nd after a week at Garvet on again to Djoedja, Solo, Semarang, etc.,
but the traveller had already had sufficient of hotel life in Java, and
so determined to at once avail himself of a kind invitation he had
received to stay on an estate, not many miles from Soekaboemi. After a
few hours' rail in a first-class carriage (this fact is worth recording
as it was very seldom that such accommodation could be had, even if a
first-class ticket had been issued), he duly reached the station where
he had been instructed to alight. Here his host had sent two ponies to
meet him, one for himself and one for his servant, as well as several
coolies to carry his luggage. So, Abu being left at the house of the
stationmaster in care of the rest of the luggage (a terrible quantity,
the cost of its transport almost equalled the first-class fare of its
owner), X., followed by Usoof, started on the ten mile ride which led to
their destination. The path was a very rough one, and for the first
portion of the distance the way was through an open country planted with
padi as far as the eye could reach. The little ponies cared nothing for
the stony path, and went gamely along as though accustomed to canter on
a hard high road. After crossing the valley the route began to ascend
the range of hills, at the summit of which, 2,000 feet high, the estate
was situated. For almost the entire length of this ascent the view was
so glorious that the traveller continued to exclaim in wonder to his
companion to stop and look. Usoof who, as has been related, was a native
of the country, affected to gaze at it with the unconcern of a
proprietor, merely reminding his master that he had always said, that
his was a very fine country. For miles below the padi fields stretched
away narrowing in the distance, and here and there amidst this expanse
of emerald green were dotted little clumps of green of a darker shade,
these being the trees surrounding the clusters of houses inhabited by
the fortunate owners of the land. And every now and again athwart the
green carpet, stretched out below, glittered belts of water sparkling
like silver in the sun. The hills, which were also all planted with
padi, looked like grassy slopes with a back-ground formed by terraces of
hill-tops. One above the other they lay in ranges, until, in the
furthest distance, mountains of noble height towered like giants above
them all. It surely was a view worth going far to see, a wealth of green
suc