ean settlements in
Java into three classes; the healthy, or mountain districts, where the
air is dry, and the temperature moderate; the less healthy, which are
warm and damp; and finally, the positively pestiferous, where, besides
tremendous heat and great moisture, the atmosphere is laden with marsh
miasmata. Weltevrede, Ryswyk, and the other villages, or rather,
_faubourgs_, south of Batavia, belong to the second class; Batavia
itself, Bantam, Cheribon, Tubang, and Banjowangie, to the third, or
worst division. And Dr. Selberg informs us, that the only two upas-trees
whose existence he could ascertain, grow at Cheribon and Banjowangie,
which of course was likely to confirm the popular superstition
concerning the baneful influence of that tree. The coincidence, which at
first appears remarkable, is of easy explanation, the upas preferring a
swampy soil.

With respect to the possible longevity of Europeans in Java, Dr.
Selberg's account materially differs from Mr. Davidson's estimate. The
Dutch _employes_ have to serve sixteen years in the colony to be
entitled to a furlough and free passage home, and twenty years for a
pension. Very few, according to the doctor, live long enough to enjoy
the one or the other. And those who do, buy the privilege at a dear
rate. Their emaciated bodies, enfeebled minds, thin hair, and dim eyes,
show them to be blighted in their prime. True it is that, with few
exceptions, they utterly neglect the primary conditions of health in a
hot country. They enervate themselves by sensual indulgences, and
consume spirits and spices by wholesale. There is an absurd belief
amongst them, that drink keeps off disease and preserves life, a case
of _aut bibendum aut moriendum_; whereas the truth is precisely the
contrary, for in that climate spirits are poison. The fact probably is,
that they drink to dispel ennui, and to banish, at least for a while,
the regret they feel at having exchanged Europe for Java. Dr. Selberg,
states, that every European he spoke to in the colony, longed to leave
it. But the voyage home is costly, and so they linger on until death or
their furlough relieves them. Some lucky ones succeed in making rapid
fortunes, but these are the very few, whose example, however, suffices
to seduce others of their countrymen from their Dutch comforts, to brave
fevers, tigers, mosquitoes, and the other great and little perils of
Java, in pursuit of wealth which they rarely acquire, and which, whe