life are remembered, that the persons
composing this society should be indolent, luxurious, and imperious. On
the other hand, an abundance of leisure, and a consciousness of racial
superiority acquired by habits of command exercised for several
generations, endow it with some of the finer qualities associated with
ancient society based upon the institution of slavery.

Nor must we forget that the Dutch are not mere "birds of passage" in
Java, as is the case with the English in India. On the contrary, the
majority of the Dutch residents are persons whose families have been
settled in the island for many generations, and who look upon Java as
their home. One has only to look round in the streets of Weltevreden to
realize the fact that Batavia is a colony, not merely a possession. From
seven to eight in the morning, troops of boys and girls are to be seen
going to school. The little girls are dressed in light materials; they
do not wear either hats or bonnets, and rarely carry sunshades. The boys
wear brown holland trousers and jackets, and the military cap of a
continental school. Although children are sent to Holland for social
reasons, the climate of Java does not require that painful separation of
parents and children which is one of the disagreeable accidents of
Indian life. On the contrary, the Dutch race appears to have developed
favourably in Java, and the colonial-born women are famous for the
beauty of their complexions and for the fineness of their physique.
Another test of the social condition of a community is its shops. In
Batavia there are excellent shops. Not merely can the newest books, and
the cleverest etchings, and all the numberless refinements of Bond
Street be obtained, but the manners of the tradespeople indicate that
they are accustomed to deal with persons who require to be served
promptly, and with the best.

In addition to the native and Chinese population, there are seven
thousand Europeans resident in Batavia. As most of these latter are
persons whose various employments allow them a good deal of "leisure,"
there is a corresponding amount of social activity. This is regulated by
the rules of old-fashioned continental society, with such innovations as
have been rendered necessary or merely suggested by the special
conditions of the place and climate. As the official class is the basis
upon which Batavian society rests, it is not surprising that ceremony
should play an important part in its sy