as you bid," replied the recorder. "you are my superior officer." "very good--make haste." as soon as the man had left, mr. zuidhoorn began pacing up and down the pandoppo in great excitement. "it is a monstrous thing!" cried he to himself, "i could not--i dared not--suppose that they would carry matters so far! yet i ought to have foreseen something of the kind! yes--i am a great fool--why! when a few weeks ago i received a request from the resident to alter the order of the cases, a request with which i refused to comply, then i suspected that there was some scheme on foot; but that they would have adopted so arbitrary a course as this! a few days ago even, when i received a written statement from the resident informing me that i was no longer competent to preside over the court, because i had obtained leave of absence, even then i could not suppose that they would have recourse to so high-handed an infraction of the law. yesterday the resident informed me by word of mouth that he intended to avail himself of the right of presiding in person; but i made no reply, for i looked upon his words as a merely formal notice, and never dreamt that anyone could be foolish enough to tamper so offensively with the regulations of the court. yes! for a most stupid thing it is thus to enforce an old and obsolete rule, which was made when, as yet, there was no idea of any individual being specially appointed as president of the sessions. but--what can be the drift of all this? what can it all mean?" he asked himself as he paced up and down. his eye lit upon the charge-sheet which the recorder had left lying on the green-baize cover of the table. he took it up and began to read out the cases inscribed upon it, making his remarks upon them as he went on. "m`bok bardjo: accused of secretly conveying away coffee! poor people who are compelled to plant coffee, and are not allowed to drink it; but are obliged to put up with a wretched decoction of coffee-leaves! "bariedin: charged with wearing in public a civilian's cap--ridiculous! those fellows in the home department do make fools of themselves--such a trifle is high treason in their eyes. "sarina: charged with deserting her infant child--that's bad--not so bad however as flinging the poor little thing into the river or the canal as they generally do at home in such cases. "pak ardjan: accused--of--opium--smuggling--and wounding--a policeman! now i think i am coming to it--now a light dawns in upon me; and the next case? "ardjan: accused--of--opium--smuggling! ardjan, the future husband of the baboe dalima!" these two last cases mr. zuidhoorn had read so slowly and so deliberately that he seemed almost to spell every syllable; then, for a while, he stood lost in thought, while he put his finger to his forehead. "how could i have forgotten that? and van nerekool, who so recently talked the whole of this business over with me!--and--the day after to-morrow i must be off to holland! "well, no matter, those cases must be disposed of to-day, and they shall be disposed of at any price! i shall see about that!" yes, the judge would see; but not in the sense in which he meant it; he would see that the court was not to sit at all that day. when he had got thus far in his soliloquy, the door opened, and the regent of santjoemeh appeared, and with him came one of the most considerable of the native chiefs of the residence, radhen ngahebi wirio kesoemo. they were both members of the court, and it was their turn to be in attendance. they were accompanied by the panghoeloe or priest, carrying the inevitable koran in his hand. both the former dignitaries confirmed the statement of the deputy-recorder, and told mr. zuidhoorn that the resident had expressly forbidden them to attend the court on that day. "but," they continued, "since the kandjeng toean judge has summoned us, we feel it our duty to obey his commands." "but," asked the president, "what reason does the resident give for this prohibition?" the regent merely shrugged his shoulders and, very prudently, made no reply. radhen ngahebi however said: "yesterday i called upon the resident, and then the kandjeng toean informed me that, after having got leave of absence, you were no longer qualified to take the chair at the sessions; and that it was for that reason he had sent the letter." mr. zuidhoorn smiled contemptuously; but, in the presence of natives, he refrained from uttering a single word which might have even a semblance of questioning the authority of the highest official who was the representative of the dutch power in santjoemeh. indeed he scarcely had time to speak, for very soon after the javanese chiefs and the chinese assessors also entered the pandoppo. they very cautiously and with infinite circumlocution informed the toean lakkel, thus they pronounced the word "rakker" which signifies judge, that they were not to blame for arriving so late. at length the chief djaksa appeared. he made a ceremonious bow to the chairman and to the other members of the court and said, that he had that very morning been summoned into the presence of the resident, and that he had, from his lips, received a peremptory order not to attend the court. "however," he continued, "in my capacity of native judge i am under your immediate authority, and i have come to inquire how you wish me to act in this matter." as he spoke he made another deep bow to his superior officer. "djaksa," replied mr. zuidhoorn, "i have no commands whatever to give you. you occupy so high a position that i must leave you to judge for yourself what course you had better pursue. as far as i am concerned, i have most positively made up my mind to carry on the business of the court to-day; and, seeing that our number is now complete, i intend to open the proceedings at once. gentlemen, please to take your seats." scarcely, however, had they done so, and just as mr. zuidhoorn was in the act of bringing down his presidential hammer and declaring the sessions opened, the back door of the pandoppo was thrown open and the private secretary of the resident appeared on the threshold. he was in official costume and accompanied by a posse of policemen, one of whom held aloft behind him the resident's unopened umbrella, in token that the secretary appeared as representative of his chief. without deigning to offer any greeting, the secretary began: "you, radhen mas toemenggoeng pringgoe kesoemo, and you, radhen ngahebi wirio kesoemo, and you, panghoeloe mas ali ibrahim, and you, ong ang thay, and kwee lie liang--you have, as members, as priest, and as assessors of this court of justice, received a written order from the kandjeng toean resident distinctly forbidding you to attend here on this day. the kandjeng toean resident now sends me to inquire what can have induced you to commit so grave an offence as knowingly and deliberately to disobey the command of him who is the direct representative of the kandjeng toean governor general, who again in batavia stands in the place of the kandjeng toean radja dari tana nederland dan hindia? speak, i am prepared to hear what explanation you have to offer for conduct so insubordinate? be well assured that whatever may be your excuse, the kandjeng toean resident will give it his calm and impartial consideration." the deepest silence succeeded this startling address. with the exception of the chairman, the men assembled there seemed annihilated by the secretary's words, they hardly dared to draw a breath, they scarcely ventured to look at one another. they wished the ground would open and swallow them up. how could they have had the audacity of daring to disregard the express command of the mighty lord? their disobedience was indeed flagrant! would the kandjeng toean ever forgive them for it? such were the thoughts which passed through the brains of the fearless and independent judges who were considered fit and proper persons impartially to administer justice to their countrymen. mr. zuidhoorn--who thoroughly knew the javanese character and who had learned to fathom the abject and cringing servility of the native chiefs towards their dutch masters--mr. zuidhoorn, who so often had compared them with the dog that licks the hand of the man that strikes him--looked with compassion on the poor creatures that showed such abject cowardice even when sitting in the very court to which they had been summoned to discharge duties, which, above all other duties, demand perfect fearlessness and independence. this servility, indeed, could hardly be laid to their charge; it was the natural result of the long system of extortion and bullying to which their race had been subjected. once again the secretary very impatiently asked: "radhen mas toemenggoeng and radhen ngahebi, i am still awaiting the answer i am to carry to the kandjeng toean resident!" after having looked round and waited a while to see whether any of the chiefs thus addressed would attempt to say anything in justification, mr. zuidhoorn, in a most dignified and impressive manner said: "an answer, mr. secretary, which i will take upon myself to give you. i, in my capacity of president of this court of santjoemeh, to whom the members, the priest and the assessors, in all matters relating to this court, are directly subordinate, i, this morning, sent to them my peremptory orders to attend here. the said members and assessors, therefore, are in no wise to blame--they have merely, in this matter, obeyed the commands which i, their superior officer, have issued to them. the entire responsibility rests upon me. be kind enough, mr. secretary, to communicate this my reply to the resident; and do not, by your presence, any further delay the business of this court." "mr. zuidhoorn, after leave of absence has been granted you, you have no right whatever to occupy the chair. i enter my protest against the course of action you have seen fit to adopt; and i call upon you now to resign your place to the resident who intends this day to preside in person." "mr. secretary," replied mr. zuidhoorn with the utmost calmness, "it is not my intention to enter into any argument with you about my rights. you will inform the resident that i shall not resign my seat; and that i intend, to the last moment, to carry out conscientiously the duties of my office. again i request you to withdraw, in order that the court may proceed with the business it has before it." "mr. zuidhoorn!" cried the secretary, in a threatening tone of voice, "mind what you are about!" "the entire responsibility rests upon my shoulders, mr. secretary. usher, clear the court, and see that it be not further disturbed!" mr. van gulpendam flew into a foaming rage when he received the message. in a towering passion he strode up and down the front-gallery of the residence, the secretary striving like a dog to keep up with him, which his corpulence however would hardly allow him to do. "what insolence!" shouted the great man, "what insolence! he shall pay for it! but--what to do now? meanwhile the trials are going on, and we shall have an acquittal no doubt. those law chaps are capable of anything! i know what i shall do--a company of soldiers! i shall have them driven out of the place at the point of the bayonet like so many sea-mews!" he rushed into his office--forgetting, in his anger, that such napoleonic measures are not exactly suited to the taste of the dutch people--to send a note to the officer in command of the troops requesting him to come to him at once. as soon as he had written his precious epistle he bellowed out "oppas! oppas!!" in tones so stentorian that all the policemen and the whole staff of servants on the premises came flying to the spot, thinking that some dreadful accident had happened. even the sentries, who were on duty, heroically brought their muskets to the charge against some imaginary foe; and, in this martial attitude, resolutely stood awaiting the things which might happen. fair laurentia was at the time very busy in the pandoppo discussing with her kokkie the mysteries of a fricasseed chicken. she also started up and came flying into the office while, with trembling hand, she sought to adjust her kabaja. "what is the matter? what is the matter?" she cried. but, before the resident had time to reply, and before he had despatched his note to the officer in command of the garrison, the deputy-recorder walked up the steps of the gallery. the moment he saw him, van gulpendam knew that he was the bearer of some tidings, and, not able to restrain his impatience, he ran to meet him, impetuously crying out, "what is the matter, mr. thomasz?" "resident, i have come to inform you that the court has risen and stands adjourned for a week." "what? adjourned? after what my secretary told me? have the members refused to sit? splendid fellows those natives!" "no, no, resident, by your leave--the chiefs did not refuse at all." "didn't they? then how did it come about?" "i will tell you, resident. when mr. zuidhoorn was about to open the proceedings and when he spoke the words: 'usher, clear the court and see that it be not further disturbed,' he found that the usher had disappeared altogether." "the usher disappeared?" "yes, resident, he had got out of the way." van gulpendam's face beamed with satisfaction. "but," said he, "that would hardly put a stop to the proceedings?" the secretary here interposed and said: "as i was leaving the court i ordered the usher to write, from my dictation, a paper summoning mr. zuidhoorn and all the members of the court to clear out of the premises." "sharp practice that!" remarked van gulpendam. "do you not approve of my conduct, resident?" "of course, most certainly i do; but what took place next?" "the poor devil of an usher was so utterly dumfoundered that he could not hold a pen, and it was no use therefore to dictate anything to him. i then gave him the message to deliver verbally." "yes--and then?" asked van gulpendam. "then i came away to tell you." "but i suppose," continued van gulpendam--"you, mr. thomasz, will be able to tell us what happened?" "when the usher again entered the court," resumed the deputy-recorder, "he stammered forth a few incoherent and utterly unintelligible words, to which mr. zuidhoorn did not pay the slightest heed. he brought his hammer down, declared the session open, and turned to the chief djaksa to request him to read out the first charge." "what case was it, mr. thomasz?" asked van gulpendam with some curiosity. "oh, it was some case of coffee-stealing, sir, some old woman--" "oh yes, all right, go on!" "yes," continued the deputy-recorder, "mr. zuidhoorn might well look--and he did open his eyes uncommonly wide, for the chief djaksa, who, a moment or two before, was sitting by his side close to him,--he too had vanished." "vanished?" mr. van gulpendam burst out laughing. "i can picture to myself mr. zuidhoorn's face!" he cried. "mr. thomasz, you are a capital story-teller. do go on--run off the log-line." the deputy-recorder continued: "they looked high and low for the djaksa; but he could not be found. so one of the vice-djaksas had to be summoned. it was a curious thing however, that, although a few minutes before two or three were present in the pandoppo, they now had the greatest trouble to lay hands on a single one." "oh!" interrupted van gulpendam, "they managed to get one in tow at last?" "yes, resident." "what a pity!" the exclamation escaped from the resident's lips in spite of himself. "there was no harm done, however," continued mr. thomasz. "how so? go on with your tale." "well, sir, when mr. zuidhoorn told the vice-djaksa that he called upon him to fill the place of the absent official, the poor fellow most suddenly was seized with a violent fit of colic!" "a fit of colic!" laughed van gulpendam. "what fun, what fun!" "yes, and so severe was the poor fellow's attack that he made the most extraordinary grimaces--in fact it literally doubled him up." "oh how rich--how very rich!" cried van gulpendam still laughing immoderately. "and, at length--with both hands to his stomach--was compelled to rush out of the room." "with both hands!" shouted van gulpendam, "come anchor, anchor! thomasz, you will be the death of me." the deputy-recorder looked around with much gravity--never before in all his official career had he had such success as a low comedian, and, thinking he might venture further, he resumed: "aye--but--resident, that was not the funniest part of it." "not? well give way--full speed ahead!" "no, resident, the funniest part of the whole business was mr. zuidhoorn's face. that's what you ought to have seen. he sat there, with his mouth wide open, scowling over his spectacles which hung down low on his nose, after the retreating figure of the colic-stricken djaksa; and, in his loose gown, he looked for all the world like an old gingham umbrella in a cover much too big for it." "that will do! that will do! mr. thomasz," grinned van gulpendam, "you have told your story splendidly!" the deputy-recorder made a low bow in acknowledgment of the compliment. "and what happened next?" "why then, resident, nothing could happen--there was no djaksa, no usher of the court--so the session could not go on. the members present were smiling and were beginning to look at their watches; evidently they had had quite enough of sitting there to no purpose. so mr. zuidhoorn had no option--he brought down his hammer and adjourned the court for a week. thereupon i hurried off at once to bring you the news." "and capitally you have done it, mr. thomasz! i am much obliged to you--at the proper time i will repay your zeal." as soon as the deputy-recorder had left, van gulpendam turned to his secretary who, with folded arms, had stood listening to the conversation. "our object, you see, has been attained--now to take advantage of the fair tide. you must take care that all the documents are ready in good time--next week i purpose to take the chair myself at the assizes." "everything shall be in readiness, sir," replied the secretary; "but will you allow me to make one remark?" "by all means, secretary--fire away!" "the whole of this business seems to me to be a very serious game." "how so?" exclaimed van gulpendam, "do you think i am afraid of burning my hands in cold water?" "what i mean, resident, is this. it is a very lucky chance indeed that mr. zuidhoorn happened to disregard your injunction and that he was thus compelled to adjourn the court for another week." "well!" cried van gulpendam impatiently, "cut it short." "if he had not done so," continued the secretary, "you would this day have presided--would you not?" "certainly, and then we should have settled matters by this time." the secretary scratched his ear. "resident," said he thoughtfully, "are you sure of mr. meidema?" "sure of meidema? what has he to do with it?" "the opium-haul they made at moeara tjatjing," continued the secretary, "is a pretty valuable one. i fancy that meidema is rather looking forward to reaping some benefit from the confiscation which must follow the sentence of the court." "has he told you so? has he given you any hint to that effect?" "not exactly, resident. but you must remember mr. meidema has a large family to provide for; and it is whispered in santjoemeh that he finds some difficulty in making both ends meet. indeed it would not surprise me to hear that he is in debt. so, you see, a little windfall of that kind would come in very handy." "but," said van gulpendam "he has no right to any such thing--the law forbids it." "you are quite right, resident, nothing ever escapes your eagle eye; but yet--'il y a des accommodements avec le ciel,' and therefore--" "but how?" asked van gulpendam testily. "look you, resident, that i can't tell you--i don't know; but i fancy some loophole could be found. in this particular case, for instance, baboe dalima is the real discoverer. now supposing she, in order to save her ardjan, should hand over her share or part of it--and remember she can have not the slightest idea of its value--to a third party?" for a moment or two the resident reflected, then with a smile he turned to his secretary and said: "well--even if that were so--that does not explain to me why i should distrust mr. meidema. as far as i can see, any hope of sharing in the profits of the confiscated tjandoe would make him as pliable as spun yarn." "it is very possible, resident, your judgment is seldom at fault; but you must not lose sight of the 23rd clause of the opium-law. for myself, i would not mind swearing that mr. meidema is shaping his course with his eye on that particular clause. in the case which he, as head of the local police, has drawn up, you will notice that though he states the opium to have been found not far from the prisoner ardjan, yet he takes care to add that the javanese came ashore in a small surf-boat which could not possibly have conveyed so large a quantity, and which, moreover, was dashed to pieces by the waves; whereas the packages discovered show no trace whatever of having been in contact with water." "is that mentioned in his report?" "yes, resident, it is, and there is something else. he draws attention to the fact that the schooner brig kiem pin hin was seen cruising about off the coast on the night in question, and that the cutter of the matamata gave chase to a boat of the smuggling vessel." "did you read that report?" asked van gulpendam who now began to be really alarmed. "very possibly you are on the right tack," the resident muttered rather than said. "now, mr. secretary, be kind enough to hand me mr. meidema's report as soon as ever it reaches our office, and further send an oppasser to request that gentleman, in my name, to step over here at once." this, of course, was a dismissal in optimã¢ formã¢. when van gulpendam found himself alone he looked up the act of 1874 and said: "the secretary mentioned clause 23 i think. let us see. oho! a fine of one thousand to ten thousand guilders! and, when i come to consider how, on the evening of the occurrence, mr. meidema laid stress upon the exact value of the capture of tjandoe--yes, then i am driven to confess that our secretary may perhaps be in the right channel after all." he sprang up from his seat, and with rapid steps began to walk up and down the gallery. "oh!" cried he gnashing his teeth with vexation--"all this bother brought on by that wretched fellow van nerekool! oh--if anna would but consent!" chapter xxiv. parents v. daughter; duty v. authority. yes, if anna would but consent! but, that was the very thing she would not do. after both her parents, who were so strangely unlike their high-minded child, had employed every means in their power to induce anna to join their conspiracy by using the influence she had over van nerekool, the girl had replied: "no, never!" just as firmly and just as resolutely as charles himself had uttered those words in reply to mrs. van gulpendam in the garden of the residence. "no, never, never!" said the true-hearted girl as emphatically as it was possible to pronounce the words. "but remember," cried laurentia, "his whole career depends upon the attitude you choose to assume in this matter!" "charles shall never condescend to seek promotion by stooping to a mean, dishonourable action," was the girl's reply. "anna!" shouted the resident, in a furious rage, "take care what you say! i advise you to keep some check upon your tongue!" "for goodness sake, gulpie," interposed laurentia soothingly, "now do be quiet--anger will not mend matters." and then turning again to her daughter, she continued: "and anna, i wish you not to lose sight of the fact that the possibility of your union with van nerekool depends wholly on your present line of conduct." "my union!" sadly exclaimed the poor girl. "a woman who is really in love," continued her mother, "has a very considerable amount of power to influence the man upon whom she has set her affections." "but, mother, do you then really wish me to try and persuade charles to lend himself to an infamous breach of duty?" "anna, don't go too far!" roared van gulpendam, beside himself with anger. "would you," continued anna, "would you have me deliberately widen the gap which is already growing between us? no, no, i shall not do that. all joy has been swept out of my life for ever; and i have now but one wish left, and that is that my image, pure and unsullied, may continue to live in his memory. i can never become his wife, that i know well; but my name at least shall remain with him as fair and as spotless as the remembrance of a blissful dream!" "but, anna," persisted her mother, speaking in her most honeyed and winning tones, "but, anna, my dear girl, why should you talk thus? why should there be no joy for you in this life? surely that is tormenting yourself quite needlessly." "oh, mother!" cried the poor girl, "do spare me the pain and the sorrow of having to utter words which will be most distressing to you and most painful to my father to hear. no, no! of happiness for me there can be no further question--of a union with van nerekool, i must never again allow myself to think!" "ah," sighed laurentia, "if you would but--" "yes, mother, just so, if i could but--but i will not. suppose, for a moment, that charles were weak enough to yield to my persuasion. suppose i could succeed in talking him over, and could get him to consent to your proposals. why then, from that very moment, every tender feeling would be wiped clean out of my breast. if such a thing ever could be--why then, i would utterly despise a man who is ready to offer up his duty to his inclination; and who could be base enough to stoop to a crime, in order to win the girl upon whom he has set his heart." "anna, not another word!" cried van gulpendam, in the most threatening accents. "but, father," she continued, "surely i ought to tell you what my feelings are. i must give utterance to thoughts which seem to choke me! as certainly as i know that i wish him to keep a pure and stainless memory of me--so surely am i convinced that he also, on his part, desires nothing more fervently than that his name should dwell with me, as it does now, great, noble, and strictly upright! oh, i could not, indeed, bear to face the life of utter desolation, which would be in store for me were i compelled to despise him whom now, above all human beings, i look up to as noble and great. no, no, if such a thing could ever come to pass--then my misery would be too great a burden to bear! come what will, the memory of charles shall always remain unsullied in my heart." mrs. van gulpendam could but heave a deep sigh, while her husband was trembling with suppressed rage. at length he exclaimed, in the tones of a man who has fully made up his mind, "let us cut this short, it has lasted too long. i take it then, anna, that you absolutely and finally refuse to accede to your mother's suggestion?" "yes, father--i do refuse most positively," said anna, in a tone not one whit less resolute than her father's. "mind, you are utterly spoiling all his prospects in life," said van gulpendam, warningly. "better that," was her reply, "much better, than that i should rob him of his honour." "it makes your marriage with him impossible." "i know it but too well," sighed anna, "but i cannot help that--the fault of that lies with my parents." "how can you make that out?" exclaimed laurentia. "he cannot, and he never shall, marry the daughter of parents who could venture to make him such infamous proposals!" "anna!" roared her father, "you are utterly forgetting yourself--it is time we should have no more of this. a girl who dares to make use of such language to her parents shows herself unworthy of them. i fully intended to put an end to this nonsensical love-story altogether. it has, indeed, already compromised you. i intended to send you away, for a while, on a visit to karang anjer; and i meant you to start on your journey next week. now, however, i change my mind; and you must be off at once--to-morrow morning." "to-morrow morning!" exclaimed laurentia. "what will the steenvlaks say to this sudden change of plan?" "assistant resident steenvlak," replied her husband, "has been suddenly called away to batavia. he has been obliged to leave mrs. steenvlak and her daughters at karang anjer, and, as he may be away from home for a considerable time, the family will no doubt be glad enough to have someone to stay with them during his absence. however that may be, anna will, i am sure, be welcome. i am going to my office this moment and will at once send off a telegram to karang anjer. to-morrow morning anna will start for poerworedjo, a friend of mine will be there to meet her, and he will take her on in his carriage to the steenvlaks. she will travel by way of koetoe ardjo and keboemen." laurentia heaved a deep sigh. "we shall have but very little time to get her things ready," said she. the remark itself and still more the way she made it, showed plainly enough that the bother of this sudden departure touched her much more nearly than the separation from her child. "oh! mother," said anna as quietly as possible, "pray leave all that entirely to me. i shall be quite ready to start to-morrow, as early as ever you please." "do you intend her to stay long with the steenvlaks?" asked laurentia. "that will very much depend upon herself," was van gulpendam's reply. "i don't want to see her face again, unless she consents to return in a much more submissive mood, and is prepared to behave in a dutiful and becoming manner to her parents." as he uttered these words, van gulpendam glanced at his daughter hoping--perhaps expecting--that he might detect in her some signs of relenting. but, though she was deadly pale, anna did not betray the feelings which were stirring within her. on her placid features there was no trace either of irresolution or of defiance; there was nothing but quiet determination and settled purpose. "you have, i presume," continued the resident, "well weighed and thoroughly understood what i said?" he rose and prepared to go to his office. "certainly, father, i have understood you perfectly. to-morrow morning i leave this house never to set foot in it again. even if you had not so decided, i myself would have insisted upon an immediate separation." "oh, ho! does the wind sit in that quarter? and pray, may i be allowed to ask my proud and independent daughter what plans she may have formed for the future? she surely must be aware that she cannot quarter herself for an indefinite period of time upon the steenvlaks?" van gulpendam, as he put the question, assumed a tone and manner in the highest degree offensive and taunting. but anna would not allow herself to be ruffled and, in the calmest possible way she replied: "you ask me, father, what are my plans for the future, and i must beg you to allow me to keep my intentions to myself. for the present moment i gladly accept the hospitality of the steenvlaks. you know how fond i am of the two girls and how much i respect and admire their mother. but, as to the future, my plans are, at present, i must confess, very vague. i do not very well know what to say about them; and, even if i were ever so anxious to give you my confidence, i could hardly tell you what i intend to do. of one thing, however, you may rest assured--whatever may happen, i shall never again be a source of trouble or expense to you." "indeed!" replied van gulpendam, still in his sneering tone. "indeed! and so my daughter seems to fancy that she can step out into the wide world without a penny in her pocket! i am very curious to learn what impressions she may have formed of that world." "you must pardon me, father," replied the young girl still very quietly; "but now you compel me to touch upon a subject which i feel is a very delicate one. you have given me an education which has but very poorly fitted me to provide for my own maintenance. yes--i might, perhaps, earn something by giving music lessons; but here in java i could not well do so without casting a reflection upon your name. to go to holland and there have to roam about the streets in search of employment--the very thought is repugnant to my feelings. but all these are matters for future consideration." "oh, you think so?" sneered van gulpendam, "for future consideration! now, it appears to me, that in such schemes, the earning of money ought to be the first and most important consideration." "such being your opinion," replied anna with a sigh, but no less resolutely and calmly than before, "i must now come to business. i did not think i should ever have had to speak to you on this subject at all--indeed the matter would never have crossed my lips, had not necessity compelled me to speak out freely. two years ago, you remember, we received the news that grandmamma van gulpendam had died at gouda. the same mail which brought us the sad tidings of her death, brought me a letter forwarded by her lawyer. in that letter the dear old lady took a most affectionate leave of me and told me how much she regretted that she had never had the opportunity of seeing me or becoming acquainted with me. she informed me further that, in her will, she had left me the sum of 30,000 guilders, and that, as soon as i was nineteen, the money would be at my disposal. she begged me, however, not to mention the matter to you as she did not wish to deprive you of the pleasure of giving me that surprise on my nineteenth birthday. her lawyer merely added a few words confirming my grandmother's communication; and he went on to tell me that he had invested the capital in the 4 1/2 per cents, and that, by the express desire of the deceased, the money was not to be realised. well, the interest of this sum, which is mine and which you will hardly refuse to give me, is amply sufficient for my present wants. next year i shall be nineteen and i shall then have the power to dispose of the capital. by that time i shall have made up my mind as to the manner in which i can most usefully employ it." all this, the young girl spoke so naturally and so quietly that both her parents, who latterly had gained some insight into the character of their daughter, understood perfectly well that they had to deal with a resolution which nothing could shake. they were, indeed, greatly surprised to find that anna was so well informed as to the dispositions which her grandmother had made in her favour; but they felt that denial or resistance to her claim were alike impossible. indeed her better nature began to prevail over the mother, and tears stood in her eyes as she said: "anna! poor child! what a terrible future you are laying up for yourself!" "mother," was the girl's reply, "a future more terrible than that which must await me here, i cannot possibly conceive. what worse misfortunes can overtake me? i defy fortune to be more cruel to me in the time to come than she has already shown herself in the past." at these words van gulpendam rose from the seat he had resumed. he put his hand to his throat as if to clear away something which was rising there and threatened to choke him. but, his was a tyrannical nature, and he at once repressed the natural emotion which, he feared, might overcome him. the very consciousness, indeed, of the fact that his child was so much purer, so much better and stronger than he was himself, was unbearable to him. "yes! yes!" he exclaimed, "that is all mighty fine--very fine and very romantic! unfortunately it lacks common sense. we have now said all we have to say to each other and the upshot of it is that i stick to my resolution; and that to-morrow morning early, you leave for karang anjer." "i am not aware, father," said the girl with much dignity, "i am not aware that i have made any attempt to alter your decision." "very good, that settles the matter!" cried van gulpendam, and then, with concentrated fury in his voice, he continued: "we shall find some way of breaking that little temper." these were his parting words as he turned to go. on the morrow of this most painful interview, just as day was about to dawn, a carriage stood waiting at the steps of the residential mansion. it was one of those light conveyances drawn by four horses which europeans often use in the interior of java where railways are unknown, and which are well suited to traverse long distances along broken roads and steep mountain paths. under the back seat of this vehicle was strapped a small travelling bag, only just big enough to contain a few necessary articles of clothing. anna had made up her mind that she would not take away with her out of her father's house any single thing but what was strictly necessary. even that she would have left behind, but for the consideration that the interest of the money left her by her aunt which, for the last two years, had not been paid to her, amply sufficed to cover the value of the few things she packed up. not a single jewel, not one silk dress, not the least bit of lace, did that little bag contain. she carefully left all those superfluities behind her, and would carry away nothing but a little underclothing and a couple of plain muslin dresses. the small travelling trunk had scarcely been strapped into its place before anna herself appeared in the front gallery. she was clad with the utmost simplicity in a black dress, and dark-coloured bonnet. there was on her person nothing whatever to catch the eye but the plain linen collar and the cuffs round her wrists, and these narrow strips of white seemed only to increase the demureness and earnestness of her appearance. as she thus prepared to leave her parents' home, she was alone, not a soul was by to comfort her. the rosy dawn was casting its friendly light over the garden, upon the shrubs, the flowers, the leaves, and even over the furniture of the verandah; and the young girl cast a yearning, sorrowful glance upon all these familiar objects which awakened so many memories in her breast. for an instant it seemed as if she hesitated; but it was only for an instant, for hastily brushing away the tears which were silently stealing down her cheeks, she sprang upon a splendid devoniensis which was growing against the balustrade, and hastily plucked one just opening bud which she put into her bosom as she muttered with a sob: "my darling flower, you shall go with me into exile!" and the next moment she had jumped into the carriage which immediately started. not another sigh, not another look. the final separation was thus accomplished. the vehicle rumbled heavily through the massive and highly ornamented gates, and then with all speed made for the hill-country of the interior of java. anna meanwhile throwing herself back in the carriage gave way to sad reflections. but all the while, hidden by the venetian blinds, anna's mother had been standing and watching her daughter with feverish anxiety. she had caught the desolate expression in anna's eyes as she glanced around upon all those familiar objects which from childhood had been so dear to her; she had seen the girl plucking that rosebud, and her eyes had eagerly followed her as she sprang into the carriage. then a hoarse cry escaped from her lips, "my god, my god," she sobbed, "has it come to this? where there was everything to ensure happiness! how will all this end?" aye indeed; how was it all to end? that was a question to which the future was to give a terrible answer. late on that afternoon, anna arrived at a small dessa in the interior, and left her carriage while a change of horses was being made. she asked the postmaster if he would allow her to sit down and rest awhile in his bamboo verandah, and he very readily granted her request. then she drew forth her writing materials and was soon wholly absorbed in the work of writing a letter. for a few moments she sat irresolute, her pale and careworn face plainly enough showing that she had a most difficult and serious task before her. first she heaved a deep sigh; then two big, burning tears slowly trickled down and fell heavily on the paper before her. but at length, by degrees she appeared to be carried away by her subject, and she wrote on in feverish haste. yes, the subject of that letter was indeed to the young girl a serious and difficult one; for she was composing her last letter to her lover van nerekool. in the condition of utter loneliness in which she then was, she laid bare her whole soul to him, and, although words thus written were intended to meet the eye only of him to whom they were addressed; yet the novelist is guilty of no indiscretion if he should glance over the young girl's shoulder to gain an insight into her feelings and thus give the motive for her actions. the letter was not a very long one; yet it cost poor anna a great deal of anxious thought. "mr. van nerekool," she wrote, "from the evening when we met on the occasion of the ball at the residence, i have, in spite of all your endeavours to obtain another interview, purposely avoided seeing you again. on that occasion you asked me to become your wife, and i allowed you to speak to my parents on the subject. under those circumstances you were no doubt perfectly justified in seeking for further intercourse with me, and it is for this reason that i now address these last words to you. after i left you in the garden, you had a long interview with my mother, and it was not until the following morning that i learned what had been the subject of conversation between you. pardon me, mr. van nerekool, for i know that a child ought not to criticise the actions of her parents; but it is that conversation and the fact that my father endorses everything my mother then said, that makes my union with you impossible. yours is an upright and loyal nature, and you cannot and must not think of making me your wife after the infamous proposals which have been made to you. you will say perhaps that a child is not guilty of the actions of her parents and cannot be held responsible for them. in that you are perfectly right, and i must tell you that my conscience is as clear, and that, if in my present forlorn condition i may be allowed so to speak, i, at this present moment, hold up my head as high as before i knew anything of my mother's designs. but to be always face to face with the man to whom the odious propositions were made; to be ever conscious, even in our tenderest moments, of the fact that i was flung to the man i love as the price of dishonour, that is a prospect which to me is utterly unendurable. you are a gentleman, and, as such, you would, no doubt, always have treated my parents with deference and with the proper show of respect; but to know that all this must be a mere empty show put on in deference to a daughter's natural affections, o charles!--allow me for the last time to call you by that dear name--o charles! that would have made life an intolerable burden to me, and must inevitably, in the end, have destroyed your happiness also. "i am writing these words to you from sapoeran where i am resting for a few minutes while we are changing horses. you have, no doubt, heard that i am going on to karang anjer to stay with the steenvlaks. my father, i know, has proclaimed that fact loudly enough and it must have come to your ears. yes! i am now on my way to that lonely retreat; but that is only the first stage on the long and difficult road which lies before me. do you ask what i intend to do? well, my dear friend, i myself do not yet know what my future course will be. it is most probable that i shall try and get away to europe, or perhaps to australia. this much, however, is quite certain; that after my visit to the steenvlaks i shall disappear altogether; for the very name of van gulpendam has become hateful to me. but, charles, when i shall have vanished, when even my very name shall no longer be mentioned, and i shall be as one over whom the grave has closed; then, i know, you will be generous enough to give a thought now and then to the poor girl who, innocent of even a thought of evil, would have esteemed herself only too happy to have been able to call herself yours; but for whom such happiness was not reserved. one request i have to make. do not lose sight of dalima. i know her sad condition. i know all about it. i know more about her misfortunes, at least as far as its authors are concerned, than you can do. but, for my sake, i know you will not leave that unhappy girl to her fate. i have no doubt that on the pretended accusation of opium smuggling, she will be found guilty, and condemned. i know it but too well! with our false notions of right and wrong, whenever opium enters into any question, no other result is, i fear, possible. but, oh! i beg of you, do not abandon her. do not allow her, when once she regains her freedom, to sink into that pool of infamy into which all her countrymen inevitably fall, when, guilty, or not guilty, they have once come under the ban of our criminal law. and now, dearest charles, farewell! in this world we shall meet no more. i will not, i cannot, ask you to forget me, a passing thought you will sometimes bestow upon her who now will bear no other name than "anna." this letter the poor girl put into the hands of the postmaster, and it was sent off in due course though not so soon as she wished; for in those inland parts the mail goes out but twice a week. although the distance between sapoeran and poerworedjo was not very great, yet the sun had fairly set before the carriage reached the latter place. anna put up at the hotel, and, after having partaken of some refreshment, she lay down thoroughly wearied out by the journey, and fortunately she was soon fast asleep. after this short digression which the thread of our story required, we return to the residence at santjoemeh. when the secretary left the room, resident van gulpendam had bitterly exclaimed: "oh, if anna would but consent!" for a while he seemed lost in thought and sat turning over in his mind how matters would have stood if anna could have persuaded van nerekool to give way, and if he, on the conditions proposed to him, had been appointed president of the court. "well!" he muttered at length, "it can't be helped. however, we shall manage i suppose to weather this norwester and to get our boat safe into harbour." "but," he continued, "what did the secretary mean by alluding to that clause in the opium-law? let me see, which was it? oh yes, i have it, clause 23. just let us have another look at it!" herewith he took up the bundle of papers which he had replaced among other documents on the ledge over his writing-table. for some time he fingered the pages, turning them over impatiently, at length he exclaimed: "oh, here we are! no. 228. now let us see, clause 23--'all offences committed against the regulations herein laid down to which no special penalties are attached, are punishable by a fine of one thousand to ten thousand guilders for every hundred katies of opium or under, and of one hundred guilders for every additional katie?' by jove! the fellow is right after all!--that's where the coast lies, is it? we shall have to get out another anchor. it is not at all a bad idea, but--" "the inspector requests the honour of an interview with you kandjeng toean!" cried one of the oppassers, as he flung open the door to announce mr. meidema. "show him in," was the reply. "resident," began the inspector as he entered, "i just now met your secretary, and he told me that you wished to see me." "quite right, mr. meidema, pray be seated. i have just seen your report on that smuggling business at moeara tjatjing; but i am surprised to find that your statement does not at all agree with the actual facts of the case." "how is that, resident?" "no, mr. meidema, no it does not. will you please try to recall our conversation on the very evening of the discovery?" continued the resident with his eye steadily fixed upon his subordinate. "i remember that conversation perfectly, resident." "well," resumed van gulpendam, "if my memory serves me, i then pointed out to you--and i did so by means of witnesses--that the opium was found in the possession of the javanese called ardjan. at the time you seemed to agree with me." "certainly, resident, i did not just then venture to contradict the opinion you had formed, and which you so positively stated as your conviction. it was, however, my duty to investigate the matter--" "and?"--interrupted van gulpendam. "and the result of that investigation has led me to the conclusions i have embodied in the report of the case which, as head of the police, it was my duty to draw up." "yes," hastily said the resident, "against all probability, and in the teeth of the evidence!" "by your leave, resident," said meidema, "the report--" "shall i tell you," broke in van gulpendam, "shall i tell you to what your investigation has led you?" but mr. meidema, carried away by his argument, paid no heed to the question, and continued: "the report, for the matter of that, is not binding upon the court." "that's a good job too," said van gulpendam, somewhat sarcastically; "but i asked you just now to what your inquiry has led you." "to what it has led me, resident?" replied meidema. "i think that is a very strange question, coming from you. i have, as i was in duty bound, held an inquiry simply for the sake of arriving at the truth." "of course, mr. meidema, that is supposed to be the object of every inquiry; but i think that this particular investigation may have led you to a somewhat different result." "what may that be, resident?" asked the other, calmly. "it has led you to the discovery that the fines, which are to be divided among the finders of the smuggled opium, can more easily be recovered from the wealthy farmer than from the poor javanese fellow out of which no one can screw anything at all." "resident!" cried meidema, "such language--" "mr. meidema, pray be calm. my words merely express the impression which your report has made upon my mind." "but, resident, i have nothing whatever to do with the fines. they are no business of mine. i am perfectly acquainted with the law on the subject, and i really do not know what meaning i must attach to your insinuations." "oh, come," said van gulpendam scornfully, "do you think i am not up to all the dodges by which the law may be evaded?" "resident," said meidema, indignantly, "i must really request you to modify your opinion of me. i never have stooped to any of the dodges you think fit to allude to. not a single penny of the fines, not a single grain of the opium has ever come into my hands. and, allow me to say, that if you do not feel thoroughly convinced that when i say so i speak the bare truth--why then the office you hold compels you to lodge an accusation against me at head quarters." "mr. meidema," said van gulpendam, coolly, "we are, i fear, wandering away from our subject. you tell me that you have been holding an inquiry--do you not? now pray let me know, whose evidence may you have heard?" "whose evidence? why, in the first place that of the prisoner ardjan--" "of course, he has told you that he has nothing to do with the matter, that i can quite understand. whom else did you examine?" "i next took the evidence of baboe dalima--" "oh, yes, she also is locked up on a charge of opium smuggling; she has no doubt given her lover a most excellent character. fine witnesses those of yours, mr. meidema, i must say. have you any others?" "yes," replied the inspector, quietly, "i have examined the dessa people who were that night pressed to assist in ardjan's arrest." "and?" cried van gulpendam, impatiently. "come, look sharp!" "and their story contradicts, on almost every point, that of the police oppassers." "of course it does, those dessa dogs always hang together; but all that ought not to have satisfied you as chief inspector of police." "no, resident, it ought not, i confess; and what is more, it has not," continued meidema. "when the evidence appeared to me so very contradictory, i myself went down in person to moeara tjatjing, to inspect the boat in which ardjan is said to have brought the opium ashore." "and you found nothing?" inquired van gulpendam. "oh, yes, resident, i did. i found the surf-boat, and i am fully satisfied that it was much too small to contain the captured opium." "if i remember rightly, mr. meidema," observed van gulpendam, "that boat is said to have held two persons, ardjan and dalima?" "quite so, resident." "the boat then was large enough to hold those two, eh?" "yes, resident, it might have done so; but there was room for nothing more." "but," asked van gulpendam, "supposing now that baboe dalima never was in that boat at all--what would you say to that, mr. meidema?" "never in the boat at all, resident!" exclaimed the other, in astonishment. "in that case," continued the resident, "i suppose there might have been room for the opium if carefully stowed away?" "well, yes, perhaps," said meidema; "but the proof--" "oh, yes, the proof--i can find you proof enough. i myself can solemnly declare that, during the whole of that night, baboe dalima never left my house at all. and not only so, but all the members of my family are ready to declare as much." "well!" said meidema, "then all i can say is that the case is beginning to assume a very serious aspect." "why! what are you driving at now?" exclaimed van gulpendam. "come, man, fire away!" "i mean that your statement directly contradicts the word of your daughter." "my daughter--the chatter of a silly girl!" "not so, resident," continued meidema, very seriously, "i have in my possession a formal statement in miss van gulpendam's own handwriting, in which she gives a detailed account of baboe dalima's abduction, of her forcible detention on board the schooner brig kiem ping hin, and of her rescue by ardjan." van gulpendam turned pale at those words, he felt as if he had received a stunning blow; mr. meidema, however, did not allow him time to recover his composure, but continued: "i have further in my possession the sworn testimony of the mate and the crew of the coastguard ship matamata, which proves that on the night in question they manned the cutter in order to give chase to a surf-boat which contained two persons. that they fired upon them; but that they were compelled to give up the chase because of the tremendous sea that was running at moeara tjatjing in which their clumsy craft would have had no chance to keep afloat. thus you perceive, resident, that there were actually two persons in that boat, and that, consequently, there could have been no room for the opium. moreover--" "what else?" broke in van gulpendam, who was gradually recovering from his surprise. "moreover, the surf-boat was dashed to pieces on the beach. i saw the wreck lying partly in the water and partly covered with mud, and i have witnesses to prove that the cases, in which the smuggled opium was packed, had not been in contact with sea-water at all. no, no, resident, i am firmly persuaded that the stuff never came ashore in that boat, and further, that ardjan has had no hand in the transaction." for a few moments the resident sat lost in thought. "mr. meidema," he said at length, "have you, as you were bound to do, employed an expert to ascertain the quantity, the quality, and the particular kind of opium that was found?" "yes, resident, i have done so." "have you secured the surf-boat itself?" "yes, resident," replied meidema, "i did so; but, owing to some strange neglect for which i am unable to account, the watchman at the town jail, who had charge of the boat and with whom i had deposited it for safety, had broken up the boat and used the timber for firewood." a smile flitted over van gulpendam's features, as he muttered, inaudibly: "i have found the leak, i can caulk it," and then, aloud, he said: "that's a thousand pities--to whose negligence do you ascribe that?--but, never mind, we can look into that some other time. now, mr. meidema, will you allow me to give you a piece of good advice?" "oh, resident, you know, i am always most happy to receive good advice," was the reply. "your finances," continued van gulpendam, "are not in the most flourishing condition, i think. eh?" "resident!" "you have a large family--and your expenses must be considerable. well then, my advice to you is this: try and arrange matters quietly with the opium farmer." "what do you mean, resident?" cried meidema, in utter amazement. "you are shrewd enough, mr. meidema, to understand my drift. lim yang bing is a wealthy man, and a kind, indulgent father. his son, you know, is on the eve of making an excellent match. he won't be so very particular just now as to what he pays." "resident!" "and then," continued van gulpendam, "another piece of advice let me give you. very luckily for you the court, which was to have sat to-day and given judgment on that opium-case, has been adjourned. you see, you have yet time to alter that report of yours; which, i must say, appears to me to be drawn up with too much partiality." "that i will never do!" cried meidema, vehemently interrupting his chief. "mr. meidema," resumed van gulpendam, "i am merely giving you friendly advice. you have a large family--there are a good many mouths to feed. however, think the matter over well." "no, never, never, resident!" "very well, in that case our interview may be considered at an end. but don't be in a hurry, think it over well." when mr. meidema had left, the resident stood for a while gazing after him. at length, hoarse with passion, he cried out: "that opposition must be overcome." chapter xxv. eve's daughters and the serpent. a couple of days after mrs. meidema was sitting with her two daughters in one of the hinder galleries of her house. our reader has already made a slight acquaintance with the pretty pair of twins on the occasion of the reception and ball at the residence. they were now sitting with their mother, very busy mending a heap of boys' clothing which appeared to be in a deplorable state. "it is too bad,--really it is shameful," said gesina. "now just do look at this, mother,--why the sleeve is literally torn out of it, and there is a huge rent right in the breast. i say, mother, do you think that jacket is worth patching up?" "to be sure it is, sijntje," replied the mother, "now just you set to work with a will." "those good-for-nothing boys!" cried gesina, "they keep us stitching for them all day long." "come, come," threw in her sister matilda, "boys will be boys, and ours are so full of spirits." "that is no reason, i suppose," said gesina, "why they should be climbing trees all day, and get their clothes in such a frightful state." "how do you suppose a boy is to keep out of a tree?" asked matilda. "if i were a boy i would do just the same." the mother smiled at her daughter's warm defence of her little brothers. "oh, yes," said she, "it would be a pretty sight to see matilda up a tree." the two young girls had a laugh at the idea, and then gesina said, "don't you think, mother dear, that you might get us a needlewoman to help us with all this heap of clothes." "my dear girl, what are you thinking about?" asked mrs. meidema. "well," continued matilda, coming to her sister's help, "i must say i think the idea a very good one." "but, my dear girls, pray remember that a needlewoman would have to be paid, and pray where is the money to come from?" "anna van gulpendam," put in matilda quickly, "i know always has her needlewoman." "no doubt she has," said mrs meidema; "but you must remember, tilda, that anna is an only child, and that she is, moreover, the resident's daughter." "is there then very much difference, mother, between the income of a resident and that of an assistant resident." "i should think so, indeed," replied mrs. meidema; "the resident draws fifteen hundred guilders a month at least, and your father has at the most but five hundred." "so much difference as that," said matilda, seriously; "indeed i never thought it was so much." "and then, tilda dear," continued her mother, "as i said before, the resident has but one daughter, and we have five children to provide for." "are children very expensive?" asked gesina. "you can reckon it up for yourself, sijntje--there is food to get and clothing and school-fees and--oh, ever so many odds and ends besides." "it is a pity!" sighed the girl, after a while. "what is a pity?" "it is a pity that boys are such an expensive luxury, for they are jolly little fellows." "now did you ever hear such a girl?" laughed mrs. meidema, "first she grumbles at the trouble those good-for-nothing boys give her, and then she calls them jolly little fellows!" "well, mother dear, you must let me grumble a bit now and then, i really can't help it when we have such a heap of boys' clothes to mend," and with these words the young girl laid her fair head lovingly on her mother's shoulder. "money is not everything," said matilda, sententiously, as she kept on stitching busily, while mrs. meidema was running her fingers through her daughter's flowing curls. the difference between her father's income and the pay of resident van gulpendam led matilda to make this philosophical remark. "of course not, matilda," replied gesina, "of course not; money is not everything--look at us now, are we not happy?" "yes," said matilda, "and to complete the comparison, could anyone be happier even in the residence itself? oh, when i come to think over what has happened, i cannot help feeling very sad. poor, poor anna!" "have you had any news from her?" asked gesina, who by this time had resumed her work. "yes, this morning i had a letter from karang anjer, such a wretchedly sad letter. knowing anna's character as i do i can read despair in every word, and i fear--oh, yes, i fear, the very worst--she is capable, i do really think, of any desperate deed." "but," cried gesina, "what can be the matter with her?" "i do not know the rights of it all," replied her sister. "on those matters anna is very reserved; but what i know is that her parents will not consent to her marriage with van nerekool." "oh, she will soon get tired of karang anjer, and then we shall have her back again." "i think not; indeed she writes to tell me that it is her intention never to return. her letter is so full of sorrow, so miserably despondent, it reads to me like a last farewell--as it were a parting for life. she writes to me as her best and truest friend, and beseeches me not to cast a stone at her should her despair prompt her to a step which will make the world scorn her memory. mother dear, what am i to do, what can i do to relieve her--i wish i could go to see her at karang anjer!" "my dear child," said mrs. meidema quietly, "the very best thing you can do is to allude as little as possible, in your correspondence with anna, to her attachment to van nerekool. she has, as you yourself say, not taken you fully into her confidence; and from this you may conclude that there exist secrets which you cannot, without indiscretion, touch upon; and which it would only increase her pain to needlessly pry into. time is the great healer, and it must have its soothing effect upon anna in her distress. i know something of what has been going on, and i am in hopes that things may yet turn out well." "you know what has happened, mother?" cried matilda, "do tell me all about it. i am so dearly fond of anna, that anything which concerns her has, for me, the greatest interest." "matilda," replied mrs. meidema, "anna, who i do not think herself knows just how matters stand, has thought it right to keep silent before you. she has, in my opinion, acted very wisely." "but, mother!" "yes, i say, she has acted very wisely in this matter, for she might perhaps have had to reveal to you a depth of wickedness which a young girl may very well remain ignorant of. you must allow me to follow her example. just now you said, very wisely too, that money is not everything in the world. you were quite right, it is not. there now you see before you a family to which money is no object, which possesses moreover all other requisites for happiness, such as health, consideration, the highest position in our little society; and yet you see there is no happiness. no, money is not everything--but yet--" as she said it, the poor woman heaved a deep sigh. the fact that she was sitting there with her daughters hard at work, showed plainly enough that the earthly dross was not altogether so indifferent to her as her words might seem to imply--and she hesitated to go on--her girls looked up at her with an inquiring glance. "but yet?" asked gesina. "pray finish what you had to say, mother." "well," continued mrs. meidema, "i had but very little to add; yet a couple of hundred guilders a year more would greatly improve our position. we have very heavy expenses to meet, we have a great deal of money to find; and--" the awning which separated the back-gallery from the grounds beyond, and sheltered it from the glaring light outside, was here suddenly flung aside, admitting a dazzling flood of sunlight which made the three ladies look up in surprise. "babah lim yang bing wishes to speak with the master," said one of the servants. "but your master is not in, he is at his office," replied mrs. meidema, "you know that as well as i do." "i told the babah so, njonja," said the man. "well?" "he wishes to speak to the njonja." mrs. meidema made a gesture of impatience. but lim yang bing, the wealthiest chinaman in the residence of santjoemeh--perhaps the richest man in all dutch india--was not the kind of man who could very well be turned away. it was, moreover, no very unusual thing for him to come and pay his respects to the ladies and, on such occasions, he generally had some pretty little nick-nacks to show. "very well, show him in," said mrs. meidema. the needle-work had in all haste to be put away and concealed, and some light fancy work had to be snatched up; for it would never do to let that chinaman see a european family employed in such drudgery. "tabeh njonja, tabeh nonna nonna. saja halap--" but we will not attempt to reproduce the chinaman's execrable malay. in fact it would hardly be possible to do so, as the men of his nationality find the greatest difficulty to pronounce some of the consonants, and their talk is often extremely difficult to understand. "good-morning, madam; good-morning, young ladies," said he most courteously, "i hope i am not intruding. i thought i might have found the assistant resident at home; but since i am not so fortunate, i take the liberty of paying my respects to the ladies--in the first place to inquire after their health, and also to tell them a great piece of news." "news?" asked mrs. meidema, who like most women did not lack curiosity. "pray be seated, babah." and, turning to the native servant who was sitting cross-legged on the steps of the gallery, she said: "todrono, bring a chair." as the chinaman took his seat, the two girls looked at him with wonder-waiting eyes. "and now, babah, for your important news!" said mrs. meidema, somewhat eager to hear it. "first," said lim yang bing with another bow, "allow me to inquire after the state of the ladies' health." "oh, thank you," replied mrs. meidema, "we are all perfectly well." "toean allah be praised," cried the chinaman in high-flown tones, but with the sweetest of smiles on his lips. "now for your news, babah!" cried gesina impatiently. "yes, nonna, i don't wonder at your curiosity, you are quite right, the young ladies especially will enjoy it." "but, babah, do pray speak out, tell me what it is all about," cried matilda as eagerly as her sister. "well," said the chinaman, "it is about a wedding." "a wedding!" exclaimed one. "a chinese wedding?" asked the other. "yes, ladies, yes, a chinese wedding, as you say," replied lim yang bing, laying as much stress as he could upon his words. "delightful!" cried both the young girls. "and who may the happy couple be?" asked mrs. meidema somewhat more soberly. "i may not tell you that, nja." "oh!" said gesina with much disappointment in her voice, "then it is not decided yet." "yes," replied lim yang bing, "it is quite certain; it is so far decided indeed that i have samples of the silk with me now." "samples of the silk!" cried both the young girls in a breath. "yes, the samples of silk. you surely must have heard, young ladies, that on such occasions the betrothed couple always make some little presents to the invited guests. and since you ladies will, i hope, honour me by witnessing the ceremony, i have ventured to bring the samples along with me. very fine silk indeed; i ordered it on purpose from nan hioeng. but you must judge for yourselves, ladies." therewith he produced a small parcel which he carefully unfastened and the contents of which he displayed to the women's admiring gaze. "oh!" cried gesina, "just look at that lovely green shot with red! what a charming dress that would make!" "and," exclaimed matilda, "what a splendid blue! dark blue with flowers. if i had to choose, i would--" "and will not mrs. meidema make her choice?" asked lim yang bing. mrs. meidema could not help casting an eye upon the seductive parcel but--she hesitated. "come, come, pray select a sample for yourself, madam," said the chinaman with a supplicating look. "but--babah--" she began, "i have never heard of gifts offered at chinese weddings. i know they are customary at the new year." "yes, yes njonja, you are quite right, on that occasion we offer gifts all round to all our acquaintances; but at a wedding we only do so to our old friends, and--i take the liberty of reckoning the assistant resident among my very good friends." "yes, but babah, you know mr. meidema, do you not?" "surely the njonja would not refuse my poor little present," interrupted the chinaman. "oh, mother, dear!" whispered gesina beseechingly. "no, babah, i will not downright refuse; but before coming to any decision or making any choice, i must have a talk to my husband." "of course, of course," hastily said lim yang bing, "that is nothing more than right and proper. it makes matters, in fact, easier for me, as perhaps, madam, you would not mind to intercede for me with the assistant resident." "intercede for you, babah!" cried mrs. meidema now thoroughly surprised. "you know that my intercession has but very little influence with my husband." the chinaman smiled--it was a cunning leer, as he said: "no, no, madam, i did not mean you to intercede for me--i cannot have expressed myself properly--what i meant was--to intercede for the bridegroom." "for the bridegroom?" asked mrs. meidema. "oh, yes; but who is the happy man, babah?" "madam, that is a secret--however, i may just as well tell you at once; as soon as you know who he is i feel sure i can reckon upon your sympathy. well, the happy man, then, is my son lim ho." "indeed!" said mrs. meidema very coolly, "and who is the young lady?" "ngow ming nio." "the daughter of ngow ming than--is she not? a very pretty girl and a very rich girl too--i am sure i congratulate you, babah." "and now, may i reckon upon you, madam, to intercede for lim ho?" asked the chinaman. "i do not see," said mrs. meidema, "in what lim ho can need my intercession." "ah, well," sighed lim yang bing, "i fear that the poor boy is not in very good odour with the assistant resident. if only you would speak a good word for him, madam." "but why? his marriage can have nothing to do with mr. meidema." "no, njonja; but--" said the chinaman dropping his voice, "you see there is something about an opium business in which the poor boy has got mixed up." "i will have nothing whatever to do with that sort of thing!" exclaimed mrs. meidema now fairly frightened. "there, babah, please put those samples up again." the chinaman was taken aback, he reluctantly rolled up the parcel and slowly and deliberately put it into his pocket. "but, njonja," he mumbled, "the poor fellow is as innocent as the babe unborn." "i won't hear anything about it, babah, not another word, please, on the subject." "if only the toean assistant resident would hear what he has to say," insisted lim yang bing. "come, mother," whispered gesina, who, to her infinite vexation saw the splendid silk dress fading away on the horizon, "if father would but hear what lim ho has to say for himself." mrs. meidema again hesitated. "well," said she, "if my intercession is to go no further than that--i can see no objection to ask my husband to do that." "mother, take care!" said matilda in a very low but very warning voice. "i am infinitely obliged to the njonja," said the chinaman as he took mrs. meidema's hand and gratefully pressed it. "i shall leave these samples here with you--" "oh, no! no! i will have nothing to do with them." "but, mother," whispered gesina. "mother, take care!" said matilda as softly. lim yang bing did not at all like these whisperings of the two young ladies, and so he hastened to say: "my dear madam, i can assure you that those poor samples have nothing in the world to do with your pleading for my son. i have the honour of inviting you and your two charming daughters--and of course, mr. meidema--to be present at my son's marriage. there is not much harm in that i hope. i reckon you among my good friends and, as an acknowledgment of the honour which your presence will confer upon them, the young couple beg you to accept a slight present. in that no one will see any harm i hope; in fact it is simply our national custom. so far, i think we are agreed. this small parcel of samples i will leave here in order that the ladies may have time to make their choice and to talk over the whole matter with the assistant resident when he comes in." put thus plausibly, the offer could hardly be refused. but even if mrs. meidema had wished to make an objection she had no time to do so; for the wily chinaman had very hurriedly put down the parcel on the table, had muttered his tabehs with a few hasty words to the effect that he intended to look in again and ascertain what choice the ladies had made, and then had disappeared. when once the babah was fairly out of the place, the two young girls looked at each other and at their mother. gesina with a smile on her pretty lips, matilda with a very serious expression of countenance. "a chinese wedding!" exclaimed the former. "no doubt there will be a reception and then, what a splendid dance we shall have. when the chinese do give a party they know how to do it well!" "do keep quiet, sijntje," said mrs. meidema. she spoke reprovingly, although, as a loving mother, she was pleased to see her girl's radiant looks. they had so few opportunities to go out, especially to such parties as this promised to be. once a year they got an invitation to the residence, and that was all. "and how fine i shall look," continued the girl in her glee, "in my new silk dress." she took the parcel from the table, "oh, yes," said she, "i have quite made up my mind, i choose the green silk. and you tilda?" "i don't know," replied the other, "but somehow, i feel that all this bodes misfortune." "oh, i say, how very silly! just look at these samples!" cried gesina as she opened the bundle. "oh, what a splendid bit of brown silk--look mother, dear, that is something for you! and that deep blue is tilda's choice; it is fine, yes it is very fine; but the green is to my mind the best of all. just look--but--but--what is that!" gesina was spreading the piece of silk on her knee in order to bring out the fine effect of the colours. as she did so--something slid out of the packet and fell at her feet. for a moment the three ladies sat there as if petrified, for at a glance they had recognized bank-notes--papers of five hundred guilders. at length gesina stooped and picked them up. she counted them, one, two, three--up to ten. "five thousand guilders!" she stammered in utter confusion. "how could they have got into the parcel? it must be some mistake of the babah's--surely he must have made some mistake." "i feared as much!" thought matilda almost aloud. "five thousand guilders!" the thought flashed through mrs. meidema's brain as she took the parcel and the papers from her daughter's hand, "five thousand guilders!" her first impulse was to send at once after the babah and to call him back--to give him his money, and to have him and his samples and his notes kicked out of the house. five thousand guilders! and the chinaman was already so far away. five thousand guilders! was it wise to let the servants know all this--no certainly not--it would not be wise. five thousand guilders! it was about as much as her husband's salary for ten months amounted to. she took up the notes, looked at them, smoothed them down one by one, then rolled them together. five thousand guilders! that would pay all those troublesome tradesmen's bills, and even then, when every farthing was paid, there would be a nice little sum left. then meidema might get leave of absence for a while to go into the hill-country. he wanted a change, lately he had been looking very poorly--a couple of weeks' holidays in the hills would quite set him up. five thousand guilders! the boys might have new jackets. all these thoughts however were cut short by the rumbling of carriage wheels on the drive. "that is father!" cried gesina, "quick! put away those samples and notes!" she tried to seize them, she had already hastily rolled up the whole parcel together and was about to hide it under the coarse needlework with which they had been busy as the chinaman came in. but her mother took it from her and quietly laid it upon the table before her. the voice of her husband was heard in the front gallery giving some orders to his servant, and that voice had startled the good woman out of the train of evil thoughts which had unconsciously risen up within her, and which had threatened to lead her astray from the path of duty. no, no, from the man by whose side she had courageously walked for the best part of her life, she could have no secret; from him, whom she had followed for so many years in weal and in woe, she would have nothing hidden. she determined to lay everything open before her husband, he might then act as he thought best. true, they were very poor; but she felt that she must abide by his decision. all these thoughts, in a moment of time, flashed through the mind of this brave and loyal wife, and when meidema walked into the back-gallery her mind was fully made up. the girls jumped up to give their father the usual kiss, the mother also rose to welcome him. but meidema saw, at a single glance, that there was something wrong. he put his hands on his wife's shoulders and steadily looking her in the face he said cheerily: "i say, mammy dear--is there any news?" "yes, meidema, there is," replied his wife gravely, "sit down, i have something to tell you!" "i say, old girl, you look very serious, are the girls in the way?" "no, no, let them stay, i have no secrets that they may not hear--in fact i prefer them to be here." "my love, how solemn you are! is there anything wrong? anything to do with them eh? have they had an offer? no? of course not, you would not have looked so black if they had." "now pray," said his wife, "pray do not talk such nonsense." "oh, i see, it must be those boys! they have been naughty--trousers torn, jackets in holes! yes--those youngsters are an awful nuisance--never mind all that will come right by-and-by." "all that will come right!"