s, with the central ball of ivory
whiteness in each fairy cup, suggest fugitive essences of strawberry
and nectarine combined with orange to produce this equatorial marvel,
also considered perfectly wholesome. The mangosteen, ripening just
north or south of the Equator, according to the alternations of the wet
and dry seasons, cannot be preserved long enough to reach the temperate
zone, and though every year shows fresh varieties of tropical fruit
successfully transported to European markets, the mangosteen remains
unknown outside the narrow radius of the equatorial region to which the
tree is indigenous. The flower markets blaze with many-coloured roses,
tons of gardenias and a wealth of white heavy-scented flowers, such as
tuberoses and Arabian jasmine. All the spices of the East, in fact,
seem breathing from these mounds of blossom, as well as from gums and
essences distilled from them in archaic fashion. Transparent sachets,
filled with the scented petals of _ylang-ylang_, fill the air with
intoxicating sweetness, and outside the busy _passer_, a
frangipanni-tree, the native _sumboya_ or "flower of the dead," just
opening a white crowd of golden-hearted blossoms to the sun, adds
another wave of perfume to the floral incense, steaming from earth to
sky with prodigal exuberance.

Batavia possesses few objects of interest. The dismal green-shuttered
Stadkirche, a relic of Dutch Calvinism; the earliest warehouse of the
Netherlands Company, a commonplace lighthouse, and the gate of Peter
Elberfeld's dwelling (now his tomb), with his spear-pierced skull above
the lintel, as a reminder of the sentence pronounced on traitors to the
Dutch Government, comprise the scanty catalogue. Antiquities and
archaeological remains fill a white museum of classical architecture on
the Koenig's Plein, a huge parade ground, flanked by the Palace of the
Governor-General. Gold and silver ornaments, gifts from tributary
princes, shield and helmet, dagger, and _kris_, of varied stages in
Malay civilisation, abound in these spacious halls, where every
Javanese industry may be studied. Buddhist and Hindu temples have
yielded up a treasury of images, censers, and accessories of worship,
the excavations of ruined cities in Central Java, long overgrown with
impenetrable jungle, opening a mine of archaeological wealth in musical
instruments, seals, coins, headgear, chairs and umbrellas of State.
Golden pipes and betel-boxes show the perfection of the