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I know nothing more exciting and agreeable than a ramble amongst the mountains of this favoured isle, under the direction of the post establishment. From Samarang, early in 1824, I posted with a friend to Solo and Djockdjocarta, the ancient seats of the Emperors and Sultans of this part of Java. They are now shorn of their splendour; but they still possess novelty enough to attract a stranger.
At Djockdjocarta are to be seen many ancient residences of the Javanese Chiefs; amongst others, the celebrated Cratan or palace, the taking of which, in 1812, cost General Gillespie a hard struggle. It is surrounded with a high wall, which encloses an area of exactly one square mile: outside the wall runs a deep, broad ditch.
Indeed, our countrymen, in many parts that I could name, might, with great advantage to themselves and to travellers in their districts, take lessons from their Dutch brethren in office. From Solo, I went to Djockdjocarta, distant forty miles, in a gig.
When I visited the place in 1824, the canal, passage, &c. were all in good order, though the latter was getting damp from neglect; a proof that the masons and plasterers of Java, in old times, must have been very superior workmen. Djockdjocarta was the birth-place of Diepo Nogoro, and the scene of his earliest warlike movements against the Dutch.
Shortly before my arrival at Djockdjocarta, a daring house-robbery, by a band of Javanese, took place in the neighbourhood. Six of the robbers were afterwards caught, tried, convicted, condemned, and executed
The nut struck a post within six inches of the teaser's head, and was literally smashed: had it struck where doubtless it was meant to do, it would certainly have proved as fatal as an eighteen-pound shot. So much for teasing elephants. We beat a speedy retreat, not choosing to risk a second shot. Djockdjocarta can hardly be called a town; yet it is more than a village.
During my first stay at Batavia, from 1823 to 1826, the celebrated Java war broke out, the so-called rebel army being headed by a native Chief of Djockdjocarta, named Diepo Nogoro. Shortly after the first outbreak, the then Governor-General, Baron Vander Capellen, called on all Europeans between the ages of sixteen and forty-five to serve in the schuttery, or militia.
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