Traveling by Rail in the Dutch East Indies
AOS, Java, Sept. fi (Special
M Correspondence (if Tho Hon.)
Hallways In .lava' Yes, lniti
dreds of miles of tln-iii' I
have Just crossed tin- Island on
a trunk lino as long tin from lloHtoti to
I'lliiburg ami I write those notes nt the
million of MaiiM. about tin If way between
Soerbaya anil ll.itavla. Tho Dutch of tho
ImlleH have ten times riH much rall
roail ax wo have In tho riilllpiilnes. Their
mails ere the best of their kind, and, nl
though they are almost on the equator, that
,-ed hot bell t.liout Mother lOarlh'H walat.
i ti- y are built to Btay. TIiIh Ih olio of tho
most uiountalnoiiR landH In the world, whero
It never raliiH but It pours, but novcrtho
Ickh the toadbeds nnd embankmentx nro
such that th'-y withstand the tropical tor
rents. In many plueis tho bankH nro walled
with HintieH noil In others thoy nro criss
crossed bv lines of stones two foot wide.
There ate many culverts nnd nlso stonu
drains, plastered and whltowaslipil so thnt
they form while lines running down tho
green banks.
This Is Irrigated hind. I-'or thousands of
years before tho Dutch eamo tho Javanese
had torracnl tho mountains and carried tho
water In nipieilucts from one hill to the
other. In tho railroads tho Irrigation sys
tem had to be preserved and In places tho
water Is now carried high over the tracks
Sometimes there are waterways above nun
below tho mads and not Infrequently you
pass n ureal tank In which tho water lit
syphoned from one side of tho track to tho
other.
Ono of the railroad dlUlcultlca hero Is
keeping down tho vegetation. Tho road
beds must be kept perfectly clean and tho
grass on I be embankments Is shaved like n
lawn The tracks are ballaBted with rock
and the ballast protected by little walls
of cobblestones rour Inches high, which
I (Mia a nutter outside the lino.
Ill VIIIM'NC TrilllMt II) N.
Not only tho trunk lines, but also tho
tramways of Java are well built. There
are a number of steam tramways now being
constructed nnd many such tiro doing qulto
well. I went over the one from DJokJa to
Mngclung a short tlmo ago with Its civil
engineer This was Mr J !' Van lletlien
olllces and tclcphuucs. The ticket agents
nro often Chinese. They nro tho cashiers
of tho country and handle tho greater pnri
of the change.
Tho cars are llrst, second and third-class,
the natives generally taking tho latter. Tho
fares nre low and the third-class tickets
mako up tho largest part of tho receipts of
tho road. They amount to about $6,000,000
a year,
Hvery largo station bns Its first nnd second-crass
waiting rooms, and each has a
restaurant, where you con get a fair meal
for from fiO to 75 cents. Ilefore you reach
the meal stntlons tho conductor telegraphs
abend and orders your dinner, or you can
have him telegraph for n dinner to be
brought to you on the train. Such meals
are sorved In sets of porcelain boxes, which
rest one over the other, a half dozen boxes
comprising an ordinary train luncheon
I.OfOMOTIVK A.N'I) CAIt. JAVA ItAII.ItOAD
bufa, lying there on his back, his fat ab
domen shaking like Jelly under Us expans..
if white linen. The oilier threo Dutchmen
weru smoking and dialling. They spouo
Uuglish and 1 found Iheiii good fellows.
The lotupartincnt beyond this was for
the second-class pabsuiigers. Hole were
half u dozen Chluesu dressed In white duck,
all gorgeous with rings and scarfpius. Hach
bud u black iiueuo, In which was braided
red slik, tucked Inside his Jacket. All had
gold watehchultis aud carried caiies. Theio
were also some of tho poorer Dutch, Includ
ing it couple of tsoiuen, who wore sarongs
and slippers in Javuuesu style, uud a
pretty gill with beautiful eyes aud a rav
ishing smllo uud u face so dark thul you
could tell she hud liutlvu blood in her.
Tho third-cluss curs had plain wooden
benches. Thoy were crowded wilh natives,
women aud men, packed in us close us
sardines.
Hurt-ton teil ( noil lie I urn.
From time tu time tho conductor came in
fur tho tickets, lie moved about like a
ghost, opeuiug tho door without uolse. lie
wus in his bure feel and as ho walked he
made no sound. Ills costume was u calico
sarong, or bug, which reached from his
waist to his ankles, a navy blue Jacket uud
u lurbuu, over which he wore a cup, lie
put his huud to tils forehead us ho eulered
our cur uud again ruised It In salututloii as
lie examined each ticket. There were bare
footed porters at every stutlou uud bare
footed cabmen ready to drive us to our
hotel. Their charge is equal to 20 cents of
our money, thu hotel carriages ehurge
twice us much. There wero no uowabojb
on tho trains uud nothing was sold while
the curs were In motion. Tho latest Dutch
dallies are to ho had at thu stations, aud
they are also ou Ulo In every depot reading
room.
