As soon as they reached the end of the wall that forms the canal the boatmen drew up against it, and for the rest of the way the boat was towed, or "trecked." This mode of propulsion was easier and faster than rowing, and partly accounted for the proposal of the boatmen to double their speed, as they were near the end of their rowing when they suggested it. At the custom-house the trunks and valises were subjected to a slight examination; there was a polite official who spoke English; and on learning that our friends had only come for a brief visit to Java, and had no business to transact, he assured them that all was right. He asked for their passports, and said it would be necessary to get a permit to remain on the island, especially if they wished to travel in the interior. This they could easily do, he said, through their consul; and then he informed them that the formalities of the custom-house were ended.
THE CARRIAGE AT THE CUSTOM-HOUSE.
A runner was there from the hotel they intended to patronize, and so they gave their property into his hands. It was piled on a cart and sent off, and then the runner led the way to a carriage that was standing near. It was a sort of Victoria, that could accommodate two persons comfortably; and there was an extra seat just behind the driver, which could be turned down and made to hold a third passenger in an emergency. The horses were diminutive beasts, with harnesses in the European style; and the driver was a withered specimen of a Javanese, wearing an ancient hat decorated with a cockade, and having the brim turned so that it would not impede the view in any direction. Fred thought the hat had come from Holland about the middle of the century, after doing duty in a respectable family of Amsterdam for at least a dozen years. Frank remarked that the hat was hardly less antique than the head it covered; and the skin of the one seemed as much glazed as the other.
THE NATIONAL TASTE.
It was nearly, if not quite, three miles from the custom-house to the hotel, and the little horses went over the ground at a surprising rate, when their size and appearance were considered. For much of the way the drive followed the bank of a canal, where they saw groups of men and women engaged in washing clothes or taking a morning bath. Batavia is on level ground, the same as Amsterdam; and the Dutch have tried to make it seem as much like home as possible by supplying it with canals. They have carried many of their customs with them in emigrating to the East, and sometimes to their disadvantage. For instance, they adhere with unflinching firmness to the old practice of taking a glass of schnapps before every meal, forgetting that what may be allowable in a cold country is the reverse of beneficial in a hot one. Our friends reached the hotel a little while before the mid-day meal was served, and they were hardly inside the door of their rooms before a servant came with glasses of a fiery liquid to enable them to get up an appetite. He was somewhat surprised when they declined what was considered so necessary to the health.
The hotel covered an immense area, as it consisted of a series of bungalows of one story, with a central building, where the dining-room and the offices of the manager were located. Between the rows of bungalows there were shade-trees and paved walks, and along the front of each house there was a wide veranda, where the occupants could sit or recline in the open air whenever they chose to do so. The central building was two stories high; all the lower part was taken up for the dining-room and parlors, while the upper floor was occupied by patrons. Our friends were assigned to rooms in one of the bungalows, and a barefooted servant came to assist them in arranging their effects, and bring whatever they desired.