--at those words he stopped short, poor man! his interview with the resident then came to his memory and he began restlessly to pace up and down the gallery. he took out his cigar-case and looked at matilda. she jumped up, "may i light it for you, father?" she said. she put the cheroot to her lips, lighted a match, and drew a few whiffs. as the smoke went curling up her nostrils and into her eyes, she made a funny little grimace--then she coughed slightly and closed her eyes, and, when the cigar was well lighted, she gave it to her father saying: "ah bah, horrid! how can you gentlemen like that nasty smoke?" "why you little minx!" said her father laughing, "you have lit it at the wrong end!" "it is more economical, father." "perhaps so; but that is why it tastes nasty." "well, father," said matilda suddenly growing serious, "now please sit down and attend to mother." "yes, meidema, please sit down," said his wife; "i have to talk to you on a most serious matter." "all right, wifey--here i am seated--now i am all ears." "babah lim yang bing has been here this morning!" "indeed!--i met him a few minutes ago, he greeted me most politely--more politely in fact than usually." "do you know, meidema, what he came here for?" "what he came here for? not i," replied the husband somewhat astonished at his wife's words. the name of the opium-farmer had roused some suspicion within him though he was unable to guess what his errand might have been. "i suppose," said he, after a moment's pause, "i suppose he merely dropped in to have a chat." "do you know," said mrs. meidema, "that his son lim ho is about to be married?" "yes, i have heard some such rumour. to the daughter of that rich old chinaman--is it not?" "yes, father," interrupted gesina, "to pretty little ngow ming nio." "lim yang bing," continued mrs. meidema, "was here this morning to invite you and me and the girls to the wedding." "all right," replied meidema, "the girls will have rare fun; i daresay you know," he continued, as he patted the cheek of one of the twins, "you know a chinese marriage is a most interesting ceremony. is that then the reason why you all look so solemn? oh, aye--i see--it is about the dresses. the other day when the resident gave his ball we had some trouble about that. it is a great expense no doubt; but--" "no, meidema, that is not troubling me, for the chinaman offers us a present." "a present!" shouted the assistant resident. "yes, he tells me that, on such occasions, they always give presents." "quite right--some sweetmeats, a few cakes, perhaps. but what of that?" "no, no," said his wife, "not sweetmeats at all; but silk for dresses." "silk!" cried meidema, "the fellow must have gone mad! i never have heard of any such presents; and yet i have been a good while in india." "he has even left some samples here with us," continued mrs. meidema, "very fine silk, i assure you, most splendid quality. but there was one slight condition attached to his gift." "indeed! a condition! what might that be?" "that i should intercede with you for lim ho." "for lim ho--oh, oh! and what did you say to that?" "i told him i would have nothing to do with it." "where are these samples?" cried meidema. "hand them to me, i will fling them into the fire." "now meidema, do be quiet for a bit!" "intercede for lim ho! so! they thought to bribe you with a yard or two of silk!" "no, no meidema, not only with a yard or two of silk--just open that parcel." the inspector tore it open, and, in his excitement he cried, "where is it?" the banknotes fell to the ground. pale and utterly unnerved he picked them up, he opened them, looked at his wife and daughters with a stern look; but he spoke not a word. at length, breaking out into a curse, he crumpled up the whole parcel of samples and notes together into one formless mass as he hoarsely cried: "the devil take that d--d chinaman! the fellow shall pay for this!" and calling to his servant he cried: "todrono, have the horses put in!" ten seconds later he had dashed out of the room. chapter xxvi. neatly managed. "yes, resident, i accuse the opium farmer of a gross attempt at bribery." such were the words with which mr. meidema concluded his detailed account to mr. van gulpendam of what had taken place at his house that morning. "avast! mr. meidema, steady a bit! you are going ahead much too fast. can you be quite sure that the five thousand guilders were concealed in that parcel of silk samples for the purpose of bribery?" "i have already told you, resident, that what he came for was to induce my wife to exert her influence over me in favour of lim ho. yes, most decidedly. i know that the money was intended for a bribe." "but, mr. meidema," observed the resident, "would it not be much more charitable to suppose that lim yang bing, who is, by nature, a kind and generous man, really felt some concern at your financial difficulties?" "my financial difficulties!" exclaimed meidema, fairly white with rage. "i should like to find out who spreads those absurd rumours. i am not rich, i admit; but if every man's affairs were in as good order as mine! then--" "let us not get out of our course, my dear sir," remarked van gulpendam, interrupting him at the right moment. "very good, resident, i do not wish to do so; but who gives that confounded chinaman any right to trouble himself about my private affairs. what right has he to offer my wife and daughters presents of five thousand guilders?" "but, can you be sure it was meant for a gift?" "what else could the money have been meant for?" asked meidema. "well, i don't know," replied van gulpendam, "but might not the notes have got mixed up with the samples of silk purely by accident? you ought to know how carelessly such fellows handle paper money, they sometimes have a whole bundle of it loose in their pockets. now i am persuaded, on the contrary, that when presently you meet lim yang bing the whole business will be explained to your satisfaction. i will send for him. have you any objection?" "none whatever, resident; but the fellow may say or swear what he likes; it will not alter my opinion, and nothing will make me retract my charge against him." "don't be in such a hurry to blow off steam, mr. meidema, just allow me to prick your chart for you, and you will soon see that you are out of your course altogether." hereupon van gulpendam called one of his oppassers, and ordered the man to mount, and to ride off full speed to the opium farmer's house. "tell him i want him to come to me at once." the two gentlemen had hardly spent half-an-hour in conversation on the ordinary topics of the day, when an elegant carriage, drawn by two splendid persian horses, dashed up to the gate of the residential mansion. a few moments later a servant announced the opium farmer. "show him in," said the resident. lim yang bing sauntered into the room with his usual listless air and with the stereotyped smile on his lips. the oppasser had already told him that he would find the assistant resident of police with his excellency, and he looked upon this as a good sign; and had no doubt but that his troublesome smuggling question would be settled off-hand. he therefore greeted the gentlemen with great cordiality. "tabeh, kandjeng toean, toean!" the resident pointed to a chair, and as soon as lim yang bing was seated, he began: "babah, assistant resident meidema, fancies that he has reason to complain of your conduct." "no, no!" exclaimed meidema, interrupting his superior officer, "i do not fancy anything of the kind, i actually do lodge an accusation against him." both gentlemen spoke in malay, and the chinaman was thus able to understand all that was said. "and what cause of complaint may he have?" asked the celestial, with his imperturbable smile. "you ask me," replied meidema, "what i accuse you of? i will tell you. i accuse you of offering me a bribe--to me, the head of the police!" "i, kandjeng toean?" asked the chinaman, with well acted surprise. "when could i have done such a thing?" "not much more than an hour ago," was the reply. "just now, this very morning at my own house!" "the toean assistant resident must be poking fun at me. it is true that i met him a little while ago; but i had not the honour of exchanging so much as a single word with him." "i know that well enough," interrupted meidema impetuously; "but did you not this morning call at my house?" the chinaman looked upon the interview as a farce, in which every actor had to play his part. he had often acted in such little plays himself and had performed pretty creditably on such occasions. he continued therefore; "oh, yes, kandjeng toean, i did pay your ladies a visit, it was to invite you and them to the wedding, just in the same way, and for the same purpose, as i called at the residence to invite the njonja and his excellency." "indeed!" said meidema, sarcastically, "i suppose you came to offer silk dresses to the njonja resident? eh?" lim yang bing winced under the blow; and his sallow face grew several shades paler. it was beginning to dawn upon him that matters were serious after all, and, in some confusion, he glanced at the resident; but van gulpendam, who was seated directly opposite to the assistant resident, could not, just then, make him any sign; yet lim yang bing thought he could detect an encouraging expression in the resident's eye. "and," continued meidema, with increasing vehemence, "that you offered the njonja resident a roll of bank-notes also. did you not?" as he spoke these words, he flung the money down before him on the writing-table as if it burned his fingers. at this the chinaman turned livid--for a moment he was utterly confounded. "there! you see, resident!" continued meidema, pointing to the farmer. "you see! why, guilt is written in every line of the fellow's face!" at these words lim yang bing recovered his presence of mind, he jumped up at once, snatched up the crumpled notes, spread them out before him, and began deliberately to count them, "one, two, three, four--ten." then slowly raising his expressionless eyes to meidema's face, he asked: "does the toean assistant resident really intend to accuse me of attempting to bribe him?" "yes, babah, i do most decidedly accuse you of it." "but, may i ask, why then does not the kandjeng toean give me back the whole sum?" asked the chinaman, very composedly, and with the usual smirk on his lips. "the whole sum?" cried meidema, utterly taken aback, "what on earth can the fellow mean?" "yes, toean," replied lim yang bing, "i said, the whole sum. i have felt for some time that the toean assistant resident is by no means kindly disposed to me or mine; but i think it is not quite fair of him to fling me back a small part of my money, and so to try and ruin me, while he keeps back the greater part for himself." all this he said without showing the slightest emotion, without the slightest heat, without so much as even raising his voice; but in the drawling sing-song way in which chinamen generally speak; and with the obsequious smirk which chinese features always wear when the owner is addressing a superior. "babah!" shouted meidema trembling with rage, "take care of yourself, don't go too far!" but lim yang bing felt his advantage, and was not to be intimidated. with the same false smile and in the same drawling tones he continued: "but i clearly see what the toean assistant resident is aiming at. the greater part of the present which i took the liberty of offering to the njonja he keeps for himself, and to that he intends to add the fine which lim ho will have to pay, should he be found guilty of smuggling instead of ardjan. it is not at all a bad idea, i admit; but i leave it to the kandjeng toean to say whether he thinks it quite fair and honest." meidema sat there as if thunderstruck. a terrible suspicion began to arise within him. yes! his money matters were not by any means in a healthy state. his housekeeping was an expensive one, all that, he felt, was true enough. could his wife under the hard pressure of circumstances--could she have been induced to yield to the temptation, might she possibly not have told him the whole truth? might she perhaps have mentioned to him only part of the bribe she had received, just to see how he would take it? yes! that must be it--his wife and his daughters! yes! now it flashed across him that they seemed much confused when he came in. and then the line of conduct which he had adopted before the resident who, he felt, was no friend to him--with an awful imprecation he sprang to his feet: "babah!" he exclaimed, "you are an impudent liar!" "if the toean assistant resident becomes abusive," said lim yang bing with the same imperturbable calmness, "then i must request the kandjeng toean to give me leave to retire." "mr. meidema," said van gulpendam sternly, "i must beg of you to moderate your language." "how much do you say there was in that packet?" asked meidema, in despair. "i offered the njonja assistant resident ten bank notes of a thousand, and ten of five hundred guilders." poor meidema fairly moaned with anguish and dismay. "is that true?" he asked again, with faltering tongue. "i swear it!" was the quiet reply. "oh! i must go and get to the bottom of this!" cried the wretched man, as he frantically rushed from the room. the chinaman and the resident watched him with a curious smile. "splendidly parried, babah!" cried van gulpendam admiringly, and then muttering to himself, he said: "i wonder what port that obstinate fool will make for in this storm." "perhaps the kandjeng toean will now allow me to retire?" asked lim yang bing, with much humility. "certainly, babah, certainly, let me not detain you." and, after the usual compliments had been exchanged, the chinaman took his leave. "deep fellow that chinaman, devilish deep! aye, aye, those who dabble in opium must have their wits about them, they must know how to trim their sails!" foaming with rage, meidema got home. he could not wait until his carriage had reached the door; it had scarcely got into the grounds, before he jumped out crying to the coachman, "wait for me!" he traversed the fore and inner galleries at a bound, and when he reached the back-room where the ladies of his family were still sitting at their needlework, he flew up to his wife, who, noticing at once his excited state, rose from her chair. he grasped both her wrists in his iron grasp, and, exerting all his strength, he forced her down on her knees before him. all this had passed so quickly that, although the two girls had also sprung up, yet neither of them understood what was going on. "there!" roared the infuriated husband, "there! that is your proper position! and now answer me. where is the rest of the money?" "what money?" asked his wife in alarm. "the ten thousand guilders!" thundered meidema. "what ten thousand guilders?" asked his unhappy wife, still on her knees. "meidema! let go my wrists, you are hurting me!" "no, i shall not let you go until you have told me where you have hidden the money." "what money are you talking about?" "the ten thousand guilders you had from the opium farmer!" "father," said gesina, "let mother go, and listen to me, i will tell you all about it." "you!" roared her father without releasing his wife whom he still kept kneeling before him. "i took the parcel from lim yang bing," continued the young girl. "it was i who opened it, and we all admired the samples of silk. at that time, i swear to you, father, there were no notes in it. i swear it by all that i hold dear! when mother refused to listen to his conditions, he put the parcel back into his pocket. later on, mother consented to speak to you about lim ho and to consult you about the silk, then, the babah flung the parcel on the table and hurried away." "but the ten thousand guilders!" cried meidema impatiently. "let me finish what i have to say, father," continued the young girl. "as soon as he was gone i again took up the samples. and now i come to think of it, they were not the same we had admired before. at the time, however, i did not notice the change. i took one of the samples and spread it on my knee to bring out the effect of the colours, and then--the notes fell out of the packet to the floor." "fifteen thousand guilders!" said the father who had been listening with impatience but had not lost a word. "no, father, not fifteen thousand; there were ten five hundred guilder notes. there were no more than that," replied the girl in a firm and steady voice. "is that the truth?" asked her father as he fixed his eye on his wife and children. but there was so much honesty and innocence in the eyes of his twins; and his wife looked up at him so firmly and trustfully, that further doubt was impossible, while all three as with one mouth and in one breath said: "that is the truth." then the wretched man raised his wife from the floor where she was still on her knees before him. he clasped her in his arms and, as he pressed her to his heart, he cried in a lamentable voice: "my god! my god! i am a miserable wretch! i have dared to suspect my darlings--the only ones i love upon earth!" and, stretching out his arms, he flung them round the neck of his wife and children as sobbing, he cried: "oh, my dearest ones, can you ever forgive me?" standing thus, the four formed a group which would have charmed a sculptor; but which must have filled with rapture the heart of any true friend of man. the wife, the daughters, overwhelmed the man, who a moment before had so brutally treated them, with kisses and caresses. oh, they could so well place themselves in his position--they could so well understand why he had been blinded by passion! "was i not right?" said matilda, "when i feared that the parcel boded us no good." "but do tell me, meidema," asked his wife, "what can have happened that has so terribly unnerved you?" "that beastly chinaman," he cried, "actually declared in the resident's presence that he had given you not five but fifteen thousand guilders." "good god, how infamous!" exclaimed mrs. meidema. "infamous, yes most infamous! but what can one expect from a wretched speculator in opium? such a fellow as that is capable of any infamy." "but," asked the anxious mother, "may not all this do you a deal of harm?" she had some little insight into the intrigues carried on in dutch india. "yes," sighed meidema, "no doubt it will. if i had to do with honest people, it would not trouble me much; but now!--however, i must see what i can do. my carriage is still at the door--i am off straight to the resident." "that's a queer story of yours, mr. meidema." such was the only remark which mr. van gulpendam thought proper to make when meidema had most indignantly given him a full account of what had occurred. while he spoke, the resident had been sitting most attentively listening to his words; but the expression of his countenance showed no sign of sympathy. now and then there was even a slight motion of impatience and an incredulous smile. that studied indifference and almost insolent smile exasperated the already over-wrought assistant resident to such a degree that, when at length his superior officer made his most unfeeling remark, he could not help crying out with indignation: "a queer story you call it, resident. you mean, i suppose, a most infamous business!" "he, he, he! mr. meidema, not quite so fast if you please." "but, resident, what do you mean--do you not then think it a most infamous business?" "oh, yes, most certainly i do; but the question is for whom?" "for whom? is that the question, resident? then it appears to me you do not believe me." "don't be in a hurry, mr. meidema, just listen quietly to me." "but, resident, this is a matter which demands an instant explanation. if you do not take my word--" "now, mr. assistant resident, i beg you will allow me to speak." these words mr. van gulpendam uttered with that measured tone of voice, and with that dignity which only a resident knows how to assume. they brought about an immediate and entire change in his subordinate's demeanour. meidema at once mastered his excitement, he replied not a single word; but only bowed in sign that he was ready to listen. "i said just now," began the resident, "'a queer story' and now i repeat the words--yes, it is a very queer story, a very queer story indeed. i will for a moment suppose, mr. meidema, that you are an honest man." the assistant resident gnashed his teeth and writhed with inward passion at the insinuation; but he uttered not a sound. he had made up his mind, outwardly at least, to retain his composure, and to listen in silence. without appearing to notice meidema's evident anguish, the resident continued: "i am ready to admit, for argument's sake, that you are an honest man; but i think you yourself must allow that appearances are terribly against you. just put yourself in the position of a resident; put yourself in my place. i am bound by my office to inquire into these matters calmly and impartially, without fear or prejudice, and, i must add without sympathy either; and then just see on what side probabilities have been accumulating. it is known to everyone, that you are in serious money difficulties--that is an open secret--and, i must tell you, that in your public capacity as chief magistrate, that common report is most injurious to you. when a man is in grave pecuniary difficulties, it is almost impossible to make the public believe that he can be impartial, inaccessible to bribes and strictly honest. the temptations, you see, are too great. on the one side there are tempting offers, which always manage to find a way for themselves, on the other there are the claims of his family, claims which have a powerful voice, and which clamour to be heard. public opinion, therefore, needs must be against you. under these painful circumstances, the opium farmer comes to your house and offers presents, in the form of silk dresses, to your wife and daughters, and he offers further a considerable bribe in the tangible shape of money. now, do you think that you can make anyone believe that all this could occur without there having been some previous relations between you, some quiet understanding to encourage such bare-faced proposals? surely not! you have told me with your own lips that the opium farmer came to invoke the aid of your wife. therefore, he must have had some good cause to believe that not only could her aid be purchased; but also that her intercession, when obtained, would be of some value to him. now, if you are compelled to grant me all this--why, then i say that you can hardly wonder if i come to the conclusion that she was not to-day solicited for the first time. at all events, you must allow that an impartial judge might very easily come to that conclusion. now this is not all, there is yet another point to be considered. you have yourself confessed that, at least for a time, you yourself believed mrs. meidema guilty. your description of the scene--the deplorable scene--which has just now taken place at your house, amply proves that. and, let me say in passing that i most strongly disapprove of such want of temper and of such want of self-control in my subordinates; but that in the particular case which i have now before me, i am willing to excuse it. however, as i was saying, the scene of which you gave me so graphic a description, amply proves that you yourself did not consider mrs. meidema above suspicion." poor meidema! he sat there before the pitiless inquisitor, pale as death, motionless as a statue. his bloodshot eyes gazed stonily at the resident who, with a kind of refinement of cruelty, seemed to delight in probing his wound to the quick. at that moment the wretched man sat there accusing himself more bitterly than van gulpendam or any one else on earth could have done. the voice of conscience is, to the upright man, the most terrible voice of all. yes--it was but too true, he had been guilty of suspecting the wife of his bosom, he had thought evil of his two innocent daughters. the resident was pitiless; but he was quite right. and then, alas! that was not the worst of it; his conscience had a still louder reproach to make. he had been so miserably weak that he had not been able to keep that foul suspicion to himself--he had not been man enough to keep it locked up in his own bosom. honest and loyal as he was himself, he had fancied that the truth--the whole truth--would have proved the strongest bulwark for innocence. thus, in a moment of blind honesty, he had, for no other purpose than to bring out more strongly the innocence of his family, betrayed to his enemy the excess of violence into which his wild frenzy had led him. and now, the weapon to which he had fondly trusted for his defence, had turned in his hand; not against himself only, but also against those dear ones of whose perfect purity he had no longer the faintest shadow of a doubt. the thought was too terrible to bear, it was maddening--his eyes began to ache as though a red-hot iron were pressed upon them. but, unmindful of his sufferings, his pitiless tormentor quietly continued: "from all this must we not then reasonably conclude, mr. meidema, that your wife, terrified--and very naturally terrified--at your unreasoning violence, must have confined herself to a simple denial after she had attempted to mislead you in the matter of the ten thousand guilders? you see," continued the resident with a friendly smile, "after all, the best thing is, that we should give that aspect to a most lamentable occurrence; one cannot very well hold you responsible for the actions of your wife." at these words meidema could restrain himself no longer. "no!" shouted he, "that suspicion shall not be cast upon her--my wife is innocent!" "mr. meidema," said van gulpendam, in tones of mock sympathy, "let me implore you to take my advice, and to consider well what you are about. once you let go that anchor, i have no other alternative than--" he paused, even he seemed to hesitate, even he recoiled from what he was about to say. "no other alternative than--what?" asked meidema, with something of the listlessness of despair. "than to consider you the guilty man and to hold that your family are in conspiracy with you." "resident!" "be calm, pray be calm! remember it is not i who choose the alternative--you yourself force it upon me. once again, let me remind you of your financial difficulties; let me remind you of the animosity which, in your report, you plainly show to lim ho. in that paper you eagerly seize upon every little circumstance which can possibly be adduced to prove him guilty; and you as carefully avoid everything which might point to ardjan as the culprit. in fact you screen the javanese in every way you possibly can. taking all these things into consideration, the words spoken just now by the opium-farmer must needs give us food for reflection. you remember what he said, do you not? his words were blunt and cruel, i admit; but he seems to have had justice on his side. 'he wants,' said the chinaman, 'to keep for himself the greater part of the present which i offered to the njonja, and he intends in addition to secure the fine which lim ho will have to pay if he be found guilty.' a fine which we know could not be screwed out of ardjan. and when, in connection with those words we come to examine the 23rd clause of the opium act, why, then i do not think that many words will be needed to convince you that you must not venture to reckon upon either my sympathy or my support." meidema, poor wretched man, was utterly crushed and annihilated. without uttering a sound, he sat vacantly staring at his chief. "no, no," continued van gulpendam, "i can see no alternative. either you are guilty or your wife is guilty, perhaps both are equally culpable. you have, however, still time to make a choice; it is not yet too late, but that choice must be made quickly, now, at once; for i have made up my mind to telegraph to headquarters this very day." to telegraph! poor meidema only heard the one dreadful word "telegraph." he knew well what that word implied; he knew well in what an arbitrary and off-hand way the fate of subordinates is decided at batavia. already he saw himself dismissed and disgraced, shunned as a social leper by every respectable man; his wife and children wandering about in poverty, exposed to hunger and untold misery. just then, as if he had been able to read the unhappy man's thoughts, the resident said: "come, mr. meidema, decide, make up your mind, there must be no delay." "what must i do, resident?" moaned the poor man, now fairly at his wits' end. "what must you do? it is clear enough what you have to do. there is your report; it has just been handed to me along with the other papers relating to the business of the court at which on tuesday next i intend to preside. take it; here it is; do with it what you will." he thrust the document into meidema's hand--who took it, gazed at it for a moment with meaningless stare, then made some gesture with his hands as though he would tear it up; but--before he could accomplish the fatal deed, his brain seemed to whirl and he fell heavily to the ground. a doctor was sent for at once. when he made his appearance, he found meidema lying back in a chair surrounded by the entire household of the residence, but utterly unconscious; and all around the floor was strewed with fragments of paper. the physician spoke of brain fever, and he ordered the patient to be removed to the hospital. "there is no danger, i hope, doctor?" asked the resident, in tones of the deepest sympathy. "my dear sir," replied the medical man, "there is the very gravest danger. it is a very sad case, it will surprise me much if the man does not go mad--that is if he gets over this attack at all." the resident thereupon at once drove off to break the fatal news as gently as possible to mrs. meidema. the evening papers contained the following paragraph: "we are grieved to state that assistant resident of police, w. d. meidema, was this morning suddenly taken seriously ill. it seemed at first as if he were suffering from some acute form of brain fever; but after careful examination, our zealous and able medical officer has come to the conclusion that it is a case of 'melancholia attonita.' it is his opinion that no relief can be hoped for unless the patient be at once removed to europe. there he will probably have to pass a considerable time in some asylum in which he can have the care which his peculiar malady requires. if we are rightly informed, our resident at once telegraphed to batavia; so that it is probable there will be no delay in obtaining the necessary leave of absence. mr. van gulpendam has further exerted himself to the utmost in obtaining a passage to europe for the sorrow-stricken family in the noah iii. which is to sail for patria on the day after to-morrow. mrs. van gulpendam also is untiring in her attention, and entirely devotes herself to assist the afflicted family by word and deed. both the resident and his wife have once again shown how cordial is their sympathy with their subordinates, and how thoroughly they have their welfare at heart. our best wishes accompany mrs. meidema and her children, and we heartily pray that the assistant resident may speedily be restored to health." the correspondent had been well informed. this much is certain, that on the 14th of july the ship noah iii. left her anchorage, and under the influence of the eastern monsoon, left the harbour of santjoemeh and was quickly out of sight. van gulpendam had, in the overflowing kindness of his heart, accompanied his friends to the ship's side. he had warmly pressed mrs. meidema's hand and uttered the kindliest sentiments at parting. then, when the ship was but a speck on the horizon, he uttered a deep sigh of relief, and with a pleasant smile, he muttered to himself: "come, i have managed that pretty neatly." chapter xxvii. summum jus summa injuria. father and son condemned. murder of singomengolo. a couple of days later, mr. zuidhoorn left santjoemeh. he started for batavia in one of the dutch indian navigation company's ships, intending to take a passage to singapore in the emirne. from singapore he was to go to marseilles in the irrawady of the messageries maritimes. he was, as we have seen, a thoroughly honest man; and he had fully made up his mind to let the authorities at batavia know all that had occurred at the last session in santjoemeh. he intended to act in this matter as prudently as possible; but yet was resolved that the officials at the head-quarters should be fully informed of the shameful intrigues that were carried on in the interior. but--between the forming of a good resolution and the carrying out of it, there is a vast difference, as mr. zuidhoorn was soon to discover. he had but three days to stay in batavia, and he found that he could not, in these three days, obtain an interview with the governor general. mr. zuidhoorn had taken the trouble to go all the way to buitenzorg; but it was only to find that, on the very day of his arrival, his excellency had, in the early morning, started for tjipannas. the only thing, therefore, that he could do was to wait till the morrow, and then take a carriage and drive to that place. mr. zuidhoorn took the precaution of telegraphing to the adjutant on duty, and as he received no answer to his telegram, he started the next morning for tjipannas. he was doomed to be once again disappointed; for when he arrived, he was told that, unfortunately, his excellency the governor was confined to his room by a severe attack of fever, and that no one could be admitted to his presence. the aide-de-camp made this announcement with a profusion of excuses, and tried to explain that he had not been able to send a reply to the telegram because his excellency had not been taken ill until late in the night. there was no help for it, and mr. zuidhoorn had to hurry back, as best he could, to batavia; cursing his unlucky star. but in these fruitless efforts to gain the governor's ears, two precious days had been wasted, and he had but one left. on the following morning mr. zuidhoorn called upon the chief justice. this gentleman received him with a cordiality which was somewhat too boisterous to be real. "here you are at length, my dear zuidhoorn!" cried he, as, with much outward show of friendship, he grasped his hand. "indeed, i am delighted to see you! i have been alarming myself so dreadfully about the state of your health, that it is a positive relief to see you as well as you are. i thought your indisposition was much more serious. i am glad to find you are not so very bad after all; but it is getting high time for you to go away for a bit and get a little rest." mr. zuidhoorn did not know what to make of all this. "you thought me very ill?" he asked in surprise. "what do you mean? i don't remember, in any of my letters, that i represented my state of health as worse than it really is. and then 'high time to get away?' i assure you i do not understand what you mean. i was not at all anxious to leave." "i suppose not," rejoined the chief justice, "i suppose not; but i know you are beginning to feel the effect of the climate." "of the climate?" repeated zuidhoorn still more puzzled. "yes! yes! you see, when we europeans are forced to live in the tropics for any considerable time, then, in some cases, nervous debility begins to set in, frequently accompanied by weakening or softening of the brain--" "my dear sir," cried zuidhoorn, "your hints--" "are not in the least applicable to you! my dear zuidhoorn, i know that as well as you do; but pray let me finish what i was going to say. some men, i observed, begin to suffer from debility and impaired brain-power--others grow nervous, excitable, irritable--" "chief justice!" cried zuidhoorn, "is that the case with me?" "as a rule," continued the other without noticing the interruption, "as a rule the patient is, in such cases, wholly unconscious of his condition; and is under the impression that he continues to speak and act precisely as he was always wont to do." "is such the case with me?" again asked zuidhoorn, repeating his question. "well, yes, my dear colleague, i am sorry to say that, to a certain extent, it is. you yourself are not aware of it, of course: but yet to your friends the style in which you write has, of late, betrayed a degree of irritability which you, as an excellent juris peritus, know is scarcely desirable in a high legal functionary." "but my dear sir!" exclaimed zuidhoorn, "i am not at all aware--" "quantum est quod nescimus!" interrupted the other. "well," continued zuidhoorn, "it is a very curious thing that no one has ever dropped the slightest hint to me of any such infirmity." "true enough, my dear colleague; but nevertheless it has been noticed for some little time. at first i looked upon it merely as a result of the extreme interest which we know you take in the discharge of your duties. but it soon became evident to your friends that it was a symptom of failing health: and, as you know perfectly well, in our profession especially, it is of the utmost importance that there should be meus sana in corpore sano." mr. zuidhoorn was utterly amazed, as well as fairly disgusted. was that then the impression which his long and conscientious services had made upon his superiors at head-quarters? was that the reward for the many years of anxious work which he had bestowed upon his office? "but, my dear sir," said he, "you will, i suppose, not object to give me a single instance in which that supposed infirmity of mine has manifested itself to you?" "a single instance! my worthy friend, why! i will give you ten, twenty if you like!" "i ask you but for one," was zuidhoorn's reply. "very well then," said the chief justice, "look at that recent business of the santjoemeh sessions." "which sessions?" asked zuidhoorn. "ah, you see! you have a kind of inner consciousness that there are several occasions on which--" "that is the merest quibble!" cried zuidhoorn, somewhat testily, "the merest quibble! i have attended at, and presided over, so many sessions, that my question is, surely, a very natural one." "well, i will tell you," replied the other, "i am alluding to the affair with resident van gulpendam." "who would persist in presiding over the trials, which he had no right whatever to do." "come, come, my dear friend," said the chief justice, "you must be losing sight of clause 92 of our judicial regulations. but, i ascribe that want of memory to your mental condition." "pardon me," interrupted mr. zuidhoorn warmly, "the condition of my mind has nothing whatever to do with it. you said clause 92?" "precisely so," replied the chief justice, "that clause confers upon the resident the power of presiding at any session which may be held within his district, should he think it right and proper so to do." "i know that," answered zuidhoorn, "but pray remember, that when that 92nd clause was in force, there was as yet no thought of appointing specially qualified lawyers to the presidential office. at that time such a regulation may have been useful and even necessary; but, as matters stand now, it would be an utter absurdity for any resident who is a layman, to put aside the specially appointed president in order to thrust himself upon a court of justice in the capacity of chairman. methinks that--" "mr. zuidhoorn, allow me to say, that we judges ought to be the very first to show strict respect to the written law. certain rules and regulations may appear useless or even mischievous; but so long as they remain in force, we are bound to abide by them. and--pardon me the question--have you in this particular case acted up to that principle?" "it seems to me then," said zuidhoorn, "that you do not approve of my line of conduct?" "not only do i disapprove of it," replied the chief justice, "but the governor general also is extremely annoyed at the attitude you have chosen to assume in this case. in his opinion the line of conduct you have thought it right to adopt has seriously impaired the prestige which ought to belong to your position." "oh, indeed! is that his excellency's opinion?" asked mr. zuidhoorn musingly. "now i begin to see why i have not been admitted to an audience." "have you tried to obtain one?" "yes, i have," was the reply. "the day before yesterday i went to buitenzorg--yesterday i went on to tjipannas--" "and--?" "i was told by the aide-de-camp on duty that his excellency was ill in bed and could see no one." "you see!" exclaimed the chief justice. "what did i tell you?" "but, my dear sir," interposed zuidhoorn, "the most scandalous proceedings are going on. for the sake of shielding a wealthy opium farmer, a poor devil of a javanese--!" "has been falsely accused--and will in all probability, be found guilty in spite of his innocence," remarked the chief justice with a cynical smile. "oh, yes, we know all about it, you have put the whole question most clearly and most circumstantially before us. but what are we to do? we are powerless, and must bend our heads to the storm. you know summum jus, summa injuria." mr. zuidhoorn was leaning his head on his hand as his colleague spoke thus; and was vacantly, almost hopelessly, staring before him. "let me give you a friendly piece of advice, my dear colleague," resumed the chief justice kindly; "the fact is you are not at all well--you are more seriously indisposed than you yourself are aware of. to-morrow you mean to sail in the emirne, eh? very well, my advice to you is to leave all these worries and bothers behind you in batavia; fling off all these anxieties, and go to europe to recruit your failing strength. in a couple of years' time you will return with fresh vigour--a new man, in fact, in mind and body--and then you will for many years to come continue to be an ornament to a profession in which, allow me to tell you, very few can compete with you. and now you must excuse me. my time is very precious and-oh, yes, one other recommendation let me give you before taking leave. for the future, pray take the greatest care never to meddle in any way, if you can possibly help it, with any of the complications and intrigues of the opium trade. i need hardly tell you that it is an imperium in imperio and, to this i may add, malum malo proximum; in all such matters, he who touches pitch must be defiled. and now--i can only wish you a quick and pleasant voyage and a happy time in the old country. good-bye, my dear zuidhoorn, good-bye. a pleasant journey to you!" the two cases of opium smuggling, the one at the moeara tjatjing and the other arising out of the discovery in the hut of pak ardjan at kaligaweh, did not come on at once before the court at santjoemeh. resident van gulpendam was delighted when he heard from the chief justice at batavia, that, owing to the scarcity of legal men at head quarters, there was no chance whatever of filling up, for some time to come, the vacancy caused by mr. zuidhoorn's departure. the sittings of the court at which the resident now had to preside, were held, as usual, regularly once a week; but mr. van gulpendam found no difficulty, on one pretext or another, in putting off the hearing of the opium cases from week to week. at length, however, the chief djaksa had informed him that the two chinamen, than khan and liem king, who had been on watch in the djaga monjet, could nowhere be found. presently it was found that awal boep said, the captain of the schooner brig, kiem ping hin, on whose testimony ardjan chiefly relied, had also disappeared without leaving a trace behind him. then van gulpendam thought that the proper time had come to bring up the prisoners for trial. ardjan had to confess that on the february night in question, he had come ashore in very stormy weather; that the boat of the matamata had chased him and had fired upon him; but he was quite unable to prove that the opium discovered, not far from the spot where his surf-boat was driven ashore, had not been landed by him. thus all the evidence was against him. then he called upon dalima to prove that she was seated with him in the boat. the president, however, assured the court that the girl had not, on that night, left the grounds of the residence, and that her testimony, therefore, must be a mere tissue of falsehood and of no value whatever--that it could not in any case invalidate the evidence already produced. the resident further drew the court's attention to the fact that dalima herself was about to be put on trial for a precisely similar offence--a fact which could not but affect the weight of her testimony. the court thus came to the conclusion that it was perfectly useless to call so tainted a witness. moreover the chief djaksa deposed that pak ardjan, the prisoner's father, had confessed that the smuggled opium which singomengolo had found in his cabin, had been supplied to him by his son. thus the guilt of the prisoner was clearly established and ardjan was, accordingly, found guilty of an attempt at smuggling one and a half pikols of pure opium which was equivalent to about three pikols of raw material. this brought the case under the 23rd clause of the act, and the court condemned him to three years' penal servitude, and further to pay a fine of three thousand guilders. in default of payment, he was to have three months' compulsory labour on the public works for every hundred guilders. ardjan was, therefore, doomed to what virtually came to eight years' penal servitude. the poor victim of this gross miscarriage of justice gnashed his teeth with impotent rage when he heard the sentence. could he have expected more lenient treatment at the hands of the white men? perhaps he had, poor fellow! after the son, the father--after ardjan, pak ardjan. his case was treated in a still more off-hand manner if possible, than his son's. the prisoner had confessed that he had smuggled opium in his possession. entrapped by artful cross-examination; and without having the slightest suspicion how heavily his testimony would weigh against his son ardjan, he had admitted that the latter used, from time to time, to supply him with the drug. he had further been forced to confess that he had wrenched a sword from one of the oppassers and, in consequence of the fellow's grossly indecent conduct towards his little daughter, had dealt the wretch a couple of slashing blows with his own weapon. but hardly any notice whatever was taken of these extenuating circumstances--they were, in fact, not inquired into at all. the wretched father was there and then found guilty of having illegally in his possession two katties of opium. as this was his first offence, he could only be sentenced to forfeit the captured wares and to undergo three months' hard labour. but on the other charge, that namely, of having offered resistance to the police and of having wounded one of the officers in the execution of his duty, he was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. thus father and son were both satisfactorily disposed of. the latter, though perfectly innocent, was sent to penal servitude for eight years. the former, for a very simple offence, for which only a trifling penalty could be inflicted, had not the infamous conduct of the searchers driven him to resistance, was sent to penal servitude for ten years. the chief justice at batavia fixed upon atjeh as the place where the culprits should serve their time; but--before the order could arrive at santjoemeh--both ardjan and his father had managed to make their escape. it was an awful night, dark as pitch, while a terrible thunderstorm had burst over santjoemeh. the young native soldier who was on sentry-duty inside the outer wall of the prison, had been driven to seek for shelter within his sentry-box, terrified by the flashes of lightning, the deafening claps of thunder, and the torrents of rain; when, suddenly, he felt an iron grip upon his throat. before he had time to utter a sound, a blow from a heavy piece of wood stretched him senseless on the ground. meanwhile the thunder kept on rattling and the rain came splashing down with redoubled fury--such rain as is only seen in the tropics. of these circumstances, so favourable to their flight, the fugitives made the best use. nimble and strong, as a good sailor must be, ardjan was able to help his father to gain the top of the wall, then he soon managed to clamber up himself. once firmly seated, he lowered the old man to the ground on the other side, and, in a twinkling, he was at his side. not one of the sentries on duty outside the wall was to be seen, they also, in such dreadful weather, had got under cover. the rain still poured down in torrents, and the water was coursing over the plain beyond and dashing down the streets as if all the rivers in the country had broken their bounds. outside the prison wall all was darkness. one solitary oil-lamp was flickering in a lantern; but it only shed a sickly and feeble light in its immediate neighbourhood, while its wretched little glimmers served but to make more palpable the darkness beyond. just at the moment when the fugitives had safely reached the foot of the wall, there came a blinding flash of lightning, cleaving its zig-zag way through the clouds. the flash was followed immediately by a stunning clap of thunder with that peculiar crackling sound which tells that the lightning has struck something close by, and then another noise was heard--it was that of a mighty cocoa nut palm which split from top to bottom, came crashing to the ground. the two javanese then left the shelter of the wall where they knew that the rounds might at any moment discover them; and, taking advantage of the dense darkness which followed upon the dazzling flash, they darted across the small plain in which the prison stood, and, in a few moments, had reached the edge of the dessa. once there, they were perfectly safe, for not one of the inhabitants of the dessa would have thought of betraying the victims of the detested opium tyranny to the vengeance of the white man. when resident van gulpendam was informed of this escape, he was simply furious. one of the sentries stated that, after the fall of the palm-tree, he had heard a sound as of something splashing in the water; but the darkness made it impossible for him to distinguish what it was, and he thought it must be some dog who was trying to get away from so dangerous a neighbourhood. the resident at once ordered the man to be tried by court-martial, and had him punished with fourteen days' close imprisonment. the most careful search was made to discover the fugitives. all the detectives, all the spies, all the creatures of the opium police, were turned out, and used their utmost skill; but all to no purpose. for months the entire district of banjoe pahit, especially the dessa kaligaweh, was carefully watched; the wife and children of pak ardjan were not lost sight of for a moment; but without result. at length the police were driven to the conclusion that the criminals could not have returned to kaligaweh and that they must, in fact, have left the residence of santjoemeh altogether. presently men ceased to talk about the matter, and soon the whole business was clean forgotten; when--a couple of months later--an event took place which, while it recalled the occurrence to men's minds, gave them at the same time ample food for reflection. on a certain evening singomengolo had come to lim yang bing and had told him that he thought he had found a trace of the fugitives; but, as he feared some of the information he had gained might leak out, he refused to give any further explanation. he requested, however, that he might, for that evening, have the assistance of two of lim yang bing's men; and he picked out two chinese bandoelans to accompany him on his voyage of discovery. the opium farmer tried all he knew to get at singomengolo's secret. he questioned and cross-questioned him; but he could get nothing out of him. the bandoelan persisted in saying that he could hope for success only by keeping strictly secret the clue he had obtained. he further said that he was not at all certain that the information he had gained was genuine; and that he might very possibly be on a wrong scent altogether. the only thing he allowed to slip out was that the field of his operations lay not far from kaligaweh. as soon as he had obtained the help he required, singomengolo started off with his two police-spies; but he did not return. when on the following morning, the opium farmer heard that his trusty servant had not yet come home, he began to grow anxious. he was so used to see his bandoelan at a stated hour in the morning, to receive from him a report of all that had occurred during the twenty-four hours, and to give him his further orders, that the man's want of punctuality on this occasion gave him no little alarm. on that morning especially, he had been impatiently awaiting singo's usual visit, as he was extremely curious to know what success had followed the night's expedition. he waited and waited with still growing impatience until noon. then, the suspense becoming intolerable, he called for his carriage, and drove straight off to the residence. "what is the matter now, babah?" cried van gulpendam, greatly surprised at the manner of his visitor, who seemed to have lost all the calmness and composure which are so very characteristic of his nation. "kandjeng toean," hurriedly said lim yang bing, "i come to invoke your aid!" thereupon he told the resident what little he knew of singomengolo's expedition, and could not hide the anxiety which the bandoelan's prolonged absence caused him. for a few moments the resident sat reflecting on what he had heard. he had received, from one of the landowners at banjoe pahit, secret information which was of a very disquieting nature. a hint had been conveyed to him from that source, that very probably banjoe pahit would be threatened by a visit from certain bands of robbers. the hint was, however, so very vague and had apparently so little to support it, that he had not paid much attention to it. the new controller, whom he had appointed in the place of verstork, and to whom he had imparted the information he had received, assured him that the district was profoundly quiet, that the population was as orderly and contented as it could possibly be; and that not a single alarming symptom could be discovered. true it was that the land-tax came in somewhat slowly; but, on the other hand, other sources of revenue were decidedly improving, and, judging from the flourishing state of the opium den at kaligaweh, the bidding at the approaching sale of the monopoly would run unusually high. this report was eminently satisfactory to the resident, and though he knew perfectly well that the foundation upon which the controller had built his pleasant expectations, was an extremely crazy one; for in such matters it was not an easy thing to deceive the keenly practised eye of van gulpendam, yet he was quite ready to accept it as sufficient, because he reckoned upon the report as a convenient screen under which to hide himself should matters turn out not quite so satisfactory as his subordinate would make them appear. he had, therefore, written to the landowner a most polite letter in which he thanked him for his information; but in which he at the same time told him that he had reason to think his fears were unfounded, adding that for the future, it might perhaps be advisable not to spread such alarming reports. strange that, as lim yang bing was telling his tale, these vague rumours of possible disturbance had come up spontaneously to the mind of the resident, yet so it was. very probably van gulpendam could not have explained the fact to himself. why should the rather late return of singomengolo--for, as yet, there was no ground for giving his absence any other name--why should that have any connection with those faint rumours of robber bands which had not shown the slightest symptom of having any substantial foundation? no, no, that was out of the question. van gulpendam accordingly tried to calm the chinaman's fears. "but, babah," said he, "surely you have no reason for all this uneasiness. it must, i should think, be no uncommon occurrence for a bandoelan to be delayed for some time on a secret mission--" "no, kandjeng toean," was the reply, "not singomengolo. he always takes his measures so carefully and lays down his plans so accurately, that he never fails to be with me at the appointed time." "well, babah," asked the resident, "in what manner can i assist you?" "all i want," replied lim yang bing, "is for you to give me a few oppassers and your written authority to call upon the dessa people to lend the police any assistance they may require." "but," persisted van gulpendam, "what do you want the oppassers and the dessa people to do?" "i wish," said the chinaman, "thoroughly to search kaligaweh. i don't know how to explain it, kandjeng toean; but i have a kind of presentiment that singomengolo has fallen into some trap and has met with foul play." "very good," said van gulpendam, "so be it, i have no objection." a few hours later, a numerous band of men was searching kaligaweh in every direction; but no discovery was made that could throw any light upon the matter. the dessa people were preparing to go home, and the policemen were getting ready to return to santjoemeh, when a fisherman came up and told them that at kali tjatjing he had seen something which looked like three dead bodies. thereupon the search was at once resumed, and, under the fisherman's guidance, the police proceeded to the spot he had mentioned. at length under a thickly tangled clump of mangrove, quite close to the river bank, they found the bodies of singomengolo and of one of his chinese followers. both bodies were covered with wounds; and so fearfully hacked about with the kris, that death must have been almost instantaneous. the third chinaman still showed some signs of life when they found him. he had a dreadful gash in the throat; but if it had been attended to at once he might possibly have survived. loss of blood, however, had now made his recovery hopeless. when the party of searchers reached him he opened his eyes feebly, and muttered some disconnected words. he tried to say something about men with blackened faces, and some of those present thought they could distinguish the name of ardjan, then, uttering a deep sigh, the man expired. chapter xxviii. correspondence. the departure of verstork for atjeh, seemed to have drawn more closely together the little band of friends which, after the boar-hunt in the djoerang pringapoes, we saw so cosily seated around the hospitable board at banjoe pahit. the loss of one of their number had strengthened rather than weakened their mutual feelings of friendship. we said the loss of one of their friends; but in this case that is hardly the correct word to use; for, though william verstork was far away, yet he continued to dwell in the memory of them all, and he was perpetually the subject of their conversation. it was, however, not only that affectionate remembrance which held the friends so closely united. letters were continually passing between them, and verstork was kept well informed by his friends at santjoemeh of all that concerned themselves privately, and also of the events which form the subject of our story, and in which they all played a more or less prominent part. edward van rheijn had, under the influence of van gulpendam, for a time grown somewhat cool towards his friends; but when he began to gain a deeper insight into the real character of the resident, and began to see with what cynical selfishness he turned everything to his own advantage, his feelings towards his friends became as warm as ever they had been before. he wrote a long letter to verstork about his successor at banjoe pahit, in which he showed him how mischievous and destructive was that man's influence in the formerly thriving district. everything, he said, was rapidly going to ruin, the rice-culture was being woefully neglected, and the second crops shared the same fate. breach of contract was now an almost daily occurrence, inasmuch as the once so orderly and industrious population, was fast getting lazy, listless, in fact utterly unfit for any regular work whatever. in one word, the entire district was visibly deteriorating, and could look forward to nothing but a future of crime and misery. on the other hand, the opium den, the gambling hells and the pawn shop, were in a most flourishing condition, and produced large incomes to the farmers of those sources of revenue to the dutch treasury. in order to satisfy the inordinate passion for gambling and for opium, smuggling was rapidly on the increase, and theft was of daily occurrence; nay, there were even ugly whispers of robber bands, which were said to have been organised, and to have already begun their criminal operations. van rheijn concluded his letter with these words: "the bandoelan singomengolo--you remember the scoundrel who was present at the dreadful amokh scene at kaligaweh, and who afterwards arrested baboe dalima--has been found murdered close to moeara tjatjing, and two of his chinese followers have shared his fate. i have every reason to believe that this crime had nothing to do with robbers; my opinion is that it was a pure case of revenge; for on the bandoelan's body there was found the sum of sixty-eight guilders, and this plainly enough shows that robbery could not have been the motive of the murder. there is another very remarkable circumstance in this case, and it is this: besides the money, i told you of--there were found on him five small copper boxes, which are precisely like the two little boxes you took possession of at kaligaweh, and in the djoerang pringapoes. indeed, i must tell you that i am now beginning to see what a fearful curse the opium trade is to the country. i make that confession the more freely to you, as you recollect, no doubt, that some little time ago i had not made up my mind on the question. such, in the few months of your absence, has become the condition of banjoe pahit; and--to fill up the cup of misery--a rumour is now current that the land-tax is to be raised, and that the other already existing taxes are to be exacted with much greater severity; while, at the same time, fresh burdens will be heaped upon the shoulders of the natives. in one word, money grabbing in every possible shape and form, in the form of compulsory labour, in the form of duty on salt, in the form of import and export duties, in the form of opium dens, of gambling booths, in the shape of pawn shops,--everywhere extortion, the most wrung out of the poor wretched javanese. william! william! where must all this end? i can foresee nothing but calamity--there must come a crash. it may come sooner or, it may be, later; but come it must. for the condition of banjoe pahit is by no means exceptional. it may much rather be looked upon as typical of the state of the entire island of java." august van beneden wrote to his friend to tell him all that had occurred with regard to the impending trials of the javanese setrosmito, and of his daughter baboe dalima. he wrote as follows: "just fancy, william! the government have thrown all kinds of obstacles in the way of my appearing as defending counsel in these two cases. you will hardly guess what reasons are given for this opposition. the objection is, that perhaps i might have to be called as a witness in both cases. it was a rather clever dodge; but, as you may suppose, i stuck to my point. the whole question has been submitted to the judge commissary of the court of santjoemeh; and, when i had declared that i had witnessed nothing, and that therefore my testimony could not be called for, after i had formally stated that i had no pecuniary interest whatever in the matter, and had consented unconditionally to abide by his decision, the judge withdrew his opposition, and permitted me to plead in both cases. but he further said that, should i be unexpectedly called as a witness, he could not allow me to be sworn.--and now, william, pray attend to the reason which he gave for that decision. he could not allow me to be sworn because, although i am undertaking this defence gratuitously and do not expect to receive any fee; yet, as defending counsel, i must be looked upon as having an indirect interest in the acquittal of my clients, and am not, therefore, in the eyes of the law, a perfectly independent and unbiassed witness! now what do you think of that? i freely admit speaking as a man and as a lawyer that the decision is correct, quite correct; but, what if that principle were to be applied to all witnesses that appear in court? would not the testimony of all the bandoelans, the opium-hunters, the opium-den keepers, 'et hoc genus omne,' much rather lie open to suspicion? it is an admitted fact that all these men speak under the direct dictation of the opium farmer, and that, moreover, owing to the rewards which the law allows them, they have a most direct and material interest in procuring convictions. oh, william! our entire legal system--and especially our treatment of the natives in opium cases--is most lamentably deficient. "the charges against setrosmito and baboe dalima will be brought before the native court, and it is but very seldom that counsel are heard there. it is my intention, therefore, to appear as counsel only in the case of setrosmito. with regard to dalima, should she be found guilty, she will have an appeal to the superior court at santjoemeh, and then i shall have to conduct her defence with as much vigour as possible. you may ask perhaps why make that distinction between the two cases? listen to me, and bear in mind that i am acting under van nerekool's advice. "you have probably heard that singomengolo, who in both trials was to have been the principal witness, has been mysteriously murdered. at first i thought that his removal was all in favour of my clients; but i have since ascertained that the chief bandoelan has left behind him a sworn deposition of all the facts, and that it will be received as evidence by the court. thus his death is a positive and serious injury to our cause, inasmuch as we cannot now confront him with lim ho, and with the defendants. i fully expected to have been able to lead them into a long and angry discussion, in the course of which, i have no doubt, that several facts would have come to light, which would have enabled me to prove that the father committed the crime of which he stands accused, under the most extenuating circumstances; and clearly to bring out the absolute innocence of the daughter, and the brutal violence to which she has been subjected. now, however, we are in a very different position. at the preliminary inquiry before the judge commissary, mrs. van gulpendam has stated that she was quite unaware of dalima's absence from the house on the night in question; and thus the girl now lies under very serious suspicion of having left the grounds of the residence for an improper purpose. you remember, of course, that on the morning of our boar-hunt she appealed to the fact of her having received leave of absence both from the njonja and from nonna anna. whereupon you asked her whether these ladies would bear witness to that fact. you recollect also that she at once replied in the affirmative. but you will ask perhaps: 'how about miss van gulpendam?' well, william, that is another very mysterious business! the common report is that the resident's daughter has gone to karang anjer on a visit to the steenvlaks. but, no sooner had the inquiry about dalima begun, than the resident said that his daughter had gone to europe, and that she intended to stay for a while with an aunt of hers who lives in switzerland. but the most curious circumstance is that in the lists of passengers of all the ships which have, within the last few months, sailed for europe, the name of miss anna van gulpendam can nowhere be found. you know how inquisitive are our gossips at santjoemeh--well, the public--that public which sees everything, hears everything, and pries into everything--has made every possible endeavour to find out what may have become of miss van gulpendam; but without the slightest success. the resident has been pressed on the point by many an indiscreet busy-body, and he treats the whole thing in a very light and airy way. he has concocted some tale to the effect that his daughter, in company with two english ladies, left by a boat from tjilatjap, that she started for port adelaide, and from thence intends to take the mail-boat to england. not a soul, of course, believes a word of the yarn, which is all the more apocryphal from the fact that the father has never yet been induced to mention the name of the ship in which the young lady is said to have sailed. some anxious souls amongst us have actually gone the length of telegraphing to acraman, main, and co. of adelaide, and the answer they received was:--'we know nothing of the arrival of three ladies from the dutch indies.'