Evening star., 1901-10-05
Queer Feature of Travel in the Dutch
East Indies.
ROAD BUILDING In THE TROPICS
When Harvest Time Comes in
the Rice Lands.
THE TEAKWOOD FORESTS
Copyright, 1901. by Frank C. Carpenter)

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
MACS. Java.
Railways in Java, Yes. hundreds of miles
of them, I have just crossed the island on
a trunk line as long as from Boston to
Pittsburg, and l write these notes at the
station of Macs about half way between
SOerbaya and Batavia. The Dutch of the
East Indies have ten times much rail-
road as we have in the Philippines. Their
roads are the best of their kind, and al
though they are almost on the equator,
that red-hOt belt about Mother Earths
waist. they are built to stay. This is one
of the most mountainous lands in the
world. where it never rains but it pours;
but nevertheless the road beds and en-
bankments are such that they withstand
BE tropical torrents. In many places the
banks are walled with stones. and in others
ihey are criss-crossed by lines of stones
two feet wide There are many culverts
and also stone drains. plastered and white
washed so that they form white lines rum
ming down The green banks.
This is irrigated land. For thousands IF
years before the Dutch came the Javanese
had terraced the mountains and carried the
water in dqueducts from one hill to the
other. In the railroads the irrigation syS-
TEN had to be preserved. and in places the
water is now carried high over the tracks.
Sometimes there are waterways above and
below the roads. and not infrequently you
pass a great tank in which the water is
syphoned from one side of the track to the
other.
One of the railroad difficulties here is
keeping down the vegetation. The road
beds must be kept perfectly clean, and the
grass on the entertainments is shaved like
lawn. The tracks are ballaSted with
rock, and the ballast protected by little
walls of cObblestOnes four inches high,
WHICH form gutter outside the line.
Javanese Tramways.
Not only the trunk lines. but also the
tramways of Java are we'll built. There
a number of steam tramways now be-
ing constructed, and many such are doing
quite well. 1 went over the one from
DjOkia to Magelang a short time ago with
its civil engineer. This was Mr.. ]. F. Van
Benthen van den Berg. a young who
was educated at the Lehigh University. and
who graduated there in 1895. He is a rel
atiVe of Lord Van Benthen van den Berg,
the Dutch resident governor at Bandong.
His road is about forty-eight miles long,
and it pays on account of the heavy ship
mentS of tobacco and sugar from the
plantations through which it runs The
tram is built on high embankments
throughout most of its course. 1t has some
steep grades. and II is crossed above and
below by drains and artificial waterways.
was interested in the protection of the
bridges by huge crates made of bamboo
filled with stones. If you will imagine a
bamboo basket as big as a railroad car
filed with boulders of various sizes, thrown
into stream above a bridge to break the
flood, you may get an idea of such protec-
tion. Baskets of this kind are of ali sizes
They are used to hold up the embankments
and to prevent washings and to strengthen
all sorts of waterways.
At the Railroad Stations.
The stations are better kept here than
In the United States. They are well built
being made of stone and stucco. covered
with wIitewash and rooted with red tiles
master. 1t has lawn and garden about
1t and palm trees and tropical flowers
Many of the stations have post offices con-
nected with them, and all have telegraph
Offices and telephones The ticket agents
are often Chinese. They are the cashiers
of the country, and handle the greater
part of the change
The are first, second and third-cla
the natives generally taxing the latter. The
fares are low and the third-clasS tickets
make up the largest part of the receipts of
the road. They amount to about s6,O0OOOo
year.
Every large station has its first and sec
ond-class waiting rooms, and each has
restaurant, where you can get fair meal
for from 30 to 10 cents. Before you reach
the meal stations the conductor telegraphs
ahead and orders your dinner. or you can
have him telegraph for dinner to be
brought TO you on the train. Such meals
are served in sets OF porcelain boxes, which
rest one over the other, a half-dozen boxes
comprising ordinary train luncheon.
Each box contains some not soup, meat or
a vegetable, and these. with fruit. form the
menu A servant brings the food into the
train and waits upon you while you eat
leaving you at the next station. TO go back
ON another train with the dishes.
Across Java by Rail.
My ticket from Batavia to SOerbaya cost
me 81 guldens an average of about 2a.
cents per mile This was first-class Had
taken secOnd-class l could have gone for
cents and third-class for six-tenths of a
cent mile. / had servant with me and
! sent him third-class. l paid extra bag
gage all over sixty-siX pounds, at the
rate Of . cents a pound. and my baggage
cCst almost as much my ticket.
Let me give you a picture OF the first
class compartment which / had from Seer
baya to Maos.~ IL was about as wide as