for invalids, and the hotel accommodation
is spoken of in terms of the highest praise by all who have been there.

When we drove away from Sindanglaya at seven o'clock on the following
morning, the white crater wall of the Gedeh stood out like a huge lump
of marble in the morning sun.

Our route lay through tea, coffee and cocoa plantations, and richly
cultivated country to Tjiandjoer--a thriving little mountain town, with
an air of prosperity and progress,--where we joined the train at 9.30
a.m. for Padalarang. Here, at 11.10 a.m., a change was made to the
express from Batavia, and Maos was reached at 5.46 p.m. It had been our
intention to stay overnight at Bandoeng, strongly recommended by Mr.
Gantvoort, the courteous manager of the Hotel des Indes in Batavia, but
we pressed on with the intention of devoting more time to the eastern
end of the island. It was well we did so, for, shortly after leaving
Padalarang, rain began to fall in torrents, and the afternoon and night
were passed in a severe thunderstorm which was to cause us delay. Part
of the line was washed away near Moentilan, and our train was over three
hours late in reaching Djocjakarta on the following day.

At Maos, there is a commodious, well-built, comfortable passagrahan or
government rest-house, where four of us ate our meal in solemn silence,
until a query by ourselves when the coffee arrived broke the icy reserve
of the quartette, and opened the way for an interesting conversation.

It is customary to make fun of English reserve, but our observation
convinced us that the Dutch are no whit behind us in that respect where
fellow-Dutch are concerned. On the other hand, nothing could have
exceeded the kindness and courtesy with which we were treated from one
end of Java to the other. Speaking no Dutch, we had looked forward to
many tedious days, but our fears were needless, for, wherever we went,
we met pleasant English-speaking Dutchmen, who proved the most
entertaining of companions, and we take this opportunity of
acknowledging the courteous assistance we received from time to time. On
the score of not speaking Dutch or Malay, no English man or woman need
be deterred from visiting Java. English is spoken at all the hotels, and
though all the train conductors and stationmasters may not do so, there
is sure to be an educated Dutchman or lady in the car to whom one may
turn for help, which is always readily given.

On one occasion, we had an interest