he railway management will be able to
turn its attention to the commissariat arrangements, with a view to
their improvement, and, when they do so, we hope they will leave out the
beefsteak altogether and provide more variety and daintier, more
inviting, and more palatable viands.

A fair rate of speed is maintained, and it is possible to go from
Batavia to Sourabaya, at the other end of the island, in two days. The
trains, of course, as in the Federated Malay States, run only from
sunrise to sundown, and the through traveller between the two principal
towns must sleep the night at Maos, where a commodious pasanggrahan or
rest-house provides clean, comfortable accommodation and wholesome food.
Only on two occasions were we belated on the railway, and both instances
were due to the one cause,--a wash-out on the line at Moentilan, the
result of a severe thunder and rain storm on the previous day and night.
The train was run down cautiously to the gap, passengers crossed over on
a temporary bridge to the train waiting on the other side, and the
baggage was transferred by a host of coolies. All this had to be done in
a torrential rain-storm, but the railway officials did all in their
power to make the conditions as little disagreeable as possible, and the
only inconvenience was the late arrival of some of the baggage at
Djocjakarta.

There was not much of interest on the morning run to Buitenzorg, but the
Dutch lady who carried on an animated conversation with four gentlemen
for the whole of the hour and a half introduced to us the possibilities
for expression in the Dutch equivalents of "Yes" and "No."

We had been prepared by Miss Scidmore's book for the beauties of
Buitenzorg, and for once expectation was more than realised.

The Dutch Governor-General van Imhoff was certainly well advised when he
selected this position as the official residence of the
Governor-General, and the Dutch horticulturists, than whom there are
probably none better, deserve to be congratulated upon the garden city
they have created out of the primeval jungle.

Part of the old palace was built by Governor-General Mossel, one hundred
and fifty years ago, and the original received additions during the
reigns of Daendels and Raffles. This structure was destroyed by an
earthquake in 1834, and the new palace, the first glimpse of which one
receives across an artificial lake, is a worthy residence for the
administrator of the Dutch Indies. The surf