Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-04-14
GARDEN OF THE ORIENT
DIR. EDWORDS BASKING IN THE
SUNLIGHT OF JAVA.
The Most Productive, Most Fertile,
Most POpulOus and Best Gov
erned Country i'm the World.

Batavia, Java, April AT last
| am in the Garden of the Orient"
and indeed it is we'll named. Java is
tairest of that great group of islands
stretching away from Australia to
the east coast of Asia. This Malay
archipelago is the greatest wonder
of the world-the mystery of the
ages. 1t is a vast, almost unknown.
yet the most peculiar portion of
the terrestrial globe. The archipel-
ago is composed of thousands of ISL
ands, from greatest to smallest, and
contains eight million square miles.
of territory. The wonderful and
pOpulous Malay race, most peculiar
of all the human family, people this
group of islands in teeming millions,
with an ancestry which lies so deep
ly hidden in the night of Time that
the degenerate natives of today, liv-.
ing in huts of bamboo, look up
on ruins of agricultural grandeur
which dot the hills with remains of
temples so vast and so beautiful
yet so ancient that all knowledge
Of their origin has been lost to
mans memory. Not even a legend
remains to tell of the mighty and
wonderful race of civilized people
who built these structures which
surpass in beauty and grandeur the
pyramids of Egypt, the temple of
India and the Toocalis of Central
America
Bathed in the warm waters of
the Indian ocean, and the China
and Java seas, far within the trop-
les and in the region of greatest
heat and most abundant rains this
island may be classed as a country
different from the rest of the world.
different in race. government.
speech, climate and animate nature.
II is without doubt the most pro-
ductive. tie most fertile, the most
popuious and the best governed
island in the world The Holland
ers have shown civilization the true
way 10 bring an alien and semi-sav-
age race into highest development
with ncne of the degeneracy which
marks usual attempts at civilization.
here the naturalist may find the
Strangest specimens. Animals. birds
reptiles and fishes that are TO be
found nowhere else in the world
are here, in such numbers as to be
a constant surprise. Here the pea
fowl, which we see at home adorn-
ing lawns or parks, roam in innum-
cradle fiOcks in a state of wildness
similar TO the wild turkey in Amer
lea. The common barnyard fowl
of our home runs wild here, and
shows the same traits which mark
their civilized cousins which have
been trained through long genera
tions of domesticity. | saw a beau
tiful brown leghOrn cock in the
woods recently and supposed of
course and it belonged TO some ma
tive. | was told that it was wild
and that this was the original home
of the fighting cocks of civilization.
The Guinea fowl, which disturbs
the quiet of our early morning on
many farm in the United States
is native wild bird here, shy as
the grouse or prairie chicken.
Monkeys in great droves roam
the woods. impinge upon the homes
and make themselves the delight
and pest of travellers. AS we drove
through dense tropical forest yes
terday troup of little monkeys
followed us. chattering and playing
III the trees. NOW ana then mo- G
venturesOme members of the band
would leap upon the top of the car
riage and ride with us for several
rods and then jump back to the
trees to chatter about their exper-
ience. Sometimes they ran i'm
droves in front of the little ponies
drawing the carriage, as if trying
TO obstruct our passage.
Harmless serpents of most beau
tiful hues vie with others that carry
the most deadly poisons. Alligators
seem but greater growth of the
iguauas, and these in turn seem
but larger Lizards, and they all ap-
pear but part of the general scheme
of strangeness. This is the lower
life of Java forests. and one could
well spend years here always see
ing something new and something
strange.
| have tried to give my readers
a brief idea of the wonderful coun-
try in which / shall spend several
weeks. and in my next few letters
will give details of excursions among
the people and among the wilds.
CLARENCE E. EDWORDS.