White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-09-24

on ones shoes or the tires on ones
automobile may contain Java rubber
Perhaps your morning coffee and your
afternoon tea originated on Java cot
fee or tea plantation, while there is a
bare possibility that some of the small
quantity of Java sugar imported by
the United States may have been used
to sweeten these beverages.
What Batavia Is Like.
Java ranks among the richest re-
gions of the Dutch East Indies. There
are more than 100000 native inhab.
ftants with a sprinkling Of Europeans
and Chinese and other Asiatics. This
population requires systematic cult.
walton Of the soil.
When the Dutch settled Batavia, the
largest city on the island, they brought
their love for the lowlands and built
their city of European type, closed
houses on canals which coursed q
broad swampy area. But as trading
men and soldiers died by the thou
sands from malaria and other diseases
aggravated by the swamp vapors
around them, the settlers eventually
learned that tropical Java was not
temperate Netherlands.
European Batavia, now on higher
ground, is healthy city, great EN-,
porium of trade and the metropolis OF
the island, sprawling over wide area.
The old town is almost entirely given
In %I0
Arabs and Malays.
The new city has spacious parks,
made colorful by myriad flowers and
the luxuriant growth of the Tropics.
Near one of the parks rises the impos-
ing facade of the Museum of the Ba-
with copper elephant, the gift of the
king of Siam, in the foreground. The
Batavia museum has one of the finest
chronological collections of any insti
tuition in the Far East and its publ
cations rank we'll among the learned
societies of Europe and America.
A sail of slightly more than 30 hours
from Batavia brings the traveller to
Soerabaya. the most important seaport
in Java. Although the busy landing
stage and bustling crowds in the
streets impress the traveller of the
city's commercial Importance, it is for
the most part hot and presents few at.
fractions.
A few hours ride from the city'a
back door, however, brings the trav
eler to Pasourouan where he may get
the real flavor of Javas interior;
where the dos-a-dos, Java's curious
little high-wheeled covered wagons
rumble over the roads behind sturdy
white bullocks.
Tosari a Pleasant Resort.
Nearby, but reached only after hours
of roughing, climbing on donkeys and
afoot, is the delightful resort Tosar
A walk along the villages single street
reveals the mode Of life of Javanese
mountaineers who are quite different
from their neighbors in the lower val
leys. Here are the homes of the Teng-
gerese, a hardy tribe which at the
time of the Moslem invasion of Java
retreated to the mountains and sue
cessfully defended themselves against
the invaders. Tosari is perched ON
flank of the Tengger massif $3.50 feet
above sea level where invigorat ting air
makes mountain climbing much more
pleasant than in the torrid regions in
the Javanese foothills.
Situated in the midst Of the great
East Indian volcano region, Java has
its share of active and extinct craters.
In fact the island is volcano-made. 1t
is estimated that there are more than
100 craters on the island. Every.
where in Java. in the huge crater
lakes in assures that now are river
beds, even in ancient temples, halt
finished when interrupted by some
fiery CONFUSION, are evidences OF
cataclysmic forces. The "treacherous
klOt," as the natives call it. all but
wiped out the town of Britar in 1919
More recently. Mount Merapi, situated
at the extreme eastern tip of the is.
land boiled over and took the lives OF
80 natives.
A volcano is not always considered
a calamity in Java. In fact most of
the larger towns and cities of the is
land nestle around the base Of active
craters, although thousands Of inhabi
tants have been lost in violent erup
tiUns. Much of the prosperity Of the
island Is due to the constant enrichina
Of its soil by material coughed from
these great smokestacks, and from the
medicinal value of the hot mineral
springs and highland resorts along tbs
slopeA