er notices of the same
kind.

This finished, the Javanese barks rowed swiftly along side; these
small crafts are generally made of the trunk of a tree, neatly
hollowed out; they are filled with fruit, fowls, eggs, apes, parrots,
shells, and such like wares, with which the owner drives a profitable
trade with the ships. He sits on a little bench in the midst of his
merchandize with a short, broad oar in either hand; with this he
propels his fragile vessel; which is often not more than an inch or
two above the water's edge. After we had exchanged our pure Spanish
piastres, which is the coin they most prefer, for such things as we
needed, the traffic with the sailors commenced.

Such old jackets, woolen shirts, caps and whatever other articles of
clothing they could spare were bartered for eggs, cocoanuts, pine
apples and other eatables. This accounts for the singular garb of the
Javanese boatmen,--striped shirts, woolen caps and duck trowsers are
strangely mingled with portions of the oriental dress, and a sailor's
jacket with large brass buttons is considered quite ornamental. Next
to clothing they prefer knives, scissors and articles of iron ware. In
general the Javanese are pretty good judges of the value of these
articles, and mostly contrive to make a more profitable traffic from
their fruit and poultry than the European sailor with his stock of old
clothes. In the evening it is often the case at this time of year that
constant lightnings play round the horizon, illumining the picturesque
shores of Java and Sumatra. Impenetrable darkness shrouds both earth
and sea, and only by the light of the electric flash is the mariner
shown how to keep off land, and with shortened sail holds on his way.
On board of all vessels, on binnacle, masts and spars are hung lighted
lanterns in order to avoid collision with each other, for in the thick
darkness that envelopes all around, no object can be discerned at a
distance of three yards. In the meantime the wind pipes shrilly
through the shrouds, and lashes the waves into foam white as
snow-wreaths. After a few hours all again is still, no breeze disturbs
the ocean, the sails flap lazily against the mast, the waves subside
to a glassy smoothness, and the rain gradually ceases as the dawn
approaches. So pass the nights in this climate during the rainy
season.

In the morning we found ourselves surrounded with a great number of
vessels, the white sails of European ships covered th