ing of
metals steeped in lime-juice and arsenic, which destroy the iron and
retain the ingrained pattern. The chains of mingled brass and silver
show exquisite designs and a special charm of colour, in the soft
golden hue and subdued gleam of the heavy links, with their
richly-enamelled talismans of ruby and turquoise enamel. Soft voices,
tranquil movements, and courteous manners are the age-long heritage of
Malay idiosyncracy, and even in the crowded _passer_, with its horde of
buyers and sellers, noise and dispute are non-existent. It is a market
of dreamland, and though echoes of marching feet and music of native
bands remind us that we are in imperial Sourakarta, the busy hive of
the _passer_ suggests a panoramic picture of native life, rather than
the pushing, jostling crowd represented by the ordinary idea of a
market in that Western hemisphere which, in bestowing so many priceless
gifts on humanity, has taken from it the old-world grace of repose.

SOURABAYA AND THE TENGGER.

The port of Sourabaya, supreme in mercantile importance, ranks as the
second city of Java, as it contains the military headquarters, the
principal dockyards, and the arsenal. Leagues of rice and sugar-cane
lie between Solo and Sourabaya, the landscape varied by gloomy teak
woods, feathery tamarinds, and stately mango trees. White towns nestle
in rich vegetation, and the green common known as the _aloon-aloon_
marks each hybrid suburb, Europeanized by Dutch canals, white bridges,
and red-tiled houses, planted amid a riotous wealth of palm and banana.
A broad river, brimming over from the deluge of the previous night,
flows through burning Sourabaya; a canal, gay with painted _praus_
connecting it with the vast harbour, where shipping of all nations lies
at anchor, the sheltered roads bristling with a forest of masts and
funnels. Bungalows, in gorgeous gardens, flank dusky avenues of
colossal trees, for even Sourabaya, the hottest place in steaming Java,
enjoys "a boundless contiguity of shade." In the _sawa_ fields
broad-eaved huts, set on stilts above the swamp, protect the brown boys
who frighten birds from the rice, for the clapping and shouting must be
carried on under shelter from the ardent sun. No air blows from the
rippling water, set with acres of lotus-beds, the fringed chalices of
rose and azure swaying on their plate-like leaves of palest green. The
heterogeneous character of Sourabaya gives unwonted interest to the
stre