Posting in Java is expensive, as the hire of teams and drivers is nearly a dollar a mile. Then the drivers and footmen expect gratuities at the end of their journey, and there are other fees to be paid at several places. In return for this high price, the service is excellent. Notice must be given beforehand, and the time of starting must be fixed. A courier is sent along to all the stations, and when the carriage arrives where the relay is to be taken, the new horses are found ready harnessed and waiting, so that the delay does not occupy more than two or three minutes. The stations are from five to seven or eight miles apart, and the teams go at the greatest speed. At each station there is a native official, and sometimes a European one; and there are plenty of drivers, runners, and attendants, who sleep and wait in open sheds in the rear of the stable.
At each station there is a large shed extending over the road, and connecting the stables on each side. The carriage halts under this shed, so that the traveller is protected from the heat of the sun in dry weather, or the moisture when it rains. There are the facilities for making a lunch at nearly all the stations, as the keeper can supply hot water for tea and coffee, and a liberal quantity of milk and fresh eggs. With these things, and some cold chicken or other meat from the stopping-place of the previous night, a slice or two of bread, and the fruit that abounds everywhere, the traveller must be very fastidious if he cannot satisfy the hunger which the ride through the pure air of Java is sure to give him.
The journal of the expedition was kept by the boys, with occasional suggestions from the Doctor. Every moment that they could spare from sight-seeing was devoted to the history of their journey in Java; and during their halts at the stations, some of the keepers thought the two youths were inspectors sent out by the government to report on the condition of the postal-service, as they made such vigorous use of their pens. One station-keeper was extra polite, and brought out a bottle of schnapps in their honor; their prompt refusal of the proffered courtesy confirmed his belief in their inquisitorial character, though it raised doubts as to their genuineness as Dutch officials. "But they are yet very young," he remarked, with a shake of the head, as the carriage drove away; "they will not refuse schnapps when they grow older."
We will make a few extracts from the journal, which subsequently gave much delight to the Bassett and Bronson families:
JUST IMPORTED.
"We are having a jolly ride through Java, and shall be very sorry when it comes to an end. It is hot in the middle of the day, but delicious at other times; and anybody who could not enjoy this sort of travel must be very hard to please. Some of the way we have made ten miles an hour, and the little horses come in smoking and panting when we get to a station, and are ready for a change. The horses are mostly Java ponies, but there are many from the island of Celebes, and other parts of the Dutch East Indies. They are tough little animals, about twelve or thirteen hands high, and capable of great endurance; and the consumption of horse-flesh is so great, that enough of them are not raised in Java to supply the demand.
"When we left the hotel at Buitenzorg this morning, we took with us the materials for our breakfast, so as to save the delay of having it prepared at one of the inns. We stopped at the second station on the road, and were as hungry as one could wish; and when we pointed to our basket and motioned that we wanted to eat, we were referred to a shop kept by a Chinese, close by the post-station. We went there, as the shop had better facilities for our meal than the station; John was all smiles, and showed us to a table in the middle of his front room. He was married and settled in the country, as he had a Javanese wife; and there were two or three children, with Javanese complexions and Chinese eyes, playing around the door. And what do you think we found in his shop to remind us of home?