The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1920-04-08

HlfS]wPSlH AouiiSeS dc WclCOuFcu cordially
E&12g and the customs officials are eff
ficient about it, so that the first impression
of Java is pleasant. Some say that it is Just
as easy to get out of as into Java, limiting
that the Dutch resent misbehavior and unfair
criticism and that undesirable visitors are
sometimes requested to leave forthwith.
Most visitors land at Tandjong Prick,
the harbor for Batavia, about seven miles
from the city. This harbor was built be-
tween 1877 and 1886, and was considered
one of the finest colonial harbors in the
world until some of the British harbors ex-
celled, and now the Dutch are re-establish-
ing their claim for this distinction with the
harbor construction at Soerabaya. Despite
the fact that there are two harbors, outer
and inner, the commerce of Batavia has
really outgrown the facilities offered by the
present harbor works.
The outer harbor has a depth of 26
feet, and is protected by two breakwaters,
each 5000 feet in length. The inner har-
Dor is some $500 feet long and over 500 feet
wide, with quays on each side. The east
quay has coaling sheds. The piers are of
concrete construction, with spur tracks from
the railway. The cost of this harbor was
over SIC, 100000.
About a quarter of an hours drive from
7 Tandjong, in one of those funny antiquated
hacks drawn by ponies, is Petit Trouville,"
where sea bathing may be enjoyed. The
bathing pool is inclosed to keep out crocodiles
and is probably prfectly safe, but l have
seen fences on land give way before rush.
ing bull and convenient tree provided the
protection which the fence failed to give.
So refrained from enjoying the security of
the fenced-in pool. A crocodile is fully as
powerful and as fast as an infuriated bull,
and he is just as immune to reason. The
Dutch have not provided convenient trees
as an extra safeguard, but most of them
know the crocodiles by name and do not
seem afraid of them. 1t is different with
strangers.
The drive from Tandjong Prick to
Batavia is fitting prelude to tour of Java
In this short drive, seven miles or so, is
found the happy combination of good roads,
an unsurpassed luxuriance of tropical vege-
tation and kaleidoscope whirligig of peo-
pies, native and foreign, dressed in their own
peculiar manners and going about their bus
iness in their individual ways.
All the way to Batavia the road runs
along the canal, and along the canal are rice
fields, coconut groves, native settlements and
a new surprise at every turn of the way.
Tall coconut palms reach out over the canal
from the great groves along the banks.
Nestled among them are the picturesque
native houses with their bamboo woven sides
and thatched roofs; overhead is the turquoise
blue sky so peculiar to the tropics, and to in
tensify its blueness are the cotton clouds as
motionless as the palms.
All this beauty is shown both above and
below, for there in the canal is the reflection
of the whole scene, even to the cattle, the
sleek bumped kind, the buffalo and the goats.
We must not forget the goats. They are as
inevitable as they are innumerable. Goats
are to Java what dogs are to America. They
run at will-are everybodys friend.
If there is a fight or fire, they scamper
about on the edge of the crowd. If tire
blows out, there they are, eagerly awaiting
any scraps of rubber or cloth which may be
thrown away. They are the comedians of
metropolitan Java. In the provinces there
the monkeys are as funny as at the ZOO.
The island has been dominated in turn
by the Hindus, the Arabians, the Portu-
guese, the Spanish, and in 1896 the Dutch
took control.
From then until 1895 Holland and
England fought like country cousins over
possession of the islands, and they finally
whacked up and called quits. England took
parts of Africa, all of Ceylon and spots along
the China coast, but left the Indies to Hol-
land, after taking slice off Borneo and an
end off New Guinea.
So we find the Dutch in possession of