riages, having first
driven to the business quarter to bring home the "tuan besar" or head of
the family. Greetings are exchanged with friends by the way, and, while
the young folks stroll off in happy groups, the elders alight to drink
beer or wine at one or other of the famous open-air restaurants. There
is a general air of prosperity and a spirit of gaiety which one does not
usually associate with our Dutch cousins in the depressing humid
atmosphere of Holland. One soon catches the spirit of the place the more
readily if one has spent any time on the Continent.

On band nights the Harmonic or Concordia Clubs, two beautiful and
commodious buildings replete with every comfort, become the rendezvous
of old and young, and dancing is kept up till half-past eight o'clock.
It must be confessed that it made one perspire to see the dancers tread
a measure to a popular waltz, but there could be no question of the
enjoyment of those who participated.

There are two Batavias. There is the old town, founded in 1619 as the
capital of the Dutch East Indies upon the ruins of the ancient city of
Jakatra. This is the portion of the town where the business is done,
with the famous Kali Besar, the Lombard Street and Fenchurch Street of
Batavia.

The quarter is not particularly attractive. But after experience of the
filthy Chinese quarters of Singapore, Hongkong and Shanghai, it is
satisfying to European self-respect to observe how Dutch officialdom has
asserted the claims of hygiene and cleanliness upon the Asiatic
residents. The objectionable hanging Chinese signboards are noticeably
absent in Batavia, as in all other towns throughout Java, and something
has been done to make less clamant the odoriferous articles of Chinese
commerce. The Dutch have proved that the Chinese are amenable to
European notions if only firmness is shown by those in authority.

Then there is the residential town, Weltervreden with its broad
tree-lined avenues and palatial pavilion hotels and private villa
establishments.

In style, the European houses are quite unlike those erected by the
Spaniards in the Philippine Islands, or the British in the Malay
Peninsula. They are not raised to any great height from the ground.
Three or four wide low steps lead on to a capacious white marble
verandah, the lofty roof of which is supported by shapely pillars with
Grecian cornices. Upon the polished surface of the ample hall are strewn
rugs of beautiful design or t