os_ at Surabaya, directing Captain Galvez to pick us up a
fortnight later at Batavia, at the other end of the island.

There are at present more than three thousand miles of railways in
operation in Java, about two-thirds of which are the property of the
government. With a few exceptions, the lines are narrow gauge. The
railway carriages are a curious combination of English, Swiss and
American construction, being divided into compartments, which are
separated by swinging half-doors, like those which used to be
associated with saloons. The seats in the second-class compartments,
which are covered with cane, are decidedly more comfortable than those
of the first class, which are upholstered in leather. Owing to the
excessive heat and humidity, the leather has the annoying habit of
adhering to one's clothing, so that you frequently leave the train
after a long journey with a section of the seat-covering sticking to
your trousers or with a section of your trousers sticking to the seat.
To avoid the discomfort of the midday heat, the long-distance express
trains usually start at daybreak and reach their destinations at noon,
which, though doubtless a sensible custom, necessitates the traveler
arising when it is still dark. The express trains have dining cars, in
which a meal of sorts can be had for two guilders (about eighty cents)
and the first and second-class carriages are equipped with electric
fans and screens. In spite of these conveniences, however, travel in
Java is hot and dusty and generally disagreeable. After a railway
journey one needs a bath, a shave, a haircut, a shampoo, a massage, and
a complete outfit of fresh clothes before feeling respectable again.

In many respects, motoring is more comfortable than railway travel. The
roads throughout the island are excellent and have been carefully
marked by the Java Motor Club, though fast driving is made dangerous by
the bullock carts, pack trains and carabaos, which pay no attention to
the rules of the road. Nor is motoring particularly expensive, for an
excellent seven-passenger car of a well-known American make can be
hired for forty dollars a day. Visitors to Java should bear in mind,
however, that all their motoring and sight-seeing must be done in the
morning, as, during the wet season, it invariably rains in torrents
during the greater part of every afternoon.

The hotels of Java, taking them by and large, are moderately good,
while certain of them, such as