Triilenl (iiirfleu.
My trip acrosB the Island has given mo a
good Idea of tho couutry. I cannot dcscrlbo
Its beauties. There Is no land Uko It on
tho faco of tho globe. I have visited the
picturesque parts of India and the valley
of tho Nile In tho winter when overythlm;
Is tho greenest of green, but 1 linvo never
seen anything llko Java. If you will Im
agine a garden as big as tho state of New
York nnd ns beautifully hi pt as Central
park you might have a faint Idea of It.
Hut you must add volcanic mi.uutaius green
to their tops, which nre lest In the clouds;
you must put in feathery bainbi-os, groves
if ccci auuts aud orchards ef bananas nnd
vust meudows ou which buffaloes and
ponies are feeding. You must terrace the
hills with rice Holds, mine covered with tlu
golden grain ready for harvest and otheis
with emerald sprouts on the silvery face of
the waters. Now one of the mountains has
10,000 Bteps of this nature- and now you
shoot out of the rice into great tea planta
tions, into groves uf red quinine and ou Into
woods us blue as tho lltuo ltldge of Vir
ginia. Among tho bununn trees nro little bam
boo piny houses, the homes of the natives.
You cross ningulllcent roads spotted with
coolies, bare to the waist, trotting along
with lask'ts fastened to the ends of pules
which rest n their shoulders. Some of tho
poles have ends turned up like bows. They
are borne by men who are carrying rice in
from thu Ileitis. Other men have loads of
goods which they are taking from one town
to another. There nro women thus loudeil
us well ns tho men, nnd near DJokJa I saw
hundreds of young girls currying burdens
In bags ou their backs,
I, mill of White mill (irei-n.
I havo spoken of the railroad suit Una
b lug white. Iinled, all Java Is tf the
whitest of whites and the greenest of
greens. Tln Dutch go wild over white
wash, not only In Holland, but ull over
tho world. Kverythlng they havo built
hero Is coated with newly slaked lime.
Tho villas of tho cities nio dead white, wlih
columns In front of them tho color of
l'.irlan marble Tho bridge aro white,
the fence along the roads, whether they b
made of bamboo llshing poles or of heavier
wood nro covered with whitewash and the
Biimo may be said of tho drains and the
culverts, tho warehouses, tho factories
nnd especially the vast sugar factories,
which cover ncreB nnd which have white
smokoHtncks leaning out In their tnowy
puilty against tho blue sky. White, In
deed, Is so much tho fashion that tho pcopln
whitewash as we clean house a new coat
Is put on everything onco nnd often twice
every yenr The rainy season covers every-
over tho emell of lime fills
nt'nrt'tlilMf- la llmtt rnntf.fl lltali
and the buildings put on their wh
mer dresses. some oi mo noicis gscp
uhltcwnshers busy nil tho yenr round, as
do nlso tho larger property owners. The
white even extends to thu clothing of the
foreigners. The Dutch olllclnls dress In
white duck. They wenr tho white canvas
shoes and white helmets, nnd even tho mill
tnry otllcers wenr white.
In the lllce 1'leliN.
Tho chief crop of Java Is rice. In my
trip ncross the Island I have never been mi'
cf sight of rice fields. The rice grows on
every hillside nnd In every valley. It must
havo tnter and tho Irrigation works which
have been built to supply this uro tin-
quailed In nny part of the world. Tin
soil of Jnvn Is n volcnnlc mud. It Is as
ilch as guano, It Is of such n nature that
tt can easily he made Into walls which will
hold back the Hooded patches.
Tho larger canals aro stone wnlled, well
built, with ninny locks, but the water drips
from field to field ns tho little mud em
bankments nro opened by the people.
In many places I snw the people nt work.
Hero they were planting nnd there harvest
ing tho rice. The- lands are plowed nnd
tvecded by tho men, but the planting nnd
reaping nro dono by the women. The rlio
Is set out plnnt by plant In tho Hooded
fields, tho women wndlng through the mud
up to their knees ns they plant. Much o.'
tho farming Is on shares, a man nnd his
wife ngreelng to plant and harvest n patch
for oue-llflh of the crop. Sometimes n
number of peoplo will Jo n together and
take several rice fields. I see crowds at
work In the rlpo grain. The men and
women nro working together, and especially
the young men nnd young women. I am
told that harvesting tlmo Is the chief court
ing time, and that the boys and their
sweethearts usually become engaged while
cutting rice. The work Is not at all hard,
for each stalk of rlco Is cut separately with
n lltto knlfo which Is held In the fingers.
