The Tomahawk., 1920-02-26


p T IS very easy to enter Java. says
a writer in the New York Sun.
Tourists are welcomed cordially
and the customs officials are ef-
ficient about it, so that the first I'M
preston 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 criti-
cism and that undesirable visitors are
sometimes requested to leave forth
with.
Most visitors land at Tandjong Pri-
ok, the harbor for Batavia, about sew
en- miles from the city. This harbor
was built between 1877 and 1886, and
was considered one of the finest CO.
lonial harbors in the world until some
of the British harbors excelled, and
now the Dutch are re-establishing their
claim for this distinction with the
harbor construction at S0erabaya. De-
spite the fact that there are two har-
bors, outer and inner, the commerce
of Batavia has really outgrown the
facilities offered by the present har-
Dor works.
The outer harbor has depth of 26
feet, and is protected by two break
waters, each 5000 feet In length. The
inner harbor 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 con-
struction, with spur tracks from the
railway. The cost Of this harbor was
over $1O,5O0,0oo.
Protected From crocodiles.
About q quarter of an hours drive
from Tandjong, in one Of those funny
antiouated hacks drawn by ponies, is
"Petit Trouville," where sea bathing
may be enjoyed. The bathing pool Is
inclosed to keen out crocodiles and Is
probably perfectly safe, but 1 have
seen fences on lapd give way before
a rushing bull and convenient tree
provided the protection which the
fence failed to give. So I refrained
from enjoying the security of the
fenced-in pool. A crocodile is fully as
powerful and as fast as an Infatuated
bull, and he is just as immune to rea-
son. The Dutch have not provided
convenient trees as an extra safe
guard, but most Of them know the
crocodiles by name and do not seem
afraid Of them. It is different with
strangers. ;
The drive from Tandjong Prick to
Batavia is a fitting prelude to tour
of Java. In this short drive, seven
miles or So is found the happy COM
bination of good roads, an unsurpassed
luxuriance Of tropical vegetation and
q kaleidoscope whirligfg of peoples
native and foreign, dressed in their
own peculiar manners and going about
their business 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 ev'
ery turn Of the way. Tall coconut
nalms reach out over the canal from
the great groves along the banks.
Nestled among them are the pictur-
esoue native houses with their bamboo
woven sides and matched roofs; over
head is the turquoise blue sky so pc
peculiar to the tropics, and to Intensity
it's blueness are the cotton clouds as
motionless as the palms.
The Goat an institution
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 IN
eyitable as they are innumeraDle.
Goats are to Java what dogs are TO
America. They run at will-are ev-
erybody's friend.
IF there is a fight or fire, they
scamper about on the edge or tne
crowd. If tire blows out, there they
are. eagerly awaiting any scraps OF
rubber Nr cloth which may be thrown
away. They are the comedians OF
metropolitan Java. In the provinces
+boro tho monkeys are as funny as at
the zoo. III
Well, this finds us in Java-and what
Of this land to which we have come
Was it Stubs who said something to
the effect that we must know what
the past was II we are to appreciate
the present? Java contains so many
relics o. the past that even a drive
through Batavia indicates past cen
turtles.
FOR hundreds Ct years before Co