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-41- 

on the return voyage.

We sailed at six in the evening. Williams complained of a cold, and having had reistafel at noon, decided against dinner at night. We were none of us very hungry, and supped delicately on consomme and a spot of salad.

April 5 - Samarang

Awoke in the morning to see the coast of Java slipping by. 
It looked satisfyingly like the picture books, with cloud-wreathed mountains along the sea, and occasional volcanoes to be seen.

We went ashore in a launch about ten. Saw for the first time an outrigger sailing boat, and praus from Madura, with gaily colored masts, painted pink and blue, and carved and painted bows. As we drove along the road to the town, we saw zebu carts, built like the Sumatran ones, but painted in bright colors.

Our first stop was at the bird market, where Bill wanted to get a racket-tailed drongo, but decided that shipping it out to the Islands and back would be taking too much risk. Dr. Coenraad bought six jungle fowl, the wild ancestor of our domestic chicken, rather a gaudy bird with heavy brilliant wattles.

We looked up a M. Jansen, who had written us that he was a  friend of Stanley Dawson's; from his name we had assumed he was a Swede, but he was largely Malay with a dash of Chinese. He promised to keep an eye on the bird market for us until our return.

[[strikethrough]] At the Hotel de Pavillon, where [[/strikethrough]] We had heard there was a small zoo in Samarang, but it turned out to be very small indeed, a private collection belonging to a rich Chinese sugar planter. He has a most remarkable garden, curiously landscaped with mounds of tufa rock, coral steps and paths, whitewashed urns filled with flowering shrubs, statues, fountains, a long screened pergola filled with orchids (one lovely white one had a purple center), and a paddock with one deer, a hornbill and a peacock. Java sparrow were wild in the garden.

At the Hotel de Pavillon, where we stopped for a drink, we met the Sheriffs from the ship, and went with them to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. The food was simply delicious - asparagus soup with crab eggs, tiny fried shrimps in batter, chicken cooked with leeks, nasi goreng, and tea. The tea was served in pretty little cups, each one containing its individual tea-strainer, and Mr. Sheriff insisted on buying me six of them. I hope I can get them home unbroken!

Back to the ship, and sailed at four o'clock. Williams has a very bad cold, and has spent the day in bed.

In the evening we sat talking with the purser, Mr. Mulder, who is a friend of the Kampar. The Kampar has been chartered by a gold-prospecting expedition to New Guinea, and Mulder thought the captain might pick us up a collection of birds and animals while he was there. The evening was spent trying to get in touch with the Kampar by wireless, but we finally learned that the short-wave set on the Kampar is intended merely to keep the ship in touch with the expedition camp in the interior, and as they have not yet landed, the wireless man was not at his post. Still we were trying to relay a message to him, by various ships, most of the night.