CHAPTER VI.
_Stirring Scenes and Strange Sights_.
My host having kindly lent me his carriage and a pair of wiry nags, I started for Batavia to meet the railway.

The distance was about thirty miles, and the road in many places execrable--in one part so bad that we had to go through a quarter of a mile of wood, as it was absolutely impassable;--yet, despite all these hindrances, and without pressing the horses in the least, we completed the distance in the three hours, including from five to ten minutes at a half-way house, where we gave them the usual American bait of a bucket of cold water; and when we arrived they were as fresh as four-year-olds, and quite ready to return if need had been.

I saw nothing worth remarking during the drive.

There was plenty of cultivated land; and plenty of waste, waiting to reward the labourer.

All the little villages had their daguerreotype shops except one, and there the deficiency was supplied by a perambulating artist in a tented cart.
When a railway crosses the road, you are expected to see it,--the only warning being a large painted board, inscribed "Look out for the Train." If it be dark, I suppose you are expected to guess it; but it must be remembered that this is the country of all countries where every person is required to look after himself.