--van nerekool is frantic, that you may well suppose. a few days ago he was talking about going to karang anjer to inquire after his lady-love, for whom he has still the deepest and warmest affection. he has been there and has returned as wise as he was before. he will, i have no doubt, write to you and tell you, poor fellow, all about his adventures. i rather fancy, indeed, that he has done so already. the sum total of all this is, my dear william, that my clients' affairs are in a very bad state; but i do not despair. i shall do my very utmost to save the poor creatures. to spur me on to further exertions, i have the fact that poor dalima is, as the saying is, in an interesting condition; so that the consequences of lim ho's detestable misdeed are already showing themselves. will this circumstance be of any use to me at the trial? i doubt it much. we have no legal proof of the outrage and, therefore, i think it will be best for all concerned to hush the matter up as much as possible. all right-minded men, however, are moved with the deepest sympathy for the poor girl; and should she be discharged, or after she has left the prison, will be ready to protect her. she will need all the support she can get; for, after her father's condemnation, she will be homeless, and, disgraced as she is by van gulpendam's assertions, she will not be able to get a place anywhere either as baboe or in any other capacity. however, time brings counsel!" it was a letter from grenits which brought verstork news of the double escape of ardjan and his father from the jail at santjoemeh, and told him of the consternation which that event had spread in official circles. the young merchant wrote to his friend, and said: "the resident tries to appear perfectly indifferent to the escape of the prisoners, and whenever it is talked about treats the matter with much unconcern. but it has been remarked with what feverish anxiety the fugitives have been pursued. i can assure you that, when the regular police were at fault, the whole army of opium-spies was pressed into the service. but since singomengolo and two of his chinamen were found murdered--and murdered too without having been robbed--the very gravest anxiety has been felt; and a report was current that the guard at the residence had been doubled. there is not a word of truth, however, in that rumour, and i can positively deny it. the two sentries, as usual, march up and down before the door of the high and mighty one; but the officer who commands that honourable corps of civilian soldiers has assured me that the cartridge box in the guardroom at the residence has not even been unlocked. a good job too; for if those heroes should begin to fire ball-cartridge, loyal and peaceful citizens will be in considerably greater peril than the offenders. but, for all that, i am heartily glad that the fellows have got clear away. their escape may not be legally justifiable; but a most grievous piece of injustice has thus been partially rectified. the father was driven to his reckless deed by the brutal conduct of the police towards his children, while the son had no hand whatever in the opium smuggling with which he was charged. you know that perfectly well, and the public knows it as well as you do. my own little affair with mokesuep will now very shortly come before the high court of justice. the case is an extremely simple one. i have admitted that i did give the fellow two good slaps in the face, and my confession has been confirmed by the evidence of the man himself, and by that of lim ho and of grashuis. acting on van beneden's advice, i have not pleaded any extenuating circumstances; because we do not wish to bring up poor little dalima's name. the doctor has given a formal certificate to the effect that no outrage has been committed, and thus there is no possibility of legally proving the offence. and yet we are all of us morally convinced that a gross outrage was perpetrated, but--when shall we see justice dealt out fairly in india?" it was, however, van nerekool's letter which made the deepest impression on verstork, though he had read the other communications with very great interest. the young judge told his friend all about anna van gulpendam's sudden disappearance and what had taken place since she left. he said: "i have done all i could possibly do to meet her again; but to no purpose. not only have her parents taken every precaution to make a meeting impossible; but anna herself was determined not to see me again when i had at length persuaded mrs. meidema to let me know when i might expect to find anna at her house. now she is gone--and i received a letter from sapoeran; but, my dear friend, it is a letter which robs me of all hope. she writes: 'my union with you is utterly impossible, you cannot, you must not think of making me your wife after the infamous proposals which have been made to you. you will say, perhaps, that a child is not guilty of the actions of her parents and cannot be held responsible for them. in that you are perfectly right, and i must tell you that my conscience is as clear; and that, if in my present forlorn condition i may be allowed so to speak, i, at this present moment hold up my head as high as before i knew anything of my mother's designs. but to be always face to face with the man to whom the odious propositions were made, to be ever conscious, even in our tenderest moments, of the fact that i was flung to the man i love as the price of dishonour, that is a prospect which is to me utterly unendurable. you are a gentleman, and as such, you would no doubt always have treated my parents with deference and with the proper show of respect; but to know that all this must be a mere empty show, put on in deference to a daughter's natural affections,--oh charles! that would have made life an intolerable burden to me, and must in the end, have destroyed your happiness also.' william, my dear friend, these lines sounded to me so full of despair, while at the same time they are so full of love, that they made me the happiest and, at the same time, the most wretched of men. i can fully enter into her feelings--i can understand her deep disgust at the actions of her parents; and it is for that very reason that i now, if possible, love her still more ardently than before. her noble character stands clearly revealed in every word of her letter and commands my respect and admiration. i often ask myself how can such a child have sprung from such parents? it must be by a freak of nature that two such depraved creatures could have begotten so noble a child. how is it possible that amid such surroundings anna has remained spotless and pure? to us who hold the cynical opinion that with our mother's milk we imbibe our mother's faults, it is an insoluble enigma. but, you see william, all this only serves to increase my affection for the lovely girl who happens to have crossed my path of life. what will be the end of it all? that is a question i often seriously put to myself; but i can find no answer to it. there are moments when i recoil from my very self; for i am beginning to discover within me certain feelings which i hardly dare to analyse. are these feelings to be accounted for by the obstacles which my love to anna has encountered? would they ever have arisen in my breast if the course of my love, like that of so many of my fellow-men, had run smoothly along? i cannot tell; for the ideal which once i formed of married life is so strangely different from the storm which now rages within me, that i sometimes cannot repress a painful smile when i call to mind my visions of days gone by. then woman was to me an ethereal being rather than a companion of flesh and blood who can herself feel the passion she inspires. you know, my dear friend, how little, hitherto, i have been accessible to what is called love. well, now i am a different man. at times i feel as if a burning fire were consuming me. there are moments when painful yearnings arise within me for that pure and lovely being, for that proud maiden, whose very chastity and purity attract me with irresistible power. she flies from my love--and, oh william! i confess it to you though i confess it with shame--that there are moments in which i not only long to make her mine, but in which i madly swear that at any price she shall be mine. and then--alas that i should have to say so--in this storm of passion there is nothing tender, nothing sentimental; but it is simple passion which masters me, the mere selfish and senseless raging of the grossly material man, who is prepared to fling himself, by force if need be, upon the object which he has determined to obtain. "after the receipt of that last letter i have repeatedly written to anna. again and again i have told her of my love. i have conjured her not to trample upon my affection. i have begged, i have entreated, i have prayed her not to refuse me her hand. her parents would surely not persist in rejecting me; my worldly prospects might improve; indeed, i let her know that, as far as mere money was concerned, she need have no anxiety whatever; for that one of my mother's sisters had left me, not indeed any very considerable sum, but yet a competence. i told her that i must succeed in getting an appointment far away from the abode of her parents, and that, if life in india was really unbearable to her, we could cross the sea and go to australia; that we might there marry and live quietly and forgotten by all, yet happy in our mutual affection. all this i wrote, and a great deal more; but, my dear friend, i received not a single word in reply. regularly my letters have been returned to me and always unopened. then i began to see that her determination was not to be shaken. with her own hand she enclosed my letters in an envelope and with her own hand firmly and boldly wrote the address. there could be no mistake about it; it was indeed her own handwriting. what was i to do? what could i do? i was in the most excited frame of mind; yet the huge mass of arrears with which the courts at santjoemeh are overloaded would not allow me to ask for even a single day's leave of absence. i felt that i must get away--that i must fly to karang anjer; for i was persuaded that even yet i might induce anna to look with less coldness upon my love. at length my last letter was returned to me unopened as all the others had been. as i held it in my hand a strange feeling of dread seemed to come over me for--the address was not in anna's handwriting. hastily i tore open the cover. yes, there was my letter, unopened, and upon it were written these few hurried words: 'anna van gulpendam has left karang anjer!' you may perhaps be able, william, to understand my feelings as i read the words 'anna has left karang anjer!' and not another syllable to give me a clue as to where my darling then was. who could have written those few words--it was certainly not anna's hand, that i could see at a glance. but who could it be? was it a woman's hand at all? the writing was regular, the letters were fairly formed; but they told me nothing. one thing i felt quite distinctly, namely that, at any cost, i must get to karang anjer or else anxiety and suspense would kill me. the only question was, how to get away. you know that my superior officer in the high court of justice is a friend of van gulpendam, and thus i knew i could not venture to ask him for leave of absence, i am glad i did not, for had i done so, i feel convinced that every one of my steps would have been watched. happily, however, help came from an unexpected quarter. i became seriously indisposed. congestion and feverish attacks made me wholly unfit for work, and though i was not forced to take to my bed, yet the doctor was so uneasy about the state of my health, that he insisted upon my starting at once for the hills; for, he declared, immediate change of climate was the only remedy for my complaint. you may imagine my feelings of joy when i heard this. i said, however, as quietly as i could, 'well, doctor, is there any particular spot to which you advise me to go?' "'i fancy,' he replied, 'salatiga will be about the best place; it lies pretty high up, 1800 feet i think.' "'would not wonosobo do just as well?' i asked, with assumed indifference. "'have you any preference for that place?' he asked. "'oh no,' i replied, 'not exactly a preference; but the assistant resident there is a friend of mine and i know several of the landowners in the neighbourhood. at salatiga i shall be quite a stranger and must feel very lonely.' "'well then by all means,' said the doctor, 'go to wonosobo. in fact it lies up higher still, quite 2200 feet, that will be still better for you.' "the necessary certificate was soon signed, and in two days i was seated in a travelling carriage and was off on my way to the hills. wonosobo, as you probably know, is 73 miles from karang anjer; but what were they in my eyes? was it the hope which began to dawn within me, or had a reaction already set in? i cannot tell; but this much i know, that from the very commencement of my journey, i felt as if fresh life had been infused into me. in any other frame of mind the trip would have been highly interesting; for the country through which i passed was enchantingly lovely. i traversed the mountain district of prahoe which is quite 8000 feet above the sea-level; then i went through the dieng plateau, that classical volcanic region which the german naturalist franz junghuhn has so graphically described. my road then took me along goenoeng panggonang and goenoeng pakoeodja with their still active solfataras and their springs of boiling water; along the telerep, that shattered old volcano whose very appearance testifies of eruptions and convulsions which defy description; along the telogo mendjer, the deep crater-lake inbedded in walls of rock and offering one of the loveliest basins in the whole world. then further along the western slopes of the goenoeng lindoro, the fairest and most symmetrical volcano in java which rises to a perpendicular height of fully 10,000 feet above the sea-level; and thus, at length, i arrived at wonosobo. but for all this i had no eyes. i passed unmoved by all these marvellous beauties of nature, which in the shape of pyramids, of jagged mountain-ridges, of steep and towering rocks, of dashing mountain torrents, of thundering cataracts, of magnificent lakes, of green table-lands, of picturesque valleys, of dizzy ravines, of deep, dark precipices, of hoary forests, of delightful coffee and tea plantations, moved before me like some wondrous and ever varied panorama. one only thought possessed me: anna! and i had but one object in view, namely, to hurry on as quickly as possible and to get to the end of my journey. "'come coachman, drive on, drive on!' was my only cry to the automedon who certainly did his best and plied his long whip with merciless dexterity. "but when i arrived at wonosobo my impatience was far from being satisfied. "the kindest reception awaited me, and the assistant resident had prepared for my entertainment on the most liberal scale. you know the family kleinsma, so i need enter into no details. the journey had the most beneficial effect upon my health; but yet i had to allow several days to pass before i could safely venture on a trip to karang anjer. i made use of my stay to tell my host something, at least, of the state of my affairs. i explained to him that i was most anxious to avoid observation and to keep away from poerworedjo the capital of that district. "'indeed,' said kleinsma, 'you will find that no easy matter. in that case you will have to go by way of kaliwiro, ngalian, peniron and so to karang anjer.' "'will that take me far out of my way?' i asked, thinking that he was alluding to the length of the journey. "'not at all,' was his reply. 'on the contrary you will by that road cut off about one third of the distance; but you cannot travel in a carriage. our roads about here are very good; but in the interior you can travel only on horseback. you will moreover have to take a guide; for the roads cross one another and form so intricate a web, that it forms a very labyrinth and, even the most accurate map would hardly save you from losing your way altogether.' "that prospect however could not deter me. i passed eight days in that beautiful climate, and then, when all feverish symptoms had left me, i undertook the journey which was, in truth, a rather perilous one. the horse which kleinsma had procured me was a stout javanese mountain nag, and, in spite of the difficult nature of the ground, he always managed to get along at the rate of about six miles an hour. when the road lay up the mountain, the good beast would take to galloping without my having to use whip or spur. when the path ran downhill, if the descent was not too steep, he would keep up a decent trot or a good fast walk. at ngalian i changed horses and obtained a still better mount than my former one. thus i got over the besser mountains, over the spurs of the midangang and of the paras and boetak hills, and, at four o'clock in the afternoon, i reached karang anjer. "alas! william, all this trouble proved in vain. i could gain no information about my dear anna. i intend to let you know all about my disappointment on a future occasion; for the present, i have not the courage to go on." chapter xxix. at karang anjer. an acquittal. yes, it was true enough, all poor van nerekool's trouble had been absolutely in vain. when he got to karang anjer he found in mrs. steenvlak a most amiable and highly accomplished lady, who, in her husband's absence, received him most kindly and hospitably; but who, as regards anna van gulpendam, refused to give him the slightest information. the young lawyer did his very best--he questioned and cross-questioned his hostess; but he had to do with a shrewd and clever woman who was quite able to hold her own, and would give him no direct answers. most amiable mrs. steenvlak was no doubt; but he could get no information out of her; and all her replies to his oft-repeated questions left our despairing lover in the greatest perplexity. he begged and entreated, and she listened to him with the most unwearying patience, she showed even the deepest sympathy for his distress; but nevertheless nothing could move her to divulge anything. "yes," said she, "anna has been staying with us for the last few weeks, and i am happy to say, mr. van nerekool, that i succeeded in becoming her friend, and in obtaining her confidence. i will tell you further, that in her despair, the poor girl has told me everything--you understand me, do you not, when i say everything? she has told me of your mutual affection, and she has also shown me the barrier, the insurmountable barrier, which must for ever keep you apart." "madam!" cried van nerekool in dismay at her words. "and," continued mrs. steenvlak, "i am bound to tell you that i think the dear girl is right in every word she says. of a marriage between you and her there cannot possibly be any further question; not even if you could succeed in winning the full consent of her parents. utter misery for both of you would be the inevitable result of so foolish a step. anna is, in my opinion, quite right when she maintains that a woman must have an unsullied name for her dowry." "but, madam!" passionately cried van nerekool, "anna is blameless and pure!" "i am speaking of her name, mr. van nerekool, not of her person. a man must be able to pronounce his wife's name without having to blush as he mentions it. her parents must possess his esteem, and they must be worthy of his respect. if those conditions do not exist then, for both man and wife, existence must soon become intolerable. it must become so to him; for he will always have to be carefully on his guard, weighing every word he speaks or leaves unspoken; and this restraint soon must banish all real confidence between them. every heedless expression, on the other hand, would inevitably inflict a wound upon her, and, in the most innocent utterances, she needs must see some hidden meaning. in fact, under such circumstances, no compromise is possible." "but, mrs. steenvlak," insisted van nerekool, "i have proposed to anna that we should leave java altogether and go to australia, to singapore, or to any other place she might prefer. there no one would know the name of van gulpendam, and we might live only for one another--and--and, i believe that our love would enable us to forget the dreary past, and thus a compromise might very easily be possible. as far as i am concerned no single word would ever drop from my lips which would allude to the past--i know how deeply any such hint must wound her, and, believe me, i love her far too dearly to inflict upon her the slightest pain." "oh yes, mr. van nerekool, of that i have no doubt whatever; but, you see, that very silence, that very reticence on your part would be most painful to her; and it would ultimately become too great a restraint upon you also--you could not possibly bear it. but, for the matter of that, i must tell you that, with respect to your letters to her, she has never told me a single word." "how could she do so?" asked van nerekool, "all my letters have been returned to me unopened." "i am glad of it," replied mrs. steenvlak, "there again anna has acted most wisely; and in acting thus she has spared herself, and you too, much useless sorrow. every communication from you, every effort on your part to remove the existing obstacles between you, could only be most painful, and could not possibly lead to any good result." "madam!" cried van nerekool. "you said, for instance, just now, that you have proposed to anna to go to singapore, and to be married there. but, just consider, how could you have undertaken that journey? separately? i do not suppose that you could intend so young a girl to undertake such a journey alone. together? you feel at once how such a proposition would have wounded her modesty and her feelings. no, i am glad indeed that she had the courage not to read your letters." "but, mrs. steenvlak," said van nerekool, adopting another tone, "supposing that i were prepared to accept the present circumstances as they are?" "what can you mean?" asked mrs. steenvlak in some surprise. "supposing," continued he, "that in spite of her parents, in spite of all that has occurred, i should be prepared to make her my wife?" "mr. van nerekool," replied mrs. steenvlak very seriously, "do not speak so wildly i pray. in spite of her parents! that must mean that you are prepared to accept all the consequences such a step would entail. in other words, that you are prepared to show her parents that respect and that esteem which they could justly claim from you as their son-in-law. but do you not see that by thus acting you would be making yourself contemptible in anna's eyes?--you would be taking away the last support the girl still has to cling to in her exile. believe me, the cruellest blow you can strike a woman of her nature, is to prove to her that she placed her affections on one unworthy of her. the unsullied image of him whom once she loved--whom she perhaps still fondly loves--gives her, in spite of the obstacles which separate you from one another, the best consolation in her sorrow. and that pure remembrance will be to her, together with the consciousness of having acted strictly in accordance with her duty, her chief support in a lonely life." as mrs. steenvlak was speaking, charles van nerekool had covered his face with his hands. at her last words however he sprang up from his chair, he took her hand and said: "a lonely life you say? oh, do tell me where anna now is. i will go to her, perhaps even yet i may succeed in winning her--tell me where to find her!" "mr. van nerekool," rejoined mrs. steenvlak, very quietly, "do not, i pray you, try to do any such thing. she has given me her fullest confidence, and i do not intend to betray it. she has told me every detail, she has consulted me about the line of conduct she ought to adopt; and in all she does she has my sanction. do you think that i would throw fresh difficulties in her way? you surely cannot wish me to do so." "but," cried van nerekool passionately, "what does she intend to do--what kind of plans has she formed?" "she simply intends henceforth to live forgotten." "perhaps to mar--!" cried he. "my dear sir," hastily interrupted mrs. steenvlak, "do not pronounce that word, i forbid you to do so. in your mouth such a word conveys a foul calumny. she has refused your hand--she will never marry another." "but what then does she intend to do?" "i have told you," replied mrs. steenvlak, "she intends to live in perfect solitude and oblivion; and thus she wishes quietly to await death, which, she hopes, will soon release her from all her troubles." "she is ill then?" cried he in dismay. "no, she is not ill," replied mrs. steenvlak; "but such a trial as she has gone through is not at all unlikely to impair a young girl's health; and may very probably shorten her life." "madam," cried van nerekool, "your words are torture!" "i am telling you the simple truth." "oh tell me--where is she?" "never," was the quiet reply. "is she in java? is she in india?" "i will not give you the slightest clue." "has she gone to europe? oh, i beg and pray you, have pity upon me and deliver me from this fearful suspense?" "i will tell you nothing at all. do you understand me, mr. van nerekool? nothing at all." "can i not in any way move you to pity?" "no, mr. van nerekool, i intend to remain true to my word and, moreover--" "but, madam," interrupted van nerekool vehemently, "you must take pity upon my wretchedness!" "moreover," continued mrs. steenvlak calmly, "i feel certain that in acting as i am doing, and in keeping absolute silence, i am preventing much future misery." "you are hard, you are pitiless!" cried the young man in despair, as he rushed from the house. for a couple of days longer he stayed at karang anjer, at the house of the regent of that dessa who entertained him with the utmost hospitality. he cross-examined his host. "yes--he knew nonna anna well. she had frequently, in company with the njonja, called upon his wife; but she had gone away without letting anyone know where she intended to go to. his wife and he thought that she had gone back to santjoemeh." the unhappy lover kept wandering about the neighbourhood, making inquiries everywhere. he tried to obtain some clue from the loerahs, from the overseer, from the postmasters round about; but nowhere--nowhere--could he obtain the slightest information. either these people really knew nothing, or else they were obeying orders and would tell him nothing. this seemed to van nerekool most likely, as he heard at a certain posting station that no one could tell where the young lady had gone. during his wanderings he sat down at many a guard house, and again and again he put the same question: "could anyone tell him where to look for the young european lady?" but it was only to receive the same answer over and over again, "no, sir." in his distress and perplexity, he at length left karang anjer and went to tjilatjap, for he wanted to find out whether there was any truth in the report which van gulpendam had so assiduously circulated, namely that his daughter had gone to europe. very luckily for him the regent of karang anjer possessed a travelling carriage which he placed at the disposal of his guest. this was a most fortunate thing for van nerekool; for he would otherwise have had to travel the fifty-two miles to the harbour on horseback, and, in his desponding frame of mind, the fatigue of so long a journey might have had the most serious effect upon his health. the road from karang anjer to tjilatjap lies on one continuous plain which is but very little above the sea-level, while the hills which rise close to the indian ocean run north and south, thus preventing the free circulation of land and sea breezes and rendering the atmosphere exceedingly oppressive and stifling. when van nerekool reached the harbour, he found that there also he could obtain no tidings. neither the assistant resident of that place, nor the harbour-master nor any of the agents of the steam navigation company--nor, in fact any of the other shipping agents, knew anything about the departure of a young girl to australia or to any other country. for months past no strange ship had sailed from that port; and the boats of the india navigation company which run to australia, do not go along the south coast of java but get into the indian ocean by the bali straits. it was evident, therefore, that van gulpendam's tale of two ladies under whose escort anna travelled to europe, was a merely trumped-up story. weary and sick at heart, van nerekool was forced to return to wonosobo by way of bandjar negara. there he stayed for a little while longer, and when, in that magnificent climate, he had almost entirely regained his health and strength, he went back to santjoemeh where he found his friends, august van beneden, leendert grashuis, theodoor grenits and edward van rheijn anxiously waiting to welcome him home. "well?" was the question of all of them as soon as they had made inquiries after their friend's health, "well?" the question alluded of course to his inquiries, for the anxiety and the efforts of van nerekool had remained no secret among them. "nothing!" replied van nerekool fetching a deep sigh, "i have found out nothing, not even the faintest clue." "no more have i," added grenits. "you?" asked charles in surprise. "yes," rejoined the young merchant. "i also have been at work. i have made inquiries amongst all the commercial men in dutch india; but from all sides i have had but one answer. 'no young girl in any way corresponding to the description of miss van gulpendam has started from any of the shipping stations.'" "you think therefore--?" asked van nerekool. "i think that miss van gulpendam has not left java at all." "but where on earth can she be then?" cried van rheijn. "god only knows!" sighed van nerekool. "but her parents?" observed leendert grashuis, "we can hardly suppose that a young lady of her age could have thus disappeared without consulting her parents." "no," said van rheijn, "especially as we know that resident van gulpendam is not exactly the papa to play tricks with." "yet," rejoined van nerekool, "i am of opinion that neither the resident nor his wife have the least idea where anna now is." thereupon he told his friends all about his conversation with mrs. steenvlak; and when he had given them a detailed account of all that passed between him and that lady, he concluded by saying, "she only could give us the information we want if she would." "if that be so," remarked van beneden, "we ought to search in the neighbourhood of karang anjer." "i have done so," was van nerekool's reply, "i have most minutely searched the entire district. i have questioned everybody whom i considered in the least likely to know anything about her movements; but all my inquiries have ended in nothing." "well, charles," said grashuis, "in that case i can see nothing for it than to leave the solution of the mystery to time." "to time!" sighed van nerekool, "i suppose you are right; but, my dear friends, i am most wretched and most miserable." "you must get to business and, by hard work, seek to divert your thoughts," said van beneden. "i can assure you that your absence has not diminished the arrears of work at the court of justice. at all events, brooding over your troubles can do no good whatever." "well," replied van nerekool, "to work then. god grant that hard work may have the effect you anticipate." "that reminds me," remarked grenits, "that to-morrow i shall have to appear in court." "you? what for?" "don't you remember mokesuep's business?" "oh, aye, for the cuffs you administered to that scoundrel!" "that will mean eight days for you, friend theodoor," observed van beneden, "eight days at least of seclusion. well, that's not so very formidable after all." august van beneden was not very far wrong, for the court condemned grenits to ten days' imprisonment and to pay a fine of twenty-five guilders for the assault, which, though it had led to no serious consequences, was no light offence, inasmuch as it had been committed on the person of a witness in a case of opium smuggling. the sentence would probably have been much more severe; but the court made allowance for the natural feelings of indignation called forth by the shameful conduct of the opium police towards a defenceless young girl, at which the plaintiff mokesuep had been present without interfering to protect her from insult. no sooner had the sentence been pronounced, than every hand in a crowded court was stretched out to theodoor grenits, while mokesuep was shunned like some venomous reptile. the public did not look upon the punishment in the light of a degradation at all; and grenits became the hero of the hour. a few days after this, baboe dalima's case came on before the native court at santjoemeh. the javanese girl most emphatically denied that any opium had been found in her possession, she even swore that she had not been searched for any such object. she gave a very simple and unvarnished account of all that had taken place; but the testimony of mrs. van gulpendam and that of mokesuep contradicted her assertions. the former handed in a written statement to the effect that she had not given the baboe leave to spend the night outside the residence; but had only given her permission to start on the next morning, and that she had, in fact, set her a pretty heavy task of needlework to finish before going. mokesuep swore that the girl's story was a fabrication from beginning to end, that she had violently resisted the search for opium and had bitten lim ho's ear as he made an attempt at holding her hands. that, in this struggle with the bandoelan, her dress had become torn and deranged, and that she might very probably have received a few scratches, but that there had been nothing resembling the outrage of which she accused lim ho. the medical officer also was examined, and he maintained that there could have been no such assault as the girl complained of; he spoke only of some slight abrasions which had occasioned a trifling loss of blood. in all this evidence the demoralising influence of the opium farmer could plainly be seen; but however conscientious might have been the new president who now occupied mr. zuidhoorn's place, the evidence must have compelled him to dismiss the complaint lodged by dalima against lim ho. the court, therefore, proceeded to deal with the charge of opium smuggling of which the baboe stood accused. the deposition left by the murdered bandoelan singomengolo was positive enough. it stated most distinctly that, hidden in the folds of her sarong and under the waistband, he had found a box full of opium. that the box in question had been delivered to controller verstork and had been sealed up by him. that the contents had been examined and were found to consist of eight matas of opium of coarse and blackish appearance, and of a sourish smell, and that, therefore, it could not have been obtained from the opium farmer in a legitimate way. but, when the little box was produced in court and was shown to lim ho, he hesitated for a while, and at length said that the struggle which was going on prevented him from actually seeing singomengolo produce the box and that, moreover, his ear was very painful, and he was at the time busy in trying to staunch the blood. he could not, therefore, declare that he had seen the box at all until singomengolo handed it to verstork. it thus appeared that the man, though a vile scoundrel, was not wholly devoid of better feelings. not so, however, with mokesuep. when he entered the witness-box, bound by his oath to utter nothing but the truth, he did not for an instant scruple to say that he had actually seen singomengolo discover the box hidden in the girl's clothing; and in giving his evidence he entered so minutely into detail and gave so graphic a description of the poor girl's struggles, that he fairly disgusted all present. very ominous murmurs of disapprobation arose among the crowd. this went so far, that at length the president had to interfere, and to request the witness to confine himself strictly to the facts, as all such embellishments and elaborate descriptions were clearly superfluous. the chief-djaksa appeared as public prosecutor, and, as this was dalima's first offence, he demanded that she should be condemned to three months' hard labour. august van beneden however stood up for the defence, and drew the attention of the court to the fact that the small box which had been produced, was precisely similar to that other one which the bandoelan pretended to have discovered in the hut of setrosmito the defendant's father. he further mentioned the rather strange coincidence, that, on the body of singomengolo, after his murder, a number of other little boxes were found, all precisely similar again to that produced against dalima. he called the coppersmith from whom the bandoelan had procured these boxes, and this man swore that singomengolo had bought twelve of them from him, at the price of seven guilders. august van beneden took advantage of this man's evidence to remind the court of the dodges and tricks which all opium hunters were well known to employ in order to secure the conviction of any one they might accuse. finally he altogether disputed the authority of the individuals who had testified to the nature and value of the opium. the document they had drawn up as containing the result of their examination, he rejected as absolutely valueless; inasmuch as it was the work of chinamen who were no chemists at all; but had come to the conclusion that the drug could not have been obtained through the regular channels, simply on the evidence of colour, taste, and smell. he pointed out that, as a general rule, the worst opium smugglers were the farmers themselves, and that, in hardly any two cases were their wretched mixtures alike. in fact he defied even the most expert chemist to establish anything like perfect similarity between two different decoctions of the same farmer. the young advocate was completely successful; and the court at santjoemeh declared that the charge against baboe dalima had not been satisfactorily established, and therefore acquitted her. she was set at liberty there and then, and the treasury was ordered to pay the costs of the prosecution. the verdict was hailed with thundering applause, and the public became so demonstrative that the president had peremptorily to call for silence. mokesuep left the court amidst looks and gestures of the most profound contempt and much hissing and hooting. he got into his carriage as quickly as he could and immediately drove off. it was evident that the public was well aware of what had taken place in the hut by the djoerang pringapoes, and that everybody knew the odious part mokesuep had played in the transaction. the trial was no sooner over than a crowd of well-wishers surrounded the unfortunate javanese girl every one could plainly enough see the painful situation she was in, and pitied her accordingly. had the law allowed further inquiry, lim ho might have found himself in a difficult position; but as no legal remedy existed, the public showed the greatest sympathy towards his victim. on all sides she received congratulations on the happy issue of her trial, on all sides she heard kind words and friendly offers. van nerekool, grenits, grashuis, van rheijn, and van beneden, were of course close to the poor creature who, though deeply moved by the sympathy she received, yet could not refrain from shedding tears of sorrow as she thought of her blighted youth. van nerekool proposed to place her in the house of an aged couple where she might be sure of the kindest treatment in return for such services as she could render to the mistress of the house. dalima heartily thanked the young judge for his great kindness; but she told him that she intended to take up her abode with her mother until after the event she was expecting. the poor girl was a genuine child of nature, and felt no false shame as she spoke of her misfortune. she took that opportunity, however, to gain some information about nonna anna. but, as we know, charles van nerekool could tell her nothing more than that her young mistress had spent some time at karang anjer, and thereupon had disappeared without leaving any clue as to her whereabouts. "karang anjer? where is that?" asked dalima, musingly. van nerekool gave her the necessary directions, and then he proceeded to join his friends whom grenits had invited to his house to drink a glass together in honour of van beneden's victory. it was getting somewhat late in the day and the sun's rays darting down almost perpendicularly made the heat most oppressive; but a good pair of horses soon brought our friends to grenits' door. glad enough to get under cover, they all rushed in, and grenits at once cried out to his servant, "sidin, get us some fizz quickly!" and a few moments after the young men were congratulating van beneden on his well-merited success in a glass of sparkling veuve clicquot. after the first burst of excitement was over, and when they had begun to discuss somewhat more calmly the incidents of the trial, a feeling of disappointment began to prevail. "is it not enough to make one despair altogether of the future of our fair indian possessions," cried grashuis, "when we come to think that we are sitting here congratulating one another on the issue of such a case as this? every single person, including even the members of the court itself, is convinced that poor little dalima is the victim of a most detestable outrage and yet, not only does the real culprit escape scot free, but the innocent girl herself was very near being found guilty, and punished for a purely imaginary offence! could such a thing ever have happened at home? there must be something radically wrong in our entire colonial system." "i will tell you in one word," replied grenits, "where the mischief lies, it is the abominable opium trade which is at the bottom of all this, which overrules and demoralises everything out here. you heard the head-djaksa's prosecution? did you ever see anything more neatly put together? did you notice how cleverly all the witnesses who might have spoken in dalima's favour were got out of the way? verstork sent to atjeh, miss van gulpendam smuggled away somehow or other, while mokesuep did not fail to put in an appearance." "the brute!" muttered van rheijn. "yes," continued grenits, "and if it had not been for our friend august, that poor girl would have been found guilty as so many others have been who have been falsely accused of opium crimes. just now you asked, leendert, whether any such thing could possibly happen in holland. i do not take upon myself to say what may be possible or impossible there; but this one thing i do know, that our whole opium-system is derived from thence, that year by year the opium revenue keeps on rising by several millions; and that thus the passion for opium is, by every possible means, excited to its utmost pitch. i further know that our government and our government officials are thus compelled by the authorities at home to support the opium farmers and to wink at all their dirty tricks with their attendant train of fatal consequences. is it not enough to make one hide one's head for shame when we come to think that we belong to a nation whose sordid love of money and grasping avarice not only tolerate such a state of things, but actually fosters and encourages it?" all present shook their heads and sighed; for the words grenits uttered were the simple truth. "but," inquired van rheijn, "ought we to blame the nation for all this? ought we not rather to find fault with the government which countenances such abuses?" "the government!" impatiently exclaimed grenits, "a nation always deserves the government it has. yes, of course, it is the government which issues the orders and which acts; but the nation looks on and--is loud in its praises of a minister who can boast that he makes as much out of the business as can be squeezed from it. it seems to me that the dutch people have either lost their manliness altogether or else are on the verge of idiocy. it has no eye, no heart for its colonies, no feeling whatever, nothing, only one single thought: 'that minister balances his budget admirably!' and then the minister, feeling certain of success and applause, actually in his place in the house allows himself to perpetrate jests which an ordinary individual would be ashamed to utter in a pot-house. then his friends applaud and the legislature seems to consider his jokes a very pretty exhibition of wit." fortunately, however, at this moment sidin came in, and his appearance checked the young merchant's indignant flow of words, a thing which his friends might not have found it easy to do. the javanese servant held two formidable looking letters in his hand, which he offered to his master. "by jove," cried van rheijn, "two official letters! i bet you that it is the order to send you to jail." grenits made no reply, but quietly opened one of the letters. "only a very commonplace marriage announcement," said he when he had glanced at the paper; and then, when he had looked at it again, he cried out: "i say, boys, here's fun! just listen to me:--'mr. and mrs. lim yang bing and mr. and mrs. ngow ming than have the honour to announce the approaching marriage of mr. lim ho, son of the former, to miss ngow ming nio daughter of the latter. the marriage ceremony will take place on the third of september next, and a reception will subsequently be held at the residence of mr. lim yang bing in the gang pinggir at santjoemeh.'" "piping hot," remarked grenits, "poor dalima's trial is scarcely over!" "a chinese wedding must be a curious affair," said van rheijn. "you are going eh?" "you may go if you like," returned van nerekool, "i have not the slightest objection, if only you will allow me to stay at home. i could not, for the life of me, hold out my hand to that scoundrel lim ho, or offer him even the most formal congratulations." "come, come," said grashuis. "there will no doubt be a great crowd, and it will be easy enough to get out of that part of the ceremony without being remarked at all; who is to notice it?" "that's right!" laughed grenits, "that's it 'des accommodements avec le ciel!' but just let me see what this second document is about. upon my word, edward, you would have won your bet. the day after to-morrow, i have to surrender myself into the custody of the jailer to undergo my sentence of ten consecutive days of imprisonment." for a few moments, a silence fell upon all present. they quite justified grenits' conduct, and in fact applauded it as a generous outburst of manly indignation. but yet the fact of ten days' imprisonment threw a gloom over these young men, who were so full of vigour and life. the condemned man, however, was the first to regain his cheerfulness, "well, my friends," cried he, "you will try and preserve me from feeling too lonely, i hope." "that we will!" cried one, "i have a splendid novel by ebers, called serapis, it has only just come out, i will send it you." "and i," exclaimed another, "i shall have my piano sent up to the jail, then you can strum away to your heart's content." "and we will come and sit with you as often as we possibly can, you will not lack company." "that's best of all!" cried grenits gaily. "i will bring my fiddle." "yes, and i my flute." "then," laughed grenits, "we shall get the whole jail to execute a sarabande de condamnã©s." "the sarabande is all very well," remarked van beneden; "but i think we might do something better than that." "well, what is it?" asked all in chorus. "you remember, do you not, that as we were seated together under the wariengien tree on the green at kaligaweh, i proposed making an experiment in opium smoking, in order to find out what its effect really is. very well, on sunday next, we might carry out that plan." "capital! a capital idea!" "but," asked grashuis, "who will provide the opium and the pipe?" "leave that to me," replied van rheijn, "don't trouble about that, i shall get all we require." "all right, gentlemen," said grenits, "that's a bargain!" as he spoke he shook hands with his friends, and the company broke up. chapter xxx. baboe dalima's journey. a long the rough mountain path which runs winding through the volcanic region of soembrieng and lindoro, baboe dalima, a few days after her acquittal and release, was stepping along with her usual firm and springy tread. she was clad with the utmost simplicity in sarong and kabaja, but was as neat and tidy as in the days when she was anna's favourite servant. on her shoulder, tied up in a shawl, she carried a bundle containing probably some articles of wearing apparel. we must notice also that she was not barefooted; but wore a pair of sandals to the use of which she seemed perfectly accustomed. it was evident, therefore, that the girl intended to take a long journey, while her outward appearance showed that she must already have got over a considerable amount of ground. how then did dalima get to the spot where now we find her, at so great a distance from kaligaweh, and what was the object of her journey? immediately after her release, she had made, as we saw in the last chapter, some anxious inquiries after nonna anna. when she was told that her young mistress had gone to karang anjer and had then disappeared without leaving a trace, her simple brain had set to work; and there arose within her the determination to go and seek for anna on her own account. she had but little comprehension of the social relations which exist between europeans; but somehow her instinct told her that her beloved nana must be in distress. she felt that the dear girl must be sorely in need of a companion, and so the faithful creature at once devoted herself to share the load of sorrow with her former mistress. but, karang anjer was a great way off--in her estimation the distance seemed infinite. her friends in the dessa had told her that it lay somewhere yonder, not far from the great sea, and near to the territory of the queen of the south, a mysterious being of whom the javanese stand in the greatest awe. but all that could not deter her. she made up her mind to summon up courage and to plod resolutely on, even though, as her friends again had informed her, the road might take her along seething solfataras, along burning mountains, along dizzying precipices and through lonely forests. she could travel only by day for fear of the wild beasts. other fears she had none; for she knew that no man would wantonly molest her; and her outward appearance was not such as to suggest that she had anything to lose. and yet she did possess a treasure, which she had anxiously hoarded and had tied up in a handkerchief and now was carrying with her in the bundle which hung from her shoulder. when she lay in prison at santjoemeh, nonna anna had, from time to time, sent her small sums of money; van beneden also and van nerekool when they visited her to gather particulars for her defence, never failed to leave a few coins with the poor javanese girl. all these presents she had thankfully accepted and most carefully saved up; for she always had an eye to the future. in this manner she had collected quite forty guilders, and this money, she had before starting, changed into twopenny and fivepenny pieces, knowing well that the sight of guilders or rixdollars might attract the attention of the evil-disposed, and might bring trouble upon her. this money had, in fact, for some time been constantly present to her mind, and had been the cause of some hesitation before she finally could make up her mind to undertake her long journey. she had anxiously hoarded it to meet the expenses which she knew must soon come upon her. the money was dear to her, for she would not be a burden upon her poor mother, who, now that her father was a prisoner, had already trouble enough to feed her little brothers and sisters. this money she had clung to, for young as she was, she knew that a time of need would soon be at hand. but all these considerations vanished as she thought of her nana--then she wavered no longer. her own unhappy condition, indeed, gave her but little uneasiness. she knew how kind-hearted her country-women are, and she felt sure that in the hour of need, she would find some hospitable roof to shelter her; and that even the very poorest would reach her a helping hand, and would gladly share her modest ration of rice with a traveller in distress. once, at kaligaweh, dalima had received a visit from m`bok kã¢rijã¢h, the loathsome confidante of mrs. van gulpendam. perhaps it was at that lady's suggestion that the old hag went to see her. she had whispered to her something about a medicine made from the clitoria ternatea. at first poor dalima had not understood what she meant and had opened her eyes wide with surprise--she knew nothing, of course, of the connection between the filthy old hag and the resident's lady. but when the crone pretended to sympathise with her in her misfortune; and proceeded to speak out more plainly--then the girl's indignation and disgust knew no bounds, and she drove the old hag from her presence, threatening to rouse the entire dessa against her should she venture to show her face again. her nature revolted at the foul crime which m`bok dared to suggest, such practices she was quite content to leave to the more highly favoured daughters of civilisation. thus then had she started on her journey, and, with the little bundle which contained all her earthly possessions on her back, she had trudged over hill and dale; and after eight days of steady walking, she was beginning to draw near to her destination. whenever, at nightfall, she reached some dessa she would at once seek out the native priest and tell him that she was travelling to karang anjer in search for her father whom she hoped to find there. perceiving the plight she was in, the good man then used generally to direct her to some kind-hearted woman, who willingly took her in for the night, and not unfrequently refused to take the small coin she tendered in payment for her lodging. sometimes even they would give her a couple of small parcels of boiled rice as provision on the road. but she was not always so fortunate. sometimes it happened that she could not well make out the directions given to her, and thus night would come on before she could reach any inhabited spot. then she used to beg for a resting-place on the bench of some guard-house, and her prayer was never refused. but, on one occasion, even this poor resource failed her. her road that evening lay through a dense wood, the sun was about to set, and under the thick foliage it soon grew pitch dark. she could keep to the path only by looking upward and following the narrow strip of sky which showed through the tree-tops stretching along in the same direction as the rough road. the stars were twinkling brightly, and for some time she listened breathlessly hoping to hear some sound, such as the late crowing of a cock, or the measured strokes on the rice tomboks, which might lead her to some human dwelling. then she hurried on again; but she did not come across even a detached guard-house. at length she was suddenly brought to a standstill by the shrill discordant "meoh! meoh!" of a peacock which, perched in the upper branches of a lofty tree, thus announced that the last glimmer of light was disappearing in the west. dalima stopped in terror, for she well knew that the peacock is hardly ever heard in the woods unless a tiger is near. soon, however, she recovered her presence of mind, and quickly glancing round, she plunged into the wood and began to climb into a tree which stood close by. she was not indeed very well fitted for such gymnastics; but carefully clambering up, she, with some trouble, managed to reach one of the lower branches. as soon as she got there she felt safe. a panther will rarely attack mankind, and the tiger, she knew, does not climb trees. so she tried to make herself as comfortable as she could on the branch which was, fortunately, quite thick enough to bear her weight, and grew out horizontally so as to form a kind of seat. but that night of nearly eleven hours seemed to her of interminable length. she did not dare to give way to sleep, fearing that she might lose her balance and fall to the ground, and the branch on which she tried to settle herself, and the trunk against which she leaned, were covered with a thick knotty bark, which pressed into her limbs and gave her great pain. again and again she attempted to change her position, but the relief thus obtained was only temporary. then she tried to assume the squatting attitude which is customary with the natives; but, in clambering up the tree, the sandals had dropped from her feet, and the rough bark, cutting into the soles of her feet, soon made that position unbearable. to these discomforts was added the plague of myriads of insects, such as ants, mosquitoes, sundry kinds of beetles and other pests, which settled upon her, and caused the most frightful itching, while her hands, which supported her, and with which she had to keep her balance, were not always free to brush the tormentors away. she had also been obliged to drop her bundle, which contained her clothes, her money, in fact all she possessed; but she felt no anxiety on that account. no human being was present in that wood, and even if any one had been lurking about, he would hardly have been wandering in the dark just under the tree where she was seated. as for the animals which might be roving about, they would not disturb her little bundle. so the night crept slowly along, and it was with a deep sigh of relief that the poor girl at length welcomed the first faint streak of grey which began to tinge the eastern horizon. but she had much longer still to wait and endure the pain which every instant was getting more acute. for, during the night, she had heard very alarming sounds. the hoarse and terrible hoh! heoh! of the tiger had resounded more than once. there was no mistaking that well-known cry, and however painful her position might be, she could not yet venture to descend. indeed the tiger is never more formidable than just at dawn of day--then he prowls about noiselessly like a huge cat seeking for his prey--then he hurries off to the nearest water hole to quench his burning thirst, and to lay in his provision of water for the day. in one word, she knew that the hour of early dawn is the most dangerous; and she felt that she must still have patience. on that branch she must remain perched until the sun was fairly above the horizon, and the daylight had penetrated the foliage, driving all evil beasts to their lairs. soon she found that she had done well to be patient, for once again the peacock gave forth his screeching meoh! meoh! thus hailing the dawn as he had the evening before greeted the last glow of the setting sun. thus dalima knew that the tiger was close by. so she kept her seat high up on her branch, shivering with cold in the keen morning air, while she watched the faint streak of light gradually expanding and deepening, and the stars fading away one by one. gradually the rosy tint of morning began to spread to the zenith, driving back the damp shadows deeper and deeper into the wood. oh! how slowly time seemed to go by! how lazily the sun seemed to rise! and no wonder; for the agony she was enduring was growing well-nigh intolerable. she twisted and stretched her cramped limbs as she anxiously peered all around. under her feet all was as yet dusky and grey. she could only just descry her bundle lying under her on the grass, and her sandals at the foot of the tree; but overhead the light was already shining, and the choir of birds was beginning to carol forth its morning hymn of praise. but how slowly time crept on! she saw the sky assuming a deeper and ruddier hue, while the east was clad in glorious purple. the clouds, the trees, the leaves, the branches above were all bathed in gold, and presently the light broke through to the bottom of the wood. then the sun rose in his majesty and flooded everything in dazzling radiance. at length dalima felt that she could safely leave her perch, and after giving another look round and observing the same precautions she used in clambering up, she began to descend. as soon as she reached the ground in safety, she stretched her numbed limbs, then she took up her bundle, in which she fortunately found a couple of parcels of rice. swarms of ants were evidently anxious to share her breakfast with her; but these she soon got rid of. a little stream was murmuring close by, to this she hastened and bathed her face, her feet, and her arms in the cool refreshing water. thus, having somewhat recovered from her painful night-watch, she sat down and enjoyed her rice, and a draught from the clear brook. then with fresh courage and renewed strength, she continued her journey. the whole of that day she plodded along patiently until she came to a guard-house, where she heard the joyful news that the next dessa she would come to was karang anjer. "how far is it from here?" she asked. the man looked puzzled; for your javanese is not much of a hand at judging distances. however, after a few moments' reflection, he told her that she would have to pass about fifty telegraph poles. next day, with fresh courage she resumed her journey, and, after a good half-hour's walking, she reached the dessa. she lost no time in inquiring for the house of mrs. steenvlak and, having found it, she sent in her name to the njonja, adding that she was the baboe of nonna anna. during her stay with the steenvlaks, anna had often, very often, spoken about her faithful servant, and always in terms of the greatest kindness and affection, so that dalima found the most cordial reception. but, as regards the main object of her long journey, the poor baboe could get no information whatever. prayers and entreaties were alike in vain. to all her questions she could obtain no other answer than, "i do not know." "but, njonjaa, nana has been staying with you here," cried the poor girl. "yes, dalima, that is so." "but where is she now, njaa?" "she has gone away." "yes, njaa; but where is she?" "that i cannot tell you." the faithful young girl twisted and turned her questions in every conceivable way--most plaintively she lengthened out her "njonjaaa"--but she could get no answer. did mrs. steenvlak really not know what had become of anna? that was hardly probable. might she perhaps have some suspicion that dalima had been sent on her errand by van nerekool? that was precisely what the lady did think probable. she knew that the girl was well aware of the affection which existed between her mistress and the young lawyer, and, moreover, dalima had, in the course of conversation quite innocently remarked, that charles van nerekool had visited her in the prison at santjoemeh, and that she had received money from him. mrs. steenvlak was very far indeed from harbouring any sinister suspicions against dalima; she saw perfectly well that love for her mistress was the only motive that had brought her all that distance. but yet, she could not help thinking that this devotion to anna was mingled with some feeling of gratitude for the european gentleman who had showed himself so kind to dalima in her distress. and again, might not the girl honestly imagine that in bringing the lovers together she was promoting the happiness of both? these considerations made mrs. steenvlak very guarded in her replies. "njonjaa," began dalima again, "do tell me where i may find my nana." "i have told you already, and i tell you again, that i know nothing about it," was the lady's answer. "but, njaa, tell me, do you know where she has gone to?" cried dalima, wringing her hands. "no, i tell you--how should i, baboe?" "but you know at least in which direction she went?" asked the girl, still sticking to her point. "of course," replied mrs. steenvlak, "i know that." "oh, then, tell me," cried the sobbing girl, with a ray of hope in her swollen eyes. "i may not, i cannot tell you, baboe." "but why not, njaa?" "because, before anna left me she made me promise her--" "what, njaa?" "that i would let no one know--no one, do you understand me, dalima?" "that does not apply to me, you may trust me, njaa." "no, no," replied mrs. steenvlak, "i will trust no one--anna was particularly anxious that i should not speak." "but, perhaps she is in need of my help, njaa. where can she be? she is not fit to take care of herself, she is not accustomed to it. do tell me," sobbed the poor girl again, "i must find my nana." "no," said mrs. steenvlak firmly, "a promise once made must not be broken, you know that as well as i do, dalima." for all her firmness, the kind-hearted lady was deeply moved by the devotion of the poor creature, who had already gone through so much suffering in her little life, that it was a wonder her temper had not been soured altogether by misfortune. she was half sorry that she had given her word to anna; but yet, until she was authorised to do so, she did not feel justified in breaking silence. "the best advice i can give you," she said at length, as she looked with much compassion at the girl who sat sobbing at her feet, "is to return at once to santjoemeh, or better still to kaligaweh. can i do anything for you to help you on your journey back?" baboe dalima sadly shook her head. "come, come, you will want some money on the road, eh?" and opening her purse she took out four rix-dollars and put them into the girl's hand. without uttering a word, dalima accepted the gift, and carefully tied up the money in her handkerchief. then she rose, respectfully kissed mrs. steenvlak's hand, and disappeared. as soon as she got outside, she muttered, "that gives me so many more days to look for nana." dalima's wants were but few. a couple of pence for her lodging, some twenty, or five and twenty cents for her food--that was all she required. instead of leaving karang anjer, she continued to wander about the neighbourhood. she questioned, she inquired, she managed to penetrate everywhere. she could do what van nerekool, as a european, and in his position as judge, was not able to do. she would, for instance, sit down at every small fruit and coffee stall she found on her way. at one place she would sit down and eat some rice, flavoured with red pepper; at another place again she would purchase some rasped cocoa-nut sweetened with the syrup of goela-areng; at another little stall again she would sip a cup of coffee or eat a bunch of ramboetans. these delicacies she could purchase for a very few cents, sometimes they cost her nothing at all; for the woman who kept the stall would look strangely at her, and when she produced her money would quietly put it back, and say: "never mind, keep that for your baby, and take another cup of coffee, you are welcome to it." but dalima did not sit down at these stalls to enjoy herself--she did so because it gave her an opportunity of asking questions and making inquiries. but, alas, all her perseverance and all her endeavours were, for a considerable time, fruitless. during the first few days of her wandering, she learned absolutely nothing. she was beginning to despair, and to give up all hope of success. she was, however, soon to have her reward; for on a certain day, as she was slowly walking through the dessa prembanan, which is situated about three miles to the southwest of karang anjer, she obtained some information which seemed to point in the right direction. a woman told her that, on a certain day, about two months ago, one of the poles of a light litter suddenly snapped, and a fresh pole had to be procured. the bearers put down the litter and, as a bamboo of sufficient length and strength was not very easily found, some considerable delay ensued. during this time of waiting, a nonna had stepped out of the litter, and had taken a seat at the stall, and called for a cup of coffee. "a nonna, you say?" cried dalima breathless with excitement: "are you sure of that?" "oh, yes, quite sure," replied the woman. "she was dressed exactly like all javanese girls, in a very simple sarong and a plain cotton kabaja, and she had sandals on her feet. but those feet had evidently been but little exposed to the sun, they were very small, very white, and not at all flattened out as our feet are. i fancy that not even the princesses at sala have fairer and tinier feet; but for that matter she might perhaps have been a princess." "why do you think so?" asked dalima. "well, she spoke javanese; but entirely with the a sound so that i had some difficulty in catching what she said." "you spoke to her then, ma?" "yes, i did," replied the stall-keeper, "she spoke with something of your accent." "but what did she say to you, ma?" "she first asked for coffee and then for ramboetans." "did she say anything more?--do try and remember." "oh, yes; she further asked me how far it is from here to the dessa sikaja, and i told her that it is about two miles off." "anything else?" cried dalima impatiently. "then she asked how far sikaja is from the dessa pringtoetoel; but i could not tell her that, as i know nothing of the country beyond our own district." "did you hear her say anything more, ma?" "no." "but ma, did you see her face?" "certainly i did," replied the woman, "why not?" "and?" asked dalima, anxiously. "her features were those of a white woman, though rather dark. her face and hands, however, did not correspond in colour with her feet. in fact i suspected at the time that she had stained them. but perhaps the nonna had been running about a good deal in the sun." "and her hair, ma?" asked dalima. "it was tied up in a knot." "what colour was it, ma?" "it was as black as yours; but much softer, it looked like silk and was wavy. oh, yes! now i feel sure she was a nonna." "yes," thought dalima, "it is she;" and then she continued aloud: "she asked you no other question, ma?" "no, nothing else," replied the stall-keeper. dalima did not stay long--a quarter of an hour later she was on her way to sikaja. how she sped there, we shall see later on. the day after, she reappeared in karang anjer; but it was only to fetch the bundle she had left behind her. then she disappeared, and no one saw or heard anything more of her. mrs. steenvlak sent a couple of oppassers to inquire what had become of her; but they returned saying that the girl had gone away, no one could tell whither. "she must have gone back to santjoemeh," thought mrs. steenvlak. "was i right after all in keeping my word to anna? time will show. anna did seem greatly attached to her baboe; and no doubt, in her present lonely state, the girl would be a pleasant and useful companion." chapter xxxi. the prison at santjoemeh--the opium-trade at atjeh. it was a glorious afternoon in august and the green at santjoemeh presented a pleasant and most animated appearance. the military band was performing a selection of music and numbers of carriages were slowly moving about among a crowd of pedestrians. the fine turf which, during the west monsoon, gives the square so fresh and pleasant an aspect, was now completely dried up and burnt to a uniform dark brown tint, while here and there the soil, which mostly consists of red clay, was gaping open in wide fissures under the scorching influence of the tropical sun. but at that hour in the afternoon, the sun had already run a considerable portion of his daily course, and was casting his slanting rays through the tops of the tall kanarie trees which, with their dark and glossy foliage, enclose the green as in a frame of verdure. the north-easterly monsoon was blowing freshly along the coasts of java; it was rustling in the leaves, in the branches, and even far inland it was making its cooling influence felt, pleasantly tempering the heat of the day. the whole of santjoemeh was astir. europeans, natives, chinamen and arabs were walking about in motley groups. every one seemed bent upon enjoying the music and upon breathing his share of the deliciously cool evening air. the resident van gulpendam and his wife, as charming as ever, had driven up the green in a handsome landau drawn by a pair of splendid horses. they were very busy exchanging greetings and nods on all sides; and distributing their most affable smiles among their friends and acquaintances. officials of all kinds and of all grades were there and the leading men of commerce; all these, accompanied by their wives and daughters, sauntered about laughing, talking, or enjoying the music. we just now said all santjoemeh was astir. but yet anyone who was well acquainted with the european world at santjoemeh--and really it was not very difficult in that small inland town to become tolerably well known to everyone of any social importance--could not help noticing that one small group was wanting; a group which, by reason of its youth, its wit and gaiety, always was wont to impart a certain flavour of mirth to all these gatherings; a group which used to attract the brightest eyes and win the most beaming smiles--this little group was, on the present occasion, conspicuous by its absence. "what can have become of edward van rheijn?" "where is leendert grashuis?" "where can august van beneden have got to?" such were the inquiries which might be heard on every side. "yes, and grenits, where is he? what has become of our merry theodoor?" "theodoor? why, don't you know--he is in the lock-up?" "oh, yes, of course, i had quite forgotten; he is in for ten days, eh?" "ah! well then, you hardly need ask where the others are to be found." "they are keeping him company you may be sure--cela va sans dire." "they are faithful friends these four." "faithful, you call them? i tell you their devotion to each other is positively edifying. they are simply inseparable." "hallo!" cried another, "there goes mokesuep!" "i say, just look; now he is making his bow to the resident. what a magnificent sweep--his hat almost touches the ground!" "and what a charming smile the fair laurentia is giving him." "i should rather think so. in that late business of lim ho--" "come, i say! no scandal if you please!" "scandal you call it; why, all santjoemeh is talking about it!" "mokesuep," cried another, "won't go and pay grenits a visit, i bet!" "he had better not show his nose there; he would find himself in queer street, i fancy!" "yes, that he would; and no more than he deserves--the scoundrel!" "look at him now, shaking hands with the assistant resident." "he is only a new chum--as soon as he has got to know the fellow--" "why, then he will do just exactly as the resident does; he will follow his lead, you will see." "well, well," remarked another, "such fellows have their value." "come gentlemen, do keep quiet; let us listen; they are just striking up le lever du soleil." "the lever of what did you say? that's a good joke--the sun is just setting." "do be quiet, i want to hear the music." it was the last piece on the programme, and at the moment when a brilliant fugue seemed to celebrate the rising of the orb of day--the actual sun was disappearing behind the hills to the west of santjoemeh. "just twelve hours out!" cried one, "either the sun or the bandmaster must have been having a drop too much!" a very few minutes afterwards the green was deserted. however, the frequenters of the sunday afternoon concert, had been quite right in their surmise. van nerekool, van beneden and van rheijn--the three "vans," as the wits of santjoemeh loved to call them, had indeed gone to the prison to pass the afternoon and evening, with their friend grenits. he, poor fellow, had been condemned to ten days' imprisonment and he had already been in durance vile for some time. as soon as they had had their bath after the usual siesta, they had started for the prison, and at that hour the sun was still high and the streets were almost deserted. they were true friends and they cheerfully gave up these hours of amusement, which were indeed the most pleasant of the whole week, to the poor prisoner. it was a sacrifice, however, which brought its own reward. the apartment in which the young men were on that afternoon assembled, did not by any means wear a dismal appearance, it suggested anything rather than a prison cell. the room was of moderate size and perfectly square. on either side of the door two large windows admitted light and air, and these could be closed by means of venetian blinds. the door gave access to a tolerably wide verandah, the architraves of which rested on pillars in the doric style; and this gallery was common to four other similar apartments which served the same purpose as that for which grenits was immured--namely to deprive their occupants, for the time being, of liberty. that verandah looked out upon a small but cheerful looking quadrangle, very tastefully laid out in grass plots and planted with flowering shrubs all covered with gay and many-coloured blossoms. the little square was enclosed by the buildings which formed the jail, one of its sides being occupied by the governor's house, a building which had a double row of pillars and whose spacious front-gallery was enlivened by a splendid collection of roses of all kinds, amongst which the thick double persian rose, the fair devoniensis, the souvenir de la malmaison and the fragrant tea-rose were conspicuous. the room occupied by grenits was very prettily furnished. it had a good table, a very comfortable seat something like a garden seat, and half-a-dozen chairs; all these of the best native workmanship. the walls were hung with four or five fairly good pictures, and a handsome lamp was suspended from the ceiling. the floor was almost entirely covered with tiles and these again were hidden by matting of the finest texture. but the most elegant piece of furniture the room contained was undoubtedly the piano which van beneden had sent to the prison for his friend's amusement. the bedroom, no less tastefully furnished than the apartment we have attempted to describe, was immediately adjacent to the sitting-room--so that grenits had not much reason to complain, and his captivity was not very irksome. said grashuis, as he entered and looked around: "why, old fellow! this looks really very comfortable. this is the first time i have ever been inside a prison, and i had no idea the government took such good care of the criminals it has to keep under lock and key." "that's all you know about it!" laughed van rheijn, "you ought to go and inspect the other side." "where? on that side?" asked grashuis as he pointed to the governor's house. "no, no," said van beneden, "yonder in that wing, that is where you ought to go and have a look. that would make you sing a different tune." "shall we go?" cried leendert as he rose from his seat. "thank you, much obliged--the smell would soon drive you away. the poor native prisoners lie there huddled together in a space miserably too small for them. the only furniture you would see there is a wretched bench or two, which in filthiness so closely rivals the floor, that the original colour of both has long since disappeared. at nightfall some further ornaments are introduced in the shape of sundry representatives of the tub family--and these utensils presently contribute their fragrance to the already pestilent atmosphere. the prisoners have but a very scanty allowance of air and light, admitted through two small heavily barred openings. the walls are supposed to be white-washed; but are smeared all over with blotches of blood, produced by mosquitoes and other still fouler insects crushed against them by the human finger, and are covered with sirih-spittle and other nameless abominations. all things considered, i believe you will give me credit for acting the part of a friend in strongly dissuading you from paying a visit to that horrid den." "yes, august is quite right," remarked grenits. "i ventured to go and have a look at the place yesterday, and i have not yet got over my feelings of disgust. but come, let us change the subject. edward, your boy has just now brought me a parcel." "yes, i sent him with it, where is it?" "it is there, just over there on the piano." "my friend," said van rheijn as he deliberately opened the parcel, "here you have a brand-new bedoedan. you see the bowl is perfectly pure and the stem has never been used. and here is a small quantity of the very best tjandoe--prime quality as grenits might say." "oh yes," said beneden--"that is, i suppose, for our experiment, is it not? how much opium have you there?" "this little box contains about twenty-five matas." "how much may that be?" "let me see! that comes to about one centigramme." "but is that enough?" asked grashuis. "enough? yes, leendert, too much!" replied van rheijn. "yet miklucho-maclay, in his well-known experiment consumed one hundred and seven grains." "well, if you reckon it up as i have done, you will find that a hundred and seven grains come to only eighteen matas and a fraction." "very good, in that case we might begin at once." "now please don't be in such a hurry," put in van rheijn. "why should we put it off?" asked grashuis. "we have now a few quiet hours before us, such an opportunity may not recur." "but, i take it," objected van nerekool, "our object is not merely to observe the sensations which opium smoking produces." "methinks," interrupted grashuis, "that there has never been a question of anything else." "that may be so," replied van nerekool; "but yet i fancy we must all have some further object in view. speaking for myself, i should be very sorry indeed to have anything to do with an experiment, whereby--well, how shall i best express myself?