WILD PEACOCKS.

117 life, that in the very country where, five hundred years ago, these grand works were being yearly executed, the inhabitants now only build rude houses of bamboo and thatch, and look upon these relics of their forefathers with ignorant amazement, as the undoubted productions of giants or of demons. It is much to be regretted that the Dutch Government do not take vigorous steps for the preservation of these ruins from the destroying agency of tropical vegetation, and for the collection of the fine sculptures which are everywhere scattered over the land.

Wonosalem is situated about a thousand feet above the sea, but unfortunately it is at a distance from the forest, and is surrounded by coffee-plantations, thickets of bamboo and coarse grasses. It was too far to walk back daily to the forest, and in other directions I could find no collectingground for insects. The place was, however, famous for peacocks, and my boy soon shot several of these magnificent birds, whose flesh we found to be tender, white, and delicate, and similar to that of a turkey. The Java peacock is a different species from that of India, the neck being covered with scarletlike green feathers, and the crest of a different form, but the eyed train is equally large and equally beautiful. It is a singular fact in geographical distribution that the peacock should not be found in Sumatra or Borneo, while the superb Argus, fire-backed, and ocellated pheasants of those islands. are equally unknown in Java. Exactly parallel is the fact that in Ceylon and Southern India, where the peacock abounds, there are none of the splendid Lophophori and other gorgeous pheasants which inhabit Northern India. It would seem as if the peacock can admit of no rivals in its domain. Were these birds rare in their native country, and unknown alive in Europe, they would assuredly be considered as the true princes of the feathered tribes, and altogether unrivalled for stateliness and beauty. As it is, I suppose scarcely any one, if asked to fix upon the most beautiful bird in the world, would name the peacock, any more than the Papuan savage or the Bugis trader would fix upon the bird of paradise for the same honor.

Three days after my arrival at Wonosalem my friend Mr.

Ball came to pay me a visit. He told me that two evenings before a boy had been killed and eaten by a tiger close to Madjo-agong. He was riding on a cart drawn by bullocks, and was coming home about dusk on the main road; and when not half a mile from the village a tiger sprang upon him, carried him off into the jungle close by, and devoured him. Next morning his remains were discovered, consisting only of a few mangled bones. The waidono had got together about seven hundred men, and was in chase of the animal, which, I afterward heard, they found and killed. They only use spears when in pursuit of a tiger in this way. They surround a large tract of country, and draw gradually together till the animal is inclosed in a compact ring of armed men. When he sees that there is no escape he generally makes a spring, and is received on a dozen spears, and almost instantly stabbed to death. The skin of an animal thus killed is, of course, worthless, and in this case the skull, which I had begged Mr. Ball to secure for me, was hacked to pieces to divide the teeth, which are worn as charms.

After a week at Wonosalem I returned to the foot of the mountain, to a village named Djapannan, which was surrounded by several patches of forest, and seemed altogether pretty well suited to my pursuits. The chief of the village had prepared two small bamboo rooms on one side of his own court-yard to accommodate me, and seemed inclined to assist me as much as he could. The weather was exceedingly hot and dry, no rain having fallen for several months, and there was, in consequence, a great scarcity of insects, and especially of beetles. I therefore devoted myself chiefly to obtaining a good set of the birds, and succeeded in making a tolerable. collection. All the peacocks we had hitherto shot had had short or imperfect tails, but I now obtained two magnificent specimens more than seven feet long, one of which I preserved entire, while I kept the train only attached to the tail of two or three others. When this bird is seen feeding on the ground, it appears wonderful how it can rise into the air with such a long and cumbersome train of feathers. It does so, however, with great ease, by running quickly for a short distance, and then rising obliquely, and will fly over trees of a considerable height. I also obtained here a specimen of the

TRIAL OF A THIEF.

119

rare green jungle-fowl (Gallus furcatus), whose back and neck are beautifully scaled with bronzy feathers, and whose smoothedged oval comb is of a violet-purple color, changing to green at the base. It is also remarkable in possessing a single large wattle beneath its throat, brightly colored in three patches of red, yellow, and blue. The common jungle-cock (Gallus bankiva) was also obtained here. It is almost exactly like a common game-cock, but the voice is different, being much shorter and more abrupt; whence its native name is bekéko. Six different kinds of woodpeckers and four kingfishers were found here, the fine hornbill (Buceros lunatus), more than four feet long, and the pretty little lorikeet (Loriculus pusillus), scarcely more than as many inches.

One morning, as I was preparing and arranging my specimens, I was told there was to be a trial; and presently four or five men came in and squatted down on a mat under the audience-shed in the court. The chief then came in with his clerk, and sat down opposite them. Each spoke in turn, telling his own tale, and then I found out that those who first entered were the prisoner, accuser, policemen, and witness, and that the prisoner was indicated solely by having a loose piece of cord twined round his wrists, but not tied. It was a case of robbery, and after the evidence was given and a few questions had been asked by the chief, the accused said a few words, and then sentence was pronounced, which was a fine. The parties then got up and walked away together, seeming quite friendly; and throughout there was nothing in the manner of any one present indicating passion or ill-feeling— a very good illustration of the Malayan type of character.

In a month's collecting at Wonosalem and Djapannan I accumulated ninety-eight species of birds, but a most miserable lot of insects. I then determined to leave East Java and try the more moist and luxuriant districts at the western extremity of the island. I returned to Sourabaya by water in a roomy boat, which brought myself, servants, and baggage at one-fifth the expense it had cost me to come to Modjokerto. The river has been rendered navigable by being carefully banked up, but with the usual effect of rendering the adjacent country liable occasionally to severe floods. An immense traffic passes down this river; and at a lock we

passed through, a mile of laden boats were waiting, two or three deep, which pass through in their turn six at a time.

A few days afterward I went by steamer to Batavia, where I staid about a week at the chief hotel, while I made arrangements for a trip into the interior. The business part of the city is near the harbor, but the hotels and all the residences of the officials and European merchants are in a suburb two

miles off, laid out in wide streets and squares so as to cover a great extent of ground. This is very inconvenient for visitors, as the only public conveyances are handsome two-horse carriages, whose lowest charge is five guilders (88. 4d.) for half a day, so that an hour's business in the morning and a visit in the evening costs 16s. 8d. a day for carriage-hire alone.

BATAVIA AND BUITENZORG.

121

Batavia agrees very well with Mr. Money's graphic ac count of it, except that his " clear-canals" were all muddy, and his "smooth gravel-drives" up to the houses were one and all formed of coarse pebbles, very painful to walk upon, and hardly explained by the fact that in Batavia every body drives, as it can hardly be supposed that people never walk in their gardens. The Hôtel des Indes was very comfortable, each visitor having a sitting-room and bedroom opening on a veranda, where he can take his morning coffee and afternoon tea. In the centre of the quadrangle is a building containing a number of marble baths always ready for use; and there is an excellent table d'hôte breakfast at ten, and dinner at six, for all which there is a moderate charge per day.

I went by coach to Buitenzorg, forty miles inland and about a thousand feet above the sea, celebrated for its delicious climate and its Botanical Gardens. With the latter I was somewhat disappointed. The walks were all of loose pebbles, making any lengthened wanderings about them very tiring and painful under a tropical sun. The gardens are no doubt wonderfully rich in tropical and especially in Malayan plants, but there is a great absence of skillful laying-out; there are not enough men to keep the place thoroughly in order, and the plants themselves are seldom to be compared for luxuriance and beauty to the same species grown in our hot-houses. This can easily be explained. The plants can rarely be placed in natural or very favorable conditions. The climate is either too hot or too cool, too moist or too dry, for a large proportion of them, and they seldom get the exact quantity of shade or the right quality of soil to suit them. In our stoves these varied conditions can be supplied to each individual plant far better than in a large garden, where the fact that the plants are most of them growing in or near their native country is supposed to preclude the necessity of giving them much individual attention. Still, however, there is much to admire here. There are avenues of stately palms, and clumps of bamboos of perhaps fifty different kinds, and an endless variety of tropical shrubs and trees with strange and beautiful foliage. As a change from the excessive heats of Batavia, Buitenzorg is a delightful abode. It is just elevated enough to have deliciously cool evenings and nights,