[No clue why the Editor is using the male pronoun in this newsletter.]
JAVA JOTTINGS Vol. I, No. I.
25, May 1931.
Buitenzorg, Java
WEATHER. Much better than the Editor expected. His experience is limited to 24 hours, but during that time he has not been unpleasantly warm, and at night he was almost chily. There was a heavy rain yeterday [sic] afternoon - a 1-2 inch rain, probably. This is the beginning of the dry season, not a really dry season but a less wet season; it may rain almost any day and a period of several weeks without rain is exceptional.
Editorial note: The Editor is feeling exhausted from the excitement of so many new experiences and he is not sure whether he can write a coherent account of the news to date, not to mention type legibly on a high desk.
Shipping notes. The Editor is not sure whether or not it is correct to refer to his own departure from Singapore as "shipping" but with his 7 pieces of saman (not counting the umbrellas cushion and handbag) it seems to be the proper term. He embarked on the S.S. "Op ten Noort" with a steamer trunk, a rattan steamer chair, a tin trunk (relic of the Kashmir trip), a bed-roll - the mark of the traveller in India and quite inappropriate to this region. The bed-roll is reducing and is down to the last notch in the straps.
Mr. and Mrs. Devies, Miss Emily George and Miss Eleanor Mason came to the boat; the Editor does not expect to be "seen-off" again unless, possibly in Formosa. There were very few English-speaking people in the second class, but that was not a serious matter on a 36 hour trip, as she occupied herself with mending and reading "Exploring for Plants." Her cabin-mate, Miss Nichols of Singapore was very pleasant and permitted her to exercise her tongue at intervals.
Sunday morning while the Editor was seated at breakfast with Miss Nichols after having been passed by the Pass-port Officer who had come on board bright and early then the "Op ten Noort" docked at Tandjong Prick, the port for Batavia, she heard a voice say "Is this Professor Stokey?" She looked up and saw a strange young man who said his name was "Went" (but he said it like "Vant") and that he had come to escort her to Buitenzorg. The Editor had had very highanticipations of what to expect from the 's Lands Plantentuin, but it had not risen to expecting to be met at the host, as Buitenzorg is 35 miles from Batavia. Dr. Went attended to all the petty detail[s] of disembaring and suggested a ride around Batavia, inviting Miss Nichols to go, too. The Editor had expected to leave her steamer trunk and chair with the Java-Chinese-Japan S.S. Co., but as it was Sunday the offices were not open so she is continuing to take her taxi rides accompanied by a pile of saman crowned with a chair. After seeing Batavia and returning Miss Nichols to the "Op ten Noort" Dr. Went and the Editor departed by train (electrified) for Buitenzorg and arrved there at 12:30. Dr. Went had engaged accomodations for the Editor at the Pension-Hotel Ceres, modest, as requested by letter. It is very comfortable and, being Dutch, is clean. Tiffin which consisted of the famous Java "rijstaafel" which was modest as such things go, but not modest by abstract standards. The basis is a soup-plate full of rice, there were 8 or 9 dishes served with it, curries of various sorts, roast beef and gravy, a fried egg, chichen [sic] curry, friend fish, vegetable curries and then 5 or 6 kinds of chutneys. A less modest rijstaafel would have had 20 or more dishes. As it was the Editor slept most of the afternoon. No wonder that they do not serve food with tea at 4:30.
........ An interlude during which the Editor had her second rijstaafel, but she ate with more restraint this time.
The Editor has a very pleasant room with a view of Mt. Salak, but is to have an even better room in two days when it is vacated.
The bed is immense, in fact it is almost square, and has a mosquito net adorned at the top with a deep lace frill; it also has hooks to loop back during the daytime the front of the net which is as two pieces which overlap about 18 in. The effect is almost graceful but the Editor has moments of finding it amusing.
This morning Dr. Went called to escort the Editor through the Botanical Garden. She had made a short preliminary trip Sunday afternoon after the rain, but it got dark early especially under the dense trees. The Editor had one of the thrills of her Botanical Life this morning when she was shown Kaulfuasia, or as it is now labelled, Christensenia. How many of the Dear Readers thrill at the thought? It is a very primitive and peculiar fern - of such a type that one may describe it in the words of a Freshman at Mount Holyoke describing Osmunda regalis: "It is such a queer fern that you would not know it was a fern unless you were told it was so." It is pictured in all books dealing with fern types and it is always the same picture which does not give a very good idea of it. It grows 18-24 in. high and has a leaf like a Buckeye with very peculiar fructifications on the under side. The Botanical Garden - 's Lands Plantentuin - was founded in 1817. The tree[s] are magnificent - it would use up all the Editor's stock of superlatives for a week if she were even to attempt to describe a small section of it - the small section which she saw in two hours.
After a trip in the Garden Dr. Went took the Editor to the research laboratory - the Treub laboratorium, named for Dr. Melchoir Treub who was the Director for many years. The room in which the Editor is to work is a splendid big room with places for six, two large tables in an alcove for each worker. At present there are two Belgians, Dr. and Mrs. Bouin, who spent a year in Philadelphia and have visited Woods Hole. They are planning to be here 6 months. The Editor will be here until July 1st (possibly July 15, if it is necessary in order to get good material). The boats to Hongkong are biweekly; the boats to Formosa are weekly. It is a 7 days trip to Hongkong and a 3 days from Hongkong to Formosa. The facilities for work look to be very good but some ferns are not yet fruiting; they fruit during the dry season and the dry season is just beginning. Kaulfuasia is just beginning to fruit, but Dr. Went had already started some spores which appear to be germinating.
Dr. Went says that it is customary to begin work about 7 A.M. and to stop for the day at 2 as it is likely to rain after that. Some people whill have to learn to rise early. Fortunately the Ceres is very near the Garden and it is not more than a 5 minute walk to the Laboratory.
To-day is a holiday and the laboratory is not officially open; the Director Dr. Doctors van Leeuven was not there but is expected to be there tomorrow.
The Governor's Palace occupies a large "verboten" area in the center of the garden; it is not verboten to look through the iron fence at the deer grazing on the lawn.
It is now 2 o'clock; the clouds are settling down on Mt. Salak. It is thundering and doubtless it will soon rain. It is probably the warmest part of the day, but it cannot be called hot, just gently warm.
There is a mountain Botanical Garden at Tjibodes, a 2 hour journey from Buitenzorg; that is said to be particularly good for collecting ferns wild. It is said to be good also for renewing one's vigor at intervals.
The Editor contemplates a trip to Sourbaya, at the eastern end of Java to visit Mme. Mamet, who is a sister of Miss Bourgein, that is, if she is invited. She is about to break the news to Mme. Mamet that she is open to invitations. There is also a Systemic Botanist who is an authority on ferns somewhere in eastern Java. There are several good reasons for going there.
This looks like the end of the sheet, therefore finis.