--whereby merely the animal side of the question is to be considered." "yes, and so should i," cried van beneden. "and so say i," added van rheijn. "yet," remarked grenits, "even from that low point of view the problem would be worth studying. don't you remember what we saw in the den at kaligaweh?" "bah! bah!" cried all in disgust. "come, no more of that," said van nerekool very seriously. "if your experiment is to reproduce any scenes like those--then i will take no part in it." "that is exactly my opinion," said van rheijn, "and i am anxious therefore to give to our investigation a totally different aspect, and to conduct it on strictly scientific principles." "very well," observed grashuis; "but who is to conduct this scientific investigation--to do that we need a man of science." "yes," said van beneden, "we are no doubt most competent representatives of the judicial, the civil, the mathematical and the commercial branches of the community; but we do not represent the faculty." "just so," replied van rheijn; "but i have made provision for that?" "in what way?" "i have invited murowski to join us." "what? murowski the pole?" cried one. "murowski the snake-charmer?" said another. "murowski the butterfly hunter?" cried a third. "yes, gentlemen, murowski, our learned medical officer. but, if you please, a little more respect for that high-priest of science. do not, pray, forget that he is the most celebrated entomologist india has ever possessed and that is, i think, saying a good deal in these days when every little german prince gives his paltry decorations and family orders for any complete--or incomplete--collection of insects, or for a bowl of disgusting reptiles tortured to death in arrack. and, further, please not to forget that he is a most earnest observer of all scientific phenomena, a man whose very name will impress upon our sã©ance that stamp of learning which it will need if it is to go forth to the world of science as a noteworthy experiment. our pole was in ecstasies when he heard of our experiment, and when i asked him to undertake the management of it, he promised to bring his thermometers, his stethoscopes--you will see what a dose of learning he will give us!" "that's all very fine;" said grenits, "but meanwhile he has not turned up." "perhaps," suggested van beneden, "he is hunting butterflies." "excuse me," replied van rheijn, "in addition to his other merits, the man is also a great lover of music. nothing in the world would induce him to miss the afternoon concert on the green, moreover he is deeply smitten with miss agatha van bemmelen, and she, no doubt, is there in the family coach." "oh, ho!" said grenits, "that is a pretty little butterfly, she has money too." "oh, yes, your poles are no fools." "but how long will he be?" "he has promised me," replied van rheijn, "to join us as soon as the music is over; and he is the man to keep to his word." "meanwhile we might get up a little music on our own account," suggested van beneden. "you see," said grenits pointing to the piano, "charles is at his post already." van nerekool, who had taken but little part in the conversation, had, in fact, risen and gone to the piano. at first, in an absent kind of way, he struck a few chords; but presently, under the influence of thoughts which always reverted to anna, he had struck up l'absence of tal. the room soon was filled with melancholy strains and sentimental trills. "no, no!" cried van rheijn, "let us have no music, you see what effect it has. just look at him sitting there, why there are tears in his eyes! a most pernicious thing, believe me, in this climate and in this horrid dungeon." the last chord had died away and still van nerekool remained moodily seated at the instrument, his head bent forward and his hands resting heavily on the keys. "i say, charles!" cried edward, "no more music now. come and sit here by me, and, while we are waiting for murowski, i have a letter to read to you which i have just now received from verstork." "from william!" exclaimed van nerekool; and, rousing himself at the name of his friend, he took the seat van rheijn indicated to him. "it is strange," he continued, "i have had no answer to my letter." "no more have i," said van beneden. "nor i!" cried grenits. "i don't much wonder at that," replied van rheijn, "he is much too busy yonder at kotta radja. you may fancy how much he has to do, as he is the only civilian in that military world." "yes," said grashuis, "a military world which has become a very small one now that our centralising system has come into operation." "a system, leendert, which might more properly be styled a system of isolation," said grenits; "it won't be very long before our grand army will be sitting there like robinson crusoe on his desert island without any other means of communication with the surrounding inhabitants than that of bullets." "come, come, theodoor," interrupted one, "no politics." "especially, i suppose, no atjeh politics," laughed grenits. "oh aye, i know all about that, we dutchmen dread that subject as a cat dreads water; but, my friends, remember that for all that, it is a question which involves the most vital interests of our country and its colonies." "now that'll do, that'll do!" they cried. "all right, my friends," said grenits with a laugh, "i must not, of course, inflict upon my kind friends who deign to come and while away the time of a poor captive, a subject of conversation which is distasteful to them. but, yet, i cannot make out what in the world william can have to control at kotta radja. the native population which has, nominally, remained faithful to us and shows its good faith by treacherously attacking our soldiers--" "now there you go again--do shut up!" "well, but;" persisted grenits, "this is no politics, i do not suppose he has to look after the mess of the soldiers and marines!" "bah!" cried van rheijn somewhat contemptuously, "what does a merchant know about such things? it is very much as if i should give a dissertation on the state of trade in madapollams." "you are right, quite right," laughed grenits, "i confess myself wrong. let the cobbler stick to his last. but now for william; what does he write about?" "here is his letter," said van rheijn; "but i ought first to tell you that i sent him a short account of the changes which have taken place in his district of banjoe pahit since he left it. i told him what lamentable influence the too compliant temper of his successor has had upon the condition of the population. to this letter of mine i have his reply, and i need hardly tell you that his views on that subject are not couleur de rose. but you had better hear what he says: "'all you have told me, dear edward, about the state of affairs at banjoe pahit has made me very sad. agriculture neglected, breach of contract a daily occurrence, and the fatal passion for opium increasing day by day! alas, alas! can all this be justly put to the account of my successor? should you not rather cast the blame upon me? such terrible changes surely never take place suddenly. no, no, if indeed matters have changed for the worse as rapidly as you say, then i fear there must have been some antecedent cause for this wretched state of decay. i will tell you frankly, my friend, that my conscience bitterly upbraids me. it tells me that i have not always done that which it was my bounden duty to do; and that i have not set my face against the abuse of opium as sternly and as rigidly as i should have done. it is true, of course, that the opium den was established at kaligaweh before i came to the place; and, so far, my conscience is clear. but the evil had not then assumed the proportions which makes it such a terrible curse at present. at that time there were still a great number of inhabitants who never touched opium. i might then, had i only been firm enough, have insisted upon the fact, that the opium den ought not to be maintained there--that, in fact, it had no reason to exist, inasmuch as it did not, at that time, provide for any local need. i did so, it is true; but weak and timid as i was, i did so in a half-hearted way. i did not forcibly enough insist upon the terrible fact that this same opium den was a most insidious means of seduction; and that, in the end, it must inevitably bring the poor people to ruin and misery. "'that is where i feel i am to blame. i may, perhaps, in self justification, try to persuade myself that, as a civil servant, i was bound to do all i could to augment the national income, that, by not opposing with all my might the use of opium, i was helping, as far as i could, to redress the balance of our national expenditure; that, even had i tried to check the havoc wrought by this baleful drug, i could have expected no assistance from my superior officer van gulpendam, nor yet have hoped for any support from the authorities at home; that, on the contrary, they would between them have crushed me like a bit of glass had i dared so much as to lift up my little finger against this infamous stop-gap of our national finances. i have tried to persuade myself that any such action on my part must have plunged my relations, who for the present and, as far as i can see, for the future, are entirely dependent upon me, into the direst poverty-"'but, my dear edward, all this sophistry profits me nothing; my conscience refuses to be lulled by any such specious arguments. for conscience is inexorable, and it loudly cries out that i have failed to do my duty as public servant in not vigorously standing up for the poor natives to whose protection i was pledged. alas! the past cannot be recalled! "'if it were lawful, under any circumstances whatever, to rejoice over the death of any fellow creature, i think i might rejoice over the death of singomengolo--that detestable bandoelan who has caused so much trouble and misery. but, why do i talk of exulting over his death? some equally worthless fellow will no doubt be found to take his place and to undertake the dirty work of an opium spy. the farmers are wealthy enough to create, so to speak, such creatures every where, and the government! why--the government--yes, it will, with a smile, pocket the foully earned money amidst the applause of the dutch nation.'" "i say!" exclaimed grenits, sarcastically, "don't you think it is about time to cry 'shut up?'" but van rheijn went on quietly reading, not heeding the interruption: "'i was just now blaming myself for not having carried out my duty more strictly. i hardly need tell you that i have made a solemn vow to act very differently in the future, and that i have determined henceforth to protect, to the utmost of my powers, the natives against the horrors of opium. but, that is more easily said than done. for, whom can i protect out here in atjeh? the native population? good lord! all i see about me in this place resembles anything in the world rather than a native population. there is no such thing. just let me tell you what is going on here. general van swieten landed in 1873, and from that moment the natives have retired as our troops have advanced. when he returned to europe we were holding a piece of ground which was completely deserted by the natives, and on which not a single javanese was ever seen. i ought to except the narrow strip of land between the river atjeh and the sea, the so-called dominion of marassa, which, at most, supported no more than two thousand souls, and these, let me tell you, were by no means addicted to opium. later on, when colonel pel took the command, things did not improve, on the contrary, the state of affairs grew gradually worse and worse. the natives were more determined than ever in their resistance to the hated invaders; and though that officer did try to introduce something like order into that most puzzling place kotta radja, which was entrusted to his care, and it must be said, did so with conspicuous success, yet daily his position became, if possible, one of greater isolation. very soon no other communication with the surrounding natives became possible than by means of arms; and when they did meet it was not for the purpose of amicable conferences, but only to do one another as much injury as possible. you know all about this, for history must have told it you. the very first thing, indeed, which arises and flourishes under the folds of our dutch ensign is not a house of prayer or a school, but an opium den. that is the first token of civilisation and the first blessing our rule brings with it. among these conquered races there was not, as yet, a single man who would smoke the stuff; but yet an opium farmer had to be found. and why? look you, edward, when i put that question seriously to myself, then i can find no other answer than this one, namely: that it was necessary to make the dutch people believe that the time of public expenditure on atjeh had passed, and that now the place was beginning to pay. you may remember what a shout of joy was uttered by the daily press in holland when, in the year 1875, the news arrived that the retail sale of opium in atjeh was producing a yearly sum of 190,000 guilders, that is 16,000 guilders a month. a few, those who were capable of reflection, shook their heads doubtfully; but not even they were able to estimate the extent of the evil which this apparent gain would inevitably entail. "'it is, however, as clear as day, that no farmer could have been found to bid for the monopoly if the opium had been sold only to the few marassans who remained faithful to us. even granting that every single man of them smoked opium--and that was very far from being true, for the lower classes in this place are not nearly so much addicted to the habit as they are in java; but even granting that--the entire number of smokers could not have exceeded three hundred. how could sixteen thousand guilders a month have been made out of these?--why, it was clearly impossible, not even if every man smoked opium, drank opium and ate opium. you must consider that the farmer has to pay for the raw material with which the government supplies him, that he has to pay all current expenses, that he has to make a living for himself, and that he must, moreover, make some profit. thus i confidently state that, in order to be able to give sixteen thousand guilders for his privilege, he must retail opium for at least three times that amount. but who then are the consumers? who are the people that bring this so-called profit to our national chest? "'i will tell you, edward, who they are: "'in the first place, all the native soldiers quartered here. in consequence of the state of war and of the wretched arrangements in camp and bivouac, it is utterly impossible to keep any control over these men, and thus there is no question of repressive--still less of preventive--measures. the agents of the opium farmer prowl about among the encampments and bivouacs and most generously deign to accept, in payment of the poison they supply, the pay and, when that is gone, even the very clothing of the soldiers. "'now, my friend, i ask you, do you begin to see why, during the atjeh war, we suffered such terrible losses through sickness, and why our losses still remain so great? now do you begin to see why all our hospitals are overcrowded? do you now see what has demoralised our entire indian force to such an extent, that, if we should have to face a serious rebellion or have to resist an attack on our colonies from any western power--we can expect very little, or indeed nothing at all, from it? then just reckon up what every soldier costs by the time he is equipped and drilled and fit to send out to join his regiment in the field. just calculate what expense the country is put to for keeping all these men in hospital, and then you will be able to judge of the wretched shortsightedness of a policy which has created so fictitious a source of gain. "'i have mentioned, in the first place, the native soldiers as principal consumers of the poison; but the chinese coolies and workmen also, whom the government has to hire at an immense cost, from penang, from malacca, from singapore, from tandjong pinang, and even from china itself, to occupy the country which the atjehers have deserted, furnish another considerable contingent to the opium smokers, and consequently to the floating population of the hospitals and to the fixed population of the grave-yards. who shall dare to compute with anything approaching to accuracy, the sums of money which are thus squandered merely to fill up the gaps which the abuse of opium is perpetually making among this working population? "'and, in the third place, the opium farmer finds his customers among the servants of the numerous officers, civil servants, and contractors; and, though this class of smokers do not entail any loss in the shape of money, inasmuch as the state has not to replace them; yet it must not be forgotten that as a direct consequence of the demoralisation of this class of men, there is at present at kotta radja, and more especially at oleh-leh, a degree of insecurity of life and property, of which in java you can form not the slightest conception. "'with regard to the moral condition of oleh-leh, the harbour of kotta radja, it is simply indescribable! the things which daily are taking place in the opium dens within and around that spot where the poison can legally be purchased, simply baffle description. "'we saw some horrid sights at kaligaweh, did we not? well, my friend, what happens here exceeds everything that the most depraved imagination can possibly conjure up. "'the practices are, in one word, abominable. "'but, you may say perhaps, that if the poison were not to be obtained in a lawful way, men would procure it by illegal means. i say no! most emphatically i say no! not a single ship can approach the north-west part of sumatra's coast without being thoroughly searched. very little trouble and care would be amply sufficient to prevent even as much as a single taã«l of opium to find its way into that part of atjeh which is in our occupation. it would be the simplest thing in the world to prevent the import of the poison altogether. "'but no, that is not the object. the object of the government, on the contrary, is to stimulate the opium trade as much as possible, and if ever the now rebellious population is brought under our yoke, the trade will flourish more vigorously than ever. the dutch nation must be made to believe that atjeh really produces a revenue, though, from even a financial point of view, this bogus revenue must result in the direst loss. "'in order to attain that object we have stuck at nothing--we have poisoned and demoralized the civil and military branches of the state--and have degraded men to the level of the beast. and all this merely for the prospect of the rich harvest which the opium trade will yield to the national exchequer as soon as we shall have forced atjeh to share the blessings of our rule. "'under these circumstances, you can readily see that it is difficult--that it is in fact impossible--for me to do what i feel it is my duty to do. that duty is incompatible with the position of a government official.'" chapter xxxii. a scientific opium den the reader was here interrupted by a loud voice crying out in the verandah: "donnerwetter! what has become of mr. grenits?" "that's our pole," said van rheijn, folding up the letter he was reading and replacing it in his pocket. "there is nothing specially interesting in the end of william's letter, and i do not think it advisable to allow a private communication of this kind to spread beyond our own little circle." the door opened and dr. murowski entered. having shaken hands with the prisoner and greeted the other gentlemen, he said in a queer lingo of his own, made up of dutch, german, and polish, but which we will not attempt to reproduce: "rather behind time, i fear, gentlemen, rather behind time, but donnerwetter--!" "come, come, doctor," said van beneden with a laugh, "no strong language if you please. i daresay you fell in with miss van bemmelen on the green." the doctor reddened up to the very roots of his hair, as he replied in some confusion: "well, yes, i did meet her--" "in that case, my dear fellow," continued van beneden, "you need not trouble yourself to make any apology at all, where there is a lady in the case--" "stuff and nonsense!" broke in murowski, "i wasn't in her company for five minutes!" "if that be the case, doctor," said van rheijn, "we must ask you why you have kept us so long. you knew we were all here waiting for you." "oh, never mind," put in grashuis with a smile, "don't press him too hard--our learned friend has probably been hunting some other pretty little butterfly!" "yes, i can see him," continued van beneden, "net in hand, running after some splendid sphynx." "indeed," growled murowski, "you seem to have a pretty lively imagination. sphynx indeed! a funny kind of sphynx has been after me!" van rheijn laughed aloud. "now, come," said he, "illustrious countryman of sobieski, of poniatowski, and so many other worthies in ski, let us have your news--for news you evidently have to tell us. let us have it. but, mind you, whatever excuse you may have to make--it will have to be a a good one." "as i was strolling about the green enjoying the music," began the doctor, "my chief called me aside and said he wanted to see me at his quarters as soon as ever the concert was over." "well, what of that?" cried the friends. "a request of this kind," rejoined the pole, "is, as you know, gentlemen, tantamount to a positive order." "yes, yes," cried van rheijn, full of curiosity, "we grant you that; but what important communication had he to make to you?" "no doubt some case of pneumato--" began van beneden. but murowski did not give him time to complete his sentence. "he simply wanted to tell me that i am to be transferred to another station." "you are going to leave us?" exclaimed the friends in a breath. "yes, gentlemen, so it seems--you see i have been a very long time settled in this place," grumbled murowski, "it must be quite five months and a half." "well, and where are they going to send you to?" "to gombong, it appears." "they might very easily have packed you off to a worse place," said van rheijn, "to singkelen, for instance, or to atjeh." "oh, i have no doubt you are quite right there," sighed murowski, "but where on earth is gombong? you must excuse my ignorance, gentlemen," continued he, with a smile, "the study of indian geography is, i fear, somewhat neglected in poland." "gombong," exclaimed van rheijn, "is in bagelen." "indeed," replied the pole, "i am much obliged to you for the information; but where may bagelen be?" "bagelen," said the embryo-controller, with a certain sense of superiority, pointing in the required direction, "bagelen is only just over there." "not over the sea then?" cried murowski, evidently much relieved. "no, no, my dear fellow, not a bit of it; a carriage will take you there very comfortably. but, why don't you ask van nerekool, he has but just returned from the very place. he knows all about it. why! he lost his heart there!" "lost his heart? at gombong?" asked murowski, looking from one to the other with a puzzled air. "not exactly at gombong; but at all events very close by, at karang anjer. do you know miss van gulpendam?" "pretty miss van gulpendam! of course i do," exclaimed the doctor. "very well then, miss van gulpendam has gone to karang anjer, and she has taken our friend's heart along with her." "that's smart," replied the pole, quite mistaking the meaning of the word he employed. "oh, you think so?" asked grashuis, drily. this conversation, as may well be supposed, was highly distasteful to van nerekool. he hastened to put an end to it by saying: "gentlemen, i vote we begin to think of our experiment." "ah, you are right," exclaimed the doctor, "our experientia by all means; experientia optima rerum magistra you know. by-the-bye, did you receive the parcel i sent you?" "oh, yes," answered grenits, "you will find it safe on that little table yonder." thereupon murowski produced his instruments; a couple of thermometers, a hygrometer, an aneroid barometer, a stethoscope, and a small chemical balance. while he was arranging these, van rheijn opened the other parcel, which contained a bedoedan and a small box of tjandoe. "i say," cried van beneden, who was the first to open the little box, "precious nasty stuff this looks!" murowski took the box from him, examined the contents, and then falling at once into a lecturing tone, he began: "opium is an amorphous, sticky substance which, being of a gummy nature, is not fissile but plastic. it is of a dark brown colour, possesses a faint sweetish smell, and is somewhat oily to the touch. its chief constituents are morphine and narcotine, in the absence of these the drug has no value." "but," interrupted van beneden somewhat impatiently, "which of us is to submit to the experiment?" "the best plan to settle that question," said van rheijn, "would be, i think, to draw lots." "very good," put in murowski, "providing you allow me to stand out, as i shall have to watch the experiment." "now, i think," suggested grenits, "you had better let me make the trial." "why you, rather than anyone of us?" "why, because, being a prisoner," replied grenits, "i have plenty of time on my hands to get over the effects of the debauch." "you are quite right," said van rheijn, "i never thought of that--i must be at my office as usual to-morrow morning." "and i," continued van beneden, "i have to be in court, on setrosmito's business, you know." "of course, of course!" cried all in chorus, "not one of us must, on any account, miss that trial." "very good," said grenits, "we are all agreed then that i am to be the smoker." "it is very kind of you, theodoor, to make the offer." "all right, i am quite ready to begin." "very likely," interrupted murowski, "but that is more than i am." "no, and i am not ready yet," said edward van rheijn. thereupon, assuming the most severe professional gravity, the worthy pole commenced carefully to weigh out the stock of opium, which he found came to 142 grains. this fact he noted down in his pocket-book. "you had better add," said van rheijn, "that there are twenty-five matas." "twenty-five what?" asked murowski, again with a puzzled look. "twenty-five matas," repeated van rheijn. "matas!" exclaimed the doctor. "what? eyes?" the general burst of merriment which followed the question served only to augment the doctor's surprise. "eyes!" laughed van rheijn, "no, no, nothing of the kind. the government table of opium weights runs thus: 1 pikoe = 100 katties, 1 kattie = 16 taã«ls, 1 taã«l = 10 tji, and 1 tji = 10 matas, and therefore--" "all right, all right!" cried murowski, as he joined in the laugh, "now i see it." "but, gentlemen," he continued, "we must look sharp, the sun has set." it was nearly a quarter past six and, in the month of august, the sun in java sets some time before that hour. murowski requested grenits to have the lamps lighted, and when the servant had brought in the lights, the pole continued: "now then, grenits, get your clothes off!" "what is that for?" asked theodoor. "my dear fellow," replied the doctor, "i must have you in pyjamas; for i shall have narrowly to watch the action of the chest." grenits retired to his bedroom, and in a few minutes returned clad in his ordinary night clothing. the doctor then made him lie down on the divan, he felt his pulse, examined his tongue, sounded him with the stethoscope, and carefully took his temperature. during these preliminaries the countenance of murowski wore a look of stern solemnity which, no doubt, ought to have impressed the spectators with the feelings of respect and awe due to a high priest of science; but which, unfortunately, only served to excite their merriment. even grenits himself could hardly repress a smile. "what in the world is the good of all that hocus-pocus?" whispered august van beneden to grashuis. "why are you lawyers," rejoined the other, "always fencing with scraps of latin? it is the correct thing, i suppose. it is a trick of the trade." at length grenits said: "well, doctor, is my carcase in pretty good order?" "perfect," replied murowski, "perfectly normal; i must have a look at the barometer, and then our experiment may begin at once." the barometer recorded 745 m.m., and the doctor made a note of the reading. "there, now," he said to grenits, "i am quite ready--no, no, wait a bit--there is something else. when did you last partake of food?" "at half-past twelve," replied grenits, "the usual dinner." "thank you," said the doctor, and looking at his watch he continued, "it is now half-past six--just six hours ago. did you partake of anything in the way of spirits?" "no, nothing of the kind," answered grenits, "nothing but a little pale ale." the doctor then placed his thermometers in position under the patient's arms. while all this was doing, van rheijn was busily employed dividing the opium into twenty-five equal parts. then he lit the lamps, and, warming the bits of opium at the flame of the little lamp to make them soft, he kneaded into each of them some very finely cut javanese tobacco, and then rolled them into small round pills. his friends looked on with some surprise at the dexterity with which he performed these manipulations; for he had not told them that, previously, he had asked lim ho to show him how the thing ought to be done. this lesson the wily chinaman had been only too willing to give him. "who knows," thought he, with a grin, "perhaps the europeans may take a fancy to the delicacy." when edward had prepared his pills, he produced the bedoedan. it consisted of a tolerably thick bamboo stem some nine or ten inches in length, highly polished and of a beautiful light-brown tint. this stem was open at one end and sealed at the other. very near to the closed end and at right angles to the stem, a small earthenware bowl was inserted into the wood. "it is a spick-span brand new one, i can assure you," said van rheijn to theodoor, "i bought it myself for this very occasion." "thank heaven for that!" cried grenits. "just fancy if one of those old sots had been sucking and slobbering at it! bah! it makes me sick to think of it." "that shows how innocent you are," rejoined van rheijn, "your real lover of opium, your 'feinschmecker,' prizes an old pipe very highly. when the stem is thoroughly saturated and the bowl thickly encrusted with juice, the smoke must be indeed delicious." thus saying, edward put one of the little pills into the bowl and handed the pipe, thus loaded, to his friend, while he drew the little table with the lamp within easy reach of the smoker. grenits lay stretched out at full length on the divan, the front of his kabaai was wide open, so that the action of the chest was plainly visible, and his head rested on a somewhat hard pillow. "now," remarked grashuis, "there is only one thing lacking, and that is the greasy filthy pillow we saw in the den at kaligaweh." "much obliged to you, leendert," laughed grenits. "i would not for the world touch the beastly thing--this pillow will do perfectly well." thus speaking, he turned his face to the lamp, applied his mouth to the stem of his bedoedan, and, trying to imitate as closely as he could the proceedings he had witnessed at kaligaweh, he was about to apply the bowl to the flame. "hold hard!" cried murowski, "don't be in a hurry, one moment." with these words he took theodoor's pulse and held it for fully a minute looking the while carefully at his watch. then he once again applied the stethoscope, examined the thermometers, replaced them, and finally, in his notebook he wrote: pulse 72, respiration 24, temperature 99 1/2. "that's it," said he, "now then puff away to your heart's content." with one steady long pull grenits sucked the flame of the lamp into the bowl. as the opium-ball kindled, a faint sweetish odour began to pervade the apartment, a smell somewhat suggestive of warm blood and treacle. "swallow it, swallow it!" cried van rheijn. this, however, was more easily said than done. grenits made an effort to swallow the nasty smoke; but then a violent fit of coughing compelled him to open his mouth and blow out the fumes into the room, augmenting thereby the nauseous smell which already pervaded the apartment. "poeah! poeah!" cried grenits, puffing and coughing. "what do you feel? what do you taste?" asked murowski. "i am half choked with coughing," stammered grenits, "and i have a nasty sweetish taste in my mouth. i cannot describe it." this first draw had been a deep one; the madat-ball was entirely consumed; van rheijn slipped another opium-ball into the pipe. "now, this time," said he, "you must try to swallow the smoke; you have done so often enough when you have blown the smoke of a cigar from your nose." poor grenits made another attempt. this time he did actually inhale the fumes and succeeded in retaining them for some seconds, after which he allowed them slowly to curl out at his nostrils. dr. murowski made a note in his pocket-book, pulse 70, respiration 25, temperature normal. being asked again what he felt, grenits answered: "i feel nothing; but the sweet taste has gone and now it tastes rather bitter." after the third pipe, theodoor complained that his head felt heavy and said he wanted to go to sleep. this drowsiness seemed to increase with the fourth and fifth pipes; but, as yet, grenits was well able to resist it. he returned sensible answers to the questions put to him by his friends; but remarked that his faculties seemed to be clouded and that he had to reflect for some considerable time before he could grasp the meaning of a question, and that he could not readily frame an answer. he was able, however, to sit upright, and could even walk up and down the room without support. dr. murowski watched him carefully and after the sixth pipe he found, that the drowsy feeling was still increasing, that the pulse was at 70 while the respiration had risen to 28. the eighth pipe produced further drowsiness, but yet theodoor was able to tell the time by the clock. with the ninth pipe, his speech became thick and his utterance indistinct; and when the doctor pressed him very hard, he said that his tongue seemed as if it were increasing in volume. after the tenth pipe, the patient began to complain of a bitter taste in his mouth, and said he felt giddy. the doctor at once grasped his hand; but pulse and respiration both remained unaltered. after the eleventh, grenits could no longer raise himself unaided from the divan, and, when he tried to walk had to be supported, so tottering and uncertain were his steps. after the twelfth pipe, which he smoked very slowly, a remarkable change came over the patient. theodoor was now lying with his eyes closed; but every now and then he opened them and there was now a brightness in his look which offered a strange contrast to his former dull and heavy expression. his sensations, he declared, were highly pleasurable; but he could give no description of his feelings. "charles, charles," he faintly cried, "give us a little music," and he turned slightly to van nerekool. the latter at once sat down at the piano and began very softly to play chopin's variations on airs from don giovanni. the ecstatic expression on the smoker's face showed that he took in every chord and every note. "go on playing," he murmured, as soon as charles left off, "more music--more smoke--give me the pipe." this ecstatic state went on increasing with the thirteenth pipe and with it also the craving for opium grew more intense. theodoor now began to laugh; he stretched out and waved his arms--the most pleasant pictures were evidently floating through his brain. when murowski asked him what made him laugh he replied, with a fresh burst of unnatural merriment: "i don't know, i don't know!" presently he requested van nerekool to play him a certain passage from schumann's manfred. in this state of ecstasy the patient remained while he smoked his fourteenth and fifteenth pipes. the fixed smile did not leave his features; but now he ceased to reply to the questions of his friends. he also grew restless by degrees and no longer lay still as before. after the sixteenth pipe grenits complained of having to leave off smoking while the pipe was being refilled. he grew fretful and found fault with van rheijn for not having supplied another bedoedan, for then, he said, the experiment might have gone on without interruption. dr. murowski observed that the pulse was at 72 and the respiration at 28; that the conjunctiva was much bloodshot and the eyelids heavy and drooping. after the seventeenth pipe the smoker suddenly started up and attempted to walk; but, after a few steps, fell down and was unable to rise. his friends carried him back to the divan. he begged hard to be allowed to go on smoking and, as the doctor declared there was no danger whatever, the request was complied with. the eighteenth pipe brought back the state of ecstasy which, for awhile, seemed to have left the patient. every now and then he opened his eyes wide and seemed to follow some flying image. with the twentieth pipe these symptoms merely increased, and when murowski asked him how he felt he replied: "oh! i feel so happy; i never felt anything like it before." the doctor made the following note: sclerotica much inflamed, pulse 70, respiration 25, temperature 100â·04, satyriasis setting in. upon being asked if he wanted anything, he replied: "i don't want anything--nothing at all--leave me alone. the pipe! give me the pipe! that edward, that edward! does he want the thing to fail altogether?" the next instant he exclaimed: "oh! if this be mohammed's paradise, let me go on smoking for ever! the pipe! the pipe!" "is it not high time," asked van nerekool anxiously, "to put a stop to this? the poor fellow will, i fear, do himself some serious mischief." "no, no, no," cried the pole. "don't be alarmed, i answer for him, there is not the slightest danger. his pulse is perfectly regular, the breathing has quickened somewhat; but there is only a rise of â·3 in the temperature. it would be a pity not to go on now, this experiment is most important to science." after the twenty-first pipe, grenits seemed to lose all control over himself. he lay still, almost motionless; but every word he uttered, every look and every gesture betrayed what was passing within. this continued until the twenty-fourth pipe had been smoked. murowski then again asked him how he felt, and he answered pretty quietly: "oh! i am at peace, at rest. delightful! delightful!" but this was far from satisfying our pole. with his right forefinger on the patient's pulse and his left hand spread out on his breast, he kept on asking him again and again, "what kind of feeling is it?" theodoor, however, did not reply. by this time he was heaving and panting with excitement. his arms and hands were stretched out clutching convulsively at some phantom of his brain. his face wore a look of unutterable bliss which filled the bystanders at once with amazement and horror. "doctor, doctor!" muttered van nerekool, "let us put an end to this. look at him, look at him. it is disgusting!" but the pole would not give in. "there is no danger, none whatever!" he cried; "we must go on now, we must go on!" with the tough tenacity of the man of science bent upon fathoming some natural phenomenon, he eagerly watched theodoor's slightest movement. he was desperately anxious to make the patient speak out. "grenits!" he cried, "grenits, do you hear me; tell me, do you hear me?" then he forced up the eyelids, and with his finger sharply filliped his nose as he kept on crying, trembling with impatience: "do you hear me, grenits, do you hear?" grenits muttered a few incoherent words as he restlessly tossed about on the divan. "do you hear me?" persisted the doctor. "tell me, can you understand?" "oh, yes, yes," at length muttered grenits, "do leave me alone!" in his eagerness the doctor bent over his patient, he did not for an instant take his eyes from his face. just then the friend was transformed wholly into the man of science who, entirely mastered by the passionate desire of unravelling some secret of nature, might become capable of practising vivisection even upon his fellow-man. "oh do tell me," passionately implored the doctor, "do tell me what you feel!" "what i feel?" muttered theodoor vaguely. "oh it is delightful, delightful--more delicious than--" "this is too bad!" shouted van nerekool, "abominable! i can't stand this any longer!" and, snatching the pipe out of grenits' hand, he stamped on it with his foot. then he seized the box in which there remained but a single pill of opium and violently flung it and its contents out of the window. "that's right, quite right!" cried grashuis and van beneden in a breath. "it is a pity, a thousand pities," complained murowski. but even he had very soon to change his tone, as the condition of grenits now began seriously to alarm even the medical man. the smoker's pulse had fallen to 62, and his respiration to 24, while the temperature had risen to 101â·40. grenits moreover was now growing very restless, and was pouring forth a torrent of libidinous and incoherent ejaculations. his eyes were bloodshot, his face much swollen, his skin was hot and dry, while the hands were damp with clammy sweat. incessantly he kept on clamouring for opium. "the pipe, give me the pipe! van rheijn, the pipe!" he almost yelled, and this amidst a string of loose and frantic exclamations. murowski, now beginning to fear that the experiment might have been carried too far, endeavoured to make him drink some of the strong coffee which had been kept ready for the purpose, by pouring it down his throat with a spoon. he bathed his head with iced water, and every now and then, made him sniff strong smelling salts. thus, with considerable difficulty, the doctor at length succeeded in somewhat quieting his patient. the coffee, especially, seemed to have a soothing effect. at first grenits violently resisted all attempts to make him swallow it; but presently, of his own accord he began to ask for it, and the beverage had the most sobering effect. gradually the excitement began to abate, the patient's voice became more natural and subdued, and his utterances less wild. at length grenits fell into a deep sleep. murowski took out his pocket-book and wrote: pulse 70, respiration 24, temperature 100. "normal," said he with a sigh of relief, "quite normal! however, i shall not leave him to-night." the gaoler was very easily persuaded to allow the doctor to remain with his patient for that night, and grenits slept for thirty-three hours. when he at length awoke he found that, with the exception of a feeling of exhaustion and a pretty severe headache, he was none the worse of his opium-debauch. even these unpleasant sensations, however, left him as soon as he had taken a bath, and then he became ravenously hungry so that his attendant had some difficulty in serving him quickly and plentifully enough. three days after these events murowski was on his way to his new station. it was his intention to expand his notes into a full account of what he had witnessed, and to send his paper on the effects of opium smoking to one of the scientific publications in germany. the experiment in the prison at santjoemeh had one good effect, at least, upon those who were assembled to witness it: it served namely, to confirm the opinions they already held with regard to the use of opium. it would not be true to say that van rheijn had ever stood up as a defender of the use of the drug; yet he had always striven to find some argument in palliation of the government system; but now even he was completely converted. with poor theodoor grenits the events of that evening were, for a long time, a very sore point; and he never could bear the slightest allusion made to his antics while under the spell of the poppy-juice. "may i be hanged!" he cried, "if ever again i touch a bedoedan, however seductive and pleasant may be the images it calls up." and then, turning to his friends, he said, "gentlemen, i beg you will do me the great favour of never, in the slightest manner, alluding to the past; and," continued he enthusiastically, "let us now join hands and solemnly declare war--war to the knife against the opium trade." chapter xxxiii. in the pandoppo of the regent. the day which followed the opium experiment described in the last chapter, promised to be an interesting one to the inhabitants of santjoemeh. on that day, setrosmito, the father of baboe dalima, who had for months been lying in gaol on a charge of having murdered a chinese bandoelan in the execution of his duty, and who had been accused also of opium-smuggling, was to be brought to trial. the evidence had already been taken, and the witnesses on both sides had been examined. the prisoner confessed that he had, with his kris, taken the chinaman's life; but he stoutly denied that he had been guilty of smuggling. all santjoemeh had turned out, that is to say, the whole european population; for it was known that august van beneden would conduct the defence. as our readers know, the young lawyer had already appeared as counsel for baboe dalima; but at her trial he had merely watched the proceedings in behalf of his client, and had no opportunity of showing his powers as an advocate. thus the speech he was expected to deliver in defence of setrosmito, might be looked upon as virtually his maiden-speech. in social circles, however, and on several minor occasions, august van beneden had given evidence of much ability and considerable readiness of speech, and thus the good people of santjoemeh were looking forward to the coming trial as to a rare intellectual treat. but that was by no means all. it was further rumoured that the unfortunate bandoelan had lost his life in consequence of his misconduct towards the little daughter of the prisoner. now, the public at santjoemeh knew pretty well what excesses the bandoelans used frequently to permit themselves to take in these domiciliary visits for opium; and thus expected that some spicy details would be forthcoming at the trial. it was, moreover, confidently expected that in his devotion to themis, the young lawyer would lay his finger heavily upon the crying abuses of the infamous opium traffic, that plague-spot of javanese society and that disgrace to the european conquerors of the island. no wonder, therefore, that long before the time appointed for the trial, the pandoppo of the regent's house in which the court was to sit, was crowded to its utmost capacity. even ladies appeared in the audience, and foremost among these was fair laurentia van gulpendam. as a rule, no ladies ever appear at these native trials; but, on this occasion, the full-flavoured particulars which were sure to be revealed, might perhaps account for their presence. at all events, the numerous staff of servants looked on in amazement at this unusual concourse; for generally the public is, on such occasions, conspicuous only by its absence. these attendants found it as much as they could do to provide seats for all the company, and though there always is an abundant supply of chairs in every regent's house, yet on this occasion, a sufficient number of seats could hardly be mustered. had it been evening, and had the numerous lamps which swung from the roof of the pandoppo been alight, one might have imagined oneself at some festive gathering, or rather, one might have thought, that an exhibition of juggling or other such-like entertainment was about to take place; for, at one extremity of the spacious hall, there was a raised platform three steps above the level of the floor. on this stage was seen a long table covered with a green baize cloth on which were displayed a thick book and a number of 'piã¨ces de conviction;' and at which several chairs were placed in order. a police oppasser, who, judging from his demeanour, was fully aware of the importance of his office, was mounting guard at the table, evidently posted there to keep the profane vulgar at a respectful distance. had any unruly spirit attempted to approach, he would no doubt, with a noble flourish, have dragged the rusty bit of iron which he wore by his side from its scabbard. pending the entrance of the judges, the crowd tried to pass the time as agreeably as it could. greetings were exchanged, jokes circulated freely, the people laughed and chatted, and, in fact, behaved, in that temple of justice, precisely as they might have done at a music-hall during the interval. "good morning, mrs. van gulpendam, do you intend to be present at our session?" the speaker was mr. thomasz, deputy clerk of the court. he had strolled in en amateur to have a look at the proceedings; for the chief clerk himself was on that day to officiate, and thomasz meant to make the best of the opportunity thus offered him of paying his court to fair laurentia. "good morning," replied the resident's wife as she held out her hand. "yes, i have come to have a look. i never have been present at one of these trials, and am rather curious to see what they are like. this case will be an interesting one, i think?" "i think it will, madam," replied thomasz; "but for my part, i consider the examination of the witnesses much more entertaining." "i daresay," said laurentia; "but--that horrid murderer--they are sure to find him guilty, are they not?" "i am not so sure of that, madam." "you are not? why not?" "no, indeed, i am not. the head djaksa has indeed got up a splendid case for the prosecution, there is not a loop-hole in it; but ever since our residents and assistant-residents have ceased to preside, and the duty has devolved upon professional lawyers, we seem to be be under the influence of a kind of morbid philanthropy--and, it would not at all surprise me if the scoundrel got clean off, especially--" "ah yes," exclaimed laurentia, "i know what you would say: especially since a european has undertaken the defence of that javanese scoundrel. it is perfectly unheard-of--monstrous! but, tell me, who pays that counsel, do you know, mr. thomasz?" "hush! madam, that's a secret." "a secret!" cried laurentia, "you must keep no secrets from the wife of your resident. you seem to know all about it. come tell me what you know." "let us go on the platform then," said thomasz with a faint smile, "no one will be able to overhear us up there." they walked up the steps, went to the table, and made a pretence of examining the objects displayed upon it. the policeman on guard, of course, took good care not to interfere with the njonja resident and the assistant registrar of the court. "now then," said laurentia in an undertone, "you may speak out. who pays that lawyer?" "a company, madam," was the reply. "a company! what? of chinamen?" cried laurentia impatiently. "i did not say so, madam," replied the deputy clerk with a smile and a slight bow. "what company then?" "of europeans, madam." "oh ho! you know them. you need not deny it; i see it in your face." "hush, madam," whispered thomasz, "there are a couple of ladies coming near," and then aloud he added: "yes this is the very kris with which the deed was done--you see the wavy blade is stained with blood--that black spot--" mrs. van gulpendam seized the weapon. "give me their names," she whispered as she stooped forward over the table to take it up. "i know but one of them--van nerekool." "van nerekool--still that van nerekool," hissed the fair woman between her clenched teeth. and then, turning to the pandoppo, she said to one of the ladies who had by this time mounted the platform: "look here, henriette, just look here--this is the kris with which the murder was committed." the policeman in charge of the table seemed inclined to step forward to forbid the others to approach; but a haughty look from laurentia restrained him. "is that really the kris?" asked henriette. "yes," exclaimed laurentia, "look, you! that's how it was done--slash across the throat!" she accompanied these words with a sweep of the formidable weapon which made both the ladies start back in terror. "a magnificent woman that laurentia!" said a young man in the body of the hall. "just look at her attitude, look at her features, look at that hand as she grasps the dagger! what a lady macbeth! what a perfect instep!" "aye, aye," quoth another, "she is posing, she knows--she feels--that we are admiring her." "what are you frightened at?" continued mrs. van gulpendam, "see here, that spot is the blood of the victim, is it not, mr. thomasz?" "disgusting!" cried both ladies in a breath. "how can you touch it, my dear madam?" "touch it? why not?" scornfully replied laurentia as she flung back the kris rattling upon the table. "why not touch it? the thing doesn't bite." "of course not, my dear," said henriette; "but the mere thought that it has murdered a man!" "pooh! a chinaman!" cried laurentia. "but a chinaman is a human being," objected her friend. "i suppose so," was laurentia's disdainful reply. "it is well that lim yang bing or lim ho are not by to hear you," said thomasz forcing a laugh. "oh that is a different matter altogether," said the arrogant woman. "they are opium-farmers," cried henriette. "they are millionaires!" added her friend. the two ladies uttered these exclamations almost simultaneously, with an indescribable tone of sarcasm peculiar to their sex. laurentia fully understood the taunt and felt it too; but she gave no sign of displeasure. "ah yes," continued henriette following up her pleasant little home-thrust. "now you mention their names, what has become of the two chinamen. i don't see them. yonder is the chinese captain and kam tjeng bie the wealthy merchant; but i can't see the two opium-farmers." "they will take good care," added the other lady, "not to show their noses here." "i daresay," carelessly remarked laurentia, "that they find plenty to do getting ready for the wedding." "is not the murderer," asked henriette, "the father of baboe dalima who accused lim ho of--?" "my dear henriette," hastily interposed mrs. van gulpendam, "that is the merest tattle--in our gossiping santjoemeh you ought not to believe one tenth part of what you hear." "but," continued she rather hurriedly as if anxious to change the subject, "but, mr. thomasz, what kind of gollokh is that yonder on the table--that looks as if it were blood-stained too--did the murderer use that thing also?" "oh no, madam," replied the assistant-clerk, "that is nothing but chicken's blood." "chicken's blood?" inquired henriette with a laugh. "yes, dear madam, we call that the gollokh soempah." "indeed, and what may that mean?" "we might translate it by the 'oath-knife,'" replied thomasz; "it is, in fact, with that instrument that the chinese take an oath." "that's interesting! did you ever see it done, mr. thomasz?" "oh yes, madam, very frequently." "do tell us all about it," cried henriette, "how is it done?" "it is as simple a ceremony as possible, ladies. the witness who is about to be sworn, accompanied by a chinese interpreter, and one of the members of the court, walks up to a block of wood. then the gollokh is placed into his hand and with it he chops off the head of a black chicken. nothing more, and nothing less. it is an utterly meaningless performance, and, at first sight, it is simply ludicrous." "but why must the chicken be black, mr. thomasz?" asked henriette. "that is more than i can tell you, madam," replied he. "you are aware, i suppose, that white is the mourning colour in china." "oh, yes, i know that; but--a black chicken? there must be some hidden meaning in that," mused henriette. "there may be, madam," replied thomasz; "but i have never been able to discover any, though i have frequently asked interpreters and even chinese chiefs about it. there exists, however," he continued, "in china another manner of taking an oath, the significance of which is, perhaps, more obvious. but it is used only on special and very important occasions." "can there be any question of greater moment," asked henriette, somewhat sharply, "than that of speaking the truth before a judge?" "certainly there may be, madam," was the reply. "more important do you mean to tell me, than of giving solemn testimony upon which may depend perhaps the life or death of a human being?" "undoubtedly, madam," said thomasz. "well!" cried henriette, "i should like to know what questions those may be!" "to give you only one instance," replied thomasz, "the great oath, the solemn oath which the government requires to be taken when a man is made a chinese officer." "indeed!" exclaimed henriette with a laugh, "do you call that so very serious a matter?" "and then," continued the assistant clerk, "on certain occasions, though rarely, the great oath is administered in civil cases, where the interests involved are very considerable." "ah, now i understand you! when it is a question of â£ s. d.," laughed henriette; "but, pray, tell us something about that great oath." "with pleasure, madam, only i am afraid i do not know very much about it. the rites observed on such occasions are borrowed from the ceremony with which the oath is administered in china to princes and high state officials on their appointment. i will, in as few words as possible, try to describe to you what takes place. the witness first writes down the evidence he intends to give or the promise he intends to make, on a strip of red paper, and then he confirms the truth of his words by calling down upon himself the most fearful curses should his evidence prove untrue, or should he fail to carry out his engagement. this strip of red paper the witness next carries to the temple, and solemnly spreads it out upon the table of offerings, between a number of burning candles, some bottles of wine and some confectionery, which are destined to be gifts or offerings to the idol. while this is going on the priests are screeching forth a form of prayer, at certain passages of which a bell is violently rung. thereupon the witness, in a loud voice, reads out what he has written on the paper, the priests the while burning incense. finally, the red paper is held to the flame of one of the candles, and, having been thrown down on the table, is allowed to burn until it is reduced to ashes. this concludes the ceremony. i know, ladies, my description is most imperfect; but i hope that i have succeeded in giving you some notion of this very curious solemnity." "much obliged to you, mr. thomasz," said laurentia, holding out her hand to him as, with haughty glance, she surveyed the company assembled in the pandoppo. "i wonder whom she is looking for?" whispered one of the young men in the body of the hall. "not for me i fear," sighed another, "perhaps--" "the gentlemen of the court!" bawled a police oppasser, much in the tone of a french huissier when he shouts, "la cour, messieurs!" the name of the individual who was supposed to be the object of laurentia's solicitude remained unspoken. just then, out of one of the side buildings which could be seen from the pandoppo through the intervals between the blinds, there appeared two european gentlemen, two javanese chiefs and two chinese officers. these formed a kind of procession and slowly marched towards the pandoppo. having entered the hall they ascended the platform, and took their seats at the table, on the chairs placed ready for them. at the head of the procession walked mr. greveland, the successor of mr. zuidhoorn and president of the court. after him, came radhen mas toemenggoeng pringgoe kesoemo, regent of santjoemeh; radhen pandjie merto winoto the patih, and babah tang ing gwam the chinese major--these three were members of the native council. then followed mas wirio kesoemo the head djaksa, and behind him came the clerk of the court, while hadjie moehammad kassan, the panghoeloe or native priest, closed the procession. the president was in his judicial robes of office, while the clerk of the court appeared in black frock-coat and white trousers. the javanese members wore, of course, the national costume, which consisted of a short jacket with stiff gold-embroidered collar over a similarly embroidered vest, with the finely stitched sarong wrapped in neat and narrow plaits round the waist. on their heads they wore the ordinary scarf; but in addition to this they also wore the kopja, an ugly and shapeless head-gear, looking like a bit of stove-pipe ornamented with narrow gold lace. the chinese major was in full mandarin's dress, the most conspicuous part of his attire being a kind of tabard of light blue cloth, on which, in front and behind, were richly embroidered in gold a pair of monstrous dragons. his head was covered with a stiff cap of light blue cloth. this cap had a somewhat high crown, on the top of which, surmounting a little tuft or tassel, shone a large blue gem of extraordinary lustre. the panghoeloe was clad in a sombre-looking cassock reaching down to his heels. he was remarkable chiefly by a turban of prodigious size, which, by its magnitude and colour, proclaimed that the man had visited the tomb of the prophet and was therefore a hadjie or pilgrim. in his hand he held a book which looked much worn and soiled. this was the sacred book--the koran. on the steps leading to the platform were seated several javanese youths dressed in the national costume but without the kopja. these were the mantries, generally young men of good family, and even of noble birth, who were present to listen to the proceedings, and thus to qualify themselves for future appointments. they sat on the steps with their legs crossed before them, and each had on his knees a writing tablet, on which he was prepared to jot down whatever remarks he might consider valuable enough to be thus rescued from oblivion. mr. greveland took the chair at the middle of the oblong table. on his right hand sat the regent and on his left the clerk of the court. next to the regent sat the djaksa and on his right again sat the panghoeloe. the clerk of the court had on his left the patih, and after him came the chinese major. all these places were allotted to their several occupants, in accordance with the rules of the strictest etiquette, to which eastern nations always attach the utmost importance. just after the president had taken his seat, august van beneden made his appearance in his barrister's gown; and, by the chairman's direction, sat down at the end of the table by the side of the chinese major. at that moment the pandoppo of the regent's house offered an interesting and most curious spectacle. it was a wide roomy shed the lofty roof of which was supported by eight pillars, and completely open on all sides. in order to temper the glare of the sunlight, and also to exclude the prying looks of the public outside, the spaces between the pillars were hung with green kreã©s or mats, while the members of the court had the further protection of a canvas screen stretched behind them. behind the judges some javanese servants were squatting. these men bore the pajoengs of the javanese chiefs, and though these umbrellas were closed, yet their bearers held them aloft in such a manner that they could plainly be seen behind the backs of their masters. as the native court was then sitting; and taken as typical of the entire judicial system as regards the native inhabitants of the island of java, it presented a strange combination of those three leading principles which the dutch government has, sometimes in greater sometimes in lesser degree, but always very cleverly, managed to unite. first there was the european law represented by the person of the president; in the next place the native usage was respected which demands that both the judges shall be javanese chiefs or nobles of the highest rank; and in the third place there was the mohammedan law represented by the panghoeloe whose office it was to enforce due respect for the injunctions of the koran. between the platform and the first row of chairs there was a considerable open space which, however, was not protected by any kind of railing. to the right and left of the platform stood a pair of native police oppassers in their bright yellow uniform and with side-arms dangling from bright yellow belts. the poor fellows cut a sorry figure as they stood there, they were quite taken aback at the sight of so large a crowd. fair laurentia had taken her seat on the middle chair of the first row. as njonja resident this place of honour belonged to her, and by her side she had placed two of her most intimate friends. close around these clustered the most fashionable and important inhabitants of santjoemeh, or such as considered themselves the most important; and behind these again came the miscellaneous crowd which filled the pandoppo from end to end. the conversation, however, now that the judges had entered, was carried on in whispers or in a low undertone. edward van rheijn, charles van nerekool and leendert grashuis, we hardly need say, were present in the third or fourth row of chairs among a number of their young friends and acquaintances--the jeunesse dorã©e of santjoemeh. thus they had an excellent view of the proceedings. "look at that thomasz," said van rheijn, "what an ass the fellow is making of himself with laurentia!" "yes, yes," quoth grashuis, "he is making hay while the sun shines." "i don't know so much about that," remarked one of the young men present, "it seems to me that just now he is pretty well at home at the residence." "there are very queer rumours afloat about him," whispered another. "rumours!" said van rheijn testily, "why, in santjoemeh, the air is always full of rumours. what would santjoemeh be without its chronique scandaleuse?" "if people will behave themselves in that way!" "yes, and if appearances are all against them!" "indeed," said van rheijn tartly, "am i to suppose that, where a woman's good name is concerned, you would go by appearances?" "they say that m`bok kã¢rijã¢h has been employed." "oh! if that filthy hag has a finger in the pie, then--" "they say!" exclaimed van rheijn contemptuously, "they say!--and pray who are they?" "well--everybody--" "at all events i am not one of them," replied van rheijn. "no more am i," added grashuis. "hush," whispered van rheijn, "i am sure laurentia can hear all we say; just look how she pricks her ears." "how very dignified van beneden looks in his gown," said grashuis anxious to change the subject and slightly raising his voice. "i don't see it," returned van rheijn; "he looks for all the world like an umbrella in its case." at that moment fair laurentia turned and cast her eye over the group of young gentlemen seated behind her. they all greeted and bowed. van rheijn, however, had a gracious smile all to himself--it might have been perhaps in acknowledgment of his comparison of van beneden with the umbrella. "oh, you sly fox," whispered one with a nudge, "that is why you took me up so sharply just now? eh?" "do shut up!" said van rheijn, "i wonder you are not ashamed of yourself for talking such nonsense!" "have you received an invitation yet?" asked grashuis, wishing to turn the conversation into another channel. "what invitation?" "to lim ho's wedding party." "yes, i got one the other day," said one. "and so have i," said another. "that is a curious custom," remarked van nerekool, "for the bridegroom to give the wedding party." "yes," added another, "it is so totally different from what one sees among western people." "different!" exclaimed van rheijn, "of course it is--it is quite consistent with everything else in china. with them everything is upside down. their mourning colour is white and blue is half-mourning. their ladies wear trousers and the men carry fans. such things as knives, spoons and forks they leave to us barbarians, while they manage very cleverly to whisk down their food with a pair of chop-sticks. they hold that descendants can ennoble their ancestors so that one may become a count or a baron after one's death. they pay their doctors so long as they keep well; but the moment they fall sick they stop payment. what can you expect from such people--? surely you may let them hold their wedding feast at the bridegroom's house instead of the bride's!" a general laugh greeted this whimsical sally which had by no means been uttered in an undertone. mrs. van gulpendam joined in the merriment and rewarded the speaker with another friendly nod. "you see! you lucky dog! you are decidedly in her good books." "hush, gentlemen! here comes the murderer." "what? unfettered?" "yes, the law demands that an accused man shall appear free and unfettered before his judges." "but it does not forbid a couple of constables to stick close to his elbow." "hush!" mr. greveland had repeatedly struck the table with his wooden hammer. "usher," he said at length with much dignity, "you must see that silence is kept in court." the man thus addressed was a sjenjo or half-caste--he rushed up and down the pandoppo in frantic endeavours to enforce the order he had received, "hush, hush, silence! silence, ladies and gentlemen!" he bawled at the top of his voice, thus making more noise than all the company put together. again the hammer came down, and the president himself called: "silence." "silence!" shouted the usher imploringly, as he stretched out his arms and looked as if he were going to swim, or was trying to lay a tempest. at length he succeeded in controlling those unruly tongues. one of the very last to give way was laurentia--"who had a right to interfere with her--the resident's wife? those gentlemen on the bench are always giving themselves such airs!" presently, however, even her chatter ceased. once again the president brought down his hammer. "the session is opened," said he; "constables bring the prisoner forward!" one of the oppassers hereupon drew setrosmito to the foot of the steps and made him squat down in front of the table. the poor fellow looked a wretched object indeed. the months he had passed in prison had effectually done their work upon him. he was frightfully lean, and the warm brown colour of his skin had turned a dusky grey. his long lank hair, which here and there straggled from under his head-dress, had turned grey--nay white. as he advanced he looked timidly around him, he cast one imploring glance at van beneden, who gave him a friendly nod and a smile of encouragement, and then, submissively, he squatted down in the spot to which the policeman pointed. when first setrosmito came forward some one uttered a loud heart-rending shriek of ah god!