Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/144

126 Before starting anew on your journey a book is handed to you, in which you are desired to write down your name and the hour of your arrival at that particular post. The postal system is managed with regularity and precision, and, with some exceptions in our travels over less frequented ground, we found the arrangements in every way excellent, and worthy of commendation.

From the number of villages we passed en route, I was led to conjecture that the population must be considerable. Happiness, industry, and fertility were everywhere visible, and few, very few wretched mendicants ever solicited our charity; proving in part, we thought, the absence of extreme poverty and Avant.

The provinces of Surabaya and Passeroewan are chiefly sugar manufacturing districts, though coffee also is largely cultivated on the hills and uplands. On returning to Surabaya, we visited a manufactory of considerable importance, regarding