ference to my instructions in
recording the impressions the scenery made upon the traveller, and shall
therefore omit all mention of what he saw while descending the mountain.
He described it as wonderful, and those of my readers who have arrived
thus far will be prepared to admit the accuracy of the description.

The party reached Garvet in time to catch the two o'clock train to
Tassikmalaja, and thus make a start for Tjilatjap.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE QUEST FOR A MOTHER.

To start for Tjilatjap was such an unusual departure that it merits a
chapter all to itself. No one had apparently left Garvet for Tjilatjap
for years, since it had been pronounced to be one of the most unhealthy
places in the island. The correct thing for every traveller to do is to
go to Tassikmalaya for the night and proceed from thence to Djoeja by
train, go by carriage to Beroboeddoer, where a halt for the night can be
made at a Government Rest House. The drive is twenty-five miles. The
next morning the traveller should drive ten miles further to Magelang,
while his luggage goes by train or bullock cart. From Magelang Amberawa
is reached by another drive of twenty miles, and from here the railway
can be taken to Semerang or back to Djoeja, and from there to Solo, a
three hours' journey.

X. was informed that everyone took this route, but he persisted in
starting for Tjilatjap, notwithstanding that the lady who presided over
the hotel assured him that it was the most fever stricken port in the
country. Had he known then as much as he subsequently learnt of the evil
reputation of the place it is probable that the traveller might have
changed his plans. As it was, he only replied that he was inured to
fever and did not mind. At that time he had no particular reason for
going to one place more than another, and therefore the one which drove
him in this direction was good enough to serve his purpose. Usoof
desired to commence the search for his mother. He had no recollection of
the village where he was born, but believed it to be somewhere near the
coast which, considering the country was an island, was somewhat a vague
indication. After assisting his Tuan to study a map he exclaimed that
the name Tjilatjap sounded familiar to him, and sure enough it was a
large town on the coast. Now, he argued, it could not be familiar unless
he had heard it before, and that could only have been when he was in
Java, and as he was then little more than a bab