--this cry was followed by the usher's cry for silence. at the back of the pandoppo several javanese women were huddled together. they were the friends of setrosmito's wife, who had accompanied her into the court. she it was who had uttered the wail which made all the spectators turn their heads. she had not been able to restrain her feelings at the sight of the wretched object in which she could hardly recognise her husband. van nerekool at once hurried up to the poor creature, he got one of the regent's servants to give her a kind of stool, and then he tried to quiet her. "you must keep quiet, m`bok dalima," said he, "or else you won't be allowed to remain here." the poor sobbing woman buried her face in both her hands. on all sides were heard murmurs of "the murderer's wife! poor woman!" "silence!" roared the usher. chapter xxxiv. setrosmito's trial. as soon as the commotion produced by that lamentable cry had subsided, mr. greveland began to question the prisoner. "what is your name?" he asked. the djaksa interpreted the question to the accused man in javanese. the prisoner with his head bent forward and his eyes steadfastly fixed on the floor replied: "setrosmito, kandjeng toean." "where were you born?" "at kaligaweh, kandjeng toean." "how old are you?" "i don't know, kandjeng toean." the djaksa turned to the clerk of the court and said, "put him down about forty years of age." there was, in reality, but little need for all this interrogatory; for the particulars had been already noted down during the course of the preliminary examinations. the questions were, in fact, put merely pro forma. "where do you live?" continued the president. "in the prison, kandjeng toean," innocently answered the prisoner. "aye! but i mean before you went to prison?" "in the dessa kaligaweh, kandjeng toean." "setrosmito," continued the president, "do you know why you have been brought here before us?" "yes, kandjeng toean." "let us hear it then." "they tell me i have smuggled opium, and that i have killed a chinaman," quietly replied the javanese, without so much as raising his eyes from the floor. a murmur of indignation ran through the pandoppo at the apparent callousness of the reply. "silence!" cried the president. "silence in the court!" vociferated the usher. "do you plead guilty to these charges?" asked mr. greveland. the djaksa interpreted the question; but the prisoner hesitated--he seemed not to know what he ought to say. he cast a furtive sidelong glance at august van beneden, who reassured him by saying: "speak up, setrosmito, speak up, tell the simple truth." "no, kandjeng toean," said he, "i am not guilty of smuggling. i never touch the bedoedan. i have killed a chinaman because he ill-treated my child." the javanese spoke in a very low tone of voice--he was abashed before that large audience and before his chiefs. he spoke moreover in the javanese tongue, which hardly any one present could understand, so that his answer produced no impression whatever. "now, listen attentively, setrosmito," said the president. "the charges against you, your own statements, and the evidence of the witnesses, will be read out to you." "yes, kandjeng toean." thereupon the clerk of the court rose, and in the sing-song monotonous tone of voice peculiar to his class, began to read all the depositions and the whole body of evidence which the preliminary examinations had produced. he read very fast, very indistinctly, and in so low a tone of voice that not a soul in the pandoppo, not even the president himself, who was seated close beside him, could understand what he said. the prisoner, of course, could not catch a single word; for the papers were all drawn up in malay, a language of which the simple dessa-labourer knows little or nothing. from time to time this dreamy flow of words was interrupted by the djaksa, whose duty it was to translate to the prisoner the more important parts of the case. but even the interpretation was got through at such a pace that it was very doubtful whether the prisoner was any the wiser for the djaksa's translation. he sat squatting on the floor without changing his attitude, and kept his eyes rivetted on one spot; his hands, fumbling the while at the skirts of his jacket, betrayed his extreme agitation. at every explanation of the djaksa, whether he understood it or not, he mumbled the invariable javanese answer: "yes, kandjeng toean." this reading of the evidence was a most dreary and tedious business. even the members of the council at the table kept up a whispered conversation, which the president had repeatedly to interrupt with an impatient gesture and a stern look of displeasure. the audience, however, did not confine themselves to mere whispers. no one spoke out aloud; but gradually there arose a humming and buzzing--an indescribable rumour, broken now and again by some lady's giggle--which sadly interfered with the majesty of the law. in vain did the usher exert the full power of his lungs. his shout of "silence" produced its effect for the moment; but it was only for the moment. the instant after the universal buzzing began again as if a huge swarm of bees had taken possession of the pandoppo. "what an insufferable bore that clerk is to be sure!" simpered mrs. van gulpendam. "he leaves the reading to his nose," remarked mr. thomasz. "mind your chief does not hear you," said one of the ladies. "pray don't tell him!" cried thomasz, "he does not know he talks through his gable--if he did, he might try and improve." "be quiet, mr. thomasz," said laurentia, with a burst of laughter, "you really must not make us laugh so." "what? i, madam?" asked the clerk. "you? of course. the resident calls you a dry comical fellow." "how, madam, do you mean to say the resident applies such terms to me?" "yes, he does--don't you like them?" "madam," replied the assistant-clerk, "professionally i cannot say that i do. just fancy, ladies," he continued, turning to the others, "a comical clerk, who ever heard of such a thing?" he uttered these words with a serio-comic air, so irresistibly droll, that the ladies fairly shook with suppressed laughter. "oh--do hold your tongue, mr. thomasz!" laurentia at length managed to say, "you see how savagely mr. greveland is glaring at you." "what a time that mumbler takes to be sure!" said a voice almost aloud in the centre of the pandoppo. "if one might only light a cigar to while away the time," said another. "or get a glass of bitters!" "i was asking an oppasser just now to fetch me a glass of beer--my throat is as dry as a lime-kiln," said another voice in an audible whisper. "well--and did you get it?" "don't i wish i may get it? 'not allowed, sir,' was all i could get out of that canary-bird, who looked as black as a three days' west monsoon." "shall we go to the club, it is close by?" asked another. "yes, if i thought that muttering would last much longer." "silence! silence!" shouted the usher, "respect for the court!" that respect for the court was all very well; but the good people of santjoemeh had gathered together for the sake of amusement, and they were being bored almost to death. at length the clerk had got to the end of his dreary tale--at length the djaksa had, for the last time, said to the prisoner: "do you understand, setrosmito?" and at length, for the last time, the latter had replied in his monotonous drone the same words: "yes, kandjeng toean." then came the usual shuffling of feet and a general murmur of satisfaction which, however, the usher soon managed to subdue. as soon as silence had been restored, the head djaksa rose from his chair and, in his capacity of public prosecutor, he began to open the case for the government. his speech was remarkably well put together, and worked out with much skill and care; but it could have an interest only for those who knew nothing of the other side of the case. it was, in fact, little more than a statement of what had occurred, strictly on the lines of the report of the bandoelan singomengolo. the public prosecutor took the case of opium smuggling as conclusively proved. he dwelt at great length upon the cunning displayed in hiding the forbidden wares under the pandan-mat of the couch--the opium itself and the box which had contained it lay before him on the table as convincing proofs of the truth of what he advanced. then, in very forcible words, he went on to dilate upon the craftiness of these opium smugglers; and tried to show how, in their endeavours to cheat the revenue, they gave evidence of much cleverness; but generally over-reached themselves and proved, by the tricks they employed, their utter want of honesty and moral sense. mas wirio kesoemo waxed well-nigh eloquent when he pointed out how the passion for opium was, hand over hand, gaining ground in java; and how this debasing passion was promoted and fostered chiefly by the abominable smuggling trade. he dwelt, in glowing terms, upon the absolute necessity of repressing, by every means the law would allow, that dirty underhand traffic which was the fruitful source of so much misery. "picture to yourselves," he cried, "the amount of injury which this nefarious trade is inflicting upon the realm beyond the ocean, upon all india, and especially upon our own beloved island of java. think of the millions which are lost--the millions!--i might say the tens of millions, and then calculate the amount of good which these tens of millions might produce if they were allowed to flow quietly and without check into the national treasury!" at these words the djaksa, who up to that time had been addressing the members of the council, turned to the public, knowing well that this argumentum ad crumenam would tickle the public ear. and he was not mistaken. the audience consisted for the most part of dutchmen, and the tinkle of these tens of millions had a metallic sound which was strangely fascinating to the hearers. a distinct murmur of approbation arose, many a head nodded in silent assent and many a voice muttered: "hear, hear! if we could but be delivered from that abominable smuggling!" these evident tokens of sympathy did not escape the djaksa's watchful eye, and mas wirio kesoemo did not let so favourable an opportunity pass without expressing the fervent hope that the judges would not fail, by their sentence in the present case, to crush the foul reptile which battened upon the national prosperity. he called upon them, therefore, to pass upon the prisoner, who not only sat there accused of the heinous crime of smuggling; but was charged also with the additional offence of murder, the heaviest sentence which the law would allow. by doing so, he added, they would earn for themselves the cordial thanks of the island of java, and establish a claim upon the gratitude of the entire dutch nation. for a moment it seemed as if the greater part of the company assembled in the pandoppo, would have given vent to their feelings of satisfaction by cheering and clapping of hands--one cry of "bravo!" was distinctly heard; but the usher repressed all such manifestations with his repeated shout of "silence--silence in the court!" the head djaksa now proceeded with the second part of his case against setrosmito, that, namely, of having murdered a chinese bandoelan; a charge which was inseparably connected with the former one of opium smuggling. the entire assembly hung breathless on his lips, as he described how setrosmito had resisted the searching of his house; how, when the fatal box had been discovered, he had hurled an opprobrious name at singomengolo and called him a "dirty dog;" how he had, thereupon, seized his kris and how, when the chief bandoelan fled back in terror, he had flung himself upon an inoffensive and defenceless chinaman, and had drawn the wavy blade of his knife across his throat, while a stream of blood deluged murderer and victim alike. this description, graphic almost to brutality in its details, made a powerful impression upon the audience. one of the ladies present screamed and fainted away, and had to be carried off insensible. this episode caused considerable commotion, and setrosmito cast an anxious glance behind him to see what was going on. "silence! silence!" bawled the usher. as soon as order had been, in some measure, restored, mas wirio kesoemo proceeded to dwell on the increasing temerity of the opium smugglers, who scrupled not to take a human life rather than risk the loss of their smuggled wares. he insisted upon the necessity of inflicting the extreme penalty for the protection of the police in the execution of their arduous duties; and he ended his speech by demanding that the murderer be condemned to death by hanging, or, if the defence could establish any extenuating circumstances, that the sentence should be at least twenty years of penal servitude with hard labour. a deep silence reigned in the pandoppo as the djaksa resumed his seat, one might have heard a pin drop, so intensely was that frivolous crowd impressed by this fearful demand for a human life. a kind of spell lay upon all, every heart seemed compressed as in a vice. a general sigh of relief was heard when the president broke the silence: "setrosmito," asked mr. greveland, "have you heard what the public prosecutor has said?" the prisoner looked up with a puzzled expression at the speaker; but he did not answer a word. the entire case had been conducted in malay, of which he did not understand a single word. the expression of the poor fellow's face showed that plainly enough. the president repeated his question, which the djaksa, thereupon, interpreted to setrosmito. the prisoner cast one look upon august van beneden, and upon a nod from the latter, answered: "yes, kandjeng toean." "have you anything to say in reply?" asked the president. another look at his counsel, and then the prisoner answered: "no, kandjeng toean." a cry of indignation and horror arose in the pandoppo at the seeming callousness of the answer. "silence, gentlemen! silence in the court!" shouted the usher. as soon as he could make himself heard, mr. greveland said: "i call upon the counsel for the defence." "at length!" muttered grashuis, with a deep sigh. "now we shall hear something very fine!" cried mrs. van gulpendam, with a sneer; but in a voice quite loud enough to reach the young lawyer's ears. van beneden very calmly rose from his chair, wiped his forehead, and then, in a clear voice which could distinctly be heard through the entire pandoppo, he said: "the trial which is now occupying the attention of this honourable court is one which is indigenous to the soil of java. i might say, indeed, that in no other spot in the world could such a case arise. there can be nothing simpler, nothing more plain than the demand of the prosecution! opium has been smuggled, some one must be punished for it. a man has lost his life, some one must hang for the murder. undoubtedly the law must have its course, and the criminal ought to be punished. we are living here in the east, in the home of the law of retaliation--an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! this, gentlemen, is a hard law unworthy of our western civilisation; but against it we have the right of inquiry, and our milder code allows every accused man the right of defence. it is of this right of defence, that, in behalf of the unhappy man sitting there at your feet and awaiting his fate at your hands, i now intend to avail myself. "now, if the facts were really such as the prosecution has represented them to be--why then there would be nothing for me to do than to commend the prisoner to the clemency of the court, or rather i should say, that i would not, in that case, have undertaken at all the defence of a cause which my conscience could not justify. i take, therefore, a totally different view of the matter; and am prepared to lay before you the grounds upon which i have arrived at a wholly different conclusion. i beg that you will lend me your attentive hearing. "but, before entering into the details of this case," continued the young lawyer, in a voice which clearly betrayed emotion, "allow me to pay my tribute to the zeal, the devotion, and the undoubted ability of a man concerning whom i must not speak without reticence, inasmuch as i am bound to him in the straitest bond of friendship. "mr. william verstork was controller of the district of banjoe pahit when the facts occurred which now claim our attention. independently altogether of the action of the government, he undertook the task of continuing the investigations which he had initiated. the result of his inquiry he has submitted to the proper authorities. i ask, why were not these papers laid before us? allow me, gentlemen, to pass very lightly over this most important omission. i could not enter into that subject without stirring up a pool of iniquity which is immediately connected with the opium question; and i freely confess that i shrink from thus occupying your valuable time. for the defence of the unhappy man for whose interests i am responsible, it will suffice if i now tell you that the documents to which i allude exist beyond the possibility of doubt or denial; and that i have here, lying on the table before me, the authentic copies properly attested and legalised by the governor of atjeh and by the chief justice at batavia. "you all," continued van beneden with a courteous gesture, addressing the public as well as the bench, "you all know william verstork, and i would not even mention the noble qualities of that zealous public servant--there would be no need of doing so--were it not that our president, mr. greveland, has but lately arrived at santjoemeh. the interests of my client demand that i should clearly point out to him that the writer of these documents is universally known as an upright man, who, in his official capacity, has won for himself the esteem and affection of all, natives as well as europeans, that have come into contact with him. that he is a most dutiful son who, for the sake of his mother and his younger sisters and brothers, has made the greatest sacrifices; and that, before this large audience i assert, without the slightest fear of contradiction, that a more single-minded and honourable man has never trodden the soil of netherland's india." a burst of applause, cheering and clapping of hands followed immediately upon this general appeal. mrs. van gulpendam sat gnawing her lips with suppressed rage, while the noise drove the usher to the verge of frenzy. at length, by dint of much hammering, mr. greveland obtained silence, he rose and said: "much as i appreciate this tribute of affection, this spontaneous testimony to the merits of a distinguished public servant; yet i must warn the public against such demonstrations either of approval or disapproval. should they be repeated it will be my duty at once to clear the court. mr. van beneden, i beg you to proceed." august had made the most of this interruption, he had wiped his forehead and refreshed himself with a draught of iced water. he continued: "after the fatal evening, william verstork repeatedly visited kaligaweh. he thought he thoroughly knew setrosmito and remembered the well known lines of racine: 'un jour ne fait point d'un mortel vertueux un perfide assassin, un lã¢che meurtrier.' but, for all that he determined to sift the case to the very bottom. he made minute inquiries on all sides, and, as the result of his investigation, he found that the man who is now sitting there before you crushed under the load of so terrible an accusation, has ever been an irreproachable husband, a tender and devoted father, an industrious hard-working labourer--that he is, in fact, one of those quiet and submissive villagers of which our javanese population is chiefly composed, and which make it possible for an entire race, which may well be called the quietest and meekest on earth, to submit to the cruel fiscal yoke we have imposed upon it. i have here, lying on this table before me, the sworn testimony of the wedono of the district of banjoe pahit. he states that on a certain occasion, when a loerah had to be appointed for the dessa kaligaweh, the man most eligible for the post was this same setrosmito, especially because he was known never to touch opium; but that he could not recommend him for the appointment, because the man could neither read nor write. "now, gentlemen, i ask you, how comes it to pass that a man bearing so excellent a character should be brought up here before you as an opium smuggler and a murderer? an opium smuggler! at those words your very looks betray what is passing in your minds. you know well enough what is going on in this residence of santjoemeh. you turn away in disgust at the mere mention of the word 'opium smuggler!' but, let me ask you, upon what grounds has the prosecution founded this most serious charge? why, upon no grounds whatever! the prosecution has not even attempted to bring forth any proof of the prisoner's guilt. their case rests entirely upon the unsupported word of one of the opium farmer's bandoelans--upon the bare assertion of a vile wretch whom public opinion holds up to public execration as capable of the lowest and most infamous perjury. yes, gentlemen, i repeat it most emphatically, this charge rests upon nothing whatever but upon the bare word of singomengolo, and upon that little box which lies there in evidence before you on this table. "but, you all must remember, it is not so very long ago, that, on this very same table, we had before us a number of those little boxes, all of them the property of that same bandoelan; and that, on that occasion, you had to acquit the daughter of the prisoner who was also charged with smuggling; who was charged with smuggling, mind, by that same singomengolo. and how did he attempt to prove that charge? why, by swearing that he had seized upon her person a box precisely similar to that which you now see before you. again i ask you, what proofs have we that this box was discovered under the pandan-mat of the couch in setrosmito's dwelling? we have none! you hear me, i repeat that word, we have absolutely no proof of the truth of that bare assertion. but, on the contrary, for the defence, i have the clearest possible proofs that it never was there at all. we rely on proofs which are absolutely incontrovertible. and here, gentlemen, allow me once again to turn to the sworn evidence of my friend william verstork. "'when one of the chinese bandoelans, accompanied by a couple of police oppassers, presented themselves at the door of setrosmito's house for the purpose of making a domiciliary visit, no opposition whatever was offered to their searching the place. the only precaution taken was that they were themselves submitted to a search before entering the premises. on that occasion no opium, nor any vestige of opium was found; not even under that very pandan-mat on the couch. the two oppassers and the witnesses sidin and sariman, who were present at the visitation, have expressly sworn to that fact. sariman indeed has sworn most positively that the pandan-mat was twice lifted up, and that the chinaman had most minutely examined the pillow which lay upon it.' "that i think is plain enough, gentlemen, is it not? "but now, allow me to continue with verstork's sworn declaration. "very shortly after they had left, singomengolo himself appeared to search the house. he refused point-blank to submit to the usual body search; whereupon setrosmito protested and said: 'in that case, no doubt, opium will be discovered in my house. i know all about these dodges.' i have the proofs of all this here before me signed by the kabajan of the dessa. "and, of course, opium was found, gentlemen. it was discovered in the very spot where the chinese bandoelan, who was no fool either, had looked twice without making any discovery. that again is clear enough, i think. "opium smuggler! the court will understand that i fling the odious accusation far, far away from me. not indeed because the charge has not been legally proved; for i know that in these opium-cases very curious evidence is often admitted; but because my client is innocent, absolutely innocent, of any such offence; because he is the victim of one of those detestable conspiracies which, as every one well knows, are commonly resorted to when some obnoxious individual has to be removed or some sordid wretch thirsts for revenge. "opium smuggler! yes, the prosecution has dwelt at considerable length and with considerable eloquence upon the millions, the tens of millions, of which this illegal traffic is robbing the public exchequer. "as the public prosecutor made his fervent appeal, every heart was thrilling with emotion, though it may not perhaps have been of a very noble kind. and, gentlemen, he was perfectly right. millions, yea tens of millions are lost to the revenue! but they are not lost in the manner the prosecution has so graphically described; they are not conveyed away in little boxes which hold but a minute quantity of the drug. the millions of which we heard so much just now--ah, gentlemen! need i tell you who are the men that thus defraud the revenue? why your own hearts have already pronounced their names, they are trembling now on your very lips. those smugglers are not poor dessa-folk, they flaunt their ill-gotten wealth boldly in the face of our good people of santjoemeh; and can afford to keep singomengolos to remove out of their path any unfortunate creature who may stand in their way. shall i mention these names which are even now on every lip? why should i do so? an attorney general once ventured to lay his finger on the plague-spot and to denounce these criminals to the governor general. what did he gain by it? that is the question i would ask you?" the young barrister here paused for a few moments, to allow these last words, which he had driven home like a wedge, time to sink into the hearts of his hearers. in the pandoppo the deepest silence reigned. the assembled crowd sat breathless listening to every word as it fell from van beneden's lips. on all those faces there was but one expression, and it said plainly enough "aye truly! that is the state of things which the accursed opium-monopoly has created in this island." after a short pause, august continued: "i now pass on to the second and far more terrible charge which has been brought against my client. shall i be able to purge him of that accusation as i know that i have cleared him of the former? here there is no question of denial. the facts are all plain enough and are all frankly admitted. the fatal deed has been done, the grave has closed over the ill-starred victim; and the weapon, the kris with which the fatal wound was inflicted, lies there before you on the table. "the prosecution has given us a shockingly graphic description of the terrible occurrence, and has painted, in the most vivid colours, the manner in which that kris was slashed across the throat of the unhappy bandoelan. it is not difficult to see why so much stress was laid upon the bloody scene, and why we had the loathsome details so forcibly placed before us. but yet, gentlemen, i venture to think, that the cause of my client has been benefited rather than damaged by this vivid word-painting. for the more painful the impression produced, the more forcibly must the question arise: 'how was it possible that a creature of so quiet and meek a nature could have been goaded to a deed of such unbridled fury?' again i appeal to the testimony of william verstork, and i think it well to tell you that i also have personally and independently made a careful investigation into all the facts of this most painful case; and the results of my personal inquiry i will proceed to lay before you. yes, gentlemen, i also shall have to be graphic and realistic; but remember that i am merely following the example set me by the prosecution. yes, gentlemen, i also shall have to enter into harrowing and revolting details; but i shall do so only because the cause for which i am pleading compels me to that course." and now the young lawyer displayed a power of eloquence such as had never before been heard in santjoemeh--never perhaps in all dutch india. he made use of words not only but also of gestures. he "acted" as mrs. van gulpendam spitefully remarked to one of her friends. yes, he did enact before his spell-bound audience that tragic scene, building up the entire drama, as cuvier out of a single bone would construct the entire skeleton of some antediluvian monster. he made them see how the opium-hunters penetrated that peaceful dwelling. he made them hear how singomengolo haughtily refused to submit to any examination. one could behold as it were the ruthless ransacking of all the poor furniture, one could hear the children crying and wailing at the licentious conduct of the ruffians who had respect neither for age nor sex. the entire audience shuddered at the "allah tobat," the frenzied cry of the desperate mother, and one could see also how, at his wife's bitter cry, setrosmito's eye had, for a single instant, glanced away from singomengolo, and how the latter had profited by that instant of distraction to draw forth the box of opium with a gesture of insolent triumph. how rage and indignation wrung from the unhappy father an abusive epithet which was answered immediately by a blow in the mouth. how, stung to madness at that insult, setrosmito grasped his kris; how at that fatal moment the cry of little kembang had drawn the attention of the father to his poor little girl; how he had seen her exposed to the hideous outrages of the chinese bandoelan. all these events the eloquence of the advocate conjured up, as it were, before the eyes of his hearers. at the words, "let go!" uttered with incomparable energy, the audience seemed to see the father flinging himself upon the astonished bandoelan, who, dazed by the very imminence of peril, had not sufficient presence of mind to desist from his outrageous conduct, and thereupon resounded the terrible words, "die then like a dog!" in a tone which filled the entire pandoppo with shuddering horror. even setrosmito, who profoundly ignorant of the dutch language did not understand a word of his counsel's speech, and had for some time been sitting vacantly staring before him, even he, at length, grew attentive, lifted his eyes inquiringly to the young man's face, and then kept them riveted upon him with concentrated intensity. no! the rich flow of words had no meaning to him whatever; but the gestures he could interpret quite plainly. he saw the whole tragedy unfolded before his eyes--he saw his outraged child--he saw the hand of the speaker go through the very action which cost a human life. with eyes glittering with excitement he nodded again and again at his counsel, while thick heavy tear-drops kept trickling down his cheeks. "yes, that is how it happened," he murmured audibly amidst the deep silence to the javanese chiefs while he stretched out his arms imploringly towards them. "and," continued van beneden, with still increasing fervour, "if now, after having thus laid before you the bare facts of the case, if now i turn to you with the question: 'is that man guilty of murder--who slew another--yes; but who slew him in a moment of ungovernable rage, and in defence of his innocent child?' what must be your answer? is there anyone here who would cast a stone at him who drew the weapon--and who used it--to preserve his own child from the foulest outrage that can be perpetrated in a father's sight? aye but, 'this is a question of opium-police!' if i could, for a moment, harbour the thought that anyone present under this roof would, for the sake of the opium question, desire to hear a verdict of guilty returned against this man--why then, in sheer despair, i should be driven to exclaim: 'woe to the nation that contains such a wretch--woe to the man, who, for so sordid a principle, would tread eternal justice under foot--such a nation must be near its fall!'" the effect of these words was simply indescribable, a shudder seemed to run through the assembly. "and now," continued the young man turning to the prosecution, "go on your way, pile one judicial error upon another, erect for yourself a pedestal so lofty that the cry of the unhappy victim of the opium traffic--that insatiable minotaur--will not reach your ears! the time will come, when, from above, retribution will overtake you. the day will dawn when the dutch nation will awake out of its lethargy and sweep you and your opium-god from the face of the earth. "as for you," continued august van beneden turning to the members of the council and speaking in a more subdued voice, but yet with a persuasive energy which it was impossible to withstand, "as for you, gentlemen, place yourselves, i pray you, in the position of that unhappy man whose eyes were just now dropping tears as i sketched, in a manner which could reach his comprehension, the terrible deed of which he is accused. picture to yourselves the hours--the days of mortal anxiety he has passed through, and is even now passing through as his fate is hanging on your lips--then you will in some measure, be able to realise the unutterable joy with which he presently will hail the verdict which you will deliver--a verdict of 'not guilty' which will restore to his wife and family a man who can so sturdily stand up in their defence." having thus said, van beneden resumed his seat, or rather fell back exhausted in his chair. it was getting late, the sun was high up in the heavens, and an oppressive heat weighed like lead upon the assembled crowd. for a few moments, absolute silence ensued, the silence of emotions too deep for utterance and which was broken only by a sob here and there. but then, a tempest of cheering arose which made the very roof tremble, and amidst which the stentorian voice of the usher was completely drowned. this applause and general enthusiasm continued for a considerable time, and was not hushed until the president had repeatedly threatened to have the court cleared. the prosecution was crushed, utterly annihilated. feeling that his cause was lost, the djaksa attempted to have the trial adjourned; but mr. greveland saw plainly enough how very undesirable such an adjournment would be; and he wisely refused to grant it. thus compelled there and then to get up and reply, mas wirio kesoemo could not rise to the level of his subject. he mumbled a few words which did not awaken the slightest attention--he said something about the necessity of vindicating the action of the police, he uttered a few incoherent sentences, he stammered, he drawled, he repeated himself over and over again, and finally sat down without having produced any impression whatever. as soon as he had ended, the president called upon the defence to exercise its right of reply. with a gesture of lofty disdain, van beneden refused to avail himself of his privilege: "no, no, mr. president," he said, "anything i could now add would but lessen the impression made by the prosecution. it is to the weakness of the charge brought against him, rather than to the power of the defence, that my client must owe his acquittal." after a moment's pause the president turned to the panghoeloe and asked him what law the sacred book prescribed. in a sleepy tone of voice the latter replied, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth--the man has taken a life--the man must die." a shriek resounded in the pandoppo, a javanese woman had fainted away. the members of the council thereupon retired to their consulting room. after a while they returned into court and the clerk proceeded to read out an elaborate judgment, wherein, after a number of "seeing thats" and "whereases," the verdict of "not guilty" on both counts was at length pronounced. then the real storm broke loose. a great number of the audience rushed up to van beneden and warmly congratulated him on the victory he had just gained. the president, far from trying to repress the general enthusiasm, now cordially joined in it. august raised setrosmito from the floor and whispered some words in his ear which were immediately afterwards affirmed by the regent himself. the poor javanese cast one single look at his young champion, he pressed his hand to his heart and uttered a few incoherent words. but that one look was sufficient for van beneden, it was the overflowing of a grateful heart. at the very bottom of the pandoppo one solitary voice cried out: "great is the justice of the whites!" a few moments after, the pandoppo was deserted. said grashuis to his friend as he was walking home with him: "by jove, old fellow, you have knocked the wind clean out of me--i am still under the spell. that is natural enough; but what i want to know is how you managed to get the native chiefs on your side?" "very simply indeed," replied the other, "i called upon them yesterday and read my speech to them in malay." "come, come, that's cute!" laughed grashuis. the young lawyer, however, did not tell his friend that, at the conclusion of that visit, the old regent of santjoemeh had pressed his hand and whispered to him: "you are a noble fellow!" chapter xxxv. a meeting in the karang bollong mountains. on the western slope of the goenoeng poleng--that mighty mass of rock which forms the nucleus, as it were, of the karang bollong range running along the south coast of java, and not far from the dessa ajo there stood a modest little hut. to the traveller approaching from the north or from the south, it was completely hidden by the walls of rock which towered around it. steeply rising ground but scantily covered with thin grass and prickly shrubs, shut out all view from the back of the little cabin. from either side also nothing could be seen but the rocky slopes, with here and there a small patch of arable ground. but the front of the hut offered a prospect which, for loveliness and variety, could hardly be equalled, certainly not surpassed; and which amply made up for the dreariness of the view on the other sides. from the small front gallery or verandah the incline ran down pretty swiftly, and displayed to the eye a panorama which might in truth be called magnificent. immediately beneath this verandah lay the mountain-slope; at first bald and bare, with huge weather-worn boulders scattered about here and there, and a few stunted shrubs. between these a narrow pathway ran winding down. in its tortuous course it seemed to rival the brook, as, twisting and bubbling and splashing and foaming, it went merrily and swiftly dancing down its fantastically-cut bed. as gradually the slope ran down to the valley, the vegetable kingdom began to assert itself more and more. at first there appeared dwarf trees with curiously twisted trunks and strangely gnarled branches, these, in their turn, gave way to the more luxuriant representatives of the realm of silvanus, and these again gradually merged into a rich plantation of fruit-bearing trees, above which the tall cocoa-nut palms reared their feathered heads waving and nodding to the breeze. beyond this, at the foot of the mountain, lay the little dessa ajo, snugly embowered in a mass of glossy foliage. very pleasant to look at from the eminence were the dwellings of the native villagers with their neat brown roofs and bright yellow fences peeping here and there through the rich verdure, reflected in the waters of the kali djetis, which forms the western boundary of the dessa; and which, at that point, makes a majestic sweep before emptying itself by a wide mouth into the indian ocean. the view of that ocean still further enhanced the beauty of the grand panorama which lay stretched out in front of the little hut. on a fine calm day the deep-blue expanse of water extended far--endlessly far--away to the horizon, glittering under the rays of the tropical sun like a metallic mirror; while numerous fishing boats, with their white but quaintly-shaped sails, hovered about the moeara djetis, and skimmed like birds over the glassy surface. when, however, the south-east trade was blowing stiffly, and the flood-tide helped to raise the waves, the aspect of the ocean was entirely changed. then not a single boat was to be seen; but heavy breakers came tumbling in, and, as these reached the mouth of the river, and met the body of downflowing mountain water, they would tower up and roll along steadily for awhile as a huge wall of solid blue, then curl over into mighty crests, and finally break into a foam-sheet of dazzling whiteness. this magnificent spectacle, a kind of prororoca on a small scale, could be watched from the verandah in its minutest details. the hut itself was but a very poor little dwelling; constructed, as those places generally are, of such primitive materials as bamboo and atap. it consisted indeed merely of four walls and a roof. it had a door in front and behind, which gave access to a small verandah, while, in the side-walls, two square shutters did duty for windows. whether or not the space within was divided into separate apartments we cannot tell. there are secrets into which a novelist must not venture to pry; and there are feelings which, even he, must know how to respect. it may be his duty--his painful duty--to introduce his readers to an opium-den, and reveal to them the horrors it conceals, if, by so doing, he may reasonably hope to do something to cure a crying evil; but he ought not, without sufficient reason, to invade the sacred rights of privacy by throwing open to his readers a cottage wherein-but, modest as was the little building which stood there lonely and deserted on that mountain slope, and poor as was its outward appearance, yet there existed a very marked difference between it and the other cabins, the dwellings of the dessa people, far down at the foot of the mountain. the difference consisted herein, that it was scrupulously neat and clean, and bore no trace whatever of the slovenliness and general want of cleanliness which is too often the characteristic of the houses of the ordinary javanese villager. the javanese, indeed, are an eastern race. as such they have certain points in common with all the other branches of the great oriental family, whether we call them moors, hindoos, arabs, chinese, egyptians, berbers, aye, or even greeks, italians, or spaniards. the entire house from top to bottom, from the roof of fresh nipah leaves to the hedge of yellow bamboo hurdle, looked bright and clean. the small plot of ground in front was carefully laid out as a trim garden with well kept paths and pretty bits of green lawn. the flower-beds also, and the ornamental shrubs, which grew around, spoke of careful tending, while an impenetrable hedge of the conyza indica enclosed the entire nook. at the back of the house lay a patch of grass, evidently used as a drying ground, for several articles of female apparel, such as slendangs, sarongs, and the like, were hanging on ropes stretched over bamboo poles, and fluttered in the breeze. in the front gallery a single flower-pot was conspicuous, a thing very seldom found in any javanese house, in which flowered a magnificent "devoniensis" in full bloom; and close by stood a native loom, at which a young girl was seated cross-legged on a low bamboo stool. wholly intent upon her work, she is plying the shuttle with nimble fingers. as novelist, we are, to some extent, a privileged being, and may venture to draw near though we would not intrude into the little house. the girl is so deeply absorbed in her task that we have leisure, unperceived, to examine the further contents of the verandah; but specially to watch its solitary occupant. that she has for some considerable time been hard at work, the reel tells us; for it already contains quite a thick roll of tissue, the result of her day's toil; so does, likewise, the spinning-wheel, which stands hard by, ready to supply the shuttle with thread as soon as it may need replenishing. as regards the girl herself, she is, just now, bending forward over her work so that we cannot catch even a glimpse of her features. her dress, consisting of a simple jacket of light-blue cotton, and the sarong made of some dark-coloured material, with a gay flowering pattern, proclaim her to be a javanese. so also do the hands and such parts of the face and neck as we are able to see, by their brownish yellow tint. so again does the hair which is combed away smooth from the forehead and rolled up at the back of the head in a thick heavy kondeh or plait. aye, but--that kondeh, however carefully it may have been plaited and fastened up, yet it at once awakens our curiosity. little rebellious locks have here and there strayed away, and very unlike the stiff straight hair of full-bred javanese beauties, they curl and cluster lovingly around the plait, while the shorter hair under the kondeh also forms crisp little curls which cast a dark shade over the light-brown neck. "might she be a nonna after all?" we murmur inaudibly. our suspicion is strengthened when, by the side of the little stool, our eye lights upon a pair of tiny slippers. these slippers are not remarkable in any way, they are of the simplest make and wholly devoid of ornament; but it strikes us at once that in java girls or women hardly ever wear such things, and then--more remarkable still--their size and shape point to the fact that the owner's feet in no way correspond to the broad, splay feet of the natives. as we stand wondering and losing ourselves in surmises, the weaving girl very slightly changes her position, and one snow-white toe comes peeping out from under her sarong. the startling difference of colour betrays the secret at once: she is a nonna! wholly unconscious of our proximity the girl looks up and casts a single glance at the fair view stretched out before her--she utters a deep sigh and-"that face," we murmur inwardly, "where have we seen that pretty face?" we have, however, no time to collect our thoughts, for, the next moment as the young girl is again bowing her head to resume her work, a quick light footstep is heard on the path which leads to ajo. the girl looks up, evidently scared at the unusual sound, she peers anxiously forward and then, almost bereft of the power of speech by the suddenness of the surprise, she gasps forth the cry, "dalima!" yes, it is indeed dalima who, with nimble step, has crossed the garden and is now running up to the verandah. the weaving-girl starts up from her stool, and before her unexpected visitor has time to mount the three steps, the pair are locked in each other's embrace and forming, as it were, but one exclamation we hear the words: "nana!" "dalima!" now the mystery is cleared up, now we recognize at once both the one and the other. that weaving girl is anna van gulpendam and the other is poor dalima whom we followed in her anxious and painful search as far as karang anjer when we lost sight of her until now. "where have you come from?" asked anna, as again and again she clasped the javanese girl to her breast. "to-day i came from the dessa ajo," archly replied dalima. "what brought you there?" "well, i came from the dessa pringtoetoel, that's where i was yesterday." "but," continued anna, "what business had you there?" "the day before that," resumed dalima not heeding the interruption, "i was at gombong and the day before that again at karang anjer." "at karang anjer?" exclaimed anna. "what induced you to go there?" "to look for my nana," was the reply. "to look for me? is that why you have come all the way from santjoemeh? have you undertaken so long a journey to look for me?--and in your condition too!" anna spoke these last words with some hesitation, while the furtive glance she cast at the poor girl's figure left no doubt as to her meaning. "yes, nana," replied dalima very quietly and without the least trace of confusion. "as soon as ever i left the prison, thanks to the aid of the young judge," continued she, as she fixed one penetrating look upon anna who felt the blood fly up to her cheeks at the words, "i went to look after my mother. thanks again to toean nerekool, i found her and the children well provided for. my next thought was for my nana. the toean had told me that the nonna was no longer staying at karang anjer but had left, and had vanished without leaving a trace behind her. i thought i could guess why. i knew how lonely, how forsaken, how utterly miserable my dear nana must feel. an irresistible longing came over me--the longing you know of a young woman in my situation--" she added with a faint sad smile, "to go at once and look for nana so that i might be of some service to her. i started and--" "does toean van nerekool know of all this?" asked anna much alarmed. "no, nana, he knows nothing whatever about it." "you did not tell him what you were going to do?" "no, nana, i did not." "might you not perhaps have dropped some hint to mr. van nerekool, or may be to your mother? do, dalima, try and remember!" "no, i have not given toean charles the slightest hint of my intention. i told my mother that i was going to seek for you." "where?" asked anna. "well, nana, at karang anjer." "but you knew that you would not find me at karang anjer?" "oh, i knew that; but i wanted to see mrs. steenvlak. i thought she would be sure to tell me where you had gone." "did you go to mrs. steenvlak?" inquired anna, "yes, nana." "and--?" "i could learn nothing from her. the njonja confessed that she knew where you were; but she refused to tell me--she said she had promised not to let anyone know." anna drew a deep sigh of relief. "but how then did you manage to find me, dalima?" she asked. "well, nana, how shall i tell you that? it is such a long story. i have been wandering about in all directions, i have made inquiries everywhere. i asked at the posting-houses, at the loerahs of each dessa i passed through. i questioned the gardoes and the stall-keepers on the road. in fact i asked everywhere and everybody. in my wanderings, at length i happened to come to the dessa pembanan." "the dessa pembanan!" cried anna in the greatest agitation. "yes," resumed dalima, "that's where i found the first trace. you took a cup of coffee there at a stall while you had to wait for the pole of your sedan to be repaired." anna glanced down uneasily at her yellow-stained hands. "oh! it is no use looking at your hands," continued dalima with a smile. "the old stall-keeper has sharp eyes and the stain could hardly deceive her. she guessed at once that you were either a nonna or a princess." "well, go on!" sighed anna. "you asked her how far pembanan was from the dessas sikaja and pringtoetoel--did you not?" "yes, that is so," replied anna. "very well, then, that clue i have followed, up hill and down dale." "poor, poor dear girl!" cried anna, as with tears in her eyes she again clasped dalima to her breast. "poor child! such a journey, and in your condition, too! yes, now i see how worn and weary you look!" "oh, that's nothing!" cried dalima cheerfully, "that's nothing, i am strong enough, nana, don't trouble yourself about that. "at pringtoetoel," she continued, "i got further information. there they told me that you had gone on to the dessa ajo. when i got there i found the very sedan in which you had travelled--it was stowed away in the loerah's grounds--and they told me that you had a house built for yourself up here--how very pretty!" as she said this dalima looked around; and an involuntary sigh escaped from her lips, a sigh which contrasted strangely with her spoken words. the javanese girl could not help comparing this wretched little tenement with the stately residential palace at santjoemeh. hitherto the conversation had been carried on standing, the girls half leaning upon, half embracing one another. said anna, who perfectly understood the meaning of that sigh and wished to break the train of dalima's thoughts: "come, let us sit down, you must be dead-tired, poor dalima." so saying she resumed her seat on the little bench while dalima, as in days gone by, squatted down on the mat at anna's feet and laid her head lovingly in her mistress's lap. then the conversation flowed on as briskly as before. "no, nana," said dalima, "i am not the least tired. i arrived yesterday morning, very early, at ajo and have had plenty of time for rest." "but now," resumed anna, "do tell me something about yourself, about your own affairs, about the trial and all that." thereupon followed the story with which our readers are acquainted. we need hardly add that in the telling of it van nerekool's name was by no means forgotten. dalima's deep gratitude to her benefactor would not allow her for an instant to neglect his interests. it even seemed as if that gentleman's name was introduced into her story more frequently than the narrative strictly required. so much so that anna could not help saying: "will you assure me, will you swear, that it was not at mr. van nerekool's suggestion that you have undertaken this journey in quest of me?" "yes, nana, i will swear it," replied dalima readily and with the utmost candour. "and now," continued anna, "you must make me another promise, and that is that you will never in any way whatever, let him know that you have succeeded in finding me." dalima made no reply. for a few moments she hesitated. "now listen to me, dalima," resumed anna very firmly, "if you will not make me that promise, and promise it most solemnly, then we must part. you will have to leave me and i shall go elsewhere. heaven only knows where i shall go to!" one instant the javanese girl looked up at her companion incredulously--then seeing that anna was in downright earnest she exclaimed: "not stay with you, nana! oh! do not say so. i who have travelled so far to be with you. you cannot mean it. not stay with you? but that can never be. i have left my parents, my friends, my home, my all--only to be close to you--and now you talk of parting!" the poor child could get no further; uncontrollable sobs stifled her voice. "no, no!" cried anna, who was in reality no less deeply moved than her companion; "no, no, very far from it. above all things i wish to keep you here with me; but you must promise that you will not let anyone know where i am hiding--will you promise that?" dalima flung herself weeping into her mistress's arms: "you are so lonely here, so miserably poor!" she sobbed. "oh, that is nothing," cried anna, "never mind that; i have got used to it." "he loves you so dearly, so tenderly," pleaded the baboe. "not another word on that subject, dalima," said anna, very sternly; "you cannot possibly understand how insurmountable a barrier there exists between mr. van nerekool and myself. there can never be a question of marriage between us, let me tell you that once and for all." the baboe made no immediate reply, but went on sobbing and weeping as if her heart would break. "will you make that promise, dalima?" insisted anna. "i owe him so much," sobbed dalima, "i am so anxious to make him happy." "you would be doing him the greatest wrong, dalima." "wrong?" cried the baboe, "how so? by bringing him to you; oh, nana!" "once again, i say not another word on that subject," cried anna; and then, taking her companion's hand she continued: "now, dalima, give me your hand--so, that is right; now you will give me your promise, will you not?" "it makes my heart ache to think of it," sobbed dalima, "but if you will have it so, i must obey. i give you my promise." "that's a good girl," said anna cheerfully, but with a painful smile. "now i am glad that you have come, for you will be able to help me, oh! ever so much. look what a splendid striped material i have here on the loom." "do you make those things, yourself, nana?" asked dalima in pitying accents, "you, the daughter of a kandjeng toean resident?" "now, dalima," said anna sadly, "that is another subject you must never mention. not a soul knows me here. they do not so much as suspect that i am a white woman. they take me for a solo princess who has been banished by her father--you told me so yourself--oh! there are such funny stories about that, the one funnier than the other. you see that name of poetri is of the greatest use to me. the good dessa-folk look upon me as a kind of supernatural being and it protects me from all danger. why even the old woman who sells my goods takes me for a relative of the queen of the south, and can get much better prices for me than the things would otherwise fetch." "do you sell those 'kains' you make, nana?" exclaimed dalima, folding her hands in sorrowful wonder, "you, the child of a kandjeng toean?" "but dalima," replied anna, with a smile, "that child of a kandjeng toean, as you call her, must eat like other mortals. come, i must get on with my work, we have wasted too much time already in talking. that kain polã¨ng mas has been ordered and i must get it done as soon as possible." so anna set to work again at the loom. dalima, for a little while, sat watching her with tearful eyes; but presently she jumped up, took the spinning-wheel and placed it close to the loom so that they could continue their conversation without allowing their hands to be idle, and then began industriously to spin. so clever did she show herself at the wheel that anna gave her an approving nod and said: "that's right; now i shall have some real help and we shall get on famously. nothing kept me back so much as that continual spinning every time my spool was empty." "oh, but," said dalima, with a smile, and not without a touch of pride, "i can do a good deal more than spinning. you will see i can take my turn at the loom as well. i am a particularly good hand at painting on linen." "indeed, i am glad to hear that; then you will be of the greatest use to me; for i must confess i am as yet rather awkward at it though i have improved very much since i began. before we go and get dinner ready i must show you some of my productions in that line." thus chatting, the girls went on working diligently for another couple of hours until it became time to go to the kitchen. in that department also, everything was poor enough. it required no very elaborate cookery-book to prepare their simple meal. dalima would not allow her nana to have any hand whatever in the cooking. she took the basket of raw rice, ran to the brook which flowed hard by, thoroughly washed the grains until the water ran off clear through the basket. then she put the koekoesan on the fire in a dangdang, wrapped a little salt fish with herbs and spanish pepper in pisang leaves to make pã¨pã¨san ikan, and roasted them slightly over the glowing coal fire. next she toasted a few strips of meat and had everything ready long before the rice was done. "now, nana," she asked as she looked around, "where is our table and the table-linen? i want to lay the cloth." "you forget, it seems, dalima, that i have turned javanese. if i wish to remain unknown, i must conform, in every respect, to the manners and customs of our dessa-people there is my table and these are my knife and fork." thus saying, anna pointed downwards to the pandan mat which covered the floor and then held up her taper fingers. dalima heaved a deep sigh. "but, nana," she asked, "can it be necessary for you to work and to live thus? have you then no money at all?" "money!" replied anna, who retained all her pride in the midst of her adversity, "i have plenty of money, i am very well off, i might indeed call myself rich for one in my position. but you must not forget that i am in hiding; and that if i did not work and did not live exactly like the natives, they would begin to suspect me and then my hiding-place would very soon be discovered. moreover, who can tell what the future may have in store; the day may come when that money which i now so carefully hoard, though you may perhaps think me stingy, may be of the greatest use to us?" "oh, nana!" cried the baboe, as she strove to put in a word. but anna would have no arguments. "come, come," said she, "let us change the subject. while the rice is boiling, come and see how i have been getting on with my painting." she took dalima into the back-gallery where stood several frames on which were stretched the tissues she had woven and which showed the process of painting in all its stages. on one of them the piece of linen was as yet pure white and the flowers which were to be painted were only lightly traced upon it. another frame showed the designs partly covered with wax, so as to protect these parts from the action of the dye. on a third again the ground colour had been applied and the wax had been removed from such portions of the design as were to receive the next coat of paint. neatly arranged around stood the small pots of colours, of indigo, of red paint, of brown paint, of yellow paint, and so forth. all these things dalima surveyed with the critical eye of an expert and she highly approved of the arrangements. she took up a saucer which held the wax, and having held it to the fire, she proceeded, by means of a little tube, to pour the melted substance on one of the drawings and so gave proof of her skill in that kind of work. "you see, nana!" she cried, triumphantly, "you see how useful i shall be to you! i shall also teach you how to use the 'aboe kesambi' (ashes of the scheichera trijaga), i don't see any about here--then you will see how vastly your flowers will improve in colour and softness." thus then had baboe dalima found a home on the slope of the goenoeng poleng. thus she was again united to the young mistress to whom she was attached with a fervour of devotion which is not uncommon among javanese servants. both girls toiled and moiled together. anna insisted upon taking her full share in all the drudgery of the little housekeeping--and whatever objections the baboe might strive to make, anna would share and share alike. in dalima she had acquired not a servant; but a true and faithful companion and friend, and a comforter and supporter in the time of her bitter trial. how long was that peaceful life to last--? chapter xxxvi. lim ho's wedding. on a fine september morning, of the same year in which the other events of our story took place, santjoemeh was once again in a state of commotion. and no wonder. for that day had been fixed upon for the marriage of lim ho. of lim ho, the son of the opium farmer, the son of the millionaire lim yang bing, with ngow ming nio, the prettiest chinese girl of santjoemeh, the prettiest perhaps in all dutch india. she was the only daughter of old ngow ming than, a speculator who had dealt in every possible thing out of which money could be made, and who was honoured, esteemed and sought after for the sake of the millions he had scraped together. money everywhere exercises a certain power of attraction; not otherwise was it at santjoemeh, and the union of two such enormous capitals was certain, therefore, to awaken general interest. moreover, a chinese wedding of this kind was a very rare occurrence, and the reports of the magnificence which the house of lim yang bing would display on the occasion, were so extravagant that they bordered on the miraculous, and opened to the imagination visions like those of the arabian nights. all santjoemeh--taking these words in the same sense as "tout paris" on similar occasions--had been scheming and intriguing to obtain an invitation; and many a pleasant smile had been lavished on babah ong sing kok, or on babah than soeã¯, the purveyors of mesdames zoetbrouw and greenhoed, ladies who, in the ordinary way, did not waste their blandishments on chinamen, because it was thought that these gentlemen had a pretty large acquaintance among the staff of servants on lim yang bing's establishment, and that through them the much coveted card of invitation might be procured. there were some who were wicked enough to whisper, that a certain nonna had promised one of lim ho's cousins to give him a kiss if he would procure her parents a ticket for admission. the wicked went on to say, that this chinaman, a shrewd fellow--like most of his race--had refused to undertake the negotiation, unless he received payment on account; an instalment which was not to count on the day of final settlement. that these negotiations had been very much protracted owing to the many difficulties which would constantly arise; that, on every such check in the proceedings, progress had to be reported to the young lady, and that our artful young celestial had made every fresh effort on his part depend upon the payment of another instalment on hers. if all this were true, then the poor nonna must have paid pretty dearly for her ticket--in kisses. that, however, is the story of the wicked, it is not ours. on that september morning then, santjoemeh was in a fever of excitement and expectation. if here and there perhaps lim ho's ugly adventure with baboe dalima had not been forgotten, the remembrance of that outrage did not damp the general enthusiasm, or keep any one at home. those who were troubled with a somewhat tender conscience, laid the flattering unction to their soul that, as there had been no prosecution, probably the whole story was false, or that, at the worst, no great harm had been done. others there were who fully believed the truth of the reports which had been spread abroad; and who actually envied lim ho his "bonne fortune." that dalima was such a pretty girl! oh, no! there was no one who would deny himself the expected pleasure on that account. it was very much the other way. the evening before the eventful day, santjoemeh had had something like a foretaste of the coming joy. for, on that evening, a procession had started to the chinese temple. now, marriage has, in the celestial empire, no necessary connection whatever with any religious observances; yet, on the present occasion, it had been thought well to propitiate the goddess mã¡ tsã³w pã´, the guardian and protecting deity of candidates for matrimony and of newly married people. accordingly, on the eve of the wedding, a procession had been formed in front of the bride's house. first came a numerous band of native musicians who, on their brass instruments accompanied by a drum of monstrous size, performed a selection of waltzes, polkas, mazurkas and redowas. in spite of the horrible dissonance of their execution, these lively tunes would have set even johann strauss a jigging could he but have heard them. then followed a corps of chinese artists whose grating one-stringed fiddles, clashing cymbals and discordant screeching wind-instruments, alternated with the former band; and produced a mixed medley of hideous sounds, which literally set one's teeth on edge, and put all but the most inveterate sightseers to instant flight. at the head of the procession and in its rear, marched six torch-bearers, while eight paper lanterns were born aloft on red poles on either side. these shed a soft coloured light and, by their fantastic shapes, imparted a thoroughly chinese air to the scene. but the nucleus, and most important part of the pageant, consisted of twelve boys who walked two and two, and were called 'lo jen see' (barefeet). they were dressed in short nankin gowns reaching only to the knee, under which appeared the bare legs and feet, and on their heads they wore tall conical caps, trimmed with red fringe. each of these youths held in his hand the pa-lee, or hollow metal ring containing little bits of iron, from which hung small copper bells. with these, the bearers made a gentle rattling sound as they marched along. when the temple was reached, the boys grouped themselves around the image of mã¡ tsã³w pã´, a deity represented as standing on the clouds and wearing a crown in token of her dignity of queen of heaven. then, to a kind of measure, they began to mumble and chaunt their prayers and incantations, shaking their ring the while incessantly. this went on for about the space of an hour, and then the procession reformed and marched homeward with a far greater crowd at its heels than had accompanied its setting out. the next day, however, was the great day. very early in the morning carriages began to rattle through the streets of santjoemeh, to fetch the landowners, officials, and other distinguished guests, who lived in the country round about. on the stroke of ten the ã©lite of the residence had assembled in the vast inner-gallery of lim yang bing's mansion. the gentlemen were all in full-dress, in uniform, or in black evening dress; the ladies wore ball toilettes; and at the entrance a number of chinese boys were stationed to hand to each of their fair guests a bouquet of lovely pink roses. as one by one the principal guests drove up, crackers were let off, varying in number according to the social position of the individual who presented himself. if two or more happened to enter together, bunches of crackers were exploded in exact proportion to the number of visitors; and sometimes these fireworks exploded with a din that was almost deafening. at length mr. van gulpendam and his fair spouse made their appearance. they were received and escorted into the house by chinese officers with the most punctilious ceremony. at his entrance, two copper serpents were exploded, and there were flatterers among the company who declared to laurentia and to lim yang bing, that, compared to the din these terrible serpents made, an eruption of krakatoea was but child's play. the object of this infernal noise was two-fold. it was useful on the one hand to frighten away the evil spirits who might be lurking about the premises, and, on the other, it served as an expression of joy and as an evidence of cordial welcome to the visitors. as soon as the resident had arrived, a long line of the intimate friends and acquaintances of the bridegroom, accompanied by the inevitable band and by the barefeet who had officiated on the previous evening, started off to fetch the bride from the house of her parents. meanwhile, the major and the captain of the chinese did the honours of the feast, while the lieutenants of that nation acted as masters of the ceremonies. nothing could be more courteous than the manner in which these gentlemen acquitted themselves of their onerous duties. they attended to every want, they offered refreshments; and soon the popping of champagne corks indoors began to mingle with the incessant banging of the fireworks without; and generous wine, iced in huge silver bowls, was foaming and sparkling in the crystal glasses. for the ladies, there was an ample supply of hippocras, golden water, chartreuse and other liqueurs. lim yang bing had offered his arm to fair laurentia, and the pair walked leisurely up and down that stately saloon, which, under ordinary circumstances, might be called magnificent, but had now been specially decorated with the utmost skill and taste. the woodwork, the pillars, the beams and architraves of the apartment were all curiously carved and heavily gilt, and represented either hideous dragon-forms, or else scenes of domestic life in china. the walls were tinted a delicate rose-colour, and the floor, of pure carrara marble, was covered with matting woven of the finest split rottan. at the end of this splendid saloon stood the altar of tao peng kong gorgeously decorated, while wide strips of red silk, bearing black chinese letters, hung on either side of the sanctuary. "tell me, babah," asked the resident's wife, "what may be the meaning of that scribble on those red rags?" "they are proverbs, njonja, taken from kong foe hi," gallantly replied the chinaman. "yes, but what do they mean?" "that one, njonja, signifies: 'may the five blessings abide in this house.'" "and the others?" "they are the names of the five blessings." "ah indeed!" continued laurentia, "and what are those blessings?" "a long life, peace and rest, love of virtue, wealth and a happy end as the crown of life." "and what do the letters on those lanterns signify? i say, babah, they are very fine!" said laurentia pointing upward at the lanterns, depending from the ceiling and from the beams. they were handsome hexagonal contrivances skilfully made, in the chinese style, of wrought copper, and having large plates of pure polished crystal let into the sides. "yes, yes, njonja," assented the babah with a complacent smile, "as you say they are very beautiful objects; but they cost a good deal of money. now could you give a guess at the price of one of those copper lanterns?" "not i, babah! how could i? let me see--they may be worth some fifty guilders." "fifty guilders!" exclaimed the chinaman with something like pity for her ignorance. "oh, njonja, how could you have made such a bad shot. why! i thought you prized the masterpieces of our chinese art somewhat more highly than that!" "well!" said the crafty woman, "and what, pray, may be the value of the things?" "every lantern, njonja, you see hanging there, has cost me in canton, three hundred and fifty guilders, without reckoning carriage and duty." "oh, never mind that!" laughed laurentia, "i daresay you managed to smuggle them across." "no, njonja, by kong, no! i can show you the receipt from the custom-house. will the njonja--" "no, babah, don't trouble yourself, i take your word for it. but what may they have cost you altogether?" "close upon four hundred guilders a piece, njonja." "there are about thirty of them i should think," said laurentia. "only five and twenty, njonja." "only! only five and twenty!" said mrs. van gulpendam smiling. "it is pretty well, i should say--ten thousand guilders worth of lanterns!" lim yang bing's face glowed with satisfaction. like most parvenus he took an intense delight in letting every one know what he had paid for the precious objects he exhibited. "and look, njonja," he continued, "pray look at those tigers." with these words the opium-farmer pointed to a pair of red marble tigers. the figures were life-size and were represented crouching on two black marble pedestals at the foot of the two pillars one on each side of the altar. "yes, babah, i admire them much--they are very fine indeed! they must have cost a pretty penny i should think?" "each one of those figures represents five thousand guilders, njonja." "but babah!" cried laurentia. "you see, njonja," said the babah sententiously, "when one gives a wedding party of this kind, one ought to do it well. have you noticed that cock over the altar yonder?" "i see it, babah, i see it, how exquisitely it is carved." "it is cut out of a single block of peachwood," said the chinaman, "that little thing alone has cost me twelve hundred guilders." "i say, babah! you must be a rich man," remarked laurentia. "so, so," replied the chinaman inordinately proud in his assumed modesty. "do you happen to know what the wedding breakfast and this evening's banquet will cost me?" "no, i don't--do tell me, babah!" "well, i will--they will stand me in very nearly fifteen thousand guilders." "why, babah! you must be a very rich man," said laurentia in a wheedling voice. "oh, not very," whined the chinaman. "but you don't know how much i give my son as my wedding gift." "you mean to lim ho, the bridegroom? no, i cannot guess--do tell me, babah?" "two millions!" he whispered, fairly beside himself with delight. "two million guilders!" exclaimed laurentia, feigning the utmost surprise. "why, babah, you must have a mint of money!" "no, njonja, not overmuch!" "and all of it out of your opium contract, eh?" the chinaman looked at his fair companion, he gave her a very strange look; that word opium had completely sobered him. "and you have only had the contract for three years, i think, babah?" continued laurentia. lim yang bing nodded assent. in his heart he was beginning to curse his boasting and vapouring. "have you seen the resident lately?" asked laurentia carelessly, but determined to strike while the iron was hot. "no, njonja," replied the chinaman politely, but with none of his former gush. "i know he wishes to speak to you about the contract--it runs out i think with the current year?" "yes, njonja." "and i think the monopoly for the next three years will be granted some time this month?" "yes, njonja." "do you intend to bid for it, babah?" "i think so, njonja." "yes, njonja! no, njonja! i think so, njonja!" cried laurentia mimicking the poor chinaman most comically, "but, hush, someone is listening--what do you say is the meaning of those words on the lanterns, babah?" the last question she asked in her ordinary tone of voice, with that light-hearted giggle which was peculiar to the handsome woman. "those letters mean: 'we pray for happiness and prosperity.'" "thank you, and on that one yonder?" "the word on that one signifies: 'lantern of heaven?'" thus talking they had walked away out of ear-shot. "now," resumed laurentia in a subdued voice, "now we can go on with our conversation: "you seem to be very lukewarm about that monopoly business, babah. i fear you will have a competitor at the auction." "who is he?" asked lim yang bing somewhat eagerly. "i have heard the name of kwee sioen liem mentioned, the solo man; you know!" "indeed," muttered the chinaman evidently much put out. "yes, they say he is a rich man, he may do you some damage perhaps, babah," continued mrs. van gulpendam fixing her glittering eyes upon her companion. to this lim yang bing made no reply, but he kept on with measured step walking by the side of the resident's wife. "that bit of information does not seem to affect you very much?" continued laurentia with a slight sneer. "is that why the resident wants to see me?" asked the chinaman. "yes, i think so, partly at least for that; and i believe he has some other business to transact with you. the government, you know, expects the bids to go much higher this year." "oh ho!" grinned the chinaman. "you now pay twelve hundred thousand guilders for your monopoly, do you not? you will have to make it twenty, or else the government will keep the whole business in its own hands." "let them!" said lim yang bing smiling disdainfully, "i should very much like to see that." but, after a moment's reflection, he went on: "it is quite impossible to offer more; as it is, we can only just avoid a loss." "and yet you can manage to give two millions to your son as a wedding present," remarked laurentia, with a knowing laugh. "aye," he continued, as if he had not heard the remark, "if the government would grant more licenses in the residence, in that case."