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Updated: May 16, 2025
So he leaves his heavy luggage behind in the hotel, and packs a bag, jumps into a sadoe, and in less than two hours he finds himself in one of the healthiest climates in the world, and in the midst of surroundings as novel as they are delightful. The train by which I had arranged to travel to Buitenzorg left the Weltevreden station at the convenient hour of half-past four in the afternoon.
On the afternoon of the day of his arrival, a Sunday, having declined a kind invitation to a party for the theatre, X. decided to leave for Buitenzorg. He thought he sniffed fever mingled with the other very apparent odours in his room on the ground floor, while Usoof and Abu not only could not bathe but were unable to send his clothes to the wash.
Though the gardens of Buitenzorg are a veritable treasure-house for the botanist and the horticulturist for the Dutch are the best gardeners in the world from the standpoint of the casual visitor they cannot compare, to my way of thinking, with the Peradenya Gardens of Ceylon. It is beyond all doubt, however, the finest collection of tropical trees and plants in existence.
The austere and scanty vegetation of Northern climes, which gives a distinct outline and value to every leaf and flower, has nothing in common with the prodigal and passionate beauty of the tropical landscape, where the wealth of earth is flung broadcast at our feet in mad profusion. Day by day the marvellous gardens of Buitenzorg take deeper hold of mind and imagination.
We paid a visit while here to the house of Mr. The latter is the most paying of all, and the soil and climate of Java are peculiarly adapted to its growth. We made several excursions in addition to this while at Buitenzorg, but none worthy of record.
From its foot, cutting a way toward Buitenzorg through a sea of foliage, is a ribbon of brown the Tjidani River. Its banks, lined by miles of waving palms, are crowded with the quaint, thatched dwellings of the natives, hundreds of whom men, women and children are bathing in its water. One of the most curious and amusing sights in Java is that of the native women bathing in the streams.
The Buitenzorg meetings are attended by all the best people in the island, and on the first day the Governor-General appears in state. The racing is fixed for the morning, and lasts from nine to twelve. It is a rather curious fact that in Java the starter has discarded the universal red flag, and waves a Dutch tricolour instead.
One leaves Buitenzorg for Garoet as the first streak of dawn appears; as we sped along, we realized more and more what tropical vegetation and abundant rain could produce, for the vivid greens and dewy freshness of the foliage surpassed even Ceylon's landscape, which in its turn had surpassed anything before seen, even our own South and Southern California not excepted; Java is indeed the garden of the world!
History repeats itself; and the history of Vesuvius was repeated in the case of Krakatoa. On the morning of May 20, 1883, the inhabitants of Batavia, of Buitenzorg, and neighbouring localities, were surprised by a confused noise, mingled with detonations resembling the firing of artillery.
The Governor-General draws a salary of seventy thousand dollars together with liberal allowances for entertaining, and is provided with palaces at Batavia and Buitenzorg, while at Tjipanas, on one of the spurs of the Gedei, nearly six thousand feet above the sea, he has a country house set in a great English park.
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