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thoir BltiffB through the adjacent waters and the
Inhabitants of this volcanic holt live and movo
with little thought of the mighty forces which
have so often demonstrated their powers. In the
archipelago.
Tf ono is interested in the study of trees,
plants and flowers, he can employ himself in
definitely in the famous botanical garden in
Buiton.org. While Batavia is the nominal capital
of Netherlands India, the governor general lives
at Buitenzorg a city built on a mountain- slope
forty miles from Batavia where an altitude of
Home seven hundred feet gives an average tem
perature of eight degrees below that of the sea
level. The botanical garden surrounds the palace
and for nearly a century the authorities have
been collecting specimens of the flora of the
tropics.
The present superintendent of the garden,
Hcrr Wigman, is an enthusiast in his line, and
wo are indebted to him for a most enjoyable
lour through the garden. The main entrance
loads through an avenue of gigantic kanari trees,
set some forty feet apart and forming a verdant
roof that entirely excludes the sun. The officials
believe that they have made this the most attrac
tive driveway in the world, and bo far as my ob
servation goes, they are justified In their claim.
Climbing vines of every variety have been trained
upon these trees until their enormous trunks
stand like so many columns draped in living
green. One climbing vine, with a trunk which
one would mistake for "a tree if it stood alone,
has festooned a row of trees three hundred feet
long and is still reaching out for new conquests.
Herr Wigman shows this monster vine with par
donable pride, but he has found on his visits'
to Europe that he could not give a truthful de
scription of it without endangering his reputa
tion for veracity. We saw, here, also, rattan
vines of seemingly endless length, hanging" from
lofty limbs or coiling on the ground like a colony
of serpents. A specialty has been made of
orchids, as is evidenced by a collection .of be
tween two and three thousand varieties. Some
of these are remarkable for their curious and
variegated leaves, others for the beauty atid
delicacy of the flowers. We were shown three
kinds of pitcher plants; one kind is fashioned
like a rat trap, the tiny spines pointing downward
so that the insect can enter but can not escape
until the flower withers; another drowns his
victims in a syrup-like water; while a third
poisons the unlucky prisoners lured into the re
cesses of the blossoms. Several plants growing
on tree trunks have porous bulbs which seem to
be designed for ant houses; at any rate the ants
are always found In them. By - an admirable
reciprocity the ants pay their house rent by pro
jecting the plants from other insects. Some of
the European nations have -defended their occu
lu m f riental countries on the same theory,
viz. that they give protection in exchange for a
domicile, but there Is no evidence that the ant
lives on the plant, .while colonialism is always
a burden to the natives. uways
In the botanical garden as elsewhere in the
Bland are to be found all varieties of the palm
the royal palm, than which there is no more orna
mental tree, the cocoanut palm, with Us mvXi
uses the sugar palm, the sago palm, the oiXm
the betel-nut palm, which furnishes the iSaav
a substitute for chewing tobacco, the n pa nalm
so helpful in building, the fan palm, etc., etc '
V "'eJms been Pineal in her gifts to the
people of the tropics, and besides giving plant
s own inf abl,naance' to wneSigta
Jn 1 1 a number of trees each of which can
liquor ana a narcotic ai,dltion' a tormented
in Europe and America. One water liiv w ,a
torn foot V tlamotor V, thef leaves a
has picture,! tS as fvi ,,maginatlve wrltor
natives baUe hot calces yE Vma n wnich the
UanSa'S & I'tJV'
no longer foumi J 8S!?. ' ere tll0Bli It Is
trees and shrubs o7 many kl,Ta lp' ""oworlng
- I at US0 J3JK
description of the beauties of the garden, with its
mighty banyan trees, its waving palms, its grace
ful bamboos, its odorous sandalwood and tangled
vines, its rose garden, its depth of shade and
wealth of bloom, its upas tree" (not deadly, how
ever, as tradition has it, but quite innocent of
any criminal intent), its winding ways and really
moss-grown paths and its secluded little ceme
tery where rest those members of the families
of the governors who died on the island. No
wonder Buitenzorg is the Mecca of the botanist
and the one spot never neglected by even the
casual tourist in the island.