-"is that all?" cried laurentia carelessly. "how many do you hold now? but; that is no business of mine. how many more do you want?" "ten at the very least," was the ready answer. "that's a good many, babah!--if ten additional licenses were granted, then i understand you to say that you are prepared to go up to two millions?" lim yang bing could only nod assent; he had no time to express himself verbally, for at that moment the procession, which had gone to fetch the bride had returned, and was appearing at the entrance of the gallery. its arrival was greeted with an explosion of fireworks so tremendous, and a cacophony from the chinese band so hideous, that the din was absolutely deafening. if any evil spirits had been lurking about, that atrocious noise must certainly have made them take to their heels. no, not even the shan sao could stand that. in the midst of all this uproar, a comely group of chinese maidens, very demure damsels, with finely cut features and modestly attired in picturesque gowns of yellow silk, with rose coloured sashes round their slim little waists, came forward to meet the bride and to bid her welcome. they offered her a garland of peach blossom, the emblem of maiden purity, and some nick-nacks amongst which was a cock, the emblem of the sungod, curiously carved out of peach-wood. lim ho also advanced to offer his hand to ngow ming nio, and to lead her to a table well furnished with the customary viands. on that board appeared an endless array of dishes, the usual chinese dishes, such as sharks' fins, soup made of stags' tendons and birds' nests, "kiemlo" and "bahmieh" (two fat soups) and other delicacies of no particular significance. but besides these the table contained other articles of food to which a distinctly emblematical meaning was attached. there was the pomegranate sliced in such a manner as to display to the greatest advantage its innumerable seedgrains, signifying the numerous offspring with which might the marriage be richly blessed! there were large heaps of the orange, fit emblem of the sweetness of life, which might the happy pair long enjoy! there were clusters of the oyster, typifying the distinct personality of each member and the unbroken unity of the entire family; and lastly some cuttings of the sugar cane, signifying the blessedness of the married state which, as that cane from knot to knot, from joint to joint, still increases in sweetness and in love. the betrothed couple now took their place at the table, lim ho at his bride's left hand, the place of honour in china. before them were set two mighty goblets of pure gold. both the beakers were filled with wine to the brim, and were connected with one another by a thread of scarlet silk. then the bride and bridegroom simultaneously drained half the contents of the cups, after which they exchanged goblets, taking care however, that the scarlet thread remained unbroken. this time the cups were drained. "ouff!" cried van beneden, who was present with his friends, "it is enough to take one's breath away! each of those things must hold at least a bottle and a half of wine i bet! for lim ho it is nothing; but for that poor little thing!" "aye, and i bet, you wouldn't mind hob-nobbing with pretty ngow ming nio," replied grenits. "do hold your tongue!" said grashuis as he glanced at a group of chinamen who stood near, and who looked anything but pleased at the unseemly burst of merriment which at so solemn a moment, had greeted grenits' words. "hush! hush!" was the cry on all sides. resident van gulpendam glared round indignantly, and laurentia looked black as thunder at the interruption in the midst of the drinking ceremony. van rheijn would have crept underground to avoid those terrible eyes. when the couple had thus copiously pledged one another, the bridegroom took the left hand of the bride. he raised it to the level of her breast, and in that attitude, the pair gravely saluted one another. "i say," whispered grenits, "i wish that dear little pet would give me such a bow." "i daresay," remarked august van beneden; "a dear little pet with two millions of money." "hush, hush!" was again the cry. "pooh!" cried grenits, "millions squeezed out of the opium trade!" the young lawyer hung his head in confusion. "you are right," said he. "no! from such a source i would not take a single farthing!" "hush, hush!" van gulpendam's eyes flashed with indignation. the next rite was a very curious one indeed. two dishes were placed before the betrothed. they contained a mixture of red and white pellets, the size of an ordinary pea. grenits turned to one of the chinamen who stood close beside him in the crowd, and asked what might be the meaning of this ceremony. "are they medicine?" he asked. "yes, sir," replied the chinaman. "the red balls represent the jang or male, the white represent the jin or female principle in nature." "hush, hush!" resounded again on all sides. lim ho and the bride now, each in a golden spoon, took up a red and a white ball, swallowed them and once again bowed deeply to one another. then the dishes were interchanged, just as the cups had been before, the ceremony was repeated and with that act, the marriage was complete. they were now man and wife inseparably joined together. ngow ming nio and lim ho, the one set of millions was joined to the other. during all these festive rites, did lim ho bestow even one passing thought upon his victim, baboe dalima? we doubt it. the nuptial ceremonies having been thus performed, the young wife took up in the spoon two of the little balls and gracefully presented them to the lips of her husband, and, with a winning smile, invited him to eat. by this rite the newly married woman bound herself to bear all the cares and anxieties of the domestic arrangements in the future household. while this ceremony was going on, one of the oldest members of the family audibly recited a few words in the chinese tongue. "what is he saying?" asked grenits, turning to his friendly neighbour. "o toean," replied the latter, "it is a quotation from the sji-king, the book of songs which was printed long, very long ago." (it is said to have been printed in the eleventh century b.c.) "but what is the meaning of the quotation?" "it has a very pretty meaning--something like this: 'the peach tree is young and fair, its blossoms are pure and bright--this young woman is going to her future home and will be an excellent manager of her domestic affairs.'" "very pretty indeed!" laughed grenits. when the young wife had thus, typically, served her husband with food, both made another low obeisance, and this concluded the ceremony. the last bow was the signal for another terrific outburst of noise. the small cannon thundered, salvos of innumerable mertjons were fired off, the band of the santjoemeh militia, which had appeared but lately on the scene, played up with all its might, the chinese orchestra shrieked forth most dismal wails, and that roaring, that crackling, that drumming, that tooting, that sawing and scraping produced a din so indescribably stunning and so hideous that an ear-drum of bull's hide could hardly have endured the noise. in the midst of this tumult the newly married couple took up their position in front of the altar of tao' peh kong. first, they each kindled a little stick of sandal wood and fragrant incense which, while burning, they stuck into a massive golden bowl half filled with scented ashes. thus having paid their homage to the household god, they turned to receive the congratulations of the company. this was not a national custom at all, for in china, when no white men are present, the wedded pair at once retire to their apartment. it was, in fact, a concession made to western usage, and the chinamen who were present scrupulously avoided taking any part in it. the majority of them left, to show their zeal, no doubt, by letting off some more fireworks and completing the rout of the evil spirits. resident van gulpendam, taking his wife's arm, at once headed the procession of europeans all eager to fall down before those millions thus auspiciously coupled together. but for these millions, however lovely might have been the bride, and though in the little world around him lim ho might have been voted a very good sort of fellow, not a single soul would have so much as dreamed of taking part in this chorus of hollow compliment. the scandal about dalima was of much too recent date. but now that the two millions on the one side had joined the two millions on the other--now that lim ho, the son of lim yang bing, the all-powerful opium farmer, was the happy man, now the entire european population was ready to crowd around that highly-favoured couple and press upon them their heartfelt and sincere congratulations. not content with this, mr. van gulpendam considered it his duty, after having shaken hands, to add a few words of affectionate advice. very fortunate indeed it was that neither husband nor wife understood the dutch language and thus were spared the infliction of the nautical terms with which the worthy resident so richly interlarded his discourse, but which he found utterly untranslatable into malay. it was a good thing also for the patience of the bystanders, that laurentia stood by the side of her dear spouse and exhorted him to be brief by digging the point of her elbow pretty sharply into his side. at length the twaddle of the chief functionary came to an end, and now ensued a scene of handshaking, of cringing and fawning, and of general cant on both sides, which would have filled any honest heart with the deepest disgust. but neither lim yang bing nor lim ho failed to notice that neither theodoor grenits, nor august van beneden, nor leendert grashuis, nor edward van rheijn had joined this troop of sycophants. they had taken advantage of the crowd and confusion to leave the house. charles van nerekool had flatly refused to go at all. he could not overcome the aversion with which lim ho had inspired him; but when he heard a report of the proceedings, he resolved that, should another such opportunity occur, though the festivities might be held on a much smaller scale, he would try and witness so extraordinary a spectacle. it was well perhaps for our young friends that they left when they did; for presently the scene became rather uproarious. no sooner were the greetings exchanged and the congratulations ended, than the champagne corks began to pop with an energy and frequency which seemed to rival the bangs of the mertjons outside. presently the whole company, chinamen and europeans, stood up, holding aloft their glasses full of sparkling wine, and deafening cheers were raised, while the chinese "trauwkoeis" and the clattering cymbals screeched and clashed, and the militia trumpets brayed, and the serpents and mertjons banged with a noise as if a town was being bombarded. in the midst of this unearthly din the bridal pair disappeared; anxious, probably, to save their ear-drums. in the evening, the formal banquet took place, to which eighty guests had been invited. the menu of the feast had been carefully prepared by a french mã¢itre d'hã´tel, and was excellent; although next day the wags of santjoemeh would have it that dishes decidedly peculiar to the celestial empire had graced the board, such as "potage kiemlo ã  la tartare," "potage printanier ã  l'ail," "croquettes aux oreilles de rats," "bouchã©es d'ailerons de requins," "consommã©es de tripang," &c. &c. after dinner, president van gulpendam rose to propose the toast of the evening; and to drink the health of the newly married couple. he did so, if the reports are to be believed, in a speech of extraordinary brilliancy. it fell to his lot also, afterwards, to propose the health of the chinese officers, and, in doing so, he expressed a hope that the netherlands might always find in her chinese subjects as faithful and useful members of the community as they had hitherto proved themselves to be. he laid very marked stress upon the word "useful," and the close of his speech was greeted with thundering applause. lim yang bing replied to this toast, and at the conclusion of his remarks he proposed the health of mr. and mrs. van gulpendam. he heartily congratulated santjoemeh on the possession of such excellent rulers, and for the good of its inhabitants in general, and of the chinese community in particular, he expressed the hope that they might long see that noble pair at the head of the residence. it was well that the roof of the mansion was a pretty strong one and that the foundations of its walls and pillars were firm and deep, or else some deplorable calamity must have occurred; for the deafening cheers of the company burst forth with the force of a hurricane; the soil literally shook under the feet of the assembled guests at the salvoes of mertjons and of small ordnance without, while the air within was alive with the popping of corks, which flew from the necks of the bottles with the regularity of well sustained file-fire. so unbounded was the enthusiasm with which the eloquent words of the worthy opium farmer were received. after the banquet came the ball, which was attended by almost the whole of santjoemeh. towards midnight, there was a display of chinese fireworks in the grounds, and our pig-tailed brethren, on that occasion, proved how immeasurably superior is their skill in pyrotechny compared to anything european artists can aspire to in that line. then dancing was resumed with fresh vigour, and the last couples did not leave the ball-room until the break of day. "that was a glorious, a most sumptuous feast, babah," said resident van gulpendam a few days later to his friend lim yang bing. "my eyes! didn't you make the galley smoke!" "yes, kandjeng toean," replied the opium farmer, with a smile of intensely gratified vanity. "yes; but it has cost me a pretty little sum of money, why, in champagne alone, i have spent more than two thousand guilders, and quite another twelve hundred in rhenish wine. the fireworks i had direct from canton, and they have cost me three thousand at the very least." as he dwelt upon these details, the man was in the seventh heaven of delight. chapter xxxvii. disgraceful opposition. two opium companies by the ears. nearly the whole of santjoemeh had been keeping festival. it was, indeed, no everyday occurrence for the son of the rich opium farmer of the district to marry the daughter of an equally wealthy disciple of mercury. at the union of so many millions the dutch public could not but evince the liveliest interest--and it had done so. we said: nearly the whole of santjoemeh; for there were some who had not thought it incumbent upon them to grace the banquet and the ball with their presence. van beneden, grashuis, van rheijn, and grenits, had allowed their ethnological curiosity to prevail so far as to induce them to go and witness the nuptial ceremony; but nothing could persuade them to attend the subsequent festivities. they had, on the contrary, determined, while the european population was crowding within lim yang bing's stately mansion in the gang pinggir, and the natives were swarming all around it, to pass a particularly quiet evening together at the house of their friend van nerekool. when they entered they found the young judge still seated at his study bending over his work by the light of a reading-lamp. "hallo!" cried one, "still at it?" "are the courts so very busy just now?" asked another. "by jove!" exclaimed a third, "that's what i call zeal for the service!" "ornithologically speaking," laughed van beneden, "our friend charles should be classed with the rara avis. come, come, old fellow, this is no time for working! all santjoemeh is astir--just hear what an infernal row is going on yonder." "yes," remarked theodoor grenits, with a scornful laugh, "they are making noise enough over it." "my dear friends," replied van nerekool, "the greater part of the day i have been very busy indeed; for as leendert just now observed with more truth than he himself was aware, at the present moment we have a great deal of work to get through in the courts; but yet, when you came in, i was occupied in a very different manner." "would it be indiscreet to ask what made our host bend his head so anxiously over his desk?" asked theodoor. "not at all, i was reading a letter i have just received from william; that is what made me lay aside my pen." "from william verstork?" "how is he?" "is he well?" "how is he getting on at atjeh?" these questions crossed one another, and were uttered, as it were, in a breath; for the five young men were warmly attached to the worthy controller. "yes," replied van nerekool, "i am glad to tell you that verstork is in perfect health, and that he is getting on uncommonly well in the military world yonder." "well, that's a blessing," remarked van rheijn, who never liked soldiers, "i am glad to hear it--i don't at all want to change places with him." "and what is his letter about, charles?" asked van beneden. "his letter is a very long one," replied van nerekool, "much too long to read to you this evening. the greater part of it, moreover, is devoted to purely private matters; and contains particulars concerning the parents of anna van gulpendam, which i do not think i have a right to communicate to you. he tries to cure me of my love for her, and i have no doubt that his endeavour is exceedingly well meant; but yet the contents of his letter have made me very melancholy, as they make the chasm between us appear deeper and more impassible than it seemed before. "where can she be?" he continued after an instant's pause--"if i only knew that then all would not be lost!" the four friends looked at one another sadly--that letter had evidently touched a string which vibrated painfully in van nerekool's heart. "come, charles," said grashuis, trying to rouse his friend, "you must not give way to that melancholy mood. you must try and accept the inevitable. moreover, who can tell what the future may bring!" "but she is gone!" cried van nerekool hopelessly, "she has disappeared without leaving a trace." a strange smile passed over edward van rheijn's lips; but he made no direct remark. at length he said: "baboe dalima also seems to have mysteriously disappeared." van nerekool made an impatient gesture as one who would say: 'what is that to me?' "i happened lately to be at kaligaweh," continued van rheijn, "and i chanced to meet old setrosmito there. he tells me that dalima started off some time ago for karang anjer." "for karang anjer!" exclaimed van nerekool, "and what--?" "but from that time to this her family have had no tidings from her," continued van rheijn. "have they heard nothing?" asked charles. "not a single word--indeed her parents do not know whether she is alive or dead." van nerekool's head sunk down despondingly on his breast. "one faint gleam of hope," he murmured, "and then dark night again!" for a while no one spoke. at length van beneden, who wished to lead his friend's thoughts into a different channel, broke the silence: "does verstork write upon no other subject than this?" "oh, yes," replied charles, who was gradually regaining his composure. "let us go into the inner room and i will read you the most interesting portion of his letter. this is not at all the place for a comfortable chat." thereupon they left the study, which, with its folios and bulky law-books, did not indeed present a very sociable or cosy appearance. "sabieio, chairs and cigars for the gentlemen!" cried van nerekool. when all were seated and the fragrant manillas were lighted, he continued: "gentlemen, what do you say to a glass of beer?" no very determined opposition being offered to this hospitable proposal, van nerekool again called to his servant, "sabieio, bring us some iced beer." thus all having quenched their thirst in the pleasant and cooling beverage: "now then gentlemen," said charles, "i will give you the most important parts of william's letter," and he began to read as follows: "'do you recollect that when we sat down to dinner together after our day's hunting in the djoerang pringapoes, i told you of a certain recipe for pills to counteract opium, and how that i also told you what success i had already had with this medicine? grenits, at the time, was not at all inclined to look favourably upon that communication, and took a very gloomy view of the prospect which lay before me. the words he used on that occasion have been continually ringing in my ears; and to this day i remember them as clearly as when they were spoken, he said: "keep that prescription strictly to yourself, and don't say a word about it to anybody. the colonial secretary, who has but one object in view, and that is to raise the opium revenue as much as possible, might look upon your remedy as an attack made upon the golden calf; and missionaries have before this been impeded in their gospel work, and men have been expelled from the colonies, and official functionaries have been suspended or pensioned off for the commission of much more venial offences than bringing such pills as yours to the opium smokers." now, charles, you know that although with an eye to the future of the members of my family, who, to some extent, depend upon me for support, i was, for a few moments, depressed at my friend's gloomy prognostic; yet i soon rallied, and, after a little reflection, began to look upon grenits' words as the outcome of a passing fit of melancholy induced by our conversation, which had almost exclusively run on opium horrors and opium scandals. indeed, grenits himself could not have intended to paint the future in colours as dark as his words seemed to imply; for you remember that when i laughed and said: "oh, it is not quite so bad as that, i hope," he replied with a smile, "perhaps not; but your pills will not earn you the netherlands' lion." "'ah, no, charles! i never aimed at any such distinction. the little good i have been able to do i have done simply for its own sake and without the least expectation of any recompense. such ambition i have always most willingly left to others; for i know full well that seldom real merit, sometimes the directly opposite, but always a certain amount of pliability and want of back-bone, is rewarded by these outward tokens of official approbation. and the mere thought that i might so much as be suspected of belonging to those invertebrates would suffice to paralyse every effort on my part. the shaft which theodoor thus shot at random missed its mark; yet neither he nor i could, at that time, suspect how much sarcasm lay hidden in his last words or how very much to the point had been his foregoing counsels. now pay good heed to what i am about to tell you. "'i had not been here very long, before i received a document from the chief secretary's office at batavia. that, in itself, was no very uncommon occurrence. i have frequently had communications from that quarter when information was required on certain civil questions, such as duties and other things of that kind, about which they did not wish to trouble the military governor. but yet, it seemed rather strange to me that, on this occasion, i did not receive the document through the chief of the military department. it was a written paper, yet not a despatch. it looked more like a circular although these are generally either printed or lithographed. now listen to what it contained: "an attempt has been discovered at batavia to import certain pills consisting of or mixed with opium, under the pretence that they are medicinal. the indian government has come to the conclusion that the pills in question must be considered as a preparation of opium, and it, therefore, forbids the importation of this so-called medicine except through its own agents, and the sale thereof excepting by the regularly licensed opium farmers and such apothecaries and chemists as are specially exempt from the provisions of the opium act. you are hereby requested strictly to enforce the government's decision on this subject." "'this precious document bore the home secretary's signature. "'here at oleh-leh i had made attempts with the pills in question to cure the chinese opium smokers of their fatal passion, and my efforts in their behalf had met with marked success. i had further given a couple of hundred of them to the officers of the garrison for distribution among such of their men as might need them. these gentlemen also gave me the most glowing account of the success of the medicine. the trophy of bedoedans in my study was enriched by half-a-dozen pipes; and i must confess, charles, that as often as my eye happened to fall on those instruments of moral ruin, which are hanging there harmless on my wall as the visible tokens of victories obtained, i could not repress a feeling of self-satisfaction. was i now to desist? was i forbidden any longer to attempt the rescue of the infatuated wretches around me? i could not realise it--i could not believe it. surely the government would not refuse to hold out a helping hand to the myriads of wretched victims of opium which swarm all about india! there must be a mistake somewhere. the government must have been misinformed and all that was needed was for somebody to open its eyes to the truth. "'to put these pills into the hands of the opium farmer for distribution would be reducing the whole thing to the most utter absurdity and to ensure failure beforehand. "'i therefore sat down and drew up a carefully detailed statement in which i gave the result of my own experience, the evidence of the missionaries and the favourable opinions also of the officers mentioned above. i added to my document legally attested declarations of these gentlemen as to the salutary effects of the medicine. "'finally, i ventured to suggest, that, in favour of these pills as a bona fide medicine, an exception might be made, and that, as prepared and sent out by the missionary society, they might be excluded from the regulations of the opium law. "'my dear charles, what was i about? oh, yes, as an honest man i had followed the dictates of my conscience; but it was too simple-minded on my part to hope that the government might, in the highest interests of morality, be induced to forego even the smallest scrap of its profits. i was a greenhorn indeed to sit down and pen such a document at a time when money--money--money--is the only question with the government and money-scraping seems to be our highest national virtue; while men resolutely close their eyes to the dirty gutters out of which it is raked together. "'very soon after, indeed by the very next mail, i received a reply to my proposal. it ran thus: "it is not the intention of the government to discuss the proposal contained in your letter of the --th. the pills in question must have lately found their way into other parts of the island as well as into batavia. ostensibly they are designed to wean the smokers from the excessive use of opium; but in reality they only serve to procure that indulgence at a much cheaper rate for those who, either from want of means or for other reasons, cannot procure the drug from the legitimate source. while you were occupying the post of controller in the district of santjoemeh we had good reason to suspect that, in your official capacity, you were not disinclined to evade--we are willing to believe from the best motives--the government regulations with regard to the sale of opium; and that you thus contributed to diminish the public revenue. your last letter incontestably proves that you are pursuing the same practices now. on a public servant who entertains such views of his duty, the government cannot look with much favour; and were it not that i am fully persuaded that you are actuated by the very best motives in pursuing your present line of conduct, and that your well-known family relations make me very loth to adopt decided measures, i would at once propose your dismissal as a man unfit for the public service. i have directed the governor carefully to watch your proceedings and to report immediately to head-quarters the first failure of duty on your part that may come under his notice. i need hardly tell you that the state requires from its servants a very different conception of duty from that of lending a willing ear to every foolish sentiment of morbid philanthropy; and that, therefore, if you give any further cause for dissatisfaction you must not reckon upon any consideration whatever."'" "it is disgraceful!" exclaimed grenits as soon as van nerekool ceased reading. "a noble-hearted fellow like william verstork to be so shamefully treated!" "oh, that opium, that opium!" continued grashuis no less indignantly than his friend, "it seems to taint the very life-blood of our nation. has it then come to this that we are to be deprived of every means of stemming the national evil?" "yes, it is indeed disgraceful!" chimed in van beneden. "but, my friends," objected van rheijn, "are you not rather one-sided in your view of the matter and rather too hasty in forming an opinion? may there not be some truth in what the government alleges and might not these pills, under the pretence of being a cure, only be another means for extending the illicit traffic in opium?" "oh, edward!" exclaimed van nerekool, "how can you bring yourself to suspect william verstork of illicit traffic?" "and the netherland's missionary society?" added grashuis. "pardon me, my friends," cried van rheijn as he passionately jumped up from his chair. "you misunderstand me entirely, i never meant to suggest anything of the kind. i am just as much convinced as any of you can be that both william verstork and our missionaries are acting in this matter with the most perfect good faith and honour. i was not for an instant thinking of them when i spoke. but might not men without principle and without honour, under cover of these wholesome pills, introduce others made of pure opium and thus defraud the revenue?" "well," said grenits doubtfully, "such a thing might perhaps come to pass." "and is it not then right and proper," continued van rheijn, "that the government should guard against possible fraud? under cover of these pills the opium plague might conceivably attain to altogether extravagant dimensions." "without the treasury being one penny the better for it," hastily interposed grashuis. "so long as the revenue is kept up they are not so over squeamish in government circles about the abuse of opium. quite the contrary." "and then verstork's proposal to admit only the pills sent out by the missionary society was fair enough," added grenits. "it would not be very difficult to protect and encourage the use of the medicine and at the same time guard against adulteration or fraud. but no," he continued, "that is evidently not what the government wants. not one poor scruple must be taken from the dose of poison which is, in a measure, forced upon the people, and every effort to mitigate the evil must, in spite of the twaddle and cant at the hague, be sternly repressed. my friends, you all recollect our discussions on that subject. in the face of what we have heard and seen can anyone deny or doubt that opium lies as a curse upon our poor indian possessions?" for a few moments the young men sat silently gazing on the floor before them. alas no! that plain fact could not be denied--all were equally convinced of its truth. "yes, that opium!" sighed van beneden. "friends, let us change our ground without, however, quitting our subject. it would be a pity to do so just now--just now that we five men are assembled here together in santjoemeh to protest against opium, while, at the same moment, yonder, the trumpets are braying and the cannon is roaring in homage to the millions which that same opium has wrung from the people. at the present moment the pig-tailed children of the celestial empire are gathered together in perfect harmony and concord around their tao peh kong; but such is not always the case. circumstances sometimes arise which kindle the bitterest animosities between these chinese brethren. as i was looking through a pile of papers, not very long ago, i happened to come upon a pretty quarrel which greatly interested me and gave me a deep insight, from another point of view, into the vicious circle in which the question of opium farming revolves. we are now sitting here so cosily and quietly together that i should like to take advantage of this favourable opportunity to tell you the story. i must only beg of you that you will pay no heed either to the names, the places or the dates i may use. i have no right to incriminate the actors in my tale, some of whom are still living. on the other hand, my story would lack interest and vividness were i to speak of n or p and introduce places as x or y. i shall therefore take the liberty of introducing fictitious names. i beg you will bear that in mind. "in the year--let us put it at ten years ago--there existed in the capital of one of java's residences--supposing we say in santjoemeh--a mighty opium company, to which we will give the name of hok bie. this company hok bie had cast a covetous eye upon the monopoly in a district adjoining to santjoemeh, which we will call bengawan. but this same district had also attracted the attention of a young chinaman called tio siong mo. this young man was very wealthy, although he had not as many millions at command as had the company hok bie. "it would lead me too far afield," continued van beneden, "were i to describe to you all the intrigues and plots which were set on foot, all the bribery and corruption which took place on both sides, to get possession of the coveted prize. suffice it to say that the antagonists exerted their utmost powers; for bengawan was a prize indeed. from the opium farmers' point of view it was the fattest district in all java--and so it is now, unless i am much mistaken, and at present counts the greatest number of opium dens--though i hardly need add, as a corollary, that it contains the most wretched and poverty-stricken population in the island. "at first it seemed as if the company hok bie would carry all before it; for it managed to cast serious doubts upon the solvency and credit of its adversary's sureties, and if they could be discredited, tio siong mo would be excluded from the contest altogether. "tio siong mo, however, held firm, he fought the bribers with their own weapons; and he found means, somehow or other, to re-establish the credit of his sureties. how? you will perhaps be able to give a shrewd guess at that." "oh, yes, yes, go on!" cried grenits, "that is as clear as the sun at noonday." "well then, that dodge having failed, the company hok bie began to look round for other means of attack. first it endeavoured to bribe tio siong mo's sureties and to induce them to declare themselves bankrupts; but that did not succeed. next it made an offer to its competitor of half a million of guilders in cash if he would retire from the contest. half a million! it was a liberal bid, there was no denying that. but no! tio siong mo did not waver a single instant, he flatly refused the tempting offer; for the monopoly of bengawan was worth a much larger sum of money than that. "on the day of the sale five competitors came forward; but three of these very soon dropped out of the bidding, and the representative of the company hok bie and tio siong mo were left to fight out the matter between them. "i will not weary you by describing the contest, which was carried on at one time with what seemed the wildest recklessness and at another with the most cunning circumspection. there were some very exciting passages in the battle. at length hok bie bid eighty thousand guilders." "eighty thousand?" exclaimed van rheijn. "why, that is not a very large sum." "a month, a month, my dear fellow!" said van beneden, correcting him. "well, a month, so be it," resumed van rheijn; "that comes to only nine hundred and sixty thousand guilders a year. here in santjoemeh--!" "for those days it was an exorbitant price," continued van beneden, "i know all about it, and i can assure you it was an extravagantly high price." "well, and what happened then?" asked van nerekool. "the representative of hok bie had called out eighty thousand, thinking by that bid to disconcert and crush his opponent, for he had made a tremendous leap from sixty to eighty." "the deuce!" cried van rheijn, "and then?" "tio siong mo lost not an instant; but with the utmost coolness he said: 'another thousand.' "he spoke these words in a tone of voice which seemed to convey that he simply intended to add a thousand to whatever bid the other party might make. "hok bie's representative looked blue; that last bold jump of his had brought him to the end of his tether--he was not empowered to go further. the resident who presided encouraged the competitors to go on. but no one spoke. "at length was heard the 'third time,' accompanied by the fall of the hammer, and tio siong mo had secured the monopoly. it was a large sum to pay merely for the contract; but the young chinaman laughed in his sleeve. he knew well enough that in the dessa bengawan he could screw double that amount out of it. but, as you will see, he reckoned without his host. the company hok bie was furious at having thus been worsted, and resolved to have its revenge. at the very first meeting of the directors four hundred thousand guilders were voted, not only to ensure tio siong mo's fall, but even to secure him a comfortable little nook in the state prison. two of the oldest members of the board undertook the job." "by jove!" cried grenits, who was thoroughly interested in the story. as a merchant, such a piece of business was quite in his line, and he pricked his ears as a young race-horse, impatient for the start, dilates his quivering nostrils. "by jove, i am anxious to hear how they managed that." "they managed it very simply, indeed," continued van beneden, "though it cost them a mint of money. but when it is a question of gratifying his passions, or of pampering his vanity your chinaman is by no means stingy." "no," said grenits, "nor yet when it comes to throwing out a sprat to catch a mackerel." "agreed," said van beneden; "but now let me go on, or else we shall not get to the end of the story to-night." "just so," assented edward van rheijn. "make what haste you can; for i have also my little opium tale to tell--and something else besides that." "very good! august, drive ahead!" said grenits. "there were at that time a couple of opium districts which were contiguous to bengawan, and which lay along the java sea. upon these the company hok bie at once flung itself, the monopoly not having as yet been granted for them." "yes, of course," remarked van rheijn, "having lost the rich district of bengawan, a couple of rather more meagre ones would form an agreeable compensation." "upon these," continued van beneden, not heeding his friend's interruption, "the company hok bie greedily flung itself, and for the opium privilege of those two districts, it paid the sum of 40,000 guilders a month; though it was clear as day that at such a price it must incur a heavy loss." "what then could it have been about to offer the money?" asked van nerekool. "the company's object was to get a large strip of the java sea under its control." "oho!" exclaimed grenits and van rheijn in a breath--a light was beginning to dawn upon them. "do you fellows now begin to understand?" asked august with a broad smile. "that's a good job. "you must know that the residence bengawan is bounded on the north by these two districts. the consequences of this acquisition soon began to show themselves. the coast of the java sea lay open to the company hok bie, and smugglers soon began to ply diligently between that coast and singapore. the contraband very soon found its way through the two districts to the interior, so that presently bengawan was literally flooded with smuggled opium. to such an extent was this contraband trade carried on, that the drug was readily sold for about one half-penny, a price at which the farmer could not possibly afford to sell it. "then tio siong mo attempted to brazen it out. he began by punctually meeting his obligations, and every month paid the contract money into the treasury. he did this, poor fellow, in the hope that the european authorities would assist him and protect him against this illicit trade which was robbing the revenue as well as himself. and what were the effects of all his representations to the government--'schwamm darã¼ber'--even where he did obtain some kind of co-operation from some chief official, he got no support whatever from the subordinates. they all, to a single man, sided with the much more powerful company hok bie, which never left any service unrewarded. "these punctual payments were all very well so long as tio siong mo could find the money. but, however well lined his chest might be, it was with him--as it always must be where much is going out and little or nothing coming in--a mere question of time. "in the latter half of the second year of the contract, tio siong mo was declared a bankrupt. he could not possibly cover his expenses, and by that time had fallen in arrears and owed a colossal sum to the treasury, a debt of which little or nothing was ever recovered, because, at the critical moment, his sureties had absconded to singapore. so cleverly did these worthies dispose of their property, that they left nothing but debts behind them. "'the dutch government wields a sword without mercy,' said the financial secretary; and that same government which, by taking proper measures in its own interest as well as in the interest of their farmer, might have put a stop to smuggling on anything like a large scale, but had neglected to do so--that same government now clapped poor tio siong mo into prison. there he lingered for several years, and quite lately he has been released, it being evident that nothing was to be got out of him. we sometimes say, with regard to horses, that they who earn the corn do not always get it; and this episode i think shows that they who are punished are not always the real culprits." "but what ultimately became of the bengawan contract after the farmer's bankruptcy?" asked van rheijn, curiously. "of course," resumed van beneden, "the district had to be put up again after tio siong mo's failure. who were the new farmers the papers do not tell me; but, from a whining lamentation uttered by the financial secretary, in which he exhorts the judges to the utmost rigour against the luckless bankrupt, it appears that the whole thing only produced forty-one thousand guilders. thus the state, in addition to the large sum owing by tio siong mo, lost a clear sum of forty thousand guilders a month." "that's the style!" exclaimed grenits, "i wish such a thing as that would happen regularly, year by year, in all the districts, then some means would speedily be found to put an end to the opium traffic altogether." "and what became of the two coast districts, which the company hok bie had taken?" asked van rheijn, very anxious to get to the bottom of the story. "what could the company make of them? they could be worked only at a loss, and, as soon as the object it had in view was obtained, it made over the contract to some other company--no doubt at considerable loss. at least hok bie would have no more to do with them." "and the moral of the story is?" asked leendert grashuis. "why, simply this," said theodoor grenits, "that from whatever point of view you look at the opium-farming system, you are sure to catch sight of something particularly loathsome and disgusting." "and that such a rotten system should form one of the principal sources of the netherlands' colonial revenue!" "yes," assented van beneden. "in these latter days it has indeed been raised to that dignity by men in office, into whose hands the indifference of our dutch nation has placed unlimited power." chapter xxxviii. further facts about opium. birds-nesting at karang bollong. these were most unpalatable facts for our friends to listen to. but, however painful they might be, and however offensive to the ear of a patriotic dutchman, yet they were facts which could neither be ignored nor explained away. very gravely and very sadly the five young men sat slowly rocking themselves in their chairs and watching the wreaths of blue smoke as they curled upwards from their manillas. thus they passed some time in silent thought, when suddenly, in the distance were heard fresh volleys of musketry, redoubled banging of mertjons, and this noise accompanied by loud bursts of cheering repeated again and again, which, arising within the banqueting hall, was taken up by the thousands of natives who stood without waiting for the display of fireworks. that crescendo in the festive din was occasioned no doubt by lim yang bing's eloquent speech in honour of resident van gulpendam. "sabieio, fill the glasses!" cried van nerekool to his servant, making an effort to shake off the gloomy thoughts which oppressed him, and which not even van beneden's story had been able to dissipate. for the next few minutes they all sat listening to the disturbance outside, and when at length the noise had died away, van rheijn re-opened the conversation. "you told us just now, my dear august, that tio siong mo had found no co-operation or support among the inferior class of officials; but that these, on the contrary, sided with the more powerful company hok bie. now i take it for granted that you did not talk merely at random; but that you had some sufficient grounds for saying what you did. one thing, however, is not quite clear to me, and that is whether you meant that accusation to apply to the native opium-officials or to the europeans. you will grant me, i suppose, that the accusation is a rather serious one." van beneden did not raise his eyes, he drew a deep breath. at length after an interval of a few seconds, he said: "yes, you are perfectly right, the charge is undoubtedly a serious one. as a lawyer i am perfectly aware of that; and you were quite right also in presuming that i did not utter it without due consideration. the question you now ask me is this: 'to whom do you intend this grave censure to apply?' i might answer with perfect truth, that i apply it to native and european officials alike. but to be absolutely candid i ought to go further and confess that, when i spoke, i was aiming specially at the european officers." "august!" cried van rheijn, evidently much moved at his friend's earnestness and sincerity. "may you not be taking too partial and unfair a view of the situation?" "my dear fellow," replied van beneden, "just listen to what i am about to tell you, and then i will leave you to judge for yourself-"among the mass of documents relating to this tio siong mo's business, i came upon some remarks made by a very highly placed official, a man perfectly competent to form a correct opinion; and who had, in fact, been consulted on this very occasion. his remarks run thus: "'the salaries paid to the officials who are employed in checking the trade in contraband opium are wholly insufficient; and in the discharge of their most arduous duties, these public servants receive no support at all. the consequence of this is, that hardly a single person who is properly qualified for the work will ever offer his services. in what manner, then, are those places filled? why, in the simplest manner possible. individuals are appointed quite at random and are then placed under the orders of some resident or other. these poor creatures, who, as a general rule, have no very brilliant antecedents to boast of, and who know little or nothing of the opium trade, receive a salary of 150 guilders (â£12 10s.) a month, and are stationed at such points as the smugglers are most likely to resort to. it follows, of course, from the nature of the case that these stations are far away from any inhabited spot, generally in the heart of some swamp or in the all but impenetrable jungle on the north coast of java. in such localities there can be no question of a house; and some of these men have to hire a small bamboo hut at the rate of 25 or 30 guilders a month, or else they run up a kind of rough shanty at their own expense. they have no staff whatever--there being no money to provide one--and thus, on an emergency, they have to apply for help to the chiefs of the nearest dessas, and that is very much like going to the devil for confession. moreover, the residents compel these people to keep two horses, which animals they must purchase for themselves, and they have to pay 10 guilders a month at least for forage for each horse. if now we take into consideration deductions for widows' and orphans' fund, then these wretched creatures receive only about 102 guilders a month, out of which they must find house rent and servants' wages, leaving them, say 67 guilders to live upon, to find themselves in dress, and to keep their often numerous families. now, the question is, how can such persons manage to live at all in even the most frugal manner? how do they manage to keep body and soul together? they have no other resource than to apply to the opium-farmer for assistance, and in him they always find a most obliging money-lender. the whole question, then, comes to this: are not such officers forced by mere pressure of circumstances to squeeze as much out of their wretched billet as can be got out of it?' "and thus, you see, my dear edward, that all these men either are, or very soon get to be, under the thumb of the opium-farmers, and the consequences of such a state of things are, you must grant, inevitable. by the side of the note i read to you just now, i found a list--it was a long list--of the names of such individuals as, either for neglect of duty or for having aided and abetted the smugglers, had been dismissed the service. there were others who were mere puppets in the farmers' hands, and who could not venture on the slightest remonstrance if the farmer himself was implicated in the smuggling trade. then there was a third--alas! the list was a very short one--of officials who undertook to perform their duties conscientiously, and who, looking upon a smuggler as a smuggler, whether he happened to be an opium-farmer or not, were determined to put down the illegal traffic whoever might be engaged in it. i regret, however, to have to add that those names very quickly disappear from the scene. the residents soon found fault with such men--they had no tact--no management--in fact, some ground of complaint was sure to be found. and then, of course, the government does not like to see the farmers, so long as they pay their contract money regularly into the treasury, annoyed by opposition of any kind." "but," exclaimed grenits, somewhat warmly, "what becomes, at that rate, of the assertion made over and over in parliament by the colonial secretary, that the abuse of opium is in every possible way kept in check? as far as i can make out from your statement, the government seems, indirectly of course, actually to protect the smuggling by the farmers, and these, equally of course, in order to dispose of their contraband, press the drug by all means, legal or illegal, upon the helpless population." "the sum and substance of all i have told you is simply this," said van beneden. "no man who has the slightest respect for himself can or will undertake any office for the suppression of opium smuggling, and therefore a lower class of people must be employed, and thence, you see, it becomes possible for the tricks and dodges of such companies as hok bie to succeed." "by jove!" cried van nerekool, "that's another nice little glimpse into the charming situation which the system of opium-farming has created. come! now we are about it, we had better exhaust the unsavoury subject as far as we can. did you not say just now, van rheijn, that you also had an opium tale to tell?" "oh, yes," replied edward, "and something else besides that." "indeed!" said grashuis; "go on then. i thought i was pretty well informed; but every moment i am making fresh discoveries." "now, gentlemen," said van nerekool, "are you all furnished with cigars? van rheijn, we are waiting to hear you." "i have had a letter from murowski," began van rheijn. "from murowski?" cried one. "from our pole?" "from our doctor?" "yes, gentlemen, from our expert at the scientific opium-smoke. now, as his letter contains very few, if any, secrets, and that moreover it is addressed to us in general, i need not follow our host's example; and i will read it to you in full." "but, my dear fellow," said grenits, "it is getting late, nearly nine o'clock. is there anything in that letter about butterflies?" "oh, yes." "and about beetles and snakes?" "oh yes, certainly." "then, i say! heaven help us, those entomologists are so long-winded; they don't spare you a single claw, not an antenna, not a shard!" "oh, you won't find it so bad as all that," laughed van rheijn; "just listen." "'my dear friend, in your last letter you ask me how i pass the time at gombong. at first, i must confess, it was tedious work and everything looked very black. you know, i was rather smitten with agatha van bemmelen, and i have reason to flatter myself that she used not to shut her little peepers very hard when she happened to meet me at santjoemeh. so, when i first came here, my thoughts ran entirely on her; i detested my new place, and cursed the man who had played me the scurvy trick of having me transferred. of entomology there was no question. two or three times i went out and tried to get some specimens, but i failed woefully. wherever i went, in whatever direction i took my walks, there was but one picture before my eyes--the image of my agatha's sparkling eyes and my agatha's rosy cheeks. "'so utterly lost was i in rapture that the rarest specimens in butterflies fluttered past my very nose without my so much as holding out my net. i gave the whole thing up in despair, and tossed all my apparatus into a corner. but, what to do with oneself at gombong? the officers of the garrison were busy enough; but i had nothing--absolutely nothing--to occupy my time. the climate of gombong is a wretched one--most miserably healthy, no chance of ever getting a patient here! being a devout catholic, i sent up a little prayer every now and then for a good epidemic, or at least some case worthy of keeping one's interest going--nothing of the kind!'" "well now," cried theodoor, "did you ever hear of such a fellow, praying for an epidemic! such a chap as that ought to be put out of the colony altogether--he is fit only for the new lunatic asylum at buitenzorg!" "nonsense!" retorted van rheijn, "does not every one pray for his daily bread? does not our friend van beneden here pray for a good lawsuit--and that is, perhaps, not much less serious a matter than an epidemic. but let me go on. "'seeing that my prayers were not heard, i sought refuge in poetry;--perhaps i might say i prayed and wrote verses alternately. i celebrated my well-beloved in alexandrines, in iambics, in pentameters, in hexameters, in odes, in lyrics, in sonnets, in stanzas, in german, in polish--'" "that must have sounded well!" interrupted grashuis. "'--in polish, in french, nay, even in latin!'" "in latin!" exclaimed grenits, with a shout of laughter, "the fellow must have gone raving mad!" "just fancy the poor child receiving an ode from her adorer entitled 'solis occasus,'--and 'virgini agathã¦ pulcherrimã¦ bemmelensi dedicatus'--i should like to have seen her little phiz," cried van beneden. "do stop all that nonsense," remonstrated van rheijn, who nevertheless was laughing as heartily as the others, and when silence had been restored, he continued: "'and heaven only knows how much paper i might have wasted had not suddenly the news reached me that my adored agatha was engaged, and was, indeed, on the point of being married. then i crumpled up all my poetical effusions, and that very evening made a nice little fire of them. they were of some use in that way in keeping off the mosquitoes and other such like vermin. i invited all the officers of the garrison to a jolly good champagne supper; and, after having passed a night in which i rivalled the seven sleepers of holy memory--i arose next morning a new man--perfectly cured!--'" "that pole is a practical fellow," cried grashuis. "i say, charlie, you should take a leaf out of his book!" "'thereupon i resumed my insect hunting, and then, for the first time, it dawned upon me that the hemiptera, the diptera, the hymenoptera, the lepidoptera, the coleoptera--'" "i say, i say!" cried grenits, "might you not skip all these barbarous words. that a pole like murowski makes use of them is excusable perhaps--he knows no better; but that he should inflict them upon us!--it is unpardonable." "oh, well!" replied van rheijn, "i have almost done-"'--the coleoptera, the crustaceans are really our best and truest friends, and that they would, after all, afford me the most wholesome recreation. i happened to be in luck's way. patients there were none, and, to make assurance doubly sure, a medical officer, and therefore a colleague of mine, had arrived here in gombong. he had obtained three months' leave, and, in this mild and singularly equable climate, he hoped to find a cure for an incipient liver-complaint. this gentleman was willing, he was indeed quite eager, to take my place in any unforeseen emergency, if it were only to break the monotony of his existence out here. i quickly availed myself of this favourable opportunity to ask our military chief for eight days' leave to go on a trip into the karang bollong mountains and give myself up to my passion for entomology. "'"by all means," said the kind-hearted captain, "by all means, you go and catch butterflies and snoutbeetles. only see that in those wild mountain districts you don't come to grief; and, mind you, be back again in time." "'an hour after, i had shouldered my gun, slung on my game-bag; and, with the tin box for my collection strapped to my back, i was on the war-path, my servant following with the other necessaries. from gombong i marched through the dessas karang djah, ringodono and pringtoetoel, and there i was in the heart of the mountain country. that journey i did not make in a single day; but i took my time, and spent two days in covering the ground. "'i will not tire you with an account of my insect-hunt, that would, in fact, be casting pearls before swine.'" "upon my word, that is a good one!" exclaimed grenits, laughing. "our pole is exquisitely polite!" "well," laughed van rheijn, "he is paying you back in your own coin, you remember what you said about 'barbarous words' just now. but let me get on. "'but yet i must tell you that my trip was very successful. i have every reason to be satisfied; for among many other rare and valuable specimens, i secured a fine ulysses and a splendid priamos. but what will constitute the real glory of my collection is an atlas, a truly magnificent creature, which, with outspread wings, covers an area of nearly a foot square. i will not however dwell on these matters. i know you take no interest in them. no, no, i have a subject to write upon which will prove much more attractive to yourself and to your friends. our experiment in opium-smoking has been haunting me ever since i witnessed it; and i have by no means forgotten the conversation we held on that occasion. what i then heard and saw has opened my eyes and my ears, and has made me very attentive whenever the opium question is mentioned. and, i must say, that i have here been brought to the very spot where i am able to glean most interesting information about the use of that drug. in my wanderings through the karang bollong mountains, i have been brought into contact with the gathering of the far-famed birds' nests. whether you gentlemen are acquainted with that source of the dutch revenue, i know not; but in order to come to the subject i wish to lay before you, that is, the abuse of opium and the encouragement the government gives to that abuse, i must give you a short account of this most interesting gathering of birds' nests. you must, for the present at least, take my word for the truth of every syllable i write--'" "the deuce we must!" cried grenits, "he is rather exacting!" "i bet we shall have a lot of learned stuff inflicted upon us. the prigs which the german universities turn out can be pedantic to the last degree." "no fear," replied van rheijn, "for my part i must say that i have found in this letter, a great number of highly interesting particulars. but i must get on. "'the karang bollong mountain range is, as you are probably aware, a spur of the goenoeng djampong which again forms the connecting link between the midangang mountains and the goenoeng batoer. the bulk of these karang bollong mountains consists of extensive chalkbeds which form the table-land known as goenoeng poleng; and, on the side of the sea, these chalk-beds are surrounded by a broad band of trachyte rock which rises perpendicularly out of the indian ocean. in this massive wall of trachyte the ocean, with its mighty breakers rolling in from the south pole upon java's coast, has washed numerous holes or cavities, some of which extend to a considerable distance underground. it is in the innermost recesses of these caves that men find the nests of a certain kind of swallow which the natives call manoek lawet, and to which the zoologists give the name of hirundo esculenta.'" "didn't i tell you so?" cried grenits indignantly; "the pole is beginning already to bring in his latin names. heaven only can tell what may be in store for us!" "and what about me, then?" remarked van rheijn. "i have had to read the whole letter! you need not trouble yourself, that latin will come all right enough. i go on: "'----give the name of hirundo esculenta. the nests consist of a slimy substance which is found in the stomach of the birds. these little swallows cover the spot in the rock they have selected for their nest with an extremely fine coating of this gelatinous stuff. as soon as this layer has dried and has had time to harden, they apply a second coat, which again must have time to dry before they can proceed with their building. and thus they go on gradually and layer by layer until the nest is complete. when it is finished it looks like a saucer of small diameter which has been broken in two with the line of fracture cemented to the wall of stone. thus these little nests consist of a hardened gelatinous mass of a light yellow colour and which, when they are of superior quality, ought to be somewhat transparent.'" "and the chinese eat such trash as that and like it?" cried grashuis curling his lip in disgust. "do let me go on," said van rheijn. "'when soaked in water and properly cooked these nests are looked upon by the chinese as the rarest delicacy. a cup of broth made of that gelatinous substance represents, in their estimation, the most delicious beverage that can gratify the human palate. they ascribe to this soup rare medicinal virtues and prize it as a never-failing aphrodisiac. in my opinion this latter is the only quality which gives value to the nests.'" "and this again is the sort of thing out of which the dutch government makes a revenue!" exclaimed grenits. "it is a very lucky thing that the ingathering of these nests can only be carried out on a small scale, or else, no doubt, some means would be found to force this kind of food upon such chinese as do not, at present, crave for it; just as the farmers do their utmost to drive the population into their infamous opium-dens." "'the gathering of these nests,'" continued van rheijn still reading murowski's letter, "'takes place three times a year. the first gathering begins in the latter part of april and is called "oedoean kesongo." the second begins in the middle of august and is called "oedoean telor," and the third, the "oedoean kapat," takes place in december. now that kind of birdsnesting, my friends, is an occupation which i very willingly leave to the javanese who make it their business. to gain the entrance of one of those caves they must clamber down the perpendicular face of the rock along ladders. the ladder, for instance, which leads to the mouth of the djoembling cave is only 660 feet long. my heart beat high with desire to make a trip to these subterranean vaults. but--when i laid myself flat down and got my head over the edge of the rock while a couple of javanese were holding on to my legs--when i saw that rottang ladder swinging hither and thither in the breeze sometimes clinging to the wall and then again curving inward and for a while lost to the eye. when, at a giddy depth below, i saw the huge breakers come tumbling in and forming there at the foot of the rocks a savage scene, a wild and whirling chaos of spouting water, of dazzling foam and of blinding spray. when my ear caught the hoarse thunder of their charge while i felt the very stone under me quiver with the shock--then, i must confess a feeling of sickening horror came over me; i started back involuntarily, and nothing on earth could have induced me to plant my foot on the crazy ladder which, a few moments ago, i had made up my mind to descend. "'but how grand, how magnificent, how sublime was the spectacle! the towering waves which like a stately row of hills came moving along the intense azure blue of the indian ocean--that graceful curve of the billow as it neared the pumice reefs which lie at the base of the mass of trachyte--then the thundering fall of this mighty crest toppling over, as it were, into a sea of seething milk in which every drop, every foam-speck glittered in the rays of the tropical sun--that finely divided spray which hung over the watery mass and wrapped it as in a veil of transparent silver-gauze--all this, my friends, formed a spectacle which can never be effaced from my memory but will dwell there engraven as on tables of stone. at times, when a wave of unusual height came rolling in, the entrance of the caves would be completely swallowed up and hidden and the water driven into the interior would continue its perpetual work of excavation. then, for a few moments it seemed as if the holes had disappeared. but presently, when the wave flowed back again, the water, impelled by the tremendous force of the compressed air within, would rush forth like a horizontal fountain five or six hundred feet in length, spouting and hissing and blowing with a roar which was perfectly appalling, and forming whirls and high-flowing eddies in the retreating wave. "'no, no, no, i durst not touch that swinging ladder; but i have nevertheless made up my mind to penetrate by some other means into the interior of those mysterious cavities. the natives here tell me that when the south-east trade-wind is far from the south-coast of java, on very calm days a flat-bottomed boat may enter the goewah temon, which is the name of one of the grots. the loerah of the dessa ajo has promised me to keep a canoe in readiness for me, if i will give him notice beforehand; and, on the first favourable opportunity i mean to make the attempt. meanwhile, however, i have had to satisfy myself with a description of this birdsnesting which i soon hope to witness in person, and this is what one of the chiefs has told me concerning it. "'from the mouth of the caves the javanese have stretched a couple of cables along the interior wall. the lower of these rottang-cables serves as foot-hold, the upper is grasped in one hand, while with the other hand, the man engaged in the work picks the birds' nests from the rock. when the hand cannot reach them the man detaches them by means of a long bamboo pole furnished with an iron hook, and as they fall he has to catch them in a small hand net. as you may suppose, the taking of these swallows' nests is an extremely perilous undertaking. first to clamber down that ladder to an extreme depth along the perpendicular face of the rock and dangling over that boiling sea, then to penetrate into these holes into which the ocean thrusts its waves. in rough weather the work has to be stopped altogether in many of the caves; and, not unfrequently, it happens that the ropes are washed away and the poor fellows who trust to them are dashed to pieces or miserably drowned. you will ask then, perhaps, how can people be found to venture on so hazardous an undertaking? you know, of course, that no race on earth is more attached to its native soil than the javanese. that characteristic is found in this part of the island also. there is perhaps no wilder and more ungrateful soil in this world than this region in the karang bollong mountains. nothing, or next to nothing, can be made out of agriculture. the tiny rice-fields one meets with here and there on the mountain slopes, are not worth mentioning; and, as far as tradition reaches, the scanty population of this part of java has always supported itself and does still support itself, by collecting these edible nests. "'whether they fared better or worse before the dutch government appropriated that source of income to itself, i have not been able to ascertain. but one thing is certain, that the pay these poor wretches receive from the government is something worse than pitiful. i have now lying before me a statement drawn up by an official in this part of the country, from which i gather that, for every sack of 80 nests delivered into the government stores, the man who collects them gets a sum of 15--let us put it down in words--of fifteen cents (about 3d.)!'" "aye but," said grashuis, "before we follow the grumblings of our pole any further, it would be well to know what is the commercial value of those 80 nests." "as a merchant," remarked grenits, "i can at once supply you with the information you require. the chinese are always ready to give five thousand guilders for a pikol of nests, and, since one hundred of them weigh about one kattie and the pikol contains one hundred katties, our government receives four hundred guilders, while it sends the poor devil of a native about his business with 15 cents! by heaven it is a crying shame!" "but has not the government other expenses to meet?" asked grashuis. "allow me to continue," said van rheijn, "i promise you an answer to your question, august." "all right, drive ahead!" "'it is true,'" continued van rheijn, "'that when a man has good luck he may deliver 12 bags.'" "that comes to one guilder eighty cents (about 3s.)," cried grenits! "and then he must be in luck! god help the poor fellow!" "now do not be constantly interrupting me!" cried edward impatiently. "'one must be a javanese to encounter such perils for so miserable a pittance; for, to realize that magnificent sum, the poor devil must make several trips to the cave which has been assigned to him. the shortest gathering always lasts three weeks, and the longest sometimes goes on for more than two months. now, how can the native be induced, for such utterly inadequate pay, to face this perpetual and deadly risk? i fancy i can see that question hovering on your lips, and if you will bear with me for a few moments i will tell you. in the first place the government has secured the co-operation of the native chiefs. you know what a dependent race are the javanese, how they trust implicitly to their chiefs, and these men are indeed paid on a much more liberal scale. where the actual worker receives his three shillings, the loerah, for instance, is paid twenty guilders (â£1 13s. 4d.), besides a number of perquisites of all kinds, and he receives this, mind you, merely for superintending the work, as it is called. yet it is probable that the respect and obedience of even a javanese would not endure such miserably inadequate pay, and therefore the government has devised another means of binding these poor creatures hand and foot, and that means, my dear friends, is--opium! "'i will not trouble you with all the superstitious fads which the government not only tolerates but pays for in the matter of this gathering of birds' nests; nor will i speak of the idolatrous worship of njahi ratoe segoro kidoel which precedes every expedition, and which also is paid for out of the public purse. i will merely point out to you the use which is made of opium, the pernicious effect of which, when taken in anything like excessive quantities, you have yourselves been able to observe. "'well then, let me tell you that in everything which has any relation whatever to this gathering of nests the current coin is opium. "'if the wajang and toppeng-players have to be sent for, five petty chiefs and four dessa-folk are despatched to fetch them. for this piece of service each of the former receives one kedawang, and each of the latter half a kedawang of opium, the kedawang being equivalent to about two matas. for the cleansing and clearing of the goewah bollong loerahs and other chiefs are specially appointed, the former receiving each two and the latter one kedawang of opium. the wajang and toppeng-players receive on their arrival, sixteen kedawangs apiece and four kedawangs for sadjen or offering, and, on their departure, they are paid with a further present of sixteen kedawangs of opium. "'in the goewah bollong a feast is always held before the commencement of the expeditions; and for this feast, a certain number of bullocks and one goat have to be killed. for the slaughtering of each of these animals eight kedawangs of opium are paid. for each quarter of the slaughtered animals which must be brought in and carried by one petty chief and two dessa men, the chief is paid one, and the men have half a kedawang of opium apiece. when the ladders are brought to the edge of the cliff, a ceremony which requires two chiefs and two men, the former receive one kedawang, and the latter half a kedawang of opium. "'but i have not finished yet, the abuse of opium goes much further than that. my friends, i beg you have patience and read on. "'at the festival itself the following quantities are served out: to each loerah and each petty chief two kedawangs, and to every guest one kedawang. i have now lying before me a paper from which the following words are an extract: "'"it is impossible to give, with any exactness, the number of persons present at these customary festivals; but seeing that every guest has his portion of opium served out to him, it may be taken for granted that no one who has the slightest right to be present, fails to avail himself of it. at the opening of every cave eight kedawangs are served out, and when the ropes are fastened another eight kedawangs are paid." "'during the ingathering of the nests--but how shall i get through it all? let me try to be brief. the loerah of goewah jedeh gets 76, the loerah of goewah dahar gets 64, the one at goewah mandoe loro 44, and the other loerahs receive 40 kedawangs apiece. the toekans of these caves receive each 54, the bekels 24, and the sekeps each 12 kedawangs of opium. "'but even this is not all. the dessas in which the ladders are made are paid in opium, the persons appointed to mount guard over the nests when they are gathered receive their pay in opium. the transmission of the produce, the carrying to and fro of orders, the return of the ladders, the guarding of the caves--everything--everything--is paid with the same fatal drug. in one word, the entire thing is simply an opium debauch on a colossal scale; and it is the surest means of accustoming the people to the use of the deadly narcotic. but--why should i further dilate upon this matter, my letter is already, i fear, too long and i have still to communicate to you certain things which i know will be of the greatest interest to you.'" "is there much more of the letter?" asked grashuis. "yes, i have some pages more to read," replied van rheijn. "you have given us quite a budget already," remarked van beneden. "true; but it is extremely interesting," said grenits. "by jove, those poles know how to make use of their eyes." "he has learnt that lesson from the germans, you know they steal with their eyes." "true, witness the franco-german war in which the teutons proved that they knew more about france than the french authorities themselves." "don't you think," asked van rheijn, "we had better get on as fast as we can? the most interesting part of the letter is yet to come." these last words he spoke with a strange look at charles van nerekool. "had we not better have a drink first?" suggested grenits. "by jove, yes!" cried van rheijn, "my throat is as dry as a rasp." "sabieio!" cried van nerekool, "fill the glasses." while the servant performed that duty the gentlemen lit a fresh cigar, rocked themselves for a while in their rocking-chairs and then were all attention. chapter xxxix. murowski on the track.