Philip Neale

“ We made an early start from one of the suburbs of Batavia, and drove into the city at daybreak, there to commence our long journey by road to the western coast. Posting in Java is rather a novelty, and is worth being described a little in detail. The traveller has to provide his own carriage, and the government finds the post-horses. The latter term is a misnomer, and rather deceptive, as the four animals provided for each stage are the diminutive ponies so commonly used in every part of Java. ”

“ A paal is rather less than an English mile, but even these short stages prove quite enough for the four ponies. They keep up the pace well, but the hot, damp heat is trying, and half an hour’s gallop brings them in quite distressed, especially in the wet season, when the roads are heavy. We had not gone more than a mile or two when an opportunity was given us of seeing the runners at their work. The ponies were not doing their best, and so the natives at the back of the carriage were called to the front, and very soon increased the pace. ”

“ The Dutch residents in Java take things very quietly, and show little or no interest in what is going on around them. Not even a volcanic eruption in their neighborhood and the bursting of a volcanic wave on the adjacent shore were of sufficient importance to stir them from their apathy. ”

“ At one part of our journey a runner failed to regain his place, and the driver, in spite of his shouts, left him behind in disgrace, to complete the rest of the stage on foot. The dress of these men, like that of the drivers, is a peculiar one. ”

“ The natives are all undersized men, quite in keeping with their diminutive ponies, and the whole equipage has a strange appearance. The reins and traces are of rope, and travelling at full gallop with a loose rein (as the custom is) has just a slight element of danger about it. There is plenty of cracking of whips, and when the driver grows tired of using his, the runners are expected to begin with theirs. Our driver went through to the end of our journey, but the runners were changed at each stage. The posting stations are very close together, there being only six Java paalen between each. ”

“ The first thing we noticed on the road from Serang was a picturesque village once embosomed in trees, but now partly in ruins. This kampong consisted of the usual cottages made of bamboo, and the roof thatched with dry palm-leaves, which naturally offered very little resistance to a great rushing torrent of water. Many of the cocoanut palm-trees were snapped off, just as a stick might be. ”

“ With a great deal of needless cracking of whips and at full gallop, we quickly left Batavia behind. Our peculiar equipage would have been a great novelty to those who have only seen European coaching.
The travelling carriage was an ordinary one — covered in, and with a foot-place at the back on which two men could stand. This is provided as a standing-place for two natives, called “runners,” who are responsible for keeping the ponies up to their regulation pace. ”

“ Strangely enough, the Chinese, who care so little where they live or where they die, so long as they can make money quickly, have a strong desire to be buried at last in their native land, and dread nothing so much as for their remains to rest on a foreign shore. ”

“ Most of the natives we passed were armed with the krîs (or native dagger) , a formidable weapon carried in the belt, and often used on the slightest provocation. The Javanese in this part of the island, being shut off very much from the outer world, are very superstitious and not over partial to strangers, especially Europeans. ”