Java reminds one of Japan in the appearance
of its rice fields, its cultivated hills and its ter
raced mountain sides. Though the island is
diminutive in area, containing a little less than
forty thousand square miles, half of which is
tillable, the land is so widely used that it sup
ports a population of twenty-eight millions. With
so many mountains and with a rainfall amount
ing to ten feet per annum in some places, the
island has, as might be expected, an abundance
of springs and running streams, and these make
possible a very perfect system of irrigation which
has converted Java into a vast garden. Sugar is
the chief export, followed by tea, coffee and
copra, although rice is the product to which most
attention is given. It is thechief article of food,
and 'so much is required to support the dense
population that its importance -as a crop Is not
indicated by its place in the table of exports.
As a traveler is more impressed by the un
usual things than by things with which he is
familiar, one who visits Java immediately notices
the numerous fruits peculiar to the island. They
have, here, all of the fruits usually found in
tropical countries and several that are not found
elsewhere. The pineapple grows in perfection
and can be bought in the market for about a cent
apiece. The Java orange is not equal in taste
or variety to those of California or Florida, but
the banana, of which there are more than a hun
dred varieties, makes up for the deficiency. Mrs.
Scidmore in her book on Java is authority for
the statement that four thousand pounds of ba
nanas will grow on the space required" to pro
duce ninety-nine pounds of potatoes or thirty
three pounds of wheat; if her calculation is cor
rect and the ratio of productiveness anything like
the same in the case of other fruit, one can under
stand why the problem of living is so simplified
in warm countries. A fruit closely allied to our
grape-fruit is found here, a variety of which
grows in China and Japan. The papaya, which
we first tasted in Honolulu, the mango, whose
season had passed in the Philippines, the sour
Manila, and the durian are all to be bought in
the market here. The last named fruit has suc
ceeded in arraying into ardent friends and un
sparing critics the tourists who have ventured
to eat it. Some declare that it is delicious while
others can not bear the taste, and all agree that
the odor is exceedingly repulsive. It is rough
skinned, very large, sometimes weighing ten or
mteen pounds, and resembles in appearance both
the bread fruit and the nangka.
Among the fruits which we have 'tasted for
the first time the mangosteen and the rambutan
are rivals in popularity. The first is a delicate
ly flavored, orange-shaped morsel of pure white
encased in a thick hull of deep red. It melts in
the mouth, and leaves a memory of mingled
flavors. Its fame has spread abroad, and there
was for years a standing offer of thirty pounds
to anyone who would put Queen Victoria in pos
session of a ripe mangosteen, but it decavs so
qu ckly that not even ice will' preserve i during
a long sea voyage. The rambutan has not re
ceived as much praise as the mangosteen but I
?, n0tn,?Ure bu5 that !t is 8UPerior tor continuous
use. the word rambutan means hairy, and the
name was given to this fruit hecause it has a
covering something like a chestnut burr, excent
hat the so-called hairs are soft instead of spine-
ike. There s a variety of the rambutan which
has a smoother covering without the hair-1 ke
projections, .and this is very appropriately ca iiS
the kapoelassen (which means bald) rambSten
m.ce. But enough lias .!''' 7" "War
vnrlety oC fruits Jg
Hs3l&r
VOLUME 6, NUMBER 17
and peddled at railway stations. The natives
usually carry an assortment' of fruit as they ko
to or return from market, and the floor of the
third class railroad coaches is always littered with
rinds and peelings. Verily, one can revel in
iruits to his heart's content in Java.
One of the most interesting days that wo
spent in Java was devoted to a trip to Boro
Boedoer, the great Hindu temple near Djokjakar
ta. Leaving the through train at this station with
the jaw-breaking name, we went by tram lino
about twenty miles and then drove six miles
farther. Near the temple the road crosses a
ferry, the substantial bridge which once spanned
the river there having been swept away, and
when we reached this point we found the stream
so swollen by recent rains that the natives were
not willing to risk their boats in the angry flood
We returned to the tramway station and spent
the night in the hospitable home of the Dutch
statioumaster, the only white man in the town.
Returning to the river early the next morning,
we found that the waters had sufficiently sub
sided to enable us to cross, and we reached Boro
Boedoer while yet the sun was low. And what
a monument is Boro Boedoer to the zeal of the
Buddhist priests, the skill of the Hindu architect
and the patient industry of the Javanese! As
a temple it is not surpassed, in labor expended
upon its construction it is comparable with the
pyramids, and in artistic skill displayed in de
sign and execution, it is even superior to them.
According to archaeologists it was built about
twelve hundred years ago when the Javanese were
worshippers of Buddha, but the invasion of the
Mohammedans of the fifteenth century was so
complete that that stupendous pile was first neg
lected, then deserted and at last forgotten, it was
so overgrown with trees and shrubbery that the
Dutch traders were in the country for two cen
turies before its presence was discovered. When
it was found and unearthed during the occu
pancy of the English under Sir Stamford Raffles
in 1S14, the people living in the vicinity were as
much surprised as the foreigners, for all tradi
tion of its existence had been lost. This seems
hardly possible when it is remembered that the
temple stands upon the summit of a mound, is
five hundred feet square at the base and towers
to the height of a hundred feet. The structure
is pyramidal in form and rises in eight terraces,
the first five being square and the last three cir
cular. Each terrace has a wall at the outer edge,
which, with the wall of the next succeeding ter
race, forms a roofless gallery, either side of which
is ornamented with has reliefs descriptive of the
life of Buddha. These carvings if placed side
by side would, it is estimated, extend for three
miles, and the story which they tell has been
Interpreted by eminent archaeologists who have
visited the place. These pictures in stone not
only portray the rise and development of the
great Indian teacher, but they preserve a record
of the dress and customs of the people, the arms
and implements used, and the fauna and flora
of that time.
At the center of each side there is a covered
stairway leading to the summit, and there is evi
dence that the galleries were once separated
lrom each other by doors. In the niches along
the gallery walls there are four hundred and
tuirty-two stone images of Buddha, life size and
seated on the ever present lotus. On the three
circular terraces there are seventy-two openwork,
bell-shaped structures, called dagabas, each con
taining a stone image of Buddha. Surmounting
the temple is a great dagaba, fifty feet in diame
ier, and in it was found an unfinished statue of
Buddha similar to those found on the various
galleries.
As the stone employed in the construction
Spf t1temp ?, Was of a nard variety, the has re
for oSmoJ?11 m:eservel. No mortar was used
Slinr l,nB l?e st0Des and no columns or
pniais were employed.
otho?f8imi Br 5oedoer .there are hundreds of
twr? J? mDl?8Bcattered 0VGr the island- Within
pm2 f 0f, th elevaon "Pori which the great
onP ? Sh?d8' ?ere are two regions edifices,
in ioahlIi;e of exquisite proportions, restored
JL I ' a?d anoth?p a temple of considerable
sue now being restored. At Brambanan, about
Sn?1!08 e?St 0f Djakarta there is a large
nPr, temples scarcely less interesting than
qi oBeJ?oer' 0ne of the reports received by
fcU Stamford Raffles describes this territory as
the headquarters of Hinduism in Java and the
lomples as "stupendous and finished specimens
or human labor and of the science and taste of
ages long since forgot."
I must reserve for another article jny obser
vations upon the people and upon Dutch . rule
of the island, and will conclude this paper with
(Continued on Pago 3)
AMM4A-:tSrS
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