--an opium sale at santjoemeh. "now then," said van rheijn, "let us proceed. "'two days before my leave had expired and that, therefore, i should have to return to my garrison duties at gombong, i started very early in the morning before the break of day from the dessa ajo in which i had passed the night. my intention was to explore the western slopes of the goenoeng poleng, and i expected that this trip would bring a rich harvest to my collection. and, my friends, i must tell you that my hopes were amply--very amply--realised. for i secured an arjuna, a large and most lovely butterfly with pointed golden-green wings fringed with a deep velvety band of black. it was a rare specimen i can assure you, and absolutely perfect and uninjured. the day before, one of the dessa-people at ajo had brought me a cymbium diadema, a fine brown shell spotted with white, which the man assured me, he had picked up on the sands in one of the creeks on the south coast of the island of noesa kambangan. i purchased it from the fellow for a mere song. "'but enough of this: i return to my subject. "'as i told you, i had started some time before the break of day and had got some distance from the dessa ajo when the dawn began to tinge the entire mountain range of karang bollong. my path was not a very pleasant one to travel along; for it took me right across all the ravines which run down from the heights. these are funnel-shaped, exceedingly tortuous; and twisting and turning in all directions they run down to the plain at the foot of the range, in which the kali djetis flows onward to the sea. "'as gradually i mounted higher and higher, the panorama stretched out at my feet became more and more imposing. the fresh invigorating morning air and the truly magnificent scenery about me, filled me with delight; and every now and then i actually forgot my passion for butterflies wholly absorbed as i was in the glories which lay around me. "'at length i gained a ridge between two pretty deep ravines, and i was stopping for a few moments to regain my breath after the exertion of climbing the steep ascent up which my path had led me. in both these ravines little brooks were gurgling. they were mere threads of water hurrying down the goenoeng poleng, and it was refreshing to look upon them as they frisked and danced and foamed along their strange zig-zag course. from the eminence on which i then stood, they looked like ribbons of silver tape unconsciously displaying their beauty to the morning air. the ravine which i had just left was strewn with big blocks of trachyte flung about in confusion, great masses of ruin detached, no doubt, from the central range. such was the case also in the other ravine into which i was preparing to descend; but between the boulders and scanty shrubs, my eye suddenly caught the attap-roof of a javanese house. from the place where i stood, i could catch sight only of the front verandah; but yet that small hut, situated there in the wild and lonely mountain range and at some distance from the dessa ajo, arrested my attention. can it be some misanthropist, i thought, who is living there so far away from the haunts of men? through an open window, my eye could penetrate one of the rooms in the hut, and i thought i saw a snow-white bed-curtain waving to and fro under the influence of the morning breeze; i fancied also that i could distinguish a chair. now all this greatly puzzled me; for your javanese, as a rule, does not indulge in such luxuries, and, if he makes use of a curtain at all, he generally selects one of some gaudily coloured material.'" van rheijn paused for a moment or two to take a drink of beer, and in doing so he cast a penetrating look upon charles van nerekool. the latter was sitting in his chair listlessly rocking himself up and down, and had very much the appearance of a man who listens but whose thoughts are travelling elsewhere. "you are not listening to me, charles," he cried! at this abrupt address van nerekool started up out of his reverie. "i?" he asked in confusion. "now, you see!" continued van rheijn with a laugh, "while i am wasting my breath to get to the end of murowski's budget, our friend the judge there is sitting in a brown study, his thoughts wandering heaven knows where, but certainly nowhere near the dessa ajo. but wait a bit, you fellows, mark my words, you will see a change soon. the part most interesting to him is just coming. now listen." van nerekool shook his head and smiled incredulously, he puffed hard at his cigar, sat up straight in his chair and disposed himself to listen with concentrated attention. van rheijn went on reading: "'but, while i was thus standing, gazing and pondering, i heard far, far away beneath my feet, a noise of laughing, giggling and playing--in fact, the silvery tones of two girls' voices. "'i stretched out my neck and cautiously peered about to find out, if possible, from whence those pleasant sounds proceeded; but it was in vain, i could discover nothing. i noticed, however, that the foaming brook beneath me took a very sharp turn, and that close to its side grew a large wariengien tree, whose massive foliage defied every inquisitive look; while, at the same time, a pretty little clump of shrubs shut out the view on either side. meanwhile, the tittering and laughing went on, mingled every now and then with a playful little shriek, accompanied by the sound of plunging and splashing of water. then it dawned upon me that yonder in that clear mountain stream, some girls were amusing themselves with bathing. what shall i say in excuse of my indiscretion? i suppose the best, in fact the only excuse i can offer, is that a man is neither a stock nor a stone. my road, moreover, led straight to the attractive spot; and thus, without, i fear, giving much thought to what i was doing, i found myself on the way to emulate actaeon in his fatal curiosity, never in the least expecting to spy out a diana. "'so i cautiously clambered down the slopes, taking, as you may suppose, the most particular care not to make the least noise which might disturb the bathing nymphs. for a little while my path ran down directly to the wariengien tree, which overshadowed a considerable area. if the course of the narrow path had only continued in that direction a little longer it must have brought me to the very foot of the tree. but, suddenly, i came upon a large rock, and there the road ran to the left and seemed to shorten the way by leading straight to another bend in the creek. most probably this led to some ford, for i could see the path on the other side of the brook, running up the side of the ravine. now, what was i to do? i ought, like a good boy, to have followed the path no doubt; but my curiosity was stimulated by the splashing and laughing, which now seemed much nearer to me than before. i confess, the temptation was too great, and i left the path in order to get up to the wariengien tree. good luck seemed to favour me. from the rock which barred the road i could see a gentle slope thickly overgrown with bushes. in these numberless butterflies were fluttering about; but, will you believe me? i never so much as gave them a look or a thought i had left my tin box and my net behind at the foot of the rock so as to be quite free in my movements. like some dajak or some alfoer of papua i stole along from bush to bush.'" the young men burst out into a loud shout of laughter. "i can see our pole," laughed grenits, "sneaking along like an alfoer, in something like adam's costume, up to the bathers." "yes," said van rheijn, laughing as heartily as the others, "with only an ewah round his loins. "but pray let me go on, we are coming to the most interesting and most important part. are you listening to me, charles?" "i am not losing a single syllable," said the latter, moving somewhat uneasily in his chair. "do make haste." "'--from bush to bush, and i got as near as i possibly could. at length i found myself standing before a kind of hedge which grew around the wariengien, and made it impossible for me to advance any further. the magnificent wild-fig tree stood on the edge of an oval water-basin, which might have been washed out by the power of the stream, or might have been hewn by the hand of man out of the mass of gray trachyte rock. the pool itself appeared to be about 25 yards long, and perhaps 15 yards broad, and the heavy crown of the wariengien cast a pleasant shadow right over it. it was fed from the brook of which, in fact, it formed a part, and the water, though deep, was so bright and clear that even the smallest pebbles could be seen distinctly at the bottom. these details, you must know, have only lately occurred to me; at that moment i had no time to pay any particular attention to them, something very different was engrossing my thoughts. for, in the centre of the pool, of which from my position i could survey about twenty feet, were swimming and splashing and frisking about two female forms. how shall i describe to you what i saw and what i felt without too painfully affecting one of your friends.'" here edward stole another glance at his friend van nerekool. "go on, go on!" cried the latter almost passionately as he caught the look. "'two female forms. both had on the usual bathing dress of javanese women, that is the sarong. you know how prettily, and how modestly too, the indian beauties can coquet with that rather scanty garment--how they draw it up and fasten it above the bosom; and, i presume, you can imagine how such a garment, when wet through and closely clinging to the limbs, rather serves to heighten than to veil the charms it is intended to conceal. that, however, i will leave to your fertile imaginations. both girls were extremely beautiful, though each had her own style of beauty. one of them was decidedly a javanese, the nose slightly turned up, the round cheeks and somewhat full lips, in fact the entire face, bore unmistakably the stamp of her nationality. for a few moments she stood still in a somewhat shallow part of the pool, and busied herself in readjusting her sarong, which had got rather loose in swimming. as she did so i could at once perceive that the young woman i had before me was in what is called an interesting condition.'" once again van rheijn paused for an instant and shot a quick glance at van nerekool. the latter sat in his chair literally panting with excitement, and taking in every word with the most eager attention. "go on! go on!" he murmured. "'the other was altogether of much slimmer build. her bust, which the wet sarong could hardly conceal, showed that it had been in contact with the european corset, and her features proclaimed her of totally different race from her companion. had the skin not been brown i should at once have pronounced her to be a european, especially as her hair, though jet-black, was silky, and fell around her as a mantle, and, while she was swimming, floated on the water behind in a mass of wavy curls. then, i thought, i could trace something of arabian origin in the fair creature i saw moving in the crystal stream. arabian! why that could not be; for at the very same moment i thought i recognised her very features. "'my friends, i am utterly unable to describe to you the lovely scene i was just then gazing upon. no pen is eloquent enough for that. it would need the brush of some great artist to catch the glow and colour of that entrancing view. "'quite unconscious that, in that lonely pool far away from any human dwelling, and in the recesses of such a wilderness, any indiscreet eye was watching them--the two girls, like real water nymphs, were gaily disporting themselves. they pursued one another, trying to duck each other in the stream, while they had the greatest trouble to prevent their sarongs from getting loose and falling down. that game lasted a considerable time, it seemed as if the pretty creatures could not make up their mind to leave the cool refreshing stream. at length the slimmer of the two girls said: "come, baboe, it is time to go home."'" "ha, ha, it was malay they were speaking and not javanese at all!" remarked grashuis. "no, no," replied edward, glancing uneasily at van nerekool, "it was not javanese; but let me read on, we are now coming to the dã©nouement. "'the fair swimmer got to the side of the pool and sat down on the rocky bank allowing her little feet to paddle in the water. she presently began to wring out her mass of hair and, as she was sitting with her face turned away from me, from the position i occupied i could only catch a glimpse of part of her back as she lifted up her arms to tie up her hair. was it the light in my eyes? was it all a mere delusion? did my eyes play me false altogether? i began to think that her back was not nearly so dark as her face, her neck and her hands. puzzled beyond measure i was determined to get a better view. i grasped a branch of one of the shrubs which were around me, i hoisted myself up and bent forward as far as i could! alas!--no, rather let me say thank god!--in making that movement i slipped. a big lump of stone, dislodged, no doubt, by the motion of my feet, went rolling down the slope and fell down plump into the water to the right of and close beside the fair bather. it was just by the merest chance that i did not tumble in myself, what a fright the poor little dear would have been in! it was bad enough as it was. at the splash made by the stone the girl uttered a cry of terror, she suddenly moved to the left and started to fly. in doing so her sarong must have hitched in some projecting stone, and-"'by all the gods, she was a pure-bred european! face, arms, hands, neck, shoulders, all were brown; but for the rest she was lily-white--that beautiful creamy white which is so characteristic of brunettes. "'then it all became clear to me--miss van gulpendam--she who had so mysteriously disappeared--that face with which i felt all along i was familiar--oh, there was no possibility of a mistake, i knew her well enough now in spite of the dark colouring of her skin. though the girls could not see me behind my thick hedge, yet they were much startled and frightened. they at once snatched up their clothes and fled up the path which leads to the hut i had seen on the ridge, and as they ran i could overhear the javanese saying to her companion: "don't be alarmed, nana, there is no person there." probably she meant to say that the stone was loosened by the movement of some animal or perhaps she ascribed it to mere chance. in spite, however, of this, both of them hurried out of sight as fast as they could, and soon the sheltering roof of their little hut received them. "'it was then only that i began to feel how unpardonable had been my indiscretion and, to spare the young ladies' feelings as much as i could, i remained for a long time concealed. when i thought they must have given up looking out, i sneaked as quietly as possible, under cover of the bushes, to the bottom of the ravine, and there a bend in the path soon enabled me to get away unperceived. such, my friends, is my adventure in the karang bollong mountains. i have sent you this news as soon as possible for i know how happy my communication will make one of you. i will not venture to give you any counsel as to what you ought to do under the circumstances; but i place myself entirely at your disposal and shall at any time be ready to point out the little hut to you.'" "anna!--anna found!" exclaimed van nerekool, jumping up out of his chair and striding impatiently up and down the inner gallery. "what do you intend to do?" asked van beneden. "what i intend to do? why, to-morrow morning at daybreak i am off--i will--!" "my dear fellow," said grashuis, restraining, as well as he could, his friend's impatience and excitement, "now, pray, do not be in a hurry." "how can you talk such nonsense!" cried van nerekool--"do not be in a hurry!--and what if meanwhile she should again disappear?" "i do not think," remarked van rheijn, "that there is much danger of that. i suppose the girls have by this time got over their fright--indeed there was not much to terrify them--and as they have probably not seen any one since of whom they can have the least suspicion, they will come to the conclusion that they were scared by a false alarm. i do not think they will for a moment think of leaving that lonely spot." "my dear friends," said van beneden, "i believe the very best thing we can do at present is to go to bed. it is now late, and we ought to have time to think this matter over. at all events, charles must certainly not think of starting to-morrow morning; by doing so he would spoil his whole career. a man in his position must not run away from his post as a deserter." "yes," said charles, "you fellows had better go to bed. i shall sit down at once and write for leave of absence." "that's right," quoth theodoor grenits. "in that case we shall have a few days for quiet reflection. and now, charles, my boy, i have no need to ask for leave, i intend to go with you on your journey; here's my hand upon it!" the young men hereupon shook hands and each went to his own lodging, while, in the distance, the sounds of revelry at the chinaman's house were still resounding. van nerekool applied for leave of absence; but found that it took some time to obtain it. mr. greveland was just at that time so very busy that he could not undertake to grant charles' request, however eagerly this latter might press for it. the president, however, forwarded van nerekool's application to the authorities at batavia. thus charles was forced for some days to wait with such patience as he could command. meanwhile, however, events were taking place which exercise some influence on the course of our story and which we will now proceed to narrate. not long after the nuptials between lim ho and pretty and wealthy ngow ming nio had been solemnized, the great day came round on which the opium monopoly for the years 18--, 18--, and 18-had to be assigned. this was a most important event for the whole official world, and one which, in the well known financial position of matters at home, was especially significant to those who were in authority at batavia and santjoemeh. for, if the colonial secretary could but show a goodly number of millions as the produce of the sale of opium-contracts, why then he and his colleagues might feel themselves pretty safe in their seats. they thought, and not without excellent reason, that if they could but manage to increase the revenue they would, by that means, gain infinite credit in the parliament at home. it need hardly be said therefore that every nerve was strained to obtain so desirable a result. resident van gulpendam had, as our readers know, another, that is a private, reason for making every exertion; and he left no stone unturned to induce as many as he possibly could to come and bid for the lucrative contract. his agents were out on all sides trying to get the rival companies to enter into competition, and in these efforts his handsome wife was of the greatest assistance to him. the proud woman had set her heart and soul upon seeing her husband's breast adorned with the "bertes knabbeldat." now that the existing contracts were fast running out, and that by the last day of december, the opium-monopolies for the different districts had to be again put up to the highest bidder, the greatest activity prevailed. the strictest precautions against smuggling were taken along the entire coast-line--against such smuggling, be it understood, as was not carried on by the farmers themselves. bandoelans and policemen were everywhere on the alert, and were left to do pretty much as they pleased in their visitations of suspected houses, or in their search for opium on the persons of the unhappy creatures to whom they might owe a grudge. especially did those suffer from their insolence, who either did not make use of opium at all, or who used it in strict moderation. the success which these stringent measures obtained was rapid and complete. the sale of opium by the farmers rose in an extraordinary manner now that contraband wares could no longer be obtained, and the retail price of the pernicious drug rose in proportion. "if we could only have that kind of thing always going on!" cried lim ho who, when the conversation turned upon opium, could not always keep a discreet tongue in his head. but lim yang bing, who was older and wiser, and who, above all things, feared competition at the coming sales, merely shrugged his shoulders. he would have been glad enough to say nothing about this sudden increase in his daily receipts; but, with so many opium-dens under his control, secrecy was well-nigh impossible. but resident van gulpendam did more than this. he, through his agents, cleverly spread the report that the government intended largely to increase the number of opium-licenses in his residence. this had its effect also, and presently a feverish excitement began to show itself in the rival chinese camps. on the important day of the sale, a brand-new flag of extraordinary dimensions, the finest and brightest that could be found, was waving in the morning breeze from the flag-staff in front of the residential mansion. on that day the whole body of oppassers had been mustered. they numbered over twenty men, all dressed in new uniforms with bright yellow belts furbished up as smartly as possible. the native soldiers also on sentry were in full-dress, and they marched up and down before the steps of the residence with a solemnity and gravity of demeanour, which plainly showed that they were impressed with a full consciousness of the responsibilities which rested upon them. to add to the brilliancy of the display, resident van gulpendam had summoned to santjoemeh a couple of assistant residents and a couple of controllers from the adjoining districts. these gentlemen, together with all the native chiefs then present in the capital, assembled towards ten o'clock in the front gallery. all were, of course, in full official dress with sprigs of orange and oak-leaves embroidered in silver on their collars. the orange, an emblem of purity; the oak, the type of manly vigour and independence. they had on white cashmere trousers with a broad gold stripe, and the regulation dress-sword by their sides. presently the chinese contingent also began to arrive, all dressed in clean white jackets and black trousers monstrously wide in the legs, their heads carefully shaven and polished, while the long scalp-lock which forms the tail was treated with the greatest care, plaited skilfully and with almost mathematical exactness, and interwoven with red, blue, and white silk cord. at first only a few idlers appeared strolling in merely out of curiosity to have a look at the proceedings. these were succeeded by other more wealthy men, the representatives of the various companies, who might be expected to enter into the competition. last of all lim yang bing and his son lim ho drove up and, as they stepped out of their carriage, they carefully scrutinized their countrymen present. for some time the celestials mingled with the official personages, and formed a group in which salutations and hand-shakings bore witness to the cordiality existing between them. but when the soldier on guard struck one blow upon the gong which stood beside his sentry-box, and thus announced that it was half-past ten, resident van gulpendam accompanied by his private secretary--both in full-dress--entered the front gallery, while mrs. van gulpendam, on the arm of van rheijn, appeared at one of the open doors. the chiefs present all made a low bow, the sentries presented arms, the oppassers formed a line by the pajoeng stand, in which a gorgeous emblem of dignity was conspicuous. the officials present now advanced in a body to pay their homage to the representative of the governor-general who, in his turn, represents the king of the netherlands in these far-away asiatic regions. next, the chinamen came forward to perform a similar duty, and after this the two groups of europeans and chinamen remained apart. a few of the latter, foremost among them lim yang bing and lim ho, walked up to laurentia, and gave her a courteous greeting. she was all affability and cordially shook hands with the pair as well as with some others, who were standing near; and then she invited all the babahs to come in and have something to drink. "it is so frightfully hot just now in santjoemeh!" she protested. a faint smile passed over the chinamen's wan and yellow features; they bowed their thanks as they cast significant looks at one another. then they followed their fair guide through the inner gallery into the pandoppo. a large table stood there bearing a number of trays full of champagne glasses, while, under the table, might be seen little tubs of ice, in which the bottles with their silvered corks were neatly arranged. "open the champagne!" cried laurentia to three or four attendants who stood by. the corks popped, and in a few moments all the babahs, rich and poor, were standing glass in hand eager to be allowed the honour of touching glasses with the njonja-resident. as a rule, your chinaman is a great stickler for etiquette; and, on any ordinary occasion, they would no doubt have sipped their wine leisurely, with half-closed eyes as they have seen europeans do; but now they behaved in a widely different manner. for fair laurentia had informed them that, when they had the honour of drinking with a njonja, the glass must be emptied at a single draught. "the gentlemen call that ad fundum," remarked the chinese major. "just so, babah," replied laurentia as she gave him a sly nudge. in an instant every cup was drained. "fill the glasses!" she cried; and from that moment mrs. van gulpendam kept the waiters busy. on one pretext or another, she took care that the glasses were kept filled and that their contents were duly and speedily disposed of. meanwhile the resident himself had been engaged in conversation with his friends and subordinates in the front gallery. "what has become of our babahs?" he asked presently. "come, gentlemen, i do not think we shall have cause to repent if we go and look them up. it is frightfully hot here. don't you think so?" thus saying and wiping the perspiration from his brow with his cambric handkerchief, he led the way into the interior of the house followed by his embroidered and lace-covered staff. "ah, i thought as much!" he cried, as he entered the pandoppo, and then to the servants: "look sharp, give the gentlemen glasses." as this was going on, laurentia slipped away unobserved leaving the lords of the creation to enjoy themselves in their own fashion. the resident whispered a few words to kwee siong liem, one of the wealthiest chinamen in santjoemeh, and this latter, during the brief conversation, strove to cast furtive glances at lim yang bing. "i shall go as high as i possibly can, kandjeng toean," said the babah; "but i fear--" "you need not be afraid," whispered van gulpendam. "aye, but, kandjeng toean, the bidding will run up too high!" "don't forget, babah, that there are eight additional licenses specified in the contract." "that's all very well, kandjeng toean; but--" however, the kandjeng toean did not stay to listen to the chinaman's objection. he stepped forward, took off his cocked hat, raised the glass which a servant had put into his hand and said: "here's success to the sale!" the sentiment drew forth cheers from the assembled celestials on whom the generous wine of veuve clicquot was beginning to have an exhilarating effect. "to the health of the kandjeng toean!" cried the assistant resident of police. "to the health of the chinese major!" shouted another and so it went on. to all these toasts ample justice was done. the little slanting eyes of the celestials were really beginning to twinkle right merrily. at length the clock struck eleven and the clear metallic sound rang quivering through the apartment. "now, gentlemen!" cried the resident, "to business! but first allow me to inform those present here who may not happen to be successful in this competition, that in a few days the monopoly for the district of bengawan will be put up to auction; and that, a couple of days after that again, another valuable contract will be offered for sale. you see, therefore, that there are rich, very rich profits awaiting many of you." after having thus spoken, the resident led the way into the inner gallery followed by the entire company. in this room stood a large table with a white marble top on which were scattered about a number of official papers and documents. at the head of this table van gulpendam took up his position surrounded by his staff; and opposite him stood the crowd of chinamen, the table separating the two groups from one another. on the wall of the room hung a very fine picture, a life-size, half-length portrait of king william iii., and this picture formed the centre, as it were, of the two groups of europeans and asiatics. "the secretary will now proceed to read out the conditions of the opium contract which we are about to dispose of," said the resident very solemnly. the official thus alluded to began at once, in the usual monotonous and almost unintelligible drone, to mumble a series of articles which he seemed to have by heart. indeed, the whole thing was a mere formality. those who had come prepared to bid for this government contract were perfectly familiar with every word that paper contained. at the preamble, "in the name of the king," every head bowed deeply. one article, in which mention was made of the fact that the new opium farmer would have the privilege of opening a number of stores in addition to those specified in the former contract, the secretary took care to read out with an amount of distinctness and emphasis which could not fail to arrest the attention of all interested parties. when this formality was ended, the resident said: "the sum bid for the former contract which is now about to expire was twelve hundred and thirty-two thousand guilders-who will make a higher bid?" "twelve hundred and thirty five!" cried a voice. "twelve hundred and forty thousand!" said another. "twelve hundred and fifty!" was heard in a corner. "twelve hundred and sixty!" there was a pause of a few seconds. "twelve hundred and sixty is offered," quietly repeated van gulpendam. "thirteen hundred thousand!" exclaimed kwee siong liem who stood at one side of the table. lim yang bing had not yet spoken a word; but now he looked up, gave one inquiring look at his rival and cried: "fourteen hundred thousand!" "fifteen!" the real battle had begun. "sixteen hundred thousand!" was the opium farmer's ready reply. once again a short pause ensued. "it is hot to-day!" whispered a voice. the resident cast a look at one of his oppassers and the man immediately left the room. a few instants later three or four servants hurried in bearing trays full of glasses in which the deliciously iced champagne was foaming and glittering. the chinamen eagerly took them--it was so very very hot! "sixteen hundred thousand guilders is offered!" cried mr. van gulpendam. at that moment lim yang bing's opponent seized upon two of the glasses and, in his feverish excitement, he gulped down their contents. "sixteen hundred and twenty-five!" he cried. "seventeen hundred thousand!" retorted the opium farmer with great composure. another pause, which was broken only by the heavy breathing of the excited crowd and the clinking of the glasses, which under the able superintendence of laurentia, who stood behind a side-door watching the scene, were continually being replenished by the waiters. "seventeen hundred thousand!" repeated the resident. "seventeen hundred and twenty!" cried lim yang bing's rival. "eighteen hundred thousand!" answered the farmer. another glass of the seductive beverage was required before a higher bid was made. "eighteen hundred and twenty thousand!" at length gasped kwee siong liem huskily, as if he were losing his voice altogether. "nineteen hundred thousand!" cried lim yang bing. his rival was beginning to waver, yet he mustered up courage to mutter in an almost inaudible whisper: "nineteen hundred and twenty-five thousand!" "two millions!" exclaimed lim yang bing triumphantly. a dead silence ensued. after that knock-down blow one might have heard a pin drop. it was evident that the opposition was crushed. perhaps kwee siong liem might have made another attempt; but the members of his company pulled him forcibly back and prevented him from rashly uttering another word. "two millions are bid," said the resident. "allow me once again to draw the attention of the company to the fact that several additional licenses will be granted." but it was of no avail. the servants--poor fellows--kept rushing about filling up the glasses; but the wine seemed to have lost its power. "two millions once! "two millions--twice. will anyone bid higher? two millions--for the third time!" bang! down came the hammer. "subject to the approval of the dutch government," said the resident impressively, "i declare this opium contract to be assigned to lim yang bing!" at these words all the officials crowded round their chief to wish him joy on his brilliant success; while most of the chinamen pressed around lim yang bing to congratulate him and shake hands with him. laurentia took care that another round of champagne should set the seal on the bargain. there was, of course, a great deal of excitement for some time, and much enthusiasm was displayed; but whether any one present bestowed even a passing thought upon the poor unhappy dessa-people, out of whose scanty means and enfeebled frames this enormous sum was to be wrung--that we cannot undertake to affirm. yes, there was one man who did think of them; and that man was van rheijn. he looked sadly up at the portrait of the king as he asked himself whether it could really be his royal will that such things should go on among his subjects. alas, the dumb canvas could not answer, and the picture of the sovereign gazed down quietly upon the noisy crowd. scarcely had the resident got rid of his visitors before he rushed into his study, and soon returned with beaming countenance, bearing in his hand two telegrams, each couched in precisely similar terms. "result of opium-sale at santjoemeh--two millions. van gulpendam." one dispatch was destined for batavia, the other was for the hague. when the oppasser whom he sent to the telegraph office had disappeared, van gulpendam looked around him with the utmost satisfaction and complacency. as his eye fell upon the dutch flag, which spread its gay colours to the breeze, he fancied that those folds pointed to the north-west--towards home. "aye," he muttered to himself, "from that quarter my reward must come." turning round as he said these words, he saw laurentia standing at his elbow. he gave her one penetrating look: "you here yet?" asked he. but without replying, she grasped his arm, drew him with gentle violence into the inner room, and there, when safe from every prying look, she clasped him in her strong white arms to her breast. "gulpie!" she cried, "gulpie, my darling! you have surpassed yourself!" "yes," said he, with assumed modesty, "yes, i have piloted that frigate pretty cleverly, though i say so myself. now, i hope they will not be ungrateful at the hague!" chapter xl. the "virtus nobilitat." anna and dalima. a telegram. oh no, the people at the hague were not at all ungrateful. eight days had not elapsed before the telegraph had flashed across the ocean the news, that it had been the pleasure of h. m. the king to confer upon his trusty servant van gulpendam the order of the netherlands' lion. by the next mail the particulars arrived in java, and it then became known that immediately after the receipt of the telegram announcing the result of the opium-sale at santjoemeh, a special council of ministers was called. at this meeting the colonial secretary, elated to the verge of excitement, had drawn special attention to the conspicuous merit of resident van gulpendam, and had dwelt upon the great financial advantages which would accrue to the state if all the other residents were encouraged to emulate his example. he reminded his colleagues that the revenue derived from the coffee-culture was fast dwindling away and threatened soon to become a thing of the past; and that, therefore, opium was in the future to be looked upon as the chief means for keeping afloat the ship of the state. that it was for this reason a matter of the utmost importance to strive and raise the revenues, derived from that source, by all possible means, as indeed he had always shown himself zealous to do from the day that the king had entrusted the affairs of the colonies to his hands. knowing perfectly well that he had nothing new to say, yet the minister purposely left something unsaid. he took care not to tell his colleagues, and the nation, that, with anything like judicious management, the coffee culture would have continued as profitable as ever it was; but that, by gross neglect and swindling on the part of the officials who had the management of it, that source of revenue had been well-nigh destroyed. he further omitted to let them know, that the culture of coffee was a means of spreading prosperity and contentment among the native population; whereas the encouragement of opium was a public disgrace and a national curse. upon these subjects the colonial secretary did not touch; and thus his colleagues unanimously applauded his speech and supported his application for the netherlands' lion, an application to which, being a constitutional monarch, king william iii. could not refuse his sanction. some few there were, no doubt, who shook their heads dubiously as the news of this honourable distinction reached santjoemeh. but yet, when the newspapers, in their boldest type, conveyed to the people the happy tidings, almost all santjoemeh was beside itself for joy. cards, letters, telegrams of congratulation came pouring in on all sides, not only from java; but also from friends in holland. the van gulpendams received visits innumerable, and even those who did not join in the universal chorus of rapture, yet found it difficult to refrain from giving some outward show of satisfaction. such want of courtesy might very easily have been ascribed to envy. but these were not the only demonstrations of the public joy. fãªtes, dinner parties, balls were given to celebrate the memorable event. the regent of santjoemeh led the way by giving a splendid banquet in honour of the newly made knight; and his example was speedily followed by the government officials, by the members of the club "concordia," by the chinese major, &c. &c. as a grand final to this round of festivities, a state ball was given at the residence, at which, it is needless to say, that all santjoemeh was expected to be present, as indeed it was. on these festive occasions, toasts were drunk, speeches were made, congratulatory odes were recited--and all this to glorify the man whose breast was now decorated with the "virtus nobilitat." fair laurentia, with that fine tact, which, in woman, is almost an instinct, had tried to persuade her husband to appear in public with the very tiniest cross suspended from the narrowest possible bit of blue and orange ribbon. this would undoubtedly have been in good taste; but the resident would have none of it. he sent at once to batavia for a cross about as big as an ordinary saucer, and he suspended it from a ribbon of proportionate width. "when you do hang out a flag," said he to his wife, "men must be able to see it a mile off and you must let it blow out bravely." that was his view of the matter, and no argument had been of any avail against this nautical aphorism. to tell the truth, the man was mighty proud of himself and hugely enjoyed all the fuss that was made about him. his satisfaction would indeed have been perfect, had not certain uneasy rumours begun to spread among the public. it was whispered, that among the native population, the feeling of contentment of which the resident was constantly making mention in his despatches, was not by any means so perfect as he tried to represent it. rumours were abroad of secret gatherings and even of conspiracies far more alarming than the casual assembling of robber bands. it was a curious thing that a certain paper in batavia, alluding to these secret risings in the residence of santjoemeh, said that a holy war was in preparation, and gave this information on trustworthy authority. this paper, which had thus ventured to disturb the serenity of the authorities, was treated in the most summary manner, its plant was confiscated, its offices closed, its editor banished; all this to prove, of course, that there was no disturbance whatever, but that the press only was dangerous. but yet, some very plain hints were conveyed to resident van gulpendam that it would be well for him to do his utmost to prove that the situation was really as satisfactory as he represented it to be, and that the unpleasant rumours were nothing more than idle gossip. accordingly, van gulpendam had, during the festive week, made some excursions into the parts which were said to be disaffected; but he had found the most profound quiet everywhere. at the suggestion of the european officials, the native chiefs had not failed to wait on the kandjeng toean to offer him their very sincere congratulations on the distinction with which it had been the king's pleasure to honour him. nothing could be better. van gulpendam was in the highest possible spirits, he had a kind word for all, he courteously acknowledged every profession of good will, whether it came from european or native; and exhorted every one to continue in these pleasant paths of peace. but yet, amidst all this chorus of jubilation, one jarring note was heard. it came from a well-known european settler, who owned a large sugar-plantation and factory, situated on the extreme limits of the residence of santjoemeh. this gentleman was most positive in his assertion, that clandestine meetings and assemblies were, now and then, held in a wood close by his property. he had his information from sources which, he thought, were absolutely trustworthy; and he further declared that he was acquainted even with the names of a couple of the ringleaders. he could not help looking upon these secret meetings as suspicious, even though perhaps they might not be immediately dangerous. "and may i beg you to tell me what are those names?" said mr. van gulpendam sarcastically. "i know only two of them," was the reply; "they must be father and son, for they are pak ardjan and ardjan; the latter, i am told, is a bold and determined fellow, and both seem to belong to the dessa kaligaweh in the district of banjoe pahit." at the mention of these names, the resident felt that he turned pale. he pulled out his handkerchief to wipe the perspiration from his face and to hide his evident confusion. "it is oppressively hot!" cried he, in a faint tone of voice. a glass of iced water was handed to him, and soon he regained his composure. determined to remove the impression which his momentary confusion might have made, he continued: "pooh, pooh! those kaligaweh fellows have crossed the sea long ago. depend upon it they won't show their noses on dutch territory again. i know for a fact that they were quite lately seen at singapore. there can be no doubt about that." "well, resident," replied the sugar-planter in a serious tone, "i must tell you that i do not feel at all safe. you know, of course, that here in india the outlying settlers always are the first victims of these native plots; and that if such a rising as i apprehend were to break out, all europeans would be ruthlessly massacred. my grounds," he continued, "lie far away, and, in case of a sudden outbreak, it would take two days at least for either police or military to reach me. i shall therefore esteem it a great favour if you will grant me some kind of protection. send me a few policemen whom i can trust, i will see to the arming of the men." "policemen! my dear sir. what are you talking about? what would be the use of them?" asked the resident with a compassionate smile; for he had by this time completely regained his self-possession. "you are creating fanciful dangers. it is, in fact, absurd to talk in this manner." "i know what i know," rejoined the sugar-factor, "and i say without any hesitation, that the reports which have reached me do not appear to me at all fanciful or incredible." "all right!" said van gulpendam carelessly. "you must excuse me, resident," insisted the sugar-planter, "but i think that if you were living with your family in that lonely spot you would not talk in quite such an easy way." although our friend van gulpendam was not precisely the stuff that heroes are made of, yet he was not by any means a coward. he felt, moreover, perfectly well that the moment had arrived to payer de sa personne. what might be said at batavia should it be suspected that he felt the slightest distrust or fear? "all nonsense!" cried he in the same sarcastic and careless manner. "come now, my dear sir, to prove to you how certain i am that there is nothing wrong, i invite myself and my wife to go and stay with you for a fortnight on your plantation. i know you keep a pretty good galley, do you accept my offer?" "with the greatest pleasure in the world, resident," eagerly cried the planter. he felt sure that the resident of the district would take care to come under a sufficient escort of police. "very well, then," replied van gulpendam; "as soon as ever these festivities are over at santjoemeh, i will let you know; and then you may get a couple of rooms ready for us." "and how many oppassers do you intend to bring?" "none at all! a couple of my servants, and that is all. i intend to show you that i have the fullest confidence in the state of affairs, and that i am under no apprehension whatever. now that is agreed upon, eh?" just outside, close under the verandah in which this conversation was taking place, a couple of sentries were walking up and down as a guard of honour to the kandjeng toean. if any one could but have watched one of these fellows, he must have noticed that the sentry marched up and down in such a manner as always to keep as close as possible to the speakers. he must have observed also, that the man was listening to every word that was said; and that his eyes wore a most dangerous and sinister expression. at the last sentence spoken by the resident a gleam of satisfaction seemed to overspread the native soldier's face and, had he received a classical education, no doubt the man would have muttered to himself: "deus quem vult perdere prius dementat." as soon as van gulpendam returned to santjoemeh, he gave it out far and wide that both his wife and himself were tired out by this round of festivities, that they needed rest and had made up their minds to go and enjoy a fortnight's peace and quietness at the factory "soeka maniesan." two days later they started. laurentia took only her maid, and van gulpendam a couple of body-servants; but, on the box, a single oppasser was seated beside the coachman. his duty was to hold aloft the golden pajoeng in token that the resident toean was seated within. that same day charles van nerekool and theodoor grenits also started for gombong, intending from thence, in company with murowski, to go and surprise anna van gulpendam in her lonely retreat. the two carriages crossed as they left the town of santjoemeh. the one over which the pajoeng was displayed travelling in an eastern direction, while the other took the road to the south. after nonna anna and baboe dalima had been so thoroughly frightened at their bathing place, they no longer ventured to go alone to the spot. they thought--indeed by this time they felt sure--that the stone which so unexpectedly had splashed down by anna's side, had been detached from the rock above by the tread of some animal--of some wild boar perhaps or some stray goat. but for all that the fright had suggested the possibility of a surprise. anna, therefore, had persuaded an old javanese woman to come and take up her abode with them in the little hut. she would accompany them to the bathing place and mount guard while the young girls were disporting themselves in the water, and would thus be able to give them timely warning of the approach of any possible intruder. there was another advantage gained by taking this nã¨nã¨h into their service; for they could now leave to her certain necessary and menial duties which would leave them more time to spend at the loom or to work in the painting room. the harder they worked the faster the money came in, for the kahins and the slendangs which they wove, and the sarongs they painted, were in great request. in fact they generally had more orders on hand than they could manage to execute. the result was that the inmates of the hut began to find themselves in somewhat easy circumstances, and--was it perhaps owing to this fact, or was it because no one could look upon the two pretty girls without being attracted by them?--at all events this much is certain that when, on rare occasions, they appeared in the dessa ajo, where they had no fear of being recognised, the young men of the village would cast many a tender look upon them--sometimes even a kindly word was whispered as they passed. all this the girls mightily enjoyed, and they had many a hearty laugh over the love-lorn looks of the village swains. one day dalima merrily said to her young mistress: "if they only knew that they were casting sheeps' eyes at a resident's daughter, wouldn't they fly back in terror?" "hush, dalima, do not mention such a thing again," said anna very seriously. "you ought to know that i dislike any such allusions. i am no longer a resident's daughter!" but, when she perceived that her scolding tone of voice really grieved her companion, she continued with a pleasant smile: "as if the young men of ajo ever gave me a look!" "but, nana," asked dalima, "whom do they look at then?" "they have evidently taken a fancy to one of us," replied anna, "but it is certainly not to me; i can see that plainly enough. all those smiles and sweet little whispers are for you, dalima." "how can you talk such nonsense!" said dalima half-crossly. "i am only telling you the truth, dalima." "have you ever noticed kjahi wangsa, nana? he has no eyes but for you." "no, no, dalima, for you." "no, for you, nana!" and so the girls would run on almost daily, and on such occasions it would have been hard to say who had the last word. one day, as they were thus merrily talking, anna said to her friend: "what if it were the kjahi who gave us that fright the other day?" "what do you mean, nana?" "i mean that it might have been that booby watching us." "there is not the least fear of that," replied dalima, "he would never have dared to do such a thing. not one of the young fellows are bold enough for that--he, least of all." "not much boldness required for that," laughed anna, "to play the spy on two young girls!" "well, i tell you, he would not have dared to do it. but you need not trouble yourself, there was no one there at all. you know how long we kept looking about and, though we had a view of the path for a long way to the right and left, we saw not a single soul." "yet," rejoined anna, "it seems to me a very mysterious thing." "if there were anybody there at all," continued dalima, "it must have been a white man." "a white man, dalima!" "yes, it is now so long ago that i do not mind telling you all about it. a few days earlier it would only have made you nervous. the evening before we were frightened by the fall of that stone, a white man arrived at ajo, and passed the night in the loerah's house." "dalima!" cried anna, in dismay, "who was he?" "i can't tell you, nana. i have tried hard enough to find out; but i have discovered nothing further than that he busied himself with butterfly catching. pah!" we may mention here that the natives of java are, as a rule, afraid of butterflies. they fancy that the dust from their wings produces violent itching and even leprosy. hence dalima's exclamation of disgust. "did you see him, dalima?" continued anna, "did he see you?" "well, no, nana, i did not. in fact next morning he started before daybreak. the last that was seen of him was at pringtoetoel, he was then going in an easterly direction." "why did you not tell me this at once?" asked anna. "why should i have done so? it would only have disturbed you for nothing. what was the use of troubling you to no purpose?" for a few moments the girls spoke not a word. dalima, who was beginning to fear that anna was really displeased, at length broke the silence and said: "you are not angry with me, nana?" "angry? no, dalima." "what makes you look so serious then?" "i wish we could move to some other place," sighed anna. "move? why?" cried dalima. "yes, move away, further into the mountain, where the country is wilder and more lonely. yonder close by the birds-nest grots. i wish i could retreat into one of those caves!" "what are you thinking about, nana?" cried dalima, growing seriously alarmed at her friend's words. "oh, i have some kind of presentiment that charles is on my track," sighed anna. "he ought to have been here before this," remarked the baboe with something very like scorn in her voice. "a javanese," she continued, "would have found you out long ago." "how about ardjan then?" asked anna. "ardjan!" cried dalima sadly, "ardjan is a convict, he has run away, allah only knows where he is and what he is about. moreover, i am no longer his betrothed. to him i am nothing more than a poor fallen girl!" both again were silent for some time, each absorbed in her own thoughts. anna was sorry that she had touched so sensitive a chord; but it was dalima who continued: "but even if it were so, if the young judge really were on your track--" "oh! don't speak so," cried anna, "the very thought fills me with terror. if i could think that possible i would start off at once." "but what can you have against him?" persisted the baboe. "no more of this, dalima!" "have you ceased to love him then? have you cast him out of your heart?" "don't speak so!" cried anna in the greatest excitement; "not love him? oh! if that were true! cast him out of my heart! not a day, not an hour, not a minute passes without my thinking of him!" "well then," continued the simple javanese girl, "why be so cruel?" "be silent, dalima!" "can you not feel how wretched you are making him, nana?" "oh! i pray you, pray do not say another word. never, never can i be his--no--nor any other man's wife." dalima looked up at her with a puzzled expression. it would not be easy perhaps to say exactly what was passing in her mind. on her face there was a look of astonishment mingled with vexation; in her eyes one might read: "what funny whims those white folk have! how miserable they make their lives!" after a little while she was about to renew the conversation, she was in the act of opening her mouth to do so, when, just at that moment, the nã¨nã¨h entered the gallery where the two girls were sitting. she had been down to the dessa to make some purchases, and now came in to give an account of what she had bought and of the money she had spent. her entry created a diversion; but, when the old woman began to open her budget of news, she caused the greatest consternation. she told the girls that three europeans had arrived at the dessa and had taken up their quarters in the loerah's house. "three europeans?" cried anna, pale with terror. "yes, nana," replied the nã¨nã¨h, who, thinking that she was speaking to a countrywoman of her own, always followed dalima's example and addressed the resident's daughter as "nana." "did you see them, nã¨h?" asked dalima. "no," said the old woman. "could you find out what business they have in the village?" "some say one thing, some another," was the reply. "i have heard it said that they are railway people who are out on a shooting expedition. i think it very likely, for they have guns with them. another man told me they are after snakes. well they can catch enough of them here. as i was coming along just now i saw a deadly snake. luckily i caught sight of the beast or else i might have trodden on it, and then it would have been all up with me. a third report is that the gentlemen have come to visit the birds-nest caves." "did you hear anything else?" "no, nana; but why do you look so strange? there is nothing whatever to be frightened at--those white men never hurt anybody. look--there they are--coming up the path!" anna gave one look in the direction to which the nã¨nã¨h pointed. she uttered a shriek and catching up a slendang which she flung over her head she rushed from the house. dalima, who also had recognised van nerekool among the party, followed her mistress and both flew as fast as their feet would carry them up the pathway which ran in the opposite direction to the south of the poleng range. the three men could see two female forms leaving the hut and rushing up the slope over against them. "there she goes!" exclaimed murowski. "anna! anna!" cried van nerekool in heartrending accents; but it was in vain. that moment the two girls disappeared in a sudden bend of the mountain path. and now, before coming to the closing scene of our story, we must here cast another look backward. van nerekool and grenits had started, as we heard just now, in a carriage from santjoemeh on their way to wonosobo. from thence they had pursued their journey on horseback. they had no time, they had no inclination, to admire the beauty of the sublime scenery through which they passed. whenever grenits tried to rouse his companion and awaken in him some interest in the glories that surrounded them, the latter might cast a furtive glance around, but it was only to cry immediately after: "let us get on, theodoor, let us get on!" before setting out on their journey, they had telegraphed to murowski, and they found that medical officer quite ready to accompany them. his colleague was still staying at gombong and our pole therefore found but little difficulty in getting his leave of absence prolonged for four or five days. the travellers, however, did not arrive at gombong until pretty late in the day. they were tired out with their long ride and felt that they must put off further operations to the morrow. of that compulsory delay they made the best use they could by calling upon the commandant of the place to pay their respects to him. "if you three are going on the campaign!" exclaimed the kind-hearted soldier, "i advise the butterflies and the beetles to keep a pretty sharp look-out. there will be slaughter on the hills to-morrow. i hope you have a good supply of corks and pins for the poor prisoners. however, i wish you success." but while they sat chatting with the commandant and with his wife and enjoying a cool glass of beer in the verandah, a servant brought in a telegram. it was addressed to murowski. he took it from the man. "will you allow me?" said he, looking towards the lady of the house. "of course, of course," said she, "no ceremony required for telegrams. open it at once; perhaps it is about some patient. i only hope it will not interfere with your expedition." murowski tore open the envelope and glanced at the signature. "it is from van rheijn," said he to his friends-"great god!" he continued, "what have we here?" "what is the matter? what is it?" exclaimed all in a breath. "tell van nerekool," he read, "that resident van gulpendam and his wife have been murdered by a band of ketjoes. further particulars by letter!" for some seconds all present sat dumb with amazement and horror. then van nerekool sprang to his feet, he snatched the telegram from murowski's hand, and held it up to the light of the lamp. he rubbed his eyes as if he could not trust his senses: "aye!" he exclaimed at length--"true, too true!" "is mr. van nerekool related to those poor people?" asked the captain's wife, who was struck by the ghastly pallor of the young judge's face. "pardon me, madam," said grenits, "we happened to leave santjoemeh at the same time as the family van gulpendam. the mere thought of so terrible a murder perpetrated on friends, whom we but lately left in the full glow of health and spirits, fills us with horror." the lady nodded assent. "it is indeed terrible!" she murmured. "my friends," said van nerekool, turning to murowski and grenits, "i fear our expedition will have to be deferred for a few hours. under these terrible circumstances i feel it my duty to go at once and see mrs. steenvlak. how far is it from here to karang anjer, captain?" "about six pals, mr. van nerekool," replied the soldier. "is it as much as that? could you manage to get me a horse?" "my own horse is at your disposal," said the captain. "what do you intend to do?" "i must at once ride off to karang anjer. it is now about seven o'clock. before eight i can be there. to-morrow morning before daybreak i shall be off again, and at six i hope to be back here to resume our journey to karang bollong. you need not fear, captain, i shall see that your horse is well cared for." "i am not at all afraid of that," replied the captain. "he will find an excellent stable at the steenvlaks." then he rose and went to give the necessary orders to get the horse saddled. "miss van gulpendam was staying: with the steenvlaks--" said the lady of the house, her curiosity thoroughly aroused at this sudden resolution on the part of van nerekool. "you are right, madam" replied murowski. "you see it is very probable that mr. steenvlak may know where the young lady is to be found, and we might then break the sad news gently to her." meanwhile grenits had been asking van nerekool what he intended to do. "she cannot now refuse to give me a few words to anna," was his reply. "in such terrible circumstances a true friend's advice may be of the greatest value. do you not approve of my plan?" theodoor merely nodded assent while he warmly pressed his friend's hand. ten minutes later van nerekool was in the saddle and was galloping along the road to karang anjer. when he arrived there he found the steenvlaks had already been informed of the terrible event; for the assistant resident also had received a telegram from santjoemeh. chapter xli. the outlaws at soeka maniesan. fearful retribution. yes! the terrible news was true--it was but too true--! when the van gulpendams arrived at soeka maniesan, the proprietor of that sugar-factory could not help admitting that lately all symptoms of disturbance had disappeared. he had caused the woods, in which the supposed seditious meetings were held, to be carefully watched; but he had not been able to discover in them a single human being. thus, he had come to the conclusion, that either his former information had been altogether false, or else that the mutinous spirits had removed to some other part of the country. resident van gulpendam, on his arrival, summoned the assistant resident of the district of which soeka maniesan was an outlying station, and he also called before him the regent and the wedonos of the place; but he could not extract anything out of them which might awaken so much as a suspicion of danger. very much the other way! all these authorities declared that the most profound calm and content prevailed throughout the district, though the regent was fain to admit that there was a great deal of poverty and distress about. "indeed!" said the resident; "and what may be the cause of this sad state of things, radhen adipattie?" the javanese chief shook his head dubiously, he did not at all like answering that question. as he stood there hesitating, van gulpendam asked: "do the landowners pay the labourers reasonably well?" "oh, yes, kandjeng toean." "perhaps the rice harvest has failed or has not, this season, produced as much as usual?" "no, no, kandjeng toean, the harvest has been especially good and abundant this year. the men have brought home many bundles of rice to the common barn." "what then may be the cause of the distress you speak of, radhen adipattie?" asked the resident. "i do not know," replied the javanese chief with a sigh. the truth was, that he knew it well enough; but that he did not dare to speak out. he knew equally well that if he told the whole truth he would incur the displeasure of the resident. he knew that the barns were empty. the harvest had been plentiful indeed; but very little of the crop had found its way to the barns. the fact is, that the javanese is a mere grown-up child. he had simply squandered away his produce while it was yet standing unripe in the fields. to lay his hands upon a little ready cash, he had sold his rice, long before it was cut, to the chinese money-lenders. and the money thus obtained, at a ruinous sacrifice of course, had speedily found its way to the opium-den, to the gambling-booth and to the pawn-shop. it had been swallowed up by that august trinity which is the chief source of dutch revenue. no, no! the regent was too prudent a man to put his thoughts into words, he cast a look of awe upon the big cross which glittered on the resident's breast and, with another sigh, he said again: "i cannot tell, kandjeng toean." the resident was perfectly satisfied with the result of his investigation, and declared that he would occupy no other rooms than those in the outbuildings. he professed himself quite contented with the ordinary visitors' quarters. "but, resident," persisted the proprietor, "your apartments in the house are all ready for you." "my worthy friend," said van gulpendam, "i won't hear of any such thing. i intend to prove to you that i am perfectly satisfied as to the state of the country, and, in the out-buildings i shall sleep as securely and as soundly as you in your house." from this resolution no arguments could move him. and, indeed, it seemed that he was perfectly right. the reports which came in from all quarters were so reassuring, that the owner of the factory soeka maniesan himself was beginning to incline to the opinion that he must have been deceived. the first night which the resident and his wife passed in their apartments, was as quiet as any night could possibly be, and they enjoyed the most delightful rest. the next day was spent in a minute survey of the sugar-factory although it was rather late in the season, and the yearly campaign was about to close. in the afternoon they took a pleasant walk, in the course of which both mr. and mrs. van gulpendam were delighted at the very great respect which was paid them by every class of natives they happened to meet. not that such homage was strange to them, quite the contrary; for, while he was only a controller, van gulpendam had exacted that every native whom he encountered on the way should squat down and make a respectful sembah, and that every woman should turn away her face, which is the usual way of showing deference. but here, all these things were done by the natives with such evident signs of deep humility--the country people were evidently so overawed at the sight of their august visitors--that both the resident and laurentia were delighted at so much submission. no, no, in these parts there could be not the smallest ground for apprehension; van gulpendam thought he knew quite enough of the native character to make sure of that. the evening also was passed most pleasantly. the owner of soeka maniesan had invited the principal families of the neighbourhood to meet the resident; and these had, of course, eagerly, accepted the invitation. the gentlemen, and some of the ladies too, sat down to a quiet game at cards, and those who did not play, passed the time pleasantly enough with music and social conversation. if some remnants of uneasiness could yet have lingered in the resident's mind, the placid landscape which lay stretched out before him must have dissipated all such vague apprehensions. the moon stood high in the heavens and shed her calm quiet light over the scene. a cool breeze was rustling in the leaves of the splendid trees by which the entire building was surrounded. in fact, everything breathed the most profound peace, that serene quiet which makes tropical nights above all things delicious. thus the evening passed in quiet enjoyment, and the hour of midnight had struck before the carriages came rumbling up to take the visitors home. when the guests had taken their departure, and the inmates of the house were preparing to retire to rest, one of the overseers came in and reported that some fellow had been seen sneaking about behind the garden hedge. "some thief, probably," said the man carelessly, as if such a thing was a not at all unusual occurrence. "come," said the proprietor, "let us go and have a look round." as he said these words, he took down his gun, and offered the resident a weapon of the same description. van gulpendam however, with a wave of his hand, declined to take it. the two gentlemen, accompanied by the overseer, walked out into the grounds; while the ladies retired to their bedrooms. as we have already said, the weather was beautifully warm and clear. the two european gentlemen strolled about but could discover nothing to breed suspicion. the cool night-air induced them somewhat to extend their walk. they got outside the grounds and entered the fields of sugar-cane which adjoined the property, in which the canes had already been partially gathered. the cane which had been cut had been carried away to the factory; but a considerable part of the field was still occupied by the tall stems awaiting the hand of the reaper. here and there in the field were big heaps of dry leaves which had been stripped from the cane and were destined presently to be carried to the factory to serve as fuel. the proprietor of soeka maniesan was a thoroughly practical sugar manufacturer, a man who knew all the ins and outs of his trade; and mr. van gulpendam, who, while he occupied inferior positions in the interior of the island, had been brought much into contact with that industry, prided himself upon being pretty well up in the subject also. thus between these two experts, the conversation never once flagged. followed at a respectful distance by the overseer, the gentlemen strolled leisurely along discussing the various kinds of cane which were grown on the plantation. van gulpendam would have it, that the light yellow cane contained the greatest amount of saccharine matter, while the other declared, quite as positively, that his long experience had taught him that the dark brown cane was the more profitable to grow. both gentlemen stuck to their opinion, and the discussion was growing somewhat lively; when--suddenly--a yell was heard, and a number of men with blackened faces and armed with clubs, sprang up from behind one of the heaps of leaves and made a rush straight at the two europeans. startled at this sudden apparition, the resident and his host took to flight; but they had time to run only a very few paces, before the nimble-footed javanese had caught up the proprietor of the factory and felled him to the ground with a single blow, before he could so much as get his gun up to his shoulder. the resident they did not overtake until he had got within the grounds; but, instead of striking at him, the men seized him, flung him down to the ground and securely bound him. what had meanwhile become of the overseer was a mystery. very likely he had thrown himself down and was crouching behind a heap of leaves; or, perhaps, he was hiding behind some bushes. as van gulpendam was being bound, he could see a dozen of the men rushing off in the direction of the wing in which was situated his wife's bedroom. he would have cried out for help; but a powerful hand drove into his mouth a gag made of an old rag and prevented him from uttering a sound. he could see that the attacking party first attempted to open the door; but, finding it locked and fast bolted, dashed it from its hinges with their clubs. then the whole party rushed in and cries of terror arose from the interior--then, suddenly, came one terrible shriek of agony--and all was still again--. this had taken place so rapidly, that the din made by the battering in of the door only startled some inmates of the house and the men who, during the night, had to attend to the steam-engines in the factory. long before anyone could come to the rescue, the attacking party had returned to their comrades, who mounted guard over van gulpendam. then, one of them without attempting to disguise his voice, said: "come, make haste, let us get along, the horses are waiting for us in the cane-field." "is the lady dead?" asked one of the men as coolly as possible. "dead!" was the reply, in a voice which trembled with revengeful passion. "come, pick up that white pig, or else all the factory men will be upon us and i shall have to kris the dog; that would be a pity." at the words, a couple of bamboo poles were thrust under the arms and legs of poor van gulpendam. "i am the kandjeng toean resident!" he tried to say. whether the words were understood or not is doubtful; but the only result of the effort was a furious blow in the mouth which drove the foul gag further home. "march!" said the leader. four javanese thereupon took up