or the death of John the Baptist--E. S.

CHAPTER XVII. THE AJOUPA.

While Rodin despatched his cosmopolite correspondence, from his retreat
in the Rue du Milieu des Ursins, in Paris--while the daughters of
General Simon, after quitting as fugitives the White Falcon, were
detained prisoners at Leipsic along with Dagobert--other scenes, deeply
interesting to these different personages, were passing, almost as it
were at the same moment, at the other extremity of the world, in the
furthermost parts of Asia--that is to say, in the island of Java, not
far from the city of Batavia, the residence of M. Joshua Van Dael, one
of the correspondents of Rodin.

Java! magnificent and fatal country, where the most admirable flowers
conceal hideous reptiles, where the brightest fruits contain subtle
poisons, where grow splendid trees, whose very shadow is death--where
the gigantic vampire bat sucks the blood of its victims whilst it
prolongs their sleep, by surrounding them with a fresh and balmy air, no
fan moving so rapidly as the great perfumed wings of this monster!

The month of October, 1831, draws near its close. It is noon--an hour
well nigh mortal to him who encounters the fiery heat of the sun, which
spreads a sheet of dazzling light over the deep blue enamel of the sky.

An ajoupa, or hut, made of cane mats, suspended from long bamboos, which
are driven far into the ground, rises in the midst of the bluish shadows
cast by a tuft of trees, whose glittering verdure resembles green
porcelain. These quaintly formed trees, rounded into arches, pointing
like spires, overspreading like parasols, are so thick in foliage, so
entangled one with the other, that their dome is impenetrable to the
rain.

The soil, ever marshy, notwithstanding the insupportable heat,
disappears beneath an inextricable mass of creepers, ferns, and tufted
reeds, of a freshness and vigor of vegetation almost incredible,
reaching nearly to the top of the ajoupa, which lies hid like a nest
among the grass.

Nothing can be more suffocating than the atmosphere, heavily laden with
moist exhalations like the steam of hot water, and impregnated with
the strongest and sharpest scents; for the cinnamon-tree, ginger-plant,
stephanotis and Cape jasmine, mixed with these trees and creepers,
spread around in puffs their penetrating odors. A roof, formed of large
Indian fig-leaves, covers the cabin; at one end is a square opening,
which serves for a window, s