entlemen.

But for glories of this order, the amateur must travel to some
distance; he must penetrate the deep and trackless forests of the
southern Sultan, or ascend to the volcanic regions of the interior.

We now hasten to the close of these interesting volumes. The whole
party seem to have been treated with remarkable civility, and to have
been shown all kinds of strange things. Among the other curiosities,
they were taken to visit the Sultan of Madura, a hospitable old man,
who treated them like fellow sultans, paraded his guards for them,
gave them a feast which seemed to be all but interminable, played the
native fiddle for them, led his own royal orchestra with some skill,
played _vingt-et-un_ with them, and finished by a species of _ombres
Chinoises_, or shadowy drama, which lasted through the whole night. As
the Englishmen began to droop, he exercised all the English which he
possessed, to offer them "a glass of grog," which he evidently
considered to be essential to English enjoyment; and after his
visitors had retired to rest, he continued to sit out the play--which
lasted the mortal measure of ten hours; a feat exceeding the
endurance, though probably not the _ennui_, of a regular amateur of
the Italian Opera. The populace, too, exhibited the same dramatic
ardour, for they continued gazing, laughing, and shouting, with all
the perseverance of their old sovereign.

The revenues of this chief are enormous, though they amount only to
L8,000 sterling; but then we are to recollect that the wages of a
Javanese workman are but five duits, or five-sixths of an English
penny; and that for this he can "live very well." Man gets plantains
and fruits for almost nothing. His clothing is made of a simple
wrapper, and a day or two's cutting of bamboo gives him a very
sufficient house. Let this be compared with the Irish peasant,
shivering through three months of winter, and six months of wet,
paying five pounds an acre for his swampy potatoes, and out of his
holding paying tithe, tax, county rates, and all the other
encumbrances of what the political economists call "a highly civilised
state of society." We say "_vive le systeme feodal, vive la sauvagerie
Javannaise_."

One half of the Sultan's revenue arises from a singular source--the
sale of birds' nests, which are found in the rocks, and which the
Chinese purchase as a restorative. The Chinese, a remarkably gross and
voluptuous people, are the greatest quacks on