the bamboo poles on their shoulders and trotted off with their burden. the sufferer groaned with the intense pain caused by the jolting; but his lamentations were not heard, or if they were, no one paid the slightest heed to his distress. close outside the factory grounds stood half-a-dozen horses saddled and all ready to start. upon one of these van gulpendam was tightly strapped, then some of the men mounted the other animals and the troop was ready to move on. "to the 'djaga monjet!'" cried one of the horsemen to those whom he left behind. "yes, yes!" eagerly cried the others. as soon as the mounted men had disappeared with their prisoner, the party which was left behind set fire to the sugar-canes. the reedy stems burned fiercely and soon the dreadful roar of the flames was mingled with the sharp crackling of the canes. under cover of these flames and of the smoke, the party were enabled to make good their escape; and it was not until then that the big gong of the factory began to sound the alarm. while this seizure was taking place at soeka maniesan, another surprise of the same kind was being carried out with equal success in another quarter. about six pals from the town of santjoemeh there stood a quaint looking building, hidden away very pleasantly amid charming scenery in the bends of the rising ground. had the house been built in anything like swiss or italian style, it might have been called a chalet or a villa; but the order of its architecture was so distinctly mongolian that no mistake could be made as to its origin. it was, in fact, a chinese pavilion which lately had become the property of lim ho the son of the opium factor at santjoemeh. if anyone had fondly hoped that, after his marriage, our babah would have settled down and become somewhat less irregular in his habits, a single peep into the interior of that pavilion must have dispersed all such pleasant illusions. that small building, situated there in so charming and lonely a spot was, in fact, nothing else than a trap into which the licentious young chinaman was wont to decoy the victims of his lust and was enabled to ensure their ruin. the apartments of the pavilion were all furnished regardless of cost and in the most sumptuous asiatic style. in every room there were luxurious divans and on every wall hung pictures which might be valuable, perhaps, as works of art, but the subjects of which were sensual and immoral to the lowest degree. on that same night in which the attack was made upon soeka maniesan, that chinese pavilion also was surprised. here the attempt succeeded even more easily than that on the sugar plantation. lim ho had that evening left his house in santjoemeh and was sitting in his pavilion impatiently awaiting for some poor creature who had aroused his passions, and whom his agents had promised to bring him. he had with him only two chinese servants, fellows who neither would nor could offer the faintest resistance. about midnight, a knock was heard at the door. it was a low faint knock, and the babah, in a fever of expectation, and thinking it was the pigeon which had been decoyed to his den, gave the word at once to open the door. no sooner, however, had the bolts been drawn and the key turned in the lock, than half-a-dozen men with blackened faces and armed to the teeth sprang in. lim ho, true to the cowardly nature of his race, turned pale as death but never for an instant thought of resistance. he glanced round nervously to see whether any way of escape lay open to him; but when he saw both doors occupied and guarded by the attacking party, he tried, in his unmanly terror, to hide himself by creeping under one of the divans. in a very few minutes, however, he was dragged out of that hiding place and was securely bound, strapped to a horse and carried off. here again, just as at soeka maniesan, the attacking party left everything untouched. they did not lay a finger on any of the articles of value which lay scattered about; but they confined themselves strictly to the murder of mrs. van gulpendam and to the capture of the resident and of the opium farmer's son. the proprietor of the sugar factory had, it is true, been knocked down by a blow of one of their clubs; but that blow had not been struck wantonly. it was inflicted simply as a precaution and in self-defence; for the man would undoubtedly have run off and spread the alarm. he would have roused his factory hands and caused the whole plot to fail, and he would immediately have started in pursuit of the raiders. that had to be guarded against at all hazards. but the blow did not prove deadly or even dangerous. as soon as the first excitement, consequent upon the discovery of laurentia's murder, had somewhat subsided, a band of men had sallied forth to put out the fire in the fields, and then the owner of the factory was discovered lying insensible just outside his own grounds. at first they thought he was dead; for he was quite unconscious. they carried him into the house, and then his wife soon found out that her husband, though stunned by a severe blow, was neither wounded nor materially injured. every effort was made to restore him, and after some time, he recovered his senses. the day had dawned before the police had arrived at soeka maniesan and began to make their inquiries. there and then a careful examination was held of the entire staff employed on the factory--every single individual being submitted to a rigorous interrogatory; but no clue was found which could lead to the detection of the perpetrators of this daring outrage. just outside the yet smouldering cane-fields, were found the tracks of horses; but that led to no result for the weather had for a long time been very dry and the morning breeze had covered all further tracks with a thick layer of fine dust. thus there was nothing, absolutely nothing, to indicate the direction the horsemen might have taken. the proprietor himself, poor fellow, could not give the slightest information. all he knew was that, as he was quietly walking about engaged in argument with the resident, a number of fellows with blackened faces had started up from behind one of the tall piles of leaves, that he had attempted to run away, but had been overtaken and had received a blow on the head which stunned him. of what had taken place after that he, of course, knew nothing whatever. the overseer's story was, if possible, still more unsatisfactory. he said that the instant he saw the threatening forms appearing from behind the heap of dadoe, he had flung himself down flat upon the ground and then crept under another heap of leaves; and that he had not ventured to stir out of that hiding place until he heard the crackling of the canes and began to fear that the leaves which covered him might be attacked by the flames. while in this state of terror and suspense, he had seen nothing and had heard nothing. now, the question was: where were they to look for resident van gulpendam? the police were at their wits' end. the whole district of santjoemeh was, naturally enough, in the greatest excitement; and universal horror prevailed at the terrible fate which, in all probability, had overtaken the chief of the district. but do what they could, and search where they would, not a trace of the criminals could be discovered, not a single gleam of light could be cast upon the impenetrable mystery. for a day or two this state of suspense endured until a fisherman, as he was trying to get his boat into the moeara tjatjing, caught sight of the naked body of a european floating just outside the surf. he made for it and drew it into his boat and then took it to the loerah of kaligaweh which was the nearest dessa. had this simple javanese fisherman only known that it was the body of the kandjeng toean, he would no doubt have turned away his head and quietly said to his mates: "let allah's justice float by undisturbed." had he been able to foresee what troubles he was bringing upon himself by raising that corpse from its watery grave, he would have taken good care not to touch it. the alligators would, no doubt, soon enough have provided for its burial. as it was, the loerah of the dessa began by locking up the poor fellow. then he had to submit to endless examinations by the wedono, by the pattih, by the regent, by the controller, by the assistant resident, by the public prosecutor. all these authorities were most eager in the matter; and thought that, in this poor man, they held in their hands a clue to the mysterious drama enacted at soeka maniesan. thus they vied with one another in badgering the poor devil, until they drove him to desperation, and he at length was forced to declare that he was light-headed and of weak intellect. the body was readily identified as that of resident van gulpendam. there could be no doubt about that; for the features were almost intact. but all the parts which the sea-monsters had spared appeared extremely inflamed and swollen; and it was evident that the unhappy man must have died under an extremity of torture, though there was nothing to show that any knife or sharp instrument had caused his death. what then had been his fate? "to the 'djaga monjet!'" yes! it was indeed to that very same dismal hut in the mangrove swamp by the moeara tjatjing, to which we introduced our readers in our first chapters, that the band of horsemen was now riding at full speed. they carefully avoided all the dessas which lay on the road, a thing which they could easily do as they were perfectly acquainted with all the bye-paths. they shunned even the guard-houses, not being certain that the watchmen stationed there could be implicitly trusted. thus, without let or hindrance, the little troop rode on, and the day was just beginning to break when they reached the mangrove wood, in which the "djaga monjet" was situated. when they carried van gulpendam, still bound hand and foot, into the hut, they found lim ho there. he had been brought in some time before, and was lying stretched out at full length upon the wretched flooring. he also was bound so tightly that he could not move hand or foot. at a signal from a tall, slim javanese, who appeared to be the leader of the band, the cords which bound the unhappy prisoners were loosened, and the gags were removed from their mouths. around them stood about twenty javanese, all unrecognisable, with blackened faces and fully armed. the chinaman uttered not a word, he seemed prostrate with terror. the sudden shock appeared to have annihilated him. but, as soon as the european felt that he was free, he stretched his limbs, and in a voice of conscious dignity he said: "are you aware that i am the kandjeng toean resident?" "yes, kandjeng toean," replied the leader in a tone of mock humility. "it is but a few days ago," continued van gulpendam, "that the kandjeng toean radja honoured me with a particular mark of his high favour." as he spoke these words he pointed haughtily to the huge cross which still was hanging sparkling on the breast of his light-blue resident's frock. "yes, kandjeng toean!" repeated the leader, while all his men made the sembah in token of deep respect. "government will exact the most terrible punishment should you hurt so much as a hair of my head!" a mocking laugh was the answer to that speech. twenty men grasped the handles of their krises; but at a wave from the leader's hand, all kept silence, and not a single word was spoken, not a single blade was drawn. "before government will be able to punish," rejoined the javanese quietly, "you will both be dead men." "dead!" exclaimed lim ho in a voice husky with terror. "dead?" cried van gulpendam. "no, no, you dare not do that! my death would be too fearfully avenged!" "both of you, i said--" resumed the leader with perfect coolness, "i said both of you deserve to die. we have passed sentence upon you. that sentence must be carried out--after that, they may do with us what they will--i mean, of course, if they can lay hands upon us." "but," cried lim ho, half mad with terror, "what have i done?" "you ask me what you have done? well, i will tell you. in this very hut, you inflicted upon a man, whose only fault was that he loved, and intended to marry, a girl upon whom you had cast your lustful eyes, the most atrocious torture. you ask what you have done? that same young girl you contrived, with the assistance of the njonja of yonder wretch, to get into your possession, you outraged her most brutally, and then, when you had worked your foul will upon her, you cast her off and accused her of opium smuggling." lim ho's face grew ashy-pale as he heard these terrible words, he began to understand into whose hands he had fallen. van gulpendam thought that he ought still to keep up his proud and dignified bearing. he could not bring himself to believe that a mere javanese would dare to raise his hand against his august person, against the kandjeng toean. but yet he thought it advisable to speak in a somewhat conciliatory tone. "if what you have just now said be true," he began, "then certainly lim ho deserves severe punishment, and i pledge you my word that i will exert my authority to see that his punishment shall be proportioned to his offence; but what have i done that you dare to treat me thus?" "you, you, kandjeng toean!" vehemently broke in the leader, in a voice which seemed fairly to hiss with rage, "you have made the offences, as you call them, of this chinese dog possible. you have had the man, of whom i just now spoke, cast into a dungeon, you condemned him to the most barbarous punishment, knowing all the while that he was innocent. and all this you have done merely in order that you might screen the smuggling trade of that scoundrel. you supplied the opium-farmer with the means of preventing that girl's father from defending his own child against the brutality of yon beastly chinaman. do you still ask me what you have done? why, you and your wife are guilty of all i have said--and you and your wife deserve to die. part of our sentence has already been carried out, and, believe me, it will be fully executed." "wha--! what? partly carried out you said?" gasped van gulpendam. "my wife--!" the leader turned to one of his followers: "tell the kandjeng toean what has become of the njonja." "the njonja is dead!" was the brief reply. "yes!" shouted the leader wildly, "the njonja is dead! we had mercy upon her, one single stab put an end to her accursed life. look here--those spots on my kris--they are her blood!" "that shriek i heard?" cried van gulpendam. "was the last sound she will ever utter in this world. but," continued the javanese, still carried away by his passion, "do not for a moment flatter yourself that we will deal thus mercifully with you. upon a woman we could have compassion. but you! oh yes, you shall suffer! you shall feel something of the tortures you are so ready to inflict upon others!" even then van gulpendam retained something of his fortitude and haughty bearing, and he said: "i bid you beware of the punishing hand of the dutch government, it will know how to avenge me." "i am prepared to brave any peril, if only i have my revenge," said the javanese. "upon you i am determined to execute justice!" "justice, justice!" cried van gulpendam, "and who are you that you dare to prate about justice, even while you are planning sedition and preparing for murder? tell me who are you?" "who i am? well, you shall know!" in a corner of that wretched cabin stood a tub filled with water. the javanese took up the cocoa-nut scoop which hung by it and washed his face. "now do you recognise me?" he cried, as he drew himself up to his full height before his prisoners. "ardjan!" sighed lim ho. "ardjan!" cried van gulpendam as thoroughly dismayed as was his companion in misfortune. both of them now plainly saw that they were reserved for some dreadful death. the account which each had to settle with that young man was a heavy one indeed. "have mercy! have mercy upon us!" they cried as they fell down on their knees before him, their teeth chattering with terror as they knelt at his feet. "mercy?" almost shrieked ardjan. "what mercy did you show poor dalima and old setrosmito? come, speak up, will you? what mercy did you show to me and to my old father? dalima violated! my father and i locked up for months in a loathsome prison, and then, sentenced--by your very mouth--to years of penal servitude-and now you ask me to have mercy? if i could feel pity then indeed you might call me the veriest blockhead in the world. but," continued the javanese, after a moment's pause, "tell me, supposing i could feel pity, supposing i were to set you free, tell me, kandjeng toean, what would you do then?" these words were spoken in a much milder tone, it seemed as if ardjan were wavering, and, in that hesitation, the unfortunate european thought he could see a faint gleam of hope. trembling with fear, he raised himself on his knees, and, wringing his hands in agony, he cried, while big tears went coursing down his cheeks: "oh, do not fear. you shall have full pardon--free pardon--i have power with the government and i can induce them to forgive all. the great lord at batavia will grant me my request. all the injustice which has been done shall be amply made good. you shall have compensation--i will see to it i will pay it out of my own purse--! all that has happened shall be made good, believe me!" "dalima's injuries also?" asked a hoarse croaking voice from behind ardjan. "those white fellows seem to think they are almighty, or else they fancy that we javanese are the greatest fools in the world!" that name of dalima and these few scornful words seemed to rouse ardjan out of the fit of weakness which appeared for a moment to have come over him. he shook his head violently as if he wished to drive out some unwelcome thoughts, at that movement his head-cloth became loosened and his long black hair streamed fiercely and wildly over his shoulders. "no! no!" he exclaimed, "no pity, no mercy. now i have you in my power, you are crawling and cringing at my feet as mean and as cowardly as the vilest beasts. did you ever see a javanese so degrade himself? did you ever see a native act so meanly, even when pleading for his life? you have sent plenty of them to the gallows, and you ought to know how a coloured man can die. pity! mercy! ha! ha! ha! you are ready enough now with your promises; but in your hearts you are, even now, scheming how you may evade them and break them. trust a white man's word!--ha! ha! ha! as if we don't know all about that. whenever did a white man keep his promise to us javanese? whenever--" here one of the men whispered something into ardjan's ear. "yes, yes, you are right, let us cut it short. no, no--no pity, far from it. you shall have a painful, a cruel death. i had made up my mind to give you the most terrible--the 'hoekoem madoe--'" lim ho uttered a fearful yell at these terrible words. "mercy! mercy!" he moaned. "--but that would take too much time," continued ardjan, who had by this time regained his composure. "we might get the police upon us before you were quite finished and that would spoil the game-no, i have given up that idea. you shall undergo the 'hoekoem kamadoog.' the same punishment, you remember, lim ho, that you gave me; and yet i had committed no fault whatever, and the kandjeng toean there thought it right to leave your outrageous crime unpunished. no, you must not be able to say that i am more barbarous than you." "mercy! mercy!" cried both the wretched men. "no! no! no pity!" rejoined ardjan. then, with a signal to one of his mates, he continued: "strip them and take them outside!" that order was carried out literally and in a very few minutes. the fine light-blue coat was rent from the resident's back, his trousers followed and his shirt; and torn to ribbons they soon lay on the dirty floor of the cabin--even the virtus nobilitat was trampled under foot. lim ho underwent the same rough operation, and then both men stood there naked before their pitiless judges. then their hands were tied behind their backs and the wretched creatures were simply pitched down the rude steps. ardjan reminded lim ho of the glorious fun he had eight months ago when the two chinamen and himself were similarly treated. "you remember," he laughed, "how than khan and liem king tumbled down from top to bottom? it was fine sport to you then!" it took but a few moments to tie up the two victims to the niboeng-palms, which grew in front of the hut--to the very trees to which the two chinamen and ardjan himself had been fastened. "the kandjeng toean to that tree," said ardjan, pointing to the stem at which he had himself suffered. "pardon! pity!" the poor victims kept crying incessantly. no one heeded their agonising yells. when they were tied up--ardjan gave the word: "now, my lads, give way!" four men stepped forward each armed with a bunch of the formidable nettle, and the blows began to fall like rain upon the bare limbs of the wretched victims. wherever the leaves fell the flesh seemed to shrink away in agony. the chinaman bit his under-lip until the teeth met in the flesh, but he did not utter a single moan. at first van gulpendam strove to follow his example; but he had not the tough resolution of an asiatic in this supreme moment. he could not restrain himself. first he moaned, then he whimpered, he cried aloud in his misery, he howled, he yelled with pain. nothing could touch his ruthless executioners. "pardon! mercy!" he cried. "oh, i beg for mercy!" but, in reply to his piteous cries, came the words: "dalima! ardjan! pak ardjan! setrosmito!" and then upon the brain of the unhappy resident there flashed another name, a name more terrible to him perhaps than all the others: "meidema, meidema! pardon, mercy!" he kept on wailing in a voice which told of the most exquisite torture. but gradually his cries grew weaker, at length they became hardly intelligible--they gurgled like a hoarse and dying rattle in the throat. the pain was beyond endurance. still the men kept plying their deadly nettle. at length his head began to dangle helplessly, and it seemed as if the unfortunate sufferer had lost consciousness. lim ho had been fortunate enough to reach that state much earlier, and was thus sooner out of his misery. ardjan stood by at the scene, glaring at his victims with revengeful eagerness. he clenched his fists convulsively, he had to exercise the greatest self-control to prevent himself from catching up one of the bunches of kamadoog leaves and having his blow at the wretched beings who had not scrupled to inflict the same barbarous treatment upon himself. no, no, he felt not the smallest grain of pity--he could think only of his own wrongs and his own happiness destroyed for ever. even if the voice of pity could have spoken within him it would have been stifled by his father, who, standing close behind him, kept on whispering in his ear: "dalima, dalima!" for some time the two victims had been unconscious; but yet ardjan did not think of putting a stop to the torture. at every blow, at every touch even of those terrible leaves the skin of the sufferers puckered up though the bodies no longer felt the pain. the muscles stretched, then ran up into knots and horrid spasms shot through the entire frames. soon the bodies could no longer support themselves, but hung in the cords that bound them, limp as empty sacks. the eyes of the tortured men were closed; but every now and then they would spasmodically open for a moment, and would stare with a blood-shot stony gaze which betrayed the extreme suffering which even the senseless body was undergoing. in their dying agonies they flung their heads convulsively to and fro, dashing them up fearfully against the niboeng palm while flecks of foam came flying from their lips. but, in this world everything must come to an end, and at length the protracted sufferings were over. gradually the convulsive starts of the two bodies began to subside and finally ceased altogether. the soul had left its earthly tenement. then ardjan, in tones the most indifferent in the world, said, "enough!" at the word, his men looked at him for further instructions. "untie them," he said, and without speaking another word, he pointed to the sea. the instant the ropes were cut through, the bodies fell with a heavy thud to the ground. as he fell van gulpendam for the last time opened his eyes and, very softly, but quite intelligibly he sighed forth the single word: "meidema!" the thought of that unhappy family--of those good honest people whose ruin he had so craftily and cruelly planned, haunted that guilty soul even as it was taking its flight. with that name on his lips he expired. lim ho gave no sign of life. both corpses were then dragged to the kali tjatjing and pitched into the water, and the stream quickly carried them out to the java sea. in the far distance between the two headlands could be seen the schooner brig kiem ping hin quietly riding at anchor and flying the british ensign. faithful to her calling she was waiting for an opportunity to deliver her smuggled goods to the company lim yang bing. chapter xlii. in the goewah temon. conclusion. "anna, anna!" cried van nerekool, and in that cry he cast his whole soul; but it was uttered in vain; for just then a sharp bend in the path caused the two girls to disappear behind a great mass of rock. when charles, murowski and grenits reached the spot where they had caught this last glimpse of the fugitives, not a trace could be discovered of either of them. "anna, anna!" shouted charles again and again at the top of his voice; but a beautifully distinct echo, reverberating from the opposite hills, seemed only to mock his cries. our three friends, however, were now compelled to pause. they felt that they could go on no longer, and must stop awhile to regain breath. the exertion, indeed, had been very great; for that little path kept winding upward, ever upward, and the headlong speed with which they had rushed on made a short rest absolutely necessary. charles, however, every now and then, repeated his cry of "anna, anna!" he thought that his voice might perhaps reach the girl and induce her to stop or to turn. but, no other response came to his anxious call, than that of the sportive echo which, sharply and clearly, flung back the two syllables, "anna, anna!" when they had rested awhile, and to some extent regained their strength and their wind, the three set off again in pursuit. they had to follow a road which led them along the most eccentric windings up hill and down dale. at one time the path would run sharply round some huge rock, at another it would follow the course of some erratic mountain-stream. elsewhere again, it ran zigzagging down an almost perpendicular slope; but yet, on the whole, the ground was steadily rising and was evidently leading up to the lofty table-land which is bounded by the cliffs of the goenoeng poleng. very frequently the road would run, for a while, abruptly downhill as it took them into the bottom of some wild ravine; but this, far from giving them rest, only increased the discomfort of travelling. for the sudden change of motion threatened to dislocate their already tired knees and then, every descent was immediately succeeded by a sharp and trying climb which put to tremendous proof the soundness and power of their lungs. but in spite of fatigue, the three men kept hurrying on. van nerekool's impatience would brook no delay. they panted, they caught their breath, they puffed and blew like grampuses; but still they kept on. as they turned every sharp bend in the road, they felt sure that they must catch sight of the fugitives; for certainly they could not have got very far ahead of them. escape was utterly impossible; for there existed but the one path up the mountain, and that went twisting and turning through a country so wild and so rugged that no human being could leave the footpath either to the right or left. so they anxiously peered round all about them whenever they gained some spot which gave a command of the country; but look as they would, not a glimpse could they catch of either anna or dalima. at length the three men gained the top of the plateau, and they felt that, for a few moments, they must again sit down and rest. but yet, they could find no trace of the young girls they were so eagerly following. the road now no longer rose, it merely twisted in and out between huge boulders of rock, between hill tops, and around thick clumps of dwarf shrubs, and thus it offered no extensive view. "they cannot possibly be far ahead of us!" panted van nerekool. "let us get on, let us get on! we must be close upon them!" but in this the young man was mistaken--as a matter of fact the girls had really gained very considerably on their pursuers. in the first place, they had a considerable start when the chase began. they had been able to run nimbly along a path which was quite familiar to them, which they had indeed been accustomed to climb almost daily. their knowledge of the country enabled them to make many a short cut with which the europeans were unacquainted; and thus they had managed to avoid many a long bend and twist in the road. and lastly, extreme terror seemed to have lent anna wings, and poor dalima had been compelled, as best she might, to toil after her young mistress. when they reached the plateau, anna kept on leading the way and hurrying in a southerly direction. she knew that the sea could not be far away; for the thunder of the breakers, which, for some time, had been audible in the distance as a hoarse murmur, now grew more distinct every moment; and as they sped on they could feel the very soil quivering under the terrific pounding of the mighty ocean on the perpendicular wall of rock. "where are you running to, nana?" panted dalima. "let us hurry on!" cried anna impatiently, as she ran, casting behind her many an anxious look. "but, where are we going to, nana?" "why yonder!" cried anna hurriedly as she pointed to the south. "but that way leads to the sea!" cried dalima. "just so," replied anna, "and that is where i want to go." "what are we going to do there, nana?" asked dalima anxiously. "i know a hiding place where no one will find us or even go to look for us." "what? there, nana?" "yes, yes, do come along--try to make another effort--it cannot be far away!" "a hiding place?" repeated dalima. "but, nana, there is nothing over there but the bare rock." "aye; but in those rocks there are holes!" cried anna much excited. "the goewahs!" exclaimed the baboe in utter dismay. anna answered a few words which, however, dalima did not catch. darting on like a hind, the resident's daughter had outstripped her companion. dalima was naturally very strong and inured to fatigue and exertion; but her condition was beginning to tell upon her. the burden she had to bear and the rapid motion, had utterly exhausted her, and she felt her strength fast ebbing away. the blood began to flush up to her head, her temples throbbed, her eyes seemed covered as with a reddish film; and an insupportable feeling of weariness and listlessness pervaded her entire frame. still she struggled on game to the last. her breathing was getting thick and wheezy--she was, in fact, on the point of fainting altogether. but this little javanese girl was endowed with a tough frame and an indomitable will; and, though almost exhausted, yet she struggled after her companion as mechanically she kept muttering to herself: "forward! forward!" oh no! she could not, she would not leave her nana in the hour of need. this painful progress went on for some time. at length, after they had turned round an immense boulder which seemed to form a barrier to the path, anna stood still. before her, in all its grandeur, lay stretched out the indian ocean; and from the height of about twelve hundred feet she could obtain a magnificent view of it. she cast one anxious look behind her. the position she now occupied commanded an extensive view of the path along which she had toiled up; but not a soul could she see stirring on it. might the pursuit have been given up? it seemed improbable, yet it was possible. might they have missed the road and gone off on some wrong track? anna fancied, that every now and then, she had heard her name called out behind her; but that again might very well be the result of her over-wrought imagination. again and again she eagerly scanned the horizon in all directions. but no, nothing, nothing was to be seen. somewhat quieted she then turned her attention to poor dalima, who, panting and moaning, had, by this time, come up to her, and then, almost senseless, had sunk to the ground. anna sat down by her companion. she tried to cheer her up; she rubbed and kneaded, in native fashion, the muscles of her neck and shoulders, she patted her hands; in fact, she neglected nothing that the most anxious solicitude could suggest until she saw that dalima had somewhat recovered from her prostration. as soon as she had succeeded in relieving her companion, anna again gave an anxious nervous look behind her, but still she could perceive nothing. then she walked forward resolutely to the edge of the slope which ran before her down to the sea. "yes," said she, half aloud, "the ladder is still hanging there. i have heard a good many tales about the goewah temon. if it must be so--i shall fly there for refuge!" then, once again, looking to the north, she continued: "but i hope i may not have to undertake that fearful journey--i can see nothing," she said with a sigh, "if charles were really on my track, he must have appeared long before this on the table-land!" therewith she turned her face full to the ocean. though she was disguised in javanese dress, yet she was, and always would remain, a child of the west; that is to say, her eyes were open to the glories which nature was there offering to her gaze. before her lay the indian ocean. on the far horizon it seemed to melt away into the sky; but yet in that distance a line clearly defined the apparent contact of sea and heaven. closer inland the water wore a dark blue tint, forming a beautiful contrast with the light azure-blue of the heavens. this contrast was rendered more striking still by the tremendous rollers which came up from the south. those mighty billows looked like long lines of liquid hills, which seemed to detach themselves from the horizon and come rolling in majestically upon the shore of java. these immense waves were smooth as polished glass; for not the faintest breath of wind so much as ruffled their surface, and thus rising and falling calmly and mysteriously, they looked like the undulations of some vast sheet of dark blue cloth. they came rolling in quietly and regularly like the ranks of an advancing army; and, on the side of the wide ocean, they sloped but very gently, as though the deep were too languid to exert itself. but, on the land-side, the slope was steep and the columns of water came on black as an advancing wall. at first, and seen at a distance, the tops of these advancing waves were smooth and round; but as the watery mass neared the land and the wave rose higher and higher, so gradually did it narrow and grow sharper at the top; and the billows seemed to succeed one another at shorter intervals. at length, the tops lost their rounded form altogether--they became a mere ridge which began to fret angrily--then they sharpened to a mere line which, fast and furious, seemed eager to outstrip the wave itself. a moment after, this line of water began to bend forward, forward, forward still, until it formed an arc of immeasurable length. presently that graceful curve seemed to fly to pieces and shake itself into a ragged crest of silver foam; and, at last, the entire mass came toppling down, covering the sea with thick milk-white froth which came sparkling, and thundering, and dashing itself into blinding spray against the wall of trachyte which seemed to say to the mighty element: "hitherto shalt thou come and no farther." anna did not venture to look down into the sheer depth below her, where the waters were boiling in their fury. she feared that a look into that giddy depth might shake her resolution should she actually be compelled to attempt the descent. she gazed out far away to the horizon. there, almost due west, she could clearly see noesa kembangan, that beautiful hilly island which, with its luxurious vegetation, seemed to float as a basket of flowers on the watery expanse. she could clearly discern its lighthouse standing on the tjemering hill--standing out clear against the light blue sky like a pillar of cloud arising from among the foliage. here and there the bosom of the ocean was dotted with a white sail like some big sea-bird disporting itself upon the glassy surface. and, as if chance had wished to accentuate that resemblance, just then a flight of snow-white cranes came hovering by, forming a dull white stripe on the azure sky. they flew harshly screeching towards the west, on their way, probably, to the fishy lagoons and morasses which there abound. the swift and easy flight of these birds suggested a sad thought to poor anna: "oh, that i had wings," she sighed, "that i also could fly, fly far away and be at rest!" and then her fancy carried her back to the past. the image of charles van nerekool rose up vividly before her. as in a dream she pictured to herself how happy she might have been by her lover's side. she could hear that "invitation ã  la valse" and to its delightful melody she seemed once again to float about with his arm around her. she could hear his first murmured confession of love. she again passed through those delicious moments after the dance in the quiet garden of the residence. before her, arose the pandan grove in which charles had gently detained her to reiterate his declaration of love. at the rhythmical swell and thunder of the ocean, which was giving forth its mighty melody at her feet, she fancied she could hear again the soft duet played by the cornet and the piccolo: "un jour l'ã¢me ravie, je vous vis si jolie, que je vous crus sortie du cã©leste sã©jour. etait-ce donc un ange, une femme, qui venait d'embraser mon ã¢me? las! je ne sais encore.... mais depuis ce beau jour je sais que j'aime d'un pur amour." she felt once again her lover's arm around her waist and his voice she could hear whispering to her softly, and saying: "anna, my darling, i love you, i love you more dearly than words can express, more dearly than my mother, than my sister, more dearly than my own life!" oh! those precious words! ah! that heavenly moment! and then, dreaming on, she heard: "tell me, anna, tell me. do you love me, dearest? i know i have already had your answer; but repeat that word once again, now that we are here alone--now that we are here, far from the noise of the world--repeat that little word now, as we are standing under the eye of god himself!" she had treasured up those words. they were engraven as it were, in her heart. then she could feel the kiss--the first kiss of love which set the seal to her murmured reply. she could feel-but, as at santjoemeh, so here again, she was destined to be roughly startled out of her reverie. she fancied she could hear the voice of her mother. she would have cur-no, no, not that, she had not the heart to curse anyone; but she cast one reproachful look upwards to heaven, as she felt how so much bliss had been turned to misery and woe. the pleasant dream had vanished. "a blighted life!" she sighed, "a blighted life!" a sudden shriek shook her up out of her day-dream. "nana!" cried dalima, "the gentlemen are coming." and indeed, to anna's horror, she then saw in the bend of the path murowski, van nerekool, and grenits, coming along with all speed. without taking one instant for deliberation she dashed down the slope which led to the awful precipice before her. "nana! nana!" cried dalima beside herself with terror, "what are you about?" the poor javanese girl did her best to follow her companion; but, before she could fairly stagger to her feet, anna was far ahead of her, and, fagged and exhausted as dalima was, she could not pursue her quickly enough. as she neared the edge of the slope which ended in a perpendicular wall of rock running straight down to the sea, she could see anna lay hold of the upper steps of the rottang-ladder which led down to the deep below. "nana! nana!" she cried in heartrending accents. she rushed on--she saw her young mistress place one foot carefully upon the ladder--she saw her body gradually disappearing. "nana! nana!" now, only anna's head was visible. that also disappeared, and she could only see one hand clutching at the topmost rung. "nana! nana!" the hand let go its hold before dalima could bend forward to grasp it. it was gone--gone! then the javanese girl flung herself flat upon the ground and peered over the edge of the fearful precipice which yawned beneath her. what she saw there was enough to freeze the young blood in her veins. but she had no time to waste in gazing with horror at what was going on below. once again she shrieked, "nana! nana!" just then she felt some one grasp her arm. she looked up, and van nerekool was standing beside her. "you here, dalima!" cried he, not understanding in the least what was going on. "where is nonna anna?" "allah! tobat toean!" cried dalima, still lying on the ground, but pointing with horror down into the deep. "there? there?" exclaimed charles beside himself with terror, while he flung himself down on the ground and gazed into that frightful precipice. fortunately grenits and murowski were close behind their friend. he was in a fearfully dangerous position, as he, regardless of all caution, hung over the wall of rock, and it was well for him that his friends firmly grasped his legs. "charles! charles!" they cried. "anna! anna!" cried van nerekool in despair--for yonder, far beneath him, he could see the girl cautiously climbing down the long ladder which, made of rottang ropes, was dangling and swaying about under the burden it had to carry. the foot of this crazy ladder dipped into the sea, and was being swayed about by the breakers as they came rolling in shore. when a wave thundered up it swept the end of the ladder into the cave as the water rushed into the opening; and then, when it receded spouting out of the mouth with the force of a cataract, the foot of the ladder was whirled away again in the opposite direction. this violent motion repeatedly dashed anna up against the face of the rock as she was dangling there far above the surface of the sea, and every now and then a roller would dash its blinding spray upward as if greedy for its prey. at that fearful sight van nerekool shuddered. "anna! anna!" he called again and again in heartrending tones. his voice seemed to reach her above the din of the water. timidly she glanced upwards. when she saw that face which showed clearly against the blue sky, and which she recognised in an instant, she uttered a faint shriek and hurried down faster than before. van nerekool sprang to his feet. "i must go down!" cried he nervously. and before his friends could do anything to prevent him, he had grasped the top of the ladder, had stretched out one foot over the abyss, had placed it into one of the rungs, and had begun his perilous descent. it was now murowski's turn, and grenits's turn, to fling themselves down flat on the ground. certainly it was a horrifying sight to behold those two human beings dangling above that roaring sea on one frail ladder of rope. the two men could not speak, they could hardly breathe, so intense was the excitement and tension of that moment. there they lay gazing down, utterly powerless to stretch out even a finger to save their friend. as soon as anna perceived that van nerekool was following her she obeyed the impulse which had driven her to flight, and tried to descend more rapidly than before. but, another thought came flashing upon her. she had heard the dessa-people at ajo talking a great deal about the goewah temon. she knew, from them, that, at low water, the entrance to the cave might be reached; and that then the cave itself might be entered. she knew also that this entrance could only be gained by swimming, because the bottom of the cavity was quite six feet below the lowest water mark. she did not mind that, for she could swim like a duck; but--! but--! all this was only practicable at ebb tide, at dead low water, and when the sea was calm and there were no breakers rolling in. but now--! now the waves were dashing with terrific violence against that trachyte wall--it seemed as if every successive wave reached higher--yet she descended--further down--still down-"anna! anna!" cried charles above her head. at length she reached the top of the vaulted cavity. she knew that, at low water, the opening was about fifty feet high, but how narrow did it look just then! indeed the greater part of it was covered by the sea. she fancied she might just manage to reach the courses of rottang-rope which led from the mouth of the hole to its interior to assist the gatherers of swallows' nests in their perilous work. she was putting out her hand to feel for one of those cables. but, as she did so, a wave of enormous strength came rolling up and broke at her feet with a crash like thunder, and fearfully shook the foot of the ladder which hung loosely floating about at the entrance of the cave. terrified out of her senses, the young girl lost her presence of mind altogether. she let go her grip, and fell backward into the seething water. "a blighted life!" was her last cry as she fell. van nerekool had looked down, as he felt the huge wave approaching--he saw his beloved anna fall backward--he saw her floating in that boiling surf--he saw her tossed and rolled about like a log in that thick mass of white foam. for the merest fraction of a second he could see her glorious mass of jet-black hair waving on the gleaming surface--and then--all was sucked up into the cave and disappeared from his view. to him, she was now lost for ever! there he was, helplessly dangling above the precipice which had just swallowed up his dearest treasure on earth, and--for an instant he knew not what to do. the next moment came the lull and the huge billow was hurrying back to sea. then the young man saw the immense volume of water spouting out of the cave with magnificent energy; but--in that clear blue column, as it rushed forth, his eye could catch nothing which looked like a human body; and it flashed upon him that, dead or alive, anna must have been left behind in the cave. she might have clutched hold of some projecting rock, her clothing might have caught somewhere. quick as lightning he darted down the ladder. the top of that cave he must get to before the next wave came tumbling in. with feverish eagerness he clutched the rungs--he made no use of his feet--he rather slid down and--he just contrived to grasp one of the rottang cables, and get his feet clear of the ladder when, another wave gave it a violent shake which might have compelled him to let go his grip and might have swallowed him up as it had done anna. van nerekool was now, comparatively speaking, safe. two sturdy cables of considerable thickness were stretched out parallel to one another all along the inner wall of the grot. at intervals these were fastened by gemoetoe cords to the salient parts of the rock. on the lower of these cables charles could plant his feet, while with his hands he grasped the upper one. beneath him the sea was roaring and over his head and all around him fluttered the sea-swallows uttering their shrill cries and darting in and out of the mouth of the cave through the blinding spray. grenits and murowski from the top of the cliff had eagerly watched all that had passed. they had been horrified at seeing anna fall and van nerekool disappear in the cavity. "well!" cried one of them, "what to do now?" "we can do no good up here," said the other. dalima begged them to tell her what they had seen, and as soon as she had heard it she cried: "we must be off at once to the loerah of the dessa ajo. he has a boat with which, i know, he occasionally visits the goewahs." and that brave little javanese girl, forgetting all about herself and her painful condition, shook off her fatigue and was already far down the pathway before the europeans had found time to follow her. and, when they came to the foot of the mountain they found the boat of which dalima had spoken. the loerah made a very wry face when he heard the project of the two europeans. to try and get to the goewah temon in such weather! it could not be done. he pointed to the mouth of the kali djeties. there the mountain water flowing down was struggling with the rising tide and made the breakers fly up in clouds of spray. at the sight, which was indeed an awful one, the two friends all but despaired. must they then give up all hope? must they leave van nerekool to perish without an effort? "i will give you fifty guilders, loerah!" cried grenits, "if you bring me up to the cave!" the javanese chief scratched the back of his head in sore perplexity. "and i," cried murowski, "i give another fifty!" the loerah began to waver. he exchanged a few anxious words with a couple of men who stood by his side. these seemed not so scrupulous. with a gesture of assent they at once sprang into the boat into which the europeans took their seats also. "look here," cried grenits almost cheerfully, "each of you fellows shall have five-and-twenty guilders if we succeed!" "i will give the same to each of you," said murowski, "and now give way with all your might." the loerah had taken his place in the afterpart of the crazy boat and he held the steering paddle. even dalima and our two friends grenits and murowski had armed themselves with a paddle and prepared to help the rowers to the best of their ability. under the impulse of these six blades the boat shot rapidly ahead. at first, as long as the boat was in the bay all went well. the loerah steered straight for the middle of the entrance of the moeara; for he was anxious to avoid the tossing and the dangerous back-draught of the water along the coast, and thus, helped on by the stream of the river, the little boat sped on like an arrow released from the bowstring. but, as they gradually got into the estuary, the force of the ocean began to make itself felt. the current began to decrease more and more until at length it was no longer perceptible. now small waves began to beat up against the keel, and these presently increased in size and power as they coursed along the sides and gave a kind of pounding or stamping motion to the little boat. still the canoe travelled on--it got into the midst of the foam caused by the breakers and into the eddies formed by the retreating waves. the little cockle-shell seemed dancing on foam. the loerah, who knew that the critical moment was approaching, was sitting in the stern his lips tightly compressed. he wore an anxious and determined look as he clutched his steering-paddle which, at one time, the wave strove, as it were, to pluck from his grasp, and at another the violent swaying of the boat threatened to wrench from him. he was keeping a most anxious look-out, it was a question of life or death. could he venture to go on? when the billow broke, the hollow tree-stem was at a considerable distance from it. but now the question was: could they hope to get over the distance between that mountain of water and the next one before it also would break? no, he thought they could not. the risk was too great to run. still he kept looking out and, in the far distance, the next mass of water came steadily rolling up. it was coming on like a towering hill. to the men sitting in that frail canoe it looked like a mountain. the little boat was still hurrying on and, though very unsteadily, yet the five paddles kept way on her. the great wave every instant came nearer and nearer--at length it seemed to rear--it rose as it were perpendicularly over that nutshell, which seemed mad enough to brave its fury. already it began to form its silvery white crest and appeared like a solid wall of polished blue glittering under the sun's beams. "easy all," shouted the loerah, who had the while been carefully watching the approaching wave. at the word the paddles ceased to move, and the boat lost all the way she had on her. but just then it seemed as if, without any impulse at all, the little boat was hurrying to meet the huge billow. it looked as if she must inevitably be swallowed up in that mighty curl of water which was about to form. "back her, back her!" shouted the loerah as he plied his paddle vigorously. fortunately the frail boat immediately obeyed the reversed action of the paddles, and was drawing back at the moment when the mass of water was beginning to topple over. one moment, indeed it was only for the fraction of a second, the inmates of the canoe caught a glimpse of that vast cave of water, that enormous cylinder of light-blue transparent crystal. but still the wave continued to curl, to describe something like three quarters of a complete arc, and then--it came crashing down at a few paces from where the boat lay, it came crashing down with a sound like thunder, and covered the entire surface of the sea with thick, milk-white foam. "give way, give way!" now fairly roared the loerah and, impelled by those sturdy arms, the boat shot ahead over the whirling eddies, through the dense foam flakes, while the terrible force of water went dashing up the mouth of the moeara. now came the time for exertion; for she must be well away out of that place before the back-sweep of the retreating wave could overtake her, she must be fairly out to sea before another such breaker could come upon her. the men plied their paddles furiously, and the small craft shot ahead with lightning speed. a little while, one supreme effort, and then she began to rise. "give way! give way!" again shouted the loerah and, redoubling his own efforts, he encouraged his men to row vigorously. thus impelled under the frantic strokes of the rowers, the boat was driven up the slope of the wave, which had not yet become dangerously steep. for an instant the little shell hung balancing on that watery edge, her ends hovering in the air, only the centre of her keel resting on the water, and then, she quietly slid down the opposite pent and all were out of danger. the loerah thereupon steered a southerly course; but yet it took a considerable time to reach the mouth of the goewah. when they got near the cave the ebb tide had fairly set in, and the helmsman had to exercise only ordinary prudence to pilot the boat into the cavity. meanwhile what had been going on inside? when van nerekool had gained a footing on one of the cables, he had at once cautiously begun to advance, groping his way in the twilight which reigned in the cave. it struck him that the subterranean vault, into which he was now venturing, was of considerable extent, and ran in far under the base of the mountains; but at the same time, he noticed that the bottom of the cave gradually rose, so that the sea, excepting in a few holes here and there, only penetrated about two hundred feet into the interior. but, within that space, the water had full sway, and was raging furiously. at first, he could hardly see anything: but presently his eyes became more accustomed to the gloom, and he began, moreover, to feel more confidence in the feat of tight-rope walking he was trying to accomplish. thus he advanced deeper and deeper still into the cavity. at length, close beside a slab of trachyte against which the water was dashing furiously, he thought he could descry something. taking advantage of every prominent bit of rock he carefully let himself down, and he was fortunate enough to succeed in reaching the mass of trachyte. he found its surface uneven enough to give firm foothold, and at length he found some natural steps by which he could venture to descend to the water's edge. and when he got there--there was his anna, quite unconscious! she had, in her drowning agony, clutched at the rugged face of the rock. the lower part of her body lay floating about in the water; but her head was resting on her arm, which encircled one of the out-jutting pieces of stone. charles seized her, he grasped her waist and tried to drag her up against the face of the boulder. the tide was rising and he had need to make haste; for every moment it seemed more probable that anna would be washed away by the back-rushing waves. by dint of putting forth all his strength, charles at length succeeded in dragging her to the upper surface of the slab, and then he sat down beside her. he took off his coat and spread it out upon the stone to make his anna as comfortable a resting place as he could. her head was resting on his lap and, in that position, he allowed her for awhile quietly to rest. a single glance around had satisfied van nerekool of the fact that the highest tides had never reached the top of the block of stone, and that therefore they were, as far as the sea was concerned, in a place of safety. with his handkerchief he gently wiped away the sea-water from her pale countenance, and he took a strange delight in spreading out upon his knees her luxuriant mass of black-hair as if to dry it. he knew also that it would be worse than useless to try and get out of the cave before low water, the violence of the waves was too great to admit of any such hope. but, he thought, that, at dead-low water it might be possible to reach the ladder which was still tossing about in the entrance of the cave. by that time he had no doubt that anna would have regained consciousness, and he knew she could swim. then once on the ladder--however! he thought, time will bring counsel! thus musing he gazed down at the beautiful girl who lay there helpless on his knees, murowski, he thought, and grenits would surely do something to come to the rescue. it was indeed a critical moment in the young man's life. there, stretched out before him, lay the one being who was dearer to him than all the earth, the one being whom he adored with all the power of his soul, the one being who had robbed him of sleep and deprived him of rest, whose dear image was always and everywhere floating before him. the one human being whom he longed for, whom he yearned to call his own, with all the passionate eagerness and all the tenderness of his impulsive nature. anna, in her javanese dress, was covered only by her sarong and kabaja. the slendang, which had served as her head-dress, she had lost in her descent down the ladder. this extremely primitive costume, made of the lightest and most flimsy materials, was now wet through; and there lay the poor girl unconscious on the lap of her lover, who was suffering torments which might fitly have found a place in dante's inferno. the dim twilight and the finely divided spray which hung all around seemed to bathe that virgin form in a kind of mystic ether and imparted to the entire scene something weird and sublime. slowly--very slowly--time rolled on--too slowly for poor charles van nerekool. meanwhile the water no longer rose, and the turn of the tide was beginning to be felt. every wave which rushed in, roared and boiled and foamed just as did the former one; but yet the water did not reach quite so high, nor did the waves rage so furiously. but, hours would have to elapse before charles could venture to make for the opening. "oh, if anna would but awake," sighed van nerekool, who, not for an instant, had moved his eyes from the beloved object, "oh, that she would awake! in her own presence she would find a much more powerful protector than in me!" his prayer was heard. still insensible, anna mechanically made an attempt to wipe away some drops of water from her brow. charles tried to assist her in this, he tried to put up his handkerchief; but in doing so he had stooped and his hot feverish breath fell on the face and neck of the girl. this startled anna and, at length, she opened her eyes. she turned her head, she looked about inquiringly, not able to make out where she was; presently her eye fell upon charles. with a loud scream she made an effort to start up, "you, you here?" she exclaimed, and again she tried to rise and run away. but van nerekool gently put his arm round her waist, and drew her to his breast: "anna," said he, "dearest anna, do take care, do be quiet--you will slip down--the sea is still much too high." "you here!" she cried half-dazed, "i shall--i will--" and once again she attempted to wrench herself out of his arms. "anna," said he soothingly, "do be quiet, do be prudent! the rock is wet and slippery. be careful, you are yet in great danger." his voice was so low and he spoke so tenderly, that the young girl gave up her wild attempt. but when her eye fell upon her own person and she discovered in what a state she was lying in the young man's arms, she once again tried to shake herself free. the sea-water had washed the stain off her face, and the bright scarlet blush was now plainly visible as she cast down her eyes in dire distress. "leave me, charles," she stammered in confusion, "do leave me!" but he only clasped her tighter to his heart, and covered her face with burning kisses. "anna, i love you--anna, i have found you again!" he exclaimed, passionately, "and never, never again shall i leave you." "but, charles, do have pity on me," pleaded the poor girl in faltering accents, as she again strove to free herself from his embrace, "yours i can, i may--never be." "anna," cried he huskily, as he pressed her closer and closer still to his breast. she probably misunderstood his action--at all events she continued very, very sadly: "no, charles, your wife i can never be--and--oh, you love me too well, do you not?--to have any other thoughts." the poor girl said these words in a voice so unutterably sad that van nerekool felt at once that he had unwittingly wounded her modesty. at once he released her, though he still kept his arm round her waist. "but, anna," said he, "why should you not become my wife?" "no, never!" replied she resolutely. "not then, and not now. i have given you my reason very fully. now let me go." "but, anna," he persisted, "since that time circumstances have entirely changed." "what circumstances?" she asked, looking up anxiously in the young man's face. "why, now your father and mother are dead--" "what? father and mother dead?" exclaimed the poor girl, before the word had fairly left his lips. he nodded assent. anna covered her face with both hands and sobbed convulsively. it was a very strange scene down there in that gloomy cave. those two young people--one of them in his shirt sleeves--the other in her wet sarong and kabaja, indeed, one might say, scarcely dressed at all--sitting there side by side on a bare slab of rock. she with her face buried in her hands and sobbing as if her heart would break, he gazing down eagerly and lovingly upon her, striving, as it were, to fathom the thoughts which were rising in that maiden breast, and upon which he felt that his happiness depended. "but, can it be true?" said she at last amidst the sobs which convulsively shook her entire frame, "can it be true? oh, charles, you could not be cruel enough to invent such a story. charles, charles, what am i to believe?" "anna, dearest anna, what do you think of me? do you really think me capable of thus trifling with your most sacred feelings. indeed, you are misjudging me, anna." she kept on weeping bitterly and was inconsolable. he gently drew her to him, trying to comfort her in her distress. and now she offered no resistance; but she rather nestled up to his breast. now that she was an orphan, and that she knew she was alone in the world, she sought for protection with the man whom she had always faithfully loved. "both dead," she kept repeating again and again, "what did they die of? oh, tell me how it happened! you have come straight from santjoemeh, and you must know all about it." "no, my love, on the contrary i know just nothing at all. when i left santjoemeh both your parents were in excellent health and spirits. on the very morning when i set out with grenits--" "with grenits?" asked anna, "theodoor grenits? is he with you here?" "yes, my love, he is--but, as i was saying, when we started, on that very morning mr. and mrs. van gulpendam set out for soeka maniesan." "soeka maniesan?" inquired anna, "what place may that be?" "it is a sugar factory situated in the extreme east of the residence of santjoemeh. it was not until after we had reached gombong that we received tidings of the sad event. a telegram." and then, in as few words as he could, he told the poor girl all he knew. it was not much and amounted simply to the fact that both the resident and his wife had been murdered by a band of robbers. the letter in which van rheijn promised to give further details was, no doubt, at that moment waiting for them at gombong. when he had told anna all he knew, van nerekool paused for a few moments. he wished to give the poor girl time to recover, in some measure, from the terrible blow that had so suddenly fallen upon her. she was literally overwhelmed with sorrow and sat leaning up against him weeping bitterly. her nature had but little in common with that of her parents. she herself had brought about the parting--of her own free will she had left her parents' roof, with the settled determination of never returning to it again. but now, death had stepped in--death had made that parting irrevocable--death had made a reunion impossible--and now, all her affections at once flew back to the beings to whom she owed her life. now she clean forgot all the dreary past, she clean forgot all that was bad, only to remember, with the greater tenderness, whatever had been kind and good. yes, she was, indeed and in truth, deeply affected, and, had it been in her power, she would have laid down her life to undo the past. while they were sitting thus the ebb tide had fairly set in, and the water was beginning rapidly to draw back. every successive wave, as it rushed into the cave, was less violent and retreated also more quietly. that went on until the fury of the water had entirely abated, and presently they were merely ripples that entered the goewah temon. "now, my dearest anna," said van nerekool, anxious to break the silence and to lead her thoughts into another channel, "now it is time to move, or else we might be surprised by another tide." she raised her head and looked about her. when she saw that the sea was calm she also felt that no time was to be lost. she wiped away her tears. "yes," said she, "we must get out of this place; but, can you swim? for, you see, the water which is standing in the mouth of the cave yonder is much too deep to wade through. yes? then that is all right--there is no fear--we shall soon get to the ladder." with these words she prepared to leave the stone on which they had found a safe resting-place, and was getting ready to slip into the water; but charles kept her back, and gently pressing her to him, he said: "after the terrible news you have just now heard from me it may not be right for me to speak of love. but, anna, i have lately felt so utterly wretched, and, in these last few moments i have been so unspeakably happy! promise me now, in this solemn place and in this solemn hour, that you will not again try to escape from me." she looked up at him. there were tears in her eyes, there was an expression of heart-felt sorrow in her countenance, and she could not utter a single word. "all obstacles," continued he, softly whispering in her ear, "are now removed. you are now your own mistress. tell me, dearest anna, may i hope?" she turned away her head and laid her hand on his mouth. there was, in the midst of her sorrow, something playful in the action, and charles caught that hand and covered it with kisses. "thanks!" he said, "thanks! oh i know well that just now you can give me no other answer. thanks again and again. but anna, now we must take to the water, we must be off." both were on the point of entering the sea and beginning their perilous journey, when voices were heard outside the cave. charles and anna looked at one another in surprise; but in another moment they saw dalima, grenits, and murowski, accompanied by a couple of javanese, who--the reader knows in what manner--appeared in a canoe at the mouth of the cave. "great heavens!" exclaimed poor anna, as she cast a look at her clothing. "and i in this wet dress!" she blushed scarlet as she saw the sarong and kabaja clinging to her limbs. she felt, moreover, that charles was gazing at her; and this only augmented her confusion. charles, however, took up the coat on which she had been seated and offered it to her as a covering. meanwhile the little boat had been coming up and grenits and murowski, and especially dalima, were beside themselves with joy when they found that the friends, whom they had given up for lost, were alive and well. the loerah of the dessa ajo had flung a couple of sarongs into his boat before starting, to wrap up the bodies in, he had said, so certain was he that the pair must have perished. but, these two garments now came in very handy. anna was able to wrap herself well in them, and in this dalima was eager to help her. then she stepped into the boat. in a few minutes they had left the goewah temon and, two hours later, anna, dalima, van nerekool, grenits and murowski were safely and comfortably seated together in the little house on the slope of the goenoeng poleng. at that meeting, plans for the future were very speedily determined upon, and the sun had scarcely reached the zenith, before anna and dalima were seated, each in a litter, and were on their way to karang anjer. the gentlemen formed the escort to the two litters; and a very formidable escort they looked, armed, as they were, with their fowling pieces. at the house of the steenvlaks anna met with the most cordial reception. there she determined to remain until--well, yes! until the days of her mourning were passed. after all this had been properly settled the young men returned to gombong. theodoor and charles at once went to the captain who was in command there, to take leave of him and to thank him for having granted their friend murowski leave to accompany them. "well, gentlemen," cried the bluff but kind-hearted soldier as he caught sight of them, "have you had any luck?" "oh yes," cried grenits, "we have had splendid success!" "that is right, i am glad to hear it. and did you get any good specimens?" "glorious specimens, captain!" exclaimed murowski, roguishly, "splendid specimens! why, amongst others we have had the luck to catch a magnificent, a unique butterfly--a puella formosa." "very good, i wish you luck with the little beast, but for heaven's sake don't bother me with your latin." even van nerekool could not refrain from laughing as he thought of the little butterfly they had captured. fourteen months later anna van gulpendam and charles van nerekool became man and wife. the wedding took place very simply and without the slightest display, at the house of assistant resident steenvlak. august van beneden and theodoor grenits gave away the bride, and edward van rheijn and the polish doctor murowski were witnesses for the bridegroom. at the conclusion of the marriage ceremony, who should suddenly turn up but william verstork. after the death of resident van gulpendam, he had been at once recalled to santjoemeh where his merits were well known and where he was highly esteemed. no one expected to see him at the wedding; for a telegram had brought the news that the steamer in which he travelled from batavia had run ashore and had stuck fast somewhere about tegal. but, when he found that getting the ship off the shallows would be a long business, verstork had left her and gone ashore, and then had posted all the way to karang anjer. he was determined, at any cost, to be present at his friend's wedding. but, on his journey, he had been unavoidably delayed, and thus came too late to take part in the actual ceremony, though in ample time to join, on that auspicious day, in the warm congratulations which were showered on the young couple. yes, if ever there were hearty congratulations and sincere good wishes they were indeed those which the young people received from the friends who, in the absence of nearer relations on either side, were then gathered around them. after the wedding, mr. and mrs. van nerekool started for tjilatjap intending there to take the boat to batavia where van nerekool had obtained a judicial appointment. the others returned to their own spheres of work. murowski remained at gombong and the others went to santjoemeh and resumed their everyday duties. but all of them, to a man, were animated with one resolution and had determined that thenceforward it should rule all their actions. and that resolution was, to carry on war--implacable war--war ã  outrance against the horrors of the opium traffic. if they could only succeed in abolishing the fatal system of opium farming--if they could but succeed in preventing that poison from being forced upon the population, then they felt assured that abuse of opium would soon cease to be a curse of the fair island of java; and that the opium-fiend would soon lose his power. and now we conclude with the person who gives her name to this book. we must tell our readers that a few months after baboe dalima had found those whom she loved so faithfully and so well in the cave of the karang bollong mountain range, she became the mother of a dead child. that had been a great blow to her; for, in spite of the foul outrage of which she had been the victim, her warm little heart had eagerly looked forward to the advent of the little stranger. she had so looked forward to love the poor little thing. oh, how tenderly she would have nursed it, how she would have fondled it and caressed it--as perhaps no other mother had ever done before her. such were her dreams. she had already prepared its cradle. not such a thing as we cold western folk understand by the word; no, no, it was a very simple little basket, woven by her own fingers out of bamboo. but that little crib she had made so cosy, so comfortable; she had furnished it with the softest cushions and wrapped round it the best of her sarongs to keep away the mosquitoes by night and ward off the sun's rays by day. it would be a little nest which she would hang up in the front gallery of the small cottage in which she meant to take up her abode, and, as she softly would rock it to and fro she would play on the gambang and lull her little bird to sleep with her low sweet song. now, all that happiness was gone! the fatigue, the exertion which she had undergone, and all the anxieties of the terrible events through which she had passed; the dreadful suspense at the goewah temon in which she had so nearly lost her darling nana, had proved too much for her. yes, she had been very very sad; but time heals even the deepest wounds. and then, after all, she was with her nana and she intended to remain with her to her latest breath. she had travelled with anna to batavia, and there she settled down to be the baboe of the little van nerekools who, she fervently hoped, would bless the union of her friends. and anyone who knows the faithful affection with which the javanese do attach themselves to their masters, if the latter will but treat them with anything like fairness and kindness, must feel certain that baboe dalima will remain faithful to her trust until the end. 