These consist of private houses, and at their southern end is the fort, the church, and a road at right angles to the beach, containing the houses of the Governor and of the principal officials.

Beyond the fort, again along the beach, is another long street of native huts and many country-houses of the tradesmen and merchants.

All around extend the flat rice-fields, now bare and dry and forbidding, covered with dusty stubble and weeds.

A few months back these were a mass of verdure, and their barren appearance at this season offered a striking contrast to the perpetual crops on the same kind of country in Lombock and Bali, where the seasons are exactly similar, but where an elaborate system of irrigation produces the effect of a perpetual spring.
The day after my arrival I paid a visit of ceremony to the Governor, accompanied by my friend the Danish merchant, who spoke excellent English.

His Excellency was very polite, and offered me every facility for travelling about the country and prosecuting my researches in natural history.