Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/99

Rh to our gratification; for otherwise we had no alternative but to return to the steamer, there being no other hotel for Europeans in the place.

Having exchanged bur wet garments for dry ones, we set to work to satisfy the inner man, and then waited patiently till the heat of the day was over. About five, we engaged one of the numerous carriages stationed in front of the hotel, and drove a short way into the country. After we had passed through thickly-populated streets, inhaling on our way different odours which made us long for the interference of some such goddess as Cloacina, we were glad to rest our eyes on the bright green fields and forest-clad hills. I think one never more fully appreciates the country than after a voyage, during which little else but sky and water has met his gaze.

The scene we were now passing through was peculiarly lovely. As far as the eye could see, a fertile valley lay before us, well studded with trees,