The stnlks nre put together In sheaves not
much bigger around than a man's leg ami
In this shape they nre taken homo nnd
threshed out nt leisure.
At the beginning of tho rice harvest the
people havo picnics nnd feasts. They erect
temples In tho fields to the goddess of tho
harvest, Kach temple U abeut ns big ns a
pigeon house, nnd the offerings cons st of
n ,llal. f ft.., It .....1 l.ltc n t
enno nnd cooked rice.
As tho grnln ripens shelters nre erected
on poles In the fields nnd children or
grown-ups nre stntloncd In them to watch
the crop or to scaro off the birds. Some
times strings nro stretched from one part
of the field to tho other nnd by these scare
crows nro manipulated so Hint the boy In
tho shelter can frighten the rlco birds n
hnlf mile nway.
(iiivei'iiiiient Walt-lien tliv Itlee.
Tho rlco lands supply tho food of tho na
tives and tho Dutch government watches
them very carefully. It Insists that all
contracts made shall not Interfero with
their cultivation and It provides that they
shall bo taken enre of for tho people. Tho
government nlds in their Irrigation and tt
Is duo to It largely thnt Java, with thu
thickest papulation perhaps on tho fnco of
tho globe, does not havo famines,
Tho natives nro lnzy nnd shiftless. Were
they not proteetcd the Chinese or other
cnpltnllsts would corner tho rlco and It
would be for sale at high prices. As It Is
(Continued on Klghth l'age.)
m
SC0FIELD
CUMK&SUITCO.
WOMKN IIUIjMNO ltll'12.
vnn den Ilorg, n young man who was edu
cated nt thu l.ohlgh unlvorslty nnd who
grnduoted there In 1895. He Is n relative
of Lord Van lletlien van den llerg, tho
Dutch resident governor at llamlong. Ills
road Is about forty-eight tulles long and It
pays ou account of the heavy shipments of
tobacco uud sugar from tho plantations
through which It runs. Tho tram Is built
ou high embankments throughout most of
Its course. It has some steep grades nnd
It Is crossed above and below by drains nnd
nrtlllclnl waterways. 1 was Interested In
the protection of (lie bridges by huge crates
Hindu of bamboo lllled with stones. If you
will Imagine a bamboo basket as big as n
railroad car, lllled with boulders of vnrlous
sizes, thrown Into a nt renin above a brldgo
to break the Moid, you may get an Idea of
such protect I n. Haskets of this kind nro
of all bIzcs. 'liny mo used to hold up tho
embankments and to prevent washings and
to Btrengthen nil sorts of wnterways.
At the Hid limit Station.
The stations are better kept hero thnn In
tho United Stales. They nro well built,
being inndo i f stone and stucco, covered
with whitewash and roofed with red tiles,
Hvery station has a home for tho station
master. It has n lnwn nnd garden nbout
It and palm trees and tropical (lowers.
Many of tho stations hnvo postotllccs con
nected with them and all have telegraph
Kach box contains some hot soup, meat or
n vcgetublo, nnd theso with fruit form tho
menu. A servant brings tho food Into tho
train nnd wnlts upon you whllo you ent,
leaving you nt tho next station, to go back
on another train with the d.shes.
A i-run Jnvn by Hall.
My ticket from Hntavla to Soerbaya coat
mo 39 guldens, nil nverngo of about
cents per mile. This wns llrst-cbus. Hnd I
taken second-clnBs I could havo gone for
2 cents nnd thlrd-clnss for six-tenths of 1
cent a mile, l had n servant with mo nud
I sent him thlrd-clnsa. I paid extra hng
gngo on nil ovor slxty-Blx pounds, nt the
rn to of 3 cents n pound, nnd my imggngo
cost almost as much as my ticket.
Let mo glvo you a picture of the first
class compartment which I had from Soer
bayn to Maos. It wns about as wldo ns our
cars at homo, but not more than ton fet
In length. It was In fnct n little room
nbout CxlO, wnlled with glnss nt tho sides
and entered by n door nt tho rear. It hnd
four Bents nt tho corners and two arm
chain, of mahogany nnd wicker. Tho com
piirtmont contained also a lenthor sofa,
which could bo put up or down nt will, nnd
a tnhlo a foot wide nnd four feet long, upon
which wo nto our luncheon. My fellow pas
sengers wero four portly Dutchmen clnd In
white duck. One of them monopolized the
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I5IO DOUCLAS STREET
