andard of
examination, etc., the scale of pay and of pensions falls far short of
its prototype. And it may be mentioned here, as showing what an
important part naval officers are expected to play in Dutch East India,
that all midshipmen have to pass in the Malay language. The command of
the squadron on the waters of Netherlands India is the prize of the
service, to the holding of which the most distinguished naval officers
look forward. The Governor General of the Dutch possessions in the East
is known as His Excellency during his term of office. The admiral who
commands there not only has the same title during the years of his
command, but is entitled to retain it for the remainder of his life. In
the course of conversation the Resident kindly informed X. that he must
not be annoyed at being obliged to obtain a permit to travel, since it
had been found necessary to insist that even his own countrymen should
do so, and he had recently caused notices to be issued and posted in all
the steamers and hotels, so that there might be no misunderstanding in
the matter. After the concert and the conclusion of a most agreeable
evening X. was introduced to the Harmonic Club, where he had supper.

This, like the Concordia, is a magnificent building with marble pillars
and floors, more in accordance with his early ideas of the gorgeous East
than anything which the traveller had seen. The Harmonic Club was built
during the time when Java was an English possession--and his informant,
the Englishman, sighed. It was not long before the new comer also
sighed, when, having seen the beauties of this glorious country, he
remembered that but for the blindness of some former rulers, unmindful
of the advice of those on the spot who should know, another India might
have been held for England. But as the natural beauty of the country was
enhanced and made complete by the sight of universal prosperity and
content, the sound of such a sigh from an English visitor is the
greatest compliment the present proprietors could be paid.

The first day of X.'s stay in Java was now over--a pleasant day enough,
as he admitted to himself, after a long seclusion in the jungle--the
place on which, after all, his last thoughts rested, that negatively
happy jungle and its kindly inhabitants--represented to his immediate
view by two inanimate bundles on the floor entrenched behind a barricade
of boxes in a corner of the room. These were the faithful Usoof and Abu,