As A Change From The Excessive Heat Of
Batavia, Buitenzorg Is A Delightful Abode.
It is just elevated
enough to have deliciously cool evenings and nights, but not so
much as to require
Any change of clothing; and to a person long
resident in the hotter climate of the plains, the air is always
fresh and pleasant, and admits of walking at almost any hour of
the day. The vicinity is most picturesque and luxuriant, and the
great volcano of Gunung Salak, with its truncated and jagged
summit, forms a characteristic background to many of the
landscapes. A great mud eruption took place in 1699, since which
date the mountain has been entirely inactive.
On leaving Buitenzorg, I had coolies to carry my baggage and a
horse for myself, both to be changed every six or seven miles.
The road rose gradually, and after the first stage the hills
closed in a little on each side, forming a broad valley; and the
temperature was so cool and agreeable, and the country so
interesting, that I preferred walking. Native villages imbedded
in fruit trees, and pretty villas inhabited by planters or
retired Dutch officials, gave this district a very pleasing and
civilized aspect; but what most attracted my attention was the
system of terrace-cultivation, which is here universally adopted,
and which is, I should think, hardly equalled in the world. The
slopes of the main valley, and of its branches, were everywhere
cut in terraces up to a considerable height, and when they wound
round the recesses of the hills produced all the effect of
magnificent amphitheatres. Hundreds of square miles of country
are thus terraced, and convey a striking idea of the industry of
the people and the antiquity of their civilization. These
terraces are extended year by year as the population increases,
by the inhabitants of each village working in concert under the
direction of their chiefs; and it is perhaps by this system of
village culture alone, that such extensive terracing and
irrigation has been rendered possible. It was probably introduced
by the Brahmins from India, since in those Malay countries where
there is no trace of a previous occupation by a civilized people,
the terrace system is unknown. I first saw this mode of
cultivation in Bali and Lombock, and, as I shall have to describe
it in some detail there (see Chapter X.), I need say no more
about it in this place, except that, owing to the finer outlines
and greater luxuriance of the country in West Java, it produces
there the most striking and picturesque effect. The lower slopes
of the mountains in Java possess such a delightful climate and
luxuriant soil; living is so cheap and life and property are so
secure, that a considerable number of Europeans who have been
engaged in Government service, settle permanently in the country
instead of returning to Europe. They are scattered everywhere
throughout the more accessible parts of the island, and tend
greatly to the gradual improvement of the native population, and
to the continued peace and prosperity of the whole country.
Twenty miles beyond Buitenzorg the post road passes over the
Megamendong Mountain, at an elevation of about 4,500 feet. The
country is finely mountainous, and there is much virgin forest
still left upon the hills, together with some of the oldest
coffee-plantations in Java, where the plants have attained almost
the dimensions of forest trees. About 500 feet below the summit
level of the pass there is a road-keeper's hut, half of which I
hired for a fortnight, as the country looked promising for making
collections. I almost immediately found that the productions of
West Java were remarkably different from those of the eastern
part of the island; and that all the more remarkable and
characteristic Javanese birds and insects were to be found here.
On the very first day, my hunters obtained for me the elegant
yellow and green trogon (Harpactes Reinwardti), the gorgeous
little minivet flycatcher (Pericrocotus miniatus), which looks
like a flame of fire as it flutters among the bushes, and the
rare and curious black and crimson oriole (Analcipus
sanguinolentus), all of these species which are found only in
Java, and even seem to be confined to its western portion.
In a week I obtained no less than twenty-four species of birds,
which I had not found in the east of the island, and in a
fortnight this number increased to forty species, almost all of
which are peculiar to the Javanese fauna. Large and handsome
butterflies were also tolerably abundant. In dark ravines, and
occasionally on the roadside, I captured the superb Papilio
arjuna, whose wings seem powdered with grains of golden green,
condensed into bands and moon-shaped spots; while the elegantly-
formed Papilio coon was sometimes to be found fluttering slowly
along the shady pathways (see figure at page 201). One day a boy
brought me a butterfly between his fingers, perfectly unhurt. He
had caught it as it was sitting with wings erect, sucking up the
liquid from a muddy spot by the roadside. Many of the finest
tropical butterflies have this habit, and they are generally so
intent upon their meal that they can be easily be reached and
captured. It proved to be the rare and curious Charaxes kadenii,
remarkable for having on each hind wing two curved tails like a
pair of callipers. It was the only specimen I ever saw, and is
still the only representative of its kind in English collections.
In the east of Java I had suffered from the intense heat and
drought of the dry season, which had been very inimical to insect
life. Here I had got into the other extreme of damp, wet, and
cloudy weather, which was equally unfavourable. During the month
which I spent in the interior of West Java, I never had a really
hot fine, day throughout. It rained almost every afternoon, or
dense mists came down from the mountains, which equally stopped
collecting, and rendered it most difficult to dry my specimens,
so that I really had no chance of getting a fair sample of
Javanese entomology.
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