Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/98

80 through the streets, with enormous bundles of sticks on their backs, while the wood merchant, clad with a loose pair of blue trousers, and jacket to match, walks by their side, crying out at the top of his voice, "Kayu api"—"firewood"; his pony, meanwhile, browsing on the refuse of pine apples, sugar-cane tops, skins, and husks, with which the ground is covered, much to his master's annoyance, who belabours the spare-fed beast with many a hard thwack of the whip, whenever he imagines he has indulged in. these dainties too long.

We were now passing the European business quarter—counting-houses, warehouses, and Government offices. There is a generally busy look about the place, bespeaking activity and prosperity in this old commercial city. We stopped at last before the Heeren Logement, or hotel, and on inquiry found, to our annoyance, that it was full. After some deliberation, however, the landlord decided on accommodating us, much