NO ADMITTANCE.
[CHAPTER XXIX.]
A POST RIDE IN JAVA.—FROM BUITENZORG TO BANDONG.
As soon as they had exhausted Buitenzorg and the sights of the neighborhood, the Doctor suggested to Frank and Fred that they should make a journey into the interior. They had not time to undertake the tour of the whole island, but they wished to go beyond the line of the railway, and learn by practical experience about the system of posting for which Java was famous.
Before the introduction of railways Java was supplied with excellent roads from one end of the island to the other, which were begun by Marshal Daendels in the early part of this century, and continued by the Dutch rulers since 1816. Then there are numerous cross-roads, so that nearly all parts of the country are accessible by wagon or carriage. On the principal routes the lines are double, one being intended for carriages and horses, and the other for cattle. The cattle roads are like the ordinary country road in America; but the carriage-way is macadamized, and admits of rapid travelling. On the whole, the system is quite as good as that which prevailed in Europe before the establishment of the railway; and when it is remembered that the interior of Java is very hilly, and cut up with numerous streams, the magnitude of the work which has been accomplished under the equator will be more readily understood.
The arrangements for posting were made with the assistance of the landlord of the hotel, who told them that it might take a day or two to find a carriage that could be hired. The Dutch and other foreign inhabitants generally own the carriages in which they travel; and when a stranger wishes to traverse the island, it is customary for him to buy a carriage, and sell it on reaching the end of his journey. When you want to buy a carriage, you find the vehicles are scarce and dear; and when you want to sell, the market is glutted with them. A good carriage for posting will cost between three and four hundred dollars; and if it can be sold at a loss of one hundred dollars when the traveller is done with it, he may consider himself lucky.
The journey that our friends intended to make was to last less than a week, and they hired a carriage for which they were to pay twenty-five dollars for that time, and be responsible for any damages that might happen to it. Frank thought the owner would make a good business if he could find steady occupation for his vehicle at that rate; but the landlord informed him that the carriages were idle more than half the time, and sometimes there were weeks